two weeks banded

oh2bthin · June 3, 2004

i have had my band two weeks and i am feeling worried as i am able to eat almost everything like before and have lost no weight !! i lost 7 pounds in hospital . but nothing since. i told my doctor and he said this is normal before my first fill but i don't feel any full feeling and worried its not working.

donali · June 3, 2004

Surely in all of your research you have read many times that until the band is filled to your proper level, it will not help you much.

The time prior to your first fill is about HEALING, not weightloss. Any weight lost during this time is a bonus.

Concentrate on recovering and following your doctor's eating protocol during this time. Your band is empty, and it's very common to feel as though nothing has changed as far as hunger and eating amounts go.

Once you start getting fills your hunger will decrease, and so will your ability to eat large quantities of food. Generally it takes 3-4 fills for a person to reach a level they think is just right.

oh2bthin · June 3, 2004

thankyou for your reply, i am english and i had my lap band done in belguim with a doctor who has been doing it for about 8 years so i was glad to have a doctor who was one of the first pioneers of it but his english is limited and he didn't really exsplain too much about this stage. i am really getting excited about my first fill as i have recovered so well and i was started to think the band wasn't even in there!! i think the hardest thing is knowing when to stop. its definately the hardest thing for me as i always seem to eat until i feel really full. i cook meals for my family every day and i think i will have to eat alone. i feel like my family are looking at me and saying how is she still eating this after the op. i feel guilty as i was a self pay and i have every one asking " so how much have you lost already and i have to exsplain the procedure and why theres been no results yet. i was a border line case as i am 196 lb do you think this will make a difference on amount of weight comes off, as it seems like some bandsters that are 300lb plus drop pounds really fast ??

Alexandra · June 3, 2004

Hi there,

As is repeatedly pointed out here and on other bandster boards, after your stomach is healed from surgery you'll find that over the next few weeks you'll be able to eat almost as normally as you did before surgery.

Without restriction you have no more ability to resist your demons than you did before banding. Don't beat yourself up about it!! With time you will learn when enough is enough, and if you're like most people you will accept what you have to do to avoid pain. But this comes only AFTER you have restriction.

You've also discovered a main reason that telling one's friends and family can be problematic. They just can't understand the difference between banding and bypass, and expect to see the same results. THEY ARE WRONG and you should ignore them.

Being a "lightweight" as you are, the extra weight will probably come off you more slowly than off someone with 200 extra pounds. But that's not a worry either--slowly is the correct, safe way to lose excess weight and you must remember that this is not an overnight process.

Good luck, and PLEASE don't listen to other people. Your process is just starting and 6 months from now you'll read this post and laugh.

oh2bthin · June 3, 2004

i am so glad i have found this site . i am getting my first fill on the 10th of june and a little nervous. will i feel the difference straight away?.

Originally posted by oh2bthin
thankyou for your reply, i am english and i had my lap band done in belguim with a doctor who has been doing it for about 8 years so i was glad to have a doctor who was one of the first pioneers of it but his english is limited and he didn't really exsplain too much about this stage. i am really getting excited about my first fill as i have recovered so well and i was started to think the band wasn't even in there!! i think the hardest thing is knowing when to stop. its definately the hardest thing for me as i always seem to eat until i feel really full. i cook meals for my family every day and i think i will have to eat alone. i feel like my family are looking at me and saying how is she still eating this after the op. i feel guilty as i was a self pay and i have every one asking " so how much have you lost already and i have to exsplain the procedure and why theres been no results yet. i was a border line case as i am 196 lb do you think this will make a difference on amount of weight comes off, as it seems like some bandsters that are 300lb plus drop pounds really fast ??

:cool:

donali · June 3, 2004

Feeling restriction right away from your first fill is not guaranteed. You might, or you might not. But regardless, restriction WILL come. Do not be too much in a hurry - you have a lifetime of poor eating habits to relearn, and getting to restriction gradually gives you the time to learn new habits, AND adjust emotionally to eating less food.

Believe me, eating less food is a BIG change. And you might be surprised how you react to that in an emotional way. Your journey will take time. You've got time. Don't put unreasonable expectations on yourself or the band.

Starting at a lower BMI could mean that your weightloss is slower. It really depends on your metabolism, what/how much you eat, and your exercise level. Just remember, if you do drastic things to lose weight, you will have to KEEP doing drastic things to keep it off. Make gradual healthy changes that you can maintain for life. Weightloss will follow.

June 3, 2004

I copied this off of ONE of the many boards I visit. I'm not sure who the credit goes to. BUT I've read this many times in my 2 weeks of being banded and have passed the information on to my husband, mother, and other newbie bandsters. It's very well said. :cool:

please read this :

this is from another board from a girl who was in the FDA trials she has been banded 3 years has lost 140 pounds...

