The real truth about the band is yes it works for a few people really well, but eventually you will have problems with it. I've been on this forum for over 10 years and I only know of 1 person that still has their band and no problems with it and she got hers a bit before I had mine in 2007. The facts are that 60% of bands fail no matter whether you follow the rules or not. When they fail you are subjected to daily vomiting every time you eat, or just pain in your abdomen from a slip or constant heartburn so strong that your entire esophagus  feels like it is on fire. A current survey showed only 6% of bariatric surgeries are the lap band, the majority were either the sleeve or bypass and the rest were the DS. The only good thing I can say about the band is that it makes you burp like an elementary school boy. Unless you are out to impress young boys with your skills in that area I would strongly advise you go back to the sleeve. It works the way we were told the band would except it didn't work that way at all.

If I had been able to revise that is what I would have chosen but because of other issues I wasn't able to revise. I do however have a daily reminder of my band which is constant burning in my throat and my inability to easily swallow pills. I lost part of my swallowing ability because of the band. The muscles in the esophagus get strained until they can no longer work correctly because the band is trying to push the food back up and the muscles are trying to swallow the food down. The longer you have the band the weaker your muscles get until they no longer work at all for some people. I know of 3 women who have had to go to tube feeding because of the band and another who had her stomach completely removed so she can use gravity to get her food directly to her intestines so she can get at least some nourishment. Her next step if this doesn't work is also tube feeding. I have constant burning plus it gave me gastroparesis which is a slow digestion in the stomach which causes painful gas, nausea and cramping that you just really don't want to have!!The band may be removable but the damage it can do is permanent and serious for many.

Another problem nearly all of us have is that scar tissue grows between the band and the stomach which tightens the band even after it is emptied like the woman above mentioned. I too was empty for 2 years before I had to finally get mine removed because it was so tight I could only eat pureed soups for all my meals or anything soft like slider foods, ice cream was also in there because, face it, it tastes good and goes down easy. Many surgeons don't understand about the scar tissue and will insist it can't be the band causing pain but it is. They just can't see it on their tests so they continue to make us feel guilty about not losing or gaining because all looks well but it isn't.

Most of us never get the so called sweet spot where you aren't hungry. Even the ones who had it at one time often lose it because they get a fill and then when they try to get back to the good spot they can't get it again even with the same amount of saline in the band. That ends up being a serious issue too, having to empty the band for an emergency on say a weekend can be a living nightmare. Trying to find a hospital ER with a bariatric surgeon on a holiday can be life threatening. Someone who can't swallow their own saliva because of a too tight fill has to try to find someone knowledgeable enough to take some saline out and even the hospitals don't always have someone there who can do that. It gets to be a pain in the rear trying to get the band adjusted. I know hundreds of people whose original surgeon has retired or moved to another practice and more common lately is the surgeon no longer messes with the band surgery anymore because they can do a sleeve and be done, there is very little followup care needed with the sleeve. Even the Mayo Clinic no longer does the band because of its high failure rate.

I know of literally hundreds of women who have revised to the sleeve from a band who spent 5-10 yrs trying to lose with the band and lost very little or even gained with the band. They revise to a sleeve or bypass and lose more in 6 mos than they ever did with the band. It is just a faulty surgery that causes more harm than good. I'm happy for anyone who has been able to make the band work but I would never suggest it to someone who can get a sleeve or bypass or even a DS which is the very best surgery in my opinion but not done by very many surgeons. I beg you to please not even consider the band, I hate to see a young person go into this with such hopes and then have it fail and have to go thru another surgery all over again because the band failed them. Please read back on this forum and on the sleeve/or bypass forums and see how their daily lives are, they can give you an idea what it is like to live with each surgery. This board used to be super busy back in the early 2000's but the last few years it is dead because so many who had the band have now revised and are on different forums now. I only know of a couple of people who don't like their revisions but even they have to admit they have lost more weight with the revision than they ever did with their bands.

I wrote another LONG post a few posts down you might want to read. All I want for all of us is to be able to lose our weight and be healthy and happy and I honestly don't believe the band will do that for anyone!! Losing part of your stomach is not that big a deal it is just extra tissue that is allowing you to eat too much. It is often done with ulcers and cancers so has been done for many decades. With the sleeve they remove the part that makes the hunger hormone so for a long time you don't even feel hunger and even if it comes back it seems to be much less severe than the original levels. Best of luck to you!

For certain you are not alone!! I had my band placed in 2009. I had huge siccess, got to my lowest weight ever BUT I did not lose my weight the healthy way. I would intentionally eat something I was not supposed to I could throw it up, but get the flavor of the food.

I started on the healthy track again and maintained a healthy weight until I got pregnant with my second child and regained all my weight.

Just this past summer I got my band refilled and have worked my way up to being fully filled. It's been a slow process, much slower than the first time around, but it's something worth fightingfor!

Est of luck to you and hang in there! =)

I love my band, but unfortunately you will not find many band lovers in this forum anymore. The loudest group are the people with a failed band for whatever reason. Please feel free to message me anytime with questions. I will be happy to help.

Best of luck to you!

Dejah

The band is the only WLS I would NOT recommend anyone getting. 

I had the band for 11 years and even though the first several years were good I ended up with complications severe reflux, port pain, food getting stuck and the kicker was that I had NO fill.  My band was completely emptied and I still had 24/7 heartburn/reflux to the point of me eating tums like candy. 

For three years I suffered with my throat burning everyday and not being able to eat a piece of chicken without it coming up.  Heck I couldn't even eat a soft scrambled egg without it coming back up.  That sucked big time.

I had a revision in February of this year to the bypass and I am so happy I did.  Since the band came out I have not had one ounce of heartburn/reflux, no pain where the port was and have lost more weight with the bypass than I did with the band. 

The band is not easy to work with like others will make it out to be.  If you never get that sweet spot for fills then you going back and forth to the surgeon for fills and unfills.  Then you will get depressed for not losing enough weight.  Anyone who has a good amount of weight to lose should never even consider the band.  

Oh and you said you weren't ready for a non-reversible option, well the damage that the band can and has done to people make it where some can never get a revision down the road.   There are some on here that that has happened to.

Honestly you should have stuck with having the sleeve or look into the bypass or DS. 

HI,

I had lap band surgery October 19th.  So far I love it!  Down 40 pounds.  I am suffering though from extreme extreme dry mouth.  I was just wondering if anyone else had had an issue like this?  Could it have anything to do with the vagus nerve?  No amount of water or dry mouth products help.