Any Long-Term (4-5 yrs+) Bandsters Out There

[fabfatgrl 10]

Hi Everybody:

Well, in a few days it will be my 5th BAndiversary. I am very grateful for what my Band allowed me to achieve...

* loss of 95 pounds (regained 1/2 when I was unfilled during pregnancies)

* two healthy children and the ability to be unfilled during both pregnancies--thus not worry about bizarro nutriional complications

* finally to have some weight loss success... even if some of you would not think of keeping off 45-50 pounds without a fill for 3 years a success. I never ever successfully lost more than 17 pounds on any diet prior to the Band. The only way I achieved a 17 pound weight loss was imprisoning myself for a month at a ultra low fat vegan health spa in Utah. Within one week, I had regained 1/2 of it... and continued to gain. (For those of you who lost tons and regained... I never even got to that stage )

*love of exercise...moving. I was always the fat kid who hated gym...but now I go absoluetely crazy if I can't get outside and move each day

BUT, after having a super small fill (1.3 ccs... smaller than any fill I've ever had)... and having lots of PBs and stomach snots from it, I don't think I can go on with my Band... with the fills, PBs, etc. I'm just tired of it, y'know?? I had forgotten about always having plastic bags in my purse in cased I PBed... of having to find the bathroom in every restaurant first, before eating... of pureeing most of my foods if I could, in hopes I could eat some. I can't do it anymore. I'm sorry. I thought that after a three year break, I could... but I can't.

Anybody else go through this?? I'm not trying to scare newbies or pre-ops... know that I can take out that 1.3 ccs and be pretty much back to normal (although big old chunks of meat can still get stuck).... it's just, I'm tired of it.

Also, hunger is totally different this time. Before I was never hungry... thanksgiving full. Now, even when my pouch is full, I'm starving. Bizarro.

So what about you long-timers? Are you still getting fills? I was in active fill mode for my first 18 months and all indications were that would continue.. as I seemed to lose a bit every few months, even though officially my port was not leaking (it was checked). The pain of finding a fill doc... scheduling... paying another $350+.... I'm tired.

Rant over. Just sad and tired. Hoping to find others who maybe were refilled after a long time and got back into it.

[Angelator 0]

How long since you got your fill?

[fabfatgrl 10]

2.5 months.... it was my first fill ever without fluoro.... so I'm trying to schedule a flouor in a few weeks to check on things.

[Alexandra 55]

Hi Fab,

It's comments like yours that make me wonder whether I should be thinking about getting another fill after three months without saline in my band. The very LAST thing I want to have happen is to become sad and tired with the food restrictions to the point that I think about having my band removed.

I've lost over 100 lbs since surgery, 130 since my highest non-preg weight, and it's been a miracle in my life through and through. There have been no major complications, but I've been unfilled twice due to reflux and esohagitis. Now I have no saline in the band and very little restriction, and though I'm maintaining my weight within 5 lbs I can tell that it's getting a little harder as time goes by. So I've been thinking about a small fill.

But what if even a small fill causes problems? Will I be courting complications by tightening the band at this point? So I'm going around in circles in my mind, wondering if where I am is where I'll be forever (which would be FINE) or if I can eke out a teeny bit more assistance from my band without risking problems.

Are you seriously thinking about having it removed completely, or just the fill? If I were you, I'd have half the fill removed and see where that puts me. A lot of "episodes" can get tiresome, indeed, but life without a band at all seems to me to be a worse alternative.

[fabfatgrl 10]

HI Alexandra:

I am really thinking of getting the Band removed. Yes, I'm going to get the baby fill removed too... but then I'm stuck with what to do. I had another fill that had to be removed after two days in between my pregnancies. It was bigger...and was done under fluoro... and I had big time problems with it. Honestly, these two fills are the only time I've ever had issues like this... prior, the closest thing I got was having a fill that didn't last.

I've never had reflux or esophogitis.

I don't know what I'd do if I was you...only you know :cool: You can always get your fill removed if it's an issue. For me, if I'd be happy with a size 14/16--so Id probably do nothing if I could maintain that. I"d also consider doing WW or something similar as a maintenance or even additional weight loss tool. I did rejoin WW a few weeks ago, but with things getting stuck and ravenous hunger... I haven't been able to stick on program. I think we all have the magic number where if we hit it again, we begin to look at other options. For me it was 250. When I was about 230, I was pretty OK (my first post-pregnancy weight.) I would have liked to weigh 215... because I wore a size 16 then... but an 18 was OK. It was still better than a 28 But 250 is just too much. And I've been trying to get down to 230 or below for 8 months and no luck. So now, I'm looking at other options.

