I am anxious for my surgery but I am unusually nervous. When i had my hysterectomy i didnt get even a little nervous. but this... i am just very nervous and SURE something is going to go wrong. Somebody say something to me to change my way of thinking on this, please.

I'm sorry, but I can't say anything to change your way of thinking because I totally agree with you.  I went into surgery thinking that it was going to change my life for the better. I couldn't have imagined how wrong I was. Getting the band was the worst decision I EVER made. I really hate to see others going down the same road, quite honestly. It hurts my heart. 

There's still time to change your mind. Maybe your gut is telling you that the band is a bad choice and that's why you're so nervous. 

 

I am so sorry you had a bad experience. BUT it doesnt work for everybody. I am willing to take the chance, because i am prepared to do EVERYTHING EXACTLY as my doctor says. 

Thanks.

 

I did everything exactly as my doctor said, too. I still ended up with damaged nerves and chronic pain. 

I can't understand why anyone would choose the band today with all the negative things we know about it.  The statistics are VERY poor. 

 

A total of 3,227 patients were treated by laparoscopic adjustable gastric band placement between September 1994 and December 2011. Seven hundred fourteen patients had completed at least 10 years of follow-up. The study found a 47% of excess weight loss at 15 years. A high number of revision procedures were performed-proximal pouch enlargement (26%), erosion (3.4%), and port and tubing problems (21%).

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Long-term outcomes of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding study of Dr. J. Himpens et. al. - this study found a high failure and revision rate in gastric band patients in Europe where band has been installed in patients since 1994.

Arch Surg. 2011 Jul;146(7):802-7.

A total of 151 consecutive patients who had had adjustable gastric band surgery between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1997, were contacted for evaluation at the University obesity center in Brussels, Belgium.  Twenty-two percent of patients experienced minor complications, and 39% experienced major complications (28% experienced band erosion). Seventeen percent of patients had their procedure switched to laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. The 36 patients (51.4%) who still had their band, lost 48% of their excess weight. These results show that laparoscopic band surgery gives at most 50% chance of no complications with at best 48% excess weight lost.

 

 

A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric banding for morbid obesity: high long-term complication and failure rates.

Suter M¹, Calmes JM, Paroz A, Giusti V.

Author information

 

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Since its introduction about 10 years ago, and because of its encouraging early results regarding weight loss and morbidity, laparoscopic gastric banding (LGB) has been considered by many as the treatment of choice for morbid obesity. Few long-term studies have been published. We present our results after up to 8 years (mean 74 months) of follow-up.

METHODS:

Prospective data of patients who had LGB have been collected since 1995, with exclusion of the first 30 patients (learning curve). Major late complications are defined as those requiring band removal (major reoperation), with or without conversion to another procedure. Failure is defined as an excess weight loss (EWL) of 50%), LGB should no longer be considered as the procedure of choice for obesity. Until reliable selection criteria for patients at low risk for long-term complications are developed, other longer lasting procedures should be used.

On December 31, 1969 at 4:00 PM Pacific Time, wrote:

I am so sorry you had a bad experience. BUT it doesnt work for everybody. I am willing to take the chance, because i am prepared to do EVERYTHING EXACTLY as my doctor says. 

You are right it doesn't work for everybody.  At last count over 1/2 the people with bands are having to have them removed and many have stopped placing them.  I too was prepared to do EVERYTHING EXACTLY as my doctor said.  The center called me their perfect band patient with a 60% EWL.  After medical issues with and caused by the band I finally had it removed.  A half year later I was able to get the sleeve and now have a 100%+ weight loss with the sleeve.  It did what they said the band would and didn't.  Any thing you are willing to committee to the band - you double the results with the sleeve.  And with the band I was ALWAYS hungry, even after throwing up everything I would try to eat.

hey! i'm getting my surgery in exactly one week. honestly, don't post on here saying you're scared something is going to go wrong, because a lot of people on here will literally do nothing but make you think your surgery is going to go horribly wrong. both my parents, my 3 aunts, and my uncle had the lapband and they are all perfectly happy and healthy now. don't freak out. its the beginning of a new part of your life to make you the happiest and healthiest version of yourself.

