Lap-Band surgery patients at their 5-year reunion
Today on Dr. Oz: The new guidelines for Lap-Band eligibility
As I mentioned in my post “FDA Approves Lap-Band for less obese adults” a few weeks back, the level of obesity required to qualify for Lap-Band surgery has been significantly lowered.
Now if you have a BMI of 30 or higher, along with a complication, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, the FDA will approve you for a Lap-Band procedure.
In other words, now a woman who is 5’4″ and 175 lbs can get approved for Lap-Band surgery if she also has one complication, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
I don’t know about where you live, but in my neck of the woods a full 50% of the population is going to qualify for a Lap-Band.
A study from 2002 found that the average BMI of adult males and females was about 28.
In the last 10 years, do you think the average American has gotten fatter or thinner?
I wouldn’t doubt that the average BMI is now closer to 30 for men and women. If so, then about half of the adult population would qualify for a Lap-Band if they had one of the “necessary complications.”
I have seen the “normal ranges” for cholesterol and fasting blood glucose fall in the last decade, and this seems to be a similar “lowering of the bar.” For what purpose, I’m not sure.
Does it serve special interest groups, like groups of bariatric surgeons that make their livings by installing plastic and silicone devices for the purpose of serving as a gatekeeper for food in the stomachs of the weak-willed among us?
Or does the FDA genuinely care about us and our seemingly unending struggle to lose weight, so that we can squeeze into our “skinny jeans” and impress all the people at our 10, 20, or 30 year high school reunion coming up this summer?
Back to the show…
The most interesting segment was when he introduced two women that currently have Lap-Bands installed. One lost 50 pounds in the last 6 months, and the other lost 180 pounds since having the surgery 6 years ago. Incidentally, they both looked just like any other obese person you might pass on the street, neither fatter nor slimmer than a typical obese person.
One woman showed Dr. Oz what she typically ate in a day before Lap-Band surgery, and then the camera panned to a table with a day of Post Lap-Band “meals”: 5 spoons of yogurt for breakfast, a cup of clear soup for lunch, and 4 spoons of chocolate pudding for dinner. She emphasized that if the soup has something like chicken of vegetables in it, those additions can be hard to “get down.”
So what the Lap-Band boils down to is an enforcer of austere dietary restriction, and the penalty of disobeying the enforcer might be heartburn, reflux, difficulty swallowing, or vomiting.
The woman also stated “…if you take one or two bites too many, you will vomit.”
How’s that for an incentive to keep your portions down?
Dr. Oz voiced his opinion with the following statement:
“The Lap-Band could be the answer for people who can’t lose weight on their own.”
I feel at the very least he could have advised people to make sure that this is what they want, and to ensure they have exhausted other methods for losing excess weight.
If you ask me, this change in FDA guidelines was made to enable certain groups or individuals to make money, and has little to do with the goal of improving the health of our citizens.
By the way, since when was the FDA concerned about things other than food and drugs?
Do you know anyone who has had the Lap-Band procedure? Have you had it?
I’d love to hear about your experience, please send me a comment.
Robert J. Stone
I have had the lapband for about 5 years now and I am still finding it very difficult to shift the weight. And even though the blame could be mine, I feel as though it has failed me. I say that the blame could be mine because the last time that I had seen my surgeon to report my failings he said that it was not my fault because what they taught me about using the band (5 years ago as opposed to now) has changed and they are now learning how it works in a manner… and the content of what we eat and are able eat isn’t the healthiest food and now we are told that a full protein diet is what we have to eat with the band in order to lose weight. My sister and myself have it, she was morbidly obese and has lost perhaps 30 kgs but is still obese, though heaps better off than before. I am trying to work with the band and not against it, despite feeling annoyed. Don’t know if I would recommend it to anyone though.
Hope that this has been helpful to you in some way.
Regards,
Christine.
Thank you for sharing your experience Christine. I hope you can work with your current situation and continue to make progress. The best we can do is to learn as much as we can and apply it to see if it works. Best of luck to you!
So many things.
First, my empathy to Christine. As someone said to me when I decided to try Alli, I understand the desperation that drives a person to want to try something, anything that will get you to a healthy weight. Or even, just a less unhealthy one. There’s a lot of talk about magic bullet mentality, and it’s out there, but when you’re obese, you get desperate. Not for a magic bullet, but for help. I’m not talking about a bulging middle, I’m talking about weight gain that is destroying your life. Forget the health issues, you can’t get up off the toilet, you can’t get off the couch, you can’t move around in your bed. This is all scary, and then the health issues come on top of it. And I can get really mad at the people who prey on this desperation or take the opportunity to make a person feel bad for it (even with the best of intentions).
