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the band is a tool. It is not instant willpower. If you are having issues like this, you will have them with whatever you try. My Dad had gastric bypass 6 years ago, lost 200lbs, gained 100lb back. He gained bc he "cheats" and continues to eat bad food...although it might be small amounts over the course of the entire day. You can do the same with the band. What has been so good for me with the band is that it keeps me in "check". I can still pretty much eat whatever I want, just smaller portions and when I feel like bingeing, I can't. Now, there are a lot of sweet/"bad" foods that you can binge on with the band. It's your decision not to. I recommend addressing the real issue of WHY you are eating in all these situations. Why are you using food to try to comfort you? This is the most important IMO or else you are likely to either "eat around" the band or have addiction transfer to something else. I have had to do this, bc I am a stress/emotion eater as well. I started some counseling to address my issues and I actually think it's working. A good book I recommend is "Life is hard, Food is Easy" by Linda Spangle. It helps you identify emotional eating causes and ways to stop it. Good luck!

Hello, this is my first post - I found this thread by searching on Chico CA. I am getting started in the process and I am interested in making contacts locally. Enloe's program is not yet on my insurance list (Anthem BC) but they say it will be within a month or two. Sounds like it is a good place, I have talked to them and have the paperwork. Let me know if a group is forming or anything, I'm interested!!

Ugh...feeling frustrated at the moment. I'm a week and a half out from the surgery, and although I dropped 10 pounds in the first 5 days after surgery because of the clear liquid post-op diet, I haven't lost anything since. I was OK with that....but this morning I got on the scale and I've gained 2.5 of it back!!! I'm trying to figure out how that is even possible??? I'm tracking every calorie that I put into my mouth on sparkpeople and it shows that I'm taking in an average of around 700 - 800 calories per day. So, eating SO little, ESPECIALLY compared to pre-band, how on earth is it possible to GAIN weight?? I don't understand my body. Obviously I can't give up bc this post-op diet is required by my surgeon. But I sure do feel like failure at the moment. And, this kind of thing only makes those nagging voices stronger - the ones that are constantly asking me if I REALLY think this is actually going to work for me. At this point, it is very easy to doubt my self.

It's going to cost somewhere between $5200.00 and less than $10K, because I'm also having hiatal hernia surgery/possible splenectomy as well. I just talked to my insurance company, which said they denied the entire surgery, because LB is included in it. So, my Dr.'s office will probably re-submit for hiatal hernia and splenectomy. I will let you guys know what happens.... I'm getting a bit annoyed at my Dr.'s staff however. I've been asking them for over 2 weeks what the actual cost is going to be if I have to cover the LB myself, the doctor says "$5200.00... little more, little less"..... staff says "probably a little more... not sure". WTF? Of course, you know, the hospital and doctors want to get paid BEFORE they even do anything. Out of exasperation, I called and asked if they'd take a credit card, since they can't seem to tell me how much $$ it will cost. That way, I don't have to take $$ out of savings right away. Once I pay for everything, I can pay off the credit card with the $$ from savings. To say I'm not in the mood for any of this shit is putting it mildly. Oh..... and BC/BS MI individual PPO's reason for not approving any bands after January 2009? People abusing the insurance, and just opting for it to get the surgery, and then dropping the plan. HELLO....... I've been on plan nearly 2 years now.... pretty sure if I was going to abuse it, I'd have done it already!

Reneek Im feeling great! I heard so many bad things about this surgery that it truely scared me to bits. Everyone said the pain is umbearable and long recovery. My experience was the total opposite. I have almost zero pain. I am suppose to take pain meds every 4 hours and today I did it every 12 hours and I only took it because I thought I should not because I hurt. I am walking around fine. I could stand fully straight if I wanted but my doctor doesnt want me to unil he sees me at my 1 week post op. pulled the pain pump cords out of my legs lastnight (about 10 inches of cord fed inside of each of my legs to send pain meds straight to wound site). Now I just have the drains still in me. I am also still bandaged up so I havent seen my tummy or my new belly button. My doctor did move my port and reattached it becasuse it was flipped since 2 months after being banded. I hope this info helps. If you have any other questions let me know and I will do my best to answer them. Im excited to see the full results one tuesday and maybe I will be brave enough to post before and after pics!!! Have a great night all!

