trishah

By the way Cowgirl.... I checked your before and afters in your profile and you are right....you look bloody fantastic just as you are!

Donna, I am now a little over 12 months sleeved. Aaaaaaaand Im doing great, no reflux in fact no issues at all exept that the years with the band taught me quite well how to cheat the sleeve....an issue I fight. However I have good restriction provided I eat the correct foods...eg: Protein first and avoid slider foods and carbs. I dont have the prob of using my throat as a stomach and if I eat over my 1/2 cup of protein based food I am very uncomfortable and learn very quickly to adhere to the feeling of having had enough. Loss is slower after the band but thats ok for me and I am at my personal goal... lower than the docs but higher than medically suggested by a BMI and am very happy. I can and at times do, eat the wrong foods and can gain weight if I do....nothing, not even bypass will change this fact but I have a very low (not entirely gone) hunger and my portion size is half a cup. I have a 34 loose wrapped bougie with over sew which means ,what?... I dont know but its what I was told I had. My doc does not do a tight or small bougie on band revisions due to scaring and possible difficulties. I have to say I am happy, as the years of abject misery I spent with the band not being able to eat have left me happy with this size 34 which gives me no pain or complaint at all. There are no foods I can not eat at a slightly slower than normal rate and absolutely no reflux and no reflux medications needed. Life is good and normal, no more stuck food or pain, no more embarrassing meals with friends eating sloppy food...no more anything that made me different from everyone else.... I am boringly, gloriously NORMAL!! I would get a second opinion on the sleeve because I absolutely do not agree with your docs opinion and I have to say that all the other band to sleeve converts I have spoken too both short and long term are extremely happy.

I found magnesium worked very well. If you dont want to take magnesium suppliments then 2 panadol before bed works for me as well.

Skinny can you please share exactly what your eating that has started to shift your weight... a days menu maybe. Thanks in advance

:ph34r:

Link to the site so you can join http://www.gastricsleevesupport.com/ Scroll down the front page till you get to the sleevers get together page then go in there and check for any get togethers organized and if there is none you can post to organize one... everyone is usually pretty keen to get together

Have you tried the aussie sleeve site.... there is a big community of sleevers in Melbourn who have regular meet ups

Yeah I cant say I remember either reading or being told that major detail either.... Ha haaa guess I was a sucker. I like that I will be able to eat in reduced amounts... I dont mind a bit of self control but I do need some back up. I hated the fact that with the band I would be starving hungry and had no feeling of ever being sated... I never once the whole time I had the band brought food back up. If it was stuck or wouldnt go down it would just sit there and I would have to sip coke to force it (painfully) through the plug hole. It drove me nuts and I was becoming a not nice person to live with because I was hungry all the time I was also crabby and petulant. Then started the reflux so I was not only hungry and couldnt feed but I was having acid rush up my throat all day and all night. Hearing that I will feel contented with food is heartening...I dont mean stuffed to the gills but just knowing I can eat something and walk away feeling that Im done on a small amount pleases me. I love to go out to dinner with my family and have BBQs at home with them. With the band as you know this is an ordeal so again with your words of wisdom I know Im not going to be a party pooper at birthdays and happy gatherings...that I wont be the one sitting there tearing a paper cup to shreads and flickiing it spitefully at everyone who is happily eating their meals. ( I wasnt really that bad but on the inside thats what it felt like....all alone in a group of people) I guess at the end of the day I and I would undoubtably say all of us get WLS to be "normal"...the band made me another kind of abnormal... I was the weird kid whose eyes ran when they ate and had to leave the table and drink coke. Baaaah... it sucks to be metabolically superior to our skinny counterparts... sadly I dont see me getting stuck on a baren island anytime soon and having to live off my fat for and extended time...pity, I recon I could get a good five years off my butt alone!

I find solace in hearing converts advice. I sometimes need the comparison of band to sleeve and it helps to hear the difference from someone who has suffered ( and I mean suffered) through a band and on to a sleeve. Having said that Sleeve only people have been wonderful with their advice and have helped me so much that I am beyond grateful. It is very true that most of the fear stems from worrying that the sleeve will just be the same issues as the band but permenant. This morning I woke up and after re reading all of the posts written here, I feel peace about the situation. I can not continue this self destructive eating pattern I am in and it wont end... I know it wont because I have nothing to stop me. I understand that I have to do an aweful lot myself but not banded nor sleeved I am running up hill in mud wearing gum boots... and Im getting bogged down. Thank you all again, Trish

wow you have no idea how much that post just squashed my fear oregon. Today was a particularly bad day worrying about everything from the issues I have mentioned down to wondering if I can complete a clean 2 weeks VLCD prior to surgery. I know I am being a worry wart but I thing my round with the band did my head in and stole my trust with WLS. I am so glad that you all have taken time to answer me honestly...Thank you all very much

Oregon, Im happy to take a PPI if it wards off the reflux. When I had reflux with the band it didnt matter what brand or dose I was on I still had horrible reflux even with no fill. This scared me terribly about the sleeve but if meds will help I am happy with that...just as long as I dont have to suffer it. Today I went and purchased two T shirt nighties to wear in hospital... and I had this dread wash over me. I have nothing to compare the sleeve to but the band and I dread going back to the deprivation. I read on some sites that people can eat a cup and a half of food.... this is an aweflul lot ( have measured it) and its more than I can eat now comfortably with the band out and with the band in I could only handle about a half cup at best. So I am worried that I wont lose weight if I can squeeze down easily a cup and a half. Its all these crazy, crazy thoughts belting through my head. It helps to talk to wonderful people like you who are kind enough to help. I thank you and the other ladies for giving much needed advice also...how bad is the day after the op....so frightened of this I cant tell you how much it makes me shudder

wow that makes me so much more comfortable with my sleeve size. Using it as a tool is not a prob, after having the band for 4 years and woking it to get of 70 kilos (140lb) I am fairly confident I can get back the resolve to do the whole Protein first thing that worked for me. I am releived to hear that this size will hopefully ward off the reflux situation. I have been trying to imagine living with the dreaded condition with no releif for the rest of my life and I was starting to second guess the sleeve. Big hug for your reply

do you have reflux or indigestion oregon? I suffered dreadfully with it during the last year of my band... prior to and after removal I had none at all. This is my greatest fear that I will get reflux again that meds wont help and I cant reverse tho op to stop it. 3 years is a good stretch of time with the sleeve so I am very interested to know how it all is this far out

Thanks Wheetsin, I am more settled now and seeing a greater logic in the doctors words than I was before. When I had my band I changed my lifestyle, ate healthy in small amounts and exercised by walking but not by flogging the gym (I would sustain walking but the gym I would find excuses not to do). I am hoping that by applying those same principles I will have success for life with the sleeve. 80% as a statistical weightloss is pretty good I should think, and I would be greatly happy with it. I do wonder where my resolve went once the band was removed. I question why I didnt keep up the diet etc...however in reality I suppose with reemergence of hunger and larger food portions all be it healthy ( ok there was a bit of junk in there too) gain would be inevitable unless I upped my exercise ( not gonna happen sorry). So I figure its onward and upward ooooor sit down, shut up and suck up and continue to gain weight and go with out the sleeve. Pretty sure its the sleeve and have a date of 27th March, for better or worse I am forging forward. With out this choice to me my future looks bleak and very pudgy.