Let me qualify that statement before I go any further. In 2001, I had a gastric bypass. That procedure involves stapling off most of the stomach pouch so that you end up with a stomach the size of a shot glass. You eat less food, suffer serious side effects when you eat greasy or sugary foods and thereby lose a lot of weight. With the help of a good diet and regular exercise, I lost 90 pounds. A couple friends of mine have since had the same procedure and lost a great deal of weight. None of us suffered from any complications with the surgery and we all recovered very quickly.
I have another friend though who opted for the lap band procedure (gastric banding). She didn’t fare so well. It seems the band had slipped, and her stomach twisted and ballooned above the band. Then another balloon formed inside the first one. Before the problem was diagnosed, she suffered from chronic diarrhea, could only consume liquids and lost a dangerous amount of weight. When the problem was diagnosed, she had emergency surgery. It took the surgeon two and a half hours to untangle her stomach. She can eat now, but since she has been on such a low calorie diet for so long (she could barely keep Ensure down), she’s gaining weight back very quickly. She has to be extremely careful now as she has no sensation of fullness at all when she eats.
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only person who has had problems with the lap band. Many others have had the same sort of problems. While many people like the fact that the gastric banding procedure is reversible, the risks hardly seem worth it. A recent news story discussed a woman in England who had a lap band that had to be adjusted several times just so that she could get food down. Once she got it down, she discovered that meat and starch wouldn’t stay down. Within months of the surgery, the band became embedded in her stomach wall. She now suffers from agonizing pain and is often violently ill after eating. With all of that, she is actually putting on weight again.
The moral of the story is to do your research. Talk to people who have had the procedures you are considering and be sure to get references from your bariatric surgeon. Experience counts. Protect yourself and be informed. Bariatric surgery is nothing to take lightly.
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