Why does lapband work for some and not for others?

There are probably as many reasons the band doesn't work as there are people it doesn't work for. Nothing works for everyone.

I can only draw off my personal experience... it's working pretty well for me and I follow what I know to be the "right" way of eating and exercising for myself about 90% of the time. I have a relative who has been banded 4 months longer than me and lost about 1/2 what I have and I think it's due to less motivation or time to spend exercising or desire to eat a certain way, etc.  It could also have to do with her specific metabolism or anything else outside her control. We are about the same age and genetically very close so you'd think we'd have similar results but they've been very different.

 I don't think there is any definitive reason why any particular works well for one person but not another.  In the end, it's just a matter of each individual being open and honest with himself and his (or her) surgeon and, together, weighing the odds of each possible surgery.  No one can predict how any particular surgery will turn out. Even if someone were to choose the lowest risk, highest weight loss success surgery, there is no guarantee that it will work or that nothing will go wrong.  You just have to weigh your own risks, options, etc and pick which seems the best for you.  It sure as heck would be nice if we could predict what would work and what wouldn't! Good Luck to you!

Haven't been banded long enough to give any useable advice ... I just know my band is working for me.  I was banded on October 5th and I am down 32 lbs.  The fact that I feel satisfied and not hungry gives me hope of not only losing the weight, but being able to keep it off. 

way to go i was banded Oct.7 and have lost 29 pounds...I just keep praying that this will be a sucess.

 
There are a lot of reasons it doesn't always work.  Actually, it usually doesn't work long term.

Many people have no sweet spot, I didn't.  One minute I could eat a huge meal and tons of dense protein and the very next minute I couldn't keep water down.  Everything affects restriction including weather, food temp, air temp, altitude, time of day, time of month, stress, everything.  Some people find their bands are more sensitive to those issues.  Stress was my big one, the least bit of stress or anxiety and my band would clamp shut and I was on IVs for fluids.

The band is not really a great procedure to begin with.  It can do all kinds of things such as slip and erode.  Scar tissue can grow under the band giving you more restriction than you want or can handle.  There are so many things that can go wrong with a band and the problem is that each time there is a problem you get an unfill, wait to heal, and then you regain some pounds while you wait to get a fill placed again.  If you dilate your esophagus it's an unfill for several weeks.  I could do a lot of damage in several weeks. ;o)  If you dilate your pouch, same thing.  If you slip, same thing. Each time there is a problem or issue it's an unfill and regain.  Check out the posts of people who got an unfill and they are terrified that they will gain.

And it takes time to find a sweet spot.  If you are at 3cc and it is your sweet spot and perhaps you get a major stuck episode with a lot of swelling and some of the fill needs to be removed, once you heal and the swelling goes down 3cc may not be your sweet spot anymore and you have to keep getting adjustments until you find it once again.

There are lots of reasons the band has the worst stats of all WLS types, these are just a few.

If you want a sleeve, fight for it.  Many ins co's are going to the 'one surgery per lifetime' rule and if you get a surgery type that doesn't work, you are self pay for a revision.

I think that there are alot of reasons.
These are completely my opinion ---- take that for whatever you think it is worth

1.  skill of the surgeon -- placement of the band -- physiologically, I think there is alot to be said for the surgeon getting the band in the BEST position --- and securing it properly

2.  readiness of the patient -- ready to change habits that could be life-long, ready to be 'uncomfortable' enough where you are to reach out and do things differently

3.  age, maturity, willingness

4.  strength of the 'team' behind the patient --- from 'fills' to office visits, to support groups, to family and friends ---- so much of our ability to be a 'ready' patient depends on the team
Yes, we do this ourselves, but we cannot do it alone!! 

5.  food choices --- if I chose the foods I used to eat (before my band), I would still be obese.  The band does stop the foods that got me to 284 pounds.  The band is my partner in choosing healthy, nourishing foods (most of the time) and allowing them to satisfy  my appetite.

I consider myself to be successful with the band.
I know that I could lose my band any day --- accident, emergency, etc --- but I do also know that I have learned alot about my eating over the past 18 months.

I am not foolish enough to think that I could lose my band -- and maintain my weightloss without a tremendous amount of work and diligence, but having my band and using it wisely for 18 months has taught me enough to know how little food I can survive on -- and how choosing appropriate foods makes me feel satisfied better than junk food does.

There is more than one answer here, but I think one of the primary reasons is the misunderstanding of how it works. Unlike other procedures out there, you do not wake up from surgery with the abilty to lose weight. It takes commitment to getting fills and restriction. It can take many months to actually get decent restriction. I hear so many time lap banders who either never got a fill or only made it to getting one or two and then simply stopped. They never lost much weight if any because they never hit restriction.

Another reason is that even after you have great restriction, it can fade. Or you can stretch your pouch. Or worse you start consuming massive calories through sliders (soft foods and liquid calories). I am there right now. I need to see my doctor again and pursue getting back on track, otherwise I am no better off then preop. I will regain, and it will have all been for nothing.

Lastly for some the band is a foreign object that the body wants to reject. Though these cases are rare they end up with severe sympotoms and lose weight mostly because they are suffering from major side effects.

Good Luck!

Thats a very good question with a variety of answers,depending on which camp you're in...pro-band or anti-band.  Mechanical porblems aside,  it depends on the skill of your surgeon and if you can commit to the aftercare needed to make it successful. To me, its just a tool I work WITH to get me to being "normal" sized.  Without it, I've already proved I havent been successful.

I have been banded for three months and have not had any problems with the lapband. My doctor told me he expected me to have 2 or three fills before I was at good restriction and he was right.  I have been steadily losing since my third fill.   I can eat anything as long as I chew and don't eat too fast.  All my pills go down okay and as of today, I have lost 32 pounds.     From the beginning, I've regarded the band as a tool to HELP me lose weight but not do it for me.    I have lost and gained the same 50 pounds for too many years to count and it is so wonderful to see the scale going DOWN and STAYING down.   I've gone from a size 22-24 down to an 18.  (A size 16!!!! dress fit me today!)  and I haven't snored for over two weeks, therefore I'm hoping to put my cpap machine away for good.

Our bodies are individually designed and one WLS doesnt fit everyone.  I'm very happy with the choice I made  and would do it again.  I count myself very fortunate that I don't have any issues with the band and hope it stays that way.  Thanks to the so called "negative" posts, I know what to watch out for and for that, I am thankful.

everyone has pretty much covered varying answers to your question but there is another that the person really has no control over..... My bestfriend had RNY just over a year ago and wasn't losing the weight as fast as RNY patients typically do so she went to the bariatric endocrinologist that my WLS clinic has on staff and found that she had virtually "0" metabolism. So he put her on medication and it worked, she started losing, then got weened offthe meds and continued losing and now is working on NOT losing anymore so she doesn't get too thin. So sometimes it is a challenge within your own body. I know you asked about lapband but this can happen no matter what WLS.

 It's all how YOU use your tool. I have lost 37 lbs in a year. I knew I would loose slowly because that is just how my body works. But I haven't been giving it 100%.  I have to get my head back in the game.  

But to answer your question make sure you are willing to change your life.  This is a new way of life and you need to go into this with your eyes wide open.