Lap band versus sleeve...anyone have thoughts for me?

[lhousand 0]

Hi everyone,

I just joined tonight.

I meet with my surgeon today and he asked me to attend an orientation that discusses the three bariatric surgery options: lap-band, sleeve and bypass. I know that I do not want the bypass because it is too invasive. Did anyone consider the sleeve before banding? I was sure about getting the band until I talked to him today. He said that he has complaints that those that have been banded are continually hungry and are not happy. Do you agree?

I am attending the orientation on Monday, but would like anyone's feedback if you get a chance...

Thanks for your support!

Linda

261/261/135:confused:

[Jachut 487]

I dont know an awful lot about the sleeve and the band has worked fantastically well for me.

BUT - if I were in the US and coping with the insane medical system you have, I would be very very strongly leaning towards a sleeve due to less intensive aftercare.

Here, if you need a fill, you get it, it costs nothing, if you get a bit tight, you go back, you get a bit out, it still costs nothing, and if the following week you decide you really WERENT too tight, then you go back and it costs nothing. The surgeon is a few suburbs away, you dont have to fly interestate or out of the country, if you get banded by one surgeon and then move, you wont have another surgeon refusing to treat you because you werent originally his patient, etc etc etc.

Sleeves are becoming more popular in Western Australia because its a simply ENORMOUS state and people are coming from very remote rural areas for banding. The less follow up required, the easier.

When the band works well, it works very very well. YOu need to consider your strenghts and weaknesses. You need a fair bit of mettle to work a band and lose weight really successfully. You need to be preapred to eat right, to exercise, etc. Basically you have to do whatever you would have to lose weight before hand, it just makes it easier. Which I would hazard a guess to say that is true of ANY weight loss surgery. The band CAN be very difficult for some people and they struggle to find good restriction etc.

That would be my thinking if I lived in your country.

Other than that I cant comment. I am banded and it's suited me really really well, but obviously its super duper easy to manage a lapband and the required aftercare here.

I dont think reversibility is such an issue really, not from my perspective three years down the track. I needed WLS to get the weight off and I need my band to keep it off. I would never in a million years remove it unless absolutely necessary and THEN I would convert to another surgery in a heartbeat. So yeah, that wouldnt be a huge issue to me.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Jachut

[RestlessMonkey 7]

The sleeve is also invasive. It cuts up your stomach. And fyi there ARE more than 3 types of bariatric surgery; maybe he just does 3, or something. There's the duodenal switch (VERY high success rate), Vertically banded gastroplasty...others.

I wanted something reversible if necessary. I didn't want my insides cut up. And 3 years out, loss rates for bypass and band are comparable (in Australia, anyway!)

Each person has to pick the right path for him/her, but I wouldn't want a surgeon to push me into one.

They all have pros and cons.

[MacMadame 81]

I started out thinking I would get a band, but I also thought my only choices were band or bypass. I didn't want bypass because it increased the risk of becoming sicker from having the surgery than I was from being obese. I like the idea of the band because, if I started getting very sick from it, I could take it out.

Then, as I did more research, I realized a couple of things. First, all WLS is permanent. The band puts scars on your stomach. You need to keep it in if you want to maintain your weight loss. Second, the only reasons people were getting their bands out is because the band was turning on them... they had slippage or erosion or an infection or esophageal spasms or some other problem that they never would have had if they hadn't had a band.

This made me more open to the sleeve even though it is permanent and it's not adjustable. In the end, I decided to get a sleeve.

The sleeve fits my food issues better than the band. My big issue has always been hunger due to ghrelin and the sleeve removes the part of the stomach that produces ghrelin. (There is no ghrelin reduction with a band or bypass.) The hunger reduction is more "sure" than that for the band because there is no requirement to get to the sweet spot. It also allows me to eat more types of food because there is no stoma for food to get stuck in. After care is no problem... if I can't get it from my surgeon, I can get if from my PCP. Excess weight loss is better too. The long-term complication rate is much better and that was the thing that sealed the deal for me.

If you want to learn more about the sleeve, there is a VSG section on LapBandTalk. Come by and you can hear from several sleevesters. Plus I've got a thread with a bunch of links to research on the VSG that you might be interested in.