Are You Stretching Your Pouch If...

[2muchfun 8,927]

Hi all!! I am new to this group!! I was banded April 1, 2011. I weighed 260 the morning of surgery, I am 230 now!! I feel like such a failure. I expected to lose 100 lbs by my 1 year anniversary and it didn't happen!!! What else do I need to do? Is this normal? How much should I have lost in a year?? Plz any advice!!

You should start your own thread/topic for this Delilah. And if you do, please provide more information such as what you eat, drink, exercise, fills, doctor visits? Most people have a very good idea why they haven't lost weight? Maybe you could offer some reasons why you think you haven't?

tmf

[2muchfun 8,927]

No, it doesn't hurt at all. After a year with my band, I would get stuck occassionaly, but that's if I ate something like bread or rice, or didn't chew well enough. After a time, I found if I waited about 5-10 minutes, I could just keep eating and it would feel fine. I wouldn't gorge myself, but I felt in my mind that I was probably eating more than I should. My meals were roughly 1.5c worth. However, I lost weight. 93lbs to be exact!!! BUT.....

Little did I know that I was stretching my pouch and eventually my esophagus. Here I am, two years to the day that I had my surgery, and I've been told my band has to be removed and that it's causing a potentially life-threatening condition to me. The doctor stresses to me that it's not my fault (I have the success of the weight loss to back me up that I did do what I was supposed to), but that the band isn't proving to be what it originally was thought for a long-term solution to weight loss. I'm devastated. Completely and utterly devastated that my band is failing me.

If your clinic/dr. doesn't use a fluoroscope when performing a fill, you will have no idea what it's doing to your body. I can't stress enough that you WILL NOT FEEL pain and you will NOT be stuck when you are stretching your pouch & your esophagus. Eventually you will probably come to have the gurgling toilet drain sound followed by the nightly reflux. That is when there is trouble.

Anyway, I just thought I would put my two cents in. Good luck, everyone!

Well that's a little more than scary? You describe exactly how many of my meals take place. However, I do take what you say with a grain of salt. We're all different and I think that some of us/you have much more elasticity in the stomach than others because I was in a lot of discomfort this mornng.

Going in now for an unfill.

tmf

[Mommy2Ps 4]

Right, we're all different, but our bands perform the same function. Really, I think the key is the X-ray. Other than having moderate reflux, I had no clue my band had slipped. I think of all the people who get huge fills at a time, and aren't losing, they must have serious stretching going on.

Anyway, I hope your unfill helped. And btw, I'm not here to scare anyone, but I was VERY pro-band for two years, and now I'm learning more about the complications that are starting to occur with long-time usage. It's dis-heartening. I love my band. I was on the fast track to a heart attack and now I think I'm in much better shape than I was.

-t

[Skyvic 226]

If you look at the Allergan site or Lapband you can see that the maximum weight loss actually occurs between month 15-3yrs. I'm in my 16th month...I've lost 81 pounds I wish I could have lost 100 in a year but reality is that it still will take time shedding these pounds even with exercise. In happy with the results as I'm almost in a size 12 and I'm healthy! Hang in there. In ready for a fill next week but also worried about the reflux stuff. Doc says don't wait too long for fills when you are out of the green zone.

[Skyvic 226]

Oops for Delilah88...hang in there

[running_scared 125]

Right, we're all different, but our bands perform the same function. Really, I think the key is the X-ray. Other than having moderate reflux, I had no clue my band had slipped. I think of all the people who get huge fills at a time, and aren't losing, they must have serious stretching going on.

Anyway, I hope your unfill helped. And btw, I'm not here to scare anyone, but I was VERY pro-band for two years, and now I'm learning more about the complications that are starting to occur with long-time usage. It's dis-heartening. I love my band. I was on the fast track to a heart attack and now I think I'm in much better shape than I was.

-t

Well, it sounds like having reflux of any sort, should have been your first clue that something was wrong.

I'm sorry this is happening to you, but I think you need to accept part of the responsibility, and stop trying to scare others.