Hi, Everyone....I think I'll be the contrarian voice here...

[NicoleW8ing 0]

Hi, Kat;

The Bariatric Industry is painting WLS as a "simple" and "safe" procedure, and while most of time it is, sometimes (often,actually) it is NOT.

Do you have statistics to justify the word often?

[letschat 0]

O man I was just banded on Monday and I was soooo nervous and I second guessed myself right up until I went in hopeing I did the right thing. I searched for poor results from the lap band and couldnt find any. I knew there are complications but I never knew of deaths caused by this. Thanks for sharing yor story we all need to know the turth the good and the ugly to make a wise choice if it is for us or not. What were the first signs of something went wrong? I want to know what I need to be looking for. Also, I thought the lap band is completly reversable if need be. Any way I am sorry you are having trouble I belive everything happens for a reason and maybe you were chosen to support those it didnt work out for. I pray my band will be o.k. I dont think I could take another let down.

[egnebs 0]

They say that the band is a tool for you to work with...if you are not willing to work with it and stay away from the liquid calories and at least try to eat healthy foods...then the band is NOT for you.

Im sure the band has saved more people and made more people healthier than not. Nothing in this world is without complications and the band is just a tool that only works as good as its user. Some people have problems, or allergies or other various things that go on such as a doctor not inserting the port correctly or not making sure the tube is connected correctly (it really should be one piece and not able to come apart) or your body just doesnt want foreign things in it..

:thumbup:Personally, my doctor did a fantastic job and Im blessed to have had it done. for all of you with problems with it...I say an extra prayer for you and pray that you will find a way to lose weight that is right for YOU.

[Kat817 19]

I am going to be quite blunt, and it is not meant to begin a battle of the words with you.

IN MY OPINION-------

The key words in your latest post are "Target Audience". This is your path to your 15 minutes of fame. Whether it be Oprah, or an audience here.

Quote "My bottom line is that it DIDN'T work for ME....and the pain and suffering has been enormous. The Bariatric Industry is painting WLS as a "simple" and "safe" procedure, and while most of time it is, sometimes (often,actually) it is NOT. I think that the proliferation of WLS ads on TV, radio, etc, are making people give up TOO fast on finding the power within. The human body is a wonderful, miraculous thing. It was DESIGNED and BUILT to function a certain way. When it is given proper nutrition, rest, exercise, Water, etc, it arrives at it's NORMAL weight. But, our society has manipulated our eating process (processed foods, fast food, junk food, etc) to the point where we have just become bags of fat. I'll have more to say on that issue." Quote

Many of us--by far MOST of us battled with different diets, and multiple attempts to eat healthy. They failed. Have you looked into the percentage of people who lose and maintain the loss of over 20 excess pounds--it is like 5% that manage that!!

Have you considered the fact that with the complications you suffered, you were unable to eat in the way you had become accustomed. For many of us that is key-------an interuption of habit, and the time required to learn new habits. YOU state you did not have the ability nor desire to learn the new habits, saying you could have milkshakes and mashed potatoes. Could you have helped your complications along??? You said you discovered this within a WEEK of being banded!!! My Gosh! I was on liquids for 4 weeks----not overfilling a newly formed pouch.

You say you will have more to say to us--although why us, I don't really know---concerning how you learned to eat properly. The point being.....it did not take a band....you ignored it. It took a LIFE threatening complication, that you possibly brought upon yourself--to wake you up. What leads you to believe that those who are here researching will take heed?

Personally......I would never have handled myself in the manner you describe....so find myself unwilling to "trust" your opinion on other matters. That is not said to be hateful--but your track record on "doing the right thing" is not so great------why should we rely on your experience now?

Kat

[Headhunter 6]

Dreamsize8;

"If the doctor says theres alot of risks doing the surgery and the negitives out way the positives then why the hell is he still doing lap bands?

I dunno..This whole thing seems fishey to me. I had gotten seizures from a diet pill but after I didnt shop around to oprah,Montell or tyra."

As far as my "shopping around" to talk shows, it didn't happen. I worked at a Major Studio for 22 years, the studio where one of the top shows is taped. I know the Staff at the show very well, they have observed what I have gone through....THEY approached me. I am very reluctant to expose what has been a very private issue for me so publicly (I am actually quite shy...), but I just think that people need to know the truth about what CAN happen...and DID happen to me.

As far as the Doctor continuing to perform LB installs, I'm not sure why he still does them, or even IF he still does them. I will ask him and report back. He did state that he STRONGLY encourages patients to NOT have one. It is possible that he gives that patient off to another member of his Med group. I honestly don't know. He may (wisely) recognize that there are SOME people who may die without WLS, and if the LB is their choice, then he won't say no.

One other point I need to make is that if an individual is VERY morbidly obese, and the choice is death or lap-band, then yeah, get the band. It DOES work for MANY people. I just see a trend in the Medical Community now to position WLS as a solution for people who are NOT MORBIDLY obese....they just have a whole bunch of weight to lose. The standard USED to be 150 pounds of excess weight or more. It's now being pushed down to 50.

You are stronger than you think. I struggled with nearly 300 EXTRA pounds of weight for MOST of my life. I thought WLS was going to be the answer. It wasn't. I found another way.

David

PS: and Tyra Banks??? Plueeez....I wouldn't Touch her with a 10-foot curling iron!

