Hello!

[kath17268 0]

I am new to the forum and haven't done this type of thing before so I hope I am doing it right! Not banded yet but finishing up preop requirements for insurance and should be scheduled end of April. I would love more info on life after banding, the good and the bad. I have read alot about people fighting hunger in the first couple months and even gaining weight! Is this going to be enough? I am not considering bypass because it is to radical for me. New gastric sleeve procedure sounds like the best way to go but my ins won't cover. I would love to hear from some of you who are postop and have any helpful hints! Good luck to everyone out there fighting this battle to improve health and happiness!

[*susan* 1,709]

Hi kath, and welcome. You will find answers to most of your questions on our various forums.

When you first get banded, you will be focused on healing, not losing weight. At first, you may feel like you have restriction, but that is just your tummy swelling from the surgery. Once that swelling goes down, you will mostly likely regain your hunger. Most people don't lose much during this phase, and many do gain. But, again, at this point, the focus is on healing. The band is designed to work with a proper fill. Once you are healed and start getting fills, you will find the restriction you are looking for and begin to start your weight loss then.

[bandpal 7]

Hi Kath, big welcome to LBT. I agree with Susan: there's years of wisdom and experience here. Search the forums for relevent threads and go through them, looking for the information you want.

While the band does indeed work properly with a fill, I found I was able to lose weight during the post op period. In fact, I lost 30 pounds during the first month - the restriction I had from the swelling, my fear of messing everything up by going too quickly, my desire to follow my doctor's instructions to the letter, and the realization that I had taken a drastic step (reinforced every time I looked down at my scarred and stapled belly) and needed to back it up with action - all these things combined and enabled me to lose weight from the get - go.

There was a period of difficulty (commonly referred to here as "bandster hell") when the swelling does down and the band lies there inactive until you get your first fill. I also found that there was more hunger during this period, but by then my whole approach to food had begun to change and that, along with the momentum of the weight I had lost already, was enough to pull me through.

“Life after banding, the good and the bad”, you say? Okay, first the good: The band is a powerful tool which has allow me to change my relationship to food. I eat much less than I used to,am hungry much less than I was, am able to set limits for myself much more successfully than ever before. I have lost 134 pounds in the last 16 months, my BMI is 24.9 down from 47, and all of my co-morbidities (sleep apnea, high blood pressure and cholesterol) have either disappeared or are in full retreat. I am much happier and more comfortable with my body than ever before, and buying and trying on clothing has gone from being the worst torture imagineable to a genuine pleasure.

Now the bad news: there are periods of physical discomfort, such as the post operative period which Susan mentioned. It takes a few days to get used to each fill, and becoming comfortable with the new and smaller size of your stomach is a trial and error process, which may include regurgitory incidents which can rival the special effects used in “The Exorcist” (we call these unfortunate occurances "PB's", or productive burps) .

More importantly, however, the operation is only on your stomach, not your head. The same thoughts and emotions which caused me to binge are still there,and they must be confronted without the ability to eat them into submission. This, for me has been the biggest challenge. Thank you for such a good question, and the best of luck to you - stay in touch!

Edited March 9, 2009 by bandpal

[kath17268 0]

Thanks so much for your replies. I am so glad to finally hear from some people who have lived through this process. Not too sure how I'll deal with these "regurgitory incidents" (love the way you put it!) but I guess that's all part of the process.

Susan--if you don't mind, I love to know more about what prompted you to get a revision to a sleeve? As I said that was my first choice but am having ins problems. Maybe I should fight it out with them awhile and go for the sleeve???