Paul Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hi, I am a couple of weeks away from getting a lap band. I weigh over 400 pounds. After reading through the various topics on this website I feel quite discouraged. There are a number of people who have lost no or minimal weight despite weeks of being on liquids, others who feel strong chest pains and wish they had known before they took the plunge. Maybe the forum by nature brings out more negative experiences as people express their stories and troubles. Are these kind of experiences normal, or rare? Do most people have a relatively trouble free experience and lose significant weight? Looking forward to some encouragement! Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacy16 Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hi,I am a couple of weeks away from getting a lap band. I weigh over 400 pounds. After reading through the various topics on this website I feel quite discouraged. There are a number of people who have lost no or minimal weight despite weeks of being on liquids, others who feel strong chest pains and wish they had known before they took the plunge. Maybe the forum by nature brings out more negative experiences as people express their stories and troubles. Are these kind of experiences normal, or rare? Do most people have a relatively trouble free experience and lose significant weight? Looking forward to some encouragement! Paul I can't tell you about weight loss as I was just banded, but the surgery itself was a breeze. I do have gas pains but very minimal. I feel pretty good! Stacy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregNE Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hi,I am a couple of weeks away from getting a lap band. I weigh over 400 pounds. After reading through the various topics on this website I feel quite discouraged. There are a number of people who have lost no or minimal weight despite weeks of being on liquids, others who feel strong chest pains and wish they had known before they took the plunge. Maybe the forum by nature brings out more negative experiences as people express their stories and troubles. Are these kind of experiences normal, or rare? Do most people have a relatively trouble free experience and lose significant weight? Looking forward to some encouragement! Paul It all will depend on your outlook, expectations, and willingness to follow through with the band lifestyle. A few things I can relay from my own experience: You will most likely, with your high BMI, get the larger VG band. Plan on 4-5 fills in the first year after being banded. Also, plan on no weight loss or minimal weight loss in the first 3 months after being banded. Not that this will be your experience, but it is common with the VG band. Getting the band to start working, or 'restriction', generally takes 2 fills with the VG band. Understand also that this board represents for the most part a small number of bandsters that go primarily to Dr. Ortiz to be banded. If you want a larger pool of posts for encouragement, or for information, try www.lapbandtalk.com. There they have a much wider representation of bandsters. They have specific threads for the VG band, for slow weight loss people, and for high BMI patients. You will find many more success stories, as well as band failure stories. And by all means, be absolutely sure you are aware of the complications, difficulties, and required life changes of having a band placed. Lastly, people that have lost all their weight tend to stop posting. Most people active on any of the forums are people working their way through the process; not people that have reached their goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakinnmyshoes Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Hi,I am a couple of weeks away from getting a lap band. I weigh over 400 pounds. After reading through the various topics on this website I feel quite discouraged. There are a number of people who have lost no or minimal weight despite weeks of being on liquids, others who feel strong chest pains and wish they had known before they took the plunge. Maybe the forum by nature brings out more negative experiences as people express their stories and troubles. Are these kind of experiences normal, or rare? Do most people have a relatively trouble free experience and lose significant weight? Looking forward to some encouragement! Paul Hi Paul, I am going to get banded on Thursday and I have been reading everybody's posts both good and discouraging also. I am a lower BMI patient, but I haven't had any problem losing the %5 preop weight. My father got banded a year ago. His starting weight was around 310 and he has lost about 50lbs so far. Even though he hasn't achieved all of the weight loss that he hoped he would, he is more optimistic, confident and positive than he was a year ago. He feels like it's 50lbs gone for good. He is aware of the reasons that weight hasn't come off quickly. I was talking to him this morning about whether he would do it again and he did not hesitate a bit about saying yes. Everybody has a different temperment. Some people focus on positives and others on negatives. Even though I worry that maybe I won't get the results I am hoping for, at least I'll know that I did everything I could. I am not going to let fear of failure keep me from trying. I have seen enough success on this forum to know that it is possible to achieve good results. Each day I will battle my three demons - Gluttony, Sloth & Despair Marsene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDaddy Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 If you are like me you have done a lot of other things with no success, Lets face it, it would be awesome if we could do it on our own but that just is not working out for most of us. You have to remember the band is ONLY a tool. The too restricts tour intake. Periodically you need to opt to go in and get a fill and restrict your intake more. Food is an addiction similar to smoking or drinking. You cannot completely avoid food. The band helps keep you from benging and when you find out that you are able to eat too much you need to go get a fill to again restrict your intake. As for the pain, its a learning process, the pain typically comes from eating too quickly and not chewing well. If the food is not chewed well it cannot pass thru the small stomach opening and it will force you to stop eating now and probably have it come back up. The pain is like a strong heartburn when you get it but you will learn quickly what you can abd cannot eat and you MUST slow down while eating. Do not focus on this point, You will learn to live with the band and how to eat and what to eat to not have or minimize this problem. Trust the decision that you made. I went thru the same presurgery fear and afterthought. I was 380 when I started. I am down about 40 after 6 months but have not been really good about getting my fills. It works. You did the research and remember the ones that say it does not work are probably still overeating and not keeping up with the fills, I just went and got a HUGE fill. I had gotten to the point that If I ate slowely I could eat just as much as I wanted, 2 plates, graze some more and have ice cream. I was overdue for a fill. Now I get a small protien portion and a little veg. I do not even finish that, I miss the pleasure of eating, eating is fun, but if I die of a heart attack which is the future if I dont change, doesnt sound fun either, dont give up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalKev Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hi,I am a couple of weeks away from getting a lap band. I weigh over 400 pounds. After reading through the various topics on this website I feel quite discouraged. There are a number of people who have lost no or minimal weight despite weeks of being on liquids, others who feel strong chest pains and wish they had known before they took the plunge. Maybe the forum by nature brings out more negative experiences as people express their stories and troubles. Are these kind of experiences normal, or rare? Do most people have a relatively trouble free experience and lose significant weight? Looking forward to some encouragement! Paul Paul, Man - I'm with you - I started at 377. We are in the same shoes. You have a valid point on the support style of the board. We all need it. Support is a positive term not a negative one. Got to know what to support before you throw some legs under it. On several occasions I have met people getting an unfill at OCC. They reached their goal weight and feel healthy and many are focused on saving money for plastic surgery. Are they here on the board? No. Are they on a plastic surgeons board somewhere? Maybe. They have beat obesity and are doing things we all would love to do. They are kicking the tires of life in their new bodies and finding out what they can achieve now. You and I will do the same. We may not leave the board but our personal focus will shift us to look at new and exciting avenues to rev our improved chassis on. Paul - you got t made! Do you know how many would love to have the privilege of being banded? And by the best, in my book, Dr. Ortiz. The toughest part is making the decision. Because at that defining point you decided life will never be same for you again. This is opportunity in its purest form. Make it work for you! We all are the best we know how. In that moment you made the choice to do something for yourself and no one else. You are committed to the process. Go for it! Grab it! Viva La Band! Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FurEllie Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 It's only been 2+ weeks since I was banded but in reading here, other boards, talking to others, etc. I am SO happy I did it! Are there issues? Sure there are. I feel like a tooting engine sometimes, lol and I have more scars now than scarface. But it's an aid to help me conquer my awful addiction of food. Weigh (so to speak) the good with the bad of the band and I'm sure you'll find more good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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