twyladawn

Dallas area. First Off, it took me over a year to get approved. :cursing: I was 270 lb. Meanwhile, my husband died from cancer. I lost 30 lb on the widows diet......you dont feel like eating, or doing anything--so you loose weight. Finally, I got approved for the lap band in March, and the group I was working with (AIGB Richardson) finally got me scheduled for surgery in June. I was about 250 lb. pre-surgery. I lost 12 lb the first week, and it was very painful. Then came the 1 x month adjustments. It is now November. The first several adjustments literally made no difference. After the soreness left and I recoverd a little bit -- TWO POUNDS in a month, I lost. The next month, THREE POUNDS. Boy I was getting disgusted. Plus I was having to pay $150 per fill because AIGB Richardson couldnt even give me appointments for fills, which were covered by my insurance because they were wretched incompetent and understaffed -- so I had to go elsewhere. After 3 months post surgery, AIGB Richardson FINALLY pulled it together and got me in for a fill. Since I wasn't experiencing any results, they gave me a pretty significant fill. Thats when the puking began, although I was still having HUNGER issues. Inever felt full at a half cup, or even a cup. :mad: That month, I lost a whopping FOUR Pounds. Then I got a very small fill. 1 cc I think it was. I couldnt eat at all, not even thin soup, and I was spitting up water when I drank it, so 3 days later, I had to get the fluid they added removed. AIGB Richardson agreed to see me, since I couldnt' drink water --- they waived their gastapo one visit per month rule. I guess they didn't want my family to sue them If I got dehydrated and died. :w00t:Then came the month from hell. Everything I ate, unless it was soup, I puked up, no matter how much I chewed. I was chewing bites 60 X apiece (so spare me any chewing lectures, please). Couldnt eat chicken at all. And beef was really hard also. Everything except soup, I puked up the first 20 bites, at least. But hey --- I COULD eat fattening cheese --- and sugar laden protien drinks. And spare me please, low fat cheese taste like crap and if I have a choice of only 2 or 3 foods I can eat, I will not go with low fat cheese -- and it that makes me an undisciplined fatso, well, so be it. After puke puke puke puke puke puke, I'd finally be able to hold a little down. Usually, it was evening time before I was able to hold anything down. But once it started to STAY down, and stopped coming up, I could eat a LOT, way more than 1/2 cup!! I could scarf down a HUGE plate of pasta, no problem, once the first 20 bites puking stopped. And, by then, in the evening, I'd be so ANGRY, and so HUNGRY, and so WEAK, I'd eat the whole thing. I have been totally unable to eat in public. Eating with friends or family became a thing of the past. :angry_smile: For one, I didn't want all my (thin) (somewhat judgemental) friends knowing I'd done a lap band. So, unless I ate thin soup, I couldn't eat ANYTHING in public -- because when I did, I'd have to flee the table after almost every bite --- to puke. And they started to look at me real weird after leaving the table for my 5th trip to the bathroom. :huh2: It was miserable. And as far as my family, who knew I'd had it done--well- No one wanted to eat in my presence, because I had to keep a "Puke cup" alongside my plate -- cuz fleeing the table 20 times a meal just wasn't an option. It was easier to just eat alone, with my PUKE CUP. After a month of this wretched hell, I'd lost a whopping 4 lbs. My AIGB aftercare won't see me any oftener than 1 x a month, unless it's a dire emergency. So, last time I went, they removed .5 cc -- cuz they said something obviously wasnt working right. WELL DUH. That's almost 2 weeks past. They told me that this was not how it was supposed to work, but they had me do barium swallow and said that it LOOKED fine, and they wanted me to see my dr. Well. Great. My dr. couldnt see me for nearly 3 wk, I see him on the 11th Nov. THANK GOD I AM NOT DYING, OR I'D BE DEAD BEFORE I SAW HIM. So -- since they removed that last bit, I can eat without puking most of the time.....but hungrier than he3ll. :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: I can eat a HUGE plate of whatever. Of course, if there is much texture, I still puke, but there seems to be no limitation on the volume I can eat, and my hunger pains gnaw all the time. I still cannot eat EGGS -- a great source of protien, without