Why do you thin this is BS? The surgeon is supposed to call me today. I should know more after talking to her.

I had my first fill yesterday and I found out that I pulled a muscle behind my port. Thats why it hurts and pinches when I move. I have to "take it easy" Thats lame bc I am so bored and Brian is a terrible house keeper!!!

I seriously feel like I am NEVER going to heal. Even throughout all of my issues I have been able to be thrilled that I had this surgery. I know that it will change my life, but in the meantime I keep having all of these isolated issues and I am so frustrated. I do NOT do pain. Self admittedly, I am a huge baby when I am sick, but this is just different. First my 1.5% rare reaction to the anesthesia that had me bed bound for almost a week, then I suffered from severe weakness, and then when I finally started feeling better last week I mopped my floor and held my 2 month old nephew and started having severe abdominal pain (which has only partially gone away, but has improved) and NOW as of Sunday around noon I started having SEVERE right sided flank pain. I have NEVER experienced this type of pain before and I have no idea what it is and I am just so SICK of feeling bad. I tried to lie down a few minutes ago and I literally could not lie down because the pain was so severe and I had to get up and get back in my recliner which is where I am now writing this post in tears. I just want to go to sleep and wake up and feel somewhat normal. I see all of these posts about people shopping and doing all of these normal tasks and that is ALL I want to do. Nothing crazy, no marathon weight lifting, or anything else that would be out of the ordinary. I JUST want to be able to climb in my car (which I tried to do earlier and could not get in bc of the pain) and go somewhere and get back to my life. This is driving me crazy. I have no idea what the problem could be, but it has certainly gotten worse since Sunday and I am so furious. Not to mention, I am supposed to start my new job in 3 weeks....3! If I can't start when I told them I will lose my job and this is the service I have been trying to get on with for an entire year. I will be devastated. I went from being such an active person to having to sit inside and stare at the TV for the last 3 weeks and it is just not working for me. I can't stand it. Has anyone else had this type of pain and if so, what was it? Sorry for the ranting, but I am seriously beside myself with angst. I am always able to be positive and I have been up until just now. Even when I was lying in the hospital bed unable to move my body at all because of my reaction during surgery, I had a huge smile on my face because I knew I had so much to look forward to. Now, I am just starting to think I'm never going to get better. Everyone else (other than the unlucky few) seem to be doing so well after only a few days and I've had 3 weeks. I feel like I'm never going to stop crying. I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep and wake up tomorrow with no pain.

:smile2:Hi, my name is Rachel and I am 32years old. I have really struggled with my weight since I had my second child 10 years ago. I have done the usual weight watchers, shakes, joined contours gym etc and was fed up with the constant losing 10kgs and then putting 15kgs back on. I am a single mum to 3 kids and really want to be able to run around and play with them without being puffed out and sweaty and to be a good role model to them. I have thought about lap banding for the last 2 years and have been researching for the last 6months. I have an appointment with a surgeon on Nov 9th and I cant wait. I know the band is not the easy answer and I will have to change the way I think about food but, I feel it is the change I need. I am hoping to have the surgery early next year after the school holidays!!!! I am really glad to have found such a supportive forum and one that answers all peoples questions and also I have learnt a lot from peoples experiences

Just found out yesterday--Dec 26th! I had to contain myself bc I was at work, but inside I was doing backflips! 347*294/284/135 (*347HW/294SSW) | (twitter) @Mwrarr | mwrarr.wordpress.com

I am fed up with this site! It happens so often I type a long reply and just before I send, I get an error message and it vanishes., trying again! This is a statement of the obvious. But sometimes we need that. A series of statements! You are staying the same weight so you are eating the same number of calories you are burning. So you need to eat less to lose. The band does not make us lose weight, our food choices do that. The band should never physically stop us eating, it should just dim hunger. Your band is having some effect (you say so). So if you can't have more fill, you have to use the band as it is now. Are you starting every meal with dense Protein? Measuring what you eat? Eating that amount and walking away? Having only planned Snacks? Avoiding sliders? I keep my band fairly loose, I have seen too many people with serious complications from not doing so. I coupl always eat more, then band never stops me eating. All it does is help me feel less hungry. If a am bored, I fight not to eat, and often give in -but that is boredom and craving not hunger. If I am busy, I don't think of food. That is ALL the band is supposed to do. It should never stop us eating. If it does that, food is backed up and can damage the oesophagus.

