Kids Getting Lap-Band Surgery

For someone who *was* 190 pounds overweight, the right diet change and exercise worked for me. There is definitely a role for surgery, and some people who have not been able to lose the weight any other way. However, putting kids who haven't had their growth spurt or body changes under the knife is just too soon. Who knows what their future holds or how thier development into adult would affect their life?

This is just sick! No-one knows what the long term impact of these types of surgeries will have on adults much less on children and adolescents.
I managed to lose 100 pounds via portion control and exercise and have kept it off for 8 years. No surgery required. This surgery seems like another way for the lazy american to get what he wants.

This is actually happening here in Brasil, too.
Children are being operated by doctors who say it´s their "last resource". Excuse me, but at 12, how CAN THIS be your last resource? How can you say that someone who´s 12 has already tried everything?
One of our big newspapers ran an article on that a couple of weeks ago, it´s really worrying, I agree with you.

I can't believe this. 12 year olds? I was 90 lbs overweight when I was 18 and managed to lose it all by diet and exercise. Yeah, it took some time, but it was worth it. You can't expect a 12 year old to know what they're doing with their body...what if they get a nutritional deficiency of some sort? In my opinion, no 12 year old has exhausted all options of weight loss and certainly has enough time (and a young enough body) to get their butt out there and play outside, eat a little less junk, and lose the weight naturally.

Dear Readers: Although no one knows the outcome from having surgery so young ,dont be so judgemental. None of us know personally how that child was suffering from obesity related health issues, which would shorten a childs life anyway. As a mother of a morbidly obese child
who has not had surgery,i'm still desperatly trying to help my child in other ways also. But, I don't down a mother for saving their kids life at what ever the cost.Every ones body is different so is their situation, please don't judge what you have not experienced.
A Concerned Mother.

I've heard of kids that are 16 or so having the surgery, and even they have a lot of problems being "compliant". It's not a magic cure-all...you still have to eat right and exercise after having the surgery or you won't permanently lose weight. The surgery is also a very high-risk operation with a 0.5% death rate. I know that some kids really do have major issues with food, but I would try a more moderate approach to losing weight until the child was at LEAST 18. At that point, they can make their own decisions, their bodies/minds are more mature, and they may have a higher success rate.

I need to sign my kids up! Calling the Doc now!

You people need to chill. There are 2 sides (sometimes more) to a story. Typical lazy Americans, reactive and not proactive. Do not hear both sides before a reacting.

Some of you are being very judgmental about this. My sister was 15 when she had the lap band surgery. My parents at first were very worried about the whole thing, but after being reassured and educated about the procedure changed their thinking. All I can say is research the procedure and educate yourself before making the decision whether or not it is right for you or your child.

I agree with the girl above brittany. Some of you are being very judgemental, I have been worried about this for a long time my mom is 42 and she has been thinking about getting this surgery for a while. Deit and exercise has worked for me i was 165 and lost 20 pounds in a 6 months, some people are in great danger with there weight and i believe that if you are in danger it is a better way of helping you loss weight, lossing weight is hard, even when you are 12, it is a very young age but some children mybe in danger, it is hard as a child to go through being obestied if all your friends are normal and you stick out, you watch tv and there it is fat fat fat, all of these food manufatureers make are killing young children, this is terible. I think that if your child is in danger get the surgery, it may help.

This is really serious.. Kids shoudnt have such surgeries.. I wonder what their parents are doing !!!!

Please remember the lap band is reversible and not necessarily a lifetime deal. It can help to reduce the weight fairly quickly in relation to other diets helping MORBIDLY OBESE children gain back their health and self esteem. THEN work MUST be done on the REASONS for their weight issues. I have had a lap band for 14 months. I am now 137 lbs lighter and have my life back, HOWEVER they do not put the band around your brain, only your stomach....YOU still have to do the head work.

First of all you have no idea about what these kids are thinking untill you are in there shoes. I have been over weight most of my life and exercise is not easy. Yes it takes time but the fact of the matter is that most children are already so far gone that it doesnt matter. I am lookin into gettin the lap band and i am 18. I also have a very bad back problem so exercise is out of the question. So please dont judge them because you are not in there shoes. Thanks

Hi,

have a look at this website www.ossanz.com.au. It will help a lot for obese people. There are other options like minimally invasive surgery (lap band surgery).

I just don't no what to do because I have a daugther that is 13 years old and weigh over 200 pounds. This surgery does scare me. My daughter can't control her food and she is gaining weigh every month. Right now I am trying to find her a personal trainer, maybe that will help.

