Nikiban

This is my first post (I have been a lurker for a while!) and I just want to say my official hello & thanks to everyone for posting your experiences, it has really helped me to make this decision. I am 30 years old and I got the band in September 2006. It was ok to start with and I went from 106kg to 85kg fairly quickly, but I then began to have real problems with it, constant vomiting etc. The fill was taken out and put back in countless times until I finally had it taken out about a year ago weighing 123kg. My surgeon tried to talk me into the sleeve then but by that stage I was totally against the idea of having anymore surgery. I have since ballooned to over 135kg and I feel awful. I know I won't be able to lose the weight without surgery. I have made an appointment with my surgeon to discuss it further and I think I may be able to have the surgery in the first half of next year. Anyway, that's me. I really look forward to sharing the rest of the (hopefully successful) journey with the rest of you! Nikiban

I feel quite negatively about my band and I always feel angry when I see the band advertised on television. I had some intial success with the band for the first six months but then I had a partial slip and I could no longer tolerate any fill at all. I wound up in the hospital on more than a few occasions to have the fill urgently removed. If I had known then that there is a 60% removal rate at five years (at least there is in Australia, not sure about the US) I NEVER would have had it done.