OMG I thought I had my mind made up.....

Hi MsRoRo,

Congratulations on your making the decision to have WLS.  I know for me it was a very difficult decision and sometimes, I still wonder whether or not I've made the right decision.  It is definitely a head trip -- and I'm only 3 weeks out, LOL.

I strongly encourage you to investigate both the DS and the VSG as viable weightloss options.  Like MM and many others on the board have said, really give a long hard thought to what type of eater you are, what types of food you like to eat, your propensity to re-gain, etc.  I also considered things like anemia, family history of diabetes , blah, blah.  It can be overwhelming, but this is a very important decision. 

PM me if you have any questions about the DS.

Best of luck!

it's just like before you get married, you have cold feet.  believe me, we ALL felt the same...

i had neither procedure, i had a gastric sleeve, or vsg.
i, like you, was a lightweight. but now,
13 months after my surgery, i am 20 lbs away from my goal.

my personal belief is that if you have over 100 lbs to lose, the lap band
my not be right for you, but i have met MANY people, and some from this board,
who have been extremely successful - to include my boyfriend's brother, who lost about
130 lbs so far.

discuss your concerns with your doctor, and make sure you get ALL your questions answered.
surgery is a SERIOUS step, no matter what the procedure.
you want to make sure you're as comfortable with your choice as you can possibly be.

and don't worry.  there are lots of choices for lots of different types of people.
thank goodness!

dee

To be quite honest....my decision was based on insurance.  It was either the Band or RNY...no other options.  Given that I had at least 200lbs to lose (376 starting weight)  I went with the RNY to get me there.

There are successes with every type of surgery, take your time to evaluate all of the options available to you and highly consider your surgeon's opinion.

Best wishes to you on your WLS journey! 

Hello Roro,

I chose the Lap Band because I was didn't want malabsorption and was concerned about my anemia and getting other deficiencies. My baby was not quite 2 years old and I wanted to keep my family's life as close to normal as possible. I wanted us to all eat better and eat basically the same thing.

I lost very well with the band until some unrelated surgeries lead to lots of inflammation and scarring issues. I had six abdominal surgeries in the first 14 months of having the band and while they were not band related, they still made life with the band difficult.

I had the band removed and have revised to the sleeve. After 9 surgeries in five years, I'm not a good candidate for the bypass or the DS because of extensive intestinal scarring and adhedsions. I did look into them, however, because I'm diabetic and I think the bypass would be best to settle my issues with diabetes once and for all.

I know lots of people who have lost well and kept it off with the band. It's not less effective, it's just different. It's not just about being fast, easy or slow. It's a very unique choice that should take your age, activity level, health conditions and state of mind into affect.

I'm 8 weeks postop with my sleeve revisio and I've lost 40 pounds since surgery and 56 since I started the preop diet two weeks prior. I think having the lap band before this surgery has helped me make a quick adjustment into life with the sleeve. Maybe I have the need to look on the bright side, but it's all good in the end.

Take a hard look at you and what your goals and methods are. Please include your support system and how much patient education will be available to you in aftercare. I do believe Lap Band patients need much more nutritional counseling at the start and few practices are equipped to serve the needs of band patients.

Wishing you well,
Frances

Hey RoRo. Thanks for responding to me recently on Facebook. I kinda figured you were the same RoRo that i met years ago out in Queens. I just wanted to say thanks for the info on Dr Gibbs. I actually ended up taking another surgeon at Montifiore though. Whatever decision you make i sincerely wish you the best in the months to come. I dont know why I assumed you were post op already. I just started the process so it will be about six months before I am scheduled for surgery. I hope to have the Vertical sleeve then. Hey keep me up to date with how you are making out. Contact me on Facebook if you like. I hope all goes well and thanks again for your help recently. Peace !

Hello,

I don't think you should base your decision on what  "others" say, we are so different, the lap band, the sleeve and RNY are ALL TOOLS, they just work a bit different and they ARE different procedures.

Some people DO NOT WANT malapsorption procedures that rearrange their insides to cause permanent side effects that cause them to get sick and dump on certain food forever -- some people feel they NEED this to help keep them on track; some people just want a tool to help with portions and eat a healthy diet and exercise we are all different.

I chose the band because I just needed help with my portions and eat like a normal thin person and I did NOT want my insides rearranged nor did I want to dump, I typically eat healthy most of the time so I did  not need another tool to force me stop eating sweets or make me sick, I still eat sweets with my lap band almost daily and I STILL LOST WEIGHT, but I exercise frequently also.

To be honest, I had NO desire to get skinny or get to a normal BMI, I am between 5'7 and 5'8 inches tall and a normal BMI would put in a size 4/6 and I am very small at the top and I can wear smaller clothes and I have NO intentions of being that small at my height, ; I am  pretty healthy with no high blood pressure or diabetes or high cholestrol, I was just fat, I just wanted to get down to a normal weight where I could sleep better and move better and wear smaller clothes...and I have acheived that and more I went from a size 26 to current 101/2 I love my band at 4 years.

Good luck with your decision.

This page gives descriptions of the different types of weight loss surgeries.  It's a good starting place for your research.  RNY and lap band are not your only options. 

http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/wlsurgery.html

Thank you everyone  who  responded to my post. I am even more confused but thats good cause it will force me to do more research lol.

I love BAF

PS my friend from the 80's ill holla!!