Loreen

Hello...had mine removed in October. I think I was in the OR for about an hour, if even that....and the surgeon used the same laparoscopic incisions he did as when he put the band in. I took a week off work afterward, and I just felt sore, a little like I'd been beaten up in the abdomen for a few days. I didn't have the bad swelling, however. I didn't even really need the pain medication that the surgeon had given me a prescription for, only a couple of the pills, and I think the rest of the time I just used Tylenol and rested. No biggie. Good luck.

Sorry for taking so long to answer your question.....I only recently logged back in after a couple-month hiatus! I had my band removed in mid October. I have lost a few more pounds since then and have maintained the loss pretty steadily, even through the holidays and a cruise we just went on....but also, I am on a medication (Topamax) that takes away a lot of the old appetite I used to have, so I'm probably not your textbook case to be studying! I wish you luck in your endeavor. I trust you've had yours out by now?

I had it taken out because I wanted it taken out, not because of any slippage---just because of personal intolerance to the restriction of food passage and PBing, even with it being unfilled for the last year and a half or greater.....

I had my band removed about a month ago. I was given no special diet and could eat whatever I wanted right away.....my old stomach was back with no problems.

Well, I'm three weeks out from having my Lapband removed. My scars have all healed. I'm thrilled to have my whole stomach back again and to be able to eat, say, a roll before anything else on my plate and to drink along WITH my food.....but I can't STAND the full-stomach feeling I get if I eat too much at one sitting--I avoid that at all costs. The Topamax I'm taking still has me on a decreased-appetite ride that makes me shun food after a few bites, for the most part. After three weeks with the Lapband out, I have lost 4 more pounds. I am now one pound beneath my lowest weight of having the Lapband......and I haven't PB'd in SO long! Still happy with my choice so far. :clap2:

Wow.....came on this site and was surprised to see my name on a thread I'd started back in May regarding this subject of contemplating having my band out......I didn't even remember doing so back then! It must have been an impulse decision, that's all I can say. It was fun to read all of your responses, anyway. As for an update, I did get the LapBand removed just a week ago. I feel great! The procedure took less than an hour and was outpatient--they even gave me my LapBand in a specimen cup as a souvenir (I think my insurance originally paid thousands of dollars for the little lovely thing, so I should probably hang it from my rear-view mirror in my car or something--ha!) As an aside, one reason for actually going ahead and deciding to have it removed was that I was put on a new medication back in May, Topamax (to treat migraines and epilepsy), which as a side effect causes appetite suppression....and I have lost 23 pounds since July just as an effect of being on this new medication and not having the DESIRE to eat. So, when I actually had food in front of me that I wanted to eat, I did not need the PHYSICAL barrier of the LapBand to STOP me from eating more than four bites of the said food--my poor body needed the nutrition! Also, on The Inamed web site, I came across the contraindications for the LapBand, and it stated that one of the contraindications for having the LapBand in the first place was if you or someone in your immediate family had lupus or even symptoms of lupus, that you would not be a candidate for the LapBand---well, guess what? My daughter was just diagnosed this year with lupus after 2-1/2 years of being misdiagnosed, so that concerned me enough to say 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH--I WANT THE LAPBAND OUT, NOW!" My LapBand surgeon still did not really want to take it out--he would rather have converted me last week to the gastric sleeve, which he seems to have had a lot of success with. He still is of the opinion that I am going to gain all of my weight back (I have lost approximately 55 pounds total with the band total since having it placed). He says that either "we made a mistake when we put the band in, or we're making a mistake now by taking it out, which is it?" I don't know--I think it had its place for a time, and I'm grateful for the 55 pounds I lost with it, but I'm just in a different place now and I want to lose the other 30 pounds I have to lose with the Topamax medication and the appetite suppression it offers.....I don't want any more drastic surgery......I just don't. The LapBand was as drastic as it gets. And you know what? I still look at menus and think like a Bandster....."Oh, I can't have that....oh, wait a minute, I can!!" But I still tend to eat around crusts and buns, etc., just out of habit! It is amazing, though, that I have my stomach back entirely, and there is NO FIGHTING whatsoever with my food and no "golfball feeling in the chest" like when food would get stuck and I used to have to go PB it back up just for comfort's sake! And you know what? I have lost 2 more pounds since my surgery a week ago, just by getting to eat healthy things like chicken and steak again, in portions more than just a couple of bites and without being slathered in gravy and cheese in order to go through the band. I am happy with my decision.

