What was your turning point?

[Jollyjane 0]

I too, had given up on life - type 2 diabetes on insulin, bouts of heart failure, depression, arthritis, sleep apnea, pernicious anemia (spelling)?

pneumonia and other things.

I just wanted to die, so I came off all my meds, without telling anyone, and prepared to pass away quite slowly, so it wouldn't hurt me.

This was my lowest ebb ever - and wonder of wonders - my DH told me of a woman who worked with him, who had had weight loss surgery. I called her and we got talking and the next thing I knew, I had something to live for again.

I researched and met up with people who had the band fitted and about 6 months later I was ready for my surgery. The 1st Doctor I saw would not operate on me because I had too many co-morbidities.

Then I met Cathie, now a good friend, and went to Belguim for my operation. I have never looked back. Before banding, I would not go out as I felt so obese, now you can't keep me in. Best thing I ever did.

Thank you Cathie, you kept me going just when I needed you to.

[j.s. 0]

My turning point was the day I was at my brother's house and we were discussing the fact that he had heart disease and had stents placed. He was 46. I have 10 siblings older than me and only 3 with no major health issues and this brother was one of the "more fit" of the family. I was okay with the diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol but when the heart disease started down the chain, that scared me. My parents both have heart diasease (and all the rest of the stuff). My father died from heart disease. That was one huge wake up call. I was walking down the heart disease road and I decided right then and there to turn around and run the other way. Now I know this is not going to just make the heart disease skip over me, but if I can just shove it back say 30 or 40 years, I will be very happy with that indeed.

[stockymd 0]

I just came to the realization that despite my best efforts...my weight was going no where but UP!! When I was about to hit 300 pounds. I surrendered and did what I said I would never do (I'm a control freak), and started looking into WLS. I feel so blessed to have found out about the lapband. I initially was looking onto RNY.

Had to do something very different....just plain tired of fighting and and never winning.

[mprater975 0]

I am considering the lapband surgery and cannot find anyone personally to talk with about it, so I thought I would find a forum where I could get some information. It seems that some are doing very well and some have lots of problems. I am intersted in knowing about how much weight I can expect to loose, I don't understand at all about the fills and what each of those cost after the surgery, does it make you sick, and is it going to help me control my weight for life? My insurance has an exclusion to this surgery so my decision is much more difficult in that I will have to borrow the money to have it. Is it worth it????

[Bandster Brad 1]

My turning point occured on one of two chairs. While I was sitting on a white plastic molded resin chair, while in Haiti, on a beach, my daughter was getting her hair braided. The chair literally shattered under my ass, and I fell to the ground. My wife, and probably even my kids, were very embarrassed, as I hit the ground, and at least a dozen concerned Haitains came running to see if I was OK.

Some time, not to long later, we had a new dining room set. Of course, my dear wife bought an armchair version for me to sit at. To my absolute chagrin, my ass stuck in the chair, so that when I stood up, the chair came up with me! To make matters worse, one day, as I squeezed in, the arm split from too many times of being pushed out. At that point, the whole arm came apart; and irreparably so.

Of course, in both cases, I instinctively blamed the chair. But it wasn't the fault of the chair.

Oddly enough, toilet seats were starting to break when I sat on them.

After a while, you have to stop making excuses, stop sucking it up, stop being embarassed, and take responsibility for yourself. I knew I was dying ... slowly. But nonetheless, at some point, you just have to say "OK, just go ahead and kill me - I can't stand this anymore," or do something different - and dramatically so.

As far as I am concerned, this band saved my life.

[3loves 0]

Well, for me it was Jan of a new year again and I was talking to my DH about what I would do this year to try to lose weight. He looks at me and says, "Why don't we get the band? Our insurance will pay for it." I told him only if I get to go first. He liked that idea since he wanted to see how I did with Optifast b4 he tried it. :biggrin1: Of course, the Optifast didn't stick, so here we are. :nervous

We have 2 beautiful boys and want....the Lord willing....to have more children. :preggers: I don't see that happening in a healthy way at my current weight. I also want to be a good example for my children since everyone in my family has weight issues. Perhaps my DH and I can change that pattern with our children.

[skbishop78 0]

You guys are awesome.... I love reading these things. I hide from pics...my daughter has like 10 pictures of her and I together in her baby book...she is almost 3....thats so sad! Keep em' coming!

[juliek 0]

Hmmm, like most here I have been extremely overweight my whole life (I have a baby picture where I weighed 30 lbs at 9 months old - , talk about a big baby!). And I have tried every diet on the planet, some 2 or 3 times. By my actual realization came when my husband had to have heart surgery! He is fit, small guy (we looked like Jack Sprat and his wife - LOL) who has more co-morbidities than I do! He has high cholestral, high blood pressure, diabities (sp?), etc and only weighs 148! I, on the other hand was only fat. Sooo, when he had to have the heart surgery, I got very scared for my 3 beautiful daughters! We are older parents (I am 44, he is 49) with a 9 yr old and 4 yr old twins and one of us has to be healthy to be around for them as they grow up!!!!! God Willing it will be both of us, but I wanted to stack the deck in my favor! Plus as someone else said, I am just sick and tired of being sick and tired!

I painted my daughter's bedroom the other day - something I would have never tried before (I wasn't going to put my 355 lb body on a latter with a 250 lb weight limit!!!). That made me stop and think, wow! this is really working for me!

Great thread, thanks for starting it!