puking, but hey......a chocolate brownie goes down just GREAT. Never, ever, ever, at any point, has this WRETCHED MISERABLE USELESS CRAPPING lap band worked like it should, just limiting my food intake to 1/2 cup and allowing me to eat semi normal food like a semi normal person. I wouldn't recommend this useless surgery to my very worst enemy. :scared2: It's a hoax and a sham, at least for me. I had such high hopes for it!! And I felt just furious, every time I went in for a fill, and this woman, or that woman "Oh, I was banded t 4 months ago, and I have lost FORTY POUNDS, woo hoo!" OR what about the fella who lost 70 lb in 5 months. Not me, no, no. I mean, when you have to suck down protien drinks, which are packed with sugar, and the only things you can even get down are fattening crap, when meats choke you down, even deli meats, well, that's sure not going to work for anybody. I LOVE steamed brocolli. Under no circumstances can I even have a NIBBLE of steamed broccoli--I puke it out immediately. My food choices are so so so limited.....and I have never found a protien drink that was bearable to drink that wasn't saturated with sugar. I got these little protien shots from my dr., they were expensive as gold, but they tasted so awful, it was all I could do not to throw up in disgust when I drank them. boy, you get to be REAL CRANKY if all you can eat all day is something that resemble snail snot with sacharine. As a result of this surgery -- (eliminating the week of painful hell it took me to recover) I have lost less than 15 lb from this miserable surgery in 5 and a half months. And I have been more miserable than I have EVER been in my life. I don't know what my dr. will say, but this is NOT WORKING. I had a friend whose insurance wouldnt pay, she was ready to shell out 15 grand ---- I told her DONT DO IT. Get diet pills, do atkins, do ANYTHING, cuz ANYTHING is better and EASIER than THIS! If I went on weight watchers at least I could EAT normal food!!!! I used to think WW was hard, but it's nothing like this -- live on cheese sticks, yogurt, BROWNIES. and sickly sweet protien drinks. i CANNOT eat vegetables anymore. :cursing: :cursing: I loved vegetables, and they are healthy for you. I was never successful with diets, thats why I thought this stupid as_ surgery would help me.....but if you can't eat protiens or anything healthy cuz they hang up on the lap band --- and if it does not affect the VOLUME you can eat, what the hec good is it????? If I do not see a major difference by the end of the year with this miserably useless procedure, I am having the wretched thing ripped out, and having a magnetized sign made to go on the side of the car that says LAP BAND IS RIP OFF, DONT DO IT. I am 235 lb. I need to get down to 140 lb. That is 95 pounds. At that rate, it will take me about FOUR YEARS to loose this miserable weight. I need to find a job, I lost my job of 7 yr, due to my husband's terminal illness, and face it, we all know employers discriminate against what they call "FAT UNDISCIPLINED STUPID HOGS". Thats how they view you. I'd like to start dating sometime in the future. But we know how middle aged men view women who are overweight, no matter how intelligent or attractive the woman, and no matter how ugly and bald and fat the man....... "Hey, I don't date FAT CHICKS!"---and anything over a size 12 is a FAT CHICK in their eyes. So, unless I can get some of this weight off somehow, and obviously IT WONT BE THRU THE LAP BAND, I guess I am destined to PUKE forever, live on disgusting yogurt forever, and be FAT and have no dates and no job FOREVER. Do I sound bitter, angry and pissed off! Of course I do. I am not normally an angry person. But, when you puke all the time, and when you are hungry all the time, and you can't even eat anything that you LIKE, and you can't share social meals or social occasions with friends or family, and you are still trapped in a fat body in spite of all this misery, WELL HEY. NEWS FLASH. IT JUST MIGHT MAKE YOU CRANKY AND ANGRY. YES. LAP BAND HAS RUINED MY LIFE. I HATE IT. I WOULDNT EVEN RECOMMEND IT FOR MY WORST ENEMY. :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:

Get the wretched thing ripped out and go on weight watchers, thats what I am going to do. Good thing you actually lost 70 lb. I lost a puny little 15 lb in 5.5 month......and have been living in a literal agony of puking and misery and half a dozen choices of food I can even EAT. This thing is worthless!!!

