ElfiePoo

Will wonders never cease. We agree. It does still take willpower and I want to smack those who believe we did this because we 'lack' willpower. Ditto on the food ads. I rarely watch tv in the evening anymore because I find that the constant food ads make me hungry. As with anything, people will have both good and bad experiences. To give weight to one side more than the other is foolish, but it should all be taken into account in deciding whether or not to band. .

Thanks, Stacie...I found it and have been reading steadily for the last couple of hours. I also spent quite a few hours last night surfing the 'net and reading various medical articles. I have to say that at this point, I'm just not sure I can bring myself to do the sleeve because it's so much more drastic than the band and has the potential for not working as well. I also had an epiphany while reading the experiences of others...and not sure why it didn't pop out at me last year or even over the last year. Unlike many who choose to get banded or sleeved, I didn't deal with constant hunger. I had good days and bad days. When I look back over my food journals, the good days are days where I report 'no hunger'. The bad days are days when I feel the need to eat nonstop and it's not a head craving but a physical need. Interestingly, the good days are also the days where my blood glucose readings were stable. They may have been high or even on the low side...but stable with no major swings. On the bad days I'm showing swings...and swings cause an intense urge to eat...the body's way of dealing with an insulin spike. So...for the next 6 weeks, I'm going to be a fanatic about my diabetes control. It will be interesting to see if controlling my diabetes also controls that hunger. The last year with the band hasn't been totally wasted. Not only have I met a bunch of people here that I enjoy tremendously, but I really am eating a fraction of what I used to and have created some good habits over the last year...not the least being that I'm actually exercising. .

Try drinking warm tea or hot broth. I'm trying to deal with my 'hunger' as well and find that if I keep something warm in my belly, it helps *a lot* with the hunger. .

Elcee, Where is the sleeve board? Here on lapbandtalk? If so, I'll see if I can find it. If it's somewhere else, can you point me in the direction. I gave the surgeon the go ahead to move forward to surgery, but said I need to do some more research before I make my final decision. In any event, bypass is not an option. There are worse things than being fat and that, in my opinion, is one. I hung out on a bypass board before I found this forum and it was a bit scary how the quality of life rapidly deteriorated for a number of these people due to medical problems as a result of the malabsorption. Some did very well. A couple died as a result of organ failure and an inability to retain even their goal weight. No...not something I will ever do. Oh well, in the meantime I'll continue what I have been doing. Watching my carbs and protein (which ultimately keeps my fats and calories under control), continuing to walk my hour every day and aerobics twice a week...although I enjoy neither and see what happens in the coming weeks. .

Wish some of these doctors would quit generalizing. That may be enough for some...not enough for others and by generalizing and having a mindset that 2 or 3 in a year is enough, they're setting their patients up for failure. .

Billy, This is exactly what I've been experiencing for the last year. Now I find that there are about 20% of the banded whose bands never work. Yes, we can get them so tight we can't eat...but that sense of hunger never goes away. According to my surgeon, that is not in our head...it's because the band is not stopping that 'feed me' hormone that the stomach produces. The band sits on two nerves and at some point, tightens enough (and that will vary by individual) so that the stomach says "oh I'm full" and stops producing that hormone. That's why some people never need a fill and the band alone does it...and why some people need a tighter restriction on those nerves. For some of us, we can get so restricted we can't eat and the nerves are still not talking to those hormones. Perhaps a talk with your surgeon about a revision to a sleeve might be in order? .

Don't give up, Billy. It's not how many fills you have but the total amount of fills. I have a Realize band and my surgeon said that most people don't get to their sweet spot until around 7-8cc (14cc band). I think Lap band's are lower because they're smaller. At only a 2nd fill, you have plenty of time before you know whether you're one of the 20%. The odds are good that it *will* work for you! .

Cleo, I can relate to the 'takes a lot of food'. Prior to the band, I would put enough food away at dinner to feed 3 grown men. That's my problem now. I want...and am able...to eat that much still. It's only through sheer willpower that I don't...which is why I haven't gained back the 30 I've lost...but with enough bad days that I'm not losing anymore. Congratulate yourself for coming so far on your own! .

Because... No, most likely you're getting far more calories than you realize in the junk food. If you are having difficulty eating 'real' food and are resorting to sliders, you may be overfilled. Been there, done that. You might want to consider a slight unfill depending on how long ago your 2nd fill was. .

Congratulations! They don't ask for weight on our driver's license. Makes sense since everybody lies anyway. Kind of like putting your eye and hair color. It's so easy to change both, why bother? .

