WASaBubbleButt

You bet I'm an advocate of Mexico for surgery as an option, BUT... you have do your research. Painting an entire country with a wide paint brush is not wise. Making it seem as though one cannot obtain a safe surgery out of the country is simply wrong. I don't care if you have surgery in the US, Mexico, or anywhere else. Research is critical. Sometimes you can go to the best surgeon and stuff still happens. It isn't the surgeons fault, it just happens and nobody knows why something goes wrong. I don't know what surgeon you went to and I'm sorry for the problems you have had with your band. But to make it seem as though YOU had a bad experience thus everyone else will too, is simply incorrect. For every example you give of a bad Mexico experience I can give you an equal example of a bad US experience. Read about all the recent infections, they are from the US. MRSA travels through US hospitals like a cold virus. To say that anyone who advocates Mexico as an option for surgery is not telling the truth... that's a flat out lie. Making it sound like the only way to have a safe surgery is having it in the US is indeed, a lie. I am the first one to discuss why some docs are not great in the US and Mexico. I get hammered for it all the time by patients who believe their doc is the best of the best. They come up with new IDs to bash and slam. Want examples? I'll give you links because we have caught them with their fake IDs. I'm to the point that I don't trust anyone anymore, I think far too many people have fake IDs. I'm the first one to warn someone of the bad docs, I spent a great deal of time showing people how to start their research so they would avoid the bad docs. But I'm not about to sit here and say that just because it's not done in the US it can't be safe. That simply isn't true. Perhaps I would be biased too if I went through what you did. But at some point we have to get realistic and warn people of the SPECIFIC docs that are bad. The alternative is to let them go to a bad US doc so at least their infection will be from the good 'ol USA. Would that make it better when they lose their band? Let's spread the word about the bad docs. To say an entire country is bad isn't even realistic. There are some docs that are "okay" but they have poor stats. You won't come home with an infection but your band might be placed wrong. Or you'll stand a better than average chance of erosion. Or maybe their after care education is so poor people don't even know they should be on a post op diet. Let's show people how to research BOTH in the US and Mexico. Let's show them how to verify the stats, verify claims of experience. An infection isn't better because it came from the US. There are absolutely horrible docs in Mexico. Well, there are horrible docs in the US as well. Warning people about a country isn't helping. Warning them about specific docs is critical.

The band is a lifestyle change. The compulsion to overeat will ALWAYS be there, it does not magically go away. Many of the harder issues get easier with time but this is why it is said time and time again, this is a LIFESTYLE change. Not a temporary fix, not a bandage on a gunshot wound. Either we are in this for life or we aren't. That goes with any weight loss surgery. Sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to remind them that excuses are just that. Excuses. If you want it badly enough the band gives you the opportunity to have what we can't without it. Weight loss.

There was a quote in a previous post that is still eating at me and I'm going for it. Those are luxuries. How many people work full time, maybe two full time jobs and they don't have all the above? Damn straight those items should be considered for welfare folks. Many who work have few/none of the above. Yet they are paying taxes so others can have it. You really don't see a problem with this picture? If you don't have insurance on your car, don't drive. Plain and simple. It's against the law to drive a car without insurance. It's people who drive without insurance, get in accidents, don't pay their own damages, and the rest of us have to pay their share as well. Welfare is not a right. I don't even believe it should be something offered long term. My idea of welfare is to give people a bit of help and then give them a certain amount of time to pay it back. The days of the rest of the world owing others a living are coming to an end. People are fed up, they aren't taking it anymore. I suspect there will come a time when those paying the bills will band together and finally change things. People will have to start working, supporting themselves. Can't do it? Find a family member who will support you, your church, your friends. But the taxpayers are sick of it. If I have to pay taxes for welfare I'd MUCH prefer to help the working poor. I'm all for helping people out when they are down and out. But the system is set up to be taken advantage of. People who really do need it don't get it or don't get enough while people fully able to work or live with someone who should be supporting them get it instead. Yes, the above are luxuries and they are not something you have a right to. A car, a phone, etc... those are not necessary for survival. People who do not work do not deserve those items more than someone who works and pays taxes. I see a serious problem with the "give me" mentality and that is what is going to piss off enough tax payers to actually do something about the welfare mentality of the world owing people a living. But, some people really believe the world owes them. They are the people that will be the least prepared when the freebie dollars come to an end.

