Jean McMillan

Researching, identifying, and selecting an insurance carrier that covers WLS, will accept you as a subscriber at a premium you can afford to pay, and will eventually approve you for surgery sounds to me like an enormous task for an individual patient to undertake. Doing all that could add years to your journey. I suggest that instead, you research bariatric surgery clinics in your area, attend an educational seminar, and hook up with a clinic's insurance coordinator to get suggestions for how to deal with the insurance issue. If you eventually decide to self-pay as 2muchfun suggested, I wouldn't recommend the band. Don't get me wrong, I love my band, but the band requires a LOT more aftercare than the other procedures because it usually doesn't work without fills, and those fills (and unfills) can get to be expensive both in terms of cash and in terms of your time and energy. You'd also need to consider the possible expense of revisional or corrective surgery if something went wrong. For example, my port flipped over so I needed surgery to reposition it. My insurance company was billed a total of $34,628.70 for the repair surgery, and paid the providers a total of $4850.11. I don't know about you, but I don't usually have an extra $5000 stuffed under my mattress! Jean

My band officially holds a max of 4 cc. If you have 4 cc in a 10-11 cc band, then you've got a 38% fill level. I don't honestly recall exactly how much I could eat at one sitting when my band was 38% full, but I do remember that I had begun to notice my restriction then, in the sense that I experienced early satiety. I didn't "test" my band's capacity the way you've been testing yours, but I'm pretty sure I could not possibly have eaten two eggs Benedict or 13 sushi rolls at one sitting. Even if I could, I wouldn't, because that's the way I ate before surgery, and that's the kind of eating that made me so obese I qualified for WLS. It concerns me that you can and are eating so much at one sitting before feeling "satisfied". As bandsters most of us have to re-learn what "satisfied" means. My idea of satisfied or full used to be overstuffed (like Thanksgiving Dinner). Even at over 4 years post-op, I sometimes want to go on eating because emotionally or mentally I'm not "satisfied" even though physically, I've had enough. It can hard to tell the difference between the satisfaction that my body feels versus the satisfaction that my overeater's brain feels. If I'm enjoying the food and love the taste and the experience of eating it, I want to go on prolonging that feeling by eating more and more, In my mind, I'm not satisfied yet. In medical terms, satiety is actually the feeling of having eaten enough food for your present needs - no more, no less. You don't physically need any more food. Messages about that kind of satiety don't come directly from your mind. Instead of thinking, "Ah, that was great, I'm done," you may notice a more subtle signal - a hiccup, a sneeze, a sigh, a running nose, a tickling or fullness in the back of your throat, or even a sudden distaste for the food you were just enjoying. This is why it's so important to eat slowly and play very close attention to how you feel while you eat. If you go on eating for non-physical satiety, several unfortunate things will happen. You won't learn your body's satiety signals - the signals you need to know and heed not just to lose weight but to maintain that weight for the rest of your life. You'll be overloading your upper stomach pouch and esophagus, which can cause serious complications like esophageal or pouch dilation and/or band slippage. Those complications can be treated by discontinuing the behavior that's causing them and/or by unfilling the band, but sometimes those steps don't help at all. You may require further surgery to correct it...or even removal of your band. So my advice (though I know you didn't directly ask for it) is to weigh and measure your planned portion of healthy food (according to the portion sizes recommended by your surgeon or nutritionist), eat it, and when it's done, stop eating no matter how badly you want to go on eating. If you feel you are still physically hungry (rumbling tummy, hollow feeling, etc.) an hour later, go ahead and eat some more. Just don't overpack that pouch!

You can order it at jean-onthebandwagon.blogspot.com, or at Amazon. I earn about 20 cents profit on Amazon sales, so you'd be doing me a favor by ordering it from my website. thanks for your interest! Jean

I have a funny feeling that's not a lesson she ever learned, not at her mama's knee and not in her adult life!

Don't give up! I too was very hungry, for my first 2 years post-op. In fact, I lost 100% of my excess weight then, and was grateful to band my for giving me the early satiety that helped me eat less at each meal. Then I finally, from fiddling with fills & unfills, got to the point where my hunger was greatly reduced.

Me too. She's uncharacteristically quiet at the moment!

we cannot let some negative people have that much power. I thank every positive person on this site. Amen to that, sister!

I was told not to swallow anything bigger than a baby aspirin, so I use a pill splitter to subdivide my meds, which are all tablets. After trying to swallow an antibiotic capsule and ending up in the ER twice in 24 hours because it corroded my stoma while slowly dissolving, I insist on antibiotics in liquid form. Some meds (like time-release formulas) should not be cut up or crushed. Your pharmacist or doc can tell you if any of your meds fall into that category. I take my Vitamins in chewable form and use calcium chews because I absolutely cannot swallow a calcium pill - too big even when cut up. My ability to swallow pills has changed as my restriction as increased. As a new post-op, I could swallow anything. Nowadays I have to follow each pill with at least 4 ounces of Water, and I have to take my evening meds at least one hour before I go to bed so that they have a chance to move on through my upper GI system. Jean

jsea, Yup, I'm here. I've been a not-very-active member since 2008 and now am trying to get back up to speed. I'm sooo glad that Bandwagon is helping you! Stay in touch, OK? Jean

Thanks. As I often say: my advice may be crap, but I'm always good for a laugh!

