Is Lap Band Surgery for You?
All your life you’ve fought it, but you’ve never been able to win the fight. You can’t stand looking in the mirror or going out shopping for clothes. Just looking at food makes you gain weight.
Obesity. Everywhere you turn, you hear about fad diets, exercise programs, special pills and foods to help you lose weight. You’ve tried everything, and still, you remain fat. Maybe you’ve recently seen a television program on something called lap band surgery and want to know what it is and if it’s something you might consider for yourself.
Lap band surgery was first standardized in Europe in the 1990s.
“The laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding device squeezes closed the upper allotment of the stomach with an inflatable belt. Patients quickly feel beefy after eating a little. Lap Band is the abbreviated and trademarked combination of Lap (from laparoscopic) and Band (from gastric band)” reports www.laparoscopicsurgeon-online.com.
“Called the Lap-Band adjustable gastric banding system, the device consists of a silicone band that cuffs tightly around the upper stomach to create a small gastric pouch. The belt restricts how remarkable a patient can consume, and patients quickly feel paunchy after eating a slight,” said Namir Katkhouda, a professor of surgery, who performed the first laparoscopic procedure at USC University Hospital in 2001. The Food and Drug Administration approved lap band surgery serve in 2001, and many obese individuals have been helped since.
Lap band surgery requires no cutting of the stomach. In fact, the draw moves rather quickly. Small incisions are made into the skin, and then the lap bands are placed into the body through the incision. The procedure only takes around an hour and the patient get to return home the following day. The Health Science Campus website reports that lap band surgery requires “less recovery time, fewer painkilling drugs and less equipment than in open procedures. It also poses less risk of complications.”
Lap band surgery can be reversed by removing the lap band from the body of the patient. Typically those who have had this surgery can lose up to 55 percent of their excess weight within two years. The surgery can cost around $15,000, but that is still less than other procedures that can cost an additional $3,000 to $5,000. Unfortunately, because the blueprint is relatively new, insurance coverage may depend on the insurance carrier.
Are there risks associated with this scheme?
Although medical doctors report risks associated with lap band surgery to be minimal, some risks do still exist. Mostly these risks have to do with whether or not the patient follows a doctor’s instructions. Erosion of the band can occur with use of alcohol, spices, and certain types of medications. Also, slippage of the band is common. This can happen if the person eats too much food, causing the band to move or slip. Surgery is then required to fix it. Infection can occur as well, just as with any surgical procedure.
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Filed under Gastric Banding by on Oct 1st, 2010. 
- Long term complications of WLS
Upon sharing some of my articles with a few friends, one in particular approached me after noticing the piece I did on Gastric Bypass Surgery. Revealing to me what I had never known, she opened up about her experiences with Weight Loss Surgery. The short term success, the long term complications, and her believe look befriend on the past and how important it was that she should have listened to her doctor’s advice, maybe paid more attention to the classes she took post-op. In general, being able to go back and change her blueprint of thinking… that she was an exception to the rule. She requested that I write this article for her, so she can share it with her friends and fellow surgery patients with the hopes that maybe someone will see the light at the end of the tunnel before it’s too late to change their post-surgery habits.
After jumping at the chance to do an interview with Rebecca, a 40-year old mother of 2 from North Carolina, we made plans to get the ball rolling. My first step was to read a few posts of hers in a Yahoo Group that she is subscribed to that allows people who have undergone Weight Loss Surgeries to meet and share their stories with each other. Gaining some basic knowledge of the road she traveled that brought her to the point she is at now, I realized that I knew almost nothing of the surgery in particular that she underwent. So, I spelunked around the internet trying to gain information about Distal RnY Weight Loss Surgery. After almost an hour of searching, I came away nearly empty handed. Only one page offered any insight to the surgery at all, and it still didn’t give me more than a small handful for this interview. So I went through and read the article again. And I was able to glean one small piece of information from it, the actual name of the type of surgery that Rebecca went through. Roux-en-Y (RnY). This opened up the gateway quite a bit, and I was able to pick up the following information about the surgery itself.
It turns out that the Roux-en-Y surgery is one of the most popular types of Weight Loss Surgery performed (hard to fathom when I had such a hard time obtaining information about it). A person who hasn’t undergone this surgery uses a normal function for digestion. Ingested food enters the stomach, then travels to the small, then broad, intestines. Someone who hasn’t had Weight Loss Surgery is able to eat larger portions of food because the microscopic intestine is able to absorb more bulky and calories than a person who has had the surgery. This effect of Gastric Bypass Surgery creates a small pouch in the stomach that restricts the patient from being able to consume as grand food as they had before. Sometimes the surgery is commenced with a rather enormous incision across the abdomen, or in the case of Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y surgery, five smaller incisions are made in the patient’s belly.