[neveragain 9]

HeadHunter, I'm sorry, but I smell bullshit. You are pretty well educated on the subject, I'll give you that, but there are some things that just don't mix. Either that or you're just not a brilliant Lap Band patient.

Do complications happen? Absolutely they do. It's surgery. Sometimes the body won't like it. It's absolutely possible for surgeons to make mistakes, too, and they do happen. Keep in mind that it is possible for a patient to screw it up, too. Especially when things are SHOVED down. Complications can quickly arise after that, especially when you're not too far out post-op.

Now, statistically, complication rates are AMAZINGLY small because of the minimal invasive nature of this surgery to begin with. The long term complications are almost NEVER because of the surgeons. If they are going to happen, it's most likely going to be within a couple of weeks post-op. They are predominantly because we are idiots with food and eat too much too fast or shove stuff down.

Look, I don't want to sound like I'm a raving a-hole, but I can't help it. There's no way in hell that the band is going to go away in five years. The success rates have been amazingly high, the complication rates have been remarkably low, and so have the death rates. We're talking sub-.05%, and that's the higher number I have come across over the year I've had it.

Providing that this really happened, I'm really sorry to hear about the pain and suffering you've gone through, I really am. Here's my thing, though. You can't just come in here with an amazingly huge vibe that screams anti-band and not have people question whether it really happened or not. Especially, my friend, when certain things don't mix and your answers are kind of spotty.

I'm not going to start a huge argument with you over this, but I will tell you that until you come up with something a little better, more disclosed, and more accurate, I don't buy it. Plus, had I not gotten a vibe from the very beginning, I wouldn't have said anything. Oh, and that doctor sounds like it was a bad decision to go with in the first place...

[StarbuxQueen 0]

David,

That sounds so horrific!

For me lap band was a huge decision. My husband and I had been researching gastric bypass. We never felt comfortable with gastric bypass . We then had a friend have lap band surgery. We watched her recovery and weight loss and started our own research. With much time and prayer we made the decision. Then of course, there was the time that my insurance co and dr. required.

For me and many others it is a very scarey and serious decision. I appreciate your post because I have met people while I was in my process that decided to have lap band and within a month or so-HAD IT! Some of them with many problems.

It really is a life changing decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. I pray that I never have any serious problems but I did understand the risks.

I just pray that you will recover quickly and fully! The very best of luck to you.

DEE

[Enchanted 2]

Target audience, talk show, lawsuit -- wait...where is the book deal?

Sensationalism is all this is about.

-Christine

[Gone4Now 4]

How does something burrow it's way into the colon and you not feel it?

How long did you go with no restriction, and why didn't you consult your doctor when you lost restriction suddenly?

What kind of band did you have, when was in installed?

And, why were you drinking several chocolate shakes a day? If you could barely get down a piece of steak (which I was told to stay away from the first year) or other Protein, then you were too tight.

Were you not given proper instruction? Who are you planning on suing?

[Gone4Now 4]

Target audience, talk show, lawsuit -- wait...where is the book deal?

Sensationalism is all this is about.

-Christine

I agree.

After all, this is an ELECTIVE surgery. If things went wrong, then you knew that going into it.

I feel badly for him that he's going through this, but I think this answers whether or not our members should be eating pizza in week one.

[JustinsMama 1]

Am I the only one that has the feeling that everytime he says "more on that subject later..." or "more to come later..." is setting us up to try to buy something from him?

I mean he keeps stating more or less how he's finally figured out the secret to weight loss without surgery and keeping it off but more on that later (Where you can buy my whole program for just $99.99/month!)

I sure hope this is a farce and you're not facing possible death from surgery complications in a month. If you are so concerned about everyone here and future lapband patients - come clean with the whole story and all the details now, not anymore of this - more to come later crap.

[Daisalana 33]

Kat pretty much summed up my feelings (you do that so well and so much more eloquently).

But I wanted to point this out....

Last year, he performed over 600 Bariatric surgeries. MANY of them were Lap Band REPAIRS. He is the "go-to" guy for Lap Band mishaps

Now if this guy is really the 'go-to' guy for lap band mishaps, and only some portion of 600 were Lap Band repairs, that is actually a really small statistic. And that doesn't mean they were Lap Band removals. Hell, I had a Lap Band 'repair'. Just means my port sucks and I have bad luck, but it was fixed and I'm not a candidate to sue anyone over it, and I consider myself a Lap Band success.

I think where you decided to post this was in extremely poor taste, any mods care to move it along to complications? I for one, never opened the complications thread until post-op. I didn't want anything psyching me out. (Edited: I see I see :crying:) )

I knew the major complications, and let it go. I couldn't spend time worrying about 'what-ifs' when my health problems were immediate.

[Ariel 1]

How about some details. Doctors and hospital's names, when you had the surgery and where it was done. All of this more to come later is weird, stop leading us on.

[Kat817 19]

Thanks mods for the appropriate move!!!

Kat

[Ang1982 4]

I'm sorry but after reading all of your posts and responses to people. I'm going to have to call bullshit too. If this really did happen to you (which at this point I highly doubt it did) I'm sorry that you are going through this. And if I am correct in my feelings/instincts (as other people are feeling as well) SHAME on you for posting such total and under CRAP on a forum like this.

Oh, and I want to see this port sticking out of your belly in a picture - because you can bet your butt that if that happened to 98% of the Lapband public they would be photographing that like mad. So go on, show us.