Fae

I heard of a woman in Colorado who died because her surgery wounds became infected. She didn't go to the hospital for it and died. I think I have heard of one other case like that too. Generally, if you die from a lap band, it's because you get infection from your wounds. This is extremely rare and if you get to the wounds in time, it's treatable. And yes, Bypass you can die from as well. However, there are more complications that cause death in those cases.

Yep, I had this same problem. I could never wear regular bras, because the straps would almost immediately fall down. I had to wear these big strapped sport bras. They were ugly, but the only thing that held me together. As I lost weight and my shoulders became more bony and less soft, any bra pretty much fits nicely now. The strap may fall down once during the day, but that is better than ten million times a minute like it was doing. I never did find a solution when I was heavy to my bra problem : / Maybe this is working for some people?

I actually didn't cook before the band. Well, I did, but it was the wrong kind of foods, brownies, cakes, and muffins >>; I never cooked meat, but I found that is the way to go for me if I need to eat fast and don't want to cook everyday. I really like chicken legs. They stay moist longer than breasts and lasts me like 4 or 5 days. Steak, filet mignon in particular. It stays moist and lasts for days in the fridge. Same with any type of white fish. Eggs are good too. Boil a bunch and have egg salad for days. Good on top of a piece of rye bread, if you can tolerate it. The same goes for tuna fish, don't even have to cook that. Just add mayo and maybe a piece of cheese. For sides, I steam vegetables, mostly carrots and broccoli. They last a few days as well. For fast food, I like Denny's. Just because they have omelets and you can't go wrong with them for protein.

The board confuses me personally. The guy doesn't look heavy and neither does it look like he is on a diet. He looks like he is eating to his heart's content and a "diet" never entered his mind...ever. If you want to remind me of the pain of a diet, I would think more of a tiny, tiny portion of food with a person staring at it and frowning, because they are starving and it isn't enough for them : / Where with a lap band, it would be. Yes, diets suck. But cramming food into your mouth is not dieting. Or are they actually trying to say that is how you will eat once you get a band? That's an outright lie >>;

It's true. Once you get off liquids and eat solids again, you will probably start gaining. It's only until you get fills, that you will see weight loss. It doesn't work this way for everyone, but a good majority, this is the case.

I actually felt very weak and tired for the first three months after surgery. I've never had tons of energy anyway, but I just didn't even have it in me to exercise or really do anything at all for at least the first twelve weeks. I believe it's different for everyone, depending on when your full energy returns.

Although my full signal is there most of the time, I do sometimes go over by an once or so when I'm very, very hungry. Generally, my full signal feels like my throat tightening or if I eat one more bite, I might throw up. There is just no room left in the upper pouch for more food. That's the best way I can describe it.

I can totally relate. But now it's the opposite reaction, who is that thin person in the mirror and is that actually me? x_x; When I was heavy though, I would just avoid mirrors and cameras at any cost. This especially came into being after I finally decided it would be nice to have an up to date picture of myself. After I looked at the pictures, I just became totally depressed. I couldn't believe how big I was and I never noticed it. I didn't take a single camera shot for a long time after that.

Your thinking on the right track. You need an unfill, as soon as you can get one. It's not healthy to leave that much fill in there if it is causing those kind of problems.

Drinking liquids should not hurt. I would speak to your doctor as soon as you can : /

I worry about it from time to time myself. I'm guessing your still on the liquid stage? From what I got from my surgeon is, you can eat up to a full cup of food every two hours, but 3/4th of a cup is the best result. I just got a food scale, you can buy them at walmart. I find they are great when you can't fit something easily into a measuring cup and need to know the amount of onces it weighs. Basically, if it's under 8 onces, your still safe. Measure out the food before you put it on your plate and weigh it. Then eat no more than that. If your still hungry afterward, you might need a fill. But at least you know your not overeating.

I actually practiced before I got my band. At about two weeks before surgery, I stopped drinking with meals. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to overcome. Since I had time to practice, it didn't feel like such a big thing to just do. I could take my time getting used to it. On top of that, there will always be some liquids going down when your eating certain meals. Like Cereal, your not supposed to drink the milk, just let the cereal soak in it. But some milk will always slip in with the cereal when your eating. Or if you eat fruit with your meal. There is a lot of Water in fruits, the juice will seep out when you eat the raw fruit. Your never going to entirely get away from it.

Sometimes infection develops inside the stomach, near the band, or around the port. There is no way to stop this and it does happen occasionally in some people. One woman in Colorado had an infection develop after her surgery and she didn't survive from it. Considering you lived with it for so long, you should consider it lucky something more serious did not happen to you. I'm sorry about what happened to you and I can't really offer any advice on how to keep weight off without a band. However, you should know what you went through, your not the only one.

I stopped drinking coca cola about 3 weeks before I had the surgery. This resulted in a massive headache. I couldn't even get out of bed and stand up without my head pounding. It took about 2 days to go away. All just because my body couldn't have caffeine anymore : /

Since I lost weight on the lap band, it actually made my birth control completely stop working for awhile. I was on the depo shot and had to switch to pills. My hormones became completely out of control, along with my period. That was around 170 pounds. I started out at the 230's. Then when I lost another 30 pounds, my body seemed to even itself out and I could use my regular birth control again. So yes, weight loss will effect your birth control and your periods.

