Words of discouragement from primary care doc

[chic28 0]

Hi Everyone,

I was banded on July 30th and recently spoke with my primary care doctor, who by the way was the one that recommended the surgery. I am down 15 pounds since surgery but even with that my doctor keeps mentioning that he hasn't seen a lot of success with the lap band. One of the nurses said something similar to me the week before my surgery. I find that highly discouraging not only because he is a physician that is saying this but because of the fact that he recommended it and is now basically making me think that it would be a miracle if it actually worked. Has anyone else had this experience?:smile2:

[Hollie519 1]

That is really sad that you have a doctor who would admit that to you. Let me tell you, my doctor has done so mnay lap band surgeries and has a huge success rate. Before he was in California, he was in Chicago and did the lap band there as well. I'm very sorry your doctor is acting this way toward you. One of the doctors I saw for the screening also said he didn't believe in the lap band. I was also discouraged. After seeing my own results, I know I made the right decision.

Just take your doctors negativity as insentive to prove him wrong. You can do it. 15 pounds already! Congrats. Don't ever discredit yourself. Not even for 1 pound. You've earned every bit of it. Keep it up.

[jbperry21 1]

You should say something to your doctor about his lack of support. And if he can't be supportive in your decisoin and his recommendation, you should look into finding another doctor. I had the same kind of issue with my doctor and I said something to him and filed a complaint with the program because it's completely unprofessional.

[RestlessMonkey 7]

No. but surely you know from reading this board, the band works if you work it. If you eat around it, it doesn't. It's simple. If you're pleased with your weight loss, ignore his negative vibe.

[lessnless 1]

My PCP wanted to know when I was having it removed! Like it's a diet and I'm done now, so why would I want this restriction for the rest of my life?!?! He IS happy with my test results (glucose levels, cholesterol, etc.), but he isn't a WLS fan.

My LapBand Dr. on the other hand, HAS a LapBand and has lost a lot of weight with it. You'd never know to look at him that he ever had a weight problem, which is one of the reasons I considered the surgery.

If I'd waited for a consensus from everyone in my life, I'd still be fat, achy, and tired all the time.:smile2::scared2:

[thughes113 0]

First off, I personally think your doctor is a butt-head. Any weight loss is commendable! And, 15 pounds in less than a month I think is fantastic. You have yet to get your first fill, right?

Keep up the good work.

[Blaze21 5]

My primary care doctor also recommended the lapband for me. It wasn't until after I had the surgery that he told me that he doesn't think I will lose more than 50 lbs. He says that it's a fact. I don't pay him any mind. I'm down about 30 lbs now and climbing.

[Donna113 2]

Hi Everyone,

I was banded on July 30th and recently spoke with my primary care doctor, who by the way was the one that recommended the surgery. I am down 15 pounds since surgery but even with that my doctor keeps mentioning that he hasn't seen a lot of success with the lap band. One of the nurses said something similar to me the week before my surgery. I find that highly discouraging not only because he is a physician that is saying this but because of the fact that he recommended it and is now basically making me think that it would be a miracle if it actually worked. Has anyone else had this experience?:tt2:

Depends on what you define as success. I think many people on here are the ones that are working the band fully and getting good results. I also think there are many who have been banded and didn't get good results so naturally they avoid forums like this and anything to do with band that reminds them of their "failure". My doctor said (he's performed over 5,000 of them and was one of the few who worked with the FDA trials to get it approved in the USA) he considers success to be 50% loss of exccess weight. So, if you have 100 lbs to lose and you lose 50, then you are considered a success for purposes of the lap band. I don't consider 50% loss of excess weight a success so I plan on working with the band for the rest of my life to take it off and keep it off. I WILL BE A SUCCESS on my own terms and definitions.

[Juliana 0]

Hi Chic28!!!!

Everyone has given you such excellent input, but i completely understand what you are going through..

My primary care physician was against me having the surgery. She is against WLS in general. She says if i don't change my brain, it doesn't matter what we do to my stomach. I love her, respected her opinion, and she supported me, just was against it. She now tells me how great i am doing and she has recommended this to a couple of her patients now...I changed her mind about this :tt2:

Now, my surgeon, ....i respect him also, but he told me from the beginning that he thought i needed the bypass and most of his band patients don't do well. He did not do bands until a few years ago. He prefers his patients have the bypass. He did not think i would succeed with the band and i would have to be very disciplined. I just use his words to prove him wrong :thumbup: I am doing well with my band and i keep his words in my head and can't wait until next year when i really have proved him wrong... He is very happy with my weight loss and does tell me this in the office. I think they tell us this to keep us on the right track sometimes.. It's not nice, and not encouraging, but I know i can do this and be successful.

Just hang in there honey, and prove your doctor wrong!!! You can do it.. Just don't get discouraged.

We are all in this together!!

[AirKuhl 1]

Oh man, I hope my doc says something like that to me. I can't think of anything that would give me more motivation than that. :tt2:

[chic28 0]

Actually my surgeon told me the same thing about the bypass. When I asked him point blank which he preferred he said the bypass but I felt like that was too drastic for me. I also felt that I had the will but just needed a little help.

[GRANNIE JENNI 0]

15 lbs. is a good start. i also had my surgery on july 30th and have lost 26 lbs. but i am so sick of being asked everyday how much have you lost now? cripes give it a chance!!! if we can lose 8 lbs per month that will be 70 or so by next year. do it slow and correctly eat healthy!!! i love new healthy food reciepes. the band is not a miracle we also have to do our part and change our eating. take care jenni

[Hollie519 1]

it sucks when too many people ask you how much you have lost. Around the holidays, when all the family was in town and we were going to all kinds of christmas parties, i got asked a lot. It actually made me discouraged because i felt like i was saying the same number too many times.

That's how i learned to not discredit myself. Every pounds is a big deal.

[Donna113 2]

People do expect WLS to be miraculous thanks to all the coverage gastric by-pass has received and practically nil on lap band. That's why I always feel like I have to explain why I've only lost 13/14 lbs in 6 weeks. People expect 30 to 50. Sigh... can't please everyone so I'm just giong to try and please myself.

BTW, my doctor performs both bypass and lap band. He said he had no interest in pushing people in one direction over the other. Although he said this, I definitely felt he preferred lap band over bypass but I may have just read that into his demeanor because I was determined to have lap band. The bypass scares me way too much. Mortality rate is 1 out of every 50 patients.

Edited August 28, 2008 by Dionna113

[HeatherO 7]

Doctors are so different, I guess I am not surprised that some feel that way. My pcp was absolutely against wls for me. It wasn't a matter of weight, it was that I should be able to do it on my own.

There are plenty of people that fail with a lapband, and plenty of people that succeed. Even if the average loss is 50%, I am absolutely sure it is much, much higher for those who are compliant and really work the program, do the exercise and work on changing the mindset that got them there in the first place. You get out of it what you put into it.