lellow

I was sick and tired of: Feeling tired if I walked too fast Only being able to shop in one shop (the big girls' shop) in the entire mall Worrying that the next time I saw my Dr, he was going to tell me I had diabetes, or heart problems Not wanting to be in any photos (and therefore now looking like I was not there the entire time my son was growing up) Having people say 'she's got a pretty face' because they couldn't think of anything nicer to say Those are just some things. I learnt more things once I lost the weight. I never realised how 'invisible' I was in a crowd until I lost the weight and suddenly wasn't invisible anymore. But that's a whole different thread!

I didn't get tight enough to truly restrict my food until I had about 8cc in a 10cc band. At 5cc in a 14 cc band, it's very possible you're not feeling anything. If you're hungry, then he needs to know that you're nowhere near feeling the band. And if he doesn't listen, you need to find another dr. I agree too that the band is only part of it. I lost almost all my weight before I achieved real restriction. But not getting even close to feeling it must be very frustrating - you need to know there will be light at the end of the tunnel or its very hard to keep your motivation up. So I hear you on your frustration. The band is not doing anything for you right now, so if I were you, I would try to do it yourself until you either do get restriction and until your dr listens to you or you get another dr.

Well I'm home now and the good news is - there is absolutely NO erosion! I have a small prolapse, which is what he thinks is making me feel like I don't have restriction, but he thinks my head is playing games with me, making me think I'm eating heaps when I probably am eating no where near what I would have pre-band, albeit more than when I had restriction. Add that to the leak, and I'm feeling like the band isn't even there. He is almost 100% sure that the leak is from my port, so I now have a follow up appointment with him on the 5th of March, where he will remove all the liquid from my band again to see how much I've lost. Then he will determine if he will replace my port to stop the leak or it will just be managed with regular fills. He has told me to just eat normally from now on and we will discuss the possibility of trying to reduce the prolapse at my next appt, but he doesn't think it's too much of an issue. I'm thinking of doing the 5 day pouch test just to see if I can shrink the prolapse in the meantime, but haven't yet decided if I should go that way - would love opinions! But all round a result I'm happy with. A leak I can live with, an erosion would have meant losing my band, and I wasn't relishing that. So I'm going to stay a bandster! I'm very very relieved!

Yeah I'm not keen on driving to Williamstown either I went to see him when he was at Windsor, that one day a month that he works there. He's a lovely dr but omg I had to wait 2 hours just to get in to see him. But he came highly recommended so I'll see it out and trek down to Williamstown if I have to. Who do you see now? I know he has drs at Windsor who do fills for him...

Hey elcee, I moved from Perth where I was Steve Watson's patient and I'm now in Melbourne and am now with Peter Nottle.

I'm here Doing it without any restriction atm, but still staying on track.

I have to agree with elcee. Those first few weeks, they're freakin' tough. But they're just the tiniest fraction of time in your entire life. So you cheated. It's done. Now stop. Because if, like me, you're suddenly looking at the possibility of a complication, you would want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say truthfully that you didn't contribute to it. Will power is hard. It's hard for me right now. I have no restriction and am trying to eat well and exercise. My tummy is growling too. So I know it's hard. But it's not IMPOSSIBLE. And I understand being sick of it. Change to your life can be diffcult enough without battling hunger and unhappiness and discontent. But don't lose sight of the prize. Don't forget what you did this for. And yes, to the newbies who say 'I cheated and it's fine', please don't make your irresponsibility someone else's too. Elcee's right, you can't change the past, that's how ALL of us got heavy. But change your future. And for god's sake, don't be enablers.

I'm looking at a a likely complication just under 4 years from being banded. I am going for an endoscopy tomorrow to determine if I have a leak or an erosion. I don't know how common this is, so won't even talk about statistics but I will say this. WHATEVER it turns out to be, I do not regret getting the band. I lost 130% of my excess weight with my lapband, and as a result, am now low risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, in fact all the things that my family has a significant history of. I have spent the last 3 + year running around with my 5yo son, I have cycled 40kms easily, I have worn the tiniest bikinis and the most beautiful dresses, and I have learnt more about eating well, exercising and hunger than I would have ever learnt without my band. Even if I lose my band, I cannot regret getting banded. So long term complication or not, I would have done it all again in a hearbeat,

Just wanted to check in to say that even with next-to-no restriction, I have now lost the 5lbs I put on in the last month, just with eating well and exercising, I can eat a whole steak with no issues, bread, rice, anything. So I'm being careful to listen to my hunger signals and to eat slowly. And it's working. I feel confident now that I could continue to maintain my weight even without the band.

