kaobserver

Lapband is a slower weight loss system but its substanable weight loss and slower to gain back and is reversable. Bypass is quicker weight loss is permanent and can cause additional health issues, as well as people I know personally who have already gained their weight back after a few years. "At present, the general death rate from bariatric surgery seems to vary between 0.2 and 1 percent." http://www.annecolli...ass-surgery.htm Mortality Rate The mortality rate for lap band surgery patients varies depending on whom you ask. According to New Jersey Bariatrics, a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence, the mortality rate is 0.2 percent. According to Norwood Hospital in Norwood, Massachusetts, though, the mortality rate is only 0.05 percent. Read more: Death from Lap Band | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/...l#ixzz1EQQp686C So for me 'personally' the choice was pretty clear in that I wanted a safer way of losing weight and if it doesn't work out it is completly reversable. And again I stress that lapband weight loss is slow going but your chances of needing additional surgery's due to loose skin is a lot smaller.

Good for you!!!!!!! What that says is that you can excert your willpower when you want to and lose weight which you will need after the surgery! Don't get discouraged if after your surgery you get hungry like normal. I did and after two fills I'm down to 326 and I was 365 pre-op, and I was banded 11/08/10. So hang in there and good luck on your surgery it is definately worth it!

Day 4 of banding and besides the gas it seems to be going ok. I find that I still have an appetite but not anything severe. Doing the liquid diet now but was strange that my Doctor told my wife that I could have things like pudding and Soups like Cream of Celery which has very very small chunks in it. I've been reading the forums and see that it is about healing these first two weeks not losing weight so I will definately keep that in mind. I am looking forward to eating mash potatoes next week and pureed food but the liquids as I said isn't that hard of a thing to do at this point. I do find that I am full with tomatoe Soup and chicken broth. But this post-op gas is killing me and I can't wait for it to go away. Doctor's office told me that when it goes into my shoulders and it causes me pain then know that its almost gone. Something to look forward to I suppose. Now I have to work up one of those cool weight scale sigs I see that some of you guys have! -Aaron

What a rollercoaster I've been on lately... I've received my first fill 12/29/10 and it just wasn't giving me the restriction I needed. Now by restriction I mean that I am feeling hungry all the time and when I eat it is an unlimited quanity with no full feeling. I just received a fill 02/02/2011 and wow what a difference.. When I had gone into the Doctors office I came in losing 7 pounds and he wasn't going to fill me at first. It scared me when he told me this as I knew in my heart it wasn't helping that it was my own will and my taking Welburtin that was making the difference. Hes a pretty blunt guy which I like and told me, "I don't give a s&*#! Your losing weight and I don't care how you do it!". Which sorta stunned me at first but now that I think about it he was right. But he finally decided to give me more liquid in my lapband and I've finally hit my sweetspot. I eat a tiny bit and I'm full. My apetite is very manageable and now I am starting to drop the weight big time. My work is doing a program called Fit for Life and we have bi-weekly weighin's. My first weighin was 335 and two weeks later I am down to 326 so I'm excited!

I hear a lot of despair in your post to which I would maybe recommend talking to your doctor about Wellbutrin. I can't speak on the benefits or effects it may have on you but personally speaking it has helped me a great deal. Not only in losing weight but also in the slight depression I was feeling in not losing the weight I wanted to. Just a thought.

Thanks for sharing! I had my first fill yesterday 12/29 and it went well. Didn't hurt like yours and but he is not very experienced. He is shadowing another Doctor that has done hundreds of bandings so I take some comfort in that. He basically filled my band up all the way and had me drink until it was almost to the top of my throat then he took some fluid out and had me tell him when it started to go down. He then took out .5 cc's after that and sent me on my way. My appetite does seem dimished a bit so I'm happy about that but I've also read on here that some are taking Wellbutrin to help curb some of their hunger. Looking at that drugs side effects scares me though so I'm not sure if I'd take it.

I finally got my first fill yesterday 12/29/10 so I'm excited. I can finally feel a restriction when I eat and I feel full with small portions of food. Prior to the fill I had zero restriction and was hungry all the time. It is only the first few days so I'm going to take it slow and see how it goes. My Doctor told me that if I don't lose any weight the first two weeks to let him know and he'll put more in. For some reason he wouldn't tell me how much Fluid he put in. His explantion was he didn't want me to focus on numbers. He did tell me at the end that he put 2.55 cc's in it but I'm not sure what my capacaity is so its hard to measure against it.

I'm still waiting for my first fill scheduled for Dec. 29th so I can't offer much insight. Are you eating reduced portions? What sort of foods are you eating? Maybe post what your meals are on any given day would help not only you but those of us who can offer advice in seeing where the problem might be.

My surgery date was Nov. 8th and I am still waiting for my first fill. I have no restriction right now when I eat but I do have to chew my food or it can get stuck. I am very much looking forward to my first fill on Dec. 29 as I have not lost any weight since. I am back to eating normal food and I feel horrible with the things I eat.

