I just got banded on Dec.29th and so far it has been a horrible experience. :thumbup:

I have not lost even one pound. Instead, I’ve actually gained 6 !!! I am sooo disappointed… My Dr did not put any saline in my band during surgery. He asked me to return in 2 weeks to see if it was time for my 1st fill. I did, and he noticed some redness around the incisions, which made him decide to prescribe antibiotics and ask me to return in another 2 weeks. When I did he finally filled my band with one cc…Then 2 weeks later, that was last Thursday 02/12, he applied one more cc, bringing the total up to 2… Last weekend we went to celebrate a friend’s B-Day at a restaurant. I thought I was eating slowly until all of a sudden I started getting the hiccups, and feeling “clogged up”. It was painful, and embarrassing! I had to leave the table, but neither the walking nor drinking a little water helped. It took me at least half an hour to be able to go back inside, and by that time everyone was worried, and I had probably ruined the evening for most

What I’m about to ask may sound disgusting, but I’m going to anyway: How can I make myself throw up when needed???!!!!

A lot of you talk about it being so easy…. Someone says on one of her posts: “Once you get the band, it is INCREDIBLY easy to make yourself vomit. As she put it, even insanely easy...” And someone else wrote: “Having the band has made it sooo sooo easy for me to throw up... I have found myself wanting to eat more than I can handle so I'd go and throw up what I had already eaten just to be able to continue eating more of my food. Or sometimes I will find myself beyond my full point where I have ignored my full signs and taken one more bite only to get that stuck feeling, and then have to go PB to relieve it.”

I don’t ever want to be in that situation again… I wish I had been able to run to the bathroom in the restaurant and quickly gotten rid of whatever it was I had eaten in a hurry, I guess, and not chewed enough…But at this point, today, I feel I have made the worst mistake in my entire life by getting a lap-band.

By the way, are there any reasons/situations where a patient could ask their physician to remove the band after only a few months? Would that be feasible, or am I stuck with this thing for years to come. HELP GUYS!

Ugh.. I know how you feel, things are very hard to learn with the band. I do not think it is easy to get sick I think it is actually kinda hard to get up. My weight loss is not going so well either. My ??? is how do you stay away from all of the bad foods. I mean it is a addiction how do you turn from it.. It will get better for you I am sure you just have some restriction with your band. I am not sure how you would go about getting it taken out. If they took all of the fluid out then you will not have any restriction.. Things would feel like normal. Hope I helped a little take care

Not only will most doctors NOT put anything in your band during surgery, you usually have to wait at least 4 weeks before they will put something in it. You need that 4 weeks to heal and usually you are on clear liquids for a week, following surgery, then a week of liquids, then a week of "mushy" food, and finally a week of "real" food.

Personally, I think you need to give yourself time to get used to the lifestyle change that is lap band surgery. There is SO much change that is involved in a persons life when they get banded, and the changes that take place with how to eat are just the beginning. The "real" changes occur in your head. You have to totally retrain yourself and your way of thinking. For those of us, like me, who was a "food addict", you have to figure out how your going to live your life and deal with your problems without "using" food. It's tough, I'm not going to lie, but it is something you can do; it just depends on how badly you want it.

If you really want to have the band taken out, I'm sure you can, but you certainly shouldn't have a problem getting the saline taken out. That would allow you to eat like you were in the past.

Think about what you want to do, and don't act in haste. As trite as it may sound; the band is ONLY a tool.

Best wishes,

Wendy

Wendy is right, most surgeon do not put the band in with fluid. She is also right that most docs don't allow fills for 4-6 weeks after surgery. Every doc is different. I'm not saying he is wrong.

As far as throwing up.....uh, I haven't found it is "easy". I have only been stuck once and it took like 90 minuts for it to pass. Throwing up or PBing as some call it just kept happening trying to fix the problem. It wasn't really throwing up. If people are making themselves throw up then I hope they don't have the problems with the band they are asking for. Vomiting is a real good way to get band slippage.

So you are about 6 weeks out. How long have you been working out? How much? How is your food log going? How many calories have you been getting? Have you cut out bread, pasta, rice and potatoes? They aren't healthy and sabatoge your weight loss on many differnt levels. They are the foods most likey to get stuck. They are most likely to form a gummy ball in your pouch. They will spike your glucose levels forcing insulin to be released and then causing cravings. Are you staying away from all liquid calories? I posted my guidelines here. Here it is in case you don't want to go looking for it. I hope you'll look through my blog to see some of the things I have learned.

Here are the guidelines:

Guidelines:

• No liquid calories [except 2 servings of non fat milk (2 x 8 oz = 16 oz/day)] (16 grams of protein)

• No soft foods

• Two 3-4 ounce servings of protein/day (2 X 21-28 = 42-56 grams of protein) I have been getting about 80-120 a day.

• Always eat the protein first, then the vegetables

• Avoid bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other starchy foods

• 20-25 grams of fiber a day (Examples: bran cereal, fruits, vegetables, beans)

• Eat only three small meals a day with maybe one small planned snack

• Eat slowly and chew thoroughly

• Stop eating as soon as you feel full

• Do not drink while you are eating (This is the hardest for me.)

• Do not eat between meals except for a planned snack

• Eat only good quality foods

• Avoid tough stringy foods

• Drink plenty of liquids during the day (48-64 ounces) between meals

• Drink only low calorie liquids

• Exercise at least 30 minutes per day (I have to still work on how to fit this into my full time mom/wife, full time work, full time student day.)

Your surgeon may have different guidelines

Um...what they said (couldn't say it any better):-)

Just wanted to add one thing from a pre-bander perspective. I know there's going to be a long period after banding that they call "bandster hell"...no restriction, can't eat much or you'll stretch the pouch, wickedly hungry, might even gain weight...there's no "tool" to help during this period, it's all up to you. It didn't take much reading here to figure this out. I'm being banded by early May and although it might be sooner, I'm not counting on my band to really help/get to the 'sweet spot' until the holidays (for some it's a year of fills/unfills). There's also a lot of info. here on how to avoid PB's as much as you can. I just think you need to re-look at your expectations for when/what the LB will do for you. You've got a great opportunity to make some changes that you've obviously wanted. The tool is in you and with some patience and hard work you CAN get the results. Good luck. -BG