MacMadame

Welcome to LapBandTalk! It's good to hear from people who were banded a long time ago.

The only thing I've heard them denying people for when they did the 6 month supervised diet was for not documenting things properly and for not going exactly every month for 6 months.

I didn't know that about her but I did know she was planning to open her own WL center and when I heard that, I laughed and laughed. Does that make me mean? :blushing:

I remembered the sleep part. Me too. Off and on all weekend. It was trey annoying. End up with? I *started* with them.

Some people like drama, I think. I went shopping yesterday and everything I bought was a Medium.

You could add in other exercise and still run. Do you do 5Ks or marathons? If so, maybe you could start training for a triathlon. That will add biking and swimming to your routine, but still keep your running. Also, if you don't do strength training, I really recommend it. It can be pilates or weight training or something else. I also think it's important not to under-estimate what Plastic Surgery can do for you. That excess skin does weigh something and if it were removed, you might be able to drop a size, just like that, no work involved. If you don't want to get it (and not everyone does), then I think you just have to mentally subtract those pounds. They aren't bones, or tissue or muscles or fat, so IMO they don't count!

Look in the "Doctors and Hospitals" section too. There should be at least one thread with his name in the title in the first couple of pages.

You left out the link... Also, please do not tell people to "mind their own business". First, moderation should be left to the moderators. Second, everyone here is entitled to post their opinions and participate in the discussion -- there is no requirement to be an MD or even to be a "member of the medical profession" to post here.

Welcome to LapBandTalk!

Welcome to LapbandTalk. You might want to check out the section for Lap-band strugglers. (It's a subforum of Lap-band Complications.)

Hey, there are people who get restriction with the first fill. But it is rare. Even just a little restriction will help.

Welcome to LapbandTalk! As I lose weight, I find exercise much more fulfilling and fun.

But the poll isn't about the band alone. It's about WLS in general. There are other types, including the type I had, which has less complications than the band in the long-run and better ELW. The choice isn't the band or nothing.

You aren't an MD either. It's not required to post on this site. As long as you continue to spread misinformation, I will continue to respond to your posts.

That's too funny. Did J&J pee in your coffee or something? I am at a loss to explain your irrational hatred of them and their product, which is being used successfully all over the globe with the same results as the Lap-band.

It's not true that the older Lap-bands are no longer implanted. Just look around here and see what people report. Someone in the intro section just this week reported getting one of the Lap-bands where the reservoir only holds 5 ccs. That's even older than the ones just before the AP line. I quoted the studies before and so did other people. Just read back in this thread and all the others you've posted your same four lies in. I don't know why you have such a hate-on for the Realize band. It's just a band, not a tool of the devil. Many people have used it and are doing quite well with it. As you say, it's been around for over 10 years so it's not like we don't know what kind of results it gets and only a handful of people have it.

Congrats on your sleeve. I'm so happy I got mine!

I stayed overnight. That's pretty typical. I know of one doctor doing this surgery as an outpatient, but I think that's not a good idea. Some people stay longer but that's because they have issues -- like having trouble peeing or something like that. The first 2-3 weeks I was on a liquid diet. Then I progressed to soft food and by 6-7 weeks I was eating anything I could tolerate. Which is pretty much everything except bread and bread-like products. (I'm 2.5 months out. Kind of early for bread.) You don't really get dumping syndrome with anything but RnY (bypass) because with all the other surgeries, you retain your pylorus valve and that keeps food in your stomach for long enough. But even people without WLS sometimes find high-sugar or high fat foods rush too fast into their intestines and that sometimes happens to sleevesters too. But most of the time my friends say they dumped, it turns out they actually have a bad gallbladder. 1.5 weeks, but I should have waited for 2. Most people are going to say 1 week and they were fine though. I had a hiatal hernia repaired at the same time as my sleeve and that slowed down my recovery. That's a hard one. I was off the pain meds at 1 week. But I had little aches and twinges for longer. Also, I've gotten very top heavy and so I have a lot of problems with back pain now. I foresee a breast reduction in my future. I only recently felt comfortable resuming strength training but I was back on the stationary bike at 2 weeks out and swimming laps as soon as my incisions healed up enough. Compared to my open gallbladder removal and my two c-sections, the recovery this time was a breeze. If that gives you an idea of the relative differences.

