There are two things I don't understand...

[sleepyjean 0]

1. What's the whole fear of bloodclots thing about? I lie in bed at night for hours without developing clots. Why would you get clots from lying on the operating table for an hour?

2. Related to the FAQ I just posted in another thread: The Band stays in forever. If it is removed you will regain all the weight you lost :eek

I don't get it. The band forces you to change your behavior. If you change your behavior and live the new way for ten years, wouldn't it be odd if the band was romoved and you went right back to eating the way you did in the pre-band days?

I guess I thought at some point you get accustomed to life with the band and learn to master it. This makes me wonder if this band thing will be just as much of a struggle ten years from now as it was the day the doctor put it in you. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but if you learn in year 1 that filet mignon makes you PB, it seems like by year 10 you would have long since given up trying to eat filet mignon. Is obesity like alcoholism or something? Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Once obese, always (potentially) obese again?

Thoughts?

[gentlespirit 1]

I've been thinking ithe same thing about the behavior modification facet of the band. It would seem to me that after several years of eating with the band, that new behavior would be ingrained and should continue even if I lost the band at some point. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who had their band removed some time ago about how it's going for them now.

Emily

[gentlespirit 1]

I've been thinking ithe same thing about the behavior modification facet of the band. It would seem to me that after several years of eating with the band, that new behavior would be ingrained and should continue even if I lost the band at some point. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who had their band removed some time ago about how it's going for them now.

Emily

[MerryHearted 20]

Well, it depends on what kind of tool you think the band is. If you see it as a "retraining" tool, then you would think after 10 years you would be retrained to eat small amounts.

I don't think it's a retraining tool. Not as it's primary purpose.

This is how it was explained to me: Imagine your stomach. Near the top of your stomach, your body has sensors. Now imagine eating a meal. When does the body send a signal to the brain that you are full? When there is food near the top of the stomach, setting off the satiety sensors.

Now imagine putting a band up near the top of the stomach. The band itself is setting off some of the satiety sensors, so you are not feeling hungry all the time. It needs to be tightened enough so that happens. That's why bandsters aren't thinking about food all the time like we did pre-banding. It does also slow down the passage of food into your stomach, causing the sensors to signal the brain that you've had enough when you've only eaten a very small amount. Both both of those things are what contribute to success.

This is why the band doesn't work when you don't have fill -- the band itself isn't setting off any signals and the food is falling right through and you're not setting off the satiety sensors with that either. When you have a good fill, it works.

When the band is removed or unfilled, you're back to where you started. And while you may have retrained your eating habits to some degree, the band was doing some of the work by removing that feeling of hunger to begin with. When the hunger returns, you will probably begin to overeat again.

That's my rough understanding of how this works, in non-medical terms. :confused:

[Anwyn 0]

What's the whole fear of bloodclots thing about? I lie in bed at night for hours without developing clots. Why would you get clots from lying on the operating table for an hour?

Any time you have surgery you increase your risk for blood clots. When blood is exposed to air it starts to coagulate. Even though this is laparoscopic, you're still exposing some blood to the air and clots can form. A sedentary lifestyle and obesity are both risk factors for clotting too, so we have to be especially careful.

[Jachut 487]

They're certainly right onto blood clots these days arent they! I was in bed for 2 days after my caesar, primarily because the epidural fell out of my back and nobody knew and I was in too much pain to get up. Nobody mentioned restrictive stockings or anything like it, half a day in bed after lap band surgery and I was trussed up in stockings and a weird machine that blew air into these things round my legs to squeeze the blood round. Not to mention heparin injections. Seems like overkill for a very minor operation if you ask me. My caesar was only just under 3 years ago too.

with regard to the other question I've often pondered this. Seems to me yes you would have many modified behaviours but also consider how you feel when you eat with a band. You're aiming for a soft stop but I'm definitely full after I've eaten. On a much lesser amount of food. I can sort of see that you'd still be looking for that sensation of "fullness" after having your band removed but it would take four times more food to achieve it. Who knows, but I suspect there's a lot more to obesity than just being hungry or not. Also I read the other day that the band itself just through being there puts pressure on the stomach and causes a feeling of satiety all the time. I dont know how true it is but it was on my surgeon's website.

It would be nice if you could have the thing while you lose weight and then go back to normal life but that's just not how it works.

[Jachut 487]

You cant edit posts without a million smilies on this new board, grrr.

I meant to say also that the whole eyes bigger than the stomach thing would probably take a while to come back. YOu'd be used to a certain meal size and eating slowly and the like. Who knows?

[Wheetsin 714]

What's the whole fear of bloodclots thing about? I lie in bed at night for hours without developing clots. Why would you get clots from lying on the operating table for an hour?

Because laying down to sleep isn't likely to cause a bloodclot, but surgery is one of the top 3 causes. BIG difference between laying down and sleeping, and laying down while someone cuts you open, exposes your liquid blood to dry air, induces you with gases that slow blood flow, etc.

On a slightly different note, I'm glad to see the medical profession finally becoming serious about blood clots. I almost lost my mother to DVT four times, three of which were following surgeries, two of which were minor. It may seem like a pain and hassle, but that's nothing compared to what a blood clot feels like. They're EXTREMELY painful. Anyone who has had a bloodclot would welcome DAYS in a pressure sleeve before going through the agony of having another.

I was prone to SVT while on the pill, in areas I wouldn't think of as particularly tender (inner thigh, top of foot...) and with my SVT I could barely stand for anything to touch the area, including something as light as bed sheets. With DVT I saw my mother's leg swell so much & her skin stretch so tightly that it was shiny, burning hot to the touch, and when she tried to call the ambulance before any of us got home all she could do was drag herself across the floor using her forearms because the pain was too much to stand up or walk.

Once obese, always (potentially) obese again?

Yes.

[Alexandra 55]

I don't get it. The band forces you to change your behavior. If you change your behavior and live the new way for ten years, wouldn't it be odd if the band was romoved and you went right back to eating the way you did in the pre-band days?

I guess I thought at some point you get accustomed to life with the band and learn to master it. This makes me wonder if this band thing will be just as much of a struggle ten years from now as it was the day the doctor put it in you. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but if you learn in year 1 that filet mignon makes you PB, it seems like by year 10 you would have long since given up trying to eat filet mignon. Is obesity like alcoholism or something? Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Once obese, always (potentially) obese again?

Thoughts?

I'm thinking that I sure hope that's the way it will work for me if my band ever has to come out, but there are no guarantees. Are you the sort of person who can have a habit forcibly changed on you and ultimately internalize that change completely so that no reinforcement is needed? That's the question. Which is stronger, the compulsion or the new behaviors.

Come to think of it, I quit smoking back in 1987 and now the very idea of a cigarette repulses me. food is different, of course, but I do get glimmers of repulsion when I see the mondo meals people eat at restaurants. Maybe it's true, and more than my band is being adjusted!! :confused:

Whoever wrote that FAQ was being alarmist, IMO. If the band is removed, it can no longer help us maintain our lost weight, but it's certainly possible that we can do it ourselves. Behavioral therapy can be powerful, but there's no predicting how any one person will respond.