Alexandra

If there were any hard-and-fast way to avoid complications, there wouldn't BE any! Some complications among the banded population are inevitable, no matter what. We can certainly take steps to minimize our own personal risk, but in some tiny percentage of cases that won't be enough to prevent problems.

I had a little of this when I was suffering earlier this year from esophagitis. Irritation can indeed result in bleeding, which may or may not mean there's anything seriously wrong. I turned out to be fine, just had a bad case of irritation of the esophagus. An unfill is probably in order, plus maybe medication. DON'T BE AFRAID of an unfill!! Your health is more important than your restriction. Good luck and let us know how you're doing!!

Locked. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

Locked. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

Hi Erynn, Whether you are a candidate can most easily be determined by your BMI. AMA guidelines for the US say that if your BMI is 40 or higher, you are medically eligible for WLS even if you are otherwise healthy. If your BMI is between 35 and 39, you need to have at least one co-morbidity; that is, a medical condition caused or exacerbated by excess weight. As for how long it takes, that's highly variable. Several weeks to several month, depending on insurance. Even in the best-case scenario it would take at least a couple of weeks.

Let's back off the assessments of other people's posting styles, EVERYONE. Thanks.

Hi Erynn, welcome to LBT!! 1: NOT THAT I 'M A BIG LUSH OR ANY THING BUT I'M ONLY 23 AND I DO LIKE TO GO OUT EVERY NOW AND THEN (MEANING EVERY WEEKEND OR SO ) BUT I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN DRINK AND HOW IT EFFECTS YOUR STOMACH. Drinking is "allowed" post-banding, but anyone who is serious about weight loss will realize that alcohol is the worst kind of empty calories. Another downside is that it can relax inhibitions, making it too easy to eat too much, too fast, or not carefully, with negative consequences that night or the next day. (Or so I'm told, not being a drinker myself.) But there's no physiological reason to avoid alcohol after banding. 2: IS THE SCARING FROM THE SURGERY VERY VISIBLE???? NO! Of course, everyone heals differently, but most of the incisions from laparoscopic surgery are more like punctures than regular incisions. I have three of these that I can hardly find now, and one slightly larger scar that is also virtually invisible. 3: HOW DO YOU EMOTIONALLY PREPARE YOUR SELF FOR SURGERY AND FACING THE FACT THAT YOU CANT JUST EAT ANYTHING YOU WANT ANYMORE???? Well, this varies for everyone. For ME, it was a matter of being completely, totally ready to get healthier. There was nothing more important in my life than my children, and I was literally unable to be an effective or competent parent to them. So that was my "bottom" and once I hit it, food was easy to give up. I was emotionally ready the moment I heard about the band.

Susan? Can I lock this before it starts up again?

Dallasgal, it all depends on where you live and what the laws are in your state. My best suggestion is to call a local insurance broker and just ask them. As a self-employed person you may or may not be eligible for group insurance, and if you're not individual plans are often bare-bones plans that don't cover lots of things. But you have to find out what your options are locally, and a broker is your best bet for that. Good luck!

Corinna, it sounds indeed like you were advised well, and I hope you aren't too crushed to have lost your band. Sue is exactly right: Please don't be blue about this. The complication you experienced was unpleasant, but not life-threatening, and now you'll be whole and good as new. You've learned a lot about managing morbid obesity, and have lost no ground in trying this tool. You're healthy! And that's really all that matters. :hug:

Wheetsin, does your friend have any fill in? That sounds oddly like what happened to me a couple of months ago, but an unfill fixed the problem very well. Band "shrinkage" isn't something I've ever heard of before.

Corinna, best wishes for quick healing!! I hope you come through as painlessly as possible and are back to 100% health very soon. Can you give us more information on what happened with your band? Did the doctors tell you anything more?

Yoda, I know exactly how you feel. I recently got rid of my most favorite dress of all time, a blue velvet number that has seen me through all manner of Christmases, weddings, funerals and other dressy occasions. I even wore it as the basis for a witch costume on a couple of Halloweens. But I had to face facts, it just didn't fit any possible way. Sad, but there are other wonderful clothing options out there for us. We'll just have to make new memories! Congratulations, in any event.

I think this sounds like an attempt to get RNY-like results from bandsters. Why? And what kind of doctors "likes his patients skinny"? That's absurd. Patients should be HEALTHY, not "skinny" and not every woman is going to fit into a size 9 (which not an adult woman's size I've ever seen--is there such a thing?) no matter how much weight they lose. Ugh. No matter how you slice it I hate these one-size-fits-all approaches. It always sounds like snake oil to me.

