parisshel

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/bariatric-surgery-the-solution-to-obesity?mbid=social_facebook
Anyone else read this article? I thought it presented a balanced and readable overview on the history of surgical procedures to combat obesity, as well current research findings.
It's also cool that a magazine as respected as the New Yorker is writing about this.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/bariatric-surgery-the-solution-to-obesity?mbid=social_facebook
Anyone else read this article? I thought it presented a balanced and readable overview on the history of surgical procedures to combat obesity, as well current research findings.
It's also cool that a magazine as respected as the New Yorker is writing about this.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/bariatric-surgery-the-solution-to-obesity?mbid=social_facebook
Anyone else read this article? I thought it presented a balanced and readable overview on the history of surgical procedures to combat obesity, as well current research findings.
It's also cool that a magazine as respected as the New Yorker is writing about this.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/bariatric-surgery-the-solution-to-obesity?mbid=social_facebook
Anyone else read this article? I thought it presented a balanced and readable overview on the history of surgical procedures to combat obesity, as well current research findings.
It's also cool that a magazine as respected as the New Yorker is writing about this.

I loved the very first bath I took once I have dropped some weight. I had been limiting myself to showers for years, because hauling myself out of the tub had gotten to be such a chore (not to mention a risk!). I remember my kids hearing me draw my bath and saying "Mom! You NEVER take baths!"
I love being able to cross my legs again (and often do selfies of my crossed thighs!).
Things I don't miss:
Planning my errands to conserve my energy as much as possible
Planning my subway/bus ride to arrive as close as possible to my destination, and checking to see if the subway station had an escalator rather than a stairs-only exit
Planning my day around my food indulgences, waking and immediately thinking of what I'd eat that day. And then going to bed at night feeling disgusted at myself and the bad food choices I'd made, once again.
Feeling that I'd outgrown the world, and as such, feeling embarassed about myself everywhere I went.

You offer some great and well-founded insights and I thank you for taking the time to tell your story.
I spoke too fast (and perhaps too naively) when I wrote that other WLS are plug and play. I think they just seem that way when one has experienced complications with a lapband. I also suspect that we haven't yet seen the long term effects of the more recent WLS and that is why those surgeries currently appear to be so much more attractive than the lapband. Let's get 10-15 years of data collecting behind the more recent WLS options and then we can talk!
The rapid weight gain after an unfill, or getting one's band removed, is logical so don't be hard on yourself. The lapband, when optimally adjusted, really allows us to live on 900-1,000 calories/day without the hunger or feeling of deprivation. Take away the lapband (or its optimal fill) and there is no one in the world who could hang on to 900 calories a day comfortably....at least no former obese person.
All the best, and welcome back to the banded life.

You offer some great and well-founded insights and I thank you for taking the time to tell your story.
I spoke too fast (and perhaps too naively) when I wrote that other WLS are plug and play. I think they just seem that way when one has experienced complications with a lapband. I also suspect that we haven't yet seen the long term effects of the more recent WLS and that is why those surgeries currently appear to be so much more attractive than the lapband. Let's get 10-15 years of data collecting behind the more recent WLS options and then we can talk!
The rapid weight gain after an unfill, or getting one's band removed, is logical so don't be hard on yourself. The lapband, when optimally adjusted, really allows us to live on 900-1,000 calories/day without the hunger or feeling of deprivation. Take away the lapband (or its optimal fill) and there is no one in the world who could hang on to 900 calories a day comfortably....at least no former obese person.
All the best, and welcome back to the banded life.

