CowgirlJane

Thank goodness that is OVER!

I tend to agree with the previous poster - it isn't about losing the last 20-30 pounds, it is more like your long term health and safety. You are already h aving pretty serious problems, and it sounds like you need an unfill and can't get one. My advice to you would be to get rid of that band, even if you don't want to convert to another surgery.

I did not have this... sounds like a mistake???

I have had my band since 2001, and since the Fluid was removed several years ago, no real serious problems. (I had horrific reflux with any fill at all and some pouch dialation). Found out from the various pre surgery tests that my band has slipped so that baby needs to go before it becomes an emergency. I saw the surgeon a few days a go and feel MUCH better about the surgery. I am a nervous nellie about medical stuff and it gave me peace of mind. Doc thinks I have low level reflux even though I don't notice it anymore. Well, guess what, last night I woke up drowning in reflux. It felt like it went in my lungs - scared the crap out of me. I am looking forward to this crapband being just GONE. The other cool thing is that the doc shared with me that the letter from my PCP was NOT supportive, although no contradictions for me to be sleeved. I told him that I would like to find a more supportive PCP and he gave me the name of a PCP who lives near me who has had bariatric surgery! She specializes in low carb living and post bariatric surgery life. What a find, I am thrilled. I can't wait to meet her. Maybe some things are coming together for me, finally. I don't plan to do the sleeve surgery for a few more months out though, I really need to feel "sure".

When I was banded, my kids and hubby knew. I told my younger sister, who I was very close to. On a big family camping trip I walked into her campsite to discover her telling about 7 other people and really 'dissing me for having the surgery. It has been hard to forgive and forget that moment as many of the people there were her friends and really distant aquaintances who had no business knowing. I kinda feel that if you want to go the "keep it quiet" route, you need to keep it REALLY quiet. At this point, I plan to tell a much larger circle of people when I am sleeved. Only DH and two (now grown!) kids know the band is being removed. My sister is now passed away and i don't give a rip about the people she blabbed to.

I kicked my husband out many years ago and raised my kids as a single parent. It was hard. do I regret it? No, but it was hard on me and the kids. The number one reason I ended that marriage was that he never grew up, never kept a job and was lousy as a house husband. I hated having to support the whole family, run the household etc and over time that turned into real anger and killed my love for him. Of course, since divorcing, he never paid child support and I still raised the kids on my own financially and otherwise. I have a new love (last 12 years!) and you know, we have had some struggles too although I love him dearly. He has been a good step dad, but I still often crave an intimacy that I don't get from him. I guess the point is that it is always work. I would strongly advise getting counseling since it kind of sounds like you both entered the relationship a little immature. Having someone to really talk things over with may help you. I think it will also help with avoiding any impulsive decisions and feel stronger with the decisions you do make. Losing alot of weight can be a head game for both you and your husband. It would be a shame to split up a family without trying to salvage things if you think there is any hope at all.

I want to express my thanks to all of you who have shared. sometimes you help somebody in an indirect way... even if you don't know it! I have a slipped band and don't really have bad symptoms. I am terrified of surgery and haven't exactly been thrilled to move forward with my band removal. Let's be honest, my anxiety is escalating daily. I rescheduled once from Sept 1 because I got a cold and I am freaked about breathing/coughing anyway.... and I was just scared by having surgery when I had a cold. Reading this thread helped cement my resolve to face my fears and get this dang band OUT before I have even more serious problems. My surgeon told me that a slipped band can result in emergency surgery if it shuts off the stomach completely. i am scheduled for Sept 28th band removal surgery. I have done my final blood work, am doing medifast to lose a few pounds presurgery (not required by surgeon, but makes me feel better about it). Now, I just need to not chicken out!

Once my band was unfilled, the only food I couldn't really eat was rice. Otherwise, I feel like I have no restriction.

Okay, I did decide to do medifast. I have survived my first week - including two restaurant meals (related to taking a kid off to college). I have stayed on program really well and.... drum roll please... have lost 11.6 pounds in week one. I felt like crap the first few days, but have not been hungry nor had food cravings. Wish me luck for week 2!

