lellow

I think having high expectations is a great thing. I had high expectations, I had no intention of failing, I was going to get to goal and surpass them. I think that's a great headspace for success, personally!

I know it seems impossible but it isn't. Others have done it. Yes it stinks, yes it's hard but just concentrate on getting through the next hour, and don't think too far ahead. I made my family cook for themselves too so I could stay out of the kitchen and not have to look at food. Also it does get easier as the days pass. It won't be this hard every single day of those 7 days I promise.

If you can eat fast you're probably not at your green zone. No biggie, sometimes it takes more than a couple of fills to get there. It won't happen for everybody immediately - it took me up to 8.5 cc in a 10cc band to get there. And I started to think the band wasn't working! And for some, yes they can tolerate anything. I couldn't tolerate rice very early on. I'm talking about one bite and it would all come back out. But other people have no intolerances at all - don't use food tolerances as a yardstick. And when I got to the green zone, I honestly could NOT drink when I ate. But that was just me. Think of it this way - one of the band rules is don't drink your calories. That's because liquids go through your band faster and doesn't satiate you the way harder foods would. Drinking with your meal is like drinking your calories. I also don't chew my food to mush (same reason as above). I think if I'm chewing it to mush, I'm probably too tight, just personally. So for me, I looked for a 'spot' where I could eat real food, eat slowly but not over-chew, and it would keep me satisfied for hours. By the sounds of it, you're not at that point yet.

This made me snort laugh coffee out of my nose. Thanks, thanks so much for that!

It's a shock isn't it? Because it's a BIG thing. And you feel so bloody awful those first few weeks and you think 'what did I do to myself?'. You feel like you're never going to feel 'normal' ever again. But you will. It may be a 'new' normal but you'll be surprised how quickly you adapt. Don't lose sight of why you did this in the first place. It's easy to forget that while you feel like crud, but focus on the future- walk lots, make plans and remind yourself that you've taken this brave step to change something you were not happy with. And come back and report back in a week. Because I'm sure you'll feel more positive then.

I told everyone about the band - strangers, friends, family, everyone. I went from getting reactions like 'why did you do something so drastic' to 'Omg you look amazing' when I lost all the weight. I am a walking testimony that the Lapband works so all the haters can suck on it. Except now I've lost the weight there seems to be no more haters. Weird huh?

Hi kush, did your dr say if there was a chance of another prolapse? Good luck with your replacement, I'll be having mine in 12 days so you should keep in touch!

My nose drips. But I usually 'feel' it before then. I actually think my nose dripping means I've gone too far.

Yes, got my lapband in 2008, lost 130% of my excess weight, stayed stable for 3 years, sprung a leak that for some reason seems to be hard to find, gained weight, lost some but with difficulty, so now am opting to have a band replacement in 12 days time. So didn't just choose it once, but will be choosing it twice.

I took two weeks off but could have gone back in one. And this time with the band replacement, I've only taken one. I work at a desk too, so I think I should be ok in a week.

Stick to your diet. I cannot stress that enough. If you don't and something goes wrong, you're going to be kicking yourself. It is a few more days, in the scheme of things, just a drop in the ocean of the rest of your life. Don't think about tomorrow, just get through today. And worry about tomorrow tomorrow. And again, stick to your diet.

Hi Jackie, I'm 43. So no, not young at all! But thank you, you made my day!

I lost so much that I actually got to the point where I was looking very thin, but I couldn't see it. I only saw the extra padding I still had on my thighs and the backfat I still had around my bra, and the double chin I still thought I had. I didn't notice the ribs showing in my cleavage, or how thin my arms were, or that my hip bones were sticking out. My friends worried about me, and my dr threatened to unfill me, and it took that for me to realise that my perception of myself was pretty skewed. It takes a long time for our heads to catch up. if ever. Even now, with just an extra 20+lbs up from my stable weight, I struggle not to feel like a whale most days. And yet I still an in a US size 6 - 8 (size 10 Australian). That's my head playing it's nasty tricks on me, and I have to keep reminding myself that what it's telling me isn't true. Our minds were treacherous to us when we were big and we couldn't really see it, and it's treacherous to us now, so you really have to work on seeing the real picture of yourself, and if you succeed, please let me know how because I'm still trying to figure it out!

