The Band VS Gastric Bypass...What made your decision??

[gonnabethin 10]

Ultimately the choice is yours! I was not candidate for RNY- My dh had RNY has had NO complications, NO dumping, Can eat anything he wants, could get by on sub lingual B12 he prefers the shot. In the event of starvation or huge complications his could be reversed since his stomach is still there just not his main route. YES it is a bigger surgery and Yes the recovery is longer but MOST people do fine. The surgeons prefer the bypass since lots of patients are non-compliant as is true in most of life. The bypass does not require the amount of dedication that the band does, it is more forgiving to weight gain for bad food choices because of the malabsorption. This is a lapband support board and most here will be in favor of lapband, if you go to obesityhelp.com most will be in support of bypass. WLS is a VERY PERSONAL decision not to be entered into lightly by anyone for any of the procedures! ALL have successors and people who do not succeed!!

GOOD LUCK in what ever YOU decide and remember the decision is YOURS!!

[Chickie 15]

In Oz there are few other options. If something happens to your band, then they consider other WLS. But 9 out of 10 surgeons like you to try the band first (other options are the sleeve {my 2nd choice wls} DS, and RNY)

But even if I could have had RNY, ot the DS first, I think I still would have tried the band first.

Tonight when the doc goes over the gastric bypass, tune into words like "rerouting", "malabsorption", "lifetime supplementation", "not reversible", "plastic surgery", "recovery time" etc.

Just to touch on this quickly (because I see it soo often from so many people)

The need for PS is not defined by what surgery you have had, how fast you lost, or if you stood on one foot and hummed the whole time.

It comes down to genetics, how long you were over weight, where you carried your weight and age.

Not what WLS you have had. Bandsters need plastics too.

[jillian 0]

Without a doubt, the simplicity of the surgery and low incidence of complications were the main factors of my choice. But also when I went to my seminar, one thing that helped me to choose the band was the look of the different people who have had the rny or lap band. I'm not sure if it was the lighting or what, but all the people from that seminar that had the rny had sunken in faces and dark circles under their eyes and generally looked not well, despite being skinnier. I know this doesn't happen to everyone, but it had to be 3/4 of the people i saw just at that seminar. I think the slower weightloss swayed me, because I think it cuts down on the excess skin after weightloss, which doesn't mean there will be no hanging skin, but my opinion was that it would be a little less.

[Guest Sew N Sew]

Hey Tired old man! Guess what? tonite on the news they were talikng about a new pill or weight loss! Guess your're not too

far off..... I missesd the segment:confused:

[GeezerSue 7]

I got the band for MOST of the reasons mentioned. I had it removed because it was messing up my esophagus.

No offense to anyone in particular, but I DO wish that people who have NOT lived through banding complications would stop suggesting that it's a piece of cake to just take it out or move onto another surgery...as though the band is totally harmless. It can be harmful.

On another site I frequent, a member (identifying info removed) who was hoping to have a revision to the gastric sleeve wrote this:

I went in last Tuesday to have my eroded band removed and convert to a vertical sleeve with ____. The long and the short of it is the erosion was BAD, the entire band except for the buckle was eroded in to my stomach and parts of my diaphragm, liver and colon were stuck to my stomach. The Dr couldn’t do the sleeve because of all the complications did I say I had a big hole in my stomach, well I did the size of a silver dollar? He had to convert to open after about 2 ½ hours because he just couldn’t get my stomach free from my colon with out getting his hand in there.

We had another person here who lost bloodflow to her stomach...and was facing the possibility of having no stomach at all...from the band.

When YOU are the person living through this crap, it isn't as simple and harmless as it looks from the outside.

Yes, RnY people get the band over the RnY. And banded people revise to the RnY. And band and RnY people revise to the DS...and the DS people? Well, that's one reason I went there the second time around. Percentage-wise, they seem to have fewer revisions.

There are complications with ALL weight loss surgeries. when we choose our surgery, we are simultaneously choosing a set of potential complications. We should help others understand that going in the door.

[shell04937 0]

1) With the lap banding it is reversable.

2) LB Incissions are 5 small vs 1 very long one with GB.

3) LB Day surgery vs. 3 day hospital stay.

4) LB no loss of absorption of needed nutrients vs malnutrition with GB.

5) LB amount of restriction is adjustable vs permanite.

6) My surgeon feels GB is not healthy for a person and would not do any kind of weight loss surgery untill LB came along because he felt the risk were too great with GB.