The small pouch that is created in the stomach can be done with either a plastic band, or by methods of stapling. Once the pouch is created, it is connected to the middle part of the tiny intestine, bypassing the duodenum, or the beginning portion of the small intestine that connects to the stomach. The duodenum area of the diminutive intestine is the piece that absorbs fats and calories that you ingest. With this area bypassed, and the connecting area from the stomach pouch to the newly bypassed area of the small intestine being so small, you will be able to carve the amount of fats and calories that you can contain, aiding in the loss of unwanted weight. And, with the connecting status being its new size, it will also engage longer for the food that you eat to fully reach the shrimp intestine, making you feel fuller longer. Most pouches created are around 6 oz. in general, compared to normal stomachs that range from 24 oz. to 64 oz. The Distal part of the surgery comes into play when the amount of small intestine that has to be bypassed is determined. Proximal RnY is performed when there is less than 150 cm. of intestine to be bypassed, although I have found a few links claiming it to be less than 100 cm. Distal RnY is the procedure used when more than the 150 cm. (or 100 cm., depending on what site you are looking at) of the small intestine has to be bypassed in order for the stomach to connect to an area that has bypassed the complete duodenum.
Before commencing the interview with Rebecca, let me suggest that you take a look at her story by clicking here (I put this on my blog for myspace to protect her privacy; messenger ID’s and e-mail addresses that were previously shown before I moved it). This will give you an overview of what her journey has been like, and might answer some questions that I don’t ask her during this interview.
CP: What was the final event in your life that convinced you to settle Weight Loss Surgery as an option?
Being 26 years old and wanting to be able to participate in my children’s lives instead of participating from the sidelines. Besides, when you can no longer fit into the booths at a fast food restaurant, that is a pretty good sign that you need some help.
CP: What other avenues had you explored before settling on Weight Loss Surgery?
Diet pills, Weight Watchers, pretty much every type of weight loss program that was available. None of these processes were successful for me, I would lose 10 pounds with one and then gain 15 back on binge eating.
CP: Was the surgery covered by your insurance company?
Absolutely. I had to meet my out of pocket, and the rest was covered entirely. If I had met my deductions prior to the surgery, it would have been 100% covered.
CP: How much did the surgery cost, total?
I never really saw the bills, but if I’m not mistaken my surgery was $21,000 to $22,000 back in the 90′s.
CP: What kind of pre-op information did you receive before you went under?
That’s the salvage. I went into this absolutely blind without any information or education about what to expect. No one I knew had the surgery, and in fact I was the first person in my area to have it done, and a lot of it was trial and error.
CP: Were you linked to any support groups before you had the surgery performed?
Again, absolutely nothing.
CP: Briefly give an overview of the distress you felt after the surgery, how long it lasted, how it was eased.
Basically, the true incision site for a while, but the psychological pain lasted a whole lot longer than any of the short term pains from the surgery. I didn’t know what I could and couldn’t eat so a lot of it was anger at not being able to keep anything down. For the first 2 years, the only food that I could keep down was stewed tomatoes and beets.
CP: How remarkable weight did you initially lose after the surgery, and what was the lowest it dropped to?
I started at 326 lbs. and dropped to 204 lbs, which was my lowest point.
CP: At what point did you begin to gather the weight back? Are you still under your pre-surgery weight from years ago?
I’m still under within at least 25 pounds from my pre-surgery weight. Probably in my 6th or 7th year, I would gain 10 lbs and mild be able to lose it. But once I packed on 30 lbs, it was downhill from there.
CP: What was the most difficult thing for you to endure after the surgery (change in diet, energy level, etc.)?
The hardest thing to deal with was psychologically wanting to eat like everyone else, but only being able to eat 2 or 3 spoonfuls.
CP: What is the worst long term complication that you have had since the surgery?
Anemia, definately. Pernicious anemia, along with iron deficiency anemia. With these types of deficiencies, I have to go to the hospital for 8 hours every 3 to 4 months for iron infusions.
CP: If you had the chance to do the surgery again, would you go for it?
I honestly don’t deem I would, not with the health problems I am enduring now. I’m obese again, but on top of that I have a lot of health problems that I didn’t have before.
CP: What would be the most important thing you could tell someone who is looking to go for the surgery?
