Just a bit of information for all the ones preparing for the band. I thought that since the band wouldnt allow me to eat more then the small amount your pouch would hold that my problem of being an overeater would be solved. HOWEVER, there are things that the band will allow to slip right on down. You would think that after going through the trouble and financial expense of having surgery that you would automatically stay away from such foods but unfortunately you will still be an overeater after the surgery and will sometimes want to look for such foods to feed that inner addiction. Well its these things I wish I had known before surgery. I would have still had the surgery but I would have better prepared myself for resistance to these things. There is so much I wish I had known. I am self pay and my dr. didnt require any psych evals and preparations .He just made it all look pretty and said come have it , it will change your life. BE MORE PREPARED!!!!!!!!!!!

you would automatically stay away from such foods but unfortunately you will still be an overeater after the surgery and will sometimes want to look for such foods to feed that inner addiction.

(Emphasis mine). This may be your very valid experience, but it is very innacurate to state it as a blanket fact. Many, many people here who are post-op are not overeaters, nor do they have to battle the will to overeat. IF (not everyone does) you have that good ol' addictive personality, then chances are you're still going (probably) to need to satiate that, but food will not necessarily be the answer any longer.

Well its these things I wish I had known before surgery.

I'm surprised you didn't come across this in your research or education. The idea that "the band doesn't work on the head" is something my surgeon's office virtually spewed out - hence their stringent requirements with a psychologist. I hope would most programs make an effort to teach this, but it's sad if they don't. It's also something you'll find everywhere in guidelines, rules to live by, etc. (referring mostly to messageboards, blogs, anecdotal experiences, etc.)

My surgons office always said this is a tool it is not a magical answer

and yes you can eat slowly 24/7 and not loose weight but if you eat the three small meals and one snack per day you will lose weight itis a life change but it is agood life change I see my 6 year old son also having achange of lifestyle I pray that my surgery will help him not have to deal with the overweight later in his life

This is atool you have to work with for the rest of your life This is the best choice I have made was to get the Band (Of corse my husband and son is higher than the band butthe band will allow me to be with them longer)

My surgons office always said this is a tool it is not a magical answer

and yes you can eat slowly 24/7 and not loose weight but if you eat the three small meals and one snack per day you will lose weight itis a life change but it is agood life change I see my 6 year old son also having achange of lifestyle I pray that my surgery will help him not have to deal with the overweight later in his life

This is atool you have to work with for the rest of your life This is the best choice I have made was to get the Band (Of corse my husband and son is higher than the band butthe band will allow me to be with them longer)

I also have a 6 year old that I was worried would get the "fat" gene. Anyways the band and having a healthier lifestyle has made a huge impact on her positively. She even is my little motivator now "Mommm, you know you have to go to the YMCA and exercise"...yes she says this..hehe..so cute

Anyways as far as the OP was saying about things she wished she knew. Well yeah it's ridiculous that you were not given any information at all. Also no psych evaluation? That's a really bad practice there. Although I still think it's party the OP's responsibility to do their own research on such a risky and life changing event in their lives. I think just about everyone though is an overeater before their band. If they weren't then they wouldn't have a weight problem right? I was definitely a volume eater pre band. That has completely changed. Although I did go a time where I grazed alot..and I platued for a very long time. The light bulb finally went off and I have put the pieces together a long the way to figure out what I need to do to get to my goals. Anyways as far as overeating. I can even PB on ice cream. I don't know if anyone else has done this but I sure have. Of course the band isn't perfect. But for most of us it keeps us in check with our binge eating.

Honestly though it sounds like the OP might need a fill. I've had alot of people around me get banded after I did. I am sort of a billboard I guess. A few have not been successful just because they refuse to get their bands filled properly. You can't expect the tool to work correctly unless you get it to where it needs to be.

Excellent post Wheetsin!

I am an overeater. But I have to say that if preband my desire to overeat was a 10/10, 16 months later it is maybe a 4/10. I have spent those months looking for other ways to replace my addiction. This is a learning process and it will take time to undo or redo or relearn our bad habits.

I know I have to keep my house 'clean' of unhealthy foods. If it isn't there, I won't eat it. I have joined a gym and am TRYING to be addicted to exercise. Not addicted yet, but physically ache if I don't go.