7) with GB I took care of too many patients being hospitalized because of malnutrition and sever vit deficiensies and way too many other Gastro intestinal complications.

I am being banded on Sept 22 and after coming to this board lost my excitment because of looking at the people with complications. But after thinking about it realized yes they had complications but with their band coming out their problems were fix or getting better. There is not fixing a GB. Every sugery has it's risk and their share of complications with it. It is just a matter of how much your willing to give it a try and what your gutt instinct tells you is right for you....:nervous

[paula 4]

Since I had a history of stomach ulcers, I wanted something reversible.

Plus, I had 3 small kids at home and the problems for band vs bypass ratio was lower... or so I thought.

Great post Sue!

I agree with her, and want to add that even though we hear that the surgery complication rate is low - its the problems that occur AFTER banding that could cause major trouble for us.

[rachele 0]

Just to address some of the issues I see stated here:

Some people want a permenant solution. I lost and regained with the band. Didn't want to go there again.

Not all bypassers have a pouch.

Not all RNYers dump. Some people want the dumping to control the sugar craving. It's all about what you're looking for in a surgery. Not everyone chooses the same car for the same reasons...get it?

Sam is right on with the plastic surgery thing. I don't know if this is a selling point or not, but it's bogus. It doesn't matter if you let the air out of an over inflated balloon fast or slowly, it's still going to be stretched out. Lots of things factor in including ethnics, skin tone, amount of time overweight, amount overweight, genetics....not how fast or how slow.

Another thing about Eastern countries who do this is that they are alot quicker to remove the band and move on to a different surgery when they feel the patient and the band are not a good match.

Lots of surgerys are performed everyday removing diseased parts or parts that are malfunctioning which God has given us. God also gave my surgeon the knowledge and skill to sculpt my stomach back into a shape that was normal instead of 3 times bigger than it should be from years of overeating. I'm not worried about keeping that. People don't point fingers at people who have gallbladders removed, appendix removed, breast reduction because of medical reasons, so I don't understand why it's so horribly wrong to fix what isn't working properly in my own body, to save my life.

Staples are foreign bodies, so I don't understand why a bypass patient would say that, even though I know they do. Pretty lame.

As far as the band or nothing, I just read an article that stated a obese person was 8 times more likely to die from their obesity than if they had wls to lose weight in a set amount of time. If I didn't have a 17 month old and work GM 3rd shift, I'd find it for you. If you want to know, do the search. I don't have the time.

I had my DS laproscopically. I have 5 small incisions. Whether or not you have it Lap or Open depends on your doctors skill and your person medical situation.

gonnabethin- an open mind! Ah, a breath of fresh air!

If I wait for a magic pill, I could die waiting. I had a shitty quality of life at 350 pounds. Yes, I was physically there for my family, but I was not there for my family. I didn't have the right to self destruct anymore. The surgery is statistically safe compared to staying obese, and I was pretty healthy, had a very skilled surgeon and the balls to go for it.

Don't get all bent at my post, but realize that people are different, there are different reasons for choosing the surgery each chooses. Just because ultimately the surgery I have at the end of my journey is not the same as yours, doesn't mean my surgery, or any other surgery besides yours is bad. It doesn't mean your surgery is better than mine, even though I'm sure you think it is, because I know from having both the band and the DS that it is a better surgery for me.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

...even though we hear that the surgery complication rate is low - its the problems that occur AFTER banding that could cause major trouble for us.

But aren't the complications from doing nothing greater? :help:

[Alexandra 55]

The OP asked what made our decision for the band. In my case it was the lesser risk of debilitating complications, immediately postop and on into the future. For me, the primary concern was that I stay healthy, healthy enough to take care of my two small children. I had read way too many stories about bypass issues, and it seemed that even relatively "minor" ones, such as strictures, could easily involve additional procedures or surgeries.

And then looking down the line, I knew it wasn't realistic for me to have to take life-sustaining supplements for the rest of my life. Daily Multivitamins I can handle; it doesn't matter if I miss one or a dozen. But knowing that if I skip a few supplements here and there I might suffer permanent nerve damage? Nope, that's too much pressure.

It is crucial for us to determine which surgery is a good match for us. Banding was, for me, the answer to a lifetime of wishing I had something to help me eat less. That's what I wanted, and that's what it does. It was a perfect match.

