sparkplug

I have two schnauzers and they knew that I was hurt when I got home from hospital when Ihad my surgery. One just sat by my feet and the other one laid ever so close to me to let me know he was there for me until I healed and could play with him again. The first night I slept on couch because I hurt so bad and was awake every hour on the hour and the nurse had told me to walk just around the room to prevent any blood clots from forming. My little schnauzer got up with me every single time and walked around the living room with me and laid back down to nap every time for the first two days. What a comfort to have someone with me 24/7 when I hurt so bad. He is usually in the play mode every day but not when I had my surgery, he was my comfort companion when everybody else was sound asleep. You would be surprised how much they sense when you don't feel good. good luck and enjoy the comfort of your companion.

Tex, here is my story. I am now 59 years old. I was banded 12/20/08 and have lost 90 pounds. I was on the yo yo diet for my whole life, up and down constantly. I finally got rewarded for that kind of dieting with high blood pressure, severe knee problems, high cholesterol and borderline diabetes. I no longer am on any medication and feel like a teenager and am down to my size 10 clothes again. I did this for health reasons only but people do treat you so differently when thin than when you are heavy. I, like you, WAS very sensitive to remarks about my weight whether in front of me or behind my back. I would cry at the drop of a hat because it cut my very soul with those hurtful remarks. Now I am at the point in my life that they can all screw themselves because my motto is the first 50 years I was trying to please them and these last 50 years I am here to please ME ONLY! People are very hateful and hurtful and you need to keep telling yourself that this is all about you and your life!! You can do it and someday you will feel the same way like me, after a lifetime of slams about weight, you will finally become numb to the inconsiderate and hurtful remarks. You go girl and I have faith you can do this too.

I am concerned about your surgery to begin with. What happened? I was also banded in 2008 and I am reading a lot of people banded in the 4 to 5 year span having to have their band removed or re-installed. Did you get your band in US or Mexico? I am older and would not want to have another surgery because of this band not being a lifetime deal like I was led to believe before surgery. I don't know how I would pay for another surgery because my insurance said it was a one time deal with this band. Thanks for your input.

I must get an awful look on my face when something gets stuck, because my husband says, "you ate too fast" didn't you? I give it a couple of minutes to see if it will move down and if it doesn't, I have to get up and walk to ladies room. Usually by the time I get there it moves down but if not, I put my arms over my head and do a lot of praying to get it to go down. I have been so good since Christmas not getting stuck but I cannot get over eating too fast like the house is on fire! I guess I am a slow learner or just a glutton for punishment.

Got stuck on dry ham last Christmas and wanted to die. Nothing worked to get that to move down and even though banded for 3 years I never got stuck where the food would not go down. After suffering for 2 1/2 hours of pain and not even being able to get my own spit down, I made a hot cup of coffee and started sipping that and it loosened it up and actually me throw it up. RELIEF at last and had to be careful for next couple of days because of being swollen and scared to death. I don't believe I will ever eat ham again!! I do not have any fills and don't know if I would ever have one after having that "stuck" attack. I have been at goal for the last 3 years and have gained 7-9 pounds that I cannot get off. Maybe this summer I can swim it off. I keep papaya enzyme with me at all times and that did not even touch that ham. It was a lesson learned for me and I walk away from the table if I find I ate too fast or did not chew enough. Fear is sometimes a wonderful thing in learning.

I also have been banded for 3 1/2 years and was to goal with losing 90 pounds but got a little complacent and starting eating a little too much and/or too much popcorn. I have gained 10 pounds from my lowest weight and am struggling to get into the mindset that got me to goal to begin with. I do not eat a lot at each meal but have to get over this popcorn thing to get this weight off. I do not want to go any higher than I am and need support mentally to get this weight off before I go back to square one. I never regretted being banded but I seem to have lost total control of this snack thing on weekends.

