[Michigan RN]

Has anyone had it? What procedure did you have? I'm considering speaking to my doctor about being referred to a bariatric surgeon for possibly having the LAP BAND surgery. I would just like to hear about other's experiences with it.

[Cherry2000]

I haven't had it myself but I did seriously check into and I know 4 people that have had gastric bypass done. One of them (that I don't know well) almost died. She got some sort of infection and was in and out of the hospital many many times. Two of them lost all the weight, but never really made serious changes to their eating plans for the long term. They look much better than before and feel better, but are steadily gaining the weight back. The last one is a good friend of mine and she has been pretty successful in keeping the weight off. BUT she is constantly aware of her weight and what she eats to the point of obsessive. At least that is my take on it.

I checked into having gastric bypass for myself. You have to meet with the dr and they determine if you are eligible (BMI>40, with or without comorbidities) and send you on to the next step. You have to make sure your insurance will cover it....letter of eligibility. You will meet with a social worker and a dietician. I didn't end up having the surgery in the end.

My take on the whole thing is that the surgery gives immediate satisfaction but its hard to maintain. If you have an emotional dependency on food, it still has to be conquered and bad habits have to be changed.

Also anything I've heard about the lap band is that its less effective, although it is reversible and that most insurances do not cover it. HTH

[Silverdragon102]

Everyone has their own experiences I have had RNY and lost 100lbs and best thing I ever did. I guess I was fortunate as I had very few problems post op but did do my research and picked which surgeon I wanted to do the op. I was in the UK at the time and the surgeon was one of the leading ones in the UK and done it for a long time with good results. If you want any info feel free to post me with any questions although I can only gie my experience as I know not a lot on the US side of things

[lvnandmomx3]

silverdragon what is RNY? I have heard of the ones mentioned int he other posts but not this one. I have considered it but have not really looked into it. My BMI is 38.

[Silverdragon102]

Originally Posted by Tracylvn

silverdragon what is RNY? I have heard of the ones mentioned int he other posts but not this one. I have considered it but have not really looked into it. My BMI is 38.

RNY is Roux en-Y. Gastric bypass

[Michigan RN]

Originally Posted by Silverdragon102

RNY is Roux en-Y. Gastric bypass

The hospital where I work is where I will have to have tu surgery. It's a center of excellence for bariatric surgery. I've read a lot about the hospital and the surgeons on Obesityhelp.com so if I do have the surgery I'm not very concerned about complications since their rate is very low.

[Silverdragon102]

Good luck, that is half the battle is researching the op. I had mine done privately in the UK and researched it to death, knew band was not what I wanted and my surgeon had excellent results, very low mortality rates and had been doing the op for years with a lot of training done in the US. Good luck

[Cherry2000]

I just want to correct myself. In general, to get the surgery your BMI has to fall under morbidly obese. My BMI of 40 is related to my height. Your height will determine what your specific BMI would have to be.

I did not mean to imply that it was bad to have the surgery. I just was describing what I knew firsthand. I understand that many people believe (before they understand the process) that having gastric bypass is the "easy way out". It really isn't. You still have to maintain it just as you would if you lost the weight.

FWIW I would have had the surgery myself but during the physical they determined that I have hypothryoidism. I had to work to get that straightened out. Since I have, I have made the decision to try to do it myself. But, if I find that I am not successful, eventually I will probably consider it again.

[Michigan RN]

I agree with you when you say it is not an easy way out. It's not an easy way out. Yeah there's complications just like any other surgery. I'm only considering because no matter how much I've exercised or dieted I've not lost any weight. If I did lose weight, I gained it right back. I'm going to my PCP tomorrow for a physical and I'm going to ask for a referal to the bariatric surgeon.

[Silverdragon102]

Agree it is not the easy way out, Thankfully I had very little in the way of post op complications and I am aware that it does happen. 3 years out and my weight is steady even though probably still a little bit over weight but my BMI has gone down from 49 to 33. Now working on trying to loss a bit more