Daughter Wants Gastric Band Surgery !!

[dieseldick]

my 20 yr old daughter wants a band in, she is at uni and cannot afford this so wants me to help her. since she has been young she has struggled with weight, she recently told me she is getting depressed over her weight, i know how she feels and i am thinking seriously about starting to save money for her to get this done. if she wasnt suffering depression then i would not have known but who wants their child to suffer ?

all her life she has tried to eat right , she is a vegetarian also but she eats loads of bread cheese and all wrong foods, also i think her weight is hereditary as he mum struggles with weight and so do i . me and her mum split when she was 7 years old.

i want to help her i hate to see her suffer.

[dieseldick]

i forgot to add, she is a big girl but i do not think she is obese.

[Mosaic]

There will be a student counselling service at her university, where she can access talking therapy before deciding to undergo expensive elective surgery.

[B00]

If she's not obese, will a doctor even consider it anyway?

[EDDIE51]

Gastric band surgery is a 'last resort' no surgon will consider it unless all other options have failed and the patient is dangerously obese.

[-Talbot-]

As B00 says, if you think she is not obese why would she need to get a gastric band?
Try to get her interested in some kind of physical activity. Exercise definitely makes you feel better in yourself.

[Prudie]

All we can give is opinions and we'd really need to know her height and weight. For example being a size 16 may be depressing for a young person but it's hardly gastric band time. Has she tried diet and exercise? As stated a GP wouldn't think of this Op until all other avenues have been tried. 20 seems very young to have to face this last resort.
Student counselling is a very good idea as a starting point.

[Sqad]

It sounds a good idea which will save her from years and years of useless and ineffective dieting.

[grasscarp]

Instead of the real thing why not try the Paul McKenna hypnotic version book cd etc. It has good reviews from people who it has worked for
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hypnotic-Gastric-Band-DVD/dp/0593070747

[Old_Geezer]

People have died from such surgery. Major surgery isn't ever 100% safe. I think it should only ever be an act of desperation really. Not an option to avoid the hassle of watching what one eats. IMO she'd probably benefit more from counselling and such like to bolster her mental state so she isn't so stressed out from her problem.

[1581960]

It sounds a good idea which will save her from years and years of useless and ineffective dieting.

Not so Sqad, dieting is useful and very effective, it only goes wrong when you don't do it properly!!!

[Retrochic]

Surgeons will do gastric surgery privately. Its only if you go through the NHS its the last resort. Sounds as if the girl is saving to go privately.I agree with sqad, get it done, it will save her years of yo yo dieting and perhaps stop her addiction with food. She should also have counselling to discuss her relationship with food.

[bednobs]

i find myself agreeing with both sqad AND retrochic. This day will go down in history

[Ric.ror]

Sorry to piggy back this question but would a bypass be better than a band?

[grasscarp]

Ric-ror - a bypass is irreversible. The girl is 20 years old and she would have the next 50 years to regret it.

[pastafreak]

She will have the rest of her life living a *very* restricted diet. Years of only being able to havve a few mouthfuls of food,a loss of the social aspects of enjoying a meal with family/friends.I really don't see how surgery will end her "food addiction". She needs to deal with food and the issues that cause her to eat too much/the wrong things.

[cazzz1975]

its sad that she is looking for a quick fix, long term she is likely to still gain/maintain being overweight even with a gastric band. she obviously has issues with food, probably an emotional eater, she needs to address these as she will never lose weight until she does.

[Ric.ror]

From what I've seen whats to regret about a gastric bypass
The ability to eat cheese all day long is a very attractive one - to me anyway

[cazzz1975]

agree with grasscarp, if you read comments by people who have had a gastric bypass there is a lot of regret and general misery. most wishing they had just tried to re-educate their eating habits instead of rushing for the seemingly quick fix

[pastafreak]

^^^^it certainly wouldn't be a lot of cheese. "Meals" would be miniscule.

[Ric.ror]

a work colleague had a band fitted and now weighs more than she did before. Her sons paid so it was £8k down the drain
As your daughter is so young how about paying for a years health club membership to see if that would help