Personally I think shoe showing behind the heel just looks bad. And it's probably not structurally good for the shoe--I'd think the heel construction relies on the foot being solidly centered on top of it, not a few millimeters in front. It also looks horrid when the foot slips forward and the toes bunch up or hang over the front. What's up with that? :confused:

I was going to respond but Sue said it all for me, right down to the glass-half-full analogy! :confused: Just one comment to I8everything: I agree that discouragement is a bad idea, always. But please, getting over the honeymoon euphoria is not tantamount to having a bad experience! It's just another step along the way. And one, I warrant, that everyone has at some point, earlier or later as the case may be. Hasn't the novelty of anything ever worn off for you before? That's all I'm talking about. And Photo, yes, your points about habits changing two and three years out being due to a lack of diligence on our parts are very well-taken. But I'd also like to observe that something else changes over time as well. Nerve endings in our esophagus can become less sensitive, and it is literally harder to feel that "stop" signal. The physical barrier is still there, and too much food will result in a PB, but it's not as easy to detect when that's happening because our nerves are desensitized to some degree. I have to rely on memory and habit to serve myself a half-sandwich, because I could eat the whole one fairly easily (bread and all). The hunger is still addressed the way it was all along (thank goodness), but I don't get the stop signals I used to get, which makes it a little harder to stop eating when I reflexively want to continue. Things really do change, not about the band itself (unless you have adjustment issues) but about our bodies. And that's just one more unpredictable element in the banding journey.

Without going back to the other thread and seeing precisely what was said (because I'm lazy), I submit that it's important for everyone to realize that the weight loss ISN'T going to continue as quickly as perhaps it did immediately postop, for some people. Other people won't experience ANY weight loss until they reach good restriction, which can be months out of surgery. My point is just that everyone's experience is different, and if we are getting discouraged by other people sharing their own experiences we aren't using the perspective that we should. There's nothing "slap in the face" about being told that weight loss isn't continuous--it's just realistic and true. I also submit that we all make our own "honeymoons." I see this all the time, when people complain about their own progress while others who are at the exact same place are thrilled beyond compare. Why is that? Because it's all personal. Being excited, or not, has absolutely no bearing on whether one will succeed. I still don't understand how that connection got made in the first place. The salient fact about the band as a weight-loss tool is that it is a process, and everyone's perspective changes over time. What's the problem with observing that truth?

This is why it worked and is working for me. I ALONE could not change my eating habits sufficiently to lose significant weight, much less keep it off. But THIS time I have a guardian angel--an actual, physical barrier that keeps me from eating more than I need. THAT'S what I never had before. It's as simple as that.

Oh. My. God! What a great idea!! We are definitely going to try this at home. Cool!!

I don't think that's what was meant by the comments you copied here, Photo. Honestly, I think the intention was more "they day may come when you're not so HAPPY about the food restrictions" not "you won't be successful" when the pink cloud passes. The honeymoon phase is a phase of attitude more than anything else. And it passes. But that does not mean at all that one's success will be compromised, just that it becomes less of a WOW thing and more of a day-to-day life change thing. And some people--not all, by any means--have a bit of trouble coming to grips with the permanence of the changes. I know I went through that, and that's the day I went to MY McDonald's. (Which in my case is Dairy Queen.)

Brilliantly said, Kathy! :clap2: I totally and completely agree with you and Sarah. Let's not assume that anyone is trying to be discouraging, trying to send a message that the band will not work. It's just a fact that it's a journey, we're all in different places and we all have different perspectives that we can learn from. It's about sharing OUR experiences, not deciding those of other people. I don't think the phrase "honeymoon phase" says anything negative; it's just one stage of the journey.

Carla, it makes me sad too, I have to admit. What I think is most likely the culprit, in MANY cases, is a lack of patience. Sure it's true that we have to work with our bands and not against them, but we also have to give it time to work. That's the big unknown and unknowable factor: how our bodies will react to limited food in the short term. In the LONG term it's absolutely true that limiting calories will result in weight loss. But not necessarily over the weekend. It seems that when I see posts from people worried that their band is failing them, it's based on a "plateau" of a couple of weeks (or even days!), and this is a complete fallacy. ANY weight loss regimen is going to go in fits and starts, and everyone loses weight differently. That's why I hate hearing "1-2 lbs a week" as a standard, because that implies a steady loss at that rate. I know for me was indeed like 1-2 lbs a week over time, but ONLY when looking backward over great periods, like six months or a year. Rather than watching the scale closely we should look continuously at the micro issues: how do we physically live with the band? Is it causing pain? Can we eat a meal comfortably? Have we learned how to be satisfied on a small amount of food? Are we dealing with cravings sensibly? Are we getting enough Fluid? Are we getting some activity in on a daily basis? If all of these issues are addressed successfully, the weight loss will follow. Maybe not at a consistent pace of 1-2 lbs a week, but over time it will, most likely, average out to something in that neighborhood. Patience. Consistency. Realistic expectations. An understanding that restriction changes with adjustments and over time. These are the keys to a happy bandster journey.

Congratulations, girlie! :hug:

Wheetsin, can you smell the envy radiating off me? :second: Seriously, congratulations on everything and I admire your attitude. I am the same way--and was appalled when it was the DOCTOR who seemed most corrupt during my personal-injury experience several years ago. He kept trying to make my injury appear worse than it was, and that I shouldn't worry because my lawyer was really good at this stuff (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). YUCK! Enjoy your new wheels!!

Wolfing was/is my BIGGEST bad habit. Banding cured me of it pretty quickly. All it takes is a few episodes of negative reinforcement to change your tune. It's not something I ever could have gotten a grip on myself, though. It took banding and forced change to make it happen.