I was one week post op yesterday and I still have what I am pretty sure is gas right under my sternum and the only thing that helps is burping. I can't force a burp bc it hurts like heck if I do I just have to walk until its ready. I am also nauseated out of the blue every now and again. I find that eating or drinking something helps it and I'm not taking pain meds for the most part. Your symptoms sound normal but keep us posted.

When we got together I told him the staring at hotties had to stop. I took it bc I was fat. After time I gave up and thought whatever.. So us doing stuff together was the only way I "knew" what/who he was doing. In my mind it was better than cheating. I did the surgery for me 90%. But the rest was in hopes I could stop the wandering if I became hot. I have gone through so much and he was at the hospital w me every day 2.5 mths. I thought we had gotten closer but now I am wondering. Thanks to everyone for their replies. I appreciate it and will figure out what to do. I don't want to be unhappy any more. Sent from my iPhone using VST

Sooo, I've been on a journey to get bariatric surgery for almost a year now. Like most of you, my surgery was postponed because of COVID. However, after getting within 5 days of my surgery and starting my liquid diet, I've gotten word that it needs to be postponed again. Little back story: I was born with a deformed valve in my heart and it was repaired at 4 weeks old. I had check ups until I was 18 and was told to seek help if I ever had symptoms of heart issues (shortness of breath, ankle swelling and consistent heart palpitations) I've not had any issues in the last 13 years, so I never needed to see a cardiologist. My doctor, after being told this hx wanted me to get cleared by a cardiologist before surgery. I had an EKG and Echo this past week and after seeing my echo, the cardiologist said that they wanted to postpone the surgery to get me 100% cleared. After the EKG, the cardiologist cleared me, but wanted the echo for an updated.. however, my right side of my heart isn't pumping blood as strong as it should (because of the issues I was born with -- this was expected and I was told I would need heart surgery in my late 30s- early 40s -- i'm only 31) and the blood pressure in my lungs isn't 100%.. so after jumping through hoops and waiting an additional 6 weeks bc of covid, i now have to wait for who knows as much.. it's so discouraging and I called the bariatric center and the PA couldn't even tell me if the surgery would be postponed because he didn't have the echo info in front of him. And according to my friend who is a doc, my issue isn't something that can be fixed over X amount of months.. but by surgery, but I don't have major symptoms so heart surgery isn't on the table. It's just so disheartening to have to wait all over again when I've worked so hard w/my work and family, and myself to get myself to a place where I am prepared and ready.. but again have to wait. any sort of words of encouragement would be helpful, or anyone else who has gone through something similar would be great. just reaching out for support.

Hi, can’t help where you can go, my band did exactly the same after 12 years, I know what a pain it is, I’ve just changed to the sleeve, I was so fed up with the constant sickness . Hope you get help

