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<HR style="COLOR: #e9e9e9" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --><!-- google_ad_section_start -->Hello. I'm a new member. Don't mean to offend anybody here, that's the last thing I want to do, because I'm thinking of getting banded and I need answers from you, but isn't this lap band gimmick a big con?

I mean if you want to lose weight why not diet?

If you get banded you still have to eat less and diet so why bother getting banded?

Surely when your banded 'pouch' is full of food you may feel full but you must still feel ravenous because the rest of your cavernous stomach is completely empty?

I want to believe that banding works but I can't see how it reduces your hunger pangs and you can't eat what you like - I mean indian curries and savoury foods.

How much will power do you bandsters need to succeed?

And if you have will power why don't you just diet and avoid surgery?

This banding idea doesn't make any sense to me, it's just a big con.

Sorry if I've offended anybody but my doctor said that I couldn't get banded unless I could show that I could lose weight, so I tried and failed. But hang on a minute! If I could lose weight by dieting I wouldn't need to get banded would I ? It's all a big con. The fact is that you could all lose weight without the band, banding is a big con.

Thanks for reading the rant.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

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Hi savery,

liquied form is a good option, some pills dont come in liquid form so ask the doc if you can cut them small or crush them and maybe mix with water, or crystal-light water for taste. i take thyroid medicin every day,(that dosent come in liquid) its a small pill- i only need to cut it and i was able to take it even on the first day after surgery. now i'm on solids, i can just take it whole, since its small.

since medicin is very important- this is something you still must discuss with your doc, depending on what meds you take, some people i heard need to stop taking certain kinds sometime before surgery, or after (or maybe sub them for other kinds? only by doc instructions of course!). i think they can start taking them again eventually, i'm not sure. ask your doc about your specific meds.

also one other thing i can think of-some meds need to be taken with food, and some acualy on an empty stomech so maybe you can work with the nutrionist and doc to plan a food schedule to accomidate the weight loss as well as medicine requierments.( for example my med i must take with no food, so i need to wait some before and after i take it, to eat)

with the band, your body should still absorb everything you put in, i think. just slower ,maybe, at times since it takes it time to go down-maybe i'm wrong about this. also i think people with gastric bypass dont absorb everything they put in? not sure dont know much about the bypass

With the lap-band, you still absorb everything you eat.

ok, maybe slower? it dose take longer for solid food to go down right? (thats why you feel full for some time i geuss) thats why meds are so important to discuss with doc.

OK..... short answer..

no it is NOT a con!

I'm a volume eater, I'm an EXPERT dieter, I suck at maintaining....the band will help with maintenance.

I am at my sweet spot of restriction and 1/2 cup of protien keeps me full for 4-5 hours.... where as PRE-Band I could put away the better part of a large thin crust pizza... and if I ate just a little.. I would be flopping around on the floor like a fish from hunger.

And BTW.......... I have spent my entire life dieting........ maintaining the real KEY

You work with your band Dr. to find acceptable ways of taking your meds....and you might be surprised at how many you can discontinue after you are "conned" out of some of the extra weight!!!

I not only was "conned" out of over 100 pounds, but several wardrobes, a couple of high blood pressure meds, a high blood sugar med, and also one for high cholesterol---all total that con saved me over $100 bucks a month in copays!!!

Kat

haha... who was the idiot that started this post?

She came to a website full of people with the band and thought WE were the ones being con'ed?? Well, honey...the joke's on you. We are losing our weight. You can have all the irrational opinions you want. I will take my band instead.

THAT is so funny... this poor person is only "conning" his or her SELF! the poor soul.

I am a super nice person, but come on now - How uneducated can you get?

I hope before you consider seriously getting banded, that you will read a lot of this website, and do your research. You have to be psychologically ready to follow the bandster lifestyle, which for me was MUCH easier than dieting...and has had real results like I've never had before. Don't do the band until you are completely past ranting and fully into researching. And thanks, Wendell, for the concise post. I agree with everything you said.

You're very welcome!

You just do it. You either split them in half (which is what I do with only my biggest horse pills because eventually all the others go down fine) or crush them up. Not an issue!

Hi RagdollX19, I noticed Marsden in Fort Worth was your doctor. He is one of two I am considering. Do you like him? How is after-care and support?

I wonder if the OP got the notion that it's a "con" because of commercials seen on TV?? I mean, aren't we all just conditioned to immediately NOT believe anything that advertises the promise of weight loss?

Oh my god guys, I think my husband creeped on my computer and wrote this thread. This is exactly how my husband feels and WILL NOT change his mind even after much talking and me trying to educate him!!

I thank all of you that wrote your replies because it has helped me with my only concern. What if I do this and it is another failure!

Thanks, Shawna

Dear Jiggleypuff and all

I have a confession to make.

The fact is that my wife, (savery), is thinking of getting banded so she tried to get me to agree but I was dead against it. But I said that I would look for a forum to find out more about banding, and found this one. My wife is completely computer illiterate and has never even touched a keyboard so I agreed to post this thread to get more info for her. So it's my fault that I called it a BIG CON, not my wifes. As it happens the replies have changed my mind and I now think that it would be a good idea for her to get banded, she is 300lbs. Maybe you could get your husband to read some of the posts - he might change his mind.

I hope the moderator doesn't mind me posting on behalf of my wife.

Once again, thanks for the replies about taking tablets, you have all been most helpful. No doubt my wife will have other questions to ask in due course.

Brian.

kudos to you sir for being a supportive husband - any surgery is risky - but this really was a piece of cake (oops I said cake) it totally works if you put forth the effort - you can cheat it unlike bypass (correct me here) Lap Band is just a tool but effective - still have to watch what you eat and how much, still have to get some excercise in every day - and it's expensive if you have to self pay but it totally improves the quality of your life, I really can't say enough good about it.

There is a thread here somewhere "Was it worth it?"....all you have to do is thumb through that one to hear some rousing HUZZAHS! I went for my 4th fill last Thursday and my surgeon was there and stopped in. He saw my weight loss from last month (11 pounds) and he looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows and said, "It WORKS, doesn't it!" and I beamed back at him "You BET it does!"

kudos to you sir for being a supportive husband - any surgery is risky - but this really was a piece of cake (oops I said cake) it totally works if you put forth the effort - you can cheat it unlike bypass (correct me here) Lap Band is just a tool but effective - still have to watch what you eat and how much, still have to get some excercise in every day - and it's expensive if you have to self pay but it totally improves the quality of your life, I really can't say enough good about it.

I'm pretty sure you can cheat with the bypass, why would you not be able to?