rebandit

i wasnt aware that they were doing the band that long ago in the U.S..

where did you have yours done coffeewench?

I agree that if I could have stopped at 1 slice of pizza I wouldnt have had to have the band to begin with. In another post someone said that " with the band if you eat 3 small meals a day and a snack that you would lose fine " , well with the band you definitely will feel restricted from eating all day but without will power you could still minipulate it and thats where the overeating comes in. If you dont still work real hard , you could still gain.

i was banded the first time in march of 2006 and I lost 150 lbs from march of 06- oct 07 , unfortunately my band eroded and I did get another one directly after removing the old one and While waiting to feel restriction from fills I gained close to 50lbs back. thank God for this band

I recently posted a thread about overeating and the comments I got back made me think that most of the people in here might not really be overeaters just overweight. I know I battle something in my that wants food really bad. Thank God for the band I cant eat what I want. But I was banded for a year and a half and I did real well , then my band eroded and I had to be rebanded. In the time I waited for a fill , I wanted to eat the house and I just about did. I would have thought that my life had changed but the fact is that once I could eat again , MY old addiction came right back. I would have to live in fairy land to believe that you can be completely healed of overeating addiction.

i was told that the band is not a magic solution, and i didnt write the original post as a downer to the band . but honestly there are just s ome drs like mine who are not advising psyche evals and are not really giving information about how easy it would be to gain back weight. i am 105 lbs down and cant say i am not h appy about the band. But just like drug addicts and acoholics and other addicts , for most of us or at least some of us overeating is really an addiction. and it is calmed but not gone by getting the band.My dr. is one of those who is in the money making business and I really dont think it mattered how much we knew. I was not aware of this support or any other when I was looking for a Dr. , I just decided to get the band and did. I know that was probably not the smartest thing to do but nonethe less its done. and thought someone else who might be researching this might like to know.

Just a bit of information for all the ones preparing for the band. I thought that since the band wouldnt allow me to eat more then the small amount your pouch would hold that my problem of being an overeater would be solved. HOWEVER, there are things that the band will allow to slip right on down. You would think that after going through the trouble and financial expense of having surgery that you would automatically stay away from such foods but unfortunately you will still be an overeater after the surgery and will sometimes want to look for such foods to feed that inner addiction. Well its these things I wish I had known before surgery. I would have still had the surgery but I would have better prepared myself for resistance to these things. There is so much I wish I had known. I am self pay and my dr. didnt require any psych evals and preparations .He just made it all look pretty and said come have it , it will change your life. BE MORE PREPARED!!!!!!!!!!!

i followed the post op diet to a t, but after the 4 weeks diet i ate all i didnt follow the rules of having a band. like dont let yourself eat till you throw up.

I am on my second band and I know that eventually we will feel restriction. I have to remind myself that too. With my first band I never ever gained weight. I was restricted from the start and when I wasnt , id go in for a fill and be fine. The new band is a 11cc vs. a 4 cc as before and I had a 5 cc fill and could still eat a cow. im in banster hell and I know that it will eventuall end but i have gained 40 lbs. ill be happy when it gets here.

thanks for the words of encouragment , Let me just say that this looks like im trying to not take the blame for my own actions but its verrry hard to have the band and be very restricted to being where im at now. For a few months I would eat , eat , eat and eat some more because I could and not gain weight.I was losing everything I ate. So now after being rebanded its like i have developed worse habits then i had before I was banded. I remember that before I was ever banded I could go on diets for months then one day I just could not do it.

I never really understood why all of a sudden its like this thing inside you that take over. well right now im fighting the thing. I must say that having y ou all in here to help support me does make me want to try harder to fight the thing.

My first 50 lbs lost someone said "Pam did you drop a couple of pounds?) .grrrrrrr. well I probably did wear my pants a bit on the comfy side before but sheesh, 50lbs? Funny thing is 15 lbs more and then people were more like omg. Pammmmmmm you lost so much weight. I think your body hits a place where it changes. Then Id lose another 30 and no one would notice then 5 lbs more then it would be omg your gonna be skinny soon. Now after 100 lbs every 10-15 lbs is kinda noticable and my clothes changes. In fact I had a revision in early October and ive gained 35 lbs back and none of my clothes fit. sad!!!

Well I know with this new band I obviously wont be restricted till probably after 6 ccs. Well first of all I think my Dr. is out till Dec.10th. so theres no way Ill have restriction till then. I have only 3ccs in an 11cc band. Then With my last band I never saw this dr. put in much at a time so Im so afraid when I go in December he still wont have me restricted. I have decided (and have everyday since I got this new band in October) that I have to go on an old fashioned diet till I get there. Im failing miserably.Everyday I start a new diet. Ive gained 35 lbs or so. Only problem is that when I went in for my first fill about 3 weeks ago I had gained 30 or so.Im kinda afraid if i lose any now that he will think im actually restricted and will give me less then I need thinking that im more restricted then I am.

I read in here a lot lately trying to get mentally motivated. I feel more motivated for others then I do for myself. I used to diet on a regular basis. I was never one of those people who said i just cant lose weight. I lost massive weight in my life, I just always gained it back and more. I know I can get this weight off or start anyway till I get restricted.