I am 27 years old with no previous health problems except being diagnosed with hypothyroidism 2 weeks prior to surgery which I had on September 10. I was doing great post-op. I was ready to go back to work after two weeks. I was very excited for September 25th. That was the day I got to start pureed foods. I had been so sick of protein shakes. Life was great. Then came September 25th. I woke up with back, abdominal, and chest pain. I thought it would go away so I ignored it and started pureed foods. The next morning I woke up around 2am in horrible pain. My back hurt so much that I could not lie flat. I spent the entire rest of the morning sitting in a chair rocking back and forth. And it happened again the following morning. I was so tired. I went to a walk-in clinic. The doctor worrie about sepsis although I did not have a fever. He ordered bloodwork an abdominal and chest x-rays. I went home after the testing and threw up the protein shake I had been trying to get down all morning. Everything came back normal. I continued the sleep deprivation routine until the 28th. Then I decided to go to the ER. Spent several hours in the hospital for tests and morphine but ended up being misdiagnosed with constipation despite my D-Dimer and Lipase being high. They did a CT of my chest to rule out pulmonary embolism (which was negative) but did not do a CT of my abdomen which they really should have because of the combination of D-Dimer and Lipase. I was sent home with Tylenol 3s (which cause constipation) and a nightly oral laxative and told I would be called for an abdominal ultrasound in a day or two. The Tylenol 3s did not work very well. My pain was horrible. I dutifully took the nightly laxative. Two days later I went in for the ultrasound. They found nothing. The ER doctor followed up with me to give me the results and then gave me an enema kit to take home. The constipation diagnosis stood. I went home and used it. It did not do anything. That week I began to have horrible 10 out of 10 painful abdominal attacks followed by diarrhea. I was in so much pain that death was preferable. I wanted to go back to the ER but I felt I would not get anywhere. They would just give me morphine. I decided to go to my family doctor instead and try to get referred to a GI specialist but she brushed off my concerns and said there was nothing wrong with me (I live in Canada where the health system is such that you cannot just go see a specialist. You must be referred. And your family doctor, walk-in clinic doctor, or ER doctor are the gatekeepers). She took me off the Tylenol 3s (which were not working anyway) and off the oral laxative which she said was causing my abdominal cramping. I followed her instructions. The abdominal attacks subsided in the following days but the constant abdominal pain remained. During the whole ordeal of 2 weeks I had not been eating and had been barely drinking. I would get at most 4-5 cups of water a day. It was difficult. I was worried I would just cause more constipation. But I decided I needed to push through and start eating. I began with a protein shake. After having half of it I had to stop. An hour later I dryheaved several times. Later that day I tried a tablespoon of hummus. I had pain almost immediately after eating slowly. I was fed up. I was in pain, I could not eat, I could barely drink. Despite all these doctors telling me I was fine, I was most assuredly NOT fine. I decided it was time to get a second opinion. I ended up driving 1.5 hours to a newer hospital in a large city where I used to live. That was 5 days ago. They took me seriously in the ER and did the test (CT abdomen) that the previous hospital failed spectacularly to do (I am very upset about this still because of what could have happened if I hadn't sought a second opinion). Turns out I have many clots in my portal vein, splenic vein, and mesenteric vein. Finally, FINALLY, I got a surgical consult. So now I am in hospital attached to a heparin drip. Today is my 5th day in hospital. If they had not found out my real diagnosis, my bowel could have infarcted meaning parts of my bowel could have died. I would have had to have surgery to remove the dead bowel. I may have ended up with a colostomy bag to collect feces on the outside of my body. I could have stroked. I could have had a brain aneurysm. I could have thrown a pulmonary embolism. I could have had a heart attack. I COULD HAVE DIED. All these possibilities had I not listened to my gut feeling and fought for myself. These clots are a very rare complication of any laparoscopic surgery. I was just lucky enough to get it. I did some research about my condition. I may be only the 3rd person to get these type of clots following uneventful laparoscopic sleeve surgery. I will be in the hospital for another couple of days. Never been hospitalized before (excluding the sleeve surgery). Q6H bloodwork is cruel and unusual punishment and should be outlawed. My poor elbow is a mess from all the pokes.

So sorry to hear you have to deal with all this! Don't let the BS steal your resolve, just know that the surgery will happen but maybe not when you thought. Frustrating as all hell, but you'll get your surgery

Ok i cheated bad in my 3rd wk bc i was so loose it felt like i didnt even have the band. I got my first fill 2 days ago. ive been throwing up everything i eat since then. i cant stand anything of puree consistency in my mouth. Im so used to scarfing my food down like a pig that im having a hard time taking small enough bites or eating slow enough. Im doing so bad & cant imagine how im gonna make it. I tried to puree some soup it was sooo gross i wanted to throw up just looking at it.

