WASaBubbleButt

HA! I was so hoping you would see this page of this thread. I'll write it again, I heart HH. I'm still giggling over the gold nuggets comment elsewhere. ;o)

What was the final outcome? Did you get the diagnostics done?

Might want to read this, it's from the ASMBS: Medical News: ASMBS: Gastric Banding Less Effective than Other Procedures - in Meeting Coverage, ASMBS from MedPage Today

I have done the research, quite a bit. Matter of fact I read studies on a daily basis. You are making claims that even the band manufacturer does not make. Depends on which study you are referring to. I haven't read a single peer reviewed study that shows this to be correct. I am aware of that. I got to goal with the band. Yes, the actual surgery is safer than a sleeve, for example by about 0.5%. Long term.. no, it most certainly is not. I never claimed it was. Repeatedly I have said the SLEEVE is safer long term. I don't believe I mentioned gastric bypass. What the heck are you talking about? Where do you get all this misinformation? It's not often I find a post with soooo much incorrect data. The sleeve is proven to be more effective than the band. Now, 25 years ago that might have been the case because 25 years ago they were using a bigger bougie but back then it wasn't meant to be a final WLS type. Today they are using a 32F and it most certainly has not been proven ineffective and that surgery type is the fastest growing WLS type today. Actually, I am at goal and have been for 1.5 years. Are you at goal? How is your weight loss? I'm a nurse, I am well aware of risks and complications. I have had the band and the sleeve so I have a pretty good idea of what reality is here. I totally blame the product. 100% I blame the product in my case. Okay, prove it. You have repeated time and time again that the band is the most effective WLS tool today. Show me the peer reviewed studies showing that the band is more effective than DS. I really do wish you would quit lecturing me on how to lose weight. I am at goal, I got to goal in 10 months even having mega problems with the band. I've maintained my weight loss since that time. How is YOUR weight loss?

It is not accurate to say that the band is the most effective and safest thing on the market. It is well known and demonstrated in countless studies (including band makers studies) that the lap band is the least effective surgery type for WLS. It is the safest actual surgical procedure but it is not the safest surgery long term. The band might be the best way for you to go, but not everyone feels the same.

The band is the safest actual surgery, but LONG TERM, the sleeve is the safest procedure. The sleeve carries less than 0.5% risk over the band, but long term the sleeve is the safest surgery hands down. Something to consider and especially for those self pay. The band is most certainly NOT the most effective surgery. It has the lowest weight loss stats and the slowest weight loss stats with the highest regain of ALL surgical WLS procedures. You are not being even a little bit honest. Complications... another dishonest statement on your part. The sleeve shows the fewest long term complications and better and faster weight loss. You need to do some serious research before posting nonsense. Totally agree with your post. Those that say otherwise are in denial.

Oh my, where to begin. If there is a problem with the sleeve, (IOW, if restrictive alone does not work JUST like the band) then one can revise to RNY or DS. Education, it's a good thing. It's not on Google Cache. Funny how that works with drug companies that have unlimted pockets.

You may believe that what you are writing is fact but the reality is that what HH is writing is indeed fact. I don't feel sorry for HH, I respect him. I totally understand what you are writing. I get it, 100%. But reality is what it is. You are looking at this like a rational person. Maybe the band will be the magic maker for you, it could well be! You have a band, embrace and enjoy it.

Gold nuggets? ;o)))))) <snark> Hey! When are you going to call me?? (Hands on hips, stern look, giving HH the evil eye...)

HH is kinda right and kinda wrong about border towns. The US gov't is not warning about ALL of them, just specific cities. Tijuana and Juarez are two of the most dangerous cities in the world right now. Mexicali is fine. You know what kills me is that the TJ doctors have body guards. Who is guarding their patients?

i can't give you Inamed's stats, they removed them. They posted this study and the study on their 5 year (US) weight loss. It didn't turn out as good as they hoped, obviously. They took them down. I kept the links but the links are no good anymore, they went back to the old wording instead of posting the actual numbers. (And I think that's a crock, btw... they should be posting numbers not comparisons.) Yeah, I said I'd never do anything else if I removed my band but once you bust your butt to get to goal and you know darn well without some tool you aren't going to maintain that loss, you'll do just about anything. I didn't go through all that banding stuff and weight loss for nothing. I want to maintain.

HAHA I used to say that too! When you are a noob you are all about reversible. When you get to goal you are all about permanent. ;o)

This was from Inamed. They had it posted on their website for a short time along with weight loss stats. Then they took all the numbers and studies down and went back to saying weight loss is the same as bypass.

