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Well I have just experienced bandster hell of another kind. I have been sick with a very sore throat and tired then my band tightened so much I was throwing up in my sleep. Horrible. I tried to just ride it out. I tried to eat softer foods and stop eating a couple of hours before bed. Oh, well, I feel better today. I had chills, aches and headache plus a sick, acidy stomach yesterday. The good news is that I have lost a couple more pounds. I am at 162 lbs this morning. I can't believe it. I am sooooo happy. I am aiming for size 12 or 150, not sure which. I'll see when it happens. I never thought I would ever get down to size 14 again and now it's getting loose. I have been buying new clothes and I am thinking about the shame of it when they don't fit and I will have hardly worn them. Oh well, I'll deal with it when it happens. I can actually buy size medium off the rack now and it fits. I am thrilled. Back to my band, I was thinking that my band must have slipped and I was going to call Slimband clinic this morning. My fill nurse, Nancy, told me that the band tightens when you are sick. I believe it. I feel better today and have had a piece of toast and a yogurt so I am fine. Thank goodness. So if I aim for 150 lbs, I have only 12 lbs left to lose. In 2 decades of dieting off and on, I never got to goal on any program before I started gaining again. Life is good!

I had this done 5 years ago. Took 2 years of work but I got to my goal weight. The Slimband dosen't do the work for you, You have to do it. And yes there are rules to losing weight, just like for everyone else on the planet. What I love is that sense of being full, which I didn't have, I now do have which to me was most of the battle. I still eat out a lot with my friends, but its nice to be full, see a plate of food and take it home to eat for later without feeling hungry or that craving. Its been a learning curve for sure and a lot of trial by error ( don't eat in front of the TV for the first little bit!) But I cannot recommend this enough. If you are willing to roll up your sleeves and work towards your weight goal. Then you are going to succeed. Simple. If you are expecting the Slimband to do all the work and not change at least a few of your eating habits, then forget it.

after researching and reading the pros and cons, and going back and forth on my decision, I have decided I am going to do this! Get the Slimband (canada company) This week I am going to work out the money aspect and then I am moving forward with this decision, I am ready to do the work and I have faith that this is what has been missing over my 25 year battle with my weight!!! I love this forum and it has been my support as I make this decision, My hubby is being quiet on this one. not supportive or discouraging, Just quiet..... anyone else have this experience with their spouse??

thanks for the response! I never thought of his "silence" as his way of letting me make the decision. Of course he is concerned about the whole thing, but he has also watched me do plan and after plan, lose the weight and put it back on. He knows how much of a struggle it is for me. I am working on the money aspect tomorrow and then I think hubby and I need to sit down and talk it out. I hope he follow your hubby's example and gets 100% behind me. I am going to need his support. But I also know that I am confident in my decision and ready to do this and do the work involved. It is such a journey already. It is always on my mind, and I always find myself coming here to read everyone's stories and get an idea of what lies ahead for me. I know most of you are from the US, but any Canada Slimbands or Alberta people out there, love to hear from you!

Were you banded by Slimband?

Thanks for the support everyone! Had a consultation with Slimband yesterday and another consultation with SWLC today. I am applying for financing on Monday and then I am booking my surgery appt with Dr. Cobourn at the SWLC in Mississauga, Ontario. Can wait to get this done! Lynn

Are there any class action suits started regarding Slimbands deficient patient care?

What is the message board like at SWLC? Does it follow a similar format to this forum? The slimband one is simply not very good. I think it could be much improved if they just made it function in a manner that is familiar to most users.

I was banded just over two years ago. BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE! Sorry for shouting, but I am happy every day since getting my life back. I check in with these message boards regularly, just to keep on top of things. I find it helps keep me on track. Where are you getting banded? I was at TLBC (now Slimband) and have had a very positive experience.

I'm going to Slimband... I spoke with Kathy, and she was fantastic! Any questions I come up with she answers them pretty fast. I'm glad to see some positive reviews about the actual surgery through slimband, although after reading some of the posts about the inital consult kind of get you thinking. Good Luck to everyone!!!

