My Daughter needs Lap Band Surgery!!!

[alenzini 0]

My Daughter needs Lap Band surgery she is 16.5 years old and is 170 pound overweight. We have spent thousands of dollars on personal trainers and dietians and nothing has worked. If any one has a similar situation with names of doctors in the St. Louis Missouri area. It would be greatly appreciated for a referral from some one that has went through this procedure.

[leepizz 0]

My daughter is also 16.5 and is getting lapbanded on 7/8 she is 120 lbs overweight. We have spend thousands of dollars for 2 summers and a sleep away camp in NY. Only for her to lose weight and gain it back plus. Gym memberships, diets, personnal trainers. I feel your pain. I am also going to get banded next tuesday. I don't need it as much as she does but I have struggled all my adult life being overweight. I need to lose about 80lbs. I am taking this new life with her so we can both get healthy. I hope you find a dr. I found a wonderful one in NY. I am scared and anxious for this to happen but the reality has hit hard for daughter this year and she will start the school year off with some weight loss from the summer.

[picturemethin 0]

How tall is your daughter? if she is taller than 4'11" no doctor in the US will do the surgery, because her BMI would not be over 40 (healthy) 35 (with a co morbidity)that is really sad, you need to be careful to not dump on your precious childs spirits. I wish I weighed 170 lbs when I was 16.

[alenzini 0]

My daughter has also went to summer camps she went to Tony Sparber in the pocono mountains. Maybe they went to the same camp? How hard is it find doctors that well do this surgery on a teenager?

[alenzini 0]

No my daughter is 5'7" and weighs 280 pounds. I mean't to say she is 170 pounds overweight.

[leepizz 0]

My daughter went to camp Shane. She is 5'7" tall is about 260. Her BMI is 44 and she is insulin resistant and is on Mediform. She needs this surgery. I went to a free seminar with her and the doughter aid he would do her. There is a Dr. in Columbia University in NYC that wouold do her but didn't take my insurance . He is a Ped. doctor. Dr. Jeff Zitsman. Maybe he can refer you to someone by you!

[Hastings 3]

It might be a good idea to also get your daughters some therapy to help them deal with food issues . . .

Just a suggestion.

[want2beme 2]

I think its awesome that you would do this for your daughter. Yes, there are doctors who will do the surgery on a minor... you just have to do your research. You are such a cool mom! I wish my mom would have helped me at a young age. Instead she just fed me like it was my last supper. Way to go!

PS - I remember seeing a video on this site regarding a 14 year old who had lap-band. It was a news station interviewing the girl and her monther. Maybe look under "news stories" on this site and find it....

Good Luck!

[Lori in Cali 0]

Your daughter is well within the guidelines that physicians look for when performing weight loss surgery on teens. If you can help her now - great.

Here's a couple news articles:

Lap Band Surgery Helps Bremerton Girl Be 'The Kid I Want To Be' : Top Stories : Kitsap Sun

Lap band surgery effective in combating obesity in adolescents

The top article is about a young girl in New jersey who went to Mexico with her mom and Dr. Ariel Ortiz did the surgery. At his website, he has the story of Cassie - a young teen he performed surgery on who has turned out to be quite a glamorous young lady - as well as, effective spokesperson. Here's an interview with him I have posted on my site. My apologies for the blog pimping:

YouTube interview with Dr. Ariel Ortiz

I think Dr. Van Wagner does some teens, but I don't remember the full story. I do know that he has smart people who answer the phone and answer your questions very directly. He has some videos up online. You can get a real sense of whether he someone you're interested in. He's the only physician in the practice, so you always see him. He does all the adjustments and follow up care for his patients. It's small and personal.

Heart of America Bariatrics, LLC Video Website

Best of luck. I think you're doing a wonderful thing for your daughter. Set that child free and let her be the young woman she really wants to be. This forum has a sub-forum for teenagers, so she can communicate with other teens.

[mswonderful 0]

My grandson had gastric sleeve at Columbia<Mo 08/2007, he was 15 now hs is 16 as of March 2008. He has lost from 400 to 230 in this time period and it has been an incredible journey with him. He has been big since a toddler and nothing we did helped. We had a hard time finding a doctor to do teen but Columbia worked with us and it took a few month, tests, couseling etc to make sure he was mature enough to handle and understand that this was a lifelong decision but it has been worth it and he is so happy. Good luck

[jjsmiles 3]

I guess one of the things I need to "weigh" in on - does your daughter WANT the lapband? I know that I was obese in my teen years, but I was also extremely passive aggressive when it came to diet and food. When people told me that I needed to do something about my weight or tried to force me to diet, I always found a way to sabotage all efforts. I didn't want to be fat, but I wasn't capable, mentally, of allowing someone to help me until I was ready to seek help. Part of that is typical teenage behaviour and part of it was my very dysfunctional relationship with food and myself.

