lellow

sure

Hi Megan, I suppose at 5 years post banding, I am not what you would call someone in the 'first flush' of the glory days of my band. Nor am I by any means a newbie, and as time goes on I am more interested than ever in posts that discuss the longevity of the band, especially with regards to symptoms experienced, in the hopes that I can in fact be vigilant of possible complications. First let me qualify that I'm Australian, and Australian surgeons have been placing bands for a lot longer than American doctors. My surgeon has well over a decade's worth of experience and to this day, still thinks the band is the most effective wls there is. I just wanted to make that clear so you understand where I stand on this. I recently had band replacement surgery as a result of a leaky band. I had the option of revising to a sleeve but both my surgeon and myself agreed that the band was a better choice. I have lost 100% of my excess weight, I have not experienced pain, reflux, nothing at all that has caused me concern, and even when my band was leaking for 15 months, I only gained 35lbs of which I then lost 40% of without the band's help before my replacement. All the recent posts I have read regarding complications experienced by banders who have had the band for 5 years or more have the same theme to it: pain, reflux, weight gain, discomfort, damage etc. I have experienced none of these. I maintain my weight easily when my band is working. I live with my band very easily. I have had a multitude of tests as a result of my leak and I have no physical issues or damage caused by the band. I have no reason to believe that will change, either, seeing as it hasn't happened yet, and if it was going to, I'd expect it to have happened before now. I also have a good lot of bandster friends on FB who have been quietly living their lives with the bands without complications, who have had their bands as long or longer than me, who just don't talk about it that much any more, unlike when they were first banded. So just to provide some balance, I do believe people have complications, and in many cases, serious ones too. And I do believe you have and it's always a wake-up call to see it talked about. But I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that everyone will, or that it will even be as common as some people make it out to be. Nothing you've said about your personal experience or anything I've seen posted about complications just recently has convinced me of that at all, especially since I see so few similarities with my own experiences with the band. So I'm piping in, I guess, to give a different view of what long-term life with the band is like so anyone reading understands that there is more than just one point of view to everything. And I personally have nearly nothing bad to say about my experience with the band.

I'm the same when in green zone. Eating is what I had to do to live. Unlike B-52 though I then wanted my food to only taste AMAZING if I had to eat it. But I didn't really experience hunger at all. I'm actually not seeking the green zone now that I've had a band replacement because my lack of hunger means I lose more weight than is probably healthy for me, but after years of fighting hunger, fighting to gain weight and maintain it was really novel!

With a properly working band, I don't feel that typical 'fullness' you feel from over-eating like pre-band either. I say my band 'kicks back' as opposed to being 'full' because it's not the same feeling. Now I'm not at green zone and there are times I can still get 'full' but it's not a comfortable feeling for me now and I try to avoid it.

I'm sorry that the removal is so tough on you Sue. Opiates make me very nauseous as well and like you I'd rather bear the pain than have to contend with dry heaving. I hope you recover soon, Sue. I've had you in my thoughts just lately.

I think you're going to see a high proportion of complications on a site like this. Because if things are going well, what would you post about? I've had my band 5 years and I've had complications - a leak (mostly covered by insurance but I'm in Australia so can't speak for your insurance company), but more important than that, I've lost 100% of my excess weight and kept it off in that time. No reflux, no pain, no constant tiredness (quite the contrary in fact), no bs. The band gave me my life back, plus some, in more ways than just weight loss. If not for my leak I probably wouldn't have come back to this site. Then would you have heard of my story? Or the stories of the MANY thousands of others for whom the band has worked? So read the complications and know of the possibility of them and then put them in context. Complications are not as common as this site would make them seem. My suggestion is ask your insurance about what they do cover in the event you do suffer a complication, but always balance that out with what you're NOT seeing, which is people who were like me until recently, who have the band and are out there living our lives without having to talk about it in a forum like this.

if you're searching for 'fullness' (as in I ate so much I feel like I'm gonna burst) then imo you're always going to struggle with the band. The band promises satiety. Or not being hungry again for at least 3 - 4 hours when you are in your green zone. When in the green zone, I can't eat any more than a certain amount. My band will 'kick back'. But if I waited for a bit until the food passed though, then of course I could get more in. The point is NOT eating like that because that's called eating around your band and doing that continually will mean you will not lose. You can eat a good amount of food, band or no band, and still feel hungry. This is why so many of us seek 'fullness'. We take it as a sign that we're no longer hungry, when it fact it means we've eaten WAY too much. It takes your head up to 30 mins to get the signals from your stomache that you're no longer hungry. So stop, wait 30 mins, and if you're still I-could-eat-my-own-leg-I'm-so-hungry then by all means eat more. But you'll be surprised, you probably won't be. Before your green zone, you can eat that way and in a few hours be hungry again. In your green zone, it will be 3 - 4 hours before you're hungry again. That's when the band is working at it's optimum, and it may take some fills until then, but until then you can still learn about satiety vs fullness.

I think I'd die if I had to give up spicy food. I'd never be able to eat at my mum's ever again. It doesn't bother me at all actually. Never has.

I get that. I get wanting to lose, because I, of course, wanted the exact same thing. But you can lose even when you're not in green zone. I lost most of my weight before I found it. But finding it made it EASY to lose the rest and easy to keep it all off. So I can't stress how important it is to find it, and how much easier it makes it for you when you do find it.

