Parvathi

Hi everyone, It's been a long time since I've posted here, or even visited, but I was thinking about the band and my journey last night, so thought I would visit. I was banded in March 2005 and did really well. By the following March, I had lost nearly 110 pounds (50kgs). I had a lot of extra skin and my boobs were sagging to my knees lol, so I had plastic surgery to remove the skin and a breast reduction. I was on top of the world! A couple of months later, I started really struggling to keep the weight off. Then I gained a few kilos. Upon further investigation, my band had slipped. I was rebanded near the end of 2006. After being re-banded, I never did manage to lose any weight again. It was a constant battle. I quickly began gaining. Eighteen months and many tests later, we found that I had a hiatal hernia, which was blocking the band from doing its job. Unfortunately, due to the previous surgeries and a lot of scar tissue, the surgeon said that to remove this would be a really hard surgery, both during the procedure and recovery wise. It would have to be open, rather than laproscopic, etc. I gave it a lot of thought and in the end, I decided not to go through that. They weren't certain that they would be able to fix it, even by fixing the hernia, so it just didn't seem logical to put myself and my family through another surgery (would have been the fourth one in three years!). I had all the Fluid removed from the band to keep the hernia at bay and that seems to have worked for now. I'm rarely pained by it. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself and eating myself in to an early grave. In December 2008, I went to my GP for an eye infection and he sat me down for the talk. You know the one - the "You're way too fat and you're headed for multiple co-morbidities" talk. I already knew my sleep aponea was back and blood tests confirmed that my blood sugar was high. He told me that if I didn't do something NOW, I would have type 2 diabetes. Perhaps I should have known that already, but it was the kick in the pants I needed. I walked into my local Weight Watchers meeting the next day and weighed in at 5kgs over my initial start weight. Gutted!! Now, like many others, I'd tried WW before, as well as various other methods. Perhaps I didn't want it enough previously, I don't know. What I do know though, is that I've now lost 18kgs again. I'm exercising daily, even if it's just a few kms walk with the dogs. I'm remembering what this whole path that I started 4 years ago was for. If you're having problems with your band, I implore you to not give up. Follow the good food guidelines. Eat your fruit, veggies, whole-grains, lean Proteins and dairy. You don't have to regain the weight like I did. I kick myself everytime I look at my skinny jeans for letting myself get back to this point. Coming back here, I notice several of the people I started the journey with have now hit goal .. I can't wait to finally join them. It may take years, but I'll get there, one way or another!

Prevacid worked wonders for me whilst I was on it for reflux. I wasn't even able to drink my morning coffee for a while, until the doc gave me a prescription for it.

Well, between the time it slipped and the time I was rebanded, I gained a bit back, but not excessively. Over the past year and a bit though, we've just been unable to get to the right amount of restriction. It keeps going either way too loose or way too tight. I have faith that it'll sort itself out one of these days. In the interim, I just have to remember how to eat like a bandster and to exercise regularly.

The first time I was banded, I had residual pain, off and on (like sharp shooting pain up my stomach) for quite some time. It was mostly around the port area though. The second banding I didn't have anything like that. I assumed it was because they didn't touch my port during the rebanding. You should definitely talk to your surgeon about this though. I realize you don't want to lose your band (and make sure to stress that to the surgeon), but you also don't want to take risks with your health and body. Let us know what he says, please.

I had a friend that had this done a couple of years ago. The entry point was right behind his ear, so you can't see a scar at all. For him, it did a great job of sculpting his face. He wore the strap for a week - which wasn't a huge deal, as he'd had a full body lift at the same time and had to stay in the hospital about 8 or 9 days.

LOL .. it is definitely nice to have a place to come vent when needed. The puppy in your avatar - English Bulldog? Its sooo cute!

When I can't get down the stuff that I was able to get down in the mushy stage, I'm too tight. Sometimes adding even 0.2ml can put me over the top .. its bizarre. That said, sometimes a fill take a bit to "settle in" and for me, I really have to pay attention to how close I am to that time of the month, as the closer I am, the tighter it will get. Try to stick to liquids over the weekend to see if it settles down.

I don't have any advice to offer, as I'm in Australia and over here it was as simple as going to the doctor and him saying I qualified. I never had to talk to my insurance company, they just approved it cause he said so. But having a place to vent (like here) is wonderful. Rest assured, many people have battled this insurance battle before you and have come out the other side, band in tow. Keep your chin up.

hehe ... As Bill Engvall would say, "Here's your sign".

Welcome, Ron :cry_smile: The gas (at least for me) subsides. I had it for about a month - 6 weeks post op. After that though, luckily, it went away. The best thing for me when it occurred, was walking.

That sounds quite impressive. Gotta say, even though fills take a few minutes and don't really hurt, the idea of giving them up makes me smile :cry_smile:

The AP bands are meant to be more flexible, which should make for less slippages. That's what I was told when they replaced my slipped band with one anyway *shrugs*. Not sure if there's a newer one than those though...

Yep, I definitely notice a difference, especially the past few months. It can vary - sometimes its a few days prior (like 4 or so) - sometimes its same day (like today I started, and I can only get down soup, where I could eat steak last night lol). Tomorrow I'll be super tight too, then the next day, I'll be able to eat a horse and will crave chips, chocolate and coke. The three deadly C's lol.

