Sophie

NewSho, are you banded? I had to get the band for precisely the things you are talking about not worrying about. I would eat the wrong things, too much, etc...If I could have just stopped eating and lost the weight without surgery, I wouldn't be here. I simply don't have that self-control. It is a big deal to me, sometimes, what foods I can't eat anymore (for me it is anything bread/pasta related). How did you get to the point where food is not something you think about at all?:confused:

Dr Veninga in the Dallas area did my banding, and he won't do them for anyone who needs to lose less than 100 pounds. Remember, this is surgery and not something to be taken lightly. If it were a haircut, it would be one thing, but getting cut open and having your stomach banded is not a fix-it for people who are not considered morbidly obese. I am sorry if this is discouraging to you, but I would have my doubts about any doctor that would be willing to band for a 40-50 pound weight loss, unless, of course, you are 4 feet tall.

Shellybeans, I notice that your banding date is coming up really soon. I wish you well! It was the best decision of my life, thus far. Remember: Milk is your friend

I am not a doctor, but, frankly, I am very concerned that your doctor told you milk is off limits. That goes against EVERYTHING I have read and been told by my surgeon. Milk is vital to my day (for shakes and just for drinking a glass when my Protein has been low that particular day). I would seriously consider getting a second opinion about that, unless the problem is that you are lactose intolerant, in which case you should be able to drink soy milk, which also is a good source of protein in a hurry.

Chelley, The best advise I can offer is to not be in too much of a hurry to get to the perfect restriction fill for long-term weight loss. I remember right after I had my band put in I was all pumped and ready to go and I wanted my doctor to fill the entire 4ccs! After he laughed really hard at me ( I have the greatest surgeon with the best sense of humor, and best of all he does ALL office visits, fills, whatever. I never go in and not see him and he is always willing to spend as much time as I need to get my questions answered.), he explained all sorts of things such as a little known fact that men generally need less saline than women. Go very slowly with your fills, it is much more important to get there safely and with your band right where it should be. I know the urge to drop all the weight is there, but if you gain in the beginning, that is okay. You and your doctor will slowly, but surely get you to the correct fill. By the way, after my pronouncement that I wanted 4ccs of saline, my ideal fill ended up being 1.5cc, or it was for a year and a half, I am currently completely unfilled. Good luck, Sophie

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that PBing is totally normal if you push it just one bite past your stomach pouch's tolerance. Is that not right? Crap, I have just always assumed I had pushed it too far in terms of that one last bite that took me over the edge into PBing. All this time I could have had another problem going on.

For all of you who have had a complete unfill, how long was it before your doctor started filling again. My endoscopy is Oct. 3, and assuming (fingers crossed) everything is okay and my band hasn't slipped, approximately how long should I expect the irritation and widening in the esophagus and the stomach irritation to last? I am sure it is individual, but are we talking weeks or months?? By the way, the instigator of all of this was throwing up in my sleep, which has completely stopped post-unfill.

Yay! I have lost 101 pounds officially! I started out at 280 and weighed in at 179 on Friday of last week! Two years, and I finally am starting to feel like I don't look like the 280 pound person. It is hard, I still see her in the mirror a lot, but slowly my mind is catching up to reality. I am new to this site (today is my first day) and I live in Oklahoma. I never considered any procedure other than the Lap Band, and my insurance would cover RnY, but not the Lap Band.

The best way I have come across to describe this phenomenon to the non-banded is to make the analogy between a cat who ate too much food and just sort of urps it up. The cat food still looks exactly like it did when you poured it in the bowl and there are no intestinal fluids involved. It is just urping up of food, usually because food was not chewed into small enough pieces. PBing is very different from throwing up in that you can hold back PBing until it is (can convenient possibly be the right word) possible to find a private place to, um, eject. There is no urgency to it, you just know you need to go do it. Did that make any sense??

I, too, was banded in the Dallas, TX area two years ago. My bariatric surgeon was Dr. Frank Veninga, and he is absolutely outstanding. He is located in Carrollton, and has a really up-front, no BS attitude. He really told me exactly how it was going to be. Like the poster above, he also copped to the fact that the surgeons get more money from RNY then Lap Band, but he strongly believes in the right procedure for each patient. I could gush on and on. Hell, he is the one who wheeled me from post-op to recovery. How many surgeons do you know that don't just call a hospital lackey for that. He is great and I really recommend him (not necessarily to you, it sounds like you are pretty tied into the Baylor program at this point), but to anyone else in the Dallas area. I was so sad when I moved out of state and had to leave Dr. Veninga...Finding a good bariatric surgeon is really important.

After 2 years the band is as much of me as an arm. It would never even occur to me to have it unfilled for vacation. I am totally accustomed to it being there, filled.

Thank you, Liz, that makes me feel better. Wow, only 1 pound in a month! That is awesome! I will strive to do as well as you did. It is interesting that I have COMPLETELY avoided my "food issues" because I could because I had the lap band and therefore couldn't eat tons of junk. I have just realized that I have not solved the initial problem, why I gained so much weight to begin with, 280 down to 179, which is how I view my body, food, and nourishment. By the way, my perfect fill was 1.5 cc, so considerably less than some.

I think that there is something to the poster who pointed out that there are many out there who have been banded and have had no complications and are enjoying their new lives. I was banded 2 years ago and this is the first time I have even sought out a lap band support group website. The only reason why I did was because I had to have a complete unfill and I don't really know what that means, long-term, and I figured someone here would surely know. Good luck, I really wish you the best. This struggle is painful, but it can be overcome.