You talked about lowering the bar. Did you know they did the same thing with the BMI? This is disconcerting. Even assuming those who do it because they are genuinely concerned, there is still the lobbying efforts of the pharmaceutical and other medical companies involved. A company’s number one concern will always be it’s bottom line, our well-being is secondary. And then we have the organizations campaigning about the obesity epidemic. Which one has the blond, skinny spokeswoman who never had an overweight problem in her life? The one who said that we shouldn’t have fat people on TV or in a position to be admired because it gives us bad ideas. An anthropologist friend said that there is evidence that the current capabilities media are creating a narrowing of the perception of what is beautiful. Instead of a diversity of ideals, we are developing a single, and very limited and unrealistic one. Not just here, in the States, but around the world. It’s easy to dismiss this, but beauty equals acceptable. That’s scary.
Another problem with these extreme methods is that any failure is attributed to the person, not the method. That’s the presumption. This is scary for several reasons. First, it’s brutal to the person who is doing everything right and still can’t lose the weight. Second, it’s dangerous for everyone, because no one is trying to figure out what is wrong. After all, obviously nothing is wrong, the person is just stupid, lazy, slovenly, apathetic, self-destructive, whatever, just so long as you can say it is their fault.
From what you said in this post, and what Christine said, it sounds like the lap-band surgery results in a starvation diet. Was the women on Oz even eating the 1200 cal necessary for survival? Could this be why people have trouble shifting weight on it?
Not to say that it never works. I bet it does. I’m sure Alli works, too. But, as desperate as I am to lose weight, the cost to my body was too much.
You make some good points WIndSong. How easy it is to blame the patient, when it just might be the ill-conceived silicone O-ring you’ve cinched around the stomach. And yes, the media-driven ideals for beauty (both male and female) are becoming more narrow. Seen a Miss Universe Pageant lately? I confess I watched the latest one, and it looked like all the women were clones. Almost exactly the same: tall, impossibly lean women that I have never seen out in the real world. And of course, almost all the magazine covergirls are air-brushed and photoshopped to the magazine editor’s specifications. It’s not reality, yet many (if not most) readers think it is. Thanks for your comment and take care!
The issue with the non-reality of magazine images, isn’t so much that people are so stupid as to think it is reality. It’s almost become cliche to claim that it isn’t reality. But intellectual knowledge and the visceral response are two completely different things. Knowing what is normal doesn’t stop us from comparing it unfavorably with the photo-shopped models. The training that our brains are receiving cannot be combated effectively with the constant intellectual insistence that it’s not real.
I am sorry to hear about your negative experience, however, i had a great experience with the band. I am able to eat what i want in small portions and with exercise i lost 50 pounds since i got my band two months ago
I think everyone’s situation is different and so we will continue to get mixed feelings about the band
Hi Janine, it sounds like you are doing great after lap-band surgery. Good for you! Thanks for reading and commenting.
I am embarrassed to say, that my lap band surgery of 4 years ago has generally been unsuccessful. I lost 15 kg in total of about 40kg that I had hoped to lose. I must take some of the responsibility for this myself however im sure if I had had better post op support I would have had a better chance at success. The bottom line now is what next. I have paid out all this money for this procedure and I need it to work for me. I have only had two fills and was told the rest was up to me. The problem is I never got to the point of feeling any restriction, so basically after an initial loss it was just like being on a normal diet with no noticeable benefits from the band. My question to you is how can I start again and be successful. I think seeing a different specialist for a start will be a step in the right direction after receiving little or no support once the account was paid for!
Your suggestions would be much appreciated.
Jules
Hello Jules, I hope you are doing well. I can’t give you any advice regarding your situation, but I can say that you should keep looking for a doctor that has your best interests in mind. Have you tried looking for a support group online? There must be several, and you might be able to get some advice from others in your position. I wish you the best…
Well I am 27 years old and after 15 years of fighting my weight i finally got the courage to get the lapband. I am 2 months into it and am not very satisfied. The first month I dropped 25 pounds which was very exciting but of course it was all liquid diet and mushy food. I started on solid foods this month and havent been able to keep any food down at all. I have gotten the band loosened due to the lack of nutrition and i have now gained weight back.
Hello Jackie, it sounds like you are facing a challenge. How is it going now? I wish you the best and hope it all works out for the best.
I have lost 19 lbs in 2 years with my lapband. That is 19 lbs I would not have been able to lose on my own. Slow….but sure! I wonder how much fatter I would be if I hadn’t got my lapband?