Ditto on finding a new doctor. I can't believe this guy would be so cavalier about opening you up. Everyone I know who had their gallbladder done laparascopically had a very fast recovery time. My mom had hers done the old fashioned way and has a huge scar down her stomach, not to mention that she was 3 months healing with all sorts of restrictions on what she couldn't do. .

Good luck on your college entrance exam and at your doc's appointment! I'm still reading up on the sleeve so not sure how/if it operates differently as far as getting stuck. I have a vague recollection of my doc's nurse telling me that, like banded people, she has to take small bites and chew well but that's all I remember. .

Thanks everyone! Actually, I was going to stay anyway because I'm still working on changing lifetime habits and it seems to me that while I may not be dealing with all of the vagaries of a band, I'll still be dealing with some of the same issues of having to take small bites, chew well, etc. that banders have to deal with...or so my doc's nurse tells me. I'm not going anywhere! .

Thanks HB. My goal now is to at least maintain this loss until/if I have the revision surgery. If I lose some more...bonus. .

Denise and Leigha...thank you for your supportive posts. Actually, I was lying down when he was taking my fill out and my arm was really hurting (usual in that position)...and almost immediately the pain was gone! The 1 1/2 hour ride to the clinic was miserable! I didn't even realize that I had tears running down my face from the pain (the car seat puts me at the right angle apparently). Coming home...nothing! Sweet relief! .

HB, He agreed that the pain was being caused by the band. Unfortunately, the only way to actually find out how it's rubbing against the diaphragm is to do an exploratory laparascopy and move the offending piece. However, and I just posted a long thread on this, since I'm most likely going to do a sleeve revision, we decided just to remove the fill until we see if insurance will pay for a revision. I still had some pain before I started getting fills, but it was more irritation and didn't interfere with my sleep, so this is a good short term solution. If my insurance will not pay for a revision, he said they will pay for the exploratory laparascopy due to the pain and they could remove the band at that time. Kind of an end run around the insurance company if needed. On the ride to the doc's, I was in intense pain. On the ride home, not a twitch so I am looking forward to a good night's sleep! .

I've struggled with my band for more than a year now and never seem to get to the point where I'm really content after a meal. Oh, sometimes I thought I was but I soon realized it was nothing more than wishful thinking because I wanted to be at that sweet spot so bad! For the last year, my relationship towards food has been pretty much the same as it was before being banded. I have good days and I have bad days. My band can take no credit for my 30 pound weight loss this past year...nor for the fact that I've maintained (well rollercoastered but still didn't gain it back) that 30 pounds. I have never hit that sweet spot. So this afternoon I spent 2 hours with my surgeon. I told him I felt like such a failure. After looking at my chart and seeing my progression right up to the point of an overfill...and knowing that if I get even so much as .1cc right now, I'll be overfilled again because I am already at the point where I have to take small bites and chew thoroughly and be careful to avoid some foods that get stuck no matter how thoroughly I chew (e.g. bread)...he agreed that a fill would not be adviseable. I always thought that if someone couldn't lose with a band, then the band didn't fail them...they failed the band. I told him this and his response was, "that's just not true." He said that the purpose of the band is not to restrict the amount you eat...which they originally believed years ago...but to create a situation where the stomach would stop producing the hormones that say 'feed me'. For most people, that's exactly how the band works. For about 20% of us, that never happens and so we're pretty much in the same situation as we were prior to being banded. He said the sleeve is actually better than the band in the sense that when they remove that part of the stomach, they're removing the part that produces those 'feed me' hormones. That makes sense since this is essentially what my diabetic doctor's nurse (who has a sleeve) told me. She said from the day of surgery, her 'desire' to eat was gone. She still enjoys food, but that compulsion to eat has disappeared. So, I'm moving forward to have a sleeve revision. He said BCBS has been pretty good about paying for revisions if someone has had the band for at least a year and there is evidence that they've 'worked' the band. Since I was in my surgeon's office on a pretty regular basis and they've documented well, I'm hoping I will qualify. It's a bit scary but at this point I don't see that I have any option since my band is not doing what it should for me. In the meantime, he's removed all the fill since it's not doing anything but I'm going to continue to exercise and follow my diet since I don't want to be heavier than this if I'm having surgery again. Supposedly, it could be within the next 6 weeks if I don't mind having it before Christmas...and I don't. I just want to keep moving forward! .

LOL...saw this after I came back, but I did ask him this. I also asked him how it's possible that I'm eating half the calories I used to *and* walking an hour every day, aerobics twice a week and not only *not* losing weight, but going up and down in a vicious cycle. I said if it's all about calories in/calories out, then I should be losing consistently. His exact words were...it is *not* about calories in/calories out. The type of calories make a difference and it will vary by individual. He said more, but I should've expected such a radical departure from traditional weight loss beliefs since his specialty is bariatrics. .