Dallas area. First Off, it took me over a year to get approved. :wub: I was 270 lb. Meanwhile, my husband died from cancer. I lost 30 lb on the widows diet......you dont feel like eating, or doing anything--so you loose weight. Finally, I got approved for the lap band in March, and the group I was working with (AIGB Richardson) finally got me scheduled for surgery in June. I was about 250 lb. pre-surgery. I lost 12 lb the first week, and it was very painful. Then came the 1 x month adjustments. It is now November. The first several adjustments literally made no difference. After the soreness left and I recoverd a little bit -- TWO POUNDS in a month, I lost. The next month, THREE POUNDS. Boy I was getting disgusted. Plus I was having to pay $150 per fill because AIGB Richardson couldnt even give me appointments for fills, which were covered by my insurance because they were wretched incompetent and understaffed -- so I had to go elsewhere. After 3 months post surgery, AIGB Richardson FINALLY pulled it together and got me in for a fill. Since I wasn't experiencing any results, they gave me a pretty significant fill. Thats when the puking began, although I was still having HUNGER issues. Inever felt full at a half cup, or even a cup. :mad: That month, I lost a whopping FOUR Pounds. Then I got a very small fill. 1 cc I think it was. I couldnt eat at all, not even thin soup, and I was spitting up water when I drank it, so 3 days later, I had to get the fluid they added removed. AIGB Richardson agreed to see me, since I couldnt' drink water --- they waived their gastapo one visit per month rule. I guess they didn't want my family to sue them If I got dehydrated and died. :w00t:Then came the month from hell. Everything I ate, unless it was soup, I puked up, no matter how much I chewed. I was chewing bites 60 X apiece (so spare me any chewing lectures, please). Couldnt eat chicken at all. And beef was really hard also. Everything except soup, I puked up the first 20 bites, at least. But hey --- I COULD eat fattening cheese --- and sugar laden protien drinks. And spare me please, low fat cheese taste like crap and if I have a choice of only 2 or 3 foods I can eat, I will not go with low fat cheese -- and it that makes me an undisciplined fatso, well, so be it. After puke puke puke puke puke puke, I'd finally be able to hold a little down. Usually, it was evening time before I was able to hold anything down. But once it started to STAY down, and stopped coming up, I could eat a LOT, way more than 1/2 cup!! I could scarf down a HUGE plate of pasta, no problem, once the first 20 bites puking stopped. And, by then, in the evening, I'd be so ANGRY, and so HUNGRY, and so WEAK, I'd eat the whole thing. I have been totally unable to eat in public. Eating with friends or family became a thing of the past. :mad2: For one, I didn't want all my (thin) (somewhat judgemental) friends knowing I'd done a lap band. So, unless I ate thin soup, I couldn't eat ANYTHING in public -- because when I did, I'd have to flee the table after almost every bite --- to puke. And they started to look at me real weird after leaving the table for my 5th trip to the bathroom. :huh2: It was miserable. And as far as my family, who knew I'd had it done--well- No one wanted to eat in my presence, because I had to keep a "Puke cup" alongside my plate -- cuz fleeing the table 20 times a meal just wasn't an option. It was easier to just eat alone, with my PUKE CUP. After a month of this wretched hell, I'd lost a whopping 4 lbs. My AIGB aftercare won't see me any oftener than 1 x a month, unless it's a dire emergency. So, last time I went, they removed .5 cc -- cuz they said something obviously wasnt working right. WELL DUH. That's almost 2 weeks past. They told me that this was not how it was supposed to work, but they had me do barium swallow and said that it LOOKED fine, and they wanted me to see my dr. Well. Great. My dr. couldnt see me for nearly 3 wk, I see him on the 11th Nov. THANK GOD I AM NOT DYING, OR I'D BE DEAD BEFORE I SAW HIM. So -- since they removed that last bit, I can eat without puking most of the time.....but hungrier than he3ll. :thumbup: I can eat a HUGE plate of whatever. Of course, if there is much texture, I still puke, but there seems