I think that the figure that some people with the Band ignore is that 50% of excess weight loss is a success. (Actually, that's considered a success for any form of WLS--not just the BAnd.) And from what I've seen of the longer studies, it's pretty much around what one can expect. Maybe you'll hit 60% if you're lucky... but you do have to know that 50% figure and ask yourself will you be happy. So for me, I weighed 297... my ideal weight by BMI standards was probably 135. My "ideal" was around 170. So using my standards... excess weight was 127 pounds, 50% of that was 63.5 pounds. Staying around 230 then... was just about right. Anything better was a bonus.

Karla

[Alexandra 55]

My idea of success was and is maintaining whatever loss I was able to achieve. So I'm still working on the goal, and will be the rest of my life. To that end, the worst move I could make would be to remove the band completely. From here on out I'm going to be very cautious about messing with it.

[paula 4]

Next month will be my 2 year banded mark. Although I havent had the experiences of longer bandsters, I DO seem to understand how the yo-yo'ing of the banded life WILL get old.

Im already on that path.

Off topic: If you choose band-removal, are you considering another form of WLS to replace the band?

Since you are a Granny Bandster to us, Im interested in all your details. :biggrin1:

[Carlene 12]

I'm only 18 months post-op, but a woman in my real time support group was banded 6 years ago (FDA trials) and lost 210 pounds. She recently had a slip repair and got a new (VG) band. Now she is working her way up to the "sweet spot" again. She only gained 15 pounds during the time (6 months, I think) that she was unfilled. She still maintains that she will go to the grave with her band intact, as long as it's humanly possible.

I have lost 97 pounds and am within 10 pounds of my goal weight. I weigh less than 130 and wear a size 4, certainly way better than 50% of excess weight lost. I understand your feelings about the band. There is a lot of drama involved - a lot of stuff that, in many ways, makes food even more of an issue than it was pre-band. I can't have a tiny kid's cup of yogurt at 4:30 or I won't be able to eat dinner. No steak for me at cook out time - no hot dogs, either. Everything is a trade-off...it all has its price. I'm good with my choice to keep the band, and keep it filled pretty tight. And I'm good with everyone else's choice, too. It's your body....only you can decide what do do with it.

[fabfatgrl 10]

Hi Paula:

Right now I'm leaning towards the VSG. Basically, they remove 85% of your stomach and create a long thin stomach "sleeve." Both pylori (pyloruses?) are in tact. Seems to really affect ghrelin levels which regulate hunger, but no intestinal re-routing. I'm still not ready for that. Also, from what I can tell, people don't have the getting stuck phenomenon... although some will PB if they eat too much. They also don't seem to have the hunger sensation even though your upper-pouch is full. Now, the bad thing is the 85% of your stomach is gone forever... it's not coming back. And you do face the risk (albeit rare) of leaks right after surgery. But... it's viewed as an extremely safe operation... originally done on super obese people who were considered too much of an operative risk to have the DS or RNY. They did this... they lost some weight... then did the second part if needed. One doc I've spoken to says only about 20% of his patients have needed the DS portion. The LapSF guys have results that show similar weight loss to RNY/DS... 83% of excess weight. And no fills :cool:

We'll see. Surgery again is still scary... and actually, I have a lot more to think about now that I have two kids. On the one hand, the benefits of weight loss mean more... on the other hand, so do the risks of surgery.

Karla

[suchadiva 0]

Carlene:

Congratulations on your success. You really have done well. Can you tell me how many fills you got and when you got them. Thanks for your help.

Suchadiva

[Carlene 12]

I lost count, to tell you the truth. I would estimate that I have had about 8 fills and I know that I have had 3 unfills.

Never hesitate to get an unfill if you experience distress, such as reflux, vomiting, etc. Too tight is miserable and can damage your band. I know that people have had slips that never spit up even once, but the textbook slip is preceeded by a too-tight fill and/or episodes of vomitting.