And beyond that, when I considered all options available to me, it just seemed to me to make good medical sense to try the least invasive thing first. It's counterintuitive to go right in and change fundamental things about the way my body processes food and nutrients when I hadn't even given eating less a real, long-term try. There's nothing magical about weight loss (or at least, there shouldn't be). Eat less, use more, lose weight. Those are the effects I was looking for, and in the safest possible way. There is just no arguing with the fact that banding is exponentially safer than the more invasive options.

[paula 4]

But aren't the complications from doing nothing greater? :help:

Absolutely!

But my answer was addressing the thread question regarding band vs bypass (or any other WLS).

[lapbander081004 7]

No offense to anyone in particular, but I DO wish that people who have NOT lived through banding complications would stop suggesting that it's a piece of cake to just take it out or move onto another surgery...as though the band is totally harmless. It can be harmful.

.

Sue I can agree with you on this with one exception. Most of us that do not have problems with the band always say its a piece of cake to have it removed. We are talking about under conditions where no complications have arisen. If for some unknown reason I just want it out, it is a simple proceedure to have it removed. But once complications set in I'm sure your correct about it being more difficult depending on the complications.

I have all the same reasons for the lapband that shell04937 posted along with a few other resons. Mostly I wanted the band because even though the food is delayed to the stomach when it gets there it is broken down and absorbed naturally. With the other surgeries supliments are needed and other health problems arise. I have a friend who had the GB and we compare notes all the time. She has many other problems that I do not have related to her surgery.

I relaize we are all different and what may be good for one is not for the other. But I am glad I choose the band.

[GeezerSue 7]

Greg--good point. I never thought of people who wanted the band out "for no reason."

~~~~

The supplement thing kind of pushed a button for me. On the NIH website some moron wrote a blurb that said that DS patients have to "eat special foods" and "take special Vitamins." I wrote them and asked them to DEFINE "special foods," since I'm a native Engish-speaking college graduate with an SAT English score of 740 and I don't know what that means. (Idiots. WTF are "special foods?")

We DO take "special Vitamins, " though. My Multivitamins have a special form of Vitamins A,D, E and K because DS people don't absorb much in the way of fats or oils and those vitamins are usually delivered in an oil base.

Here's my pre- and post-band regime:

daily multivitamins and Calcium, and an occasional Protein bar.

Here's my post-DS regime:

multivitamins and Calcium, and an occasional Protein Drink (maybe two or three times per week.)

While they are absolutely essential--like B-vitamins are to my Mom post-colon cancer surgery--my missing some of these now and then will not send me into some sort of desperate medical condition. It would take sustained deprivation to accrue damage. In fact, I'm probably getting in LOTS more Protein now than I was while banded...back then I had trouble eating meats and eggs and all.

[Randi 0]

In reply to a comment made by Randi.....you are 100% right. I had gastric bypass back in 2002. I started at 325 lbs and got down to 228lbs. I then started gaining. I am back up to my orig. weight. My pouch stretched and the stoma (the opening from the stomach to the intestine) is wide opened. I eat and it immediately leaves the stomach. I am in the process of now getting a lap band to decrease my pouch size. Having revission surgery to make my pouch small again seems too invasive. Dumping, Malabsorbtion are only a few of the side effects. I wish I had done the band from the start.

One question....what is golfballing and pb'ing. I never heard these terms.

Lind2,

Where are you located? I didn't realize that placement of the lapband after gastric bypass was being done in the states.

[beachgirl 2]

I agree, the foreign object thing just doesn't apply. Think about it for a min. Okay, I've got metal and screws and plates in my neck from disc removal, I have fillings, and caps and implants in my teeth, most everyone has some sort of metal from broken bones and stuff. I have 2 neighbors who are sisters who had the GB and BOTH are suffering now from anoxeria and can't control they're bowels and malabsorption and numerous, numerous, problems. I just wasn't ready for that. I knew that the band was reversible and I knew nothing was rerouted and it just made better sense. At day 4 I was sweeping, mopping, doing laundry, and on day 10 went 4 wheeler riding all day long. We also did a catering job Thursday and one of the women there brought up my lap band surgery and she had the GB done 4 years ago and said her complications were horrible. She said she lived on ice chips for 6 solid weeks and like to have died. She is only 5'4 and weighs 199 pounds right now. She said she never made goal and now had stretched her pouch and was slowly gaining. I guess you have to do what's right for you and I feel very comfortable with my decision. Good luck and you'll know in your heart what is best for you.