Throw a little spaghetti squash in the bottom of that bowl and call it a healthy dinner. .

I'm on another forum where the vast majority are bypass patients and it's a bit horrifying to see how many are having major medical issues post-bypass, have regained all their weight and then some *and* are still taking insulin. Neither banding, nor bypass, will 'cure' you of Type 2 diabetes. The only thing that will do that is to change your eating habits. The only thing thing that has ever helped my diabetes and brought my glucose levels into the normal range is to go on a low carb diet. Yes, losing weight will help, as will exercise, but the low carb diet was the one that took me from taking insulin and having difficulty keeping my glucose levels even below 200 consistently to not taking insulin and glucose levels at 90-100. I've been having so much trouble with my band (really not doing the job it was designed for and causing me pain) that my surgeon's office asked if I wanted to consider a bypass. After doing the research prior to getting the band on all WLS options, I told them emphatically *NO*. There are worse things than being fat and after reading the bypass forum, I'd rather stay fat. Some people are quite successful with the bypass. Others have constant medical problems related to the malabsorption. Two people I've known since 3 months before my surgery last year have died...basically of malnutrition and organ failure as a result. You never know which side of the equation you're going to be on until after the fact and at that point, it's too late because you can't get it reversed. .

Weight is the same this morning so apparently yesterday was not just water fluctuation. Pffft. I have an appointment at 4 p.m. today with the surgeon to see what we're going to do with this pain in my arm. I'm getting so little sleep that I'm not safe to drive a car for even 15 minutes, let alone the hour and a half to his office, so my son is driving me. I'm trying not to jump the gun but obviously all the scenarios are running through my head. At this point, the only solution I see is to take the fill completely out, but even then, I've had this pain since the day of surgery and it's gotten worse. Not this severe, but still...if the only way to lessen it is to get it unfilled...and I'm still left with any pain at all...is there any point in keeping it? Then there's the additional question of whether or not the insurance will pay to take it out. Deep breath. Hopefully he can come up with another solution. I mean, I know this is not uncommon and he's probably seen it before so maybe he has another trick up his sleeve. .

Ok...I made it through the evening and didn't blow my diet. So today I'm going to be careful because I do not want another evening of broth. :thumbup: Sadly, and I need to go change my ticker, the 221 lbs did not last but then I really had no expectations it would. <sigh> My official Monday weight is...<no drum roll thank you>...228. :laugh: I am totally flummoxed. I'm walking an hour (now up to 1 mile in 15 minutes so a good pace) every day. I'm pretty active in the warehouse (moving, bending, lifting, etc.) for about 3 hours every day (been doing this for the last 15 years so doubt it's building any muscle at this point). I'm eating about 1000-1050 calories per day with less than 10 carbs and no more than 70gm of protein (which limits the fat as a result) and I'm not adding fats to my food. I even cut out the cream in my coffee! I'm not having bad days that overshadow the good days (at least for the last 2 weeks), but have been *perfect* at staying on plan. Maybe I'm being impatient, but good grief!! My doctor has done a T4 on me and said my thyroid is 'normal' but my sister's was normal and they did another test for some other markers in her blood and discovered she has Hashimoto's...one of the more common, and undiagnosed, types of hypothyroidism. So I'm going to make her do this one and guess we need to check and see if I've hit perimenopause yet. I know that will also affect the weight loss. As of a year ago I wasn't, but I'm at that age. Anyway...off to kick...I mean 'change' my ticker...up...again. Melody

Shads, I am sorry about your mom but you and your sisters need to remember to take care of yourselves as well. Physically lifting and moving your mother, particularly if she can offer little help, on a daily basis will take a toll on all of you. Glad your stomach thing was only temporary. With everything else, that was sort of adding insult to injury, eh? .

Three hours later and my belly is telling me it's dinner time. Not hunger...just sort of an empty feeling. I'm going to shut it up with some broth. Only 5 hours until my usual bedtime. I can do this. Call me weird but sometimes self-denial feels good. Does that make me a masochist? Hmmm...since I'm 'causing' the denial as well, it also makes me a sadist.

I read a lot that people have good results using Gas X strips for the gas. Sorry I can't be of more help. I never took pain meds after I woke up in recovery and was visiting my mother-in-law that afternoon and back to work the next day. 10 days after surgery, if I recall correctly, I had just the usual sore reminder when I used my stomach muscles a little too hard or forgot and tried to sleep on my stomach. .