Corliss

hey cool ! I am June 19th!

Hi there, I am scheduled to have my surgery June 19, same day as you! Corliss:thumbup:

Originally Banded - March 4, 2005

Where - Melbourne, Australia

Rebanded due to Slippage - November 10, 2006

Hi, I had a slip and was unbanded Sept. 2008

I have gained 60 lbs. I am being rebanded June 19. I was wondering how your second band is doing. thanks, Corliss

Okay, I'm 21. I had my band put in on Feb. 2nd of 2007 and was ready to set down my weight-loss journey. Lost a good 30 lbs. in the first few months just from chewing slower and not being able to eat that much. But, after I began to allow myself to try and eat normally (meaning real food and not basically Soups and Protein shakes) I began to realize that I had a serious anxiety problem which liked to show its head whenever I ate:

I can't use the band properly! I know you are supposed to eat your small meal and then let the food SIT in the pouch until your saliva breaks it up and it moves through. Whenever I attempted to let the food sit in my pouch, I felt like it was squeezing my lungs and I couldn't breathe! It is incredibly painful! It sends me into a panic attack that I can't get out of. I have to go throw up EVERY TIME! I realize that this is not healthy so in order to keep myself ALIVE, I started eating those "easy" foods. Now, my life is all about the tried an true (chicken and fish and soup). Thats all I ever eat because anything else won't pass through immediately. Yes, I said "pass through immediately". I can't let the food sit in my pouch at all so I eat food that requries lots of chewing and then I can swallow it and goes right through. It still keeps me from eating too much because it takes so daggum long to chew it...but I don't know what to do! I can't eat the right foods and EVERY SINGLE TIME I sit down to eat, I start to feel anxious about hurting from eating. I makes me not want to eat at all...

Has anyone else had this problem!? I've already gotton my band loosened. It can't get any more loose without being empty and yet I still have problems with food getting stuck in my pouch and the minute I feel that pressure of the back-up, I freak out and have to go throw up. I want to get the band taken out but my family frowned upon me when I told them and they said it was all in my head. I take anxiety medicine and I see a therapist. Nothing is working! I don't want my family to be ashamed of me...I just want to be able to eat properly again. I've tried just sitting there and letting it stay in the pouch and using prayer or mantras or ay sort of relaxation technique...doesn't work. My whole body begins to hurt and I feel like I can't breathe.

If anybody has any advice, suggestions, or whatnot, please let me know because I'm at the end of my rope. My bad nutrition is killing me...I'm getting sick and I know it's because my body is breaking down on me. I do take Multivitamin in the morning, but apparently it's not enough. I don't want to live my life in fear of throwing up at every single meal! :thumbup:

I am sure not expert but it may not all be panic attack. You could be having some very real pain fromt he food. Lots of bandsters can only eat fish. Very many cannot eat chicken. If you can eat a small amount of chicken or fish, I would say, stick to chicken or fish. As far as veggies go just eat a little of some very soft veggies. you might try drinking some hot tea, immediately before eating your meal as it will loosen you up. Stuckages are very painful. So are esophageal spasms. You may be experienceing one or both of these.

take it easy on yourself. Do not try to force yourself to eat things that you know will cause this problem. Go with what you know works, but since you have actively been throwing up, I would start just taking liquids for a couple of days so your stomach can become soothed. It will just get worse as long as you continue to throw up.

Good luck, Corliss

I'd like a nose job aka rhinoplasty. My lapband surgeon was great and I've had textbook results.

Now I'm ready to go back. And I wish I could go to Brazil or somewhere because 20/20 and Dateline have done stories about how it's all the rave to have nose jobs....those surgeons are skilled!

Anyone gone to Mexico for plastic surgery? Know someone? I'm considering Dr. Huacuz as he's my lapband doc but frankly there just isn't alot of info on him doing nose jobs. I've known people who did the tucks and lifts...but not noses. Anyone?

I am going to Dr. Alejandro Cardenas in Monterrey Mx. He will be doing my face, ears and arms. I have seen his work on 3 faces, it is flawless. I will be there June 22. you can google his name with Monterrey mx. If you want more infor just send me a private email. mahagecorliss@hotmail.com

2 oz unsweetend cooking choc (ghiradelli is wonderful)

4 tabsp cream or milk

2 tabsp butter

2 tabsp cream cheese

1 oz splenda

2 oz erithritol(netrition.com)

drops of maple flavoring

add pecans or other nuts to taste

melt choc, stir in cream, butter and cream cheese, the stir in splenda and eithritol and add flavoring. then stir in a large amount of nuts.

drop in big clumps on parchment paper and put in freezer. Let get hard. YUUUM. NOt low calorie, but high in Protein and sugar free. Really kills the sweet tooth.

from corliss

Dozy, I know this is an old post, but looks like you had your band removed shortly after you had it put in. Have you had another one or another type of WLS? Thanks,Corliss:huh2:

I pretty much did the same thing. RNY scared me terribly, but I thought of it long before Al Roker did it and I weighed much less then (and had better insurance). But the mortality numbers scared me, and I put it out of my mind for years.

And I kept gaining, too. When I saw that LapBand commercial I was hooked, though my research began some months later. I took the first step to go to a seminar and now I'm 13 days post-op.

It wasn't until being here at this forum a few days that I feel like I made the right choice. RNY was not for me. LapBand was the safer and better tool.

I'm very new here and trying to research my options.

I know absolutely no one with a band -- but many people who have had RNY. One of my coworkers mentioned his sister had the band done in Mexico and lost some weight but in his opinion didn't utilize the band as a tool but thought it'd be an easy fix.

The main reason I would prefer the band to RNY is that every person I've known who has had an RNY for more than 10 years has had at least one complication requiring hospitalization, and because I've seen that your gut is never the same again. My mom has had to have two hospitalizations -- one for stretching out the stoma because she had a tendency toward bulimia (the stoma ulcerated due to too much acid on it, she couldn't hold down anything), and then they had to do a revision because apparently her gut started twisting on itself, they said it was due to the specific procedure they were using at the time she had hers done that they learned was not the best about two years after her surgery. I've known others who have had severe gastric motility issues.

Now, even with all of that -- not a single person I've known who had RNY has said they would have changed their mind, even with the complications. I would rather go through what every person I have known with RNY has gone through combined than die like my grandmother did, in a nursing home unable to walk at 600 lbs. I think the weight loss would be worth it. My thought with the band is that if there was a complication it could be removed, and if there was no other way, it could be converted to an RNY.

Soooo.... for those of you who have had to have the band removed, did you convert to an RNY?

I lost my band Sept. 19, 2008. I have gained about 50 lbs since that time. I considered a gastric sleeve, but have decided that I would have another band placed instead. My doctor thinks that the new band should do quiet well. I would not consider a RNY due to complications that my daugter experienced.

I want to have the new band placed this summer but my insurance will only cover it at the hospital I work in. I will have to pay out of pocket. I have thought maybe I should go ahead with the sleeve since I will have topay out of pocket and not take a chance on it not working.

Corliss