I had a lap-band surgery 8 months ago. Unfortunately, I am losing weight slowly, but it is working.My blood pressure is normal, but since I have problems in an ankle, I can not exercise as much as required. My initial weight was 112kgs, now I weigh 89kgs. Hope to adjust the band again soon and loose some more kgs. I learned the lesson...eat slowly and learn everything possible about nutrition.

As a 13 year old who has dieted and lost 20 pounds, that's all I could lose! The doctors have warned me about losing weight, and I've even not eaten for days at a time in despair, because it didn't help. I am looking into getting the LapBand Surgery, if the insurance I have will cover it, because not only do I want to be healthy, but I want to like myself.

Leah: Eating less is only one way to lose weight. Some people eat more and still manage to lose weight. Your body is meant to be nourished and active. When you eat and exercise in a sensible, healthy way, the weight will come off and stay off. You could only lose 20 pounds because you used starvation to lose weight. Reduced calorie intake will cause a slowing or halting in weight loss.

Spectra said:
I can't believe this. 12 year olds? I was 90 lbs overweight when I was 18 and managed to lose it all by diet and exercise. Yeah, it took some time, but it was worth it. You can't expect a 12 year old to know what they're doing with their body...what if they get a nutritional deficiency of some sort? In my opinion, no 12 year old has exhausted all o[...]

listen all you asswholes that object to lap band at 12 i want you to here this im 12-1/2 and weigh 305 i have 0 friends ive tried diet pills ive tried exersize and diet even all at once and i havent lost a pound and i also suffer from manic deppresion think for a moment whow hard this must be for me. Every other kid i see is normal so why dont you guys wrap your heads around this one!

I was almost 100 pounds overweight two years ago, yet I lost all the weight. I gained some back (only about 5 to 10 pounds lately, due to the holiday parties). I am doing the best I can to blunt the weight loss, but it's hard this time of year. Regulary, I still eat fish, whole grain cereals, fruits and veggies, and low-fat milk and yogurt, though on fridays, I eat a proflet or a frozen yogurt, as well as a small piece of chocolate and some peanut butter and some nuts daily. But the parties are doing me in. Plus, I have to go through the after-holiday carb hangover. I may have to eat salads and smaller bowls of cereals daily to compensate for the weight gained during December, and get back on track. Maybe next fall, I may lose some extra pounds so that the parties next winter will help me stay off the pounds.

And speaking of which on how bad we are dieting, foreign countries arn't fairing much better. Japan is switching from fish and vegtables to junk and processed foods (By the way, the western diet is all of processed foods, hambergurs and hotdogs, and other junk food, not meat, dairy, or milk as we believe.

We are also seing a transition from red rice and bean in Africa to junk food, especially South Africa. Pakistan is also switching from chicken, rice, and vegtables to junk food.

It's not really the meat right now, but it's the junk food that's the primary cause of obesity. Junk food is full of trans fats, sugar, salt, and refined carbohydrates, as well as no nutritional value.

It's so sad to hear of kids getting lap band surgery. I've read about people with WLS ending up with malnutrition - what would that do to someone who hasn't stopped growing?

Tanya - I feel for you, but you must realise that people can still gain weight after WLS. Perhaps your daughter can see a counsellor who specialises in eating disorders?

My business partner had this surgery when he was 19 and I thought it was excessive already. He is 24 now. He had about 38-40 kilos (80 pounds) to lose at the time, and he lost about 30 kilos with the surgery. He has severe malnutrition although he takes prescription vitamins and shots every 2 weeks at the doctor's office, his hair thinned a lot and lost some color and his skin also has the same gray-ish tone his hair has. He has a lot of loose skin that his insurance, which paid for the surgery, refuses to pay to have removed. He did not try exercise more than twice a week for any longer than 1 month, and he did not try any sort of dietary change, before he went for the surgery. Even right after the surgery, he'd have his 1oz of food in stuff like fudge or cheese.

I'm not against the surgery, but I think doctors eager to make a quick buck are doing it on people who are far from their last resource. He had to go to 3 psychologists for the insurance to pay, and all of them had to say that a 19-year-old 6'2" guy who only ate junk in large amounts and had never done regular exercise in his life could not lose the weight otherwise. That boggles the mind. He told me the doctor told him there was no point in trying diet and exercise, cause it was impossible to lose all the weight he wanted that way. I had lost 53 kilos at the time with diet and exercise being much older, shorter, female, with a family full of obese people, and with a non-functioning thyroid, and he had a doctor telling him that a perfectly healthy guy with genetics on his side (thin parents) shouldn't even bother trying.