It's absolutely true that the band doesn't work for everyone. "Doesn't work" may have a million meanings if you ask a million people, but some people can't tolerate the band (and all that comes with it) and some people, perhaps because the term "restriction" is so inadequate that even Allergan is moving away from using it, never feel they've achieved optimal "restriction" even after many fills. But does that mean that this "failure" of the band is as common as Fluffy and her ilk claim? Probably not. It's kind of like how I felt when I bought a new car last year. I hadn't particularly noticed that make/model on the road before, even though I knew it was a popular one. But once I was in the driver's seat of my new vehicle, I saw that exact same car everywhere I went...often in the exact same color as mine! So as Fluffy travels the bariatric world driving her "defective" band, everywhere she looks, she sees more defective bands. How can that be? Does it mean that out of (say) 100,000 band patients, 99,999 of them are suffering band failure? Do you honestly think that Allergan would be able to go on selling their product with that kind of track record? Not likely....but Fluffy belongs to the Conspiracy Club, so if you ask her, Allergan and the FDA have teamed up to perpetrate a terrible medical fraud on unwitting obese Americans. And if you believe that, then you'll be interested to hear that this guy who used to work with my hairdresser's stepfather lives across the street from this other guy who saw a UFO land in his swimming pool last Sunday, and he watched with utter horror as Michelle Obama emerged from the UFO wearing a purple polka dot bikini. And after Mrs. Obama had finished a few laps in the pool, got back in the UFO and sped away, this guy's pool Water has been purple! And that very same day, his wife's poodle disappeared while wearing a Rolex watch and was last seen mud-wrestling with Mitt Romney down at Bubba's Bar & Grill...

I'm pretty sure I know who the band basher is that this thread discusses (and isn't it interesting that she hasn't joined the discussion so far?). For reasons known only to her (though I could speculate), she is an extremely angry person who thrives on attention, especially when it's negative, because negative feedback fulfills her negative expectations of the world. She has alienated people everywhere I've seen her operate (not just on LBT, but on other online WLS forums as well in other bariatric professional settings)- even people who were goodheartedly trying to understand and help her. I tell myself over and over again not to get into it with her again, but it's hard for me to tolerate the garbage she tries to pour into newcomers' brains. This thread reminds me of an old 12-step saying, which I will paraphrase for you here. THE BAND WORKS IF YOU WORK IT. So work it! Jean

What else is there everyone says they must do to make it work? The work includes: making good food choices, resisting the urge to eat for comfort/stress relief/entertainment, exercising regularly, taking personal responsibility for your health, keeping on working even when nothing seems to be going right, tolerating the changes in your body and your interpersonal relationship....to name just a few.

Fills aren't going to magically make physical hunger disappear, and feeling hungry the same day as you have a fill and are on liquids is not a good time to judge your restriction. In my experience, it can take up to 2 weeks for a fill to "kick in". No surgeon has been able to explain why, but they all agree that it happens often. The fact that you could eat a bite of solid food doesn't signify anythinkg. If you took a bite of solid food and immediately puked it up, would that make you happier? Don't go looking for trouble! Im not clear on why you're feeling so paranoid. Are you thinking that you're so hungry because your band has slipped? Or because your band or tubing are leaking? Or what? All that is possible but not likely. The port can be difficult to access because as it settles into your abdomen and as you lose weight, the abdominal fascia will shift slightly. You say that your surgeon did manage to find your port, so why are you doubting the evidence of your own eyes (or abdomen, as the case may be)? Once again, don't go looking for trouble! It's remotely possible that your port has flipped, but if it has, I doubt your surgeon would have been able to complete that fill at all. You can request an upper GI study to check the positions of your band, tubing and port. It's remotely possible that your surgeon actually stuck the needle into your port housing or tubing. If that continues to be a concern for you, call your surgeon and talk about it. If you need to be reassured that your band has the correct amount of fill in it, your surgeon can check it by drawing it all out and measuring it (my surgeon's NP does that at every fill anyway). In closing, I will suggest that you take a few deep breaths and will say once again: don't go looking for trouble! Jean