I'm getting more and more nervous as the days come, because well ive never had any surgery done whatsoever. but if you feel safe at the hands of your surgeon, then be happy, dont be scared. don't go in there thinking something is going to go wrong! you'll be fine :)

Everyone said those same words to me... you'll be fine! 

I wasn't. And more than 50% of banded people end up not being fine. 

I had the band done almost 12 years ago. Why do you think I'm still here, trying to help people avoid the band? Because I've witnessed people going through absolute horrors with the band. It's always a year or two after someone gets the band that they realize WHY those of us who don't like bands were trying to warn them. 

 

Here's the "usual" timeline:

The first year might be okay. You're thrilled, you're losing weight. You make note of where every bathroom is in any place you visit, though, because there can be a lot of puking. But you convince yourself it's "okay" because you're fitting into smaller sizes. Then you start to wake up in the middle of the night, choking on acid. You might start getting pretty severe and frequent left shoulder pain because the band is damaging the vagus nerve system. Your stomach gets bloated and you may experience extreme constipation. Finally, it gets to a point where the pain is more than you can handle. You need to convince your insurance company to pay for band removal. Even if they agree to pay for removal, it's more than likely they'll say no way to a revision since so many companies are implementing a "one WLS per lifetime" clause.  If the damage and pain gets SO bad AND insurance won't pay for surgery, you'll have to find a way to self pay. 

Relief when the band is removed. You realize how miserable you'd been all in the name of weight loss. Then you STILL have acid reflux as a reminder. You may be like me and have permanent nerve damage, causing left shoulder pain at least a couple of times a week. You might end up with anal fissures that cause your butt to bleed profusely from the time you spent straining to poop while banding. Add to the mix gastritis, scar tissue and adhesions, and a host of other "souvenirs" from your time banded. It's like the gift that just keeps on giving. The band is "removable." But it sure isn't "reversible." And then, after you've gone through all this nonsense, you do research, maybe you join a failed band group,  and find out that there are SO many other people who went through the same things. And you scream, "Why didn't anyone WARN me?!"  Hardly anyone ever comes back here and says, "Hey, thanks for trying to help me avoid all that. I understand NOW." I keep trying and trying and I probably should have quit many years ago. But my experience was so incredibly horrific that I just cannot fathom not saying anything. 

 

 

thank you A_Lanza. I know 4 people who have had it and it was successful for 3 of them. the fourth didnt do right and that is why it didnt work for her. SO i'm not worried about that cuz iI'm going to follow orders to a T

:)

I am not going to deny problems happen. But I am a very happy and successful banded person 8 1/2 years post-op. I know, IRL not online, many satisfied long term banded people.

no-one can promise your journey will be trouble free, even if you do exactly what your doctors tell you. Unfortunately, many people who post here followed all the rules and things still went wrong.

But my personal experience and those of people I know has been much more positive. You cannot eliminate risk, for example, there is nothing you can do to prevent the fairly common occurrence of a build-up of scar tissue which is a main reason for band removal. But you can minimise risk by taking care.

I ask you how many WLS do you want to have? 

I am 11 years post op and though the first several years I had no issues and followed my doctor's rules.  The last few years have sucked big time.  24/7 heartburn, 24/7 port pain, 24/7 left shoulder pain.  I have no fill and I still get food stuck no matter how well I chew it.  There are times that I have thrown up water for no reason but it will not pass through my band.

You can feel the scar tissue that has formed around my port.  And even though testing showed no erosion or band slippage there is something going on with my band. 

I would not recommend anyone getting the lap band.

I know Kate has had no problems as had others, but the long term complication rate is so much higher than with the other surgeries.

Good Luck to you.  I do hope it works for you and you never have any issues.