am i right in thinking the only difference betwen the allergen band and the realize is the way its sutured in there? is there any other difference?

To infinity and beyond!

When I play pinochle I don't win a car either. But it's fun anyway. And I even have fun when I don't win.

When this quits being fun, I'll find someplace else to play.

MacMadam, I should have said the older band predates Michael Donovan's 2007 YouTube video. Need to give credit where credit is due. Michael is a very talented guy.

O....M.....G. NO, Isuzu, we do not need to see your pic of a Realize band inflated, because as most of us have told you, we've already seen that from our Surgeons.

By the way, as a MED STUDENT you should know that when something is inflated when nothing is inside of it, it can be triangular shaped. Yes, it looks that way. However, stomach muscle is stronger than that saline balloon. What happens when you put it around a ROUND stomach, is that the balloon rounds out also and evenly distributes the saline (or whatever fluid is in your band) throughout the tube and around your stomach. Honestly, it does not take a genius to gain this type of knowledge. It's simple, really.

So please just keep your pics of inflated Realize bands to yourself and enjoy gawking at them on your own time. We all understand and most of us with the band already know what it's all about. I would think you should be studying and not wasting your time running around here and stomping your feet like a big baby.

Isuza, I'm curious to know what medical school you attend. You originally said you were on vacation for a week, but, the week has ended and you are STILL here. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but... I thought that medical school studies were so rigorous that a med student hardly had time to eat, shower, or sleep, let alone spend time on the internet flittering away their valuable study time. You seem to post at all hours of the day. When do you attend classes? Perhaps you attend an on-line medical school or take medical school correspondence classes (if such a thing exists, I doubt it). No, my hunch is that you work for a competing lap band company and are allowed, or encouraged to spend on-the-job time slamming competing lap bands. From your postings, it is obvious that you have way way more knowledge about lap band technology than the lay person. Unfortunately, you pick and chose from the data (both recent and out-dated) which supports your hidden (or not so hidden) agenda. It's unfortunate that you didn't chose to present an accurate and balanced reporting of the recent lap-band research. Then, you really could have been a valuable source of information to the people using this site.

Wow, well, everybody here knows I'm not Isuzu and should know that I"m not somebody trying to knock your doctors or what band you used. But, after everything I've read here, Isuzu seems to be getting attacked a hell of a lot more than Isuzu has been attacking. I know it could just be anger because you don't want to hear somebody cutting down the band you received and I get that..

I got my lap band yesterday morning and I talked with my doctor about the realize band and this is how the conversation went:

Me: There is a conversation on my forums about the Realize band. Is it really triangle shaped?

Him: I just went to a bariactric conference last week and yes, it is a triangle when filled. We were all calling it a balloon on a strip and it looked like the old swede bands.

Me: is this why you don't use them?

Him: well, my biggest concern is the folds folding on the stomach, but according to that conference the results were on par with the AP bands, I just choose not to use the realize band.

So, there you go guys. I'm not here defending Isuzu, I don't know him in the slightest, nor do I care who has a better band. In the end, they seem to do the same thing, it's just some doctors are a little more cautious about them. And isuzu wasn't lying about the triangle thing. Now, did Isuzu have other intentions, I don't know.. but I sure as heck don't. And most of you on this thread have seen me post in other places. I don't have some other alterior motive here.

WHatever band you got, I'm happy for you and I hope it works well!!

I've learned by following this thread is that "you attract more bees with honey than vinegar." And it doesn't so much matter if a person offers all the hard facts in the world, but rather that they inspired trust and likeability. A person can proclaim themself the purveyor of "The Truth," but it is nasty and undigestible if they deliver it with sarcasm and criticism.

We are all creatures with emotional filters...and protective egos. We do not like being told we are stupid, that our choices are foolish, that persons we respect are morons, charlatans or worse, "whores."

We are open-minded when a person presents a point of view from a position of respectful equanimity, rather than smug superiority. Knowledge is not personal--it is universal.

We can all use our talents and generous temperaments to persuade others with a helpful, respectful intention of sharing our experiences, our studies and discoveries.

