What are YOU afraid to hear?

[Baba Wawa 543]

I copied and pasted, below, some of my early posts from the first few months after band surgery. I was so enthusiastic and on board with my new lifestyle. I was fully committed to learning everything I needed to know in order to succeed. I did not want to hear anything from anyone who was saying their band didn't work out. There were people who posted that they followed band rules and lost their band due to slips, erosion or esophageal dilation. I countered that very few complications are band caused. I suggested that perhaps they over ate, ate too fast...you get the picture. I was wrong to do that.

It's true that early in our band journey we NEED to hear positive reinforcement that we made the "right" decision. That's why you won't see me post negative information on a post from someone who is doing well, newly banded or had decided to band and isn't asking for help deciding.

If I posted in a way that seemed insensitive or overtly negative anywhere but on the complications forum, I apologize. I try to avoid that, but I'm human. I believed, as many of you do, that if I did all the right things, I'd keep my band for the rest of my life. I cannot convey the disappointment and even grief I'm feeling over the impending loss of my band. I'm also feeling a lot of anxiety about post removal. That might be bleeding thru in my posts. I'm in constant discomfort, unable to eat much of anything and generally not feeling very well at the moment.

My point in this post is to encourage everyone who has WLS to listen, sympathize and file away posts about band complications. As I've stated in more than one post, the information might help you save your band one day. I don't want to scare anyone. I just want to share my experience within a community that might benefit from it one day.

Don't be afraid to read my message. It can't hurt you.

This was 2 months post op:

Tonight I am going to a play with friends...I subscribe and we go out about every two months Nov-July. Yesterday I figured I should try on some of my smaller (size 24) clothes to see what I should wear. NONE OF THEM FIT! THEY ARE ALL TOO BIG! I am between a 20-22 so all the 24-26 and 3x are going to the donation pile or to my ebay collection. I went to the Talbot's outlet and bought two pairs of 22 WP shorts, very nice for $27 including tax. I now have one pair of jeans, a pair of capris and two shorts that I can wear.

We always go to Maui in October and was trying on my dresses that I take with me and got into some of my Blue Ginger dresses I haven't been able to wear for a long time...some of the others are way too big....

Any way enough rambling on! Happy day for me!

My first fill:

I got my first fill today and it went very well...no pain and so far so good with Water. I lost 5 lb in almost 5 weeks and due to travel plans in September and October opted to go ahead and get it now.

My surgeon's office does them under flouro and it took about 10 min to do...port was flat on the abdominal wall and very easy to access. It did feel weird as she was numbing me up, but other than that couldn't feel it. I am hoping to up my loss to about 1.75 lb per week or 7-8 lbs per month with this fill...

whew...glad to have that under my belt!

A post on accountability:

This morning it occurred to me that I have not lost any weight since the 30th of August. My first impulse was to post something on the forum regarding a stall, frustrated, etc, but then I got to thinking about it HONESTLY. I have not logged my food since the middle of July! I looked back and I remember thinking that this is so easy, I don't have to log every bite! WRONG! I lost consistently (even without a fill) 1-1.5 lbs per week while logging. Since I stopped logging I have lost a total of 6 lbs in 6 weeks, but nothing for the last two weeks. I don't think I am eating as much as I am burning, but how do I know??? This could be the 20% stall, but without documentation of my intake, I cannot really tell. My highest weight was 290 about 2 years ago. 20% of 290 is 58 and I am down 51 lbs from that weight so it is close enough to be called that, but most likely it is what I am eating, rather than how much.

I have been eating more carbs...

There have been numerous social events, so I have been drinking a bit of wine...

And I have had some dessert...

here and there...

So now I recommit to journalling my food intake so I can assess why I am stalled and what to do to change it WITH SOME CERTAINTY....

I have lost an inch or so since the stall started, so it isn't really a stall, but a great opportunity to refocus my efforts towards meeting my goal of 1.5 lbs per week on average.

I do have restriction and I need to do a better job of utilizing it to my advantage.

Me, defending the band:

Many folks who are anti-band will use a study that was published in 2003 and followed lap-band patients from 1997-2002...that would be like car and driver only reviewing cars made from 1920-1970 and holding them to today's standards of road-worthiness...

The bands in use today are much more "user-friendly" and the surgeons who "install" them know a lot more about the causes of complications like those cited in the early study and MOST complications are caused by overstuffing the pouch and eating around the band (grazing, sliders etc) as well as over zealous docs who overfill bands.