This is a recurrent theme on all lists, so let's just address it. The Lapband was designed with a purpose. To be emptied if we ever needed to be able to eat fairly normally again. I say "fairly" normally because even with no Fluid it usually cuts our portions at least some. But mostly this is because we haven't been forced to superchew our food yet. Now, we understand this purpose when we go into it. But it doesn't really SINK IN until we're actually healed from our liquid phase (or even before that) and we decide to TEST THE BAND. And we can STILL eat!!! And we PANIC! And we convince ourselves we're doomed to fail! And we stress out and eat more. And maybe gain back some of the weight we lost during the liquid phase.

We're convinced the band that seems to have worked for thousands of others isn't going to work for us. That we're some freak of nature that is going to be fat for all eternity. It's normal to feel this way. Really. You're coming down from the drama and high of the surgery into the day to day boring liquids and you expect to start really losing some weight. I mean, you had surgery didn't you???? Well don't expect much until you're restricted. Use this time to HEAL. See ANY weight loss before your first really good fill as a BONUS and NOT a given, okay???? If you're lost weight, consider yourself that far ahead.

There are some lucky ones who experience great restriction out the door. Most are in between and some experience none (like me). You're NOT GOING TO FAIL. Your tummy is healing. It's anchoring that band in place so that it won't slip. If you've had one fill and you need another, make it your priority to get one. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels. I've had my band so tight that a couple of sips of coffee and ONE bite of a strawberry make me so full I'm on the verge of barfing for hours. I've had it so tight that chewing gum was too much for me because swallowing all that saliva was causing it to back up.

Right now I'm kind of at a happy medium. When you get your band to that "just right" spot a switch goes off in your brain about food. You stop caring about it. I'm serious. Suddenly you have to come to grips with the fact that you just CANNOT eat like you once did. And that has a lot of issues unto itself but it comes with the reward of weight loss so it doesn't leave you feeling as vulnerable and schitzy as the prefill stage does. If you're still healing and haven't lost much weight--please try to just get through this time and preoccupy yourself with other things.

Did you know that Dr. Fox in Seattle prescribes his band patients diet pills to take during the prefill stage? Why? He understands the difficulty. He feels it's better to kill the appetite chemically while the band heals that subject his patients to all that stress. And he happens to have one of the highest band success rates in the country.And as always, it's better to ADD to your habits then to try to take away. Add more Water, more Vitamins, more exercise. But don't try to take away food because it throws you into dieting mentality. Adding will naturally balance out the other problem.Just my thought for the night and now I'm finally going to bed. It's a good thing I type 100+ words a minute

robin

this is a reply from robin:

And it is my pleasure to try to reassure you all. I remember 2 things from my prefill stage--how utterly depressed I was thinking the band wasn't going to work and how totally alone I believed I was in my experience. The last 2 years has proven to me that I was more the "norm" that I possibly could have imagined and had my doctor or SOMEONE let me know this from the getgo I would have felt like it was just a neccessary part of the process and would have gotten through it with a more realistic outlook.

Let's just say I wouldn't have beaten myself up the way I did.

Robin:D

June 22, 2004

I saw that you experienced band erosion. I am still waiting for my first fill and had the Midband implanted instead of the Lapband for this very reason. After researching the issue it appears that this problem may have been resolved with the Midband. Have you thought about getting a Midband replacement? What were your symptoms?

As for the diet I am feeling better after reading this posts. I am down 21 pounds after 2 weeks. I thought it would be more. I also am able to put away more food than I thought I would beable to you. However, I am having trouble with solid food. I am scheduled to have my first fill on July 18, 2004.

Originally posted by oh2bthin
i am so glad i have found this site . i am getting my first fill on the 10th of june and a little nervous. will i feel the difference straight away?.

donali · June 22, 2004

Guamtab -

I would not get a fill if you are having problems with solid food - it sounds like you have enough restriction as it is. Maybe that will change by 7/17.

As far as the mid-band is concerned, I did ask Dr. Carmen if being rebanded with the mid-band would be a better option. The few stats I've been able to find seem to support that the incidence of erosion with the mid-band is less. Dr. Carmen said it wouldn't matter, that it is a possible complcation with all band types.

I still think the mid-band probably does have a lower erosion rate, but 1%-3% is pretty low, too.

After 6 months I should be healed enough to be rebanded, but at this point I'm pretty sure that I will not be rebanded as a self-pay. So that would pretty much leave the mid-band out of the running. I would also be concerned about finding a fill doc - I've heard many people having problems find a doc who could/would fill their mid-band.

Then there's the re-erosion stats, which I have no scientific studies for, but so far the consensus seems to be that the possibility of erosion increases for a patient who has already experienced erosion.

At this time I'm keeping my options open, but planning on trying to maintain my weight by employing my recently learned tools and acquired knowledge.

I've been talking the talk - it is now time for me to walk the walk, and see how it goes...