Your post is very interesting and I agree about the weight just waiting to come back on when an unfill occurs. I agree that one's body seems to "seek" the lost weight and pack it back on at an abnormally fast pace, similar to regular dieting.
I'm sorry you are experiencing this and I empathize with you. It's quite disheartening, isn't it? One feels so out of control.
I'm curious about the esophegal dilation. You never felt this? When you drank liquids, did they seem to flow through the band quite slow? Do you think your band was too tight for too long and this led to the complication?
As far as unfills/fills go. My experience is that I never have found the restriction I had prior to being unfilled. There are many of us on this forum that will say the same thing. I'm not sure why this is...why 5ccs today does not feel like 5ccs prior to being unfilled, but it is the truth. My first fill was 3ccs in a 10cc band, and I lost 60 pounds with that fill. Now I've stayed at the same weight for almost a year...cannot lose any weight at 5ccs as I have no restriction whatsoever and am hungry constantly.
Add to this a complication of a heart arrythmia which may be linked to my lapband so I can't put any additional fill in it at this time as I risk setting off the atrial fibrillation that I've just got under control. I will opt to have the band removed should exams show that it (the vagus nerve) is responsible for the Afib.
I chose the lapband after hours and hours of research, but now I think that I should have opted for a different WLS, one that was more "plug and play". It's rare to see a long term bandster that has a perfect lapband track record. I'm not talking about weight loss/maintenance, but band stability with no complications.
I hope your experience with the refills will be a good one, and look forward to reading your future posts.

What a great idea! I wish my partner had the mindset of a WLS person. It sure would be nice to be with someone whose eating and exercise habits were more in line with my own.

I had mine emptied several years ago by one of the quacks, dr Elariny, that dr pinnar left his patients with. I had an ulcer so it was temporary for healing purposes. I haven't Been able to find the "sweet" spot for my fill since and have gained weight and am very frustrated.
WouLd. not recommend emptying if you can avoid it. Also, keep in mind the band is a life style change, and a surgical fix not an on and off switch. ReThink risking your success for special occasion eating.
Good luck!

Five years ago today my divorce was finalized. It was the end of a rough process. It isn’t easy separating your life from someone who you had been with for 21 years and had four children with. It also means that even though we are divorced, we will be seeing each other during every major life event in our children’s life.
With that reality in mind, I had a couple of goals when I went into this process five years ago…
#1 – Kids
Make sure they always know that I love them, they are not at fault and I will always have their back. Also never work to separate them from their mother, and to never disparage my ex in front of the kids. I never wanted my kids to think they had to choose between us.
#2 – Get out with as much dignity as possible
I wanted out with as little public embarrassment, and with as little financial cost as possible. But I also knew that my ex was going to have a harder time than I would getting started again. So for the last five years I have been paying her alimony. I made my final payment last month.
I understand some men (and women) get caught in some very bad situations because of sudden job loss and alimony can become inherently unfair. But in my case I thought it was important to supplement my ex’s income to help her maintain her dignity as she began a new chapter in her life. I didn’t want my kids to think I threw her to the curb to fend for herself.
The financial entanglements with my ex have now ended,and I wish her the best.
I hope the kids see their parents as people who had their differences and could no longer live together, but never stopped loving and looking out for them. We will always be your parents, we love you and we have your back, always.
All that said I think I have met my goals. I recently looked at my blood work from six years ago and what it is now. Six years ago I saw a person who was going downhill rapidly. This year's is nearly perfect. Thanks to WLS my health has never been better.
My attorney told me, if you want to get revenge in a divorce, live a happy life. If she is miserable because of it, that is on her. If she isn't, well you have a happy life.

Well, I've been on my band journey since 2010, I have had success with the band. It has been a constant fight and so many frustrations. Recently after my most recent unfill due to what the dr said was a prolapse I was under the impression I was going to have it removed and converted to a sleeve. We did the swallow study and after this he suggested to refill the band again because everything looked good. I was happy and sad at the same time. Of course happy because I really wasn't looking forward to having surgery. Sad because I knew I was going to spend the next 5 months slowly refilling. I have now gotten 3 refills and I am at 8cc out of a 14cc band. My happy place has always been around 10cc. I of course gained 30 pounds and feel like a complete failure and none of my clothes fit. If you are reading this and you are contemplating band over sleeve, all I can say is what I have experienced. I started my journey at 306 pounds and I managed to get my weight to 198. I worked extremely hard and I worked out and ate fanatically to make this work. After 6 years, I am tired. I am exhausted. I hope to make my way back to 198 again. I am not sure if I have the will power to get their again but I will try. If you aren't willing to work with the band and constantly have it tuned in I don't suggest it. I was looking forward to the sleeve conversion but now that I know it's me and my old friend... Here we go, back at it.