If your child has not started to deal with some of the issues that led her to 280 pounds and actually embraced the band as a tool to help her, it will not be successful. The band is not a miracle to "make" someone lose weight. Even if you get to proper restriction, most bandsters find they can still eat the food that was their weakness very easily (i.e potato chips, chocolate and ice cream). The band is a tool and you must follow the rules in order to lose the weight.

I have read people who post that they see the band as more of a maintenance tool rather than a weight loss tool and I totally agree. I am losing weight by eating 1000 calories a day and exercising a great deal. The band helps me to stay satisfied for longer, but it doesn't stop me from eating foods that made me obese in the first place. The band is helping to retrain my eating patterns, but if I don't want to change, or I am not ready to change, it will not work.

I totally agree with the poster who suggested therapy for your daughter, whether that helps to lead to the band or not. This is a huge decision, that needs to be her decision, with her full awareness, knowledge and consent.

Good luck!

[JohnC 31]

I had my surgery performed by Dr. Roger DE La Torre at DuPaul hospital. He was one of the first Drs. to begin doing the lapband in test studies in 1998. Not sure about the age limit but you could call the Dupaul weight Loss center to ask at 314-344-6800. good luck

[SanDiegoPhotog 0]

I guess one of the things I need to "weigh" in on - does your daughter WANT the Lap Band? I know that I was obese in my teen years, but I was also extremely passive aggressive when it came to diet and food. When people told me that I needed to do something about my weight or tried to force me to diet, I always found a way to sabotage all efforts. I didn't want to be fat, but I wasn't capable, mentally, of allowing someone to help me until I was ready to seek help. Part of that is typical teenage behaviour and part of it was my very dysfunctional relationship with food and myself.

If your child has not started to deal with some of the issues that led her to 280 pounds and actually embraced the band as a tool to help her, it will not be successful. The band is not a miracle to "make" someone lose weight. Even if you get to proper restriction, most bandsters find they can still eat the food that was their weakness very easily (i.e potato chips, chocolate and ice cream). The band is a tool and you must follow the rules in order to lose the weight.

I have read people who post that they see the band as more of a maintenance tool rather than a weight loss tool and I totally agree. I am losing weight by eating 1000 calories a day and exercising a great deal. The band helps me to stay satisfied for longer, but it doesn't stop me from eating foods that made me obese in the first place. The band is helping to retrain my eating patterns, but if I don't want to change, or I am not ready to change, it will not work.

I totally agree with the poster who suggested therapy for your daughter, whether that helps to lead to the band or not. This is a huge decision, that needs to be her decision, with her full awareness, knowledge and consent.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for posting this because it was my thoughts exactly. My mom thought she knew what was best for me when I was a teen, too, but everytime she put me on Jenny Craig or dragged me to Weight Watchers it made me resent my mom even more because in my stubborn teenage mind, I didn't see her assistance as wanting to help me, but rather as "just one more way in which mom wasn't satisfied with me as her daughter." I was convinced my mom would only love me if I was "perfect" and since I wasn't perfect, she couldn't love me . . . and her efforts to make me lose weight or better myself only made me feel worse about myself and more depressed. Granted, we had a rocky relationship and I'm not AT ALL saying that you and your daughter do too . . . by any means . . .

But I guess I am saying: "Tread lightly." Be careful when determining whether or not she really wants your advice or wants your help.

And it is so, so true. The band alone will not make her lose weight. My friend was connviced that her mom needed the band, too, so she helped her mom get one. She hasn't lost a single pound. It wasn't what MOM wanted.

I do think it's cool that you want to do well by your daughter . . . but it really needs to be her decision.

Just my two cents . . . .

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

I agree 100% with SanDiego. Just because she gets surgery does NOT mean she will loose weight. She has to want to do it and be willing to do the work. It isn't like the bypass where if you eat bad foods they just get sick. We can tolerate bad foods better than good foods sometimes and we have to make good food choices. We also have to committ to exercise and a new life. It isn't black and white, it takes a lot of work.

She needs to want to have the surgery and be 110% committed to it. Just because she gets it doesn't mean she will loose weight. Does she want it because you want her to want it or does she want it FOR HER? That is the only way it will work!

Good luck to her and you! :sad:

[princesstracey 1]

Im sorry Mom...you might be part of your daughters problem!

If she is 5'7, there is NO WAY she is 170 lbs overweight. You expect her to be 110 lbs? She should weight about 145 lbs, which is 125 lbs overweight, heavy, but NOT 110 lbs.

Please love and support her. I hope she doesnt know your on the website telling strangers about her. I feel bad for your daughter. Good luck to her, and I really hope your more supportive than you sound.

PS-No doctor will give the surgery to a 16 year old, except in Mexico.