My first dr was pretty conservative, he went slow right from the beginning. I never had more than a 1cc fill ever. But I don't think that's a bad thing. It's very easy to push past the green zone to the red zone. I went from being yellow to green in 0.1cc. So especially if you're a new bander, slowly can mean you're more likely to find that green zone, especially when you don't really know what it feels like yet (unlike someone like me, who does). Even knowing as I do, three fills ago, with a 1cc fill I was pushed too far and starting throwing up my own saliva. I had to get unfilled by 0.5cc and now have that same amount back, just in two fills instead of one big fill so that I could 'manage' the swelling after the fill. I probably need a little more than this even but big fills can cause more swelling and more problems in the short term even if you're not yet at green. So don't be in a huge hurry to get big fills. That's my opinion anyway. Control your diet between fills and concentrate the fills on finding the perfect restriction instead.

I was actually thinking about this post when I was out today. I thought I'd better come in and explain too that while I'm happy with my weight I'm actually looking to be healthier than I am now. I am strength training to increase my overall fitness and to reduce my body fat percentage. I think goal weights should keep in mind general health too, coz there are plenty of strong and healthy overweight people and plenty of 'skinny fat' people. Just think health and not just weight should be something to aspire to. Sorry went off on a little tangent but it was bugging me.

I told everyone. I gave me the pressure I needed not to fail lol. It's been a mixed blessing, and you have to have a thick skin for all the hating you get, but I'm glad for my decision. I think I represent a good outcome for the band, and I'm glad of that. Too many people only hear the bad stuff.

I've heard all those things. But you can't argue with success. And I'm 5 years out now so I would LOVE anyone to tell me that the band doesn't work. Funny how no one says that to me anymore.

And I missed it! I may have a brand new band in but I still consider the 1st August 2008 to be the first day I became a bandster. And despite the ups and downs, it has been a game changer for me. It transformed my life in so many ways that I can't even begin to articulate. Not just in my weight, my health and my prognosis for my future health, but in my confidence, my view on life, my career and my value in myself. Happy bandiversary to me! It's been an amazing 5 years and here's to many many more to come.

Have they tried unfilling you to try to alleviate the symptoms at all? So that they can at least rule out that it IS your band?

I just want to hug you, coz the guy was a f*&king ass! And you're not a whimp because someone was horrible to you in front of your child and it hurt you. One of the things I really relished (and I can't believe I'm revealing this) is when I lost all the weight and all the guys who would be mean to me suddenly wanted to get to know me. I loved playing the playas. Just keep your head up, girl, and use these incidents as motivation.

I'm 5'4" Started at 215lbs Lowest was 118lbs (a size 0 - 2). My dr believed I was too skinny and wanted to unfill me, so I gained to 130lbs (just under a size 4) and maintained for 3 years. Sprung a leak and gained to 165lbs. Wasn't happy at that weight. Now my band is replaced and I'm on 140lbs and think it's PERFECT (a size 4 - 6)

I don't mind reiterating something to anyone who is really interested in figuring it all out. I am not the quickest to learn either, I'm too stubborn for my own good sometimes. It's not that sort of poster that bothers me, so please don't think that it's at all what I'm saying. It's more those who, for example, insist that they need to be so tight they can't do anything but drink protein shakes because that MUST be how people lose weight with the band, or get angry because the band magically didn't take every shred of hunger away, or are pissed off because they don't understand why they need to get fills because surely it should have worked and made them lose 50lbs straight after surgery that make me cringe. Wanting to learn is one thing, making mistakes and admitting them is another thing, but not knowing anything but pretending like you know everything? Yeah, no, I have no more patience for that. And you know when it's time to take a break when you see those posts and it feels like they're EVERYWHERE, when they're probably not.

Thanks everyone. One of the lovely ladies here messaged me on FB about this asking if it was anything in particular. It's not. It's just a general thing. Just same old, same old. I think when I posted this blog last night I was feeling particularly tired of it all, and I apologise for being more dramatic than was probably necessary. I still won't be reading or responding to posts for a while, because I do believe it's not a bad thing for someone to take a break from this place now and again, just to shed the negativity of it all and enjoy their lives, but I'll still be around, in chat or via PM, because I know I have friends here who I would miss and who would have my back if I needed them to. So it's not farewell, it's just that I'm going to be quieter around the place.

You're braver than me! I'm so scared of doing anything to my face. I've tried botox and that's it (and not sure I will again). Though I am getting more lipo on my thighs on Friday. I'm a sucker for punishment!!

I think a side effect of the band is that people end up with the mentality that getting no food through is the way they're going to lose weight. The band actually works best when you are at the point where you can eat a small amount of solid food and it keeps you satisfied for 3 - 4 hours. I honestly think at the right restriction level the band assists in controlling your physical hunger to such a point that you will not be obsessed about food and will be able to live with it in a more natural way. Too tight and your body starves and you're miserable and angry because you're not losing (and potentially causing problems with your band too!). Too loose and you fight with hunger all the time. Finding that 'green zone' is so important in my opinion and what makes it harder is finding it can be difficult. Many people drive towards tighter and tighter bands thinking that will get them there and then they push past it, they're in the red zone and it's not better, it's worse. Don't look for it to hurt when you eat. Look for the point where you can eat and it keeps you from being hungry again for 3 - 4 hours. That's the green zone.