I have a lifetime of dieting under my belt, but never really embraced the low carb thing. i guess because by the time that become huge, I had sorta given up and/or didn't really understand it. I was indoctrinated under the false diet rules of low fat being the thing. Also, it seems I really like carbs which is probably a good reason for me to restrict them. Anyway, due to family reasons, I won't have my sleeve surgery for several months. My BMI is 49 and rising, so I have decided to get on a program and lose weight! It will make the eventual surgery easier and I hope will set me up better to achieve my longer term goals if I can shed some pounds before my sleeve surgery. Anyhoo, I suck at eating low carb. I was shocked at how many carbs were in even what I consider non starchy veggies!!! So, I was doing okay doing a low GI type diet where you always combine carb with a Protein, but I sorta fell off the wagon. my sister had good success with Medifast so convinced me to give it a try. The boxes are here, so I start tomorrow. It is the deal where you do the Meal Replacement and have one real food meal a day - lean meat and green veggies. Medifast is NOT low carb, as you have something like 80-100 total carbs a day. It is more like low GI eating, but their literature says that after 3 days you go into ketosis. People lose weight fast on this, and I am told after those first few days, are not hungry. My surgeon does NOT require a liver shrinking diet (20-40 total carbs per day) for the band removal which is end of Sept, but does require it for the actual sleeve surgery. That is fine, I will follow whatever they want me to do during those last two weeks. So, here are my questions... Will eating this moderate carb thing, if it really does result in ketosis shrink the liver too? If I am able to stick with this medifast thing for the 3 months while I await the sleeve, I think I have a pretty good chance of losing maybe 40 pounds. My BMI is currently 49, so that will help some. Will this mean that when I first have surgery, I probably won't lose very fast since I would have done the fast weight loss presurgery? After I have the sleeve surgery, I am hopeful I can figure out how to eat low carb, using real food and not medifast, but right now I just get too hungry and get too many cravings. Are there like, different levels of ketosis so you can kick it up by going to the stricter low carb? Is it useful to test using those ketone strips? Any suggestions on where to learn more about the ketosis, how to know when you have acheived it etc? i have read the Adkins website, but like I said, I just can't seem to follow the low carb thing for more then about a day. Medifast has so few decisions to make, I feel like I might have a better chance as it is very black and white what you eat.

Mindy, have you discussed with your surgeon and / or nutritionalist?

That is good information. My band has slipped, so I can imagine there is scar tissue in more then one place. I think he will know better once he takes the band out at the end of the month. I was supposed to have it removed yesterday but I got a really bad cold (lots of chest congestion) and chickened out and rescheduled to end of Sept.

I find it frustrating that you cannot get independant data on leak rates. My surgeon told me that he sees about 4-5% risk of leaks in revisions; as opposed to the 1% (if memory is correct) for people who the sleeve is their first stomach or weight loss surgery. I know that people say that Dr Aceves in Mexico has a 0% leak rate, which I assume covers revisions as well, but I don't know how to verify it. That is a second hand knowledge statement, and one which I do not know the accuracy of. I would ask the surgeon what percentage of his patients have leaks - revision and first timers. The way it was worded sounds like 100% of his revisions if done as one step had leaks and I doubt that is the case. My doc prefers to do them 4-6 weeks apart, but he will do them at the same time if the patient insists, especially the self pay ones it may be a more practical solution.

Sounds very strange, and it does make you wonder if the person was confused. I have not yet had the removal, but my approval is for two separate procedures - removal and then secondarily a sleeve. I am pretty sure that the "repositioning" is a different CPT code.

I am 5'5" barefoot, and measured just a hair under 3" on the elbow test - so that makes me large framed. I believe it as I have broad shoulders etc. The range that it shows for me is 140-159. According to what I have read elsewhere (dsfacts.com), a person who has been more then 100# overweight for many years probably has extra skin, denser bones, more fat cells etc that could add another 10% to their goal weight. I have been very overweight for along time. The goal I have been thinking of is in the 160-170 range, which I think makes alot of sense given this chart and knowing I will have extra skin. So, i currently weigh about 295, a reasonable goal might be 165 so I should lose about 130# to get to goal.

