Pammy S Lewis

thanks. appreciate the encouragement and info.

i think the most difficult thing about this surgery is that everyone is affected differently. some people have no problems at all and others have a lot of problems. when i was considering it, i decided that it was kind of a crapshoot and you just have to roll the dice and hope you don't have problems. i'm about a month post op and had some problems that really scared me. they left a tiny bit of fill in when they put the band in and it was way too tight. i had constant, really bad chest pain for weeks. also, it really bothered me because i felt like i could feel something inside of me. however, once they removed the fill the pain and sensation of feeling the band inside of me went away. my dr says that some people are able to tell it's there but the majority are not. on the plus side, i have never been nauseous or thrown up. also, most people do pretty well after surgery and return to work after a week, but i didn't feel normal or able to work until a full 3 weeks after. the surgery was tough for me but i also wonder if because i haven't ever had a baby if i just don't know what REAL pain is, ha! if you've been thru other surgeries and handled them well, you'll be fine. i think that your acknowledgement about worrying about things is valid. when i asked my dr if any of his patients have wanted the band out, he said only one person who was a "worrier" and didn't like the idea of having something inside of him. some people are able to have it and not really think about it and others may be preoccupied with it. i think that's something you might be able to work through though with the help of a therapist should you decide to get it done. it's a tough decision and the best advice i can give you is to do a lot of research and read people's stories on both sides. and trust your instincts! i always trust mine and am rarely wrong about major decisions. what are your instincts telling you?

i had to have some air and saline that was there when they installed it taken out and it was SO painful! so i hear you. the gave me 2 numbing shots but they didn't really help. i was crying so hard. am really afraid to get another fill and thankfully i have pretty good restriction with nothing in my band now, so hopefully i won't have to get one!!

great idea, cheri! thanks for starting this thread. i'm pam and am 45 and live in L.A. i have been a tv producer for about 15 years and i have really loved my career (mainly reality and docs: a couple of new shows on OWN, apprentice, bachelor. my favorite one was a show several years ago called "starting over," that i won an emmy for). i have suffered from depression since i was a teen and started taking antidepressants about 15 years ago. i was thin prior to that but they caused me to gain about 50 lbs, which i have never been able to lose. because of my discomfort about my weight (and because i live in LA where everyone is overly weight conscious!!) i stopped dating in my 30's and never got married. i did several years in therapy to deal with some other issues involving maternal neglect and finally ceased suffering from depression and am 90% off of antidepressants and feel great!! i knew though at my age that i wouldn't be able to lose the weight so when the fda recently lowered the bmi to 30, i decided to do it. i had to self pay and my weight is not life threatening (yet), so it was risky and expensive. am about a month post op and despite being stalled right now, i am happy with my decision to do the surgery. i also decided to do a career change because tv is extremely demanding with long hours and i can't keep doing it into my old age, so i started grad school. i am almost half way done with my masters in psychology to become a therapist. am looking forward to a new career and losing the weight so that i can feel comfortable about myself to have a relationship again. i miss men!! :-)

i got my band on 3/15. my dr said everyone is different and stalls happen. didn't say much else. the nutritionist said to play around with my calories, which i've been doing but hasn't helped. i haven't had a fill yet and may not need one for a while because i have pretty good restriction. to eat 900 cal a day, i have to try. here's what i'm eating, if any old timers want to comment. i just added veggies, so i'm still working on adding those in. i need to eat Snacks or i get hungry. also, if i don't my calories are too low for the day. breakfast: 1 poached egg and 2 oz of black Beans snack: low carb yogurt, 80 cal lunch: 2 oz black beans and 3 oz chicken snack: baby bell cheese dinner: 3 oz chicken and veggies

yeah, i agree. i strongly believe that american's excessive intake of refined carbs is one of the leading causes of obesity and a feeling of being addicted to food. how often does one crave and feel a loss of control over eating a chicken breast or a can of tuna? doesn't happen. excessive carb intake can absolutely lead to insulin resistance and is one of the reasons i ended up needing lap band surgery. if you gain control over your carb intake, i strongly believe that you will lose the feeling of being addicted to food. and that's a good book that elfiepoo recommends. also, i suffer from depression and took antidepressants for about 15 years and that's what made me gain a lot of weight. i felt though that my brain was trying to regulate serotonin by making me crave carbs.

yeah, i agree. i strongly believe that american's excessive intake of refined carbs is one of the leading causes of obesity and a feeling of being addicted to food. how often does one crave and feel a loss of control over eating a chicken breast or a can of tuna? doesn't happen. excessive carb intake can absolutely lead to insulin resistance and is one of the reasons i ended up needing lap band surgery. if you gain control over your carb intake, i strongly believe that you will lose the feeling of being addicted to food. and that's a good book that elfiepoo recommends.