I already have my band unfilled, and I still feel a restriction there. I PB'd from a half a hamburger without a bun today at lunchtime--it gets old. I don't want to start over again with fills....even 0.5 cc when I tried it one time over a year ago made a ridiculous difference in how much LESS I could eat before having to PB. It's just not good to be social/in public and have to run to a bathroom with a "deer in the headlights" look on your face, ya know? :-)

That is what my surgeon, Dr. Pleatman, has suggested for me via e-mail. I have done some research on the Internet about it.....but again, my current insurance coverage doesn't cover procedures for obesity, so I am cautious about going further in debt over this remaining weight I carry. I am leaning toward just wanting the band OUT and forgetting any other invasive procedure, for pretty much financial reasons at the moment. If my insurance covered it, I might be more apt to give it a try. Unfortunately, as you in the business know, insurances RULE. Thank you for your reply, though.

Thanks for your replies, everyone! As of last night, I even e-mailed my Lapband doctor (out of town) and asked him if he would go ahead and schedule me for the band removal, and I could then come to see him for a preop appointment just before the surgery and could maybe save a trip (with gas at $3.50 a gallon--ugh) that way. We'll see what he says. He, in the past, has usually tried to talk me into a conversion to a Roux-en-Y, but I just have never wanted to go that drastic of a route, plus my insurance doesn't cover the obesity procedures anymore. I just think those that have the Roux-en-Y, for the most part, look emaciated and pale, and I don't want to go there. I guess I'll battle the rest of my obesity myself....I have for the first 37 years of my life! I just want it OUT.

Hello: I am new here. I had the band put in in June 2003 in Michigan by Dr. Mark Pleatman......the fills were never that comfortable to me (my sister called the LapBand "forced bulimia," as all I was ever doing was PBing after one-too-many (but really few) bites!). To make a long story, short, I lost about 50 pounds in that first year of about 90-100 that I wanted to lose, or roughly half. About 15 months after I had the procedure, I wanted to take a "break" from all of the golfball-feeling discomfort after eating anything other than soft foods, so I had a complete unfill. Around that same time, I also accepted a position doing home transcription in which I get NO EXERCISE in the course of my day....and I have now put on approximately 18 pounds from my all-time LapBand low. I am very tired of the LapBand and did not understand when I had it done, as my doctor now tells me, that he has found that most people only lose about half the weight they wanted to after having the LapBand. I am seriously considering having it removed, because....call me silly, I dream of being able to eat HEALTHILY again, if only given the chance.... of being able to eat a whole piece of healthy Protein, be it steak, chicken, etc. and vegetables, without my food being doused with grease in order to go down through the band and not "fight" it, only to have me PB the food later, as is the case now. I want to try to lose this last 50 pounds by just being ABLE to eat right, which I am unable to at the moment, even with it being unfilled...there is still a restriction there that I can still definitely feel with certain foods. I am tired of sticking to all liquidy, greasy foods in the name of LapBand compatibility, and I don't think that this is the healthiest way for me to go. I want the opportunity now to prove I can do the rest on my own. Trouble is, I have switched insurance carriers since I had the procedure four years ago, and the new carrier won't cover anything related to morbid obesity procedures (but they'll cover sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension, etc.....don't GET me started!). I have already talked it over with my Lapband doctor in the past, and through an arrangement for self-pay patients with the hospital, it would cost approximately $5000 for everything to have it removed once and for all. Considering I initially had to pay a $2000 one -year "program fee" with my doctor for fills, nutritional support, etc. after I first had it put in and also $1000 or so for a plan deductible when I had my procedure, the 50 pounds I initially lost will end up having cost me more than $8000, with extra in gas to get to my doctor out of town for each visit. Ugh! Although my doctor says it's not so, I also can't help but think that the longer the band stays around the stomach, the more the chance for problems or worse adhesions down the road. There is this little voice in the back of my mind saying, "Get it Out! Get it Out!" Am I crazy for even thinking of paying this $5000 to have it taken out?