It is easy to pass judgement on others. We wouldn't deny lifesaving surgery to a child suffering from another disease, even if the surgery is not always a 100% cure! Obesity is a disease in some and not a choice. I have suffered from obesity my entire life and have a strong family history of the same. My entire life was spent trying everything to lose weight. At 15 years old I went on a doctor prescribed diet program, medifast diet shakes, I followed it exclusively for over a month, along with walking 3 miles 5 times a week and lost 2 lbs. Two pounds in 1+ months is quite a dissapointment when you have over a 100lbs to lose! I eventully had gastric by pass surgery and lost, and kept off, 115 pounds. I have not had any complications or regrets. Some people just CAN'T lose weight with out some extra help. Passing judgement on obese is just another form of prejudice that is not openly discussed.

Josie, I don't think anyone on this site is being judgemental of the obese. But don't you think for example that in your case, doing Medifast + walking and losing 2 pounds in one month, that you probably had an undiagnosed and untreated metabolic problem? It is not normal. I'm glad the surgery helped you, and like you, I come from a family where most people are obese and I've had family members who had their lives saved by WLS, so I'm definitely not against it. I just think that it should not be considered the first or even third way out, and people who are 12 have not exhausted possibilities. People who are 19 like my partner have not exhausted possibilities, so why would 12 year olds, unless they have Prader-Willis Syndrome, have exhausted possibilities?

Tanya Watson said:
I just don't no what to do because I have a daugther that is 13 years old and weigh over 200 pounds. This surgery does scare me. My daughter can't control her food and she is gaining weigh every month. Right now I am trying to find her a persona

Tanya,
I am in the same situation with my beautiful daughter, she's almost 15 and I have tried virtually everything to help her. We've joined gyms, tried the personal trainer, joined weight watchers, ordered nutri-system. The bottom line is: it isn't going to work unless she does the work. I can only control what food is available in this house: once she gets to school, out with her friends, there seems to be no self-control. Even if the house is stocked with healthy food, she will eat, say...5 Lean Cusine pizzas insetad of one, or drink 64 oz. of V8 splash. Am I looking into the lab band for her? yes. She is not even 15 and weighs 245 lbs. Have I exhausted most of my resources? Well, aside from the above mentioned tactics, we see counselors, physchiatrists, you name it. I will go to the ends of the earth to help find the answers, to help her get on the right track. But after it fails and you see your kid facing this: getting bigger every day, what do you do?

Kim, here are my thoughts on the surgery for someone as young as your daughter. Since it seems you have indeed tried everything in YOUR power to control her eating, it does make sense that you would be looking in to something more extreme like the lap-band surgery. But what it comes down to is your daughter. You seem very on top of things. I commend you because so many parents often contribute to their children's health problems. But unfortunately, your daughter might need a reality check of sorts or a personal desire for change since it seems that she is leaving the house to eat the foods that you do not allow at home. However, if she lacks control of what she eats, and SHE wishes to gain control, the lap-band would probably be the best and most effective treatment. Also, I don't know if she has an activity she enjoys very much, like say taking the dog for a walk or going on a bike ride or any sport. If there is an activity like that which would make being active fun, throw it out there and see what she thinks if you are trying to hold off on surgery. Once again, your involvement and concern for your daughter is awesome, keep it up.

All of these comments terrify me for two reasons.

One, the lap band won't prevent a person from doing the wrong food choices. You may have a smaller stomach but if you only put junk into it, then not even a gastric bypass can save you. Persons should have to prove they have a healthy diet, without *secret* snacks and a healthy exercise regime before any surgery gets done. Exercise can be done even if you have a bad "insert body part name here". It just needs to be modified. Unless you are a quadriplegic, anyone can exercise.

Two, Persons who do a dietary/exercise change that is drastic expect to have drastic results; unfortunately no one seems to take into consideration that muscle weighs more then fat when they become discouraged after a month or two because they don't feel like they are losing it quickly enough. It took years to accumulate; it will take years to lose. Kids need to know that it takes time to lose the fat. I changed my eating habits and started running in May 2006. I currently run 20 to 30 km a week. I have lost 2 kilos in 8 months. I was completely discouraged but thanks to a very smart friend, I had taken my measurements and I lost over 55 centimeters on my abdomen, chest, thighs and hips. I still would like to lose 25 kilos but at least I'm no longer fixated on a number.

Lap bands should be a real last option solution instead of a gastric bypass; and if it is the only solution, it should be following a exercise regime and a dietary change as well as conselling services to see why that person needs to eat so much. Surgery is never a great option.