I was told that the "two-week freak out" was normal but i freaked out for a month. :tongue2:

Well when I say I've tried "everything", I certainly don't include diet pills, speed or fad diets in there. I mean "everything sensible that has a prayer of working without killing me." No offense to people who do try those things, but you don't have to had tried them to know you've exhausted all your options. Because WLS will allows you to feel satisfied on much less food. No one can diet and exercise forever because they get insanely hungry (as you mentioned). But with WLS, people feel satisfied when they are done eating, not insanely hungry. However, you should look at *all* the WLS types before you decide. Not every surgery type is right for every person. If you pick the type that addresses your food issues and has the post-op lifestyle you can live with, you will be a lot happier than if you don't. Weight-Loss Surgeries Compared

Welcome to LapBandTalk! Congrats of having a surgery date. When I got mine, I started freaking out. So don't be surprised if that happens at some point.

You should do a search on Arturo Rodriguez on this site. You will get LOTS of hits as he's a rather controversial surgeon.

You should look on Cigna's site for their bariatric surgery policy to see what their standards are. But most insurance companies will approve if your BMI is over 40 even without co-morbidities.

I finally got my internet back! (Damn Comcast.) Well most of these people have NO social skills and most of them are guys so it's possible they really just didn't notice. Or care. I mean, I'm not a model train so I'm obviously not interesting. :biggrin: My mom says they were probably afraid to say anything in case I had cancer or something. That cracked me up. I am pretty sure two of them noticed but weren't sure what to say. (I don't think this crowd is aware I had WLS.) It's kind of sad when people can't say "Hey, you look good. Have you lost weight?" without being afraid of making a big faux paux. Anyway, I told my neighbor with the bypass about how I had looked out my window and hadn't recognized him because I figure he probably is also going through this. Plus it turns out he was going through a big plateau and was frustrated until he started dropping again so I think he was happy someone noticed. Don't do that. Accountants are awesome! Accountants paid for my surgery! Today we went to Mervyns since they are going out of business and I bought a medium top and a 12p pair of pants. The pants don't fit but I think the top will. Oh and I bought some new underwear too. Normally I have a strict "only buy things that fit you NOW" policy but with 60-80% off, it felt safe to buy these.

First of all, not every surgeon implants the Lap-band with a fill. Secondly, not everyone who has a Lap-Band that was implanted with a fill has restriction so their bands don't all "work right away". They also don't necessarily get to their sweet spots earlier than some other patient who didn't get their band implanted with a fill. It will depend on how often they go in for fills, how aggressively their surgeon fills, and how must restriction they need overall. Third, some people who get their bands implanted with a fill find they have too much restriction and can't take in any liquid in the hospital, have to stay an extra day, and have to get it all taken out. (This happened to a friend of mine just this month.) So implanting a band with a fill is not necessarily a good thing. Like most things in life, it depends on the person. There is no evidence that aggressive fills cause erosion. When J&J bought the Realize band, they made some improvements to it. It's not exactly the same band as the one released to market in 1996 (not 1994). In the meantime, because the Swedish band was so popular in Europe, Allergen made some changes to the Lap-band in order to make it more like the Swedish band which they knew J&J was going to release in the US. Various studies of the two bands show that the average EWL is about the same. You are someone who posts anonymously on a message board only to trash one band over and over with misleading and inaccurate information. You rarely post on LBT about anything else, in fact. I don't think the people who chose not to listen to you, but to their surgeons are in need of anything. They are very sensible, in fact.