I could never suggest banding for a self pay person. The maintenance can be extremely expensive. I really don't know how many thousands of dollars I spent trying to maintain my band with all the complications and problems. There are studies that are showing that anywhere from 30-50% of banded people will be back in OR within the first five years to correct something band related. Slip, erosion, mechanical problem, etc. The band manufacturers and FDA are estimating about 10 years for the band although I have never met anyone that has had a band for 10 years. Longest I have met is 9 years and she was asking me about revising to another procedure. The silicone in the band will last longer than you will, the plastic components.. well, it's plastic. Because you are self pay I would look at the sleeve. Better and faster weight loss, NO maintenance! Fewer long term complications than the band, no mega supplements, no rerouting of intestine, no hunger causing hormone-Ghrelin, and an easier journey all the way around.

There was a study that came out about a year ago that shows the anatomical changes of the band cause reflux. It is really important to find a drug or a combo of drugs that treat this because it can lead to barretts esophagus.

Well, there is nothing helpful about all the wrong information that was posted. When someone who doesn't know their head from their elbow is insisting she is right about a procedure she does not have and knows nothing about is insisting and demanding she is right, what is a person to do? She didn't just write it once, even after she was corrected she kept stomping those feeties demanding she was right and she wasn't. HH had the correct info. Period.

Sometimes HH's advice is hard to hear. He is really REALLY up front and in your face. Not everyone is ready for that. It does not take away the fact that he is right. He doesn't sugar coat things. Neither do I. I am blunt and "this is how it is" kinda attitude. HH is more blunt than me. Amazing, yet true. ;o) This doesn't make him wrong. It makes his delivery style right there, deal with it or don't. HH has been where you are. He has progressed beyond that point. (except that he does not respond to his darned EMAIL!) He does care whether you prefer to admit it or not.

I fully agree about HH. Everything you write about him... on the money! He rubs people the wrong way but he does so because he's right. I heart HH. Now... if he would just read he darn EMAIL! Grrrrrrr

I never wrote that. Not sure where you got that from as nobody here wrote that. What I did write was that if you are so sensitive that strangers on a message board can make you feel... how did you explain? Dehumanized, maybe message boards aren't your thing. That's a pretty strong feeling for a message board to cause you to feel.

Posts on a public message board by people you do not know make you feel dehumanized? Really? Message boards are what they are. You take what works for you and leave the rest. If you are that sensitive maybe message boards just aren't your thing?

I really wish you would stop doing this. You are frightening people and in reality there is nowhere near enough information from that post to diagnose a slip. She's gaining weight so she's keeping some food down. We do not know what she is eating, perhaps stress in her life from no insurance coverage for her band is causing her to be too tight, there is just no way there is enough information in that post for you to jump to a slip. AGAIN... every surgeon sews the band into place. If they didn't it would be a great reason for medical malpractice. It would be like giving someone an injection and forgetting to fill the syringe with the drug.