A little support would help

I say upcharge and do it for all of us who have the cant say no syndrome. I too have it and grrrrrrrr. Some people choose to forget you even exist until they need something. Even many of my own family. I too sew and I am a cosmetolegist. So even at holidays sometimes people just need a little altering or a small haircut. shoooot. But of course inside im thinking yea of course you do I knew you would. but on the outside it just comes out ,( Sure I will, I dont mind)

i think there are more people who come in here when they are having trouble then when they are not. thats why it looks like so much scary stuff in here. i believe theres a lot of good to be said about the band , yes there are loooots of risks but you can learn a lot about reading how to do it RIGHT in here too. i think you should keep your studies on doing it right instead of all the negative stuff.

cagstorm, i see y our blue go cowboys thingy, is that mcneese cowboys?

it must be too early in the morning to read in this forum cause this post just made me cry remembering how that felt.I told myself i never wanted to forget how it felt so that id always see the pain when others were going through it.but untill i just read it i had almost forgot how hard life is at that weight. im so happy for you that you will soon be able to feel freedom from your body.my mother is suffering with obesity too and my heart is always big for her knowing she will probably never feel freedom in her life. at least youll get there.

well first cost---the cost of my original was $16,000 the cost of the surgery was more like $25,000 because well I was ill also and I had a hospital stay in one hospital then they shipped me to the band dr. Im still not sure all what its going to cost me but the first hospital was right at $6,000 but that part was just to get me some potassium and rehydrate me. then I got my anesthesia bill at $1760 then the dr bill came in for the new hospital $15,500 but I still havent recieved the actuall hospital bill for the second hospital. so far we are about $22,700 and im waiting for a few thousand for the new hospital. now my dr. says that although my insurance didnt pay for the first band that it might pay for the revision because i was an emergency patient.

now on to the other question, yes im saying I was choked off and i knew it. i was losing much weight fast and i was liking it but i didnt know that it wasnt safe to keep throwing up. it doesnt feel like th rowing up. it more feels like bending over and opening your mouth and food just comes back just like it went in. smooothly. i thought who needs it. till band eroded and my stomach looks like crap now. but this all sounds negative. truth is all i could think of was please dont leave me without this band cause i knew id gain it back. and with this new band imnot restricted yet and i have gained 35 lbs. so there we go, id gain the whole 150 bank without it. just know all the things you need to know before presuming that you are ok.

I can win this fight until I become restricted. I know I can do it with the help in here.

I am a self pay also jim and i also had a revision done. I still dont regret having the surgery because i too believe that morbid obesity was more of a problem then what i face now. However please inform yourself well before having the surgery. as a self pay patient very often (as in myself) we dont have proper counceling and we learn on our own how to do this band thing. One thing i can say is that its not made to choke you off and you lose the weight by bringing up your food. my sister and i were both self pay and had no real direction . they told us what to eat on week 1 ..week 2.......but no real direction on what to face later. This band can be wonderful but y ou can develope real bad habits and kinda like them cause you are losing weight. then you become at risk. even though i had to have a second surgery , i know its probably things i was doing wrong. i really hope i have the will power to be more concerned with my health and the health of my band then with rapid weight this time.

I live in lacassine but I have to travel to Texas to have my fills. There is Dr who is in Lake charles but he doesnt do fills for the Texas Drs. Do any of you near here have drs who would fill a patient who isnt his?. And is there any support groups near here that I dont know about.

someone told me that she saw the 4 different bands there are for the Drs to choose from. Im on my second band and Id like to research what the difference is.

having a hard time finding time to get to unlocal fill drs.

how do i know for sure if i have the vanguard? my dr told me i had a band that holds 11 ccs now. does that mean i have the vanguard or , are there other 11 cc bands out there now? and another question. I dont have time to come on the computer often, is there a room wh ere you can get immediate answers , so y ou dont have to come in here today and check answers to your questions tomorrow?

My physician said that the new 11cc band was more flexible then the 4 cc band? Im not quite sure what he meant by that. I dont understand the whole thing but it seems to me that at 320 lbs you would need the more flexible band then at 170 lbs.I would have just liked to have some light shed on the subject.Are they just not using the 4 cc band anymore? Or maybe they changed it to a 11 cc band because of the first complication or do you think its because of the weight loss to begin with that he chose the 11 cc over the 4 cc?

I got my first band in march of 2006 and i think but am not sure that it started slipping in december of 2006. Final blockage in november 2007. I had an immediate revision. I did not do like many people and have it taken out and reinstalled later. They just put in in higher

i had some complications with my first band and lost 150 lbs with it. I eventually had to have a second band and gained about 35 lbs back due to good health and being completely open for a while. It really hard to stay positive when you see the weight gain. everyone says hey you still lost 115 lbs you should be thrilled and all i see is the roll in my middrift. I keep telling myself that thank god i will have this band for life if possible and i dont have to lose it all right this minute. for most of my life its been either lose or gain for me and i guess im afraid if im not losing then ive lost another battle. i think all of us overeaters fear a sense of failure if we are not presently losing. Lets make a pact together to love ourselves even if we are not losing right now cause WE HAVE THE BANDDDDDD. WOO HOOOO. we dont have to do it alone anymore.