Hi Everyone!

Obviously, I'm new to thesite and of course, I have questions.

First question starts withthe lap-band itself. I haven't seen my doctor yet, as being in the militarywe need referrals for everything (really annoying) and I have yet to make myappointment.

What should I expect andhow long would they make me wait until I can have the surgery. In mymind, I am 120 + lbs over my ideal weight and I've been fighting this issue fornearly five and a half years...(and I've recently gained over 40 lbs in the lasttwo). I know a lot has to do with my location and my eating habits, butit is still hard to deal with, when we've been trying to get pregnantand everyone keeps saying that it is my weight stopping us. After nearly 4years, we are done trying and I want the weight off (diet and exercise didn'thelp as well as people said). I'm scared to have it, as my biggestsurgery was my c-section.

Also, is it as bad as everyonetries to make it seem? I heard people tell me what I can't eat (likerice and pasta) and that it won't work ( "my friend did it and gainedeverything back" or "it'll slip off and can hurt you"),

I figured I'm tired of theiropinions and decided I wanted to talk to some people who have done it andsucceed and lo'and behold, I found this site! I'm hoping to alsomake friends, as many on here will understand my pains and struggles, whereasmy family and friends won't.

Until then, I will leaveyou with this and hopefully have more questions later!!

Andromeda (notmy real name, but what I will use until I'm comfortable with people).

Hi Everyone!

Obviously, I'm new to thesite and of course, I have questions.

First question starts withthe lap-band itself. I haven't seen my doctor yet, as being in the militarywe need referrals for everything (really annoying) and I have yet to make myappointment.

What should I expect andhow long would they make me wait until I can have the surgery. In mymind, I am 120 + lbs over my ideal weight and I've been fighting this issue fornearly five and a half years...(and I've recently gained over 40 lbs in the lasttwo). I know a lot has to do with my location and my eating habits, butit is still hard to deal with, when we've been trying to get pregnantand everyone keeps saying that it is my weight stopping us. After nearly 4years, we are done trying and I want the weight off (diet and exercise didn'thelp as well as people said). I'm scared to have it, as my biggestsurgery was my c-section.

Also, is it as bad as everyonetries to make it seem? I heard people tell me what I can't eat (likerice and pasta) and that it won't work ( "my friend did it and gainedeverything back" or "it'll slip off and can hurt you"),

I figured I'm tired of theiropinions and decided I wanted to talk to some people who have done it andsucceed and lo'and behold, I found this site! I'm hoping to alsomake friends, as many on here will understand my pains and struggles, whereasmy family and friends won't.

Until then, I will leaveyou with this and hopefully have more questions later!!

Andromeda (notmy real name, but what I will use until I'm comfortable with people).

I have had the lapband since October and have not had any issues so far. I believe that if you educate yourself properly and through the right sources, you will have much less problems. My surgery was mostly uneventful, with one bout of nausea directly after waking up. My Dr. only does fills every 8 weeks, so I have had only one fill, which was pretty uneventful as well. I had read that in order to get the best from your fills it is good to have not eaten anything for the previous 6 hrs. I went in hungry and went out not hungry, that was pretty cool. After the swelling subsided in my stomach following the first fill, which was about one week out for me, I was able to eat large portions and realized that I was feeling hungrier than I probably should. That prompted me to do a little bit more research and finally realized how this band works. I was under the impression that I was supposed to have physical restriction that would force me to eat smaller portions. But, its not that simple, restriction is supposed to be just enough to trigger the vagus nerve and help you to feel satiated after smaller portions and this satiation should last 4-5 hours. I realized that I may have stretched my pouch a bit and could do a liquid diet that might remedy that. After doing a 5 day full liquid diet last week, I am feeling less hungry again. A lot of people get a little freaked out when they start to feel hungrier, but I realize that doing an occasional liquid diet can assist with that and I can get my restricted feeling back. It's a learning process and you have to be able to be flexible enough to try out different things to "work with the band". I haven't had any PB episodes, reflux or sliming like a lot of people complain of. I have been losing weight slowly, but steadily. I will probably start losing more when I incorporate more consistent workouts. So far I have had a very positive experience and hope for the same for you!

Good luck!

Lisa