Honestly, I don't think I'd be doing you any favors if I didn't point out a few things here. You can find a fill doc. They exist, sometimes you have to travel but they exist. If you are around your family and you are gaining, you are putting the wrong foods in your mouth. Polish means food? So does Italian, so does Mexican, so does German, so does the rest of the world. It isn't up to your family to determine what you put in your mouth. It is not up to your husband to decide what to put in your mouth. You do not require his support to determine what to put in your mouth. Even if your husband likes you fat it is not up to him to determine what you put in your mouth. I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh but we take responsibility for our own lives, our own weight loss, and our own food choices. Do family make it easy for us? Not always. It's still our responsibility to take care of ourselves. Your sister did your fill... is she trained in port fills? Did she use a huber needle? Look at it this way, today is a new day. You are back on track, today you make good choices, you get out there and exercise, and you lose your excess weight. That's the beauty of the band, you start any 'ol day you want. So today is the day! Back to band basics. Solid Proteins first, veggies next, cut out all white carbs. You don't need them anyway. Get your carbs from better sources. Exercise AT LEAST 30 minutes daily, increase your time gradually. Make a choice that this is for YOU and nobody else. Get out there and get it done! You know you can, you've done it before. This is not impossible, you have already taught yourself that. I know how easy it is to put on weight. A pound here and a pound there, you put off taking it off... it's all very easy to do. Well, you KNOW you can lose weight so do it. We are your support system, we will hold you accountable if you choose. Get a ticker for your goal weight and get an exercise ticker. YOU CAN DO THIS!

I get frustrated with something different.... "Today is day #1 of my liquid diet and I'm STARRRRVING and I cheated!" One day of liquids? What will happen in the post op phase? Or... "I was banded yesterday and today I ate ham, got stuck, and now I can't keep Water down." Hellooo? The diets are there for a reason. Then we have: "I was banded a week ago and the pain was worse than childbirth!" Oh please... I hate the drama.

Usually I would agree with you but then there are those who say something extremely inappropriate and justify it as a joke. A slam is a slam is a slam.

I take it your doc does not have a great deal of experience with banding?

Which surgeon did you go to? Why didn't you just use your old ID vs. coming up with a new one?

Did you start eating solids too soon after surgery? If so that is the only reason I am aware of the pouch would have to be surgically corrected. Otherwise the standard treatment is to unfill you and you go on liquids for about 3 weeks. It can and should go back into normal position but not without the liquids. Solids keep food in your pouch and don't allow it to go back into normal position nearly as easily. If you ate solids too soon after surgery it can potentially push your pouch down and when the adhesions form it holds your pouch in a dilated (or stretched) position. Correction would be to surgically remove the adhesions, put your pouch in the right position, go back on the post op diet and let adhesions form with a normal pouch. It's more likely that it's just dilated and an unfill and liquids for a few weeks is what is standard. Has your band surgeon done many bands?

That's not bypass, that's a sleeve procedure. This makes no sense, you can eat around the sleeve EXACTLY the same way you eat around a band. If you can't get a game plan going with the band, you won't get a game plan going with the sleeve. You are essentially making your banded pouch permanent. So what is the difference here? Instead of looking at why the band isn't working maybe the key here is to look at why you aren't working. I'd hate to see you go through a drastic and invasive procedure to find out that you still have to watch what goes in your mouth and how much you exercise. What if you get appropriate restriction to start off with. Not too tight and not too loose. Either way you can gain weight. Then get your diet in order. Solid Proteins first, then veggies, then carbs. No snacking, wise food choices, up your Protein to 60gms daily, no drinking with meals, and a good exercise program. You'll have to do the same thing with a sleeve procedure so why wait for drastic surgery to do what you'll have to do anyway? If your doc did a survey of his patients and it differs that much from global surveys perhaps it is him instead of his patients. If your band was too tight for six months then there was six months shot down. I understand the stress of your husband but it's time to get back on track and take care of yourself. If exercise is painful then try Water aerobics, chair exercises, etc. But get out there and move.

No, it's not Inamed that is lying. I called Allergan (Don Mills) after reading your post because I knew you were providing incorrect info and he said Dr. Aceves has been one of their proctor surgeons for several years. He's gone all over the world training other docs in the Inamed band and teaching them to place it as well as other docs going to Mexicali where he trains them. Here we go again with someone creating an ID just to post incorrect information about another doctor. Two of two posts are providing incorrect info about a doc. Rumbaut is not the only Mexican surgeon that is a proctor considering it was the Mexican surgeons who trained the US surgeons when the band was first approved in the US by the FDA. Ortiz and Rodriguez are also proctor surgeons but when YOU called they claimed only Rumbaut was a proctor? Don't people feel their doc can do their own advertising without posting wrong info about others?

