I'm very dissapointed in my lapband

[kittykat 0]

I got mine end of august 2005 I lost about 26 kilo's, but since 3 months

I'm so hungry and stay hungry even when I have just eten.

It drives me nuts and I still do not have a feeling when I'm full.

I already had it filled up with 3 ml but I got stomack aches so we removed another 1 ml. pain gone but still very very hungry.

I already had a check up but everything is ok.

Does this sound familiar?

Kittykat

[Jachut 487]

Perhaps its time to try filling again in teeny tiny increments. Like a whole nother ml in one go might be too much, but I just had my second fill a few hours ago and where my first was 1ml, this one was only .3. I believe that many people tolerate a level of fill that previously gave them problems when it's approached very very cautiously.

And try to sit back and reflect on your fantastic progress so far. It really is great! I've managed to become relaxed with the fact that in all probability this weight is not going to come off steadily at 1kg a week so that I'm all gorgeous for this event or that further on down the track. It's going to happen in fits and taper off as I need more fill and it make take 6 months, a year or 18 months but all I can really know is I'll be much happier, healthier and look a lot better in that time than I did a few months back. So just try to enjoy each stage - for instance it doesnt matter to me that the last time I was 100kg I was desperate about it, now it feels FANTASTIC compared to 112kg.

[kittykat 0]

Don't get me wrong I'm glad i lost the 26 kg, but that is not the issue here.

On nearly every Homepage or you lapband doc tells you the benefits of a lapband are, you get that feeling full feeling back and hardly any hunger.

And by me that is absolutely not the case this started after 3 months.

And that feeling full feeling I never had that.

I talked with my doc about it but he blames me for it, you get advice: eating 45 min about a slice of bread or when you are hungry(and you are not suppose to) start doing exercises that would stop it, but it is all not true.

The only thing I hope for is that when I lose 50 % of my overweight my insuline will start working normally again, that means losing another 10-11 kg, so I will try that to.

[Iluvharleys 15]

Are you eating Protein first, then veggies and carbs if you still have room? If you are eating a lot of soft foods then you are working against your band because they go right through.

[leatha_g 4]

Remember, with the band, you will not have that 'Thanksgiving' overfilled FULL feeling again. The 'full' feeling they represent is something that is much higher up in the digestive tract, say around your esophagus instead of a completely stuffed stomach area. This is definitely a HEAD thing and it does take some getting used to. You have to meet it halfway.

He is correct in saying that once we have weight loss surgery, we have to find other things to FILL US UP, such as activity, classes we always wanted to take but never felt like it, exercise, new hobbies, new friends. Basically, a new lifestyle - so that the old one doesn't get us right back where we started.

The mind is harder to talk into this than the body.. :cool:

Good luck and congrats on your weight loss!! Keep up the good work!

[SouthTX LapBand 0]

I got mine end of august 2005 I lost about 26 kilo's

My LORD, woman. You've lost FIFTY-SEVEN POUNDS in little over 5 months. That is an average of 10.5 pounds a month. Considering that the lapband is only capable of helping us lose 1-2 pounds a week, you have shown a REMARKABLE weight loss.

And you only have 25 pounds to go to goal!!!!! Then, for the rest of your banded life, you will NEVER again gain weight like you did in the past. For the rest of your life, you will never have to struggle.

So let's deal with what is causing your hunger. It is the very top part of our stomachs that is "wired" to sense fullness. But for some reason, you aren't getting that any more.

since 3 months I'm so hungry and stay hungry even when I have just eten. It drives me nuts and I still do not have a feeling when I'm full.

This tells me something has changed about how and/or what you are eating.

Soft calories pour right thru you, so you can't achieve a Full Feeling. The only way to combat that is to eat SOLID Protein - 3 or more ounces. And then dark green vegetables -- not cooked to mush, but something you have to CHEW. At least 1/2 cup or more. THEN, if there is room, a TINY dab of something else solid.

Another thing that can cause a raging hunger is anything more than a MINIMAL amount of carbohydrates. If you work hard to eliminate ALL carbs from your diet except for the minimal amounts in cheese and vegetables (NO WHITE RICE, NO WHITE POTATO, NO Pasta, NO GRAINS BUT LONG-COOKING OATS & SUCH, NO FLOUR PRODUCTS), then your raging hunger should drop to zero, as long as you are also consuming solid calories.

Monitor your blood sugar levels carefully to make sure your insulin levels don't get too high. You may have to increase how often you check during the day. Work closely with your doctor's office.

Again, I want to reinforce to you that you have done FANTASTICALLY for a diabetic patient. Diabetics and those with pre-diabetic metabolic syndrome have the DEVIL OF A TIME losing weight. You are a SUCCESS STORY.

Don't feel discouraged. Look at your weight loss and be proud of yourself. It doesn't get better than what you have done for yourself. It took you more than 5.5 months to gain that 26 kilos (57 pounds). The lap band is not magic. It is not designed to bypass our intestines so we CANNOT absorb the calories we eat. It takes time. 2 pounds a week like you have managed is purely magnificiently rapid progress.