Hey Jacqui, I'm sorry you're having similar issues. It's not fun being in the dark about what it is that may be wrong so I hope you get some answers soon too. Also an erosion sometimes has no symptoms beyond increased appetite and no restriction. I have 7cc in my band now, I should have more restriction than this, not the tiniest bit I have now. I guess that's a worry for him, and for me. And it doesn't always show up on an xray, according to my dr. He isn't even bothering to send me for a barium swallow. He reckons the only way they can definitively check for erosion is with an endoscopy. Which is why I'm having one. If it's a leak (and I hope it is) then rather than replace it, he wants to monitor it for a few months. I go back regularly, he removes all the liquid and checks how much is remaining. If it turns out I only have a slow leak, then he reckons he'd rather manage it with regular fills to keep me restricted than replacing the band. Unless I start to leak faster, then we have to talk about replacement. But you're right, whatever happens, there's no point stressing about it too much. I will do what I need to in order to maintain my current weight and that's that. As I'm sure you will.

I will B52, thank you. I am a little bummed that I've encountered a complication but it does not make me regret the band or what it's done for me. I would still do it all over again, if not just for what it's taught me about food, exercise, and most of all, myself. I asked if it could have been something I did, but my Dr doesn't think so. It's just one of those things. I knew there were risks that there would be complications way back when I first got my band, so I'm not shocked that something's gone wrong, just a little sad that it seems to have stopped working. I've had it very easy with the band for a long time, and for that I'm grateful. So I'll roll with the punches, whatever happens.

I was anaemic prior to being banded, and it was exacerbated by the lapband. I take more iron supps than prior to the band. But it wasn't caused by the band, iykwim.

I relocated across Australia 3 months ago, so I got my old dr to send a referal to a new dr here where I now live so I could get continued aftercare. My band has been loose for about a year, and there isn't much I can't eat. I very rarely get stuck. My band has felt looser and looser every month. Then about 3 weeks ago, it's like it 'disappeared'. I couldn't feel it at all. My appetite returned in full force and without restriction, I have been enjoying it a little too much . I gained 5 lbs in 3 weeks. So when I saw my new dr yesterday, I mentioned that I couldn't feel my band. He then decided to withdraw all the Fluid in my band, and found that I only have 6cc in it, when, according to my old dr's notes, I should have had 8.5cc in it. But because I still had fluid in it, I should still have some restriction, so he is concerned that I'm not feeling anything at all. He therefore suspects either I have a leak and have slowly lost any restriction I once had, or my band has eroded. He added another cc to my band, and lo and behold, I'm feeling something today. Only barely, mind you, but I can definitely feel my band again. So I'm hoping it means it's just a slow leak and not erosion after all. But either way, he's booked me for a gastroendoscopy next Tuesday so we can found out for sure what it is. So please, cross your fingers for me that it's not an erosion. P.S. In the meantime, I'm back on the wagon, exercising (which I'd already restarted recently) and now watching what I eat again. I intend to lose those 5lbs and maintain no matter what the outcome of the gastroendoscopy is. I have worked too damned hard to lose the weight to gain any of it back now. I've kept it off for 12 months with a loose band, I can do it now.

I know that after a while it's easy to lose focus on doing what you need to do to keep losing. I know I have forgotten a lot of it. But it's not impossible to get that focus again. I am trying to as well. Just because recently I don't feel as healthy or fit as I used to be, because I'm working longer hours and not eating as well as I should. So refocus and start again. You lost 70lbs so you know you can lose. Get back in the zone. You can do it.

You're a casual thing. He will meet up with you when he has the time and the inclination, but beyond that, I wouldn't expect anything else. I had a friend like that for a while. I was the one who would promise to call, send him a text out of the blue, or tell him how hot he was when we spoke, but between those times, I didn't really think about him. Yes he was hot. Yes, it was great when we got together. But casual is casual. Which means for me, it was like going to a restaurant. I wanted to do it, it would be awesome when I got there, but I'd do it only when I had the time to. So treat it the same way. If he calls - awesome. If he doesn't, don't bother thinking about it again.

Also remember, you can get the post surgery blues. The anaesthesia can make you have a comedown for a little bit after, so take that into account and realise your state of mind is probably as much physiological as it is psychological.