Well done, Danni! Its falling off you

About two weeks out of surgery, I didn't feel up to big time exercise (cause I'd never had a real exercise routine before), so I headed to the pool for some Water aerobics. I thought it would be kind of lame (and maybe I just lucked out), but I really enjoyed it! I was able to work up a sweat in the water, with no real impact. If you can at all get to a pool, it would be good (I know you said you don't have access). Failing that, ask to meet w/ a personal trainer at your gym. They could set you up w/ a plan that will work for you, keeping in mind your knee injury. Good luck with it all. Its great to see that you're *wanting* to exercise!!

My best advice would be follow your doctor's instructions to the letter and listen to your band. It can be a very fickle tool. There have been times when I could eat something one day and then the next, I could not (or vice versa) .. and you just have to kinda go with it. If you don't have a copy of The Lap-Band Solution by Paul O'Brien MD, I'd suggest getting one. Its a great guide to help new brandsters and old ones who fell off the wagon like me lol.

Hey Hippiemama - Welcome to LBT Four lil ones homeschooled? Wow! You've got your hands full hehe. Congratulations on your decision to have the lapband. Jump in here, everyone is super friendly and full of info. Good luck next week as well!

Clearing cache in Firefox - on the Mac In an open Firefox browser, click Tools, then 'Clear Private Data'. Make sure to tick the 'cache' box. In Safari on the Mac its just click Safari then Empty Cache.

Yea, I've seen it on the news quite a bit here recently (the option of banding for teenagers). Honestly, I wish it had been available as an option when I was younger. My knee joints would be stronger, my skin wouldn't have lost damn near all elasticity and my overall perception of myself would likely be better. That said, I realize that it isn't anyone's fault but mine that I'm in the situation I'm in. I seriously lack will-power and have rarely exercised as often as I should, for extended periods in my life. For the most part, the doctors I've met here in Oz don't seem to be in it for just the money. The band doctors where I go seem to genuinely be in it because they want to help people to live a better life. As such I would hope that, should this option be available to persons under the age of 18, the same tests and what not would be performed on them as I had before the procedure. If they proved not to be a good candidate for banding, I would assume the surgeon wouldn't operate. Of course, I've been wrong before lol.

Don't worry, restriction will come. It doesn't always come as quick as wanted, but it'll get there eventually. While it can be frustrating, its best to go slowly so you don't accidentally overfill .. now THAT is no fun hehe.

Geez, you're all looking so fantastic!! Well done folks

Goodness gracious, Jacqui!! Wanna come be my personal trainer? lol I've totally been unmotivated exercise wise recently, but after reading some of your posts about walking/running week before last I thought, "Gee, she's right! Its free and kinda easy to accomplish". So I've started walking at least every other day. I live in Eltham so its super hilly and I'm not ready for those hills lol, but I stop on the way home from school/work w/ the kiddo and dog and walk fast for around 30-45 mins on the flat surface. I'm enjoying it a lot

On Monday last week, I had a slight fill. I'm not sure of the exact amount, but I'd be willing to bet it wasn't anything over 0.4ml, as my doctor and I both know not to go fast with my band (it doesn't like fast lol). Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were fine. I wasn't able to eat heaps, but hey, that's the point, right? I had went to soft foods after the fill, just to make sure I had no issues. No pb'ing or anything. On Thursday I started experiencing difficulty with liquids. Couldn't get my coffee down in the morning, didn't finish half a glass of Water all day, couldn't get broth down at dinner. Friday, much the same. On Saturday I couldn't swallow my saliva, I hadn't slept the night before because I was coughing so much and waking up feeling as if I were choking, had really bad reflux, had a massive headache and was severely dehydrated (my skin showed it). I was wanting to wait it out the weekend, til Monday when the doctor's office was open, but realized by about 1pm that that wasn't going to happen. I called the clinic, which had the hospital's number on the machine. Called the hospital, they said to call the surgeon. Paged the surgeon (and felt really stupid lol .. I *hate* bugging the surgeon!) and he was out of town. He called another hospital he does the procedure at because they have an ER and he's taught some of the ER docs how to remove Fluid. So I went to the ER and they completely emptied the band ... I would have been happy w/ taking away 0.5ml and seeing if I could drink again, but they insisted that the esophagus needed to rest. I couldn't figure out why it would suddenly get so tight as usually, it is tight, then gets looser, not the opposite. But today, I started my period. No signs, no nothing .. just out of the blue. I'm wondering if perhaps the band suddenly getting tighter was due to bloating or stomach swelling? Is this possible? I've been banded nearly 3 years and haven't experienced anything like it before. At least the other doctors in the ER got a crash course in lapband's though lol, as several of them had never seen it before so they came to watch and feel the port.

hahaha - thanks for the message to my band, Jacqui! I hope it listens to you more than it has listened to me in the past year. I've often wondered about all of you guys as well, but honestly, in the midst of the massive failure which is my life lol, it was extremely hard to login and watch others succeed, as self-absorbed as that may sound Not to say in the least though that I'm not happy for all of you who have done so well. And wow - you look FANTASTIC! I bet it feels good too :laugh:

Wow - that's a busy day LOL. Good luck with it all :biggrin: Getting the date is super exciting for sure.