Jim1967

Sounds like you're doing great!! Day 3 and 4 were the bad days for me. Terrible gas cramps and left shoulder aching. It's all worth it though!!

Honestly, what you need to understand is satiety because if you over eat to the point of what you perceive as full it could leave you feeling very uncomfortable. With the band you really have to listen to your body because the full feeling you had before the band is not necessarily the same with the band. Almost like a delayed sign to stop eating. I don't know. I am having a hard time articulating what I am trying to say.

Sounds like you are on your way to being among the banded. Good Luck!!

Thanks Jen!! It does feel great but I must admit I still get impatient sometimes. I have to stop and really think about how far I've come in such a short time. I guess when you have 180 pounds to lose after already dropping 83 it tends to weigh on your mind a bit...no pun intended.

yea stuck episodes is not fun indeed. First it just sits there stuck then the uncomfortable pain in the chest and then the sliming. It usually happens if I eat too quickly. Once in a while I will get the hiccups and that is a sign for me.

I took just a basic multivitamin that you buy over the counter. I would ask them to clarify for sure what they want you to take. Post-op I took chewables for a couple of weeks until I was back on solids.

My Doc has me do 24 hours of liquid after a fill then go back to solids slowly experiencing how my band behaves.

This is what my Doc and the folks at the center say as well. I switch to decaf back in April a few weeks before surgery. Figured I had to give it up I might as well get used to it.

I am wondering if there is some type of research data out there that has the successes vs. the failures and what the ratio is between going to a Center of Excellence vs. going to an independent surgeon.

Typically, we are our own worst critics....

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across so brash. So much of learning to live with a band is mental. Change usually isn't easy especially if you've been doing it differently for so long. Hang in there hopefully it will get better.

Hi There,, I understand where you are coming from about the intervention. My Mom used to make comments to me about the weight gain but they were more in a chastised (or maybe nagging is a better word) manner rather then sitting me down to have an adult conversation. I love my Mom but she treated me like I was still 13 and refusing to do my chores as opposed to the 37 year old man that I was. I didn't need to hear "oh your getting fat again". I have no children of my own and have no place offering advice but I think the approach to the conversation is huge. Hearing it from someone else besides from a parent would be huge as well. Again, this is nothing but the opinion of a childless 44 year old. You're right though...he has to want to help himself and hopefully that realization will happen sooner then later while there is still time. Thank you for the well wishes and I hope you're son finds his way. **Before anyone judges me I am in no way blaming anyone at all for my weight or weight gain especially my Mother. I just wish I had gotten a real reality check before I got so out of control**

Most of us who got banded it was because we have poor eating habits. If you expected to get banded and keep the poor eating habits then you are in for a surprise and possibly a painful one if you try to eat around your band. Being banded requires a lot of learning and self assessment and forming new, better eating habits. It's not to say you cannot ever indulge from time to time but a change is necessary for success.

I was banded in April of this year and I have certainly had my ups and downs. Good news is the ups and downs was all mental because physically I couldn't have wished for a better outcome. At 450 pounds I was certainly nervous about anesthesia and the actual surgery. My Surgeon absolutely rocked and he gave me kuddos during recovery about how good of a job I did preparing and shrinking my liver. We both had exceptional days that day. So, I have been banded about 10 weeks now and I have lost 48lbs. First month after surgery was the roughest because my mind started playing tricks on me. I started thinking weight should be falling off of me instantly and it wasn't. I dropped a 172 lbs between 2003 and 2004 doing Atkins and some how I had it my mind that with the band I would drop weight even quicker (which is not really healthy anyway). Well, I am dropping it fast. It is really easy to get caught up when your stepping on the scale daily. Every morning I would step on the scale and then just get annoyed and start wishing I had bypass. I am still not great with the scale as I am stepping on it every other day but now I don't get hung up on it like I was in the beginning. Rome was not built in a day and neither was the 486 pounds. My Wife often tells me I don't give myself enough credit for what I have accomplished both pre-op and post-op. I told her my problem is I am still hung up on the past and the dis-service I did to myself. In 2003 I was 393 pounds and I did Atkins so by Christmas 2004 I was in Disney World weighing in a 219 and I was on top of the world. 174 pounds gone and I thought it was forever...I started enjoying life and indulging. I never changed my habits. I went back to poor eating and gained it all back plus 93 additional pounds. For the life of me I don't understand how I got from 219 to 486 pounds. How did I let it go like that, I understand it is no fault but my own but why didn't the people around me not stage an intervention. I am trying very hard to find peace with it and the fact I failed. It is hard. I hope maybe once I hit 393 again my mind might be a little more at ease. What has me the most concerned is hitting that 219 again and not falling back into my old ways that got me to where I was in October 2011. Today, I have to say with the band and the 6cc's I got in it I no longer have cravings. I no longer desire to simply walk to the fridge or pantry and eat. My habits have changed as well as my appetite. I no longer live to eat. I eat to live and I only eat when I am hungry. I cannot explain in words how different I look at things. I used to sit down in front of the tv and eat a box cheese its and a liter of diet pepsi. Now, I have no thought for that stuff. No cravings, no mental arguments. I sit down now and watch t.v. I don't think about eating. Not even during commercials. It just feels "normal" to eat when I am hungry and that's it, no side eating... Is this the way it supposed to work???? Did having this band "cure" my head hunger or am I just in the zone to a point where junk food and binging is just blocked mentally? Maybe I shouldn't try to analyze it and just enjoy the ride. If you have read this far then thank you...I rambled on a bit but what the hell I find that to be therapeutic...