My dr first suggested the lapband to me 18 months before I decided to go ahead. I was pretty content with being a big girl - I thought I looked okay, my husband never had a problem with my weight, and having been big all my life, I didn't know any differently. For me it was my younger brother being diagnosed with rampant diabetes that I realised I needed to take stock of my life. I have a 2 year old, and I didn't want to wait until I was told I had health issues that may prevent me from seeing him into adulthood. So I got banded. In fact from the minute I made my decision to the day I was banded was 28 days (gotta love living in Australia). I lost the weight, and then I realised what I'd been missing. I have a whole different life now, one of enjoying shopping, one were I have heaps more energy, one where, while my band was working, I didn't have to worry that I'd have a bad week eating crap and then put on 5lbs. It just didn't happen. Yes I knew I would have to live with it for life. You adjust, you adapt, and the new ways become the new normal. It became so normal for me in fact that in the last 15 months where I've had a leak in my band and therefore can't feel it the majority of the time, I MISS it. I want that restriction back! But like 2muchfun said, YOU have to be ready to do this. Wanting to lose weight is one thing, wanting to change the way you live in order to achieve your goals is actually more relevant. Until you're ready for that, you're probably not going to be prepared for what the band will bring, iykwim.

I was in the green zone for 3 years, easily maintaining my weight. I'd get the odd 'maintenance' fill annually to keep me well restricted but didn't really have to do anything else. Then in Jan 2012, I lost all restriction. So went for a fill and after a week I lost restriction again. Next checkup, they withdrew all the Fluid and discovered I'd lost half of what should have been in my band. So there was definitely a leak. I did get tests to eliminate the possibility of a slip and erosion as well and in every other respect, my band is perfectly placed. Just leaking.

My band is leaking. I've had two ops to resolve it (port replacements) but it's still leaking so it's a full replacement next.

Not quite the same but as there aren't many in my position I hope you guys don't mind me joining you. I'm getting a band replacement on the 27th April, so will be going through what you guys will be going through, plus some. I could use some hand holding too! And offer holding of others' hands. I don't have to do a liquid diet until 3 days beforehand due to my different circumstances but I did it when I got my band the first time around, so can empathise.

Yep this happened to a friend of mine. No cycles for 5 years, then that first weird, spotty period 3 months after surgery and only having gone down 20lbs and next month, she was pregnant after trying to conceive unsuccessfully for years. As you lose, the symptoms of PCOS will reduce, which often means the slow but steady return of your TOM.

When I first discovered I had a band complication, and posted about it, I got people coming and talking about similar things that had happened to them. To me, it would have been easy to then think "omg, this band is a disaster! It is a scam! Just look at all these people who are saying it didn't work!" But I've been around a while now. There are LOTS of people for whom the band worked, and worked well, including me actually. It's not a scam, it is a procedure that has risks and the possibility of not working and the chance of you not losing the weight that you thought you would lose, but it doesn't make it ineffective or dangerous to the EVERYONE, as you seem to insinuate Ivy. I read you saying tings like 'oh you'll find out I'm right' and I think hold the phone, Josephine, what about my success? What about my lack of complications until the leak? What about me? My experience is obviously better than yours, and I don't even know what yours is! I have a friend who got the lapband on my recommendation and has lost a grand total of 20lbs, because she happily eats around the band. I have another who lost 100% of her excess body weight and kept it off for a year. I have one who had to have an emergency removal due to erosion due to nothing she herself did and suffered greatly. None of them blame the band. We all react differently and will behave differently with the band. But we're adults - we traded off the risks for the chance at losing the weight. For some, they don't lose, for others, they lose at the expense of developing other health issues, and yet for others, they lose and live happily ever after (and despite what anyone might have read in this complications forum, MANY people like that exist). You won't know which one you'll be until you have the surgery, whatever surgery that is. Yes there are risks, yes we should talk about the risks, but scare-mongering isn't the most helpful way to help people who have complications, imo. I think support for each other should take better forms than that.