Daniel

The band replacement was not free, but I did get a discount on it... I am not sure how much but the doctor fees were very reasonable... just the surgery cost me $8500. But how can you put a price on living longer and enjoying life more? Its been 18 days since my band has been replaced I have dropped 23 lbs. I even started on solids a week after the replacement because my stomach is used to having a band, but I am trying very hard. I have such fast weight loss because of the following: 1. I have not had any carbs... less than 10grams of carbs per day. 2. I eat 3 small meals each day and very small portions. For breakfast i will have egg white omlete with 3 egg whites, Lunch - 2 very thin slices of Osc. Myr ham wrapped around small slice of swiis cheese, Dinner - four oz of lean hamburger meat springled with shredded cheese.... 3. I chew my food extremely well and take very very small bites. I dont swallow until my food in my food is like mush. 4. I dont drink 15 mins prior to eating and dont drink 1 hour after eating. 5. I focus on my meals... no disctractions like TV, computer, newspapers ( I think this was a problem why I gained some weight in the past). Now, I can enjoy just a very small breakfast of 3 eggwhite omlete by taking my time on focusing on my food... then in the past I would eat a 5 egg omlete while watching TV and not even think about my food or how much I enjoyed it. 6. I can say now I am somewhat restricted, but not like when I first started going to solids 2 years ago on my first band. But I have found by eating slowly.... I dont really feel FULL that much, but i DONT feel that hungry. And this is helped me drop a lot of weight even though my band is not currently restricted like it should be. 7. I have a sit down incumbent excersize bike and I am riding it every day and going for walks around sunset. 8. I am drinking tons of water. Before I have always drank diet coke and coffee (even with my leaking band) but now its only water or the non calorie fruit2 0. 9. I am taking the flinstones chewable vitimans, but still I have a lack of patassium... I have woken up twice with muscle cramps in my legs and its very painfull. I have make sure to drink lots of water before bed. 10. I know in each of my meals, I could eat more, and last weeked I had a business breakfast and was able to eat 2 fried eggs and a very small ham ... and I felt somewhat full or a light bit of discomfort in my upper stomach. But now I only eat till I am not hungry vs full. I noticed that there is a lag time for the not hungry sensation to respond to my brain. My goal is to continue this until I can get my band tightened in the first part of October. I think most of us have been able to stick to diets in the past (prior to our band) but were never able to keep off the weight.... and my weight has been a rollercoaster ride for the last 4 years. I am sure I can continue this for another month, but would have a real problem doing it for a year... and if I did it for a year, I would know all the weight would come back in less than 6 months. but if I can hang on for another month, and my band gets tight, then I can level off when I go back to carbs ( and I expect to gain a few lbs) but only temporary. Its not healty to stay on noncarbs for an extended period beause its to hard on the kidneys. From what i read on these forum, some think then band itself will cause weight loss, and thats totally wrong. Its only a tool to make it easier. If the band works correctly it will restrict your intake but if you drink after eating... it wont. I think something else to consider is ... why did we each gain so much weight to begin with. We are all differnt and examinng why we gained so much weight must also be put into the equation of how to take off the weight... even with the band on. I gained so much weight because of an accident I had just before I retired from the air force. I had a back injury while surfing. I was a complete health nut 6 years ago and was used to eating 4500 calories per day because i would cycle over 25 miles per day. After my injury, I was used to eating so much and when you cut out the excercise...the weight would just go up. I was used to eating till I was full and that is what i am fighting now with my new band. I hope this info helps somebody else who is struggleing with the band (leaking or not).

11 days ago, I had my VG band removed because it leaked. I had it replaced with the smaller size band. The doctor told me the VG band is for larger people and I was border line on the initial surgery, but I heard also the VG band leaks more than any other band... because of the larger surface area against the stomach lining. I had my initial VG band installed 2 years ago, and it took a while to verfiy the leak and try to eliminate if the leak was in the port. 1 year ago, the doctor (in Colorado) did a local ansth. and cut me open... just enough to examine the port in an attempt to identify the leak. The doctor injected a blue dye in the port with a max of 10cc. Now I dont know anyone has had their fill maxed, but it feels like you were kicked in the stomach by your ex spouse (but only in a very small area). After 15 mins, there was no sign of any dye on the port or visible exposed tubing. The doctor removed the dye and then filled up the band with normal saline.. almost to the max. This procedure was done about noon and the doctor asked me to return to his office that afternoon. 4 hours later (after the minor surgery), in his office... he withdrew all the fluid and there was a half cc missing. To the best of my knowledge I left the office that day with over 8cc still in my VG band that leaked. Now, this happend a year ago, and I was very depressed about the whole ordeal. I could not afford to have this operation to begin with and my brother who is a Surgeron in Colorado helped me out. But I made many trips from the Vegas area to Denver in adjustments and test to fix this so it was not free on my part also. 12 days ago, when I had the band repalced... The doctor told me that there was 7cc left in my old VG band. He explained that if you have a garden hose (with a pin hole leak) that has no pressure, it wont leak. But when you turn the wanter on, it will leak till the pressure equalizes. After finding out that I had 7cc still left in the band for the last year, and being able to eat all I want, I suspect it was a bad idea to put such a large band on me.

I had my first lap band put on about 2 yeas ago. I lost 65 lbs in 4 months and I did it because the band worked. I only small meals and "NO Calorie liquids". I followed the instructions in the pre-op class that I took. If you not chewing your food very very good in the beginning... its not going to stay down because it can't pass. I also learned to eat slower and no distractions when I was eating (not watching TV or doing something else that could make me swallow something with out chewing very good.. and very small bites. I learned its much better to.... concentrate on your food you can enjoy a very small meal (savor every bite/taste) vs eating a large meal while watching TV and stimulating your mind vs your taste budds. However, when my band develeped a leak and did not work... I was like you and could eat all I wanted with out feeling full. I gained all the weight back but it took a year and a half. I did not give up and just had a new band replacement (I had the whole surgery redone) and have lost a lot of weight in the since the last surgery. Since I was used to having the band on my stomach, the doctor told me I could go back to solids with a few days of the replacement band. I have done the following: I have cut out all carbs Drink lots of water (not with meals) Take vitiman supplements (flinstones chewable) Started Walking more cut out all caffine drinks no drinks with calories My goal is to loose the 65 lbs as fast as i did it before... I know it wont be easy but when I lost it before I remember the following advantages: It was easy to put on my socks and tie my shoes I did not sweat on my neck (even if it was not hot) I could easily get into and out of my car I started tucking in my shirt and was not shy to wear tighter fit clothes It was so much easier to breath and I had more engery. And most of all... I started to fit in.

One week ago on 19 Aug 2006, I had my old lapband removed and a new lapband installed. I was one of the few unlucky ones that had a defective band that leaked every time the doctor tried to adjust it