to be no limitation on the volume I can eat, and my hunger pains gnaw all the time. I still cannot eat EGGS -- a great source of protien, without puking, but hey......a chocolate brownie goes down just GREAT. Never, ever, ever, at any point, has this WRETCHED MISERABLE USELESS CRAPPING lap band worked like it should, just limiting my food intake to 1/2 cup and allowing me to eat semi normal food like a semi normal person. I wouldn't recommend this useless surgery to my very worst enemy. :wub: It's a hoax and a sham, at least for me. I had such high hopes for it!! And I felt just furious, every time I went in for a fill, and this woman, or that woman "Oh, I was banded t 4 months ago, and I have lost FORTY POUNDS, woo hoo!" OR what about the fella who lost 70 lb in 5 months. Not me, no, no. I mean, when you have to suck down protien drinks, which are packed with sugar, and the only things you can even get down are fattening crap, when meats choke you down, even deli meats, well, that's sure not going to work for anybody. I LOVE steamed brocolli. Under no circumstances can I even have a NIBBLE of steamed broccoli--I puke it out immediately. My food choices are so so so limited.....and I have never found a protien drink that was bearable to drink that wasn't saturated with sugar. I got these little protien shots from my dr., they were expensive as gold, but they tasted so awful, it was all I could do not to throw up in disgust when I drank them. boy, you get to be REAL CRANKY if all you can eat all day is something that resemble snail snot with sacharine. As a result of this surgery -- (eliminating the week of painful hell it took me to recover) I have lost less than 15 lb from this miserable surgery in 5 and a half months. And I have been more miserable than I have EVER been in my life. I don't know what my dr. will say, but this is NOT WORKING. I had a friend whose insurance wouldnt pay, she was ready to shell out 15 grand ---- I told her DONT DO IT. Get diet pills, do atkins, do ANYTHING, cuz ANYTHING is better and EASIER than THIS! If I went on weight watchers at least I could EAT normal food!!!! I used to think WW was hard, but it's nothing like this -- live on cheese sticks, yogurt, BROWNIES. and sickly sweet protien drinks. i CANNOT eat vegetables anymore. :crying: I loved vegetables, and they are healthy for you. I was never successful with diets, thats why I thought this stupid as_ surgery would help me.....but if you can't eat protiens or anything healthy cuz they hang up on the lap band --- and if it does not affect the VOLUME you can eat, what the hec good is it????? If I do not see a major difference by the end of the year with this miserably useless procedure, I am having the wretched thing ripped out, and having a magnetized sign made to go on the side of the car that says LAP BAND IS RIP OFF, DONT DO IT. I am 235 lb. I need to get down to 140 lb. That is 95 pounds. At that rate, it will take me about FOUR YEARS to loose this miserable weight. I need to find a job, I lost my job of 7 yr, due to my husband's terminal illness, and face it, we all know employers discriminate against what they call "FAT UNDISCIPLINED STUPID HOGS". Thats how they view you. I'd like to start dating sometime in the future. But we know how middle aged men view women who are overweight, no matter how intelligent or attractive the woman, and no matter how ugly and bald and fat the man....... "Hey, I don't date FAT CHICKS!"---and anything over a size 12 is a FAT CHICK in their eyes. So, unless I can get some of this weight off somehow, and obviously IT WONT BE THRU THE LAP BAND, I guess I am destined to PUKE forever, live on disgusting yogurt forever, and be FAT and have no dates and no job FOREVER. Do I sound bitter, angry and pissed off! Of course I do. I am not normally an angry person. But, when you puke all the time, and when you are hungry all the time, and you can't even eat anything that you LIKE, and you can't share social meals or social occasions with friends or family, and you are still trapped in a fat body in spite of all this misery, WELL HEY. NEWS FLASH. IT JUST MIGHT MAKE YOU CRANKY AND ANGRY. YES. LAP BAND HAS RUINED MY LIFE. I HATE IT. I WOULDNT EVEN RECOMMEND IT FOR MY WORST ENEMY. :wub: :wub: :eek: :smile:

