Hi everyone! I am in the stages of waiting for insurance approval and all the tests I need to get done before surgery. I have my sleep study on the 22nd. I guess I am wondering if there is anyone here that has or is going back and forth between having the surgery and not having the surgery. What finally made you make up your mind to have the surgery? I have been overweight for the majority of my 20's and the weight keeps going up, but I wonder if I would have better results when I move out of my parent's house finally. That will be sometime next year if everything works out. But, then I think that the band will help me long term with keeping weight off and not getting to this weight again. I just can't seem to make up my mind. A part of it is the money. My insurance only covers 90% so I have to come up with a big chunk. Any help with how you came to your decision will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

GTbadkitty

I am indecisive, not only about whether or not to have surgery, but also about what type to have. At first I wanted bypass, then I got scared about dumping syndrome and having to be careful of malnutrition. Then I was all gung-ho for banding, now I'm scared at what I've been reading about long term complications (one website mentioned 60% of people with bands opt to have them removed after 5 or 6 years because of complications??? If that were accurate wouldn't the FDA or whomever have pulled it by now? If it's even close to accurate 60% is really bad!) There are clips on youtube of interviews with band patients that are having their surgeries revised because of sudden difficulties keeping anything down, even after years of trouble-free success. So I don't know what to think anymore or what information out there can be believed. My own primary doctor, when I brought up my interest in surgery, said that there's a high failure rate, but I don't know if she was referring to banding or weight loss surgery in general. I also don't know if she was referring to that failure rate being due to mechanical issues or because of patients doing all the wrong things.

I still intend to go through my 6-month supervised diet, which will give me 6 months to keep thinking about it, but at this time I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm very torn and confused.

frauhowe, your post was really interesting to me. I realized something. At 53 (last year) my primary told me "Jeff, it's all about to go to hell for you. You've been "borderline" on lots of things for a while now, but unless you do something drastic, in 3 months you're going to be on diabetes and cholesterol medication. You are going downhill and as you age there is not a damn thing I can do about it, unless you lose some weight." Rather than depress me, it helped me decide that I wanted the lap band even if I paid for it out of pocket. That was the final straw for me.

In 5-6 years, at 60, if I am thinner and still not a diabetic and still without heart trouble, then I will gladly have a revision surgery if I need it. I will probably be healthy enough to weather it, since I am losing with my band. I would never have initially had the courage to do a sleeve or bypass. Now, I am not so afraid. But for some of us, we have to have training wheels. I got the band thinking it was for life. I realize now that if it isn't, I can handle it. But what I couldn't handle was any more time at 405.

For people who aren't on that ledge, as I was, the decision can be hard. I was always the "healthy" fat person, and it does catch up with you.

I had been thinking about WLS for 5+ years before I finally got it done. The final straw for was after being diagnosed with PCOS, and metabolic syndrom, I lost 50lbs. Then after going through a depression because I could not pregnant after trying for 3+ years I gained half of it back. Then when I snapped out of my depression I tried getting back on track of eating healthy and trying to loose weight. I would do ok for a few days sometimes even weeks then back to my old habits. I told myself, last summer that WLS was my last option. I was terrified of surgery, and really wasn't ready for it. I didn't want to give up fast food, and buffets, and margaritas, so I was detrimined to do it on my own, and thought that the idea of surgery would get me back on track. I ended up going up and down in my weight, and then slowly just gained 20 more lbs back, which brought me back up to 275 lbs, and my health was just getting worse. I went to a seminar and decided it was time to get the surgery. I was tired of being overweight. Tired of always trying some new diet with little to no results. Tired of feeling out of control. I was finally willing to give up the fast food, buffets, and margaritas.

I went back and forth about wich surgery to have, and came to a decision that I felt was best for me. I weighed out all the pros and cons about each surgery. I have done good with LapBand so far, and I am glad I have it. As far as the cost went I started thinking about how much money I would be saving on clothes, food, and insurance.

How is it going? I decided to do it as I have tried everything else. Were you able to go back to work after a week?

How are you doing? Tell me about your experience.

I understand I am borderline diabetic, I take cholestrol and highblood pressure. I am ready to get it done! How long was your recovery period?