Alexandra

I decided a LONG time ago that only 100% cotton is going next to my nether regions. After losing weight I've had to change some things, but not that. So I wear Hanes or Fruit of the Loom hipsters with covered elastic. And though I don't particularly like plain white, that's what I have the most of because even the packages with the wild colors include two or three of plain white. So no Buicks here, and nothing synthetic either.

Hi Seppi, yep, you're in the land of restriction!! It is indeed hard to fathom that in a very few bites it can feel like you can't eat any more. Eating very slowly, chewing everything, and -- most importantly -- waiting a full minute between bites can help, but you ARE going to be eating way less than before. And that's the point.

Hey Steve, sorry to be so late to offer my congratulations! I work in New Providence, and used to work in Summit. We're sorta neighbors! I know another bandster who lives in Summit, too. Welcome to LBT and bandland!! :)

Hi Thunder! That was one of my hated nicknames in high school, so I can relate. The "goal" weight in the tickers is picked by the person making the ticker, and it can be anything you want. Some people's tickers count down weight lost rather than pounds to go to a goal. My goal was never a certain number or size, so I don't have a ticker since they force you to identify some quantitative goal. And my doctor never tried to calculate an "ideal" weight, either, though I know some number-happy doctors do. So bottom line, whether you want to have a "goal" weight is entirely up to you. Welcome to LBT!!

If you're asking me, my fill was removed in August because I'd been having reflux and regurgitation that wasn't going away. (Though to be honest, I probably wasn't babying myself enough to let it go away.) Once I had the unfill everything resolved immediately and about three weeks later I was able to have the fill replaced. The re-fill was done under fluoroscopy and all checked out right as rain.

This is a very old thread, and that link may just no longer be live. There's nothing wrong with your computers.

Many people report that their bands seem tighter earlier in the day, so that's not unusual. There's some thinking that if you eat a lot later in the evening you actually make that situation worse, so try your best to NOT eat late in the evening. Then in the morning and at lunch, try your best to eat something with Protein even if it's just a Protein shake. Try having a warm drink before or even with your meal (shhh--don't tell anyone I said that!), and eat slowly and carefully. Get your protein in during the day, and that way, later in the day you're not TOO hungry, and you can moderate your eating in the evening. In this way, after a few days, the effect may balance out. Just because you can eat a cow doesn't mean you should.

That sure doesn't sound good and an endoscopy is probably in order. You may not have erosion, but whatever you do have is clearly causing some problems. Good luck, all our fingers are crossed that it's not serious!!

Kerry, there's no easy answer to this question. There are different rules and regulations in every state so what's true for one person isn't true for everyone. In New Jersey, for example, if you're even eligible for group insurance you CANNOT buy individual coverage. Your state may be different, but the laws are set up pretty much so as to specifically prevent what you're trying to do. Imagine what our insurance rates would be if people only bought plans when they needed them for big-ticket surgeries! Check with your state department of health or department of insurance to see what your rights are with regard to insurance coverage. You may have options you don't know about with regard to appealing a negative decision by your employer or carrier. Buying individual coverage is usually not a good alternative; it tends to cost way more and have fewer benefits than group plans.

Sally, might your symptoms be related to healing? I've heard the gall bladder surgery is rougher than banding, so it seems possible the healing curve is different, harder. It hasn't been a week yet and maybe your body is still adjusting to working without a gall bladder? I'd ask the doctor about it. Are there any dietary restrictions that you're supposed to be observing?

Right now I think I can say I'd definitely never have bypass. Even when I was at my heaviest, I was "healthy" enough to not feel like my life was in danger. And I've always been fat, so being fat was something I'd learned to live with. But I was brought to WLS because I have two small children and needed to be more mobile and active to be a better parent. Without them I'd probably not have tried WLS at all. So circumstances definitely influence my decisions. Right NOW, I wouldn't convert to RNY. But if, in the distant future, my weight increased to a point where it was really impacting my health (as opposed to just my quality of life) I might indeed consider it. But even in those circumstances, I'd ONLY consider it if there were no possible way I could have another band. As for whether I could afford it the answer is a qualified no. I plan to always have health insurance, and if my weight were really impacting my health I'd move heaven and earth to make sure it was covered. Refinancing my house, too, might be an option if I really needed an expensive surgery out of my own pocket. And I'd definitely have it done ONLY here in my area.

With this, as with all things, everyone is different. It all depends on how YOU feel. There is no reason to hold back if you feel up to any particular physical activity.

Yes, yes, yes!! This IS the way it happens, and thought it's said repeatedly no one ever believes it until it happens to them. You're not weird, you're normal. Now everyone else who's reading this, REMEMBER THIS POST so the next time you're convinced you're doing everything right but not seeing results you can take comfort. Weight does not come off steadily, it comes off in chunks. Congratulations, Kathy!

If it were me, I'd be much more interested in what's going to happen when my doctor leaves the practice than in anyone else's opinion about my behavior on a cruise. My doctor's practice has three surgeons at the moment, and a while back had four. If one of the doctors were to leave the practice, the aftercare program would be intact and there'd be other doctors to take care of any problems. If your surgeon is the ONLY surgeon you have access to, the important thing is that you find out what you should do if you have problems. If he has good backup and you're comfortable with them, the fact that he personally is leaving may not be so important. As for the cruise, only you can decide if you want to go. Find out what your post-op eating plan is and where you'll be at that point. Think carefully about whether you'll even enjoy a cruise if you're unable to participate in the food orgy. What is it about the cruise that you're looking forward to, and will it be fun without the margarita or buffet? You don't want to risk hurting yourself by overeating (which means you shouldn't drink at all either), and some people just won't have any fun if they have to restrict themselves in a situation like that. You may very well be able to say that you WILL totally enjoy the environment and just have a blast without the usual accoutrements. When I was on Optifast years ago (that's a TOTAL fast, for three months, just protein drinks and clear liquids) I was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Bermuda. I attended all the events and just passed on all the amazing food and drink, and managed to have a wonderful time nonetheless.