It is a very sad day when our egos get in the way or our noble intentions..

Communicating with a bitter voice of fear and negativity does not create our highest good. Look what "we" created in Iraq with those dark, dastardly threats of MWD.

We can be better than that....and this.

Best to us all!

deneicy:cool2:

WMD...not MWD...as in, duh, weapons of mass destruction. Darn dyslexic figners ~

deneicy...well said!

Me: There is a conversation on my forums about the Realize band. Is it really triangle shaped?

Him: I just went to a bariactric conference last week and yes, it is a triangle when filled. We were all calling it a balloon on a strip and it looked like the old swede bands.

Me: is this why you don't use them?

Him: well, my biggest concern is the folds folding on the stomach, but according to that conference the results were on par with the AP bands, I just choose not to use the realize band.

So, there you go guys. I'm not here defending Isuzu, I don't know him in the slightest, nor do I care who has a better band. In the end, they seem to do the same thing, it's just some doctors are a little more cautious about them. And isuzu wasn't lying about the triangle thing.

We are not arguing that the Realize band is not triangle shaped. But that's how the band is when it is filled with only air in the center...not when it is filled when wrapped around the stomach. When it is wrapped around the stomach, the fluid spreads out and becomes rounded around the stomach muscles. This has been verified by my surgeon as well. Also, it's just simple physics.

I don't see the rest of us as attacking Isuzu/redstarr (switched names halfway through the thread so as to appear as a secondary voice to his/her arguments)...I see us as trying to correct some major misconceptions this individual has. Plus the whole "I'm right and you're wrong, period."-type of statements he's putting out are just reiterating our points that this troll is nothing but a pawn for some other company to come around here and band-bash another brand name. *shrug* It's quite obvious, really.

I have lurked reading this thread since it started. I guess I'm just the quiet type. I dont put myself in the middle of too many heated debates. But I think that I needed to say that I am going to embrace my terrible triangle shaped piece of crap realize band and kick some serious a$$ losing this weight! If I have issues down the road, I guess I'll deal with them when the time comes. I feel confident that if you live by the band rules, problems will be less likely. We all knew the risks (which are the same for any kind of band) prior to surgery, right? I feel bad that this became such a heated topic. Aren't we all here to support each others weight loss?

Krista,

it was obvious that Isuzu was here to bash the realize band and all that he did, being so obvious I was surprised that folks just didn't ignore him and quit fueling him for more posts. You trust your doctors and you are all knowledgable people. Shoot, the people in this entire forum are some of the smartest and well educated people I've ever known! If everybody follows the rules with their band, then they should not have anything to worry about. I live in the Dallas area and there are TONS of awesome doctors out here and I know that several of them install both bands because they are happy with the results of both bands and I trust their decision. I'm definitely not one to say "my doctor is the best" or "my doctor is the smartest".. no way would I ever say that because there are some awesome docs out this way.

Now, about picking on isuzu.. that is everybody's perogitive, but they were doing it. I saw many picking on his schooling, on his intelligence, on many things.. they weren't out right calling him stupid or a moron, but they were bashing him in other ways, which just made it look like several were scared he was right or fueling him further.

You all trust your doctors.... so don't let anything isuzu says change your mind our doubt your band. I'm very excited to see you all do well on the realize band and I can't wait to see your numbers drop!

MAMATO3 - That is the absolute BEST attitude you could take and I applaud you! You stick to the rules and "obey the band", and you will be fine.

As with anything new, intelligent people are eager to learn. Learning includes researching, listening to the pros and cons from all available sources, determining if the pros outweigh the cons, and making a decision. In assessing the content of this thread I find:

1. The majority of the participants are banded.

2. Many of the participants have the new band and were drawn to this thread for continued learning and support.

3. Those participants who have the new band are from different areas of the country.

4. The new bands were surgically applied via a host of different surgeons.

5. People with the new bands are not experiencing any adverse effects.

6. Regardless of the type of band, you're successful if you follow the post-op diet and instructions.

Additionally, Isuzu/Redstarr...

