Help, I need some advice. I am new to this forum and have been exploring the different groups. I came upon an area that discusses band removal. Some of the negative longterm outcomes have scared me. I don't want to go through all this only to have the band removed on 5 years or to regain or not lose my weight in 3 years etc. I'm scheduled to have surgery on December 8th and I have started my presurgery liquid diet. Maybe the carb deprivation is getting to me. lol I'm starting to have gitters. I need to hear some positive success stories from people who have been banded for awhile now.

Pre-surgery jitters are completely normal. Here's something to think about...This forum has thousands of subscribers. A few do have problems and many of those who have problems look for something like this forum to find out if they are unique or not. Once here, they will tell you their problems and their solution. But problems are somewhat rare. There are thousands of success stories who never look for anything like this forum because they are happily losing weight and living their lives as they had hoped they would.

So take a deep breath. You'll be fine.

What cathy says is very true. Its like the old adage " no news is good news". Haven't you ever noticed how much space/time is devoted to bad stuff in newspapers, on TV etc but the amount of time/space devoted to good news stories is very small. Good news doesn't sell newspapers!

It is also true that most people are nervous presurgery. I was and now it is 6 months later and I am so happy I went through with it. The time has flown.

I am sure that you will be fine. All the best.

Help, I need some advice. I am new to this forum and have been exploring the different groups. I came upon an area that discusses band removal. Some of the negative longterm outcomes have scared me. I don't want to go through all this only to have the band removed on 5 years or to regain or not lose my weight in 3 years etc. I'm scheduled to have surgery on December 8th and I have started my presurgery liquid diet. Maybe the carb deprivation is getting to me. lol I'm starting to have gitters. I need to hear some positive success stories from people who have been banded for awhile now.

Hey how r u, I just got my surgery on yesterday n I hae cold feet just like u. Man im glad 2 know that there is support out here from people that r n were struggling with there weight just like u n i. u have come too far 2 turn around. just pray n let go n know that God is n control.

I've been through all the range of emotions over the past year w/regards to this surgery and the struggle to get it approved by my insurance. I have second guessed everything. But, basically, what it comes down to is what will you do if you DON'T get the surgery? I know for me dieting won't work. I can lose maybe 50 pounds which still won't get me to a healthy weight and then I'll be hungry and gain it back plus more. If I just do nothing at all, then I'm accepting the fact that I WILL get diabetes (I'm prediabetic) in addition to the high bp, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea I already have. This will all eventually rob me of my quality of life and will take many many years off my life.

As w/anything, there is no guarantee of success, but you have a much much better chance of success w/this surgery (or any of the weightloss surgeries). So, then I started second-guessing WHICH surgery to get. Well, the sleeve would be a further battle w/my insurance which I'm just not up to after fighting all year just to get approved for lapband in the first place. And, with lapband, if it doesn't work (very unlikely!), my insurance will cover revision from lapband to RNY (not vice versa). And, ultimately, I do think lapband works for the vast majority of people who follow the rules of it and are dedicated to the follow-up care that is needed.

If your surgeon does support groups w/his or her patients, I highly suggest sitting in on one of these meetings if you can. My surgeon actually requires that you go to at least one support meeting pre-op. It is incredibly inspiring. There was not one failure in the room. In fact, everyone who had the band for at least a year, had lost 100+. This type of success was nothing that I expected. I really thought there would be some slow losers in the group or people struggling. Of course, once again, there is probably some 'selection bias' here because those that attend support are more likely to be successful. Just made me realize how important those support groups are and the support we get on this board as well.