You did ask for the tough love part, right? ;o) I'm going to copy/paste something from my blog on another site. It was originally a post to a person asking for a butt kicking. I'm going to get hammered for writing this but that has never stopped me before. ;o) You know these people that eat pizza and tacos a few days after surgery and they come to the boards asking if they just messed up? You know those people that pat them on the head, tell them it's okay, and to "try" to do better tomorrow? Yeah, I'm not one of those people. I tell them to knock it off, they are risking their band and why? For a lousy taco?? Are they serious? I don't suggest they TRY to do better the next day, I tell them to DO better right now. I think we often times don't give ourselves enough credit. We think we are weak willed and powerless over the world. That simply isn't true. We have been living a life of fat for many years. You tell me the weak willed and powerless can do that, I won't believe you. Being fat in today's society is no easy task. It's really damned hard. Yet we survive it and if we can survive that, we can survive passing up a donut. Let's face it, it is much easier to pass up a donut than it is to have to buy two airlines seats because our butts are too big for one seat. It's much easier to pass up a single donut than it is to face ourselves in the mirror of Lane Giant after realizing we are yet... a bigger size than the last time we were there. We face humiliation and embarrassment every single day just due to our size. I think sometimes we tend to get used to it and forget that humiliation and embarrassment are NOT normal and a part of life. We also pretend it does not hurt as much as it does. I'm not trying to be a skank about this but you know, WLS is our last shot at WL. This is a big deal, we have choices and too many times we are all making the wrong ones. I don't eat a lot of junk because I don't need it. Neither do you. I disagree with those that say ANYTHING in moderation is okay. The reason I disagree is because ALL of us did not get fat because we can do moderation well. With a band or any WLS our caloric intake is cut drastically and we need every calorie for food we actually need and use. The only thing cake, Pasta, or crap food will do for your body is make it more plump. This is a lifestyle change and a lifestyle change does not mean eating the same load of crap but just less of it, that means overhauling your diet and eating food that your body needs and does something positive for it. What "value" does chocolate cake have for your body? So does this mean that you can never have a piece of birthday cake again? Of course not. It means that eating junk on a regular basis serves no value. We don't know what moderation is so we have to go searching for it. Moderation does not mean limiting ourselves to crap food just one time daily or one time weekly, it means more along the lines of on birthdays, special occasions. When we "plan" on eating junk weekly, what does that make our thinking? That means we are *still* planning our lives around food and poor choices. Thin people don't set out to plan on when they will eat a load of crap, they don't even think about it until the birthday party or social meeting is there staring them in the face. Yet we fatties actually plan a date and time to eat bad food. See the difference in thinking between a fat person and a normal size person? The lifestyle change is not planning on WHEN we will have loads of crap food, lifestyle change means actually going out there and living what we claim we want. Life as a normal size person. If you can face the humiliation of being obese in society, can you honestly sit there and tell yourself that passing up junk food is harder than being the fat girl walking into a room where being MO is socially unacceptable? I mean, I think there comes a time when we have to put things in their proper perspective and this is one of those times. Next time you want junk food get real and get honest with yourself. Get a photo of that food item and a photo of a person that is the size you want to be. Which do you want more, do you want the cake more than you want to be thin and healthy? Be verrry honest with yourself. If you prefer the cake over thin then just go for it and have the darn band removed. But I'll bet you'd rather have thin over a piece of cake when you really get honest with yourself. It's all about perspective and self awareness of what you want out of this life. We have a choice, and it IS a choice. We can be fat or we can be thin. With a band thin IS within grasp. The thing about us fat folks is that traditional diet and exercise is too hard, we just can't do it. We cannot lose and maintain at a normal size weight. Call it a lack of self control, call it anything you want. I'll cop to it, I'll be one to stand right up there and admit that I can't do it. But with a band it is still hard but it is the kind of hard WE can do, OUR population. Losing weight with a band is the kind of hard we can do but without a band, nope... we can't do it. Sometimes, maybe often times, maybe 20x a day when we are justifying more grazing behaviors and opening the frig to see what unnecessary food is in there, there comes a time when you just have to tell yourself no. We tell our children "no" daily. No, you can't play with razor blades in the middle of a busy street. No, you can't eat rat poison. No, you can't fail to look both ways when crossing a street. No, you can't do drugs. No, you can't go out with that drug abuser who just got out of juvvy. