I got mine about a year ago (I can't BELIEVE it's been a YEAR!!!). I see weight loss tickers on posts and just got to wondering if many people on CC have had the surgery???

Don't tease me like this - I've been considering one for a while. How successful has it been for you? Is this something you think you will need forever, or will you elect to have it removed when you hit your goal weight?
If you prefer, send me a PM with all the details.

Theresa

I have been thinking about having the surgery but I'm really afraid. I'm almost 300lbs and I'm about 5'7". I just cant take it anymore. My knees, back, feet, hurt so bad. I cant hardly walk up steps sometimes. My family all feel that its to dangerous and I should just work out or walk. I feel like they just dont get it. I've had huge breast my whole life and I'm tired of being in pain. I cry a lot of the time and I'm so depressed. Its not that I eat a lot I just skip meal a lot of the time. Also I cant seem to loose any weight recently and I'm frustrated, angry, sad and fed up. I want to loose 150lbs and I joined the gym but it hurts so bad I dont even want to work out. How was the lapband for you? Was it painful! Do you still work out to loose more weight. How did you find a doctor? Sorry for so many questions.

I'm also considering this procedure as well. I would like to get more info from u also.

I never, ever thought I would consider any kind of weight loss surgery, but the more I learned about the lap band, the more I felt like it was the way to go, because it is easier surgery, it is adjustable, and even reversable/removeable if it needs to be.

Many people go home within hours of the surgery, I stayed in the hospital overnight and went home the next morning. It was comparable to my laparoscopic gall bladder surgery. I was sore, but really not in very much pain. I took off about a week from work, mostly because of weakness (most people have to do a liquid diet for awhile before--I think mine was 10 days).

I had/have a HUGE amount to lose and it has been kind of slow, but it takes awhile to get the band to a proper fill level. I have lost about 75lbs in the past year. I estimate I'm almost 1/3 of the way. It is hard at times, that old head hunger starts in on you, but comparing it to the other times I've dieted and lost (I have lost 100 lbs twice, and 85 lbs once, plus lesser amounts more times than I can count--and each time regained what I had lost plus much more), it hasn't been any worse, and I KNOW this will STAY OFF!! I'm down about 3 pants sizes and I can walk and breathe much easier. I'm looking forward to losing more!

The best place I found for information is obesityhelp.com. Don't stay on the main message board--go to the lap band forum. There are a lot of nice people on there (kind of like here!!) and they have areas on the site where you can find people from your own state, and look up ratings for hospitals and doctors, etc.

A guy from the support group I go to writes about his experience, you can find it at wcmessenger.com, in the feature stories--the name of the series is "A Losing Battle".

Hope this helps!!!