I need HELP!!! Will my lapband work again???

[IvyMay 0]

Okay so long story as short as I can get it...I had a lapband surg in Dec 2012. Within a year and 6 months I had lost 210lbs. About a week after hitting my goal weight I started getting sick, couldn't keep nothing down (not even water) and noticed I started swelling. I went to the hospital got my band let out and was able to start drinking and eating again. Well within 2 wks I had put on 50lbs (I know this is crazy and I was told that there was no way but I went from a size 10 in pants to a 16) Well here we are 2018 I have since put back on all the weight that I had lost but I still have restriction in my band. There are some days that I can't get anything down. I can't find any doctor to help with my band since the doc who did it has moved. I don't know what to do but I really want to get back on track. I have a one year old that I want to run around with! Any suggestions on what I could do? I have done different diets but I can't get the same results I did from the band.

[Matt Z 4,139]

3 hours ago, IvyMay said:

Okay so long story as short as I can get it...I had a lapband surg in Dec 2012. Within a year and 6 months I had lost 210lbs. About a week after hitting my goal weight I started getting sick, couldn't keep nothing down (not even water) and noticed I started swelling. I went to the hospital got my band let out and was able to start drinking and eating again. Well within 2 wks I had put on 50lbs (I know this is crazy and I was told that there was no way but I went from a size 10 in pants to a 16) Well here we are 2018 I have since put back on all the weight that I had lost but I still have restriction in my band. There are some days that I can't get anything down. I can't find any doctor to help with my band since the doc who did it has moved. I don't know what to do but I really want to get back on track. I have a one year old that I want to run around with! Any suggestions on what I could do? I have done different diets but I can't get the same results I did from the band.

Do yourself a favor and get the band removed and covert to bypass. Best thing I ever did...

[jonicorn 10]

The band will still work for you. It's not a miracle so it will be hard work.

Try doing the pre-op milk diet for a couple of weeks to start you off. Research a clinic close to you that do lap-band adjustments and you should be able to pay for a top up.

Adapt the 20 20 20 as much as you can, let me know if you don't know what this is.

Make sure you have a deficit. No matter what the WLS is you have, it will undoubtedly not work if you don't have a deficit.

Perhaps start running around after your 1 year old already as your exercise. You did it once, you can do it again

[elcee 3,341]

I'm nine years out and my band may as well not be there. it does nothing to curb my hunger. Studies now show that bands are not a long term solution and they are rapidly falling out of favour.

[labwalker 1,177]

They are falling out of favor because they require follow up with the surgeon and that leads to problems when a doctor folds up his tent, or when insurance changes, or when a patient receives substandard surgery from a quack. Bands require some effort.

[elcee 3,341]

There has been a lot of effort with my band yet that doesn’t change the fact that at this point it may as well not be there.

Yes there are a lot of issues with non compliant patients not losing weight but that is not the only issue. Bands them selves have not lived up to their promise, nothing to do with patient compliance, visits to surgeons or insurance.

If your band is still helping you then you are one of the lucky ones.

[labwalker 1,177]

In most cases the failure is not on the device. Luck has little to do with it.

Edited October 16, 2018 by labwalker

[elcee 3,341]

4 hours ago, labwalker said:

In most cases the failure is not on the device. Luck has little to do with it.

Wow!!!

[mindwing 15]

unfortunately, there is no one answer to losing weight. I have had my band for ten years, and have s-l-o-w-l-y lost weight(160 pounds). I'm almost wheelchair bound, and exercise is difficult. But my band still works if I work at it.

You don't need to go on a diet, but change your way of eating. Some people do well on a low calorie diet, others on a low carbohydrate diet. For me it is low carb. I wonder if you have time to plan menus and always have proper food available. Have you been able to empty your house of foods that tempt you to overeat? I've noticed I always blow it if certain foods are in the house. My husband is the opposite of me and thrives on healthy, high carb food. So I am careful what I allow in the house. His high carb foods have to be cooked, which helps me not to cheat. I don't allow sweets, and we have few processed foods.

I once gained 50 lbs in a month, and the doctor told me it was impossible. Later, I read of a study done on a tribe of Indians that live near the Mexican border. They tend to put on a lot of weight on few calories. They can also gain a lot of weight in a month, but the researchers learned they weren't overeating when the weight gain happened, but over the next few months their eating increased to maintain the weight.

What I'm saying is there are weird genetic factors that influence how you gain or lose weight. And the band requires work. Before you condemn yourself, ask if you've really had the time or energy to make up menus, keep your kitchen free of tempting foods, and keep a food diary. Also, are you getting enough sleep. I had so many diet failures because I tried to live on 6 hours of sleep a day, or cut my calories too low. I'd recommend you get your family on a healthy diet and work on your eating plan from there.