I am a former Slimband patient would would like to share my story so that I can help others avoid what I went through. At the end of the day, the decision is yours to make but having some honest perspective is important. I had my Slimband surgery on March 30, 2011 and had it removed 5 days later. Biggest mistake and largest regret of my life. I was in constant agony and was nauseous from the moment I woke up from surgery to the point of having the band removed. Additionally, I had to fly back to Toronto to have the band removed as local ER's consider it a cosmetic procedure and they aren't interested in any of the literature that Slimband sends you home with. During the 5 days I had the Slimband, I was unable to keep even Water down and was severely dehydrated. It was an incredibly traumatizing experience and not what I was expecting or was told to expect. To add insult to injury, I am trying to work with Slimband on some kind of refund. I am not looking to get 100% of the $16,000 back or be reimbursed for my $2,000 travel/accommodations costs back to Toronto, but the surgery was just one piece of the total package. I will never have access to all of the support, doctors, require fills or take advantage of any of the items they sell you as part of the package. All of a sudden, the attentive folks that wanted my money will not return my calls or emails. This is not a story of bitterness, this can happen and it can happen to you. I know very well all of the reasons why this surgery seems so appealing. All I am asking is for you to consider if this is really right for you and are you prepared to lose this much money if something goes wrong.

Dr Yau was my surgeon 3 1/2 years ago and the aftercare given by the old TLBC and the new Slimband is like night and day. Today the staff are trying very hard (and succeeding) with their advice and support. They are now using webcam sessions as a way to supporting long distance paitients. I find them very helpful. I would recommend Slimband as a choice.

I'm in the process of booking my surgery with Slimband right now. My surgery is scheduled for April 16th and I'm really looking forward to it. So far my experience has been a bit of a roller coaster. It went like this: 1. First point of contact was with someone called Tara (I think). I'm not entirely sure what her name was but I'll tell you now she was super pushy and VERY rude to me. I was debating between having my surgery in the UK (where I'd been living for the last 7 years) and having it done in Canada. She was so rude to me about choosing some 'foreign' doctor to do my surgery and tried to scare me into believing that NO canadian doctor would take care of me after I'd had surgery abroad. I explained to her that I already had a doctor lined up as a family member had their lap band done abroad in January. She still didn't believe me. She told me she'd never heard of any doctor willing to clean up some other doctor's mess. VERY rude, very pushy and a complete liar. I was not impressed. BUT I wanted to know the cost and she wouldn't tell me so I asked to speak to a 'consultant'. 2. I spoke with a consultant called Niki. She's actually the woman from the TV ads and on the website. She was completely different to my first point of contact. She was pleasant and listened to all of my questions and answered them to my satisfaction. She explained that even though I'm based in Ottawa, they have 'outreach programs' and a doctor in Ottawa that does fills/defills for Slimband. Well, it seems it's the same doctor I was going to go to when I was thinking of getting my surgery in the UK. Anyway, Niki gave me plenty of information and helped me through the application process. That being said, when there was a delay with a fax I should have sent the sales person pressure came out of Niki as well. She pulled out classic sales tactics 101 and tried threats, fear, implying she did me a favour, and strict deadlines. I ended up sending her the information she was after and literally haven't heard from her since. 3. Now, the thing that's weird for me is that throughout Niki's sales pitch I was told that Dr Patrick Yau had completed over 3500 surgeries and that the rest of the staff had completed nearly another 1500. I made it clear from the start that if I was going to go with Slimband I wanted Dr Yau. I've tried on multiple occasions to get confirmation that Dr Yau will be performing my surgery and even suggested that if he's not available I'm prepared to wait and all communication has gone cold. No response. 4. I received the 'services agreement' and in the agreement it says that any member of their surgical staff that they deem suitable may perform my surgery. I wasn't told THAT during the whole sales pitch! 5. The services agreement also outlines an 'explanatory binder' and a 'surgery DVD' that I should receive but I haven't yet and when I've asked about it twice none of the contacts have provided an explanation. 6. I tried to join Myslimband.com and post questions and comments but for some reason I can't post anywhere. I sent a message to Amy the administrator a couple of days ago and haven't heard anything back. It seems pretty silly to me to have a 'forum' when only SOME people are allowed to be involved in the discussion. So, here I am living in Ottawa awaiting a surgery from a COMPANY I'm not entirely sure I want to work with. All of their staff have told me to email them with questions or concerns and their website promotes their 'support' for their clients but since I've signed the $16,000 away, I haven't really had ANY real answers to my questions. I'm trying to be balanced here so I will say that I've had my blood work done and it has Dr Yau's name on it but I wonder if any other Slimband patients have had his name on their forms and had their surgery done by another doctor. I've also got the pre-op diet information sheet which is easy to understand and follow. I've started today but I've got some questions and since non of the Slimband staff are replying to my emails and I don't have any permissions in the Slimband forum I came here. Not only am I nervous about this life-changing surgery and the $16,000 debt I've just agreed to I'm totally confused because I've got plenty more questions AND I don't even know who my surgeon is going to be. I've found some answers here so this forum has been a pretty big help. Keep looking around and you'll find more answers yourself. I don't mean for this to discourage you or anyone else considering Slimband because when the contact silence finally ends I'm sure I'll end up happier but I guess I just feel a bit trapped now when I should be feeling anticipation and some relief for the life change ahead of me. Good luck!