Go to the WLS failure forum, complications forum or regrets forum and read about the issues the people who have chosen many different surgeries experience, then you can be satisfied with your decision, whatever it may be.

I also question why certain individuals feel the need to hang out here and tout their surgery. If they were as knowledgeable as they claim, they would be publishing a book on their surgery, pointing out the benefits vs the risks, and it would speak for itself.

Here is an example of a study on VSG and it's failure rate...I found this doing a quick search and now it is out there and will be quoted by the VSG haters to support their position....

The exact failure rate of sleeve gastrectomy is unknown. Using the Spanish National Registry for bariatric surgery, Sanchez-Santos et al[7] reviewed 540 patients who had undergone SG either as a primary or staged procedure over a six-year period. The authors reported excellent overall outcomes; however, 15 percent of the subjects were considered failures based on weight recidivism in the first three years, with 3.3 percent of patients submitting to a second bariatric procedure. Younger age, lower body mass index (BMI), and thinner bougie size were attributed to improved sustainable outcomes. Similarly, Himpens, in an article by Deitel et al,[8] presented his early five-year results after sleeve gastrectomy at the First International Consensus Summit for Sleeve Gastrectomy in 2007. In 46 such patients, he reported a disappointing 37 and 23 percent inadequate weight loss and second procedure rates, respectively.

More recent unpublished presentations by Himpens indicate failure rates as high as 30 percent in five years.[9] Studying the Austrian experience with SG as a stand-alone operation, Felberbauer et al[10] reported a seven-percent failure rate at three years based on a cutoff of 25 percent excess weight loss (EWL). Applying the traditional 50-percent EWL criteria, the failure rate increased to 25 percent.[10]

Me supporting a struggling poster:

Good for you Tanya....that is why the forums are here, to share and hopefully keep us from getting too complacent and not utilizing our chosen tool. The side note that I have been meaning to post since the day after I wrote this is that though I haven't lost pounds, I have lost a full size, so it isn't about just the weight.

Perhaps it is time for a fill or a talk with your nutritionist to help you to get back on track...

Congratulations on your recommittal and I will look for you to post your success!!

This was me the first year. I was afraid to hear what might go wrong, just like many others. This is a support site for ALL banded people, not just those who don't have complications. Seeing the words can't hurt you, but ignoring signs of trouble can.

Just an FYI to those who keep calling me a "basher", "full of bs as usual", "100% incorrect"...every time you call me a name, I will respond politely. I will also continue to post. I don't back down when attacked, but I refuse to attack back.

[JACKIEO85 308]

WHO sings that song? I WON'T BACK DOWN , I LOVE IT!!!

[KimJ384 46]

WHO sings that song? I WON'T BACK DOWN ' date=' I LOVE IT!!![/quote']

Tom petty

[fredanna 17]

I was banded six years ago. Lost 70 pounds. Two years ago I began vomiting, etc. Saw the G I guy who has done all my colonoscopies. After all those barium tests he said my band had slipped and I should call my bariatric guy. When I did, he informed me that his bands do not slip and he made me take the tests all over again. His conclusion was that the band had "repositioned itself". I chose not to ask how that is different from slippage.

At any rate, he replaced the band. I lost another 30 pounds but have had a lot of nausea. More G I tests. Apparently they show Barrets and a structure at bottom of esophagus. I am terrified that I'll have to have the band removed and I'll gain 100 pounds or maybe even more.

I have one more test, then see both doctors in early February. Meanwhile, the proton pump inhibitor that the G I prescribed last month really helps. I guess I had GERD, but didn't know it because no pain. Also, I've given up bedtime Snacks. I've eaten them all my 70+ years and I miss them, but no more.

[JamieJo55 4]

Fredanna FYI: the band itself doesn't SLIP what actually happens is the stomach goes UP or DOWN Prolaspe etc.but a SLIP, is still a SLIP .

I understand the FEAR of losing your band and not having that "tool' to help maintain/lose. But if tests are showing Barrett's or even signs of tissue change to the esophagus that NEEDS to be addressed.

Reflux, GERD Silent or otherwise is a complication of being banded 33% of bandsters experience it. And Dr's give PPI's, but often ignore the other issues

I hope your not facing Barrett's or even a pre cancerous condition. Being HEALTHY and overweihgt is Far worse then having the band removed.

Good Luck with your appotimtent In Feb.