[tilly 5]

I painted my daughter's bedroom the other day - something I would have never tried before (I wasn't going to put my 355 lb body on a latter with a 250 lb weight limit!!!). That made me stop and think, wow! this is really working for me!

whaddaya mean you couldnt decorate when you were 355lbs !! I could have built a house as long as I was sitting down and you didnt want it more than my arms reach high lol

I got to be a dab hand at everything providing I was sitting down or my back ached and my legs turned to Jello after 2 minutes

oh and providing I didnt have to reach down to the floor

its amazing how you cope when you think about it isnt it

[juliek 0]

I painted my daughter's bedroom the other day - something I would have never tried before (I wasn't going to put my 355 lb body on a latter with a 250 lb weight limit!!!). That made me stop and think, wow! this is really working for me!

whaddaya mean you couldnt decorate when you were 355lbs !! I could have built a house as long as I was sitting down and you didnt want it more than my arms reach high lol

I got to be a dab hand at everything providing I was sitting down or my back ached and my legs turned to Jello after 2 minutes

oh and providing I didnt have to reach down to the floor

its amazing how you cope when you think about it isnt it

LOL!!!! Yeah, me too - sitting I could do anything!

[PhotoNut 7]

I am considering the lapband surgery and cannot find anyone personally to talk with about it, so I thought I would find a forum where I could get some information.

You found a great forum. There is so much information here that you'll be reading for days on end.

It seems that some are doing very well and some have lots of problems.I am intersted in knowing about how much weight I can expect to loose...

Yup, some have problems with the band itself, slipping or erosion. They aren't really sure what causes these, but even the people who do everything right can experience this. Basically, its the luck of the draw really. Then, some have trouble making the right food choices and making themselves exercise and follow the bandster "rules". The thing I'm finding is, everyone is different and will experience different things. The expected average weight loss with the band is 1 to 2 pounds per week. Some will lose faster than others, some will not be able to tolerate the band. It is very hard to judge what will happen with you until you try it and see.

I don't understand at all about the fills and what each of those cost after the surgery, does it make you sick, and is it going to help me control my weight for life?

The band is a silicone ring that has a baloon like center which is filled with saline to increase the restriction around the stomach. When the band is placed, it is empty and most people do not get their first fill until 6 weeks after surgery.. allowing time for swelling and tenderness to go down. Once the swelling has subsided and you are able to eat solid foods, your doctor will determine whether or not you need more restriction. If you do, salline is injected into the port, which then flows through the tubing and into the bladder of the band. These adjustments are done a small amount at a time to prevent getting too much restriction and preventing you from eating or drinking. The cost of these fills will vary depending on your doctor. My surgery included one year of free fills. Some people pay up to $200 for a fill, while others pay a lot less.

My insurance has an exclusion to this surgery so my decision is much more difficult in that I will have to borrow the money to have it. Is it worth it????

I didn't have insurance so I had to pay for my surgery and pre-tests out of my own pocket. It ended up costing me $26,000. There were other options to go out of state or even out of the country to get the surgery done for a lot less, but I prefered to stay local so I could depend on the after care and a developing relationship with my doctor.

I hope this answered your questions. I'm sure you'll have many questions that only you can answer. Such as.. is it worth it. As you can see by all who have posted on this thread, the answer would be a resounding YES! But then, there are some who have not lost the weight they hoped for and experienced problems. They would probably say NO. When it comes right down to it, only you can decide what you are willing to take a chance on. For me, it was my only option. No way was I going to get a more radical weight loss surgery, and no way was I going to live very long at the rate I was going. I thank God for the band and would get it again if I were to lose this one for any reason.

[kellcap 0]

going into a size 16 and a comment from one of my daughters friends "your mother is beautiful.....but she'd be more beautiful if she weren't fat"...not sure why that bothered me so much but it did.

[DOC 0]

What a great thread!!!

I had so many turning points and I guess I have a big ego because even though I said it was for medical reasons, it was really vanity!!!

• Not being able to pull myself up onto the dock in lake george after swimming
  
• My granddaughter asking me why I had more than "one" stomach
  
• Not wanting to look for a job because of the way I looked
  
• Having no clothes to wear because I refused to buy a bigger size
  
• Couldn't buckle the seatbelt on the airplane
  
• My back hurt
  
• My knee was giving out
  
• I had dinner with the family and then would go in the kitchen and shove food in my face.
  
• Couldn't shop with my friends anymore. We would go to the mall and hook up later because we didn't shop in the same stores!
  
• I missed being active! I looked at people biking and walking with their families or DH and I was sad
  
• Not vacationing in certain European places becasuse they were "walking" tours
  
• Couldn't take off my wedding ring to paint the house or get in cleaned
  
• Always wanted to go parasailing and there is a weight limit
  
• I would take all these digital pictures and send to family and friends. they would always comment that I wasn't in the pictures!
  
• and the last reason was I was sick and tired of being sick and tired!!!!!

Wow... this is what came of the top of my head.... There is so much more. I am on a new journey...... Just for Today!!!!

[JillN 0]

Mine was when the brand new pants I just made for myself started not fitting right (they were custom fitted). Then all my underwear that I always wore started ripping out in the seat. And I was finding it more and more difficult to wipe myself in the bathroom.

That last one scared me a LOT!

Turns out I had gained 20 pounds in under 6 months due to a new medication for diabetes.

That's when I seriously started investigating WLS, and found this site! My doctors told me that with my age, medications and metabolism, it was extremely unlikely I'd be ever be able to loose a significant amount of weight. Then they suggested WLS if I started seeing tissue damage from my diabetes.

I thought, WHY WAIT FOR THERE TO BE DAMAGE??? Let's make sure there is never any damage by getting rid of the diabetes, and the weight!

[Teresita 0]

Not being able to breath after walking for just a few seconds and finding out my heart was enlarged.