Hello, I have just joined this forum and find it most informative. I am very happy to see that most of you have had good experiences at the Slimband clinic in Toronto. I am visiting my own GP tomorrow to get his input and then I will hopefully be able to book my own surgery soon afterward. Best of luck to you all and I look forward to sharing my own experiences with you soon.

PS: if you input TLBC in google it defaults to Slimband. If you input TLBC.ca it defaults to the Slimband site with current information and posts with the tag line copyright TLBC 2012. IF this is truly the case then why are we being told that TLBC closed Nov 2008?

Thank you all (well most of you ) for your support and words of encouragement to stick to the doctors orders, the truth of the matter is I've been under an extreme amount of stress this week ( lack of sleep, getting mortgage approval, fertility treatments and testing and my hell on earth job) and everything toppled down on me today lick a tone of bricks. I messed up and ate solids after my fill today, today was the first time I broke the rules by not following the doctor's orders and I was scared that I had ruined my surgery and or caused some sort of physical damage to my body. Since the installation of my slimband 1 year ago it has really helped me with my emotional eating and I've prided myself on being able to stick with the program. I feel horrible that I let the stress in my life affect me this way but I am determined to get back on track and SOME of the feedback I've received here has really helped me get my mind straight and get myself back on track. I've had my Slimband for a year this was my third fill, I have a 10 cc band and I currently have 7.5 cc's in my band as today. I would like others in the lapband talk community to know that I am in no way advocating that they not follow their doctor's orders I would encourage everyone to stick to the rules and if you're feeling emotional or upset reach out and talk it through. The Lapband talk really really helped me in that regard; my hubby was at work and unable to answer my call, so I ate I wish I had thought about coming to lapband talk first. I found the majority of people here at lapband talk to be very honest and kind, I've learned that staying negative or allowing negative people to permeate your space will set you up for failure so avoid them at all cost. So with that I didn't beat myself up ( I used to beat myself up in the past, but ever since i've had the slimband installed I've become a whole lot mentally stronger) moving forward I'm just going to dust myself off and move forward. I will be back on liquids for the next 24 hours and then move to thicker liquids for the next 24 hours and then back on solids. And the next time I'm feeling overwhelmed, upset and or stressed out I will log on here and vent :-) Thank you for responding to my post.

I was banded 3 weeks ago, and I'm so glad that I did not go with Slimband. I was really considering them, but then I spoke to a few people and did my research. I had an uneasy feeling about them, especially Dr. Yau. It was honestly hard to find any positive comments about him online. What happened to the lady in the National Post article was frightening. I went with SWLC in Mississauga. Everything I had read about Dr. Cobourn was very positive, and when I met him I liked him immediately. I feel sorry for the patients of Slimband, and the way they are being treated.