[Anthony 1]

Constant hunger pangs while my pouch is full is one of my main quibbles with the band. At my lowest weight, I would be hungry, even with 400grams of Protein per day, yes, 400grams (approximately 200g from whey Protein, 200mg from lean chicken or fish).

I'll hopefully see this vanish when I'm converted to a VG.

[SouthTX LapBand 0]

Constant hunger pangs while my pouch is full is one of my main quibbles with the band. At my lowest weight, I would be hungry, even with 400grams of Protein per day, yes, 400grams (approximately 200g from whey Protein, 200mg from lean chicken or fish).

I'll hopefully see this vanish when I'm converted to a VG.

Hi, Anthony .... You had never mentioned (in any thread I read) how much you initially weighed or how much weight loss you had had since you were banded in 2003.

But this info really intrigued me, given your problems with back pain and inability to deal with gas. I know you had said your gas problems were related to ingested air and being unable to belch ... but maybe????

At 200 gram of whey protein, you were consuming at LEAST 9 or 10 cups of at LEAST 80 calories JUST for the Protein powder -- unless you used the more frequently found flavoured blends which have up to 30 calories more per prepared beveragle. And then their is the milk or juice you may have been mixing it with. So you were DRINKING at LEAST EIGHTY OUNCES at at LEAST 800 liquid calories (and that only if you were using you were mixing unflavoured powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury with a zero-calorie liquid.

Non-Fat milk has 90 calories a cup.

And I have repeatedly heard that 60-80 grams of protein a day is the maximum needed for most of us. 4 servings a day of protein. And you were eating 400 grams a day. Not only was most of that unneeded calories, but if I had that much intestinal gas being produced every day, I'd be having severe back pains, too.

And how much in zero-calorie liquids were you drinking a day? Did you have lots of problems with poor or no weight loss?

You've certainly got me wondering what doctor or nutritionist told you that hunger is related to how many calories a day you are consuming. For people with metatbolic syndrome, extra calories just provoke extra hunger. Hunger is ONLY dealt with by fooling that upper bit of stomach into thinking your entire stomach is stuffed to the top.

What surgeon did your banding? What nutritionist supervised your diet? Are you lactose intolerant??

I would advise you to get some further advice before you have a conversion operation. I'd hate for you to continue to find WLS to be a losing proposition for you.

Theresa

Lean Protein choices have 55 calories and 2-3 grams of fat per ounce/serving.

One serving equals:

1 ounce

Chicken- dark meat, skin removed1 ounceTurkey- dark meat, skin removed1 ounceSalmon, Swordfish, herring1 ounceLean beef (flank steak, London broil, tenderloin, roast beef)*1 ounceVeal, roast or lean chop*1 ounceLamb, roast or lean chop*1 ouncePork, tenderloin or fresh ham*1 ounceLow fat cheese (3 grams or less of fat per ounce)1 ounceLow fat luncheon meats (with 3 grams or less of fat per ounce)1/4 cup4.5% cottage cheese2 mediumSardines* Limit to 1-2 times per week

[kabeerah 0]

Constant hunger pangs while my pouch is full is one of my main quibbles with the band. At my lowest weight, I would be hungry, even with 400grams of Protein per day, yes, 400grams (approximately 200g from whey Protein, 200mg from lean chicken or fish).

I'll hopefully see this vanish when I'm converted to a VG.

Now see that's what I'm afriad of...being physically restricted and unable to take another bite but still being genuinely hungry...growling stomach and all,

[leatha_g 4]

First of all. 200-400g of Protein is downright dangerous to your kidneys. :faint: Nuff said.

The band, when restricted properly and using HARD Proteins such as chicken, fish, eggs etc can and does dim the hunger very well. :clap2:

Back to basics, people.

Hard Proteins first, veggies next, anything else IF you still have room.

No liquid calories once you are past the 6 week initial healing stage.

No potatoes, no Pasta, no bread, no rice. This does not mean FOREVER, this means 'as a rule'. If you follow these rules, encouraged by the makers of the lapband, the band will work as it is designed.

Yes, you will feel hunger, compared to that constant fullness that we used to feel before banding because most of us never allowed ourselves to get to a hungry place then. (That's why we're here to begin with.) But, believe it or not, with the band, that does fade. After awhile, you actually enjoy the fact that you aren't consistently miserable from being overfilled anymore. Nothing makes me happier than to go to bed at night NOT feeling like a stuffed cow, which I did quite often before banding.

Another point, just because we hear our stomach make noises does NOT mean we're really 'hungry'. Many times, it is our stomaches doing their jobs of digesting what is in there. Only difference now is that it's not so stuffed that you can actually HEAR it or feel it when before it was like an overfilled washing machine which could barely even wash properly because there was too much in it.. make sense?

The HEAD is a strong thing and unfortunately, if we don't get ourselves wrapped around that part of this journey, that will most certainly either slow us (ME) down or completely wreck my (OUR) whole trip. :faint:

Let's get what we came for, folks. But, please do it wisely.