Be kind to yourself and work on learning some new tricks. Replace an old 'bad' habit with some 'new' healthy ones. Because I can attest to the fact that, life is wonderful 100+ pounds lighter.

i was told that the band is not a magic solution, and i didnt write the original post as a downer to the band . but honestly there are just s ome drs like mine who are not advising psyche evals and are not really giving information about how easy it would be to gain back weight. i am 105 lbs down and cant say i am not h appy about the band. But just like drug addicts and acoholics and other addicts , for most of us or at least some of us overeating is really an addiction. and it is calmed but not gone by getting the band.My dr. is one of those who is in the money making business and I really dont think it mattered how much we knew. I was not aware of this support or any other when I was looking for a Dr. , I just decided to get the band and did. I know that was probably not the smartest thing to do but nonethe less its done. and thought someone else who might be researching this might like to know.

Well, that's true...once an alcoholic always an alcoholic.... 1 taste of heroin you are addicted and always will be.

An overeater will always be... but actually taking the alcohol, drugs, or eat too much... that's CHOICE.

But predisposition, yes.

I think someone who is an overeater because of an addictive personality will probably always be addicted to something.

I disagree with "once an overeater always an overeater." By that rationale, it would be "once a smoker, always a smoker" and most of us know cases where that's not true.

However, what is accurate is "once an addict, alawys an addict" - at least the VAST majority of the time (and to move beyond it takes a LOT... you probably don't know anyone who has done it, it happens that infrequently).

I don't think that an addict of X type has to stay an addict of X type, I think they can fairly easily become addicts of Y or Z , A or M types. Usually referred to as addiction hopping or addiction swapping. A few examples of what I mean:

A chain smoker stops smoking and gains 100 lbs because instead of being actively addicted to nicotene, they're now addicted to food and even the urge to have the sensation of something in their hands/mouths is quelled by food.

A drug addict "finds Jesus" and kicks the drug habit, only to spend their every waking moment living in their religion.

A person addicted to food loses the weight by becoming addictred to exercise, and/or obsession with weightloss. Instead of eating 6000 calories a day, they're now working out 6 hours a day.

IMO, if you can't truly beat the addiction, your success is in "what" the addiction hops to and how well it can be maintained. A smoker who swaps to food can maintain that addiction more realistically than an overeater who switches to exercise. Someone who swaps to obsessive weightloss will not be able to maintain as long, or without severe consequences, as someone who becomes a compulsive cleaner. Realistically, how long can your average person maintain a routine of 6 hours exercise per day... vs. how long could someone maintain a pattern of overeating?

(BTW - mental addiction, physical addicition - very different things, but what overeating falls into -- different thread). :eek:

I somewhat agree with you Wheetsin about addictive personalities but I dont agree that you can just move the addiction over to something else. I know i have an addictive personality. I used to smoke over 10 years ago and I did quit. I had quit about 4 years before my final time and I smoked 1 cigarette and I was a full time smoker again. I think that what you are addicted to , you are addicted to. I dont know why a person who is not an overeater would have the band and if you were an overeater, how do you know that you would not be an overeater once you lost your band. Im glad your band is working fine for you .My first band was working great for me. I lost 150 lbs in a year and a half. I had an erosion from my band and I had to have it replaced. While waiting for the new one to be restricted I gained almost 50 lbs back. I really thought I was past the addiction too. who knows

This may be an easier way to reply.

I somewhat agree with you Wheetsin about addictive personalities but I dont agree that you can just move the addiction over to something else. I didn't mean you could just will yourself into a different addiction. It has to manifest, like any other addiction. I know i have an addictive personality. I used to smoke over 10 years ago and I did quit. I had quit about 4 years before my final time and I smoked 1 cigarette and I was a full time smoker again. Yes, but this is just your experience, and you can't use it to establish what's the case for anyone else (hence my initial response to you). My parents quit smoking... I'm going to guess 13 years ago. My mother doesn't smoke at all, my father has a cigar a few (maybe 3) times a year. Neither of them want nor have an impulsive irge to start smoking again. So there's one example of how your experience doesn't apply to everyone. (Instead, they're now both seriously overweight - definitely hopped on the food addictions). I think that what you are addicted to , you are addicted to. I dont know why a person who is not an overeater would have the band and if you were an overeater, how do you know that you would not be an overeater once you lost your band. People who are not overeaters have been banded to avoid becoming one, or for medical issues that weight would factor into. Jachut admittedly got her band for largely aesthetic reasons. A lady at my last employer was banded because obesity ran on her family, and she wanted it to be a preventative measure (she currently has no fill, but thinks of it as her insurance policy). All kinds of reasons out there. Im glad your band is working fine for you .My first band was working great for me. I lost 150 lbs in a year and a half. I had an erosion from my band and I had to have it replaced. While waiting for the new one to be restricted I gained almost 50 lbs back. I really thought I was past the addiction too. who knows Never said mine was working fine. :eek:

