Hello, I am a medical/surgical specialist for over 25 years. I am sorry that you are having trouble with this procedure. There are successes, but I see too many patients in my practice that have been disappointed with the results. Personally, I prefer a different approach. While I appreciate the efforts on the surgical community to bring innovative procedures to the forefront, I am not impressed with the basic philosophy or the overall results of lap-banding. The problem with obesity is much broader in scope than simple lap-banding and giving basic instruction on eating and exercise habits. Don't be discouraged about the failure, but look at it as an opportunity to succeed, albeit perhaps by another method. When your "toolbox" of knowledge is full, then you can go forward with enthusiasm and success. However, if you have not been taught the highly researched reasons that obesity is at near epidemic levels, then when lap-banding and basic education and exercise do not work, you get discourage and you ask the question, "what is the matter with me?" Well, the truth is, there is nothing wrong with you. The problem has to do more with external factors that influence every aspect of your life. For example, why can a T-bone steak in one hand be one of the worst foods you can put into your body, and a T-bone steak in the other hand be one of the better foods that you can consume. What is the difference? Or why is over 90% of what you buy at the grocery store harmful to you and will contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, caner, and other major diseases. I recently worked with a group of Type 2 diabetics and got most of them off their diabetic, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol medications in three months. This is much too exhaustive to discuss here, but you can feel free to email me at drtomreed@earthlink.net for a more detailed discussion. Please be encouraged!