Thanks for your response, and I hope your recovery is going smoothly. I think eating "as if you still have the band" is a good strategy.
No, I won't proceed with another surgery. My new heart condition would be a risk factor for any surgery, and I'm all about mitigating all risks nowadays! I regret not going with the sleeve as my initial WLS choice, but I just couldn't get my mind around the amputation part of that surgery. Bypass was out too, as I'd read too many scary stories of complications with that type of WLS.
I suppose if I were in my twenties, I'd rethink this. But I'm not, and I've just come around to accepting that life at this weight will be the life I have. I'm glad to have lost what I did with my lapband, and sad that I never got to see "thin", but at least I'm now so much more normal-looking on the outside, even if my heart- health is actually worse now that pre-lapband.
My motto now is this: I don't regret getting banded, but I'd never recommend the band to anyone. There are so many more-perfected options now on the market.
Wishing you the best as your recover and convert. I'm sure you'll do well.

The decision, and the success with whatever WLS tool you choose, is entirely yours. It's great that you are doing research in this stage. I'd encourage reading about post-surgery and longterm complications from all the different types of WLS tools...you can search through these on this platform. While reading, ask yourself how you'd live with any of the complications should they happen to you. And ask yourself if you are truly ready, physically and mentally, to do what you can to avoid any user-based complications. (The WLS-based complications you really have no control over. But you must inform yourself of what these might be.)
Inform yourself of what the post-op diet is for your choice of WLS. Short term AND long term. Can you live with what is required of you to not only lose the weight, but keep it off? Do not go into this thinking you'll follow the rules only temporarily....many WLS fail because patients slip back into old habits after the "sweet period" (usually about 18 months) has passed. Bands can be eaten around, sleeves can be stretched, bypasses can be overridden by patients who just cannot, for whatever reason, come around to the idea of a lifetime of WLS-compliant eating.
Be ready to change everything about your current life. WLS will not work if you think it's all about the surgery. Success is met with a holistic approach...the surgery, if done correctly, will dim or eliminate your hunger, at least initially. But you also need to line up mechanisms for filling the space you are no longer eating to fill. Are you ready to take that on?
Wishing you all the best, and a successful and happy outcome to whatever you decide to do.

Wow I didn't realize any surgeons still recommend the band anymore. Please see another surgeon for a second opinion and do a lot of research. Most of the of stories are negative about band.

I had lapband in 2011. Did very well with it. Got to goal, but as others have said, had complications and had to have it removed. I revised to bypass at the end of March. My doctor is revising many of his band patients due to complications. It was a great tool when it wasn't causing problems, but it doesn't seem to be a long term surgery without having additional surgeries later on down the road. And this is not to bash the band, because I loved it when it wasn't causing problems, but more of an observation of what I've seen and experienced.
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Don't get the band!!!!!!!!!! i had the band for 6 years... lost weight.. got to goal and maintained for 5
I had complications during the last year and had it removed after 12 months.
Basically, during the 12 months after i got it removed i gained weight.. a lot... i was really eating well.... exercising.. the works.. tried everything .. yet was still gaining weight.
I went to see the doctor and they said i had reset my resting metabolic rate to quite low...from all the complications from the band.
so they suggested i get weight loss surgery as my body doesn't function on the higher calories.
I had the sleeve done... and ive lost 22 pounds this month...
I was considered a success as i lost all my excess weight.. but this was from starvation.. food would get stuck.. id have to get a fill unfill constantly...
Now that i have the sleeve.... the sleeve is so so so much better... you feel restriction but its a comfortable restriction compared to the painful restriction with the band....
Please please please don't get it..... go for the sleeve or bypass

Hey... i followed all the rules... i had my band for 6 years.. lost weight and got to goal.
Unfortunately 5 years after it was placed i started having complications and had it removed 12 months later
Ive been sleeved now for a month..
I know my words are not very encouraging... but other than following all the rules there isnt much more you can do.
Eat slowly... dont adjust it too tight.. stay ontop of your fills, dont eat foods you know get stuck... stay in the green zone.