I do understand what you're saying, I just think your pushing out what you personally have experienced as "the way it is" - possibly because you've not encountered that many other experiences. If I hadn't seen addiction hopping soooo many times, and in soooo many different ways, read the case studies, seen/heard the therapy sessions, etc. I might be resistant to the idea also, but for me personally -- too much evidence to think otherwise.

Ack forgive the misspells, bad grammar, etc. I don't want to wade through the tags to edit, and wasn't taking care as I typed.

Is it Friday yet?

Ok so maybe not everyone in here is addicted to food but if you look at many of the other posts here , not everyone is puking their food out and not everyone is nausaus and not everyone is having gurgling in their esophagus, then maybe no one should post anything because it might be presumptuous that everyone is going through those things. maybe the support forum should be closed because each persons problem is not everyones problem.

Not sure what left field that's coming from, but sarcasm really isn't needed. We can be adults.

There's a huge difference between posting about an issue you (generically) are having, and proposing "this is what is going to happen with the band." A world of difference.

I gurgle is much different from you will gurgle.

I have never PBed is much different than you will never PB.

Don't take it so personally that we disagree. We just have different perspectives on what's going on, that's all.

I have to agree with Wheetsin. The original post sounds very much like, "Because it happened to me, it WILL happen to you - that's just the way the band is." While that may be true for SOME people, it will not be true for ALL people. The generalities and lumping everybody into one category is discouraging (take it from a newbie). I don't want to hear sunshine, rainbows and puppies all the time - that's why I read about the complications to prepare myself for the possiblity, but it is not an eventuality. The tone of the post can be taken wrong...I think that's all that's being said.

And btw, I HAVE been addicted to food. I haven't addiction-hopped yet. I do have an addictive personality. I'm trying my best to find healthy activities to fill my time. I don't currently harbor an unhealthy addiction and I hope it stays that way.

Oreokitty...I am also doing this for myself as well as my children. My oldest daughter has been picking up my bad eating habits and I don't want her to live the life I have. I am working so hard at changing her and trying to stay positive! She is 10 and is definitely seeing the negative effects of a (small) weight problem! Girls can be so mean!

I have read and reread your post and I will say that I did not find it offensive. I have absolutely had the same issues since being banded nov 20th 07. The difference is that my md did warn of the head not changing...only the amount of food that my stomach could hold. Despite our discussions, AND that my doc required psych eval, I AM STILL STRUGGLING. I am definitely an over eater and addicted to food. I have become quite discouraged over the last two weeks. I have only lost sixteen pounds and I no longer feel restriction. I feel like I can eat almost anything...except beef. I know that it is completely MY FAULT but my addiction to food has not been conquered by my new "tool" just like I was told and knew in my head. Yhe reality of it is alltogether different. I am hoping to get a fill soon but until then, I am struggling day to day not to make bad food choices.

My point here is that I do not see that you were trying to make a generalization or say that because it happened to you that it would happen to others. What I took from the post was that "this happened to me so if you do not prepare it MAY be and obstical for someone else post op." Again, my md did tell me this over and over AND had a psych eval and I am still having the excact same experience. What I am figuring out is that I must make a choice to try and conquer this addiction and have some control. I use the website as a great place to come for support...and that is what it has been for me. I think we all will continue to stuggle with making the right choices, but we have a tool to remind us when we are going too far.

Again, I understand what your your intention was. Possibly because I am experiencing that very thing right now. I just hope that I can be as successful as you were despite my struggles now. By the way, what did you do to get past that feeling and drop 150 lbs???? PLEASE HELP!! I WANT TO BE SUCCESSFUL. My pre op wgt was 240 and currently I am 224.