Hi from Ireland!

[allure 0]

My experience with ACS was great. I asked to speak to some people who had gone through the procedure and they provided me with mobile numbers of people. I spoke to a lady as she was checking out of the clinic the morning after her operation and she was very reassuring that she was not in too much pain and even more importantly , she was not hungry!!! This was very reassuring when you are about to part with €10k!!! The best thing to do is to PM me your contact number and I will give you a call at a time you can talk and I'll tell you all about what you need to expect. It has been a great experience so far, with mimimal pain, more so discomfort and the feeling of being full for 2 weeks after the procedure was great ( I guess this is how it will feel when you have restriction too!). The only thing that I wasn't prepared for was the idea of being provided with suppositorys just before you go into theatre but I'll explain all that in a phone call!!!!

There is a meeting this Saturday coming that might be very useful for you to come to where there will be people who are banded that you will be able to ask questions to. You might consider going to that.

PM me your number and a good time to call you and we can talk.

[Dini 0]

allure that would be fab! thank you kindly. as for the meeting i would difinatly be interested. do you know where its on or should i just keep checking the posts thanks again

[lunasa 1]

Hi Girls...

Allure..I can relate to your situation. I too feel like I've lost the restriction I had but I know it's just the swelling gone down. I am booked for my first fill next tuesday & I really hope it brings back some of that restriction. I find in the last week I am not getting the "full" feeling I was enjoying so much... I am having to fight against my old patterns of eating too much. Although I know I am not eating NEARLY as much as I once was, I do find I am fearful.

It has to get better after we start fillinng our bands..it just HAS to!! otherwise what good is it?

I certainly find having to wait 2 hours to drink fluids after eating is really helping me space out my day and plan better for meals.

I am eating smaller portions still, definately but I have THE FEAR...and at times feel my old depression lingering over my head waiting to pounce.

I have to remind myself that I have lost almost 2 stone & have gone down in clothes size considerably..

But these are my old demons & I just have to trust that I can conquer them...My looming dissappointment is not real..it is the old me waiting to drag me down, to convince me that I'm not doing good enough so that I can justify turning to tayto!!!

At least I am aware of this, and this is what I most want to change.

But I feel your pain allure!! And we are not alone...this is happening to a LOT of us who have yet to be filled

[Dini 0]

hey all

could anyone tell me if ACS use this 'lap-band AP' i've seen it mention a few time across this website. also if not used does anyone know the name of the band used. any help would be great.

thanks

[holly123 0]

Sorry everyone but the time of the meeting in Bewleys hotel has been changed again to 11.30 am. As you can imagine, its very difficult to arrange a time and place that suits everyone, but hopefully this is the last time change!

[Dini 0]

hey holly!

are we all still on for tomorrow. is it still 11.30 at bewelys in leaperstown?

[allure 0]

Hey girls, it was good to meet up with you all on Saturday in Bewelys. A big thank you to Holly123 for teling us about the meeting.

I got to ask loads of questions to those of you who had been banded ahead of me and I think the 2 ladies who came to ask about getting banded had a lot of their questions answered. I would definatly be on for meeting up again in the near future with even more questions!!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f18/hi-dublin-36324/

The link above has been started by coco who was at the meet up on Saturday so check in with her over there too!

I am in for my first fill hopefully on Monday - really need it as I could eat the same as before if I allowed myself! I will let you know how I get on. Anyone else in ACS on Monday for a fill or Consultation?

[Dini 0]

Hey All!

Gosh Saturday was so helpful. Thank you all.. I now can really NOT wait to be banded.

I also would definatly be up for meeting up again.

I've ordered that book so should have it this week.

How is everyone doing?

Allure best of luck for tomorrow. I'll be thinking of you

Let me know how everyone is x

[Coco 0]

Hi Girls,

I've found you at last, thanks to a link Allure put up for me on my thread. I'll get better once I've used the site a few times.

I had a lovely time with you all on Saturday, sorry I had to leave so early, next time I'll be able to stay longer.

So how is everyone????? Allure good luck with the fill on Monday, I hope it goes well for you.

Holly, is it Tuesday you are seeing Jerome?????? Good luck with that and give him what for and tell him you want what he promised.

Dini, I can feel your excitement about the band through cyber space, it must be only 14 days now.:clap2::clap2::biggrin1:

Hope you all have a great week.

Love peace and strength.

Coco. X

[allure 0]

I'm just bumping this thread to see if there are any other Irish banders out there online this morning! There is a rapidly growing support group getting together but there must be more of you out there who are looking to talk with others who are going through the same thing locally. Get in touch as we would like to hear about your experiences.

Luanasa, Brenners et al. where are you girls?

Coco glad you found us! You were a great inspiration on Saturday and I'm looking forward to catching up on the weight loss!!

