input on lap band surgery

I cannot help but notice that most of the negative comments on this thread are made by people who have not even had the surgery. I LOVE the one comment by the lady who stated...now, from someone who has had it. I was banded on 5/16/11. I am still a baby bandster, but I would do it all over again. I went through 9 months of counseling and preop tests before I had the surgery. Unless you are a self pay, they test you for every risk before you even get to the operating table. The one thing I would tell anyone considering surgery is this....Bariatric surgery is NOT a cure. If you are unwilling to follow the program with whatever "tool" you receive, you will fail. I can only fully speak for the band since that is what I received. If i eat appropriately and exercise, then I lose weight. If I don't, I gain weight. YES, you can gain weight after bariatric surgery but it will be because you are not following the guidelines and have not made a lifestyle change. I had dieted since I was a teenager. Due to all the dieting and hypothyroidism, my metabolism was shot. I could starve myself and gain weight. I could eat appropriately and exercise...still gain weight. I had tried diet pills, dieting, exercise and NOTHING was working for me. Surgery should always be a last resort. That being said, I much preferred the dangers of having surgery as opposed to slowly dying from obesity related illnesses. I saw one comment about a HUGE needle being put in the stomach and couldn't help but laugh at all the misconceptions. Yes, there is a needle used to fill and unfill. It is not huge. My surgeon does not even numb the area and it hurts less than having blood drawn from my arm. The recovery time from gastric banding is minimal. I had surgery at 10 am and by 2 pm, I was up walking the halls of the hospital. I was released the next morning. There was more pain from the gas they use to distend your abdomen than anything else and that is easily handled by moving and forgetting to be a lady...let the gas go, lol. I have yet to vomit. I eat my food slowly and chew it properly. That is also something that anyone should do whether they have surgery or not, but with surgery, your "tool" will remind you if you do not follow the rules. I guess I have rambled enough, the short of it is this...do as your surgeon instructs you and, for the vast majority, all will go as planned. They tell you that you will lose up to 60% of your weight, but I have numerous friends who have followed instruction and lost 100%. It is all about how dedicated you are.

Anyone thinking about being banded definately needs to talk to someone who has one (not just people who "know" someone who has been banded). I was banded on December 2nd, 2010...my highest weight was 325 lbs. As of this morning (a little over 9 months after surgery) I weigh 219 which is a loss of 106 lbs.

I will be the first to admit that my rate of weight loss isn't typical...you should expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week with the band. Now that I've said that I am sure that some people will say that you can lose at that rate just with diet and exercise and that is true but there are many of us who for various reasons have not had success with dieting. We have lost and gained 100s of lbs in our lifetime...the band is a tool to help you control your portions and to help you maintain the loss over time. It doesn't do the work for you...I monitor my calories, protein and carbs everyday and exercise 5-6 days a week...but for those of us who couldn't do it alone it is a life saver.

It isn't the "easy" way out like a lot of people think. There is a lot of hard work required to be successful and I would only recommend the surgery to those people who are willing to do the work...otherwise, they are just setting themselves up for another failure.

Okay
I had the lap band surgery in May 2005 I was at my heaviest weight of 283, the band helped me get to 199 with a ton of inches. I went from a size 22 to a 14 in less than 6 months. I didn't diet and ate pretty much what I wanted but its portion control. I am ever so grateful that I had the surgery it basically saved me because I wasn't at a point in my life where I wanted to diet and exercise (borderline diabetic and high blood pressure) I still have blood pressure issues but I'm now on the lowest dosage you can get, no signs of diabetes (thank God)
The surgery is wonderful but the thing is you must follow the rules of having the band, like no soda EVER and when you feel full stop eating and work with the nutritionist. I didn't do those things so my stomach started to stretch after about 3 yrs. Another problem I had was I didn't go back to get fill-ins of saline like I was supposed to, I only had like 3 adjustments. Now I went from 199 to 160 after I relocated and started jogging everyday and walking and watching my diet. I am fine with being 165 if I can ever stay there. I'm battling with the same 30lbs for the last 2 yrs and now I'm using MFP to help me attain my goal of loosing 30lbs. The lap band was a WONDERFUL starting point for me because I couldn't do it on my own but now that I know I can loose the weight, I'm focusing on doing it the regular way. If you ask me if I would have the surgery again and my answer would be YES!!! I never had any problems with my band and I was only off work 5 days and like a previous poster said I was up and walking the same day. Good luck to you, do what you feel is best for you.

Oy, all these people who knew people, you'd think the whole world was banded. I agree with Nancy, Lapband and Gastric Bypass are NOT THE SAME THING! There is no stomach re-routing with the band, it's much less invasive.

Maybe I'm biased.

I was banded 12/20/2010, so almost 9 months, and I've lost 82 lbs thus far. I've exercised, I've eaten well, I've gotten fills (have 5 cc's in my 10 cc band). I'm working my band - much like Vicky!

That being said, my mother is also a bandster - she was banded 12/26/2007 and has put 80% of her weight back on. But she does not and HAS not exercised, she hasn't gotten a fill in years, and eats much more than the average bandster should.