I don't blame you all for taking action with 50 pounds that you cannot get off. I started with that much and it got up to 90 before I could get insurance to approve the procedure for me. I will always have to fight the head hunger thing going on and I have been to goal for over 3 years but over the last year gained back 10 pounds that I need to put my head back into the game and get it off. If you want to see how much 50 extra pounds weighs on your body and takes it's toll, especially as you get older, carry something around with that much weight and see how exhausted you get after a while. I know this head and mind fight is forever and have yet to conquer it. Good luck and keep the faith. You do what you want and feel you need and everybody else's opinion is not necessarily right or wrong. It all boils down to what makes you happy and healthy. Keep going and this is an excellent website for support, I come on here every single day of my life for the last 3 years and learn so much.

Never had dizziness until I got to goal and lost 90 pounds. The doctor did say he thought it was due to losing the weight so fast in the first year. I am 3 years out and every now and then have a dizzy spell. I am off all meds and bp is normal and great for my age. I keep mecclazine (sea sick) pills on hand and cut them in half and have to take them for a day or two until this passes. This seems to happen every now and again with no reason in sight and the doctor said now that he thinks it is something from the middle ear you get with age. Just another thing to adjust to with this new life and learn to live with it. I never know when it is going to hit me. I have had a lot issues come up since being banded that far outweight carrying all that weight.

You are not alone! Been there, done that! Find even one person that you can vent to and talk to about anything and everything and that will help tremendously. As far as the boyfriend leaving you, probably the best thing that ever happened, but you won't know until you look back on that years down the road. I have been up and down on this weight journey so many times, I quit smoking 10 yrs ago and with the change of life I had gotten to 235 pounds and hated me and everything else. I cried a lot to myself. Things will always change, I am to goal with losing 90 pds but have slipped and gained a stubborn 5-8 pounds that will not go away, so I am down again. See, that is how life works, I will defeat this emotional eating once again and life will be good, you wait and see you will be happy again shortly and this will be just another bad memory that you can disgard along with all the bad memories you have had. Keep the faith and for me sometimes a little prayer helps. Good luck and please keep in touch with all of us

I am glad I found this site, I am 3 years banded, 12/20/08 and down 90 pounds but last year I gained 5-7 pounds that will not go away. I have no fills and do not plan on getting any since I have so many days that I am stressed and can't eat with the band. I love my band and want to get these last few pounds off again but I am addicted to food and popcorn. I still do not do bread, sugar or high carb foods but this weight is getting the best of me and I do not want those 5 pounds to turn into 10 and 20 and 30. I am trying to keep focused and go back to the beginning of why I did this to begin with. WE ARE ALL FOOD ADDICTS and we can win!!! Take it one day at a time and remember why we got banded to begin with. Think positive and do not let anybody's negatives remarks deter you away from your journey. Negativity makes me want to prove them wrong all the more. We can all do this!! Good luck

Betsy, I was banded 12/20/08 and am maintaining after 90 pound weight loss. I did gain around 5-7 pounds from last year and have been fighting to get it off but I do remember this beginning of my journey. I went into a very bad depression, I think they told me it was mourning all the foods I used to eat. I wondered what I did to myself and doubted my decision for the first month on liquids and mushies. It will pass and you will realize that this is the best thing to happen to you and a life long commitment that keeps giving. Good luck and look forward and do not dwell on the sadness of losing your best friend (food) but look forward to the size 10 clothes you will be wearing.

I have the perfect solution to the holiday cheer at work. Cookies and cake at work does not interest me even though I might buy a sugar cookie at the store for myself as a treat for the holiday. In my mind, all the treats at work have been touched by everybody at work, being the cold and flu season really scares me to death and the thought of eating any of the cookies goes completely out of my mind. I do not want to get sick and throw up and take the chance of my band slipping after 3 years, so this works for me everytime I get near any of the food I picture someone coughing, sneezing or touching several cookies trying to decide what one to take. I have to do what I have to do to avoid the temptation and this works everytime for me. Only 2 weeks left before the snacks are gone out of sight, we can do this.

welcome to the club and 12/20/08 will be my third bandiversary. Hope you all enjoy the ride and remember that everybody is different and this is a trial and error journey with the band. I still have days that sometimes chicken will go down and sometimes it will not. I love my band and it literally has saved my life. Good luck to all joining this adventure and enjoy the ride!

