fabfatgrl

I understand what you're saying... However, I have no problems with people eating whatever they want during the mushies/liquid phase as long as it is mushie or liquid. I've read about people blending just about anything. I have a much bigger issue with people who consciously eat solid food during that time, as that can seriously affect their Band.
Some people will not lose weight or be able to control their food desires until they have good restriction. Others are veteran dieters who can stick to any diet for a certain period of time. Yet the person who drinks milk shakes during his liquid phase may end up being more successful than the person who drinks only low-fat Proteins shakes.... one can't tell at that phase.
I lost all of my weight not by eating low-carb or following any specific diet. I focused on high-quality food, but allowed the Band to limit my portions. So, I'd rather drink hot chocolate made with Godiva cocoa and low-fat organic milk in the morning rather than some low-calorie, no-sugar fake stuff. I'd have one delicious crab cake for dinner... rather than a diet meal. Real mayo, but only a little. Real butter, but only a little. All worked for me. And I exercised daily. It was a lifestyle change... but it was saying good-bye to the diet mentality that really helped me.
I do find the, "IcantbeliveIhavetopayacopay" attitude annoying beyond belief, though. They're so darn lucky to have their surgery covered period.
Peace.

I'd get flamed beyond belief if I posted that in the general forums. :eek: But having said that, you may have completely different results...and I hope you do. I think that the Band works as promised for maybe 1/3 of patients. It works OK, but maybe not great for another 1/3. (These people lose some weight, but may still be MO or obese... or they lose weight but have to live with an amazingly bad quality of life in terms of food intolerances, reflux, etc. And for the final 1/3, it sucks. But that's just my opinion.
I'm in the middle category, BTW.

OK, as somebody who has been banded 6+ years, I have to say that at least 60% of the people I know who were Banded around the time I was Banded or soon after no longer have their Bands. I know that if I post something like this in the General forums... I get a lot of hands over eyes and mouth saying "no no no ... that can't be true..." because most newly Banded people do not want to hear this. I can't find any concrete statistics from Inamed/Allergan.. nor do I think they keep them (or want to keep them)... but I did find this study:
A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric ban...[Obes Surg. 2006] - PubMed Result
I guess I'm feeling bad because I one person I tried to convince to try the Band has just had to have her Band completely unfilled due to severe reflux... and she is barely one year out. She's loss maybe 40% of what she needed to, but is now, regaining. I think that so many of us try to paint the Band as positive that we don't talk about the negative... and that we don't accept/realize that this surgery really isn't successful for a lot of people... this study shows a nearly 43% failure rate at 5 years.
Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding versus Rou...[surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Mar-Apr] - PubMed Result
This study shows a failure rate of 35% at 5 years for the Band.
I wonder what the real figures are. I'd love to know.

I'd get flamed beyond belief if I posted that in the general forums. :eek: But having said that, you may have completely different results...and I hope you do. I think that the Band works as promised for maybe 1/3 of patients. It works OK, but maybe not great for another 1/3. (These people lose some weight, but may still be MO or obese... or they lose weight but have to live with an amazingly bad quality of life in terms of food intolerances, reflux, etc. And for the final 1/3, it sucks. But that's just my opinion.
I'm in the middle category, BTW.

The technique you're referring to, pars flaccida, was in common use in 2001. So... at least a good portion of the patients in the first study would have had that technique used on them.
The second study specifically states that all of the patients had the pars flaccidea technique.
Remember guys, even though the Band was approved in the US in June 2001, it was in use in Europe and Australia for 7 or 8 years before then. (Yes, both the Lap-Band and the Swedish Bands... both were adjusted via ports using saline or contrast solution.)
As for post-op plans in 2003... I can tell you that post-op instructions were the same in 2001 as they are now. We knew to avoid aggressive fills due to slippage. We knew how to manage PBs, etc. Post-op diet instructions were the same. Nothing has changed in that regard.