What I had today so far and what I have planned on having later. Breakfast Atkins protein Shake 1 cup Coffee SF Hazlenut Creamer Lunch 2 Scrambled Eggs (very chopped up,pepper, dash of hot sauce) Snack SF Pudding 1 cup Coffee SF Hazlenut Creamer Dinner 1/2 cup Puree'd Meat Loaf *thanks mom!* 1/2 cup Mashed Potatoes Snack SF Pudding 1 Cup of Coffee SF Hazlenut Creamer 20 minutes on the treadmill burning 100 calories. Have some gas from dinner or I would have done more. - Aaron :thumbup:

Well I'm now Day 8 and my nutritionist said I can have things the consistency of mashed potatoes. So yay to Mashed Potatoes! I asked if he would let me puree shrimp and eat it and he said if I can get it to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Yuck.. So no shrimp for the time being heh. And my weight is on my tracker, counting my starting weight when I weighed in and including that nasty pre-op diet they had me on I've lost 24lbs so far.

Mine is a little red and itching as well but the doctor told me its healing and thats the reason its iching. I need to call tomorrow and ask if I can put triple strength antibiotic ointment on it.

Day 2 was pretty bad for me too so my heart goes out to ya. Good news is though it does get better and that surgery gas goes away as well as your own stomach gas.

My advice is not to drink water while eating. I think what your doing is washing out your pouch so it wont matter how much you eat because you won't feel full. It seems based on what your saying that you are eating way to much than you should and if you don't give yourself time to heal you may have a slippage. Not a doctor here just what I have learned from my own research. Us going through what we did and the decision we all made in doing this needs to be some sort of anchor as to why we cannot go back to the way we used to be. Even I find myself hungry at times and wanting a plate of burgers and fries. Then I glance over at my family photo and how much I had let myself go... Our change has to begin in our mind or we will eat our way out of our bands.

Yeah definately what my doctor told me, if you can't drink then get to the ER immediately!

Not bad at all well done! What I had today so far and what I have planned on having later. Breakfast Atkins protein Shake 1 cup Coffee SF Hazlenut Creamer Lunch 2 Scrambled Eggs (very chopped up,pepper, dash of hot sauce) Snack SF Pudding SF Jello 1 cup Coffee SF Hazlenut Creamer Dinner Chicken Broth Snack SF Pudding Did a half hour on the treadmill today and burnt a 150 calories but I'm only day 7 and I don't have a calorie count like you do on my food, I should start doing that. From what some of you have said it looks like you can just gain the weight right back after a while. Being skinny once, now fat and now trying to get skinny again I can appreciate what you guys are going through. I'll have to retrain my brain to the way I eat and maybe post pictures of myself around the house overweight to deter me from over eating as I go along. I guess its all about will power, which is something I wish I had more of and hope I develop as I go along. - Aaron

I guess all doctor's are different. My doctor said I could eat anything small enough to fit down a little hole or just to make sure its chopped up. So since day 2 I've been eating SF Jello, SF Lowfat Yogurt, and SF Lowfat Pudding. I haven't felt sick from it just full afterwards so I've been lucky than most from what I've been reading here. I'm only day 7 though so who knows what will happen when I finally start eating more solid pureed foods.

Day 7 finally! Last day of liquid diet for me and I'm pretty excited. I have been eating a small portion of scrambled eggs chopped up really fine with some pepper and a dash of hot sauce. *doctor said it was fine* I am sorry to hear your dry heaving and luckily I haven't had any of that myself. I have my first follow-up visit this Wednesday and I'm looking forward to seeing how much weight I lost. Already my face looks thinner and I'm losing some of the weight around my waist. Looking forward to updating my siggy, I am so happy I did this! - Aaron

Heh got mine up too. In reponse to an earlier post though, the first couple of nights was very hard to sleep as the surgery gas and just the pain alone makes that hard to do. Now though day 6 I feel 100% better. Trying to be creative with these liquids and get a schedule going but with my doctor I only have to do liquids the first week then I can have mash taters on monday! So very happy about that! lol

Cocoabean is right on with what she's saying. There may be underlining issues here. Not sure why he would be anti-new you looking like you do now, unless he liked or is partial to a larger sized woman. I've always been a guy of the heart so looks aren't my main concern and not something to focus on as we all get wrinkly as we go along.

- Day 6 Things are much better today. The gas I had earlier seems to be gone but I find my appetite is coming back. Thank god for this band and being full from eating soup. It seems I have to retrain my brain to catch up to the fact that my body will now not let me eat like I once did. My brain wants a hamburger with bacon but my body wants to know if it needs mental help as that is how we got where we are in the first place. I did do 15 minutes on my treadmill today which I'm happy with and I'll try to increase that time each day before I start going to the gym and getting on my elyptical machine.

Banded Nov. 8th and its definately getting better every day. Still dealing with the gas a bit but hopefully that goes away soon. But good luck on your surgery!

I heard that's pretty common and my wife actually voiced that to me before I was banded. I did assure her though that was the furthest thing from the truth. She did lose a lot of weight a year ago with running and working out and at that time she was thinking of leaving me. Sooo.. I'm not sure if its a mentality thing or insecurity thing really but I do wish you the best of luck.

Was banded on the 8th as well! Wow we have alot of bandings that day! Today is better than yesterday by leaps and bounds. Had number 2 problems yesterday but that seems better. The gas is still getting to me but that seems to be getting better too. For dinner tonight I had cream of celery Soup but chewed up the tiny chunks of celery until they were nothing and it went down ok. Still worries me that its too solid so I wont eat that again. For desert I had sugar free caramel pudding. Not sure if I'm supposed to be eating that though.