Hello everyone,

I've been banded for 6 months now I've had 10 fills I hate this thing inside of me.

My port I can feel all the time

Let's start from the beginning 230 at the beginning pre op diet i lost 13 lbs. I have not lost any more weight in the past 6 months even though I'm excersising and eating a lot less and throwing up and getting food stuck a lot. I can't eat chicken or scrambled eggs some veggeis , grapefruit gets stuck all the time. Even when i get up in the morning and take a drink sometimes I go running to the bathroom to throw up. I've gone back on the liquid diet a few times just to try and get my weight down but it won't budge.

I hate this band. My surgeon the last time he saw me said well you must be eating to much and I felt he was discusted with me...

So I'm changing surgeons and I want to try and get him to do the sleeve. I'm just wondering am I not giving my band enough time I really wish my surgeon had mentioned the sleeve to me before I did this band because I would have done that instead. Now I'm going to try and see if this doctor will do a revision and see if my insurance will cover it I have $1000 co pay before my insurance covered the lap band so that I'm paying for still and I feel it was a total waste of money.

Just wondering what everyone thinks

Thanks

Give it more time. Track your food and count calories. Work with a nutritionist. The sleeve isn't "easy."

I had my band for 5 years before I had my revision. I initially lost 60 pounds and kept it off. 6 months isn't very long to say that you have given it your all. Is there a support system at your Dr's office? Is there a nurse/NUT that you can speak with? You should be losing weight if you are eating less and only healthy foods. A NUT should be able to help you.

I did experience the same things as you but I think giving it a longer go before you quickly switch to the VSG. I wonder if a doctor would do the revision anyway thinking that you may "give up" so to speak with the VSG which is not reversible.

Best Wishes.

I've been speaking with the nut and logging my food and everything like that.

I don't feel like I'm giving up i'm upset that I haven't lost weight and I'm following their advice as much as possible.

I'm not looking for anything easy I'm looking for something that will work and not make we sick all the time

I wish to be able to eat and not through up or have acid reflux

Just feel I made a mistake with the band

You went into a doctor for weigh loss options and he pushed only the band and not the sleeve? You should file a complaint if that is the case. It may not directly affect you, but it could help alot of people later on. Lap Band offers kick backs, and doctors make an ace off that little port.

I think, in an educated, researched but still "guesstimate" the Lap Band/complication rate is excessively high - the numbers are tweakd and the lobbyists hit hard for this, so it is slow to get the attention it deserves. It is looked at that complications are expected more often "in any procedure with morbid obesity as a factor" - yet fails to explain that it is rare to see sleeve results with even a tenth the complications of a band.

If you can, get it out. my opinion only.

I can understand that. Your experience isn't uncommon. But if you are hoping for insurance coverage, it will probably be difficult this soon. The policy for my insurance required 2 years minimum after the failed WLS before considering a revision. Policies vary, but I think you may have a difficult time even finding a surgeon to operate again this soon. It is definitely worth doing everything you can to make this band work for a while longer. It took me about 4 or 5 months before I felt my band working at all, after 3 or 4 fills. It could be that the fills you are getting are too aggressive and causing too much swelling. Or you could be advancing to regular food too soon after getting a fill. Or perhaps the foods you are trying to eat just won't be tolerated with the band. There are many variables with the band, it would take working closely with your surgeon and nutritionist to troubleshoot. Good luck.

I've had the band for five years - revising next month. Very similar experience. I lost about 20 lbs in the first 6 months then another 30 over another 2 - 3 year period. It took quite a bit of fill/unfill to get somewhat decent restriction but I never had great restriction. I found I had to really have more self control than anything else - which annoyed me as I thought that band would help more with that!

The biggest things that helped me avoid being stuck were taking TINY bites. Chewing more than you ever think you need to, and taking more time between bites.

I also had horrible time with chicken and scrambled eggs were always a no-go. I could eat an omelet though and would make 1 egg omelets. Dark meat chicken would be better, but white meat was just too dry.