Hi everyone, been searching the net for a while to find a forum so am pleased to have found you. am feeling very alone right now and would love to hear from anyone!

I privately payed for my lap band , and am 6 weeks post surgery .... i payed £7,600 at BUPA - which is a well known uk private hospital .. a big ouch to my wallet .

The op went well, the hospital was great. I managed the liquid diet for 1.5 weeks (i was asked to complete 4 weeks). I came off it having an egg sandwich which went down nicely (much to the horror of my surgeon). But was starving on watery Soup.

I have felt no restriction what so ever and had my first band fill 2 days ago. I asked the doctor how much liquid he put in , he said 5 mls, and the band can take 10mls , but they dont fill it right up ever (bit of alien language for me really).

So the moment i have been waiting for, for many years has been a huge let down!!! I dont feel at all restricted on what i can eat. I can eat the same amount as pre-op. Although i am forcing myself not to. I can drink as much Fluid as i like, downing a pint of Water is no problem. I feel so let down by everything. My hospital told me i would only be able to manage a cup full of food,and i would full up at the top of my body... i dont feel any of these things. only difference is a little more wind.

If it wasnt for the fact that i saw the band on the xray machine at the 'fill' appointment and if i couldnt feel the port in my side when i bend over, i would never believe i have had surgery.

I feel very alone and that my expensive surgery has been a failure and a waste of my life savings.

Just want to give up and eat lots of food (which is sadly my life long way of dealing with stuff)

I have just started self funding Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to help with that side of stuff, but my body just isn't feeling full as i was lead to believe it would. And will take a while i guess to sort out my head with my overeating.

I have a BMI of 37 kilos - so not heavy enough for gastric bypass op, hence i chose the band.

I am 5ft 7 and weigh 104 kgs, pre op i was 109 kgs. my weight loss has been due to the restrictive pre - op and post op diet .. nothing to do with the band at all.

right now i feel like it has been an expensive waste of time. And i dont know anyone else who has had the procedure so cant ask their advice.

i would be so grateful to hear if anyone has had a similiar experience, is there any light at the end of the tunnel ?

should i demand more support, when and if will the hospital decide to do another band fill.

I only get one more fill in with my package price of £7,800 so will have to pay for others.

many thanks to you all.

Hey Paula:

Banded 5/7. First fill of .6 2 days ago 6/22. On Mushies tilll tomorrow so cant tell if it worked but he already scheduled me for another fill in 2 weeks. Lost more weight on preop diet then since I got banded.

I exercised religiously first week then blew out my knee. Has been getting worse so no real loss since. I truly feel it is lack of exercise.

Hang in there. You are normal. When they find the sweet spot you will enjoy the resulting weight losses and miss the big meals.

Not a bad tradeoff.

Hello,

I was banded 5-29 and have lost 20 + pounds. I did 8 days of the asked 10 day preop diet. I can eat anything but I do feel full and it hurts. I have been able to eat anything since about 10 days after surgery or maybe before, not sure didn't try it. Doctor says that that is not normal ( nice to hear that I am not normal, HA HA). I am waiting for my 1st fill. I am staying steady at 20 - 22 lbs. and I want to lose more. I am worried that I won't have any problems and will keep eating and gain or stay the same weight I am now. So I feel for you and I hope that everything comes out okay for you. Feel free to email me and I will keep u posted.

Take Care

Shonda

I am struggling with my weight loss as well. I've lost 20-22 lbs. Most was before the surgery. I am going for my next fill on Wednesday of this week. It will make my band half full (2cc). I hope I can tell a difference. This was an expense out of pocket! Still waiting!!!!

Paula---I felt no restriction until my 3rd fill. I was unable to eat like a bandster until then. I am fine, happy, and no longer feeling that horrible self blame that we all click into so easily. My advice? Pretend to be a bandster whenever you can, practicing the skills you will someday be able to use when you feel restriction. And begin to say goodbye to self blame. If we could have done it without the band working, we would have!

as I sit here with MINIMAL restriction eating a can of chunk chicken breast (like a tuna can) reading this thread... I have to say THANK YOU!

Tomorrow is my two month bandversary and I actually gained weight last week on my vacation..... I have my 2nd fill next week. I could go out and eat crap for lunch but instead I'm drinking water and eating the boring old canned chicken that has 25 grams of protien but a ton of sodium

At times I feel like a big fat failure because I did eat the icecream topped funnel cake.. and it went down fine! but then Mark said this:

"It is too soon to feel discouraged. It's like you just bought a fancy sports car but it has no air in the tires. Of course it is not going to go very fast. You have not yet put air in the tires. That's exactly the same situation you have now with the band. You are simply not using the band yet because you do not have adequate restriction. Keep getting more fills until you have adequate restriction."

thank you for this Mark! I know I'm beating myself up for the self sabotage I inflicked on myself, but I also am running on no air in my tires. I am down in weight overall.. and it is not a quick fix..... It IS mind over matter right now for me because I CAN eat way more than I should be able tooooo

I, too did not feel anything different after my surgery. I guess I was scared to test it though. I went for my first fill and still felt nothing different. I did not eat a lot and stuck to the rules. Again, I was afraid that I would cause problems if I ate bread, etc. I went for 2nd fill and did feel some restriction. I have been cautious about what I am eating. I fear the "fills" as they have hit the edge of my port both times I have had a fill. I know I probably need another one but dread the thought. I will discuss it with my doctor on July 13th, my next visit!