I'm 3 weeks post op today and I only weigh myself weekly, every Monday. Last week the scale read 299.8 and this week it reads 300.2! My doctor says she expects me to lose 1-2 pounds a week! WTH! I feel like this whole surgery is BS and quite frankly I'm pissed off and I want my stomach back! I hardly eat anything and I work out for at least 45 minutes 3-5 days a week!! That's another thing, I keep reading people say "oh my goodness I can only eat a 1/2 a cup of this or 1 cup of that", I can eat a whole serving of cream of wheat which is 3 TBS and 1 1/4 cups no fat milk! plus I add another 1/4 to thin it out more! I can also eat a whole can of Soup with a can of broth mixed in with it! I'm starting to think my doctor either left my stomach too big or didn't take any of it out to begin with! I get 1000-1200 calories a day which is a huge cut from my 3000+ calories before surgery. I don't understand why I'm not losing but gaining! I go back to my doctor on the 15th of May and if I haven't lost at least 4 pounds and she gives me shit, I swear I'm going to flip out! I'm doing everything I am suppose to and NOTHING after only 3 weeks!? This is total crap! If you can offer any words of wisdom, please do. Sorry for the rant but I am very discouraged and pissed off! Thank you, Purple P.S. I should also mention I am in the puree stage of my diet and rarely eat anything pureed. I'm still mostly liquids.

Its cheaper with basic. All you have is the 150.00 copay. I have two surgeons so its 300.00 then just one night copay. I switched for that reason and scripts are cheaper also. Go on bcbs fed web site and compare cost. Baratric surgery is the same coverage as any othersurgery. Good luck.

I met with my surgeon yesterday, as well as my insurance coordinator, nutritionist, and nurse. I am so exicted, as I found out my insurance has very minimal requirements (psych eval, bloodwork, and letter from family practice doctor). They just dropped their diet requirements last January. I don't even have to wait for an approval. I just need to get all the required documents to the coordinator and they will schedule me for surgery. Depending on how quickly my psych eval doctor and family doctor send in their parts, I am looking at August or early September. I am so pumped. Thank god for my BC/BS PPO!!! Also, let me tell you all... I have been lurking here for the past couple years and finally decided I was ready to start my journey. All your posts have been an amazing amount of help to me!

Thank you! Yup everyones different. My main problem was that I use to eat primarily carbs so this is def a huge change for me. Im haitian our main dish is rice. I never liked eating "healthy foods". So when people tell me its ok to eat my old fav foods "once in a while" my brain tends to back track to the old me, and then I have a difficult time gettin back on track. Its like you eat this pizza today, then tomorrow french fries will be a "once in a while" meal for today...This is why I was big in the first place, bc I never knew how to just say NO to unhealthy foods But Im getting better! Im sure we all are

How ironic I just bought that tonight....I'm trying it in the morning....I think I will bc I love me some PB

I everyone. I am beyond happy that I found this site. Like many of you, I have tried to lose weight for the past 7 years(I'm 25) and I just can't seem to lose it. I lose the weight and gain it right back.. My sister got sleeved on January and OMG she went from a size 18 to a small .. Amazing I know.. So at first, after seeing her have some complications, I said I can't do this, forget it... But just 3 days ago, I was trying to wear something for work and it wouldn't for properly and after trying few other outfits, I said that's it, I will have the surgery regardless what ends up being. Not for nothing, but I have an amazing life, I have a awesome job, I go to school which I graduate next fall, but I'm not happy with my weight. This is where the problem arises, I weight 200... I could of swore I was more but I was too scared to weigh my self. So 2 days ago I wanted to see how much I weighted and I was disappointed lol.. I calculated my BMi and it's 34 Uhg so frustrating.. Now some of you may say well wtf are u doing here, but that's not the case.. I am very self couscous and I don't ever go on dates bc I feel like I am huge (which 200 is not small) I am 5'4 also... I am registered for a seminar for Wednesday 10/2/13... Not sure if I qualify? Would I? I mean I do wear a size 16 so you would think I do? Right? I was always a size 4 until I turned 19.... I know it's wrong but should I gain a little weight? I did have a heart surgery in 2010 and my heart beats more than normal peoples so maybe they can consider that right? Worse comes to worse and my insurance say No, can I do it anyways paying cash? Will they allow me even though my BMi is not 35? I really want to be at least 130 and I have tried almost every single diet on the planet.. I just want some insight since I really want to do it but my family won't really support me since they still think I have a heart condition which I don't anymore.. I have decided I am going to do it even if it costs my life in the end... That's how serious I am .. And I have read so many of your stories and I am inspired.

i wasa told by my nutrionist its bc of the air bubbles ..supposedly they can slowly stretch ur sleeve