The material the band is made of itself is intended to last a lifetime and beyond. But as Parvathi said, it's a relatively new invention so there's no experience yet to back that up.

Dr. Hekier, do you think the "bar" for surgical intervention should be the same for all the various procedures? If it's essentially a risk/benefit analysis, I think the bar should be very different depending on the procedure, because the risks are so vastly different.

Welcome Melissa! I'm glad you're here to share your journey with us; many, many people are in the same or similar boat as you and your story will help them too. Please come back and keep posting!

Kat, according to the AMA, the FDA, and the medical communite at large, being so overweight that one's BMI is 40 or above IS a health problem all by itself. That's why that's a magic number. I didn't have any health problems (co-morbidities) either, but my BMI was 47 and that's all they needed to know.

Holy crap. Why aren't there ever any of THOSE in New Jersey? I'd go, the hell with the rules. Sounds like heaven!!

Babs, how wonderful to get good news all around! (I know exactly how you feel, minus the my-new-doc-takes-my-insurance part.) Congratulations!!

Diane, you're in the learning and exploration curve of banding and it sure can be frustrating! I'll bet you can get down healthy foods, if you eat veeerrrryyy slowly and veeerrrryyyy carefully. And with such careful eating, it may actually be the fact that it takes only 5 or 10 bites to fill you up. At the very first sign of discomfort, try walking away for 10 minutes and see how you feel. Then try a few more bites, but don't go beyond any point that causes discomfort. It really can take some getting used to, the limited capacity once you have restriction. But if you can eat five bites of chicken, I'd submit you're not too tight. Try really downsizing your bites and upsizing the time between bites, and you may find things change for you.

I can't add a word to what Zoe said. I absolutely 100% agree.

Nectar, you probably will need to have a physical at some point while being considered for banding surgery, unless you've had one fairly recently. So it's definitely worth finding a GP in your area if only for that reason. Whether you need a formal referral or whatever other things you may need to do depends on your insurance plan.

Doctors web-sites say patients have to qualify, do you think I qualify with 252 pounds, and do I still need to qualify even if I was to self-pay, or is it only for insurance coverages? The doctor has discretion about whether you qualify medically, so if you're self-pay the only person you have to impress is the surgeon. But to avoid a malpractice charge, the doctor is likely to follow the AMA's recognized criteria for bariatric surgery qualification: BMI of 40 or more, OR a BMI of 35 with comorbid conditions. Your weight isn't enough to tell us if you'll qualify, since BMI depends on your height as well. Do you know your BMI number? Most people on the forum here say, they follow a strict dieting plan, along with exercising routinely. So why get the band if you already going to diet and exercise, isn’t it better to go natural, and avoid the band Losing weight depends on eating less. If you can eat less by following a diet for the rest of your life then sure, that's safer than surgery. But the band makes eating less POSSIBLE, since for many severely obese people eating the appropriate amount is simply not possible for a variety of reasons. Banding physically limits our capacity so that eating less becomes a way of life. I thought the band idea, is to limit your appetite, so you can eat whatever you want (except very high calorie foods of course) and lose weight, since you will eat much lesser quantities. Isn’t that right? If so, then why follow a strict diet and so on? If few bites will fill you up When our capacity is limited in this way, nutrition can become a concern so there are recommended ways of eating (protein first, etc.) to help us be sure we're getting the right nutrients. It's not a "diet" unless you want it to be, and lots of people don't. They say the band is meant to be permanent. Is that true? Yes. If so, then after you reach your goal weight, do you still have to go the band doctor regularly for the rest of your life, inflating and deflating it? Or you can forget about the band once you get your desired weight and not see the doctor again. My hope is the latter. Unless there's a need (pregnancy, illness, complications) I don't see any reason to regularly adjust the band once desired weight loss is achieved. Once you get used to the band, do you feel a weird object inside forever (the band), or you get used to it? I mean can you go for a week without thinking about the band? I don't feel the band at all, and I'm totally used to the port. I can indeed go long periods without thinking about it except when it restricts my eating. How many fills do you need to lose weight? is there a maximum number you can not exceed? And if yes, then what do you do after you reach your maximum fills? The band can be adjusted thousands of times if necessary. And the band can be filled to being completely closed, so it's impossible for anyone to be filled to the "maximum" without having it restrict their intake. If someone is having many adjustments and not feeling restriction, usually it means there's a leak somewhere. All of my life, I’ve been so hateful to my extra weight, and one of my dreams is to lose weight? So do you think the band is my best bet, or there are any other alternatives you suggest? It was certainly the best bet for me, and may be for you but only you can decide that. Look at the reasons you're overweight, your behavior and mental state, and decide whether a tool to restrict your intake is really what you need to get your weight under control. That's what the band is, no more, no less. Keep asking questions!

Auntnettie, that sounds like a real hassle, but because you tried you may have helped make it easier for some future bandster to get approved. So thank you for trying. That thought is what kept me going through the nine months and three appeals it took for me to get my request approved, and ultimately I won. So sometimes it CAN be done! The bottom line is, you'll never know if you don't try. And the more the carriers hear from doctors who have patients needing this surgery, the more likely the industry will be to find ways to adopt it in the long run. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but it's true, especially when this procedure is proven safer long-term than RNY.