i was only 54 lbs overweight but had been carrying it for over a decade because of long term antidepressant use. i tried everything and was so sick of people not recognizing me and just feeling horrible about myself. when the fda recently gave the ok for lap band for people with a 30 bmi, i was so excited. i found the best doctor in my area felt good about the decision i was making. everyone in my family has type 2 diabetes and i knew i was headed there, so i felt like this was also preventative. my insurance wouldn't cover it, so i decided to pay the $16k to do it. my surgery was on 3/15 on an outpatient basis and i figured since they were doing it that way, that it wouldn't be a big deal. well, turns out that if people's insurance is paying, most people stay 1 night at the hospital. it was rough when i went home all alone. i started having pain in the center of my chest and was told that it was pain from the band and swelling and would go away. but 2 weeks in, the pain was still there and getting worse. at this time, my dr happened to be out of town for a week so i only had his nurse to consult. i finally went to the ER and they said that sometimes even when there's no fill when it's put in, there can be excess air. so they extracted air out of it and i immediately felt better. felt like everything was going to be ok and i was happy. but the next day, even with only being on liquids, the pain started again. my dr gets back to town tomorrow and i have a feeling he's going to want to do surgery, which i'm going to have to pay for out of pocket if that's the case. and if i have to get it removed, i will have spent $32k for weeks of pain. i don't feel very hopeful because i'm in a lot of pain and there's nothing in my band, so i don't see what he can do to help the situation without doing surgery again to either see what's wrong or take it out. when i started researching the band, i knew that there were a lot of people who had no problems at all and had a great experience with the band. i also knew that there were people who had issues with constant vomiting, erosion or slippage. i felt like it was kind of a crapshoot because you have no way to predict how your body will respond or what your experience will be. i felt like it was a risk i was willing to take in order to get my life back. in retrospect, i feel like i made the biggest mistake of my life. i have been in almost constant pain for weeks now and spent thousands of dollars. i am posting this so you can make an informed decision for yourself. you need to know the risks and the benefits and decide if it's worth the risk for you. i definitely don't recommend doing self pay unless you are extremely wealthy. if you have to scrimp and save or take out loans to do the initial surgery, be aware that you may have to have later surgeries. also, i don't think this surgery is for people who are merely 50 lbs overweight, as the risk, in my opinion, outweighs the benefits. if you are someone who has an extremely high bmi and has comorbidities, the risk may be worth taking for you. anyway, that's just my story so far. just wanted to share so people can know both sides of the coin.

i was banded on 3/15 and lost while on liquids and then stopped for an entire week when i started on soft foods. apparently it's totally normal and nothing to worry about. you need to give your body time to heal and focus on that. also, when you're slowly adding foods back into your diet, at first you are on very few calories per day and i think my body just went into starvation mode. once i worked my way up to about 1000 calories, i started losing again :-)

http://www.cnn.com/2...x.html?hpt=Sbin

yeah, i have never heard it that the fda approved for 30 lbs overweight, i thought it was for bmi of 30 with 1 comorbidity. i was exactly 30 bmi when i got banded, but i was about 55 lbs overweight). everyone in my family is type 2 diabetic and i was headed there and couldn't lose weight because of taking antidepressants for a long time. otherwise, i would say that 55 lbs isn't worth paying $16k for (since insurance companies won't approve that low of a bmi). but it was worth it for me.

show was good and informative. good job on presenting both sides of the new fda rules for people 50 lbs or more overweight (which i'm in that group). the person opposing the new fda rules was only a phd, not a medical dr. but yeah, the amt of food the banders showed they eat was ridiculously small. i don't think that's the amount most people eat.

for the 3rd time, i have read the book and i did atkins and other low carb diets for years. i am actually highly in favor of low carb diets for some people. they worked great for me! what i am not in favor of is people acting like they know everything and if anyone poses an alternate point of view, it's immediately shot down and the person is accused of being misinformed or not reading the book. you seem to be respected on these boards and i have a difficult time figuring out why that is because all i have seen in the few weeks i have been here is a know it all attitude and critical comments in numerous theads.

you need to call your doctor asap. if you have chills, you might have a fever which can be a sign of infection. call your dr and let them know. maybe they can get you in to see the dr soon.

wow, lots of surgeries tomorrow! good luck everyone, hope everything goes well and is comfortable for you

elfiepoo, you need to stop talking about atkins as if you are a dietician and you are speaking hard facts rather than opinions. because i can sit here all day long and cite opposing opinions. "People need to wake up to the reality," former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop writes, that the Atkins Diet is "unhealthy and can be dangerous." the National Academy of Sciences, the most prestigious scientific body in the United States, agrees with the AMA and the ADA in opposing the Atkins Diet. So does the American Cancer Society; and the American Heart Association; and the Cleveland Clinic; and Johns Hopkins; and the American Kidney Fund; and the American College of Sports Medicine; and the National Institutes of Health. In fact there does not seem to be a single major governmental or nonprofit medical, nutrition, or science-based organization in the world that supports the Atkins Diet. As a 2004 medical journal review concluded, the Atkins Diet "runs counter to all the current evidence-based dietary recommendations." follow your doctor's instructions, not some person on a discussion forum.

not sure why every one of your posts i see is incredibly negative. maybe i'm just seeing the wrong ones, not sure. i find dr. oz to be pretty balanced and fair. i am a tv producer and can instantly spot bs. the man is not going to do things on national tv that will cause him to get his medical license yanked. he has to be careful about the advice he gives. will check it out. thanks for posting the notice.

so, apparently when they put in the band, they "prime" it by injecting saline and then extracting it to make sure it works and isn't leaking. sometimes air can be left in it and that's what happened. it was WAY too tight and caused swelling and pain. they extracted the air and i stayed on liquids for 2 days and now the pain is finally gone :-) SO happy. really happy that i don't have to get additional surgery after all. without the air in it, i have really good restriction and probably won't need a fill for a long time too, so that's good. thanks for your notes. that was scary to be in such bad pain for weeks!! all good now though. down 13 lbs! :-)

i'm 2 weeks post op and i still have band pain in the middle of my chest. not all the time but often enough to bother me. also, i can feel that there's something there, especially when i'm laying on my side sleeping. when does the band pain and sensation of there being something there go away? or after you've had it for a long time, can you still sense that there's something in there? i hope not.

yeah, i'm almost 3 weeks post op and have that too. i think it's gas.

thanks, i really hope so.