Do your homework. Talk to others who have had the procedures done. Go into this with an start mind, thinking that this is going to be no picnic. If you have no clue what you are going into before the surgery, you will wake up one day and think “Oh my Lord, what have I done to myself? “
For those who are indeed looking into Weight Loss Surgeries, please make sure that you are well informed of what you are getting into before you proceed. Not all scenarios destroy in this design, but it has been proven that not everyone can successfully lose the weight after the surgery and manage to keep it off. Sticking to a strict diet as prescribed by your doctor, making sure that you are eating at regular intervals and not “grazing” (eating randomly with no area meal in mind, such as snacking), and exercising can set you on the right path to Weight Loss Surgery success.
If you have found this article helpful, feel free to pass it on to friends who are looking for Weight Loss Surgery options.
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Filed under stomach stapling side effects by on Sep 13th, 2010.
- LAGB is helping many individuals lose weight, sometimes dieting isn’t enough, LAGB is safe
For the longest time the child of a good friend of ours had a weight problem. A serious weight problem. This child – now a young adult female only 23 years of age – always seemed to be about 40 pounds overweight for as long as I can remember. Her obesity apparently was dismissed as “baby fat” when she was a small girl, but that excuse didn’t carry much weight (pardon the pun) as she got older. She was only about 5’5’’ and that made for a big, and not very healthy package.
We hadn’t seen the girl nor her parents for quite some time. You know how it goes: work, kids, summer vacation, the daily routine of living. It all adds up to make the days go by. Anyway, we literally bumped into each other after 8 weeks and – excuse me while my jaw hit the ground – this once obese child was now as thin as thin could be. Jubilant, smiling and certainly no longer a future candidate for a heart attack.
The secret to her seemingly overnight success? Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding, often referred to as LAGB. This relatively simple surgical procedure of attaching an adjustable ring to the small intestine has become quite popular in Europe over the last several years and our friend’s child had recently underwent the procedure.
So what’s this procedure about? According to the educational website: www.obesitylapbandsurgery.com which explains in layman’s terms what the LAGB process is all about, “…The Band is fitted around the uppermost part of the stomach, forming a 15cc small pouch. It is designed so that it can be inflated or deflated at any time after the operation. This helps the patient continually lose weight until they reach their goals…” Furthermore, the site lists the following advantages which should make any potential candidate feel at ease:
- No cutting of the stomach
- No stapling of the stomach
- Can be adjusted to patient’s needs after surgery
- Laparoscopic removal possible
- Fully reversible procedure
The method itself takes less than an hour. The child remained in the hospital for 3 days to convalesce.
In the case of our friend’s child, the band had apparently been cinched down very tightly. The amount of weight loss on this girl was nothing short of astounding.
Obviously, we were very ecstatic for the child and very happy for her parents. I’m not sure of the popularity of this procedure in the United States, but I have come to learn that it is providing severely obese individuals in Europe with a means of getting their weight off and more importantly keeping it off.
This procedure really interested me. Although my wife never had to inconvenience about more than a few pounds overweight at any given time in her life, I was though-provoking about who a typical candidate was. The website www.lapsurgery.com goes into specific detail regarding the criteria applied to potential candidates:
- Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is intended for those suffering from “clinically severe obesity.” Clinically severe obesity correlates with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 kg/m2 or with being about 100 pounds overweight. Although your doctor can determine if you will relieve regardless of your weight.
- Patients should be no younger than 18 and no older than 60 (but again this can very).
- Patients should not have a history of heart disease or high blood pressure
Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding isn’t a cure-all and doesn’t substitute for proper dieting and exercise. In fact, the need to follow an spend regimen and a proper diet increases after this procedure. Research has shown that – especially in women – weight bag after the age of 18 years was shown to be a strong predictor of cardiovascular risk. It is also clear that overweight people of both sexes, especially young overweight people, tend to die sooner than their lean contemporaries (re: National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference).
What this means is that your average individual who has a bit of a tire hanging over their beltline is not a candidate for LAGB. It’s not a like a flash fix for pleasant exercise and dieting. It IS a viable solution for individuals who can’t afford to be content with the possibility of losing at most one pound per month under ideal dieting conditions.
Mediate the following (re: www.lapsurgery.com )
-The surgical treatment of Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding is medically necessary because it is one of the only proven methods of achieving long-term weight control for the severely obese.
- Eating behavior after implementing the gastric band improves dramatically due to reducing caloric intake by ensuring that the patient eats small amounts slowly, and chews each mouthful well.
- Success of surgical treatment must begin with realistic goals and progress through the best possible use of well-designed and tested operations. These have been worked out over the last thirty years, and are now standardized, clearly defined procedures, with well-recognized and documented outcome results.
Although LAGB has demonstrated an average weight loss of between 40 to 60 percent of excess body weight, there have been instances of the gastric band eroding – which results in follow-up surgery.
