xavier

I also think its best to have the plastic surgery (if you can afford it) as the reward for getting to normal BMI. Normal BMI is inarguably the healthiest for all of us.

If you cant change your behavior you will fail the band. Part of the work the band does for you and part of it you have to do...even gastric bypass patients can and do gain their weight back...if you eat ice cream all day...

Try taking an antacid...if it goes away its reflux!

There are actually very few people who fail the band for true medical reasons...but there are a lot who put all their effort into defeating it...only listen to positive people. The negatives are not helpful. I LOVE my band because it is why I wear a size 6 now and have figued it out to where it is actually pretty easy!

The reason your insurance wont pay for it is that you are keeping food down and maintaining your weight...

I was 100% at about 7days...I also had hernia repair.

It just a matter of time! (none of the stuff mentioned above really helped me) .

Everyone has all those feelings...it has turned out to be the best thing I could have ever done. The first year or so is a big struggle to adjust to a new way of life but now Ii am more than two years out and it is pretty easy! Welcome! You will get lots of support and honest answers here!

Very unlikely to be related to your weight loss except that your weight loss may have allowed you to do some physical activity to irritate your sciatic nerve...make sure you are not looking for excuses not to lose weight...there are a lot of people here that are looking for any reason at all not to succeed this band...press on! (PS: I use those icy hot patches on my sciatica and they work pretty well)

Normal! YOu have been in a knife fight with your surgeon and you are in pain...normal!

Get even five minutes of strenuous exercise and I promise that feeling will go away!

You are going to have to learn to 'own' how you eat an dmake no excuses for it...I didnt tell anyone outside family I was banded and maybe some think I eat weird or tiny but I dont care...this is (now) just who you are and will ever be...enjoy being the new skinnier you!

You should eat whatever you can in 20 minutes and then stop...this is a good time to lose weight easily. I had this for about five weeks and when my appetite came back I had to really struggle not to gain during the bandster hell phase...this is a good thing...you wont starve (I am assuming you are obese). Just get in all your fluid, as much protein as possible (half of your ideal weight in grams so if you should weigh 140 you need 70 grams per day) and take a chewable vitamin!This is a good thing...use it!

The plastic surgeons will be happy to take your money any time, the sooner the better. But if you can get within ten pounds of normal BMI you will get a better result. A really good doc will tell you to get to ideal weight and maintain it for six months first but a lot of them will just say get out your check book!

I had it pretty bad on and off for years before the surgery. My surgeon said two things would help: weight loss and the hernia repair and they did. But as I got more fills it came back so I am back on the daily Protonix and it is well controlled.

coincidence. fissures or hemorrhoids.

My doc sewed my band in place and he has never had a single patient have a slip or an erosion. I have thrown up more than I want to admit but that band is going nowhere...why wouldnt a doc sew it down in the first place or at least sew it down when it is put back in place after a slip?

First focus on doing this to get healthy for your family and to live long enough to see them enjoy their lives. Second worry about the looks of your body after you are in maintenance a while. Third, the 6 month thing is just one of many steps to wear you down and get you to give up so your insurance can save some money...it is usually a supervised diet...its a good way to get your head in the game!

Buy the least amount possible in case you dont like them...and stand next to your sink or a bucket when you try them! I had to yak it right back up, it tasted like old bones and I think I saw sea monkeys in it! But some people love it! I buy the Premier Protein drinks at Costco. They just taste like sweet milk. Not thick and no mediciney taste. They are 160 cals and 30 grams of protein and I still drink one every morning.

I was told to get 6 8oz glasses of water a day and 70 grams of protein (half of your ideal weight). If you are doing that and tossing in a chewable vitamin it is all good!

Yes, it really worked for me and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, even self pay again if I had to...it was an epic struggle at first to learn the adjustments needed but now that I am in maintenance its pretty easy and just a lifestyle for me...

Seems like the average is two weeks and try to lose ten...mine just told be to lose ten but gave no time frame or restrictions on what to eat. I lost 8 I think.

As a bander I would seriously advise buying a small freezer...I never ate frozen food before but now if I dont I have to eat the same stuff over and over or throw it out!

I wonder if you were getting enough water all along and if you had a barium drink in this process? The Barium is basically liquid concrete which turns to solid concrete in you bowels if you dont get it out in the first couple of days...sorry for your experience! Also all the narcs are extrememly constipating and a lot of times the docs dont tell you that!

PS: I am 2.5 years out, 5 pounds below the cutoff for normal BMI wearing a size 6 and just never going to torture myself like that agin...