Jachut

I've been banded a little over six years. never had a problem in the world until I unfilled it for a big bowel surgery, then it's never been the same over the past year. I *may* have a leak. We're investigating. Note, i didnt say its not working, just that its not quite the same. I've continued to maintain my weight over the past year, but its been a bit more work - I'm hungrier, can eat faster, can eat more. But I've learned a lot about healthy lifestyle and weight management in six years and I've been able to hold it together. But to me, its no biggie. I knew when I signed on for this that mechanical failure of the band could (and really, would) happen at some point. If I have to have a new band, then I do. That said, the fill I had yesterday has really stuck with me this time, so we think we also may have mucked up the records and I didnt have as much fill as i thought I had.

I've had that feeling a lot of times over the past year since I unfilled my band and then refilled it - its never had the same restriction. After six years banded, I have a good idea of what I think constitutes and appropriate meal and over the past year, i've been able to eat quite a bit more than that at times. I serve myself from a small plate, I fill it to allow my eyes to see a big meal, I really focus on eating slowly and I include foods - like steak - that satisfy more easily. I havent had no restriction, just not great. When I've eaten my meal, I go and brush my teeth and simply make myself do something engaging or busy for 20 minutes or so, just long enough for that desire for more to dissipate. After that I can usually just go the rest of the evening without anything other than a cup of coffee. So - I wouldnt serve myself a 6 ounce steak in the first place. I dont put it on my plate and hope I wont be able to eat it all, because in truth, I will be able to and if its there I will.

If your band has slipped in a minor way and you've developed a stretched pouch above it - you might find you can eat more and faster. This would trigger you to think I need a fill but the fill wouldnt really have much effect. Slipped bands more commonly cause you to not be able to hold down solid food at all, and sometimes not even liquids. A major slip wont go unnoticed, a very minor one might - but then a very minor one may also be fixable simply by unfilling the band and allowing it to resettle. however everyone is different, and there's a huge range of symptoms which can indicate problems, and you may experience all or none of them, its impossible to say. The best bet is if you have a weird symptom, see your doctor! The other thing is a completely normal, functional band can feel very strange at times. For example, I now get pain and heartburn when I'm physically hungry rather than stomach rumbling/empty feelings. dont know anything about the iband sorry.

My ipod ran out of charge half way through my run this morning, grrrrrr. I would DIE if anyone every found my ipod dropped in the street and listened to it, lol. I actually like to listen to the Best of Wham when I run, its like an 80's revivial party!. Old 80's aerobics dance mixes are good too. Ipods are so wonderful, you can listen to the most embarrassing, daggiest music that you wouldnt be caught dead with playing audibly in your house or car. I dont know why they never took off in the US, too Aussie pub rock I think, but you guys just dont know the joys of some loud Cold Chisel!

Eating till you're satisfied is an interesting point, I've been focussing on this with a psychologist I'm seeing for post cancer issues - having my band unfilled, losing so much weight (and liking being ultra ultra skinny) and having trouble getting good restriction back has really messed with my head. Just like some people quip without thinking "Oh, I'm a food addict", I would probably say "I'm a binge eater". Yet, I might get a huge desire for sugar, and begin eating and eat what I consider to be WAY too much of that food (a packet of Cookies for example). However, in reality it might be seven or eight cookies - nowhere near what really constitutes a "binge". I've never eaten from the garbage can, never eaten one food after another in an hours long episode, I have a specific desire and I indulge it. And once I'm satisfied - which unfortunately only comes after 700 or 800 calories have been ingested - that desire simply switches off and I dont think about food again till I'm hungry. That's not a binge eater and that's not a food addict - although I sure do have a real problem with cookies. They're a trigger food and I absolutely cannot and never have been able to eat one or two. I can feel like a Big Mac once or twice a year and have it, enjoy it and not think about it again for another six months. Its just sugar - cookies, muffins, cakes etc. There's a definite pay off, I can literally feel sugar hit my bloodstream and soothe me. In analysing it with my psycyhologist, it is absolutely definitely triggered by tiredness and general daily stress. It has been worsened by the anxiety and depression I've battled with from time to time this year and improved out of sight by starting hormone replacement therapy. It also tends to happen because I exercise to a point where I need a balanced 2000 calorie a day diet, but have a lapband and dont eat that much. You can prevent hunger, but you cant fool your body with a band, it finds ways to get what it "thinks" it needs. My body often cries out for energy in the form of another little sugar "binge". I've learned the mental association, since that need could be fulfilled with chicken and carrots. Its in my head, not my body. So that's a trigger food situation - a food that has a physical effect on your body that you like, a food you turn to when your body is in a particular physical state, a food that you've learned to associate with feeling a certain way and so turn to in particular situations. I dont think that's quite the same as alcoholism or drug addiction although its similar, I think there's a bit more of a mental dependence and not a physical one.