I had my band surgery in October 2007 at 278lbs. Overall, I have been very successful. In the first year and half or so, I lost about 150 lbs. My last fill was four years ago. Over the last for years I maintained somewhere between 118-120. I still haven't had any other plastic surgeries to remove excess skin, but it wasn't terrible since I got a trainer who understood the band and helped me shape up as I was dropping the weight.
I had issues here and there, but most of them occurred if I made a bad food choice or happened to be sick or stressed. It seems the band is sometimes affected by any little thing that cause physical or mental stress. At least that's been my experience.
When I had my last fill four years ago, I actually began having issues with not keeping food down, having a lot of reflux, and even sometimes waking up in the middle of the night having to throw up. Honestly, up until that point I had tried to do everything right, but after the last fill I let things go too long. I probably should have had some solution removed a long time ago, but I think I went somewhere in my head, and because I was finally in a size I wanted to be in, I didn't. I was living mainly on ice cream, coffee, smoothies, tortilla chips, mashed potatoes, as Beans. Only slightly occasionally I might have a good day and be able to keep down a piece of chicken. Most foods did not agree with me. I was throwing up at least three times a day most days, and many days even more than that. I reconciled myself to thinking this was just life with the band. I was at a healthy weight, a lower BMI, and I looked good in my clothes, but truthfully I was not getting enough quality nutrition. My potassium was always low, I was dehydrated and fatigued, and this past February I was sick with different viral infections for about two months. I was hospitalized twice during that two months. I started to really think about the kind of nutrition I was putting in my body, and really I wasn't getting any because my body was rejecting everything. I think my body was actually starving, even though I was maintaining at 118. I finally decided the best thing to do would be to remove some solution and see if I could start living on proper nutrients and foods, and not a steady diet of ice cream.
I had 1cc of saline removed. Almost immediately, I felt better. I was able to eat actual Proteins and vegetables and keep them down. I did had to re-find my limit- I hadn't felt that sensation of fullness in so long, that I had forgotten what it felt like when the band was actually doing what it's supposed to do. I passed it once or twice, but I can tell it's working they way it was supposed to all along. I am taking in proper portions and eating better food, so in that respect, I'm back on track again.
On the flip side, I'd been starving my body for nearly four years, and in two weeks after the adjustment, I had gained 20 lbs. of course I freaked, and two weeks later, I have still gained another 5. I'm not actually eating bad foods or even eating more than I should. The difference is I'm actually keeping it down, and my body- in starvation mode is holding onto everything! After researching and asking questions, it seemed like my body is responding similarly to how a rehabilitating anorexic's would. I'm bloated, swelling, and I gained rapidly. My body is rehydrating and resetting at this point. My metabolism has been weak, and I'm readjusting. That's the frustrating part. However, the band IS working, and my metabolism is moving towards equilibrium again, so over a few more weeks, this will taper off and some of these added lbs will go away with the bloating. The rest will go with increased activity.
So I do still consider myself a band success story, but I share this to say you have to pay attention and take care of yourself. The band is a tool, not a magic pill. I should've taken care of the problem four years ago- but this weight loss thing is a mind game too, and I let it beat me. Fortunately my band and stomach is ok, I have no damage, but I did let my system down.
So pay attention, take care of yourself. If there's something wrong ask question and get it fixed. Don't let it go too long. I'll have to work this weight back off again, but at least I'll be doing it right this time.
Good luck!
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Totally get your regrets. Had I not had complications from my lapband, I would not regret choosing this WLS. But I did develop complications (lapband-sourced complications, not owner-sourced complications, which nobody likes to read or hear about) and it is natural that I now regret the decision.
Please don't feel bad about yourself. The lapband has known and numerous complication rates, and more and more are revealing themselves as time moves forward. I suspect this will also happen with other WLS. Even in the best surgeon's hands, WLS affects people's bodies in different ways. Some people strike gold--lose weight, keep it off, no complications, and others do not.
You fell into the "other" category. It's not your fault. It's normal you regret your choice, because of the pain you are feeling every day. If you had had a car accident (through no fault of your own) and now lived in constant pain because of that, you'd regret getting into the car that day, right?
I know you aren't asking for what to do next, but if the band is making you miserable, you might consider having it removed. It should clear up the reflux and the getting stuck issues. And then you will feel better, and can think about your next step with a clear, pain-free mind.