The band is a TOOL - plain and simple. It's not going to be a quick fix for anyone, and if that's what you're looking for... I say look elsewhere.

Be very careful with the lap band surgery idea. There aot of things most people don't thnk about when having this done. I work in surgery and have seen first hand a few of the "unexpected' things. Let me explain.
Once you have the lap band it works very well. Theorhetically it will for life. But what people don't factor in is that the lap band is adjustable. This is both good and bad. Getting to big, tighten the band. Lost too much losen it. But most of the time you will have to have a physician do this for you. Lap bands are closely monitored by the surgeon who applies them.
This is the first bad thing. Why? Because everytime you see a doctor there is a fee. So if you don't have insurance and are saving up (like some people do) you'll be shocked that the 6 or 7 thousand dollar sugery is just the beginning of fees. Monthly can run anywhere from a 125 dollar doctor visit to a 1000 dollar visit running blood test, urinalysis, barium swallows and sometimes x-rays. If you have good insurance and a stable job then your chances of success are much better.
Also you better really like your doctor. Why? Welll because most surgeons that apply these only adjust "their own work" so moving away or not paying a billl isn't a option. Your basically marrying this person for life.
Make sure and pick a doctor that has been in town for a while, has a family and roots in your home town. There are alot of fly by night docs doing this for 2 years in a town and disapearing. Your Doctor needs to be reputable and long standing.
Once everything is taken ito consideration the choice is easy. The good news is after 3 to 6 months if all goes well you can adjust he band yourself. How? Yep by the little strange port attached to your abdomen. You may get hot losing weight but the port is weird to try and explain while out on that date in your new dream land life of being skinny. So think about the process as much as the outcome and you'll make the decision best for you.
I personally had the gastric bypass called a roux-en-y. It is permanent and requires basically no dr visits after a year. I eat everything under the sun 24 hours a day. That why i'm here. I was 250 at surgery, went down to 170 with basiically no effort and after 10 years of eating 24 -7 I'm at 220 again. I'm also 40 a y.o. If you can, get the roux-en-y. If I had followed directions i would be around 140 or 150 perfect for my heighth. But I strayed form the meetings about 1 year out. I also know lots of banding success stories but it takes discipline.
Remember the only way to find real true self dignity is through self denial and time. Ony those two wil make you the person you see in your dreams.

There are a lot of adjustments you need to make both in your eating/exercise life, and your social life.

Going out is interesting these days now that I'm banded. The thing a lot of people don't realize is that there are certain things that you will absolutely have to give up once you're banded. For me the biggest thing is carbonated beverages, I was never big into soda, but beer I miss it so much. Going out to the bar with friends, and such is a little bit more difficult now that I can't consume beer, but I find ways around it, I try mixed drinks without carbonation. This was the hardest adjustment for me, I'm 25 year old guy whose always looking to have a good time.

Other then that I can eat pretty much anything in moderation.

2 people I know Bypass a surgery and One became a heroin addict and the other an alcoholic. They could no longer eat like they wanted, so they replaced their habit with other things. I looked into surgery and if I did everything they asked(which was excersize and eat a low calorie diet), I wouldn't need the surgery to begin with. You may want to investigate an OA or FAA meeting in your area. There are alot of people in the same position(or used to be) that could help you. Fitness Pal has helped me immensely with my weight loss.

I certainly agree! My sister had it done and the things you have to do to prepare you for the surgery which was diet and excerise really beats the point. My sister had it done in May 2011 and I have lost more weight than her in the 60 days of my weight journey than she has.

Happily Banded in August 2007 in Mexico. It's a lot of work learning how to work with an adjustable band, but it was worth every penny, every fill, every unfill, every cup of soup and "mushies", etc.

NEW REPORT: Those of you who have LapBand understand what "lap band hell" means. It's that time period right after surgery when the swelling goes down and you're on solid foods and you feel no resistance. Well, 'they' finally figured out a way around this. A friend of mine is having the surgery in about 4 months and they are doing lap band IN ADDITION to a semi-gastric bypass. However, they are not cutting the stomach out, they are simply stitching it up with stitches that disolve over a period of time (6-9 months?) to give the pt time to adjust thus not having to experience the anxiety of "lap band hell". Pretty cool, huh?!

Lotus, I think what you are describing is banded gastric plication, or lap band with the addition of a stomach plication. I had this done a little over a week ago. However, my stiches will not dissolve in a few months or anytime. My stomach will remain plicated, sort of like a gastric sleeve.

My wife and her sister had the lab band (non-laproscopic, non-adjustable). Both lost a lot of weight and gained it all back. The surgeon told them that most people gain back the weight after three years. They did not receive much in the way of post-surgery support or information on how to maintain their weight loss.

I think the best thing for those considering any weight loss surgery is to commit to a year of consistent diet and exercise first. If after that you still have over 100 lbs to lose, look at adding surgery to your plan.

In that first year you will learn a lot about calories, portion sizes, nutrition, etc., and hopefully experience some measure of success. But most of all, that year will give you a set of habits that will help you maintain whatever weight you lose from the surgery.

I know my wife wishes she had done it like that.