I wore jeans home from the hospital.

Personally, I think being a food addict is extremely rare, if it even exists. Having bad habits, overeating, not listening to your body and having a preference for fatty, sugary or salty foods are all a LOT more common. Our bodies are designed to respond to food - we have an insulin rush, it has effects on serotonin and dopamine (and thus our mood and mental state), our blood sugar levels. We feel bad when we're truly physically hungry and better when we eat. So we're ALL food addicts, to say your addicted to food and the next person isnt makes no sense. We all exhibit addictive behaviours in many areas of our lives because of the pay off for carrying out a certain behaviour. We can. ALL change our behaviour and I dont believe a food addict is powerless to do so. Not that that means its easy, but nor does it need to be perfect. I may very well be addicted to sugar but to balance that off, i am a dedicated runner. I can AFFORD to be addicted to sugar, I burn off the calories. So lapbands and lifestyle changes do work in the face of addiction, I believe.

Well, i have a lot of problems with sugar, and grazing on sugary carbs and the band worked for me.

I'm 5ft 10, got banded at 38. Starting weight 245, finishing weight about 140 give or take. It took me a year to lose about 70lb, another year to lose about 20 and another 2 years to lose the rest! I gave up dieting when I got banded, counted nothing, focussed on nothing, cut out nothing. I just ate what I wanted. Exercise wise running, bootcamp, spinning and Body Pump are my faves, I ran mostly in the early days - up to 10kms a day.

Fickle, yep. I had to unfil mine for a surgery and its totally different refilled - not like the same band at all. My bank is pretty fickle too.....

Monday to friday i get up at 5.15 and either run (about an hour, 8 kms or so) or goto a spin class. Tuesday and thursday nights i go to body pump. Thevweekend usually involves at least one long walk, and saturday is usually a non exercise day.

Thats what im like. I have only 0.2cc left to go in my 4cc band. Today, by necessity rather than choice i was at mcdonalds for lunch. I can eat a big mac. I was full but not overly. I certainly couldn even think about fries, let alone a drink. Akes me feel like a pig here, but when ypu look around, everyone els upsizes, has fries, a bucket of coke. I think some of us think we eat a lot, but in truth we lose perspective after a while banded

Glad its worked out, but I for one must NOT diet when this happens to me. The minute I panic over a bit of weight and go "right, I'm going to eat nothing for four days" is when I start binging like crazy. I am the worlds worst dieter, the mere mention of the word sends me to the pantry to stockpile enough sugar and fat to get me through the famine. I just have to take a deep breath, go "OK, so you've gained 4 pounds" and just get back to my REGULAR habits. Not extreme ones. No five day pouch test or anythign crazy like that. Those sorts of fad diets just make me ten times worse. And I keep busy. For me, being at home equals eating. I must have something engaging enough to keep my thoughts away from food. Seriously, the biggest achievement of my entire life is having been home for the last year and not working and not having gained 30lb. I cannot wait to go back to full time work in a week! So for me, I dont hope to lose that extra weight I gained in a day or two. I look at it as a month long thing, through moderate means.

Oh, you gotta love the experts. My mother was convinced I caused my rectal cancer through having a band. She's seen sense since, but there's nothing like having someone you need to lean on for support suggesting something horrible like UC or cancer is your own fault.

Not drinking while you eat is not downing a glass of Water, you can pour yourself a glass of wine, enjoy it before the meal, and sip it during. that's not going to have much effect on anything. I never drank soda very much so didnt/dont miss that. And I can eat almost anything, just in much smaller quantities. My life hasnt changed in that regard, I entertain, go out etc - BUT (and this is a big but) you need to let go of the importance of food in your life. There's a fundamental difference between fat people and effortlessly thin people and that's that thin people enjoy their food, but it has nowhere near as much importance as it does for someone who's gotten fat. They dont sit there worrying about what others will think about what they eat, they dont rush in so that they get their share, they dont worry if they're out of the room while the donuts are brought out, because hey, its only a donut and you can get one anytime you reall want one, right? Make no mistake, to lose weight and keep it off, you MUST change. Your eating habits and approaches have made you fat. Whether you get a band or not, you cant continue to be the same or your weight will only continue to increase. I worried exactly like you are doing before I realised that one fact and then decided that I would go with the band to make sure I really DID change. But it took me several false starts to feel ready to do that. Now, my life is a new normal. There's some things I cant do or eat or whatever, and over the years, that's just become normal to me, no mourning for old times. And now I'm doing it again as I've had major bowel surgery a year ago (lost quite a lot of my plumbing) and now have to relearn how to eat and manage a much shorter digestive system. I would be desperate if I hadnt been through such a change before when I got my band and know that eventually, it will just become normal to me.