I have something similar. I was told that happens after you loose a large amount of weight. The port can be easily felt under the skin. Mine isn't a bump though. I need to put my hand there to feel it. How much weight have you lost so far? You shouldn't be able to feel it until you lost a good amount and you have only had the surgery since one month ago? : /

The problem with the band is or any weight loss surgery for that matter, is that a lot of the success of it has to do with the individual. Will you follow the rules? Will you say no to those french fries when you go by McDonald's and choose a salad instead? The lapband is not a forced diet and you still need to make good decisions from it. That being said, it's not the easy way out. It still requires work from you. I personally have a looser band with no fill in it. That means I must be on my toes all the time. I have more unhealthy food choices opened to me. Or you maybe the type to get a tighter band, where bread, Pasta, and fruits are already cut out for you. It really depends on you and how much fill you want in your band. You can even do everything right and still have things go wrong with your band. Things you have no control of. It's just a risk you have to take. In the end however, your only other option besides surgery is stay on regular diets, which you already know don't work. I guess the best way to look at it is, it's better to try something new than try the same thing you know will fail anyway. Risky as a lapband can be, it does have the potential for great results and I recommend it to people considering it.

I am allowed fruit by my surgeon. But I can't have it. Fruit seems to have so much sugar in it, it makes me nauseous. Even if you get past the 6 month mark and don't break the rules, you may not be able to tolerate it. Fruit is delicious. Though being sick from it, I find isn't worth it.

I heard about those people with good luck too. I wasn't one of them. I stayed overnight in the hospital and I'm so glad I did. I needed the painkillers. I felt like an elephant stepped on my stomach, then stayed there. After that, into the night, I became ill from the painkillers and needed another drug to keep me from throwing up. I could get out of bed, even on the first day, but it wasn't like it easy or not painful. I do not regret the surgery and believe it is highly effective. It's just not easy sailing to actually go about the process of it.

Having been through bandster hell and still lost weight, I can say it is worth it, even with the worries. You just have to hang in there. For me at least, I didn't have much options left after having failed too many diets to count. There was only one door left open for me, so I took it. When you are so overweight that you need a lapband, it's not like you are ruining a perfect body with scaring. Your body needs help. If your body has some extra scarring on it, it's not like you looked like a model in the beginning anyway. Just my outlook on it. I even had stretchmarks on my stomach, before the surgery even began, LOL

Hi there everyone, I have not posted here in awhile, but I have had general success with my lapband. 110 pounds lost so far and still going down. I have had the lap band for 8 months. During that 8 months, I had no fills because I was prone to reflux. I have been tested to see if the reflux was affecting my lapband, but it turns out it is controllable with nexium and avoiding spicy food. Due to no fills, I can pretty much eat whatever kind of food I like. So I have to be careful with my choices. I do always hit a restriction point. I never PB or throw up ether. I'm not posting here because I am plateauing or I am gaining. This is more a worry over keeping the right amount of food eaten at each meal. The main thing I am wondering now is, am I slowly going over a cup of food per meal and I don't even know it? The problem I am having is, most things I am eating cannot be measured in a cup. Like due to a odd shape of carrots or broccoli, I cannot jam them into a measuring cup to see how much exactly the space they are taking up is. Nor can I do this with chucks of chicken, a steak or boiled eggs. I have to relay on my band to tell me where the restriction point begins. Like sometimes I can only eat 1 and half eggs. Other times, it is 2 eggs and some peanuts. I wonder if my restriction point is being accurate or is my band being fickle? There are times where I almost feel too full or I need to burp, but this never results in food coming back up. The full feeling usually goes away after the burp. Does anyone think it would be wise if I started weighing my food? Are there scales you can buy that can tell you how much onces of food you are eating at a time? How expensive are they and where do you buy them, if they are available? Do a lot of people use them here? Since measuring in a cup is just not going to cut it for me. Any help would be appreciated.

Jack, I appreciate the advice. However, I'm past my goal weight. I wanted to end off at 140, but right now I'm around 127. My surgeon says I can go as low as 120. So I'm not too worried at the moment. I'm 5'4 by the way. Considering I'm still losing weight, I don't think it will matter much if I put too much butter on my vegetables. But on the other hand, like you said, maybe I shouldn't be worrying about this measuring. It's so hard to do everything right : /

I have found that the want for food will never go away and I'm 8 months out so far. The good thing however, is the band gives me the willpower to stop. As long as there is no hunger, I can put the food down. When I was hungry pretty much all the time, there was no stopping me. Do I still want that chocolate milkshake? Sure. But when my stomach is full and not growling, it makes things tolerable.

Well, I'm still gathering paperwork and I have a lot more than when I started. However, while I managed to come up with almost 7 years of records saying I was overweight. They don't go in order, I'm missing one year. Do you think this will have a big impact on my insurance's decision? I have medicare. Fae

My first doctor's appointment is in the beginning of December, so that is when I'll be starting. I know, I have a long way to go ^^;; Fae