It took me over a year to get approved by my insurance. Things took so long, my insurance changed and I had to go thru the whole process again. Finally in June, I got banded. I wouldnt recommend it to my worst enemy. After several adjustments, I lose from 2 to 4 lb a month only. And either I am puking up EVERYTHING I eat, and unable to eat at all until evening time, or they take more out, and I am miserably hungry. If it works at all, even tho I try the 30 chew per bite (actualy I do 60) The first 10 or 20 bites I take, have to be puked up, no matter what it is. Unless its soup. I cannot eat with friends or family -- as I have to have a puke cup right alongside me. I am sore from the puking. And they drain out some fluid, and now I am just hungry 24 X 7. I hate this. It was supposed to help. They never told me that I would never again be able to eat in public, or that I would puke the rest of my life, and that I would only loose 2 lb a month, or 4 on a good month. At this rate, I will be dead of old age before I loose this weight, and living in misery besides. I have been on this forum, and cant figure out how to do a new post, so I am replying to a post -- just to make myself HEARD -- that anyone who has not done a band, DONT DO IT DONT DO IT. Like me, it might not work for you, and your life is completely RUINED. TBYRD.

I live in Flower Mound area. Used Dr. Marsden, he's a great doc. However, Marsden referred me to AIGB (American Institute of Gastric Banding) in Richardson for the processing and followup. It took me over a year and a half to finally get this going and I had to go thru 2 totally different approval processes due to the incompetence and foot-dragging from the AIGB office in Richardson. :tt2: They goofed around and strung me along for so long my insurance changed mid-stream, so I had to to thru 2 separate insurance processes -- Cigna, and Aetna. Then once I FINALLY got the surgery, June 9th, (when AIGB got the go ahead to schedule the surgery in early March!!!) I could never get them to get an appointment set up to do my fills. They never even ordered my records from Dr. Marsden -- even after I called them multiple times over the course of several weeks to check and nag. :scared2: My insurance is supposed to pay for my fills, but I simply cannot get AIGB in Richardson to get my records, or get me an appointment set, so I am having to pay $150.00 per visit for my fills to the Surgicenter in Hurst. They tell me it can take up to 6 fills to get it right. I've had two fills, and so far, I'm just as hungry as ever. The only difference I can tell is that foods often "hang up" about halfway down my esophagus and I have to cough them up. Esp chicken. I have an appointment for another fill at Hurst SurgiCenter in Sept. Therefore, due to the incompetence and unresponsiveness of the AIGB office in Richardson TX, I am going to have to pay about $900 out of pocket for my fills, which should have been covered by my insurance. :confused:I have called Dr. Marsden's office repeatedly. They can't help. All they can tell me is to use the Hurst SurgiCenter if I want my fills done in a timely manner. I have called AIGB Richardson repeatedly and can't get ANY movement from them on their part of the responsibility. :mad: I had my surgery on June 9, and I have lost TWO POUNDS. All this, when I began the whole process in February of 2006! (THANK YOU, AIGB Richardson, thank you so much!!) I am really, really disappointed with this whole process. I have totally lost my excitement about it, and am even doubting I will ever loose any weight, at this point. :eek: What I want to know is --- has anyone else encountered similar issues with AIGB Richardson, and if so, how did you overcome it? Or were you able to overcome it? It seems to me that since AIGB Richardson figures they have the "corner" on the market in this area, they find it OK to treat patients any old way they please and refuse to do anything that seems like ordinary customer service!!!:biggrin: To me, that is inexcusable!! :) And - I also feel like Dr. Marsden's office ought to make an issue of this incompetence to try to help out their numerous patients who are experiencing the same dilemma with their fills (from what I hear) I will wait for responses. thanks