Help!!! I'm Scared to have the Surgery.

Hi All, I have to admit I am a big chicken but my dream would be to lose 100 pounds. I really want to have the lapband surgery but I am afraid of the sugery and the side effects. Can someone help me to understand the procedure and the side effects that you experienced. Thanks, Diane

Diane, you are not alone in your fears. What you probably need is more education on the surgery(s) and to ask questions here like you are. You may want to go to the forum on this site for the lapband and ask more questions there regarding this. Here is the link http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/LapBand/posts.html As a whole you do not have the dumping syndrome that you get with RNY when you have the band, but it is not without its risks. There are a different set of risks and side effects with it. You just have to weigh the options and choose yourself what you want. And of course a doctor will also make the recommendations as to what you would do better with. Say if you have a real sweet tooth it may be better for you to have RNY because of the dumping. It will keep you away from the sweets. But, keep this in mind that only 40% of all RNY patients dump. I hardly dump and my husband dumps at the drop of a hat. I am the sweet eater and he is not, basically I want my "dump 'o meter" fixed so it works better. LOL You will loose slower with the band but if you compare RNY to band at 5 years out the patients in each group have lost the same percentage of weight, somewhere around 50+%. Sorry, my book with the weight loss info is at home and I am in WI right now. I think that it is somewhere btwn 50-75%. The info is in a book I have written by Dr. Terry Simpson. There are a good bunch of books that you can buy in the store on this site and his explains all the different surgeries and what to expect when you are PO. I would highly recommend his to you. Keep us posted as to what is going on with you and keep coming back to ask your questions. Chris

Hi there... I had the lap-band done in September. So if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me. Good luck! Kate

Hi Diane It's not a bad thing that you have your fears, this is a serious life changing experience. Being scared often times only tells us we need more education. I suggest you search out one of the best surgeons that is well known for the lapband surgery..any time you go under anesthesia there is a risk and or side effects can occur. HOwever, the risk is significantly lower with lapband surgery..you are not under near as long.. I am presently working on a conference in Lexington Ky..I spend alot of time with two surgeons, Dr. Weiss and Dr. Oldham...they do tons of surgeries both RNY and lapband..close to 50% is lapband..They have a great pre-op and post-op support and education classes to help you through it, that is the type of surgeon you should seek...They can have all the skills in the world when it comes to surgery itself, but if there is no after care program the patient loses from the beginning..do your home work and chose a good center with great education! I suggest you attend seminars with different surgeons, they are always free and alot of good info comes out of them.. Good luck!!