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves no as well. If you are like me, not sure you are, but if you are like me I can't stop at one Frito, or one bite of this or that. For me it is all or none. If I eat white carbs I can't quit. I lose self control. If I stay away from them completely I have no problem. The more I eat the more I crave. I am a person that wanted bread so bad about 3 months after banding I actually broke into the bread crumbs I use for cooking and ate the whole can. Then I started in on dry stuffing mix. It wasn't even something that tasted good (pretty rank, actually) but I couldn't stand the carb cravings anymore. That was my moment when I realized when and how I lose self control. So I avoid those situations. You can come over to my house right now and look through my house. You won't find any flour, pasta, bread, Fritos, or other foods that are my triggers. There are no bread crumbs, stuffing mix, cake mixes, cookie mixes... none of it. I don't even keep it in the house. There is not a person that has ever once been in my home that even needs those foods. My husband doesn't need them and he doesn't get them if he is here. Why would your family NEED cakes, Cookies, etc? We are not punishing our family members by denying them food habits WE have, it really is okay if you don't load your cupboards full of crap your kids do not need. I think that is another mindset we have to change. I've seen people post on these very boards that they can't pass up the cookies in the cupboard but they can't punish their children by not having cookies in the house. Since when it is a punishment to decline to feed a growing child cookies to the point you can't have a day without them in your home? Exercise... you know, we have physical and emotional reasons for overeating. Those issues we have to overcome and find ways to deal with them. But exercise? Nahhh, we have no excuse. That is just plain lazy behavior. You don't like exercise? Neither do I. But it's like cleaning the toilet. Who DOES like to do it? We do it because we have to. It's just a responsibility. We are all great at justifying eating too much and not exercising but the reality comes down to sheer lazy behaviors. If you can't run then power walk. If you can't power walk then walk. If you can't walk then do chair exercises. We have the energy to get up and run to the frig 20 times a day yet we can't find the time nor the motivation to do the SAME walking outside and away from food. How does that work? ;o) There are people who LOVE exercise, zog bless their little hearts! It's like a transfer addiction. They go from eating to exercising. They love it. Personally, I think they are sick and twisted human beings. ;o) I exercise but I hate it. Never have enjoyed it, not even a little. The person who invented weight resistance cannot possibly be anything but a lover of S&M. They should be shot. But you know what? It really really works. The motivation for me was not busting my butt on a treadmill when I would have much preferred doing my nails. The motivation was that the more I exercised the more weight I lost. THAT was my addiction, losing weight and getting thin. The more you lose the more motivation you get. What if you do this, just for ONE week... one week only. Cut out ALL white carbs. Yep, you'll be climbing the walls, you'll be dealing with head hunger full force. Every single TV commercial for food will be calling your name. You'll cus and swear at me and everyone else that is around you in real time or the boards. Start exercising. Even ten minutes of brisk walking. Work up a sweat, bust your butt. Just 10 minutes. That's nothing, that is the same as a couple of TV commercials. That is about the same amount of time to read a single thread on OH. Just take 10 simple minutes and go out for a hard walk. Then you are done exercising for the day. Honestly, 10 minutes is NOTHING. We have 144 10 minute blocks in a day, it really is nothing. Then tomorrow do 11 minutes. And yes, time it from the time your walk is a brisk one, not when you start thinking it's time to go outside for your walk. When your pace is up to brisk then start timing. Daily add a single minute to it. Push yourself to do better each day, just a single minute added. So for a week eat what you want, don't count calories, don't count fat grams. Don't worry about calories in the least. Eat what you want but do limit WHITE carbs to 20 a day. I'm just talking for a week. Do the 10 minutes of exercise while adding one minute daily. See what that does for you. You want 20 chicken breasts? Eat them. You want zucchini, yellow squash, any other carbs except fruit? Eat them. Lots of them. Don't even count carbs from veggies. Just count white carbs and limit those drastically to 20gms daily. The idea here is not to get you into ketosis, the idea is to get you eating the right carbs. Have unlimited VEGGIE carbs. You'll poop like a champ too. ;o) I'll bet you that you lose weight. Then as the motivation kicks in and the stomach hunger dies down you will be able to cut those 20 chicken breasts down to 10. Then 5, then 1 daily. Understand what is head hunger and what is true stomach hunger. Just focus on white carbs and minimal exercise. I'll bet you it works. If you can live the life and frustration as a fat person, you can do this. Being fat is MUCH harder than better food choices. Again, it's all perspective. What about your fill level? Are you at good restricton? If not, get thy butt to the doc and take care of it. There, that's yer' butt kicking. ;o) Just remember, you CAN do this, you have survived much much harder as a fat person and you have survived a life that is no walk in the park. If you can survive fat life you can easily survive the above plan for the next week. And BTW, this means start the whole plan tomorrow, not on Sunday at the beginning of the week. If you have already eaten a load of carbs today you will be hungry for the rest of the day. It's a blood sugar thing. So start tomorrow and keep remembering, you can do this. Good luck to you!

It is principal. You know how I remember that? Because when I was in 6th grade our principal came to class and explained that your principal is your PAL. He also said that desert and dessert are different, Desserts have more sugar so it has more s's. ;o) I guess his teaching method worked, I still remember it like it was yesterday. HA!

It is 2-3 days if it is a proton pump inhibitor. Something such as Nexium, Nexium mups, Protonix, Prevacid, or Prilosec. Those are the drugs that take 2-3 days to work. If that is what you are taking then Gaviscon is great while you wait. ;o) NO TUMS! NO ROLAIDS! Those cause you to have more problems than you started with. When people say they take Prilosec every now and again for reflux I cringe, it doesn't work that way. It's all or none, take it or don't. But take it all the time or none of the time. If you are taking a PPI then you'll want to talk to your doc about bumping up calcium supplements. It messes with the way your body absorbs calcium. If you are taking a PPI and Calcium, make sure it is calcium citrate and not calcium carbonate.

What kind of heartburn pill? A PPI? PPIs take 2-3 days to begin working. Drugs such as TUMS or Rolaids that contain Calcium carbonate make reflux better in the moment but cause rebound acid and you end up with more than you started with. Something like Gaviscon does not cause rebound acid.