Lap Band Surgery Oklahoma
The Adjustable Gastric Band system, or Lap-Band, is a silastic adjustable band around the upper part of the stomach. It was approved by the FDA for the treatment of obesity in 2001. The band is attached to tubing which is then attached to a port that is placed under the abdominal skin.
The tightness of the band is adjusted during a routine office visit where a fluid is pumped into or removed from the port. The goal is to adjust the band to the size that allows the patient to lose weight and feel full when eating solid protein. Essentially, the band creates a small stomach pouch that decreases the amount of food or liquid that can be consumed.
Learn about Mike’s incredible story about how Gastric Bypass Surgery transformed his life.
How Much Weight Will I Lose With a Lap-Band?
When the band is placed during surgery, it is empty. Patients follow a very strict postoperative diet regime after surgery. This allows the band to heal in place prior to the filling of the band. Patients are seen routinely after this six week period to adjust the tightness of the band according to how fast the patient is losing weight and what they are eating.
During the patient’s lifetime, he or she will need occasional fine-tuning of the band to maintain the weight loss. Maximum weight loss with the band will usually take two to three years to accomplish, which means that weight loss is slow and consistent over time if the patient adheres to the prescribed diet. If lifestyle changes with diet and exercise are not consistent, weight loss potential is limited.
For more information on how to begin your transformation call us at 405-359-2475 or view a free online bariatric surgery seminar.
The lap-band, sleeve gastrectomy, and gastric bypass surgeries are among the most popular forms of bariatric surgery. However, these weight loss surgeries are just the first step towards leading a long and healthy life. In fact, WeightWise clients begin that journey even before the first small incisions are made.
Lap-Band Pre-Op
Before any bariatric procedure, clients will meet with the staff to determine the best course of action. During this time, they will meet with a WeightWise surgeon, a dietitian, exercise physiologist, and patient advocate. These conversations will cover the health history of the client, diet changes before and after the surgery, an exercise regimen, and sleep evaluation.
Although laparoscopic gastric banding is one of the least invasive, WeightWise wants to make sure we get a complete picture of your lifestyle leading up to the procedure. But we also want to make sure our patients understand the lifestyle changes they need to make to keep the weight off.
Medical Evaluation
After deciding on bariatric surgery, this will be one of the first interactions patients will have with the WeightWise surgeons. The conversation will center on any health issues you may have, such as diabetes, and any family history issues we need to be aware of. Every patient is different, and our surgeons use this information to plot the most appropriate plan of action.
This includes past attempts at weight loss, what worked and what didn’t, and what our patients hope to accomplish. Did any major life events occur that kickstarted the weight gain or prevented any meaningful weight loss? This isn’t the time to figure out an “ideal weight” for our patients but to gain a greater understanding of their situation.
Psychological Screening
As much as we’d like to help everyone that needs it, not all patients will be in a position to receive weight-loss surgery. In addition to the medical examination, WeightWise looks at a wide array of factors when making these decisions, including the personality of the patient.
Any bariatric surgery, even one as minimally invasive as the lap-band, is a huge step for any patient. While the procedure itself is relatively quick, patients will need to adhere to eating and physical activity plans to keep losing weight after the initial loss. Is this the right time to have the surgery, is the patient equipped to handle issues six months from now, and do they understand the lifestyle change that needs to happen for the surgery to be successful?
Dietitian Consultation
It’s time to put away the chips, ice cream, and soda and learn how the food we eat interacts with the body. In some cases, it’s not even what we eat, but the amount of food we put into our bodies that leads to years of weight gain. Our dietitians will craft pre-op and post-op diets for patients.
A diet will be crafted specifically towards the patient – there is no one diet that will work for every patient. Our dietitians will also discuss any issues that may lead our patients to stray from their new diet and how to combat those situations. At WeightWise, we address both the physical and mental aspects of losing weight.
Physical Activity Plans
Any weight loss plan has to include some kind of physical activity. Even late-night tv commercials include “along with a healthy diet and exercise” when discussing a new magical way to lose weight. It can’t be avoided and WeightWise is no different. Our exercise physiologists will craft a plan, taking into account past injuries or existing limitations.
Will you be running marathons in the next few weeks? Of course not. It takes several months or longer to get into that kind of shape. And while our patients return to normal day-to-day activities almost immediately after surgery, they will still need physical activity to achieve their short and long-term goals.
Sleep Evaluation
For many overweight people, sleep apnea can be a big issue. Not only does it keep them from enjoying a restful sleep at night, but it can also cause other physical problems. High blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes are just a few sleep apnea side effects.