I was obsessive about the band and my weight the first year, but in the 2nd year, I was much less so, and until probably about a month ago, hardly thought about the band except in that automatic way when I am thinking of what to eat. And sometimes not even then! Then I moved cities, and had to research finding a new dr, and started coming to this site again, and suddenly I'm thinking about it a lot more again. My appt with my new dr is in 2 weeks and maybe after that, I'll slowly forget and move on again. But overall, yes, I did stop thinking about it and obsessing about it after a while.

It's funny but a fellow lapband friend of mine and I were talking about this just yesterday. About how losing weight makes you cynical about other's intentions. That you get rather put off by how superficial others can be. I became single and was dating after I lost the weight and the stories I could tell could fill a book . But suffice to say that even today, settled into a new relationship, I have often wondered if my partner would have chased me quite to hard, or would shower me with quite so much attention and love, or spoil me quite so much, if I was heavy. (he would, but this is what I mean by cynical!)

This is why I'm confused. If you're gaining, why would you not check with your dr as to what is happening? I understand about stretching your pouch out, but again, if I started to gain, the first thing I'd do is make an appointment with my dr to see what might be wrong. To say that 50% of his patients gain their weight back sounds like it's far more likely a dr or patient issue, and less a band issue. Studies in Australia at 5 years show that lapband surgery weight loss is comparable to gastric bypass in amount of weight lost, yet mortality rate is far lower than bypass. Gastric banding is still the most performed WLS in Australia, and still the most successful, in a place where it's been done for nearly 15 years. Most Australian health insurance companies automatically cover it, as it's proven to be successful for the majority of patients and they believe it will save them paying for obesity related medical issues later. I called my health insurance on 4th of July 2008, I got banded 1st Aug 2008, and they paid for it without question. My BMI was 37 and I didn't have to jump through one single hoop for them to approve it. That suggests to me that generally speaking, lapbanding is accepted as a feasible and proven method to lose weight, or no health insurance company would be paying for it. They're not a charity. They expect that it will work and will save them money in the long run. So a Dr who says he has a 50% regain rate for his patients is probably one I would not be looking to do MY surgery.

My band is loose at the moment. I can eat anything. If I start to gain too much weight, I'll be in quicksmart to see my Dr to get more fills to get back to restriction. How does someone regain if their band is not malfunctioning unless they're not adjusting their bands to maintain restriction? I don't get it.

Tat1too yes I had a lower body lift and BA. The flabby skin is a negative side effect of weight loss for some, for sure. It was for me.

I agree, no ONE thing will be right for every single person. It just doesn't work like that. Tat1too, I'm sorry that the band has been such a difficult experience and I pray the issues it has caused you will be resolved.

I usually told guys I was dating about the lapband IF it came up. Like if they asked why I wasn't eating. I didn't make a big deal of it, I usually just told them casually that I had lapband surgery so had to be careful about how and what I ate. The majority of guys just accepted it and moved on. Some asked how much weight I'd lost, but usually not more than that. I only got stuck once while on a date, and I simply excused myself and went to the toilet and PB'd. He was none the wiser when I returned, even when I didn't touch the rest of the food or any of my wine afterwards. The only person who really asked for more details ended up being someone I ended up being in a relationship with, and who I'm still with now. He says he was mainly concerned that he would do something to make me stuck, or eat something that might tempt me, and he didn't want to be cruel. He learnt over time though, and being vegetarian, he himself is used to always being careful about what he eats, so he doesn't think I'm odd because I'm the same. But I must say, I did end up in a long distance thing with someone on here once, and talking with someone who is also banded makes it way easier, because they just understand. But it does in fact limit who you can date!

Fair enough! I know telling someone is a personal decision, and I respect that you don't wish to trust someone with that sort of information straight off the bat. My suggestion is to not make a big deal about the food. Honestly I dated extensively when I was single a few years back and rarely did anyone ask about why I was eating so little. If he does though, like I said, just brush it off lightly by saying you had a big lunch or that you're not a big eater. I'd be surprised if he pressed you for more information after that!

I take it you don't want him to know? I am usually pretty forthright about these things and say straight out that there are things I can't eat because I have had lapband surgery. But if you don't want to say that, then maybe only say that there are some things you just can't eat and leave it at that. If he questions it further, just say you had a big lunch and are not a big eater anyway, and maybe he'll let it go.