Alexandra

Julie, so glad you're OK!! Blood from the mouth, no matter what it looks like, is definitely scary indeed. What lay people don't know is that it can be caused by all sorts of minor things, not just serious ones. Thank goodness it wasn't serious in your case, Julie. Take care and feel better soon!!

Julie, sound like you were lucky! I guess it depends on the reasons for the testing, but when I went last month I was on the table for a good long while. I must have drunk almost 16-24 ozs of it; they had to re-fill the bottle more than once. Normally, like for a fill, it's more like you describe. But I think for more in-depth diagnostic examination it might be a little more involved.

Thanks, Leatha!! I'm blushing. Randi, I sought out my letter for the pertinent section: The long-term goal may be to reduce my excess body weight by 80-90%, but a loss of even 50% of my excess weight would drastically improve my health and nearly eliminate the long-term risks caused by morbid obesity. LAGB patients achieve their weight loss in a more gradual manner than RNY patients, with only a FRACTION of the risk. But achieve it they do, and the evidence is multiplying all the time. There are significant advantages to this procedure over bypass surgery for certain individuals, specifically those like myself who, although suffering from morbid obesity, are in otherwise good health. I have two small children and simply will not take the risks inherent in more drastic surgical procedures. The fact that the weight loss that will follow the LAGB procedure is more modulated than that following the RNY--but no less permanent--is precisely one of the major reasons I believe it is preferable for me. Indeed, I personally have previously experienced a 75-lb loss in a period of 12 weeks, and can attest to the physical, emotional, and psychological disruption that followed. LAGB will result in precisely the result necessary to greatly improve my health without endangering it--in other words, “effective.” Though the letter is a bit dated now, you may find it and the other posts in this thread helpful.

Randi, one of the reasons I used in my appeal letter--in addition to playing the "safer" card--was the slower weight loss. Back in 1990 I went on Optifast, and lost 75 lbs in three months--pretty much RNY speed. To my surprise, there was almost nothing "fun" about it. At the end of the three months I didn't recognize myself; I'd been fat all my life and this was literally like an overnight transformation. It disturbed me on physical, psychological, and societal levels. (For example, it seemed like I didn't have a single conversation that whole year that wasn't about my weight. EVERYONE wanted to know what I was doing--there was no pretending that it was natural. Finding something to wear was a daily challenge, and not in a good way. I was a bridesmaid that spring and was getting married myself, so there were LOTS of trips to the tailors.) 12 years later, faced with making a similar decision, I knew I didn't want to go down that road again. Losing weight that fast JUST.ISN'T.NORMAL. It's not safe, it's not sane, and since I wasn't in medical crisis I couldn't find a single good reason to go that route. Banding makes better medical sense.

If you're just talking about the barium test, it's nothing. The liquid isn't really thick; it's like the consistency of whole milk, maybe? Just less tasty. You don't have to drink it fast. At my recent test they'd tell me to take a mouthful and hold it, and then swallow on their cue. Change position, do it again. If they know you're having trouble swallowing or have tight restriction, they'll let you adjust the amount accordingly. Good luck and I hope everything checks out great!

AsiaFit, that sounds like a really unpleasant experience! As for what to do now, I'd suggest waiting three or four weeks to see if you ever develop any restriction from this fill. That may sound like a long time, but please wait a MINIMUM of two full weeks to see how you feel. Many, many bandsters report fills "kicking in" after some period of time, though they didn't feel a difference right away. IF a really good period of time goes by and you feel no difference at all, then you really need to have your band evaluated. Was it your surgeon trying to do the fill? I'm surprised they couldn't see whatever the problem was under the fluoroscope; that's usually how kinks or leaks are found. From your description it sure sounds as though there might be a blockage of some kind; it's not supposed to take two strong hands to squeeze Fluid in. That sounds totally wrong. Your doctor needs to get to the bottom of this and fix whatever is causing the problem.

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!!