I don't regret self-paying for my Band. It was $10,000... and I've spent maybe $4000 so far in fill costs. That sounds a lot, I know... but realistically, I've spent just as much on spas, diet doctors, infomerical wonder diets, exercise equipment, and personal trainers... and never achieved the success I did with my Band, even with all of its faults. Yeah, my Band crapped out on me after my first pregnancy (18 or so months after Banding)... but I had never lost 95 pounds before. It's been four years and three pregnancies since the mega unfill (I'm not counting fills since that I haven't been able to keep for more than a day)... and I'm keeping off 50 of the 95 pounds. Prior to the Band, the most I lost was 20 or so pounds by living at a vegan health spa for a month. Needless to say, I regained it all plus some within two weeks of entering the real world. :eek:
I definitely think people discount/tune out info they don't want to hear.
I also think that what risks one is willing to take... be they operative risks, long-term risks, or even financial risks... change over time. I'm glad that the Band was my first WLS experience. It is the easiest surgery to revise. Everythign is still in tact. Had I gone with a VBG (although most surgeons had stopped doing them at the time) or even an RNY... and was facing a revision, there would be a lot more risk and expense involved.

I'd get flamed beyond belief if I posted that in the general forums. :eek: But having said that, you may have completely different results...and I hope you do. I think that the Band works as promised for maybe 1/3 of patients. It works OK, but maybe not great for another 1/3. (These people lose some weight, but may still be MO or obese... or they lose weight but have to live with an amazingly bad quality of life in terms of food intolerances, reflux, etc. And for the final 1/3, it sucks. But that's just my opinion.
I'm in the middle category, BTW.

OK, as somebody who has been banded 6+ years, I have to say that at least 60% of the people I know who were Banded around the time I was Banded or soon after no longer have their Bands. I know that if I post something like this in the General forums... I get a lot of hands over eyes and mouth saying "no no no ... that can't be true..." because most newly Banded people do not want to hear this. I can't find any concrete statistics from Inamed/Allergan.. nor do I think they keep them (or want to keep them)... but I did find this study:
A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric ban...[Obes Surg. 2006] - PubMed Result
I guess I'm feeling bad because I one person I tried to convince to try the Band has just had to have her Band completely unfilled due to severe reflux... and she is barely one year out. She's loss maybe 40% of what she needed to, but is now, regaining. I think that so many of us try to paint the Band as positive that we don't talk about the negative... and that we don't accept/realize that this surgery really isn't successful for a lot of people... this study shows a nearly 43% failure rate at 5 years.
Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding versus Rou...[surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Mar-Apr] - PubMed Result
This study shows a failure rate of 35% at 5 years for the Band.
I wonder what the real figures are. I'd love to know.

OK, as somebody who has been banded 6+ years, I have to say that at least 60% of the people I know who were Banded around the time I was Banded or soon after no longer have their Bands. I know that if I post something like this in the General forums... I get a lot of hands over eyes and mouth saying "no no no ... that can't be true..." because most newly Banded people do not want to hear this. I can't find any concrete statistics from Inamed/Allergan.. nor do I think they keep them (or want to keep them)... but I did find this study:
A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric ban...[Obes Surg. 2006] - PubMed Result
I guess I'm feeling bad because I one person I tried to convince to try the Band has just had to have her Band completely unfilled due to severe reflux... and she is barely one year out. She's loss maybe 40% of what she needed to, but is now, regaining. I think that so many of us try to paint the Band as positive that we don't talk about the negative... and that we don't accept/realize that this surgery really isn't successful for a lot of people... this study shows a nearly 43% failure rate at 5 years.
Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding versus Rou...[surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Mar-Apr] - PubMed Result
This study shows a failure rate of 35% at 5 years for the Band.
I wonder what the real figures are. I'd love to know.

Don't worry... as you get closer to capacity sometimes only 0.1 ccs can make all of the difference. It becomes all about fine tuning... very very tiny fills and unfills to find the perfect spot.