Can somebody explain to me why you are less likely to have reflux with the RNY? I never had reflux before being banded and the idea of the "pouch" and related problems of the RNY makes me "shudder". Anyway, I don't get how a revision from a sleeve to RNY solves the acid reflux since you have already lost that 85% of your stomach.

I am a few weeks away from band removal and then have wait time before i get the sleeve. I would really like to start losing weight now, but haven't been too successful on my own. I am considering one of these "programs" for the next few months, just to get some weight off preop. I know, voluntary torture but I am beyond sick, beyond tired of being so fat. I don't feel good, I hurt all the time and I can't stand how clothes fit or how I look. I have generally been pretty okay with myself, even as an overweight person, but I am close to 300# and feel I can barely function. It is warm today, and i am miserable just trying to do housework in the heat. I feel like even just dropping 20-30# would make me feel better. I know I can't keep weight off, but I was sorta thinking I could start losing... get sleeved... keep losing, you know!

I don't think that this is considered "elective" if you have the co-morbidities etc. Maybe that varies plan to plan... but my view is that getting a facelift is elective surgery, but WLS is medically necesary for obese persons. As a person who has been a supervisor/manager - don't trust what he says, go to the HR experts in your company.

I just registered at realize and they don't let you use alot of the functions until post surgery - so I can't track exercise for example. I have been using livestrong.com which is a great website, but lousy smart phone app.

Just goes to show, there is a reason they call it "practicing" medicine!

fern, I thank you for sharing as I think the risk from the lapband are often understated. I found out today from my docs office that the band removal is a more technically difficult surgery then doing the sleeve because they have to cut away some scar tissue and stuff.... I sure didn' t know that when I was banded.

I have an adopted son and a biological son, they are both now young adults. I should tell you that there ARE some differences. A person who is adopted may have some issues to work out, in our case it showed up in the teen years. Anyway, not too long ago my 22 yo son gave me a big hug and thanked me for adopting him as he is happy with his life. I think adoption is absolutely wonderful, and I feel blessed he is my son, but it does have it's challenges as well.

Okay, I have been banded since March 2001 (and need to have the band removed now due to slippage) and while I am NOT a band advocate I feel that some of what was stated was not exactly right on target with my experiences, for example -there is no reason to be unfilled when you fly/travel. I traveled ALOT for business in the first year I was banded (as in several times a month for that first year) and I never had a problem whether it be planes, trains or automobiles. -I have never experienced or heard of this mucus thing... sounds like someone who is way too tight This night cough is reflux and is a very serious issue. It means you can't eat within many hours of bedtime and for some people it means you need to sleep with some elevation of your head. That for me was one of the biggest problem of the band and ultimately the reason I had to have all the fill removed. One thing I experienced, and this was more after the first 9-12 months was that I felt hunger even when my pouch was full. It was not a nice experience. Finally, was the level of restriction. I lost well if I was pretty tight and that could be coped with over the short term. Over the long term, that leads to all sorts of complications like dialation etc. My opinion now is that there are several false logics in terms of how the band works over the long term. First the idea is that if you have the bad experience of upchucking food it will train you to not overeat. Throwing up with the band isn't like vomiting from the flu. I aint saying it is nice, but I don't think it trains people to eat better. In fact, you are much more likely to have problems with dense Proteins and veggies (okay, and bread) then any other types of food so I would say that the vomiting when you overeat actually trains you to eat poorly. The other false information is that it is easily reversible and is the lowest risk WLS. Well, they can take the band out, but it has created scar tissue... so it is not like you return to normal immediately. I feel that at the time I was banded, this was not clearly communicated AT ALL. The actual surgery is quite low risk, but the risk of complications approaches 100% over the long run. Are people told that the band will likely have to be removed at some point?

I haven't watched the video yet, but my surgeon also said that revision patients typically lose slower, don't lose as much and that there aren't alot of published stats. I have a personal theory is that people who had a miserable experience with the band have learned how to "eat around" the band as a self defense mecansim (ie healthy food hurts, junk food oddly goes down fine). I believe that the band CAN teach you bad habits so you maybe have to work extra hard. I have no evidence to back this up, just my personal theory.

Beautiful mother and daughter!! Congrats many times over