However, many of our patients don’t know if they have sleep apnea or not. This screening will let us know if it is present, which could alter the post-operation plan. The more information we have, the better we are to help you with your weight-loss plan.
Recent Lap-Band Research
Although not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S., recent studies in Australia have shown gastric banding to be quite helpful in adolescents. In a study with 21 severely obese teenagers, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years of age, banding was proven to perform well when it came to losing weight and lowering the body mass index on average of 10 points.
The study followed the subjects from three months post-op to five years in some cases. Because the surgery is reversible, researchers believed this procedure could help bridge the gap for teenagers until they are old enough to choose a different surgery if need be.
So while the use of lap bands has dipped in recent years because long-lasting effects don’t seem to be consistent. Of course, there are many reasons for this, including lack of exercise or not following the proper diet. However, these studies show the lap band surgery working well in younger adults.
Lap Band and Diabetes
Severe obesity has been proven to be a major cause of people contracting diabetes. In the vast majority of cases, bariatric surgery has shown to greatly reduce diabetes in patients and even remove the disease entirely. These results include those that have received the lap band surgery.
In fact, the longer the lap band was in place, the better the results. Diabetes had a greater chance of remission if the lap band was in left in place for more than a year. There are a few factors in play here, including the length of time diabetes had been in place and how great the weight loss was. Much of that depends on the patient sticking to the diet and workout plan of course.
Weight Loss Projections
The National Center for Biotechnology Information tracked the weight loss for over 2,800 morbidly obese patients – a body mass index (BMI) of over 40 – over the course of several years from 2005 to 2011. The greatest amount of weight loss happened over the first three years of the study but plateaued after that for the most part. The weight loss during that time was impressive, though.
When studying weight loss, researchers looked at both overall weight loss and excess weight loss. After four months, patients lost 10 percent of their overall weight with that number reaching 15 percent in six months. After a year, that number was approaching 20 percent.
Once the patients reach the apex of their weight loss around two and a half years, overall weight loss was at 20 percent while excess weight loss neared 50 percent on average. Weight loss began to stall at this time, although the amount of weight gained back was minimal and some patients did continue to lose weight at the five-year mark.
Post-Operation Information
The Lap-Band procedure itself doesn’t take that long. In fact, the recovery time is pretty fast, too. While we recommend at least one overnight stay for observation, most patients are able to go home and resume standard activities. Picking up groceries, having a catch in the backyard, and even returning to work (depending on the job) within a few days.
This is when the real hard work starts, though. It’s time to put into practice everything that was discussed with the patient before the procedure: the diet, the exercise, and a complete lifestyle change. Clients may feel they’re staring down a thousand-step staircase. The initial consultation was one step, the surgery was the second. The final 998 steps will be covered over the rest of their lives.
Working With a New Diet
While every aspect of the lap-band procedure is important, the diet for the first days and weeks are the most critical. There is a reason WeightWise puts such an emphasis on the diet before and after the surgery: any deviation from the post-op diet could lead to discomfort, pain, and even injury.
Patients could even put the surgery at risk by eating too much or the wrong kind of food. We aren’t saying it’s easy – an all-liquid diet and protein supplements for two weeks would put even the most ardent dieters to the test. However, hormonal changes will occur, making it easier for the body to adapt to the new diet. Patients will begin to feel fuller faster and hunger pangs will lesson.
In two weeks, the diet will expand to soft proteins. After four weeks, patients will start to incorporate lean proteins and vegetables into the diet as well as other foods proscribed by the dietitians. Still, carbs are out and so are sweets and caffeinated drinks.
Clients have been getting used to the new food intake for more than a month now, so the transition should be getting easier. Everyone struggles at some point, that’s why WeightWise assigns a patient advocate to every client. Think of them as your own personal cheerleading, shoulder to cry on, and friend to call.
Working Out
When patients return home, they can begin physical activities almost immediately. The regimens our exercise physiologist aren’t designed to break you down and build you up. Instead, they are created to help the patient improve flexibility, cardiovascular system, and overall strength.
Every workout program is tailored to the client. With many overweight patients, back pain, joint trouble, and other maladies are just everyday issues. The exercise physiologist will craft a plan that addresses those issues as well as overall health. But every plan will consist of goals and increased activities as times go on and fitness improves.
There is no endpoint, either. Remember the staircase analogy? Patients must consider themselves on a Stairmaster of sorts. The sedentary lifestyles that helped make our clients overweight must become a thing of the past, so physical activity will need to become part of daily life.