[nikki32 0]

i totally forgot about meeting and i would have loved to have gone and met you all .....next time il be there .

well i think im probably ready for a fill but im off on holiday to turkey on 24th so going to wait til i return as i dont want to maybe have tummy bug and be tight as a drum !!on other hand dont want to be able to eat like wee piggy (advice from acs is to wait )and also weight just went down again so im in good mood :)and she reckons jerome feel it unnecessary as my weight loss is good so we will see

i have really enjoyed buying my holiday clothes ..im still a big girl but i feel like a really confident one now and stuff everyone else because i feel grrrrrrrrreat !!!!!!!!

[lunasa 1]

Hi Ladies...

Sounds like the meeting was great!! Must be great to put faces to the names.

Allure, I'm dying to know how the fill changes things.

I'm going for mine tomorrow. I feel I've no restriction and I miss that SO SO much!!

Last week I drank 3 nights of the week...jaysus, will I ever learn? So as always with my hangover came MAJOR cravings and I have to admit I succumbed. I turned to the dreaded Crisps and had a nasty enough week. I gained a pound for my sins!! LOL

I have yet to get off my ass and excercise. I'm hesitating because I don't want to struggle with "walking" I'm afraid it'll make me feel so unfit and like I've a mountain to climb. I always get pissed off when I'm huffing & puffing and I'm afraid it'll remind me how much work I have to do.

But in saying all that I guess I don't have to go out pounding the pavements, if I started off strolling at least I might enjoy myself (?)

I have associated walking & excercise with negative feelings about my body & my mind tends to go into negative mode as soon as I put my runners on! I immediatly start fretting in my mind and dreading every step!!

But in order to break through this "plateau" I've been bouncing on for the last MONTH I guess excercise is yer only man!! God somebody help me!!!

I'm hoping the fill will bring down my portion size again and help me enforce the rules better, I'm being a bold girl now because I can (if I'm to be honest here) and because I expected more from this band.

I understand it is unfilled at the moment and that is the only thing that's keeping me from cracking up & feeling like I've wasted my money on a useless piece of plastic! LOL

I did not get this surgery done to be plunged back into DIET mode..that's what drove me mad enough to go under the knife in the first place!! My goodness, I'm finished my rant now...

Thanks for keeping in touch & sharing so far girls..

Good luck to us all. I'll report on my fill ASAP..xx

[allure 0]

Lunasa, I know what you mean about the dredded alcohol! I'm finding that although I no longer drink beer, cider and G&T's, I've switched to red wine, I can still get exactly the same quantity in as before and unfortunatly this leads to the most humongous desire for food. I just try my best to stay out of the kitchen when I come in from the pub, but I know that I am better able to do this at the moment as I've just parted with my life savings and this is fresh in my mind and quite a motivator! This is not a long term solution. I too drank wine 3 times last week and I'm feeling guilty as a result but it would be nice to limit or even eliminate the drink during the weight loss stage - I even acted as the designated driver on 2 occassions over the weekend to avoid the temptation!

I am good at the walking and walk in Marley Park a few times a week and I have been known to go to the gym on an odd occassion. This is something I need to increase too though as I have not had any weight loss in 2 weeks despite the exercise and this is getting me down. However, I got my first fill today and I am hopeful that this will restart the weight loss.

I have just finished a whole container of Soup from Dunnes - 3 & half ww points if counting! I really didn't think that I would be able to get that much in so soon after a fill. I was expecting great restriction to the point that I wouldn't be able to get food down, but that hasn't happened. I will keep to the Soups until Thursday and then see how restricted I feel after a chewed meal before I make judgement.

[skinnyirishbabe 0]

hi girls,

I'm so excited, have mine on the 23rd of june. feel like it will never happen. Shame i missed the meeting saturday would have liked to talk to people about what i'm about to go through. lots of people trying to talk me out of it, feel if i don't get it done soon they'll win.

Louise

[Brenners 0]

Hi there to you all and so sorry I have not posted for a while, life has just been so hectic between one thing and another.

Anyway I have just read through all your posts and its so great to see newcomers!!

Allure, I am looking forward to talking to you tonight, thanks so much for the PM.

Lunasa I hope your fill goes ok, you need one by the sounds of it. Do you have to go to the UK to have it done?

I had a fill on 21st May and although it gave me slight restriction straight away, the real restriction didnt kick in until a week later!! I know this sounds very strange but apparantly it is very common. I actually thought there was something stuck but I have had great restriction ever since. I am only able to eat small portions and although there are a few foods that cause me problems (pork & bread) I am pretty much able to eat most things.

My port is still in the wrong place since it moved but it doesnt cause me much problems, apart from being tender now and again.

So sorry to have missed the meeting last Saturday but I had other arrangements, will defo try to make the next one, it would be great to put the face to the name.

Anyway, I hope you are all having a good day and I will make sure to keep in touch more often. It is so nice to be able to share our experiences with each other. Brenners xx