In my opinion, no weight loss surgery procedure will cure food addiction or emotional/stress eating. And if you use the band to physically stop you from overeating, you will suffer a lot of very uncomfortable side effects and possibly cause your band to slip out of place, which could require more surgery to fix. Although the band has been called a "restrictive" procedure, implying that it will restrict the amount of food you can eat, Allergan (mfgr of the Lap-Band) is now moving away from the term restrictive because it is so misleading. The band is meant to reduce your appetite and physical hunger and to create early and long-lasting satiety. That's all it does. There's nothing in it that makes you lose weight - all it does is change your appetite, hunger and satiety messages so that it's easier for you to reduce the amount of food you eat. All the rest is up to you: good food chocies, portion control, exercise, dealing with eating in response to things other than physical hunger. Having said all that, I want to add that I consider myself a food addict too. I love food and the way it makes me feel. I know a lot of other bandsters who feel the same way, so you're not alone. That doesn't mean you can't succeed with the band (or any other WLS procedure). As lellow said, if you really want to lose weight and are prepared to put in the effort required, the band will make that easier. When I had WLS, my surgeon & nutritionist made it crystal clear that I would have to make a lot of lifestyle changes in order to lose weight and keep it off. I decided that this was my last chance (I was 54 at the time) to get right with God, so to speak. I felt that I was willing to do whatever it took to lose my excess weight. I think that my positive, can-do, will-do attitude was a big help. Even if you're not sure you can tackle such a big project alone, it can work if you ask for help - from other WLS patients & support groups (online and in person), from your friends & family, and especially from a counselor who's experienced with WLS and eating disorder patients. You're very young (from my elderly point of view). I wouldn't want you to spend 3 more decades suffering from obesity the way I did. Now's a great time to get yourself onto a healthier life path. It's totally worth all the effort, I promise you! Good luck! Jean

Thank you very much for sharing that info. Very helpful and easy to understand.

will be a bariatric person for the rest of my life. You are so right. Understanding that fact of bariatric life is crucial for long term success.

Unfortunately, band surgery happens in your abdomen, not your head. Your band can't do its job alone. You have to be in charge of making good food choices, monitoring portions, exercising, dealing with emotional/stress/boredom eating, and so on. It's very hard work, but if you somehow managed to lose 100% of your excess weight without breaking bad habits and making lifestyle changes, your chances of weight regain would be very high. Can you think of just one good thing that's happened because of your band surgery? For example: your appetite has decreased, you're hungry less often, you're satisfied with smaller food portions, your mobility is better, you have more energy, or whatever? Even if nothing springs to mind immediately, spend the next few days considering the question, and when you find that one good thing, Celebrate it. If you keep up the hard work, more good things will follow. In the meantime, keep on keeping on! Jean

You're doing yourself no favor by comparing your weight loss to your brother's and mother's. Bypass patients usually lose much faster than band patients. Average weight loss with the is 1-2 lbs/week. I've lost weight at the rate when dieting before my band, but I was never able to lose more than 40 lbs. and I always gained it back...plus more.

Do I get discouraged? Of course I do. Losing weight and maintaining the weight loss is hard work, and it's going to last a lifetime. Do I regret my band? Never.

Large (over 1.5") hiatal hernias can be a contraindication for band surgery, but I know several bandsters who had huge hernias that were repaired during band placement and haven't caused any problems since then. When I had my band surgery, I already knew I had a hiatal hernia and was glad when my surgeon told me he'd repair it when placing my band. In my first post-op visit, I asked him about it and he said, "No, it was too small to fix." Huh? I have to wonder if he was in too much of a hurry to do it, and since he lost his medical license, I'll probably never know why. Anyway, I had a band slip at 21 months post-op and my current surgeon thinks my hernia might have contributed to it. So the moral of the story is: be assertive about getting your hernia repaired so it won't cause you problems later on.

I've heard several plastic surgeons speak on this subject. They all said that the key factors in how skin will respond to massive weight loss are genetics and age. Skin loses elasticity as we age. Once it's stretched out, it's there for good (or until plastic surgery to remove/tighten it). I was 54 when I had band surgery and although I have good skin genes (thanks, Mom), I still have excess skin, most noticeable on my arms and throat. IMO, fear of excess or loose skin is not a good excuse for avoiding weight loss, and unless my excess skin interfered with my ambulation, caused skin infections, or posed a safety hazard (for example: if I worked as a cook and my bat wings hung down and draped over hot saucepans), I'd rather have excess skin than excess weight any day.

I'm sorry about your weight re-gain, but most surgeons don't like to do revision surgery at the same time as band removal anyway, because they want the area to heal completely first. I'm sure someone will jump in and ask you why you haven't considered revising to the sleeve (which often isn't covered by health insurance), so I'll skip along and tell you that I personally know of 2 bandsters who revised to gastric bypass. One had some complications from the surgery but is now recovered and doing fine. The other had no complications and is also doing fine and happy about her revision. Both revised due to slow or disappointing weight loss with the band. Interestingly, they're both finding weight loss to be slow even with the bypass, which makes me wonder if something else is going on in their body to "fight" the bariatric procedure.

An infected port site would be red, swollen, and/or warm to touch, maybe with pain. In a new post-op, it would probably be caused by bacteria exposure during surgery and would be treated with antibiotics and careful wound care. In a later post-op, it's often a sign of band erosion - the bacteria travel from the band, along the tubing, to the port. The treatment for band erosion is removal of the band. Depending on the damage done to the stomach, the patient might eventually be able to revise to a different WLS procedure. Most surgeons want the stomach to heal completely before performing further surgery.

Me too. TTBTPS (time to blow this pop stand). Let's all take Alex's good advice, simmer down, and stop giving Maria/Fluffy the attention she thrives on.