True, gastric bypass should be a last resort, but when a person loses control of how much they are eating, a surgery which restricts food intake would force a person to eat less since they physically can't fit the same amount of food in their stomach. Worst of all, children can be very stubborn, and even if they are eating the right foods, if they eat too much of the right foods, they will continue to gain weight. And years of over eating adds to the portion distortion which has spread like wildfire throughout our nation. It is difficult being a parent knowing that your child's health as well as their psychological development is being jeopardized when the situation is entirely avoidable. But once eating gets out of hand, it is hard as a parent to say "no" when your child is hungry though as an outsider, that can be difficult to understand. The lap-band should be a last resort, but it definitely should be coupled with a diet-correction strategy and exercise plan to form good habits post-op which would make the surgery worthwhile.

On The Road, thank you. I know it's a last resort, because so help me...if there was any activity I could get her to do even once a week...twice, anything, I'd be doing it right next to her. We've bought new bikes, we've tried kickboxing...I even tried to get her to come along to belly dancing lessons. But until you have, as a mother, been so desperate to go so far as to pull your child out of the chair; to take her hands in yours and hear her cry over the pain it causes her and watch life pass her by while other girls go to parties and get invited to dances while boys pass her in the mall and laugh, no one can tell me they would not look at this as an option. Counselors who specialize in eating disorders have talked with her, they give her some insight, give her some tips about what to do when faced with the decision to eat right or wrong. Then, we she fails, her self-esteem goes right back down again and the world stands in line to say "hey, if you just ate less and moved more...you know.."
Wow. There's an idea. I think we just solved the obesity problem in this country.
Of course I know the responsibility still lies with her, eating right, moving more. But what do you do when she can't seem to do it, no matter how bad she says she wants it, no matter how bad you try to give her the strength, give her the tools. Do I stand by and let it get worse? Is there something I haven't done? I've played good cop/bad cop, I've even staged a kind of "loving intervention" to express concern for her HEALTH.
I, too, am worried she will she this as a "magic pill" and not do what she has to do to make it work for her, but I at this point, I am even more worried about what life will be like for her in one year...two years, 10 years?

Kim, I suggest that you try to schedule a meeting with your family doctor, when you and your daughter can sit down together and form a plan to move forward. You may have done something like that already, but sometimes a more serious discussion can serve as more of a reality check, especially for a teenager who may have a hard time visualizing the future and the importance of good health. You could also choose to have your own meeting with her doctor when your daughter is not present where he/she can give you all the alternatives or variations of gastric bypass so that you can decide which options you would consider to offer your daughter, since some options are more extreme than others. I believe that would be a step in the right direction. There are certainly many options available that are more intense than simply changes in diet and exercise but not quite as extreme as the controversial lap-band. I hope I have offered you some helpful advice. Keep being positive and let your daughter know that you will help her do whatever it takes (but i'm sure you already do that). Hang in there!

Kim, I obviously don't know your daughter, but is it possible her self-destructive behavior is a result of depression?

I hope that if your daughter does get the surgery, she doesn't eat the junk my business partner eats, in the amounts he eats (very little for a "normal person", but still more than what his new stomach can handle) and then barfs it, like he often does. Obviously by doing that, his teeth are rotting. And the addictive personality he has, which was not really addressed, has meant he has taken up smoking since he can't eat all the time anymore.

Jan,
Yes, depression has been addressed and she is actually on an anti-depressant. It's my hope that the medicine will help her get into a better frame of mind to address the actions that could be the result of the depression. It's a daily search, it seems, for the answers. All I can do is keep searching. Thank you all very much for your kind words and support. It helps to just say it out loud to someone else (well, type it anyway)
Kim

Jan, I also wanted to thank you for bringing up the addictive personality thing, because my daughter was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder a while ago. I am afraid of that, too. Here she is, at this very impressionable age, low self esteem, if she gets the lap band...what does she turn her addiction to? She's 15, we live in an affluent community so I didn't even realize how absolutely available all drugs are...it just shocks me. But a lot of these kids have money, so they CAN buy it, you know? And here she is...what does she turn to when things go wrong? No longer the bag of chips. Sometimes it seems to me that our problems are so huge I will never be able to solve them. Does anyone know of some cutting edge program, some camp or some group where parents can turn? Not the usual dietician, nutritionist, counselor who nods...but something. And I'm not saying those people are not helpful, they ARE, very much. But I feel this case is beyond that at this point. And if you are a teenager reading this and you can give me some insight on something that I've missed, I will welcome any and all of your comments.

Kim, you obviously love and care for your daughter very much. It is good that in spite of the challenges she faces, she has such a caring parent. So many children don't.