I don't usually snack but when I feel hungry on a weekend because I am bored, I will put some peanut butter on a ritz cracker and that does the trick. Very filling and peanut butter is not too bad of a choice. I guess you can cheat every now and again as long as you go back to basics during the week and keep up an exercise routine. Trial and error is my method of trying to keep this weight off since being banded. Good luck.

I am also 100% Italian and make macaroni for my husband at least 2 times a week. Fortunately I do not like macaroni of any kind so that was never an issue. I quit smoking 10 years ago after being a heavy smoker for 30 years and my thoughts were the same that I use for the lap band. NEVER say you cannot have anything unless you truly cannot get it down with the band. I tell myself I can have a cookie if I want or a piece of pie and I CHOOSE not to have it because I want the weight off. I have been banded for 3 years and am down 90 pounds. If you tell yourself you cannot have something, you will want it even more and it makes it totally unbearable to change your way of thinking thin. I never had any fills and cannot get bread down, I choose to have most everything sugar free and macaroni once in a great while might go down one time and not another. Some days I can get chicken down and some days it gets stuck. The band is very fickle and I never know from day to day if I can get something down or not. Stress plays an important part also. If I have a stressful day at work I might not be able to get much down at night for supper. I never regretted the decision to get the band and love it and feel it has saved my life. I am off all meds and feel like a teenager again even though I am 58 years old. Good luck on your decision and like everybody says, each person is so different and has different results with the band.

I too am 58 and my bandiversary is 12/20/11. I have had the band for 3 years and still have gas issues. It is natural and I just have learned to make noises by shutting my desk drawer when I feel the gas escaping and I act totally ignorant when it slips out. I have heard that beano tablets prevent gas but I don't think it is that bad to have to start to use pills for it. It has however come in handy having this gas when inconsiderate smokers sit on the side of me and puff their brains out and I can hardly breathe with THEIR smoke in my face. I usually reciprocate with my god given talent from banding of the uncontrolled gas and sometimes it does the trick of moving someone fast. LOL Don't sweat the small things, I am so thrilled to be where I am that gas every day is a small price to pay. I guess it is all in how you look at it. Smile and just act normal and usually the people I work with wonder if that was my shoe rubbing on the floor or gas??

Well, girls, I have been banded for 3 years and the excitement of losing 90 pounds is not as strong as in the beginning. This is a life change and I am so thankful for the band since I am not on any meds and am down to a 8-10. I did however gain 5-7 pds from last christmas that I have struggled to get back off. It comes and goes but I feel like a million dollars. I have never had a fill, which is highly unusual and do have restriction. Sometimes I cannot even get down my chicken salad at lunch if I get too stressed at work. I love POPCORN and have been having too much which usually has a lot of sodium and I again go up and down on the scale. I never tell myself I cannot have a piece of pie or cookie because I will become obsessed with it and never get it out of my system. This is my new life and I go in spurts of good eating and not so good eating. This is me and as long as I keep the weight off, that is all that matters. Life is good to me with this accomplishment and I am forever grateful but I do have a weak spot for "goodies" every now and then and I DO indulge. Good luck on your journey and remember this is life not another DIET!!!

I did not see or feel that your post was not legitimate. Even though I had wonderful doctors in Las Vegas where I had my surgery, once the insurance did not pay for fills anymore they acted very cool towards me. I have not had any fills and am 3 years out of surgery. I have had restriction from day one and am one of the lucky few that have never had a fill and am totally okay with that. My insurance will not cover the surgeons who did my surgery and when calling a new doctor in Arizona they said if I have no problems going on to save my money and only come in if I had a problem. Needless to say I have not been to a lap band doctor in over 2 years and am still at goal. I do fluctuate 5-7 pds when I cheat or having something very salty. Nobody is perfect and I refuse to tell myself that I cannot have a piece of pie or cookie every now and again. The band is only a tool and I found that it is a lot of self control and learning what to eat and not eat by you and you alone. The doctor cannot tell you what you can eat or not. I have days chicken goes down good and other days it gets caught in my throat. Stress makes my band so tight I can hardly get anything down. Live and learn and work that band where you are confortable. I am comfortable with NO FILLS and plan to stay that way.