I agree, luck is not an issue. But if you really want to lose weight, keep trying until you find a way that works. I've known of bypass patients who lost a lot of weight the first year, and gained it right back. Others lost weigh and kept it off. The main difference is that the ones who kept it off took the time to learn what and when to eat and never stopped following the rules. No shortcuts, no "this is probably close enough", but follow the rules as closely as you possibly can. But because we are all different, you need to pay attention to what helps you lose weight and what makes you want to cheat. Maybe the rules say sweet potatoes are okay, but you find yourself grazing in the kitchen every time you eat them. Then sweet potatoes are a no no for you. For me it is beans--beautiful, delicious, healthy Beans. But they cause me to crave more and more and I will eat until I am ready to burst, and try to eat more.

Find What Works. Look at what you've been doing and start making changes. What did you do the first year that you aren't doing now? start making choices, and if they don't work, make other choices. I was a horrible candidate for a lapband, and the doctor apologized to me, because he doubted I had what it took to make it work. almost housebound, using a wheelchair, to sick to cook food for more than 5-10 minutes a day, too weak to do much of anything. I am losing slowly, and had to stop trying to lose weight for a couple of years due to cancer (and gained 50 pounds, but lost it again). But losing 160 pounds is an accomplishment, and I'm planning on going on a strict diet and losing 50 more pounds over the next few months. The lapband has been a great tool. But that's all it is, a tool that I have to work.

[labwalker 1,177]

On 10/16/2018 at 12:42 AM, elcee said:

Wow!!!

Yeah, Wow.

[Frustr8 7,886]

I have to start wearing my reading glasses, I thought the topic heading read " Will my husband work again?" a totally different problem!😛

[elcee 3,341]

2 hours ago, Frustr8 said:

I have to start wearing my reading glasses, I thought the topic heading read " Will my husband work again?" a totally different problem!😛

Are we talking about the whole husband or just specific bits?

[elcee 3,341]

I find it interesting that those on this thread that are so confident that the lapband will work again and will continue to work are those that have had the band for the shortest amount of time.

I know that when I first got the band I was confident that it would work forever. If anyone ever said otherwise I closed my ears and tried to believe that it was their fault, that there was no such thing as band failure. I am sure that this reaction was because of fear. I did not want to think that I had spent all that money and gone through surgery for something that wasn't a permanent solution.

Whether or not it works could all be down to definition of what you believe is working. What is your measurement and what is acceptable to you?

Do you want to be at a goal that puts you in the healthy weight range?

Are you happy with a goal that is outside of the generally accepted healthy guidelines but is lower than your starting weight?

If I was to measure by the first then no my band is not working, if I was happy to settle for the second then maybe it is.

[mindwing 15]

I find it interesting that those on this thread that are so confident that the lapband will work again and will continue to work are those that have had the band for the shortest amount of time.

I disagree. I've had my lapband for ten years, and it has worked great--that is to say, I have learned to work the band. I haven't made my healthy weight yet, but I am a lot smaller than I was. It took me a while to learn to work the band. Eating small amounts of food chopped into tiny bites took a while--unless I was foolish enough to eat too much and ended up tossing my meal. I went through several episodes where I went for days with a swollen, sensitive band. I cheated sometimes, but when I went through spells where I couldn't eat solids, I managed a Protein Powder drink instead of going for ice cream. Oooh, do I love crackers and Cookies. But working the band meant saying no to those treats most of the time. I've had my cheat months, and even cheat years when I went through cancer. But I always returned to proper eating--just like my first weeks with the band.

Now I am at the time in my band life where it is likely to cause trouble. I just had an MRI and endoscopy over the last several months, and my band is fine. Want to get some fill in it and start losing again. But in late spring I will have the band replaced with a sleeve. I think it is good I had the band first. It taught me what I need to know to lose weight.

[Matt Z 4,139]

Statistically the band fails more often than not.

If it didn't then major manufacturers wouldn't have packed up shop and stopped making parts. Surgeons all over the world wouldn't have stopped installing them.

I find it funny that folks continue to push it, with all the slippage, erosions, scar tissue issues, that people swear up and down that those that failed... failed and it wasn't the bands fault.

For me, The band did not perform the way it needed to. The healthy foods I should have had no issues with, were nothing but problems. And whereas I didn't have any erosion or slippage, my band was 100% encapsulated in scar tissue and was a problem that required removal. No one is going to tell me that I failed the band. The band failed me. This is pretty clear with my continued weight loss with the revision to bypass, if it was I that failed the band... then the bypass would not be working as effectively as it currently is, now, I'm able to eat those healthy foods that the band prevented me from eating.

But still, the majority of failures are not the fault of the user. Some, sure, but majority... no.