Ok, this may sound like a dumb question, but I never quite understood this so here it goes! Does the Lapband cause us not not to be hungry ( on another site someone said the band pushes on the vagus(sp?) which causes loss of appetite ) Or does it just simply cause you to be full?

I really don't get it! I get how it implanted, adjusted, how it could slip, but this has got me stumped! Any info would be greatly appreciated!

It does both. It does sit on the vagus nerve which is the nerve that tells your brain that you are full. When you have good restriction, you feel full with a small amount of food. Also, you don't get as hungry as fast.

I hope that helps.

I'm not disagreeing with ATD, and I know the vagus nerve does impact appetite.....but I would question exactly how much the vagal pressure comes into play with the band. I know that the heart is one of the most vagal-sensitive organs on that nerve pathway (from my time as a respiratory therapist, I have seen many times vagal stimulation slow down heart rate considerably). I'd think if the band exerted much pressure on the vagus, we'd be seeing a lot more funky cardiac stuff. However, I'm NOT a doctor, could be dead wrong about this, and am a dumbass 95% of the time. The area of the vagal nerve that affects the stomach could be distal enough to the heart where you wouldn't get much cardiac effect, so......back to where we started.

I've wondered myself about this considerably, and just had to throw this opinion out (hey, it's worth what you paid for it....LOL).

It does do both, but for me, the main effect is quick fullness. Early on it caused me to be not hungry at all, for quite a long time but over time that effect did wane somewhat, but its hard to know becuase I cant take the band off for a day to check. Perhaps I just got used to it and perhaps I've forgotten what my appetite was like? I dont know. But I do get hungry quite normally now, like it gets near lunch time and I feel physically hungry. If I dont eat a lot during the day when I'm busy, by 4pm I am starving. I dont consider that problematic, I'm hungry so I eat. That's what normal people do. What I dont do any more is think I'm hungry and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and then think Oh well, I've blown it today I'll start again tomorrow and then eat some more. I have a cup of coffee and an apple for a snack and then I'm fine till several hours later when its dinner time type of thing.

It helps is all I know, but i have a normal appetite and a normal interest in food 3 years down the track, meaning sometimes i do have to fight head hunger.

I do know though that when I have an 1800 calorie day I feel like I've pigged out whereas once I would have felt like my throat had been cut!

Edited May 23, 200818 yr by Jachut

My surgeon explained it much like AthinnerDenise did.

The Vagus nerve is on the top portion of the stomach, it is like a sensor that detects when our stomach is full. When we fill our stomach to the top, the food reaches this nerve and the nerve sends a message to our brain that we are full. Without a band we have to put a lot more food into our stomach before it is full and triggers this nerve. But since the band is placed on the top portion of our stomach, we eat a lot less before the food triggers this nerve.

The band also holds the food in that upper portion longer so have that full feeling longer. With the band, since it takes less food to get the "full" message, it takes less time to fill your stomach so you get full faster than without the band.

Edited May 23, 200818 yr by Jodi_620

I know that the heart is one of the most vagal-sensitive organs on that nerve pathway (from my time as a respiratory therapist, I have seen many times vagal stimulation slow down heart rate considerably). I'd think if the band exerted much pressure on the vagus, we'd be seeing a lot more funky cardiac stuff.

There have been people who reported passing out after getting a fill and their doctor explained it as a vagus nerve issue. So it does happen.

Thanks you guys for answering my question! It seems much clearer now!

You will not be as hungry and you will get full faster once you have good restriction. Often times it takes many fills and months to go by before you reach optimal restriction. Good luck.

Both! When you are at the right level of restriction you get full on a small amount of food and stay full until it is time for the next meal. I often still feel full when I wake up in the morning, and I eat dinner at 6 pm.

Isn't it great?!

The important thing to remember is that the feeling won't last until you get close to goal. That's the reason we keep going back for fills.

Wendall Edward's post about how the band works, fills and unfills

explains it very well. It's a sticky on the main part of the board.

The band gets looser as we lose fat around our stomach and we need another fill, until most of the fat is just plain gone!