My husband has been with me from day one. He has come to every single seminar and up to including day of surgery sitting and waiting with me until they pushed me into the surgery room. He sometimes might make a remark how hot I look, even at my age and that somebody might steal me and I feel very pleased with myself when he says that. But...he also knows we have been together 32 years and nothing on this earth would make me leave him for another man whether fat or skinny. I am off all meds and even though he is 10 years older than me and heavy he is on no meds either ( good genes in his family). I explained that even though his mom is 99 years old, the people in my family have died by the time they hit 70 because of weight issues. Good luck and just keep reassuring him that you are there for him. If the marriage falls apart, I do not believe it would be because of the weight but because there was problems from other things that just came to a head after you getting the weight off. Time will tell and I for one believe in fate, which is to say that some things cannot be controlled. I never regretted the surgery and you will not either.

It looks okay, but I have a hard time with change. I guess I am just getting old. It might take time to see if everybody likes it and by that time it will be changed again. Who is in charge of the changes made? Just when we figure out the last change, you changed it again, oh well, life is always changing right.

I am to goal with losing 90 pounds. I have been banded for 3 years, this coming Christmas and NO FILLS. It does happen to a few of us and I have no explanation of why some people need fills and some do not. Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Congratulations on your success. I am 3 years out with the band and down 90 pounds. I am to goal and have no fills. NEVER had a fill and do not wish to get one anytime in the future. Yes the band works with no fills, it did in my case and I see you are one of the blessed ones like me that did not need to be filled for the band to work. I absolutely hate when people get on here and say, why get the band unless you are going to get it filled to stop you from eating. This is a tool to help you change your eating habits not control your eating habits. You sound like you got this figured out and everybody is so different in their journey and I am so excited for you on your weight loss. Great job. This is a surgery to help change your life for the better.

I, too, have been banded 3 years this christmas. I NEVER had a fill and have restriction from day one. I lost 90 pounds inthe first year and have been somewhat vigilant on keeping it off. Last christmas I gained 5-7 pds, keeping going up and down the same pounds and cannot get it off. I need to get back on track and get it off now before it goes any further. The band got me healthy and I want to stay there. I am off all meds and love life. I am still in my size 10 pants but a little snug and need to get on the program again. This was the right decision for me but like everybody said, it is something you need to decide for yourself. I taste anything I want but I have strict rules, no bread, sugar and very little Pasta if any. I do occasionally like rice but need sauce to get it down. I still have trouble sometimes with too big of a bite and or eating too fast. I don't know if I will ever learn to slow down, but I constantly try and that is what matters at the endof the day. Good luck and remember, only you can decide what you can live with.

OMG, yes, when it is a real bad stuck episode, nothing is going to help. I go to bathroom and do the arms up in the air thing and do a lot of praying. Agreed, if there is just a little discomford, I swear by those pills. I keep them at home, in my purse and at work. Those also help with an upset stomach, all natural. I do agree that the best answer to that question is to avoid the stuck episode if anyway possible, nothng but trouble and I actually hurt for a couple of days afterwards. You will learn down the road like all of us and enjoy the journey.

I agree with you 100%. The band is not about another fad diet. I have been banded 3 years and NO FILLS. I cannot tolerate bread, cakes, brownies and potatoes unless they are mashed really well. I do try to stay with mostly Protein and have a Protein shake almost every night with a banana, strawberries and whey protein. I have been pretty much at goal, but gained 5-7 pds from last christmas and cannot get it off. I eat where I am very comfortable and do not feel deprived. This is where I want to be minus the 5-7 pd thing but am happy with no meds and compliments from people that know how hard it was for me to get here. You need to do what you are comfortable with and can live with. Not another diet, this is suppose to be a life change and it has saved my life. Good luck and keep positive, some information is good for your journey and others do not fit into your lifestyle. You will know from experience which is good and which cannot be used in your journey.