Dear ladies and gents

its so good to share our thoughts on our post op worries

that comment was wonderful about 'air in tyre's' is so good.

Allwright, how did they hit side of your port ? that sounds painful ? did they do it under fluro scope thingy .. ?

with my new found confidence today, i phoned my nurse, she assured me she will speak to the consultant about my large appetite. i explained how i was feeling and how much i can eat, and i was so dissapointed when she told me i may have caused damage when i ate my egg sandwich 1.5 weeks post op. If it wasn't for this site i would be so upset thinking i had failed and ruined everything.. although deep down in my healthy body i know i haven't. as i have never had pain or anything.. i didn't eat a 3 course banquet, i just couldn't cope with watery soup anymore.

Think i am going to have find someone else for after care.. they say the after care is important, but i think they are making me more worried than confident, and now i feel naughty and blamed. And if they tell me one more time i have to control what i eat i am going to scream.. that is if my mouth isn't full of salad and brown rice... wouldn't it be nice for a medical person to be a bit more positive.

Sorry i am having a winge.. but its not quiet the service i would led to believe i would get.. and I just found out , future fills are £400, about $800 usd,, is that the going rate ? sound pretty steep to me.. i am going to have to do some research i think..

i wont be able to afford to eat every again at this rate maybe that is how the band works in an alternative kinda way :heh:

on a more positive note, i dragged myself to the gym at 7am .. hooray. with the help of everyone i am feeling so much more motivated today. sod the medical team.. i will try really hard, and keep moaning until i see my surgeon.. and if they tell me to be patient,, i will assertively and kindly say.. 'patience ,, it took me several years to have this operation i don't want to be patient i want to get on with it'

wow i have winged so much today.. i must be back on track !!!

tracy keep up the chunk chicken breast.. although it does sound as tasty as cat litter .we have been sabotaging ourselves for years so we are going to fall off our new wagon sometimes ,, and we just have to heave ourselves back on. .and in time when we are slim we will be able to hop back on :biggrin1: (all i have to do now is tell that to my nurse so she can be a little more understanding, i don't want her to collude with any naughty behaviour.. but i do want a bit more support and information)

take care everyone

Find a support group! It helped me to meet with people who had been through the same thing. And that cost per fill seems pretty outrageous. For that money you can take a vacation here in the States and get your fill! Good luck with your search for aftercare. And don't worry! If the band was so delicate that early mistakes would ruin it, almost none of us would still have a band. Without restriction, goof ups are not unusual.

In Josephine's defense I think that what it comes down to is we have an addiction to food and most of us have probably never have known what real hunger is. We eat when were sad, happy, lonely, ect.. and we need to replace alot of that emotional eating with other activities. In that sense it is mind over matter. The band is a tool that will help in doing this but if you are not in the right mind set the tool will not work for you.

Now that being said it is great that she was able to do this on her own without a fill. Personally I dont think that I could do it on my own which is why I have opted to get the band.

Hang in there pjrugby you are among friends here. I would call the doctors office and speak to the nurse about your feelings and perhaps they will give you another fill soon. In the mean time try to not to dwell on it and keep yourself busy. Meditation and prayer has always helped me and maybe it could help you also.

Good Luck to you and Welcome!

I am glad I found this threa tonight. I have been having serious doubts tonight. Like, why did I spend all this money and I am still not losing! I have lost some weight, but is has been all willpower.

I am going for my 3rd fill on Saturday. I will have gained since my 2nd fill, so hopefully the dr will be able to provide restriction this time.

I have a bad case of buyers remorse!

I finally got to meet the new doctor taking over for me since I moved. He won't be doing bands until after January, he says he wants to use a different brand name and that's when it will be available.

I'm wondering what type of band you all have who are not losing wt. Do you have the 10cc or 4cc capacity band?

I finally got to meet the new doctor taking over for me since I moved. He won't be doing bands until after January, he says he wants to use a different brand name and that's when it will be available.

I'm wondering what type of band you all have who are not losing wt. Do you have the 10cc or 4cc capacity band?

I have the newest band on the market. It would be considered a 10cc, but it actually holds 11

I have the newest band on the market. It would be considered a 10cc, but it actually holds 11

I asked the new doc what the difference was, (I have the 4cc) He said the 10 actually is less constricting. It doesn't put as much pressure on the opening. I would have thought it meant you could get more restriction with that, but especially in the beginning it really doesn't provide the great amount of restriction felt by the "old" band, I believe they went to the bigger one for several reason, a couple I'm sure you can guess, but the big one was for "safer" initiation into being restricted. You really can eat larger amounts of food after surgery. This would explain why so many are saying they have "none".

I also didn't have good restriction until my 3rd fill. My Dr told me that it would be that way. It will get better!

Something that helps is to also make smaller plates whether you think you need more or not. For me getting up for seconds is no longer an option. It helps alot!

Paula,

Good luck. I doubt you caused damage by eating a sandwich. I was 4 days post op and back on regular food for every meal. Two weeks after surgery I could tell there was some restriction, but not enough. I have had 1 fill and it did not do much. Also, I would look around for more fill doctors. Mine are $150 (US) each.

Most people on here are going to agree that the first couple of fills did not do as much as we had hoped. Most have said it took the third fill to get a good feeling of restriction.

I have the new 10cc band. One difference is the new 10cc band is a complete circle of Fluid where the older bands were more of a horseshoe shape. It is supposed to provide better restriction, but we will see.