Not sure which one to go with

WOW 4x daily  thanks for the heads up :)

I have experience with the band - implanted in 2001; removed in 2011.  It sucked on so many levels...

I started having complications pretty early on, had to have it emptied due to reflux and minor dialiation.   Then, I regained what little I lost.  Lots of vomiting - even with no fluid, rice made me vomit everytime

I was sleeved Dec 2011. lost 150+and am in maintenance since Feb 2013. I know I am still only 15-16 months out, but I love my sleeve. 

My backup plan should I need it would be the DS.

Wow thanks so much!!! Also, congrats to you on your success! I am not experiance enough to know what a DS is if you dont mind telling me? I am so happy to hear the sleeve is so working for you because that is the one I am leaning towards doing :) Thank you for sharing your personal information with me. Good luck to you in continuing to lose and keeping it off :)

I have had a band for two years.  I am dissatisfied with it for a number of reasons.  I did not do enough research about the problems and my doctor assured me it was the safest for me and  would work.  He was reluctant to do anything else because I was 68.  I had tremendous problems with food getting hung in my esophagus and at one point could not even swallow water. Fluid was removed from the band.   I could eat ice cream which I wasn't supposed to eat.  Most of the fluid has been removed and I still have problems with eating a lot of different foods such as bread, eggs, lean meat and even chicken.  I think I have chewed carefully, but it still gets stuck sometime.  The biggest reason  also that I don't recommend it is is that I have discovered that most people must have it removed sooner or later and then have difficulty getting a different surgery.  I lost only 50 pounds and around the holidays I gained back 20.  I have lost 10 of that 20, but I am still in the obese category.  I was part of a support group and all of those people had RNY or the sleeve.   The DS would be my choice for another time, but I don't think I will have that option.  When mine has to come out, I will be more than 70 and for most doctors the cut off is 65.  If you have the DS or RNY, you have to be really careful about nutrition or you will wind up in the hospital.  Also, as time goes on, many of these people stretch their pouch and eat the wrong food and start to re-gain the weight.  Read the article in the newsletter this month which talks about that problem.  I am not sorry I had surgery, but I so wish I had not chosen the lap band.  Good luck on your journey.  As everyone likes to remind us, the surgery is just a tool.  You still have to do the work.

I had the vertical gastric sleeve done 4 years ago.  I originally had my mind set on the lap band.  But after research and listening to members here at OH, I am sooooo glad that I changed my mind.  There were numerous stories of people who had to have the lap band removed due to infections or their body rejecting it.  Also, overfills, underfills.....way too many possible problems for me. 

So, I asked my surgeon to explain the VSG to me.  And made my decision.  I lost 80 pounds and have kept it off through these years.  I am healthier than I have ever been in my life.  58 years young and still wearing a size 10.  I wouldn't recommend the lap band to anyone!!!!!!  Good luck.  I am sure you will make the right decision for you.