I'd caution against relying on dumping as a 'pro' for bypass. Not everyone experiences dumping. If risk of failure is your number one concern, I'm not convinced one option is better than the other. Both are tools and require you to stick to the guidelines and put in the work to be successful. I would consider the advantages of bypass over sleeve to be potential to lose more quickly (while total loss is about the same ultimately, the malabsorption cause bypass patients to lose faster, which can be good if you have a very high BMI and high risk of immediate health issues related to your weight), the fact that it seems to immediately cure diabetes in most people, and the lower risk of GERD. The trade off for those advantages is rerouting of your intestines, loss of your pyloric valve, higher risk of late stage complications, and permanent malabsorption.

There is nothing wrong with you. Your longterm experience with the band is the rule, not the exception. It isn't you. The band doesn't alter your brain (unlike the restrictive and malabsorption surgeries such as bypass). It is merely restrictive (as you experienced). When your metabolism and appetite wake up from those days/months post band surgery, many of us experience what you are describing.
Please don't blame yourself. It is unproductive, and really, if you talk with other longterm bandsters, you'll see that 80% are right where you are. This is why the band is falling out of favor and there are fewer and fewer WLS patients opting for it.

Totally get your regrets. Had I not had complications from my lapband, I would not regret choosing this WLS. But I did develop complications (lapband-sourced complications, not owner-sourced complications, which nobody likes to read or hear about) and it is natural that I now regret the decision.
Please don't feel bad about yourself. The lapband has known and numerous complication rates, and more and more are revealing themselves as time moves forward. I suspect this will also happen with other WLS. Even in the best surgeon's hands, WLS affects people's bodies in different ways. Some people strike gold--lose weight, keep it off, no complications, and others do not.
You fell into the "other" category. It's not your fault. It's normal you regret your choice, because of the pain you are feeling every day. If you had had a car accident (through no fault of your own) and now lived in constant pain because of that, you'd regret getting into the car that day, right?
I know you aren't asking for what to do next, but if the band is making you miserable, you might consider having it removed. It should clear up the reflux and the getting stuck issues. And then you will feel better, and can think about your next step with a clear, pain-free mind.

There is nothing wrong with you. Your longterm experience with the band is the rule, not the exception. It isn't you. The band doesn't alter your brain (unlike the restrictive and malabsorption surgeries such as bypass). It is merely restrictive (as you experienced). When your metabolism and appetite wake up from those days/months post band surgery, many of us experience what you are describing.
Please don't blame yourself. It is unproductive, and really, if you talk with other longterm bandsters, you'll see that 80% are right where you are. This is why the band is falling out of favor and there are fewer and fewer WLS patients opting for it.

If this is your plan, I would strongly suggest you consider another form of WLS. The lapband is a "crutch", or "tool" as many will say, without which one is merely dieting (and hungry, frustrated and sad).
Many who have had bands removed will testify to regaining the weight lost with the band (plus additional pounds, which is similar to what happens when a non-surgical dieter stops dieting).
Most former bandsters on this platform post that when they had their bands removed, they went on to do a revision surgery such as bypass, sleeve or RnY.
So based on that, if would suggest that if you plan to get banded, and then have the band removed, you should also include in your plan a budget for revision surgery, or an acceptance for the rebound weight gain. I've never read about a bandster who kept their weight off after band removal.