1. Is not banded.

2. Has chosen not to respond to questions asking what medical school he/she attends, who his/her surgeon is, and when he/she is being banded.

3. Favors the newest available AP Inamed band and can find nothing positive about the new band.

4. Believes he/she is providing valuable/vital information because surgeons have no time to keep abreast of current research and rely on medical/surgical sales people.

5. Believes the new band is being used/promoted by surgeons because they get a $5,000.00 kick-back from J&J for each placement.

6. References research studies from both reliable and questionable sources.

Objectively, those are the facts. The choice of what band to get involves independent research and discussions with your surgeon. Once banded, people come to forums such as this to share, ask questions, and feel supported for the purpose of being successful. While I do not have the new band (I'm an old bandster with an old band - lol), I am interested in hearing the experiences of those who have the new band and learning from them. This is a valuable thread and I would encourage the participants in it to use the "ignore" button if they desire to not read what one or more people post and continue to share their successes with ALL the bands.

The problem with hitting the ignore button is that I would no longer be humored by certain posters...

...and I can speak for myself when I say that none of this is angering me in the least...it's pure entertainment. It doesn't take much for me to have fun.

I don't see the rest of us as attacking Isuzu/redstarr (switched names halfway through the thread so as to appear as a secondary voice to his/her arguments)...I see us as trying to correct some major misconceptions this individual has. Plus the whole "I'm right and you're wrong, period."-type of statements he's putting out are just reiterating our points that this troll is nothing but a pawn for some other company to come around here and band-bash another brand name. *shrug* It's quite obvious, really.

Whoa... that's not fair. I didn't like the "moron" statements and such either but do you have anything to defend your claim that Isuzu was trying to be deceptive about identity? NOWHERE does s/he do that. That poster never attempted to pretend they were someone they were not. People change IDs here all the darn time and there are MANY good reasons for doing that.

You believe Isuzu has misconceptions about the band, they believe you have misconceptions about the band. I have seen the band, I have seen the band surgically placed. As for the triangular shape the more full the band is, the more it bends to a triangle. I don't see how this is much different from the bubbles in the Inamed band. So what? Who cares if the darn thing bends? If you want to talk physics then you need to remember that the outside of the bubble part of the band does not shrink as it grows tighter around a rounded surface so it SHOULD bend a bit.

If you don't like the info presented, don't read it. Simple. But it's really not fair to make claims about changing IDs when the writing style has not changed one bit, there has been NO effort to be deceptive about who they are, the opinions are exactly the same... there is simply nothing to support your theory on an ID change. There is nothing to support this person is being paid to write about this band, if a person is going to be banded I would hope they have strong opinions about which product they will have implanted in their body. If a company was going to hire someone to write about their product does it make an ounce of sense to have someone like Isuzu write about it? Is writing their forte? Of course not.

Presentation isn't my thing either, I am a horrible writer. I can try to flower it up and it doesn't work but my information is very good. People can choose to read it or not, it's their choice. Most banded folks want the facts more than the want the facts flowered up. There is just too much information we all need to learn to choose banding and maintain a band to worry about if someone was nice or not in presentation.

If presentation is that important to you, block all the people who bottom line their thoughts and stick to those that have more refined writing styles. But you never know what kind of info you might be passing up because you want everything nice and pretty.

And Elisabeth... not giving out details of schools and other personal information is the right thing to do. Many tend to give out wayyyy too much information on line. I'd like to see more people giving out less information. I don't have photos posted for a reason, I don't wanna. That's my reason and it's a good one. Internet privacy is not a horror.

Thanks Elisabeth for your post. Very elegantly stated as was Deneicy's.

I didn't come here to slam anyone, and don't believe I did. I came to this post because even though I'm post op w/the Small AP Band - I have a brother that was recommended the Realize band in another state. He's asked me questions, and quite frankly - I had none. I saw this thread as something to gain information from , it was a rambling infomercial w/a really low budget in my view.

I'm not here to "egg" the drama, nor should I use an Ignore feature...All this Poster / he or she / has done was send me out to be more diligent in my understanding of this band by reading as much as possible ** outside of wikipedia**.

Lulu