Sorry if this comes off harsh, but some of the things I see new people saying and doing is really scaring me and I DO CARE that we all are successful, yet still healthy and passing along GOOD information to those who are learning or contemplating this surgery.

http://www.inamed.com/pdf/health/94829F_LB_Patient_Book.pdf

[babsintx3 0]

Kittykat,

It seems like you do not have proper restriction. Sometimes it takes many fills to get it just right. Like teh GOldilocks story!!! LOL. It sounds like you were overfilled and then underfilled etc... I would try going back for a little more. With the right restriction, I could somtimes go all day and not be hungry. Now I am also hungry all the time because I need some more in my band. I had some removed when I had plastic surgery and cant seem to get to the right level. It takes some work to get there. P.S. You are eating way too much Protein and that in itself is totally unhealthy for you.

Babs in TX

334/180iish

-150 ish

[Anthony 1]

Starting weight: 315

At my lowest weight, 240, when I would usually do about 6-8 hours of weightlifting in the gym..

Usually I would consume 6-10 scoops of Champion Nutrition whey Stack per day. This was always mixed with Water. I am not lactose intolerant. 200grams was the average, 400grams would happen only once in a great while.

If I were still hungry I would eat lean, grilled chicken. My doctor and nutritionist had no problem with me consuming 1 gram of Protein per body pound, given my age and weight training schedule. I remember when I had my labs drawn 1 year after my surgery date, my Protein values were at the upper range of healthy... My surgeon pointed this out and inquired about what type of protein I was cosuming and how much. I told him, his reply was something along the lines of "That's great, just make sure you drink enough water".

1-2 grams of protein per day per pound of bodyweight is the norm for serious gym freqentuers these days. The extra protein truly decreases your recovery time, but each additional gram consumed beyond a certain point results a diminishing rate of returned benefits (somewhere around the 1g/lb ratio, this should be based upon IDEAL bodyweight, which sets me up for 200g/day).

It was either consume more protein, be hungry, or consume fat.

***I should add in that I only maintained this plateau for 8 months, afterwhich, I finally gave in to the fattier or more carb loaded foods. I could never break the 240 limit for any longer than a week, because at this point I would get so hungry that I was distracted from nearly everything else***

I have now cut back to about 100 grams of protein per day since I am not in training.

[deniseb 0]

I know it can sometimes be frustrating, but worth it in the end.

[kittykat 0]

Thank you for you replies:

I'm not a diabetic but it I will be, if I do not loose weight, and that is something I try to prevent. Besides that I Have a slow working thyroid, I do get medication for that, but I had to get of the fat anyway so after I year Of discovering that, I got my lapband.

Anthony:

I just started to eat more Protein in the form of smoked fisch, I still feel hungry but not starving hungry anymore. Yes proteine can work to.

babsintx3:

I have absolutly no difference what so ever in a non filled lapband or the 3 ml(which was way to much) or the 2 ml what is in it know. I think maybe it is not the lapband but my metabolism and my body fighting you because a body wants to preserve your fat( for bad times) instead of burning it. So it will fight you. I'm doing some research now over the www, what happens in your body if you lose a lot of fat!

leatha_g:

I eat only solid foods, everything you do not have to chew on is forbidden.

No sugar in any form.

I drink Water, herbal tea, broth/clear Soup, no exeptions.

No Pasta, rice etc. But I sometimes do eat wholemeal bread.< /p>

I have been able, pre lapband time, to stay on the same weight for 2 years, I did not stuff my self full for a long, long time.

If I was able to have a stable weight, I would not have started with the lapband. Besides losing weight was staying on that weight al so a problem. So I was glad I got that part straight.

When I'm hungry after eating it is a silent hunger, but it makes me think of food all the time, and that makes it so difficult.

Don't worry I loved your reaction

Is this the correct link?

SouthTX LapBand:

Yes I know I lost a lot but i have to go anoter small 40-50 kilo's. The first 3 months went very fast, acually it was peanuts:)

Lapband D-Day 25 aug 143.5 kg

30 sep 2005 -10.8 kg = 132.7

10 nov 2005 - 6.3 kg = 126.4

22 dec 2005 - 2.8 kg = 123.6 1e filling +3ml

10 jan 2006 - 1.5 kg = 122.1 stomack ache-> bloodwork and swollow pics? -1ml

16 feb 2006- 5 kg = 117.1

Total -26.4 kg. And I'm very happy with it.

Thanks.

----------------------------------------------

According to my doc. he says that with a normal weight person glucoses is directly used for feeding the the muscles.

If you have serious overweight glucoses will be stored/feed to you fat.

So If I(overweight :-) ) eat, my glucoses turn into fat and then need to be burned to feed for example, a muscle.

This is not only for me, but everyone who has a lot of overweight.

This will change if you loses 50% of your overweight. At that time your body will no longer store glucoses into fat but will be used directly.

For me this means a change will hopefully occure about 107 kg bodyweight.

So my cravings for food hopefully will drop then to.

[leatha_g 4]

Is this the correct link?

Yes ma'am. That is a link to the PDF file for Inamed's Patient Handbook.