Hi There and sorry to hear you're having a rough time. Food you do want is it just bad food or are you having a hard time taking in food because of the band? Only reason I ask is because if the band is not letting foods go down that is no way to live. I guess what I am asking is it a physical issue or is mental?

Welcome!! You're not alone in this by any means and a lot of us can relate to what you're going through. This forum is filled with a bunch of great people. Good luck!!

Thanks all. I am all set. My HR dept straightened out. This is what my HR Dept said: We have been notified of this issue. Fortunately, our employees are not being affected by this change. Even though we are through Cigna, we are part of the Tuft’s platform which means that coverage will remain the same and it will continue to be accepted at your primary care physician’s office and Lowell General. Only people who carry Cigna insurance on Cigna’s platform are being affected. This has been confirmed by our rep at Cigna. Hopefully this eases your mind a little bit. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. I have since called my PCP and I am all set. No issues.

Miranda and Cazzy both make very good points. One thing you will find there are some people who do great with the band and some who don't. It is a very personal decision you have to make. You can get opinions all day long but in the end that is all it is. Everyone is different. In my case I didn't want to have my plumbing rerouted and since I didn't have any other health issues I decided to go with the band. I have to be honest though and tell you I was very concerned about the band not working for me because I am so big. I was 450 when I was banded in April. So far I have lost 47 pounds since then. Now on the flip side I have had my ups and downs mentally. Because I am so big I feel as though my weight loss is slow and at times wish I did the bypass. Once I snap out of that frame of mind and I look at my numbers and the calendar and I realize well, i am doing pretty good. In short if you want to lose weight really fast the band may not be for you. Even for smaller folks it takes time. I am happy to be banded and I am giving it all I got. Whether or not I will be completely successful is yet to be determined. Read a lot, talk a lot and get all the information you can. You will hear a lot of pros and cons and you need to remember we are all different and our bodies react differently.

You're all doing awesome!! Congrats..

Just got this response back from my HR Dept. We have been notified of this issue. Fortunately, our employees are not being affected by this change. Even though we are through Cigna, we are part of the Tuft’s platform which means that coverage will remain the same and it will continue to be accepted at your primary care physician’s office and Lowell General. Only people who carry Cigna insurance on Cigna’s platform are being affected. This has been confirmed by our rep at Cigna. Hopefully this eases your mind a little bit. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Spoke with the office and it is the only hospital he is affiliated with....

Good point!! Thanks for mentioning that. I know he is affiliated with another hospital but I cannot remember which. I have to check that.

So I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get their insurance company to cover the banding procedure. In fact I paid nothing at all out of pocket because I had already reached my max year out of pocket of $1500 due to an earlier surgery I had in March. Yesterday, I got home and in the mail I found a lovely letter from my primary care doctor who informed me as of August 1st I need to either find a new PCP or get a different insurance carrier. Cigna has decided to drop its affiliation with Lowell General Hospital. Cigna requires that PCP be on staff at a hospital they are affiliated with which was that hospital. So I said, great now I need to find a new primary care doctor after 10 years of being with the same one. Now it gets even better as reality sets in and I realize duh, I was banded a Lowell General and my Surgeon is on Staff there. His entire practice is tied to that hospital. So now adjustments, routine visits and god forbid I need surgery again it is all going to be out of network!! As a lot of us know switching Surgeons when it comes to the band is not always an easy task. I am just over 2 months of being in the banded ranks and have only had two fills and I know I need more. I cannot help but be discouraged here but the only bright side I can see is at least I am banded and this didn't happen a week before surgery...... I have contacted my HR dept this morning at work to see if they can look into this a little further..

wow, I am so sorry to hear that. Have they done a fluoroscopy to make sure the band was properly situated and no leaks from the tubing or port?

By the way...if you're going to be depending on insurance to help with the costs believe it or not any issues you have will just help your cause in getting approval. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea. All that stuff just makes a stronger case for the surgery so make sure you tell them everything even if you find it embarrassing...