Hi! I'm (obviously) new here. Anyhow, I'm from the Philippines and I'm going to be banded on May 11, 2009. My surgeon is Dr. Rey Santos and I think he's going to perform the surgery with 4 other surgeons.

I've actually had a chat with my surgeon already and have already raised my questions and concerns (mostly drawn from reading the posts here. Hehe). Admittedly, after reading the Complications section, I'm still a bit afraid of what can happen post-op. But, I'm really trying my best to stay positive. I really want to become healthy.

So, just a little background info. I'm 22 years old and my BMI is currently at 41. Since I'm Asian, I am most definitely morbidly obese (35 is the cut-off for us) I'm at my heaviest right now at 257 pounds. I'm 5'6 and I'm an incoming 2nd year medical student.

Fortunately, I don't have any complications from being obese. My lipid profile is normal, no diabetes (no family history either plus my blood sugar is usually around 80s to 90s), no hypertension, no PCOS, no chest pains, some slight insulin resistance, etc. The only thing that's really bugging me right now is that my ankles hurt sometimes. Actually, when they started acting up, that was the time I really started to worry and considered Lap-Band.

Ever since I was three years old, I've been overweight. I tried to lose weight when I was 14 years old and enrolled myself in a gym that summer. I lost 30 pounds that time and from 210, reached 180. But I gained the pounds I lost eventually and then some. After that, I still worked out every summer but I wasn't able to lose as much before. I tried cardioboxing too, South Beach Diet, Sibutramine and even Orlistat (yeeech). All of them helped decrease my weight but not significantly. And I gained them all back eventually. I had two nutritionists but they weren't able to help as much.

So there. That's basically the story of my battle with obesity. I'm sorry if it's so long. Haha. I have this tendency to overshare information.

You guys are really supportive and I'm really glad to have found this community. I hope I'll get to know all of you more. :thumbup:

Welcome and congrats on the start of a happier and heathier you.

While reading about the complications some people experience can be scary, please remember that the overall rate of complications for lap band is .01%. And most complications are simple ones. Just believe that you won't be a part of that very small statistic and keep working toward your goal!

Wow! Thanks for the welcome and for the encouragement. I really hope I can do this. :rolleyes2:

Hi Chubisco,

Your profile sounds very familiar. Chubby by age 3, diets and exercise as a child, teenager and adult and still gaining. This will be so good for us and finally stop the spiralling out of control. I will be banded in May as well. Yay!

Hey chubisco, I just want to invite you to post for our Filipino kababayans. I created a local support group. You will find the Philippines Local Support by clicking:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f77/philippines-local-lap-band-support-93321/

or by going to the Local Lab-Band Support Forum --> Elsewhere Local Support Group ----> Philippines Local Support Group.

Thank you! Ingat!