MacMadame

See, I think most of the training is bunk. They are pushing those people way too hard and that is not effective training. Making people run on a treadmill until they puke? Sorry, not good training. I think they design a lot of the challenges and stuff to make the contestants look stupid, too. Hey, look at the fat people on the slip 'n slides, look at them hanging from ropes upside down!

Yes, we are going to Dizzyland. That's the point of the trip. But I want to break it up and do the driving in two days. (I'll barely be on regular food by then.)

No. I used to go to the Amazing Race finale parties. Racers always come to them. The ones that made a fool of themselves on tv always try to justify their behavior. From what I can tell, that's true of all reality show contestants.

Well no. They arose out of the Magenstrasse and Mill procedure which is a gastroplasty. It was the M&M procedure, and it's success, that prompted people to think "hey, maybe we can do that DS in two-parts." They are nothing like a bypass and not really related at all, except that both are WLS. The band is the one that arose out of the bypass. It is designed to mimic the pouch of the bypass without actually cutting the stomach or re-routing the intestines. 99% of bariatric studies are retrospective. I've never seen a double-blind study. You have to tell the patients what operation they have so they can get proper post-op care and that cuts out double-blind right there. They will randomly assign a surgery type to the group sometimes, but that is very rare because there are ethical considerations to doing so. In fact, I personally think it is *unethical* because matching surgery type to a patient's issues is important for long-term success. But obvious the handful of people doing these sorts of studies don't agree with me. To say we don't, is disingenuous, IMO. There is tons and tons of data on partial gastrectomies. There is at least 30 years worth of data. That data does not show any problems with malnutrition (with proper Calcium supplementation) and does show that sustained weight loss is a side-effect of those surgeries (which were done for other reasons so it's considered a side-effect). Everyone should be cautious about all surgery choices. It's surgery. And, yes, if you want to see 50 studies of long-term results of the surgery done only for weight-loss reasons and not for ulcers or stomach cancer, then the VSG isn't for you. That doesn't mean you have to spread misinformation about the sleeve though. You clearly haven't studied it much at all and have a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about it.

Whereas I think telling people they are lying when they say they did it to be healthier is a load of bs. And that's just stupid. My blood pressure doesn't care how I lost weight. It didn't to refuse to go down because I didn't do it "the hard way". It just went down. In every other aspect of our life, something being easier and more effective makes it BETTER. Being harder and less effective makes it WORSE. But in weight loss our society has twisted everything around until it's bass-ackward and tries to convince people that harder and less effective is somehow better. It's just DUMB! In fact, hardly anyone can. Quick... name 5 people who lost more than 100 lb. and kept it off for at least 10 years. :grouphug:

My internet has been flaky all night. Pout.

Well I was ever into it so my being over it having watched two episodes is probably not unexpected. :grouphug: I also hate Jillian.

The sleeve has been done since around 2001, much longer than 3 years. LapSF is currently presenting their five year results. They have done over 1000 sleeves and have a cohort of 750 patients they have been following for five years. This is a bigger group than was used by the FDA to vet the lap band in the US. You can see one of their presentations here: http://www.ssat.com/video/2008/SSAT%2049th%20Annual%20Meeting(3)-Cirangle.htm Plus partial gastrectomies have been done since the 70s and there is a ton of research into long-term complications. So we do know what happens if you dissect 75% of the stomach. In fact, there are people out there with no stomach at all who are living productive lives with no serious complications.

Hi there. Welcome to LapbandTalk! Have you checked out the Doctors & Hospitals subforum? There may be info on your program there. Also the Mass. state forum is a good place to ask.

I agree, you guys post a lot. :Dancing_biggrin: Sometimes I just skim. Any ideas on cool places to visit driving from the SF Bay Area to LA around Thanksgiving? They have to be appropriate for a tweener and a teenager, though, so no wineries or other boring adult places.

Yeah and they use the fundus to make the pouch too. To me, that's the bad part of the stomach that I wanted cut out!

Six months with no restriction and you are still down 70 lb.? That's quite impressive!

Well crap, I wanted to know what happened so I wouldn't have to watch the movie and now it looks like I missed it! :Dancing_biggrin:

Hi there! It's hard to answer this because it varies so much even if people have the same insurance you do.

Yeah, some of us old folk do .... so we go out and get WLS. :party: Even if it is apparently a "fad". :Dancing_biggrin:

I think pouch stretching is a big downside to bypass. In fact, I don't understand why they don't do the bypass with a sleeve stomach. I think it would make it a much better operation! :biggrin: But I've read that both bandsters and bypassers can eat 1/2 to 1 cup of food at 1 year out and that's expected. I don't think we'll be able to do that at 1 year out. Maybe softer food, but not chicken breast and veggies. Our stomach just isn't that stretchy. (One study I was thinking of was a meta study of all bariatric surgeries done from about 1990-something until 2006. So they are all mixed together - distal, proximal, good programs, bad programs, good surgeons, bad surgeons.)

Isn't it interesting how our feelings change? When I was going to get a band, and people said "I don't want a foreign object in me" I would think :biggrin: I already have surgical clips in me and people get knee replacements and other stuff all the time. What's the big deal? But now I see that as a big plus to the sleeve. I think the difference to me is not that the band is "foreign" so much as it's a mechanical device and mechanical devices fail. It's in their nature.

A cough can be indicative of so many things including stuff you'd never think of like acid reflux. Maybe you should talk to your surgeon before treating it.

I didn't have to do a pre-op diet. However, I had been making lifestyle changes to get ready for the surgery. For example, I started eating Protein first and only eating 4-6oz meals and I made sure to up my water/fluid consumption. I also worked on chewing more and eating slower. (Not enough though.) I also started taking the Vitamins pre-op that I'd have to take post-op so I could get my routine started. I'm glad I did these things because there were so many other things to worry about and change after my surgery that I'm glad I had at least a few good habits in place. And, though this wasn't the goal, I did lose 30 lb. during the 7 months I was working on these things.

Welcome to LapbankTalk!

Part of what makes us/them rabid though is that so many women think they can't breastfeed, but really they've just been given horrible advice. I've seen so many doctors tell women to wean when there was no need or to supplement when there was no need or that there was something wrong with their breastmilk, when there wasn't. It makes me mad! I think our culture is not conducive to breastfeeding either.

Posting just to post...

In all the studies I've seen, the EWL % is similar even as early as 1 year out, though. It's interesting and not what I expected, but I've read articles were people in bariatric profession say that the malabsorption of the RnY is negligible. I can't find exact numbers, but I've heard as little as 20% of calories are absorbed. That completely mystifies me since the bypass is often marketed as "you need the malabsorption to maintain" ... but if there isn't much??? I do think they are eating more than us by 1 year out as well. (Some are up to a cup of solid food by then.) Though I don't think anyone can be eating less than I do at this point in time. (I'm getting better at slowing down though and it's helping.) The more I learn about bypass, the more squirrelly I think the whole operation is. No pylorus value, you can flush the food out by drinking with or after the meal, minimal malabsorption of calories, but significant malabsorption of micro-nutrients. I really hope someday it isn't done and everyone who would have gotten RnY gets a sleeve instead.

Your nurse in Mexico is named Karen? :biggrin: That's like when I move to Honolulu and ended up living on Clark Street!

I think internal infection is always a risk of an operation and so proving anything is going to be hard. Unfortunately. But LuLuC is right... you paid for the band. Plus I believe Allergen has some kind of program for people who had defective bands -- assuming yours was defective.