Want Band Removed, Too.....

[momlambert 77]

How do you know when the food is stuck?

Oh, you'll know! :scared: It's rare to get so stuck that you have to go to the ER. Usually a good cough brings the food back up (PB) and you just take it easy for awhile with liquids, etc.

My doctor suggests cutting food into "M & M-sized pieces" and then chewing and chewing until it's gone. I'm not restricted that much yet (after 11 fills) but I do get stuck now and then if I'm not careful with chicken and steak.

Congrats on your surgery date! You'll do great. Good luck!

[sweetviolet 0]

Sadley after a most successful weightloss of 133# I will be losing my band due to a problem w/my esophagus....I am soooo sad!!! I am scheduled for removal on Dec 4th and will convert to a gastric bypass. My doctor does not do vg!! Since I do trust him I am putting myself into the surgeons and G-ds hands. Being on this forum has taught me a lot--I am 30# from goal and would be happy if I never lost another pound..that being said, I know I cannot keep the weight off without a tool to work with, hence the gbp. Honestly, I am scared out of my mind (what little I have left) and just had surgery to have my galbladder removed made me get my life in order LOL!!! soooo, I guess I am ready for anything ....will keep you posted!!

[momlambert 77]

Sadley after a most successful weightloss of 133# I will be losing my band due to a problem w/my esophagus....I am soooo sad!!! I am scheduled for removal on Dec 4th and will convert to a gastric bypass. My doctor does not do vg!! Since I do trust him I am putting myself into the surgeons and G-ds hands. Being on this forum has taught me a lot--I am 30# from goal and would be happy if I never lost another pound..that being said, I know I cannot keep the weight off without a tool to work with, hence the gbp. Honestly, I am scared out of my mind (what little I have left) and just had surgery to have my galbladder removed made me get my life in order LOL!!! soooo, I guess I am ready for anything ....will keep you posted!!

So sad to hear that, Sweetviolet. You have done fantastically! You can succeed again with bypass--you are so close to goal! Good for you. Best of luck and thanks for letting us know how you are doing.

[BandZski 1]

Hello - I'm scheduled for surgery 11/28th and am really nervous about not being able to eat once banded ... I hear of folks getting food stuck and having to go to the ER. Just how small do you really have to chew your food to get it to go through the band? How do you know when the food is stuck?

It's natural to be nervous before surgery. But remember that this thread in LBT is about people that had problems. Most of us are happy with our bands. I had my put in 3.5 months ago and have lost 60 lbs. I LOVE MY BAND!! I have a problem every once in a while and that reminds me to eat slowly and chew lots. The feeling is like a golf ball is stuck in your upper chest. I immediately stop eating if this happens and I start walking, sometimes jumping around to try to help the food through. Sometimes this is enough to get the food through. The important thing is to eat slowly and chew. If you eat slow enough, you can tell if you start to have a problem and then the problem is much more managable. If you eat fast and don't chew, by the time you realize there is a problem, you're in pain. No fun. Also, don't drink anything if you get food stuck. A relative suggested I drink Water if food gets stuck. I told them to imagine cottage cheese being dumped into the drain for the garbage disposal. If you simply run Water over it, the water collects on top of it. That makes the problem worse.

Good luck! And I hope you end up loving your band as much as I love mine.

[lilredrules 0]

Thanks! .. That helps ..

[froggy53 0]

what is a sleeve gastercomy

[MELANIE 0]

The sleeve gastrectomy is an operation in which the left side of the stomach is surgically removed. This results in a new stomach which is roughly the size and shape of a banana. Since this operation does not involve any "rerouting" or reconnecting of the intestines, it is a simpler operation than the gastric bypass or the duodenal switch. Unlike the LAP-BAND® procedure, the sleeve gastrectomy does not require the implantation of an artificial device inside the abdomen.

[Removal 0]

Hi I am in exactly the same situation. I am scheduling the removal for late Dec 2007. Did you have it removed? If so what was the result?

[Removal 0]

Hello:

I am new here. I had the band put in in June 2003 in Michigan by Dr. Mark Pleatman......the fills were never that comfortable to me (my sister called the LapBand "forced bulimia," as all I was ever doing was PBing after one-too-many (but really few) bites!). To make a long story, short, I lost about 50 pounds in that first year of about 90-100 that I wanted to lose, or roughly half. About 15 months after I had the procedure, I wanted to take a "break" from all of the golfball-feeling discomfort after eating anything other than soft foods, so I had a complete unfill. Around that same time, I also accepted a position doing home transcription in which I get NO EXERCISE in the course of my day....and I have now put on approximately 18 pounds from my all-time LapBand low.

I am very tired of the LapBand and did not understand when I had it done, as my doctor now tells me, that he has found that most people only lose about half the weight they wanted to after having the LapBand. I am seriously considering having it removed, because....call me silly, I dream of being able to eat HEALTHILY again, if only given the chance.... of being able to eat a whole piece of healthy Protein, be it steak, chicken, etc. and vegetables, without my food being doused with grease in order to go down through the band and not "fight" it, only to have me PB the food later, as is the case now. I want to try to lose this last 50 pounds by just being ABLE to eat right, which I am unable to at the moment, even with it being unfilled...there is still a restriction there that I can still definitely feel with certain foods. I am tired of sticking to all liquidy, greasy foods in the name of LapBand compatibility, and I don't think that this is the healthiest way for me to go. I want the opportunity now to prove I can do the rest on my own.

Trouble is, I have switched insurance carriers since I had the procedure four years ago, and the new carrier won't cover anything related to morbid obesity procedures (but they'll cover sleep apnea, diabetes, hypertension, etc.....don't GET me started!). I have already talked it over with my Lapband doctor in the past, and through an arrangement for self-pay patients with the hospital, it would cost approximately $5000 for everything to have it removed once and for all. Considering I initially had to pay a $2000 one -year "program fee" with my doctor for fills, nutritional support, etc. after I first had it put in and also $1000 or so for a plan deductible when I had my procedure, the 50 pounds I initially lost will end up having cost me more than $8000, with extra in gas to get to my doctor out of town for each visit. Ugh!

Although my doctor says it's not so, I also can't help but think that the longer the band stays around the stomach, the more the chance for problems or worse adhesions down the road. There is this little voice in the back of my mind saying, "Get it Out! Get it Out!"

Am I crazy for even thinking of paying this $5000 to have it taken out?

I am having my lapband removed in Dec 2007 for the exact same reasons? Did you or anyone reading this have ia lapband removed? What was the result?

[Loreen 2]

Hi I am in exactly the same situation. I am scheduling the removal for late Dec 2007. Did you have it removed? If so what was the result?

Sorry for taking so long to answer your question.....I only recently logged back in after a couple-month hiatus!

I had my band removed in mid October. I have lost a few more pounds since then and have maintained the loss pretty steadily, even through the holidays and a cruise we just went on....but also, I am on a medication (Topamax) that takes away a lot of the old appetite I used to have, so I'm probably not your textbook case to be studying!

I wish you luck in your endeavor. I trust you've had yours out by now?

[Guest wagirls12]

Thats Cheep. Do it. I paid $5700in Dec to have it removed, thinking that was expensive. I would do it all again for double the price. I agree with your story, I hated the food issues and pain. I now have to just think of all the pain and issues I had with the band and I am ok. I also really started working out religiously. I wish you good luck.