Dont know, but I had to totally unfill mine for a surgery and upon refilling it, its like I have a different band. It all feels OK, not as if anything is wrong, but just totally different in terms of different restriction at different fill levels etc. My band is almost full (only 0.2cc to go in a 4cc band) and I can eat things like toast, sandwiches, cold yogurt, with ease, stuff I couldnt choke down before. And maintaining my weight isnt nearly as automatic as it was, it takes a lot more effort because of course, with less restriction comes more appetite. I get hungry between meals etc, although the band is still helping, its nowhere near what it was.

I suspect both my surgon and the ps would tell me to unfill anyway, but if i wasnt thinking about the port, i wouldnt ask em :-/. I had my ileostomy reversal with fill in place, absolutely no problem. I just assume you would have to unfill to sitch the port?

Bananas are on my do not eat list, possibly the hardest of ll foods for me.

Having a tt end of march. My port currently looks like a golf ball as im pretty slim and the ps said he could swap the port over for me. However, when i pull my skin tight, it actually shows less, so i think a low profile one will make a big difference. My concern is i dont want to go through th whole rigmarole of unfilling again! I had to pitch a fit to get refilled coz the doc at my surgeons practice wouldnt fill me coz im not overweight - yet she told me before she unfilled me to come back 3 weeks afte my cancer surgry and shed fill me again, that everyone whos unfilled gains (i didnt). So im goingto see my actual surgeon to make sure I wont get stuck for six months without fill again!

My stomach burns when im hungry. I do get regular hunger pains too, but often times just a burning feeling. I woud worry but ive been banded six years and its always done this. Im sure if anything was wrong it would have come to. Head by now.

Well in all truth, its likely nothing is wrong with mine, they just believe that its settled a bit with the complete unfill. Also, whilst unfilled i lost 20 lb and got extremely thin. I havent regained aLl of that. My surgeon believes that it may be possible that its simply a bit too big for me now. Its an old 9.75cm 4 cc band with 3.8 in it. I have restriction that works, just way less than i previously would have hadvat this fill level. So id say im fairly long serving at six years and a couple of months. Never had a problem other than having to unfill for a surgery. Lost slowly and steadily and never regained any (other than some of the weight i lost while having cancer treatment) I know Jack has had his even longer but havent seen him here for ages.

Huge congratulations! Being immediately post rectal cancer your news brings tears to my eyes. You deserve such happiness after what has obviously been a few tough years. xxx

Im likely going to have to unfill my band - again, sigh- as im having surgical scar revision/incisional hernia repair/tummy tuck and the plastic surgeon said why wouldnt you just swap over to a Low profile port while youre at it? So ill check it out with a barium x ray before then, seeing my surgeon next week. If the band needed replacing i would do it again in a heartbeat. Mine has given me six years, and id still rather hav a band. Im already missing enough of my digestive system as it is. But if it were a necessity, i wouldnt fear the sleeve.

I agree with b52, eat what you want is misundrstood. Ive been vocal about being a non dieter because i do believe that unless we get in touch with our bodies, we will never be cured of obesity. But theres reality too. I have the same probkem with sweets. I have to accept that i am just broken in that regard. Like elcee, i didnt need to give up carbs to lose but I have to stay away from sweet carbs, once i start i cant stop and if its been a few good days without them, then it can even be the start of a days long binge. Other than that i do eat what i want. Truly if I want a Big Mac I have it and those wants are a lot more appropriate that my sweet cravings. Are you the same? Can you stop when it comes to fast food,salty or savoury treats in a way that you cant with sugar? I dont do well with rules or pans, they only lead to deprivation. But I do ban sweets.

I tend to buy organic mueslis, mostly raw ones. Toasted muesli is honestly food of the gods, but sigh, its usually covered in butter and honey before being toasted. I have a nifty container designed to separate cereal and milk for transport, i reverse it and fill the bottom with greek yogurt, the top with muesli. My fave lunch to take to work ever.