Ever read people talking about writing on their stomachs: NO BYPASS - BAND ONLY!! They do it for a reason. Mistakes happen everywhere. Humans are doing the surgery and humans make mistakes. Just because someone is from Mexico does not mean they are going to make mistakes and just because someone is from the US does not mean they won't make mistakes. Research your doctor regardless of country.

I agree. I'm always suspect when a newbie comes here just to trash a given issue or topic. A whole country is another situation completely. :eek: You know, medical malpractice premiums in the US are expensive for a reason. Medical malpractice is used quite often. Sometimes it's legit, sometimes it's not. But this person makes it sound like it is impossible to have safe surgery in Mexico and impossible to have an unsafe surgery in the US and that is just dead wrong.

After 18 months to 5 years your intestinal tissue will begin to regrow after bypass and you'll be able to absorb fat and calories once again. But, you'll never absorb nutrition normally again. Did the doc mention that? :eek: There are tons of people here that have 200+ pounds to lose and they are doing quite well. Yep, you probably will be hungry after surgery, regardless of which procedure you get you'll be on a post op diet. Doesn't matter if it is bypass or banding, you'll be hungry on the post op diet. There are things you can do to make it MUCH better such as cutting out ALL white carbs as that will mess with your blood sugar and make you hungry. Bumping up Protein, those kinds of things. But don't base surgery on which post op diet you'll be on because it will be about the same regardless of procedure. After the post op diet you'll get restriction and hunger will be much less of an issue. The thing about banding is that it is the kind of "hard" we fatties can do. While I am at goal I think I will always have the 'fat' mentality so I deal with it. But even today I doubt I could maintain my weight loss without my band. Banding is hard, no way around that. All the WLS are hard. But THIS is the kind of hard WE can do. Big difference between that and traditional diet and exercise.

Did he show you that within 18 months to 5 years your intestinal tissue will begin to regrow and you'll absorb fat and calories again, you'll never absorb nutrition the same, and you'll be left with diet and exercise? No, you are not beyond the time where the band is going to work. That's what's great about the band. But you can't just sit and wait for the band to do all the work. Regardless of which surgery you have, you have to do your part. You can eat around any of the procedures. You have to start doing your part.

AArrrgggghhhhhhh...... http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f78/what-do-when-something-stuck-32615/#post622337

You are on liquids now and you ate ham? The day after surgery??? This is not good at all. The post op diet sets the tone for the life of the band. You are not doing yourself any favors by not following the diet. Not only are you too swollen to eat solids but doing so can prevent the adhesions from forming around the band. It's the adhesions that hold the band in place long term, not the sutures. You can do a great deal of harm eating just one bite of ham.

Oh Lord... here we go again. Are you suggesting these things never happen in the US? If so, you are sadly mistaken. You can go to a doc in the US or Mexico and if you don't do your research the results can be horrifying. The better docs in Mexico did not get the reps they have by killing people and doing unnecessary surgery. They have been doing the band much longer than most US docs. I believe it is you that needs to do your research vs. making claims that you cannot defend. I could say EXACTLY the same as you about US docs and hospitals and it would be true. Amazingly, the US is not better about everything and we are not better people just because we are from the US. Other countries have survived quite well on their medical care within their own country. You are attempting to frighten people with the same information as yellow journalism. Making sweeping accusations that quite frankly, are not true.

It's not giving out private info if he ends up telling us he did not operate on a "vicky" on 10/1. Nothing wrong with that in the least.

It can be an irritant to your stoma, same with coffee. It isn't for everyone, but it can be. If you are used to consuming it on a regular basis it really won't dehydrate you. If you are not used to consuming it, it can dehydrate you. Each surgeon goes by different guidelines.

Go to Yahoo!. You'll have to create a yahoo account if you don't have one, I think. Then click on "group" then search for "Dr Aceves Bandsters". It's mostly Dr. A patients.

I don't understand, if your restriction has never been good why do you have soft food syndrome?

The gas pains are usually immediately after surgery from the gas used to blow up your belly during surgery. Some people have shoulder pain from over eating. You could have gallbladder problems, nerve irritation, a slip, erosion, all kinds of possibilities. Everything from something minor to something not so minor. Is your restriction different? Has it changed drastically for no apparent reason? Do you have pain elsewhere?

FlaLMT... Are you posting on Dr. A's message board yet? It's a yahoo egroup. If not, you should! I post there regularly.

If the table is only certified for 420lbs and you are over that, the hospital won't permit her to do your surgery there. Look at it this way, the larger you are the more potential complications. You have to do a liver shrinking diet anyway and the larger you are the faster you lose. So maybe consider low carb, low fat, adequate Protein. That won't leave you starving, you'll lose weight well and it will do wonders for your liver.