I think you are right to be concerned that she might just take up a different addiction, and even if it is not something as dangerous as drugs, the OCD may get a lot worse. Eating may be a calming behavior for her, like washing their hands is for other people (I have OCD too), and if you take away one calming behavior, the tendency is for all the other behaviors to get worse. I used to bite my cuticles as a calming behavior, to take my mind off the other things I felt I had to do. When I got braces and I couldn't reach my cuticles anymore, all the other things, like alphabetizing stuff, redoing my homework a million times, became a ton worse.

You are also right that drugs are readily available, I think anywhere, and have been for quite sometime. I'm 32 now and I remember at 10 there being every type of drug and alcohol available already at school, from other students. I know marijuana has been easily available forever, probably since the 60s or earlier, but at that time there was already every kind of prescription pill, solvents to be inhaled, you name it, it was easy to know who had it, even if you weren't looking for it. It was common knowledge.

My 14 yr old daughter had the lap band 11-9-06 and has lost 42lbs. Her highest weight was 309. She has PCOS and insulin resistance. Since 9 yrs old we have been members of 3 different work out facilities. Her Dr. has had her on several different food plans (low carb, low calorie and also diet pills)...nothing worked. Her self esteem was so low & she stayed so upset over kids calling her names & not liking her because she was fat. She even saw a bariatric Dr. and was on a liquid diet & vitamin shots. Until you have a child going thru the depression & upset of obesity there is no way you can say what you would or should do. We did a lot of research & talked to her Dr.'s at length. She has hope now & I do not regret the decision at all.

I was reading Dr. Nancy Dunne's natural diet book for PCOS when I discovered her 14 tips for increasing your fertility. Here they are: stop junk food, eat whole foods, go organic, avoid genetically modified foods, balance your essential fats, minimize gluten grains, have plenty of fiber, reduce saturated fat, change your carbs, reduce alcohol, reduce stress, exercise, lose weight, reduce insulin resistance, check partner's fertility, and consider nutritional supplements.

I don't really think that 14 year olds need to be increasing their fertility!
Interesting for adults with PCOS though.

Marilyn said:
I was reading Dr. Nancy Dunne's natural diet book for PCOS when I discovered her 14 tips for increasing your fertility. Here they are: stop junk food, eat whole foods, go organic, avoid genetically modified foods, balance your essential fats, minimize gluten grains, have plenty o[...]

Everyone, I see the points in each and everysingle one of you... and i respect them. For me at 21 years of age,5'5",257 lbs., it's hard for me to disagree with theparents that have tried everything and do go the extra miles to give their kid's a fighting chance at health. I admire it in fact. Yes surgery is kind of a big deal with children. But, try to thing think of it as the same as if your child needed a liver or heart transplant in order to survive. Yes i know its not quite the same but it's really not that different either. Your kid could have the same possibilities of mortality rate with obesity as they can with terminal illness's. By having surgery they can avoid dieing an extremely early death.

I only dream that i could have the lap band procedure. Yes my whole life i have been a lil heavy... but not unhealthy until i reached puberty. For years I have gone up and down in my weight. Lose some here... gain twice back. Only to find out that i have PCOS which unfortunately without the right diet and even with the right diet and exersize causes you to gain weight. Not only that but i also have a Hiatal hernia, an incredibly damaged knee...and other medical problems. I can't possibly exersize... anytime i exhert my energy i throw up (hiatal hernia) anytime i walk for an amount of time... or go up stairs i writhe in pain with my knee.

I graduated 2 years late because of being sick all the time... i have never had a job and I am 21 years old. the only college im able to do is online. Im not able to have the "on campus experiance" and I know the majority of it has to deal with my being over weight. It brings me to tears... because i have no job, and it's gotten to where i ahve no life.... and i can't afford the surgery. and it breaks my heart.

...it breaks my heart when i see people being so judgemental when all these parents are trying to do is help... they are trying to give thir kids a fighting chance at agood life, a good job, the chance to have the experiances that they should have in their life. Like I said before I understand your point of view, but i dont understand why you would put someone down for doing what they believe to be a life saving change in THEIR kids LIFE

I had lap band surgery 4 weeks ago. It has been such an adjustment but I've lost 16 lbs. This is something that I can't even imagine kids having. The conscequences of overeating are great and kids may not fully understand all of it. As for the comments about this being another way for lazy Americans to lose weight...all I have to say is that diet and exercise do not always work. Lap band is a TOOL, not an easy way out. Your diet has to change and you need to exercise. You can screw it up if you don't eat the right things. For some overweight people like myself, foot pain or other kinds of pain can make exercising unbearable. But with just losing 16 lbs, I'm able to walk every day and ride my bike.