Great job Patti! You are smart to be satisfied with the “slow but sure” progress of your weight loss. I hope you continue to have good results, and I appreciate your comments.
I literally just got my lapband done on March 7th, 2013 and am down 15lbs. This due to the fact I’m still on liquids and moving into the “mushee” phases. I expect things to change when I move to solids. I may have a weight gain and some things I’ll have to see how it goes. If you went into the surgery thinking the lap band is your end all be all of your weight issues – then you have rose color glasses on. The lap band is not your fix to your weight – YOU ARE. YOU still must invest the time and effort to get yourself to a healthier weight. The lap band is a tool designed to help you lose the weight. As my Doctor told me – it’s not my fix, it’s my tool and the repercussions of eating badly with the lap band, will be uncomfortable. Obviously new to the lapband, but have seen friends who didn’t do so well. Most of the time, it was because they were working out and doing the physical part, but didn’t address the mental changes. My journey will likely come with many challenges (mental and physical), but I made this life decision and I’ll deal with the good and bad
Thanks for your input Cathy, you seem to have an outlook that will enable you to make this work for you. You are right, the lap band is a tool, and like any tool, must be used correctly to produce the desired result. Best of luck to you in your journey!
In 2008, I had the lap band procedure. In the first six months I lost 32 pounds. I have only kept off approximately 25 pounds. Worse yet, I throw up 10-12 times a week on a good week. It could be the first bite of something I digested just fine yesterday or it could be one of the foods I know better to resist because it just doesn’t go down right. Some days I am so hungry because I couldn’t keep down “normal” foods that I resort to potato chips or ice cream- high in fat, but definitely digestible. I eat far less than half of what my peers eat, throw up about half of it and still look close to my old pre-band self. I exercise three times a week and help coach my daughter’s sports teams.
I’m afraid to have the band removed because at least I haven’t gained back any more of the weight lost and sometimes can loose a few pounds and keep it off for a month or so. I haven’t gone back to my pre-surgery weight and feel like I have a safety net to keep me from over eating. BUT, I am tired of throwing up. Tired of pulling over on the road to purge the reasonable healthy dinner I just had with my family. Tired of having to apologize to my kids that they had to see me throw up yet again.
This is not bile-type regurgitation, but it just isn’t what I envisioned. I had envisioned eating small portions and chewing slowly. I envisioned a slender, normal-weight me. One with a “1″ in the first digit of my weight and my dress size. I envisioned me getting out and running along side my kids without suffering knee pain because my joints have to support this obese body.
I have tried so many plans and failed. I am now starting to believe I am just programmed to be this weight and at least the band and the vomiting keep me here.
Hello Nicole, thanks so much for sharing your experience. I understand your hesitancy to remove the band, but at the same time can’t help think that perhaps there is another solution besides the band. In my opinion, the band is simply there to remind you that eating too much is going to result in unpleasant side-effects. It doesn’t address the hunger or craving or desire (or whatever we want to call it) that is telling us to eat. I am not an expert in this area at all, but I do know that when I eat foods high in nutrients (especially vegetables) and exercise regularly, I get cravings far less often. When I eat a lot of “junk food” and don’t exercise, I find myself craving more junk. Are there certain eating/exercise habits that work well for you? You could try removing the band temporarily and testing to see if you can make it work. Definitely something to discuss with your doctor or other professional. Maybe a support forum could tell you if other people are having similar issues. Best of luck Nicole and keep me posted!
Hi Nicole, my understanding is that if you are vomiting too much you are already running the risk of the band slipping. If you haven’t already had this checked out via x-rays, you definitely should. The issue now may not be you, but the fact the band has slipped and causing even more restriction. It has been a known fact that some bands slip right away (that could be placement within the stomach or how one is eating) either way, it is best to have that checked out by the doctor that did your surgery. I guess my initial thoughts to your email is this is a “better” way to live? I mean, you are throwing up more than not. Some extra info – My sister got the lap band in 2008; did not adjust her eating habits and ended up vomiting so bad, her band slipped. She put off going to the doctors, as well. A year later – she met another bariatric doctor, who finally made her do an x-ray. The band had slipped and this was the reason for the vomiting. She ended up doing so much damage to her stomach by not seeing him, she had the surgery re-done, but had the Gastric by-pass. She is now doing well and was forced to really work out her food issues. So please think about going to get yourself checked out. I saw how she was for that year and waiting didn’t do her any good. For me, it’s now been 22 days since being banded and I’ve not thrown up once. I don’t think you are the norm. I do hope you think about going to see a doctor. Good luck!!