Hi,

I just joined this site. I am looking to hear from someone who has been banded for more than 8 to 10 years. I really need to hear about someone in that position because I am just about ready to cancel my surgery and forget all about it. I am scared. I have only been able to find people who were just banded recently. I want to make sure that I know that people are actually able to live with the band for over 10 years and still feel great. I know that Australia has been doing this for longer than US. Can someone please put me in touch with someone who has been banded a long time? Thank you!

Diana

So your surgery has already happened, or not???

You probably won't find someone banded that long in the US. We have Autralian users, but I can't think of their names off-hand. If you do a search for "Australia" or "Oz" or something like that, you should find several people.

I am scheduled to have surgery on 3/23/06. I have not had it yet.

10 years is stretching it. I don't think we've been doing the band close to that long in the U.S. You might hear from some Mexican bandsters, as I think they have been doing it lots longer.

i recently saw a comment from an australian....i think her title was "banded down under" or something like that.

hello Diana i don't know personaly of anyone being done that long but i was talking to a hairdresser a couple of month's ago who has had her band for four years and her mum for 5and a half both have never looked back, and one of my son's elderly friend's from his chuch know's of a very prominent melbourne family who's son had it done in his late teen's i think it was about 15 year's ago in sweden and he is fine and had no trouble i'm sorry i can't give you his name as it was told to me in confidence to help me and now i hope it has helped you in some way to decide good luck Diana and let us know how you go either way ...best wishes jenny

Thank you Jenny, it does help. I still do not know what I will do. Let me be completely honest. I have been reading stories from everyone here and in the US, etc. There is one thing that everyone seems to have in common: they have NEVER been able to lose the weight and keep it off. I am about 80 pounds overweight. I have always been fat, my first diet being when I was 8. In 1992, I changed all my eating habits and began to lift weights and run. I started eating perfectly. I lost 120 points and kept them all off for about 3 years, and I kept at least 80 pounds off for about 6 years. I started gaining a lot of it back just recently, and last year I gained 30 pounds all of a sudden, perhaps because I am entering menopause, or who the heck knows why. Of course, it has a lot not eating perfectly anymore. Anyway, I keep thinking that I can do it again! I keep thinking that I don't need the band. I don't know if I am rushing this too much. Anyway, that is my problem, plus the fact that I don't have any evidence of this procedure being completely safe in the long run. So, that is my story. I do thank you for your reply and, to tell you the truth, I will probably get it done as scheduled, which is on March 23 (I said before it was 2/23 but that was a mistake).

Thanks again,

Diana

hi Diana first of all it's not just your prob we are all here together, i like you have been chubby since little tried every diet under the sun, i am 54 this year and have just passed menopause, the nurse at my clinic say's that could be one of the reason's i am slow at losing [ mind you i cheat now and again my fault not the band but i will get it ] i have lost 13 kilo's since july but it's 13 i KNOW i wouldn't have been able to lose without it and it won't go back on i could never say that before, i don't really care how slow because of my age maybe it won't sag too much as i am too much of a chicken to have plastic surgery...jenny

You are much more liable to lose more slowly with the band and keep it off permanently then you are with GB. I've seen people three years out that have stretched the pouch and are gaining their weight back. I wouldn't even consider it an option for myself. You can always get a fill in the lapband, but there is nothing can be done about stretching out the GB pouch.

hi

i have ben losing steadily for the last 9 months and i know if i didnt have the band i would be putting it all back on again

sandra.........

Hi e'one

As a menopausal woman of 53 (sigh), I look at the big picture or not being with the band. Being overweight nearly all my life, I figure that 10 years hence without it I'd be dead from a heart attack, stroke or without quality of life because of diabetes or not being able to walk due to joint damage etc. I think at my age it's harder to lose the weight without the band and at least I know that in 1 to 2 years time I will not be morbidly obese anymore and I'll live to see my grandkids arrive. (I was banded eight weeks ago and have lost 10 kilos so far). I've given up pretending to myself that I could have lost the weight by going to the gym (am still going for fitness but didn't work really well for me for weight loss), W Watchers, Jenny Craig, swimming at 6.00 am, walking 5 kms a day yada yada. Yes I've done all of these things but not consistently or for long enough. At least I know the band will work. I think a 'definate 10 years' with the band (at least) is better than a 'maybe 10 years' living on promises that I'll get my act together.

As a new bandster I can tell you that the surgery is not so bad. I went back to work 12 days later and I'm fine :hat: :tea: Be kind to yourself and go through with it! Sorry if I sound preachy.

Just food for thought

Dragon