I am on my way to Toronto next Monday to see one of the doctors that Slimband says I am his patient. He as no idea who I am his office says there are a lot of patients being sent to see him that have literally been dumped off to him.I was banned in 2010 the band worked for 14 months then broke and was replaced and was not filled enough to give any restriction looking back I think it never did work after several fills and finally I paid a doctor to defill only to find it EMPTY so I was told my contract was over after 4 years I have a 5 year add in my file which will not expire until end of 2015,so off I go to find out what the hell is going on. I will be contacting a lawyer and if I can gather enough folks we will go for a class action, since the company is located in France that supplies the band it should be an experience but I for one will not let this rest sixteen thousand dollars is not a drop in any one bucker.

Here's the link. http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/21/chief-surgeon-at-slimband-weight-loss-clinics-resigns-after-probe-reveals-significant-history-of-complaints/

I got mine at slimband. I am down 30 lbs. I have been vlogging my progress on YouTube (moniquesjourney). That's been a lot of fun. I am adjusting well to eating with the band. Are you excited?. I am excited and very nervous!! My eating is out of control, because I feel I will never be able to have those foods again.....I know this is not rational, but I am still overeating ugh!!!! I thought slim band went out of business?? How expensive was that??

I got mine at slimband. I am down 30 lbs. I have been vlogging my progress on YouTube (moniquesjourney). That's been a lot of fun. I am adjusting well to eating with the band. Are you excited?

There's no fill Dr's in Barrie, but Slimband is doing Markham fills now, I find that much easier :frown:

Hey everyone! My name is Ellie and I've decided to get a lapband. I've been thinking about getting this procedure for over a year now. I don't exactly like the idea of surgery so I tried losing weight through various ways, but I was always left hungry. My mother has the lapband and she has so far had success with it. But here are my questions! I currently live in Ottawa, and I'm not sure where I should look to get my surgery done. My family lives in Toronto, so I have no issues with going to Toronto for fills/defills, but it would be nice to be able to get those done in Ottawa (in case of emergency). Also, Montreal is also a possibility since its much closer to Ottawa than Toronto. Also, as I'm a student (20 years old) and don't exactly have much/any money to my name, I'm wondering if its worth it to go a place that's 16,000 instead of 18,000? Or is there a vast difference between the two. (I'm under the impression that my insurance covers most of it, though) Currently, I'm trying to decide if I should go with SlimBand (they have a place in Ottawa that I can go for fills), SWLC, or even somewhere else! I met with my doctor today and she didn't have any recommendations for me as she hasn't dealt with lapbands with younger patients, so that's why I have some confusion. Any suggestions? Did anyone have an amazing or craptastic experience with any of these? Also, what steps did you have to go through for your insurance and how long did those steps take for you? Thanks in advance guys!

Wow, that sounds crazy! It also sounds like what happened at the CIBO CLINIC. I was scheduled for surgery with them and they went bankrupt and closed the doors without giving much notification. Thankfully they did not get any $ from me. Hopefully this is not the case with Slimband. Slimband is just another "banding" company. They don't use the "lap band" trademark.... I'm currently in Pre-op diet for my lap band with SMARTSHAPE my procedure is next Friday! Getting nervous now.... I'm trying my best to stick to the diet and have dropped 8-9 pounds this last week! Hopefully my liver will be in great shape.

Ontario... I can work with that. The biggest clinic in Ontario is the Surgical Weight Loss Centre in Mississauga and it has a very good reputation. It's probably your best bet because of its size. LAP-BAND®® Surgery Clinic | Weight Loss & Gastric Balloon in Toronto, Canada I go to CIBO in Toronto. Overall I give it a meh. I am not terribly disappointed but I'm not stunningly thrilled. LAP-BAND® Surgery Weight Loss Surgery Clinic Toronto | CIBO There are two other clinics in Toronto. Nobody I know has gone to the Yorkville one downtown and I haven't heard anything good about Slimband. Laparoscopic Band Surgery – (Gastric Band – Slimband) Again though, if you're just looking for fills you may have different priorities.