tiffanydione

I couldn't agree more!!! Food would get stuck from me eating the wrong thing or eating too fast and all of that was my own fault. It is a TOOL (great point) and it's up to each person to be successful. I was doing really well until the ulcer started making me really sick. I am so stressed at work that I'm hoping Neiman Marcus fires me soon!!! I'm an analyst and treated like a second grader. I have a feeling that once I get a new job, or at least away from this one, I'll be able to lose weight on my own. Everybody can be as successful as they allow themselves to be. My weight is all mental issues dating back to when my mom sent me to a fat farm when I was 10 and I was a NORMAL sized 10 year old. I was there with people 10+ years older than me who weighed (on average) 250 lbs. MORE than I did. That's when all this started but now it's up to me to turn it around. Good luck to all of you. Hang in there, YOU CAN DO IT!!!:thumbup:

Cassandrac89, sorry to hear about all of your troubles. Did they check to see if you had a leak in your port? That happened to me just a few months after my original surgery. The doctor had to go back in and replace my port (all of which was at no charge to me). There were MANY, MANY times I felt restriction and was in that perfect zone. You have to learn to not focus on your stomach feeling full, it's in the upper part of your chest that feels it with the band. It worked so well that I wouldn't think about food for hours and hours. That's how it is supposed to work. What happened to me was a bit strange and I didn't figure it out until after the band was removed. My band was working great and I had lost 35 lbs. in a year. That's not as much as a lot of people lose but I was happy with it. The slower the better. In August of last year I started a new job and graduate school on the same DAY. My boss is a complete jerk and treated me like crap from day 1. Grad school was nothing short of stressful and with that and the stress from work I developed an ulcer. The band was rubbing up against the ulcer all the time. Every 1-2 weeks I was in the doctor's office for a fill or unfill and finally a total unfill. I was always so sick to my stomach, had all kinds of stomach issues and missed a TON of work. Several of my doctors suggested that I have it removed. I had it removed in July, have gained about 15 lbs. since having it out (50 since starting my job a year ago) and I'm no longer calling in sick all the time. My ulcer still hurts but at least it's not rubbing up against the band like it was. I don't think this is a scam at all!!! I know people who have been VERY successful with the band but it takes somebody who is willing to change their eating habits and that was something else very hard for me to do. I'm just not a Protein person. HOWEVER, when yo eat like you're supposed to the band WORKS!!!! My vice is ice cream and that just goes right through the band and directly to the hips, waist, and buttocks. Just a little snippet on the gastric bypas. The bypass has a 5% mortality rate!!! 5 people in every 100 DIE because of the complications. I studied this in college and my doctor even admitted those statistics are correct. I also know people who have been very successful with the bypass. One lady I know lost a TON of weight with it but her sister died from complications from it. I hope this helps. Good luck in your journey.

WOW!!! You have lost a LOT of weight!! GOOD FOR YOU!!! That is so awesome!! I want to lose between 80 and 130 lbs. and I'll be happy. Though I'm finding myself happier every day even with the weight. All it took was getting the negative people who focused on my weight and "flaws" (in their mind), like my own mother, out of my life. Just a side note: My mom didn't call me yesterday to wish me luck nor has she called me today to check on me. She wouldn't even go with me for my surgery. Sorry, I'm a bit bitter about that. Well, I'm sore and think I'll go lay down. KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK!!!

Hi Lauren, thanks for the well wishes. My surgery went great today. Only took about 20 minutes. I'm sore but that is to be expected. I had the same problems you were having. I could get frozen yogurt to go down and at times not even Water. This was right after a fill and nothing was stuck but I'd think ice cream and water would have no problem even if the band was a little tight. What did they do, close it completely? LOL. My issue is I weigh 5 lbs. more today than when I had my band inserted. However, most of that is my own fault and my addiction to ice cream :cool: This is a big decision so I suggest you think hard about getting it removed. After having the band 23 months I'm sure I'll gain weight soon and quick for making up for lost time of the foods I love, LOL. However, the ONE thing that proved to work for me was eating right, counting calories, and working out. I plan to give that a go again. Good luck and let me know what you decide.

I'm having my band removed tomorrow morning and my insurance is covering it. I am so disappointed that the band didn't work for me. Every time I had an adjustment I got really sick. Not from the food I ate or anything getting stuck, it's as if my body doesn't like the foreign object being in there. I just hope I don't blow up like a house once it's out. I weigh a few pounds more now than the day I had it in, August 7, 2008. Had the port replaced October 22, 2008. I wish everybody else the best of luck with their journey with the band. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

Not only did this happen to me but one of the technicians(nurses?) caused my port to leak and I had to have another surgery to replace it!! After that I ALWAYS go under the Xray for them to find it so they don't miss. However, I'm having my band removed next Friday. I've not been successful and I'm always sick. Every time they do anything to the band, I get sick. My body just doesn't agree with it. Good luck!! Make them find it under xray!!

I got my band in August of 2008, in November of the same year I had to have my port replaced due to a leak. Almost two years later I weigh the same (if not a couple of pounds more) than I did the day I got my band. I've had issue after issue after issue with mine and most of it is my own fault. If I could journal my food I wouldn't have needed the band. That helped me lose a lot of weight in the past (so I suggest journaling your food). I called about getting my band removed today and I can get it done in two weeks. I'm giving up. I can't eat just a 1/2 cup of food at a time. Even if I'm "full" I want to eat. After not smoking for seven years I started back smoking a few months ago. Oddly enough (or not), I did great with the band until August 24, 2009. That day I started a new job AND graduate school on the same day. The stress did me in. I did better with my weight loss when I was unemployed and not in school, LOL. I wish all of you the best of luck and I just want you to know that if you're struggling, you're not the only one out there. Your head has to be set right BEFORE your surgery or it will never work. My head is not there.