Is this the just surgery for you? It’s not for me to say. All I know is the results I witnessed in this youngster who seems to have a lot more worth living for.
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Filed under Stomach Stapling Risks by on Sep 11th, 2010.
A gastric sleeve operation removes approximately 60 percent of your stomach so that it becomes a tube or sleeve instead of a sack. This draw has numerous advantages over other gastric procedures that help you lose weight. Some of these advantages include the lack of foreign objects, supplements, and hunger. This article will discuss some of the advantages of a gastric sleeve operation.
Hunger
One of the first advantages of a gastric sleeve is its ability to control hunger. During the operation, 60 percent of your stomach is removed, instead of being left in place like other procedures. This also removes most of the hormones in the stomach that are responsible for producing the sensation of hunger that you feel.
Foreign Objects
Another advantage of a gastric sleeve is that no foreign objects are left in your body. The gastric banding design leaves a number of objects that can lead to complications. The band may slip, erode, or become infected and can cause serious problems. The gastric sleeve operation has none of these complications associated with foreign objects.
Supplements
A gastric bypass requires an intestinal bypass. This can lead to protein and vitamin deficiency and force you to assume special vitamins and supplements to get the nutrition you need. A gastric sleeve doesn’t require an intestinal bypass. Therefore, it is much less likely for you to have to take these special vitamins and supplements.
Function
A gastric sleeve operation reduces the volume of your stomach. Although your stomach will be smaller, it will still be able to function normally. You will mild be able to eat most of the foods you have always eaten, although you will have to eat them in smaller amounts.
Weight Loss
One of the last advantages of a gastric sleeve is weight loss. The weight loss you experience happens much faster than some of the other procedures such as gastric banding. Most patients lose between 40-60% of excess weight within two years of the operation.
These are some of the advantages of a gastric sleeve operation. Since a large portion of the stomach is removed, the hormones that stimulate the sensation of hunger are also removed. Also, a gastric sleeve will not leave foreign objects in your body that can cause numerous complications. You likely won’t need to take special vitamins and supplements either since an intestinal bypass is not required for the procedure.
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Filed under Gastric Banding by on Aug 1st, 2010.
Surgical intervention, in the practice of weight loss, is growing in popularity and demand. For many obese patients, determining the just approach to weight loss can be enchanting and, often, frustrating. With unique body responses, each with a original metabolic response, one weight loss process may work for one individual but does not necessarily work well for another. Understanding surgical weight loss options, such as Lap Band surgery, the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the risk factors, will aid an obese individual in making a more well informed weight loss decision.
During the surgical weight loss procedure, Lap Band, a small pouch is created within the stomach. The concept of Lap Band Surgery lies in the constriction of the stomach, reducing the capacity to hold more than a specific quantity of food, thereby reducing the number of calories the obese individual consumes, ultimately leading to weight loss. Using a stoma, the stomach is reduced in size through a tightening of the band thereby also creating a prolonged feeling of fullness. As needed, the stoma can be adjusted to allow for a greater or decreased food capacity as warranted by the obese patient’s health needs.
For patients undergoing the Lap Band surgical procedure, the obvious first advantage lies within the significant weight loss. Additionally, because the stoma is adjustable, as time progresses, the amount of food intake can be adjusted to the dietary needs of the patient. The surgery is completely reversible and requires no permanent stapling of the stomach lining. With weight loss realized within the first few days following surgery, many patients are then motivated to seek out exercise routines and derive a new rejuvenation as the consumption of calories decreases, thereby increasing the total weight loss.
As with most weight loss surgeries, the Lap Band procedure does carry disadvantages. Of most significant disadvantage is the inability of the patient to consume the number of calories as was consumed prior to surgery. For emotional eaters, this lack of dependence upon food consumption can lead to additional emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety. Additionally, the decreased abiltiy to occupy massive quantities of calories leaves many patients struggling to make important food choices. With less food ingested, the obese patient must be sure to steal the right types of foods so as to ensure proper health is maintained
As with any weight loss surgical procedures, complications and risks are common and may include infection, abnormal bleeding and ineffective weight loss results. When considering a weight loss surgical diagram, such as Lap Band, consult a nutritionist and fitness counselor regarding other possible health and weight loss options. In addition to nutrition and fitness counseling, a visit with a psychologist or social worker, specializing in eating disorders, may be appropriate to ensure the proper mindset is in place when preparing for a Lap Band procedure.
For more information regarding Lap Band procedures, visit www.obesitylapbadsurgery.com.
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Filed under Stomach Stapling Risks by on Jul 31st, 2010.