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My lap band experience in OZ


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Hi all,

Congratulations to all who have lost weight as a result of having Gastric Lap Band surgery. And to those who have not lost any weight yet. Dont give up! It can be tuff, but as long as you stick to it, and follow your Doctors orders you too will succeed.

So I guess I should tell you about my experience down here in Australia.... After i sat down and figured out the conversion of how much I have lost from lb to kgs, I realized its quite a lot. I had a Lap band put in in March of 2005. At this time I weighed 124kg (274lb). My knees and my back had just about given up on me. I cant blame them when I look back now! It has been tuff. There would be tears when I had a few bad days of eating, days when it seemed nothing would stay down. But I hung in there and learned a few things to help me along the way. The weight was just dropping off, I couldnt keep track of it at times!

It is now September 2006, (18 months on) and i now weigh 62kg (137lb) Which means I am exactly half my oringal weight. Yippee!! I never dreamed it would happen.. But here I am and I seriously feel fantastic. I am sharing clothes with the sister I used to look at and think I wish I was that skinny. Its hard to explain the joy.. I am a single mum, and found it very difficult to find a man due to the huge amount of weight I had put on over the years. Now they are finding me... ha ha now I cant choose.... ha ha...

8 weeks ago I had a tummy tuck. It is amazing, what a difference! A flat tummy, I mean FLAT! I do need more surgery, however being a single mum, money is tight and I just cant afford it at the moment. I need boobs, thighs and buttocks. But hey really, I feel so good it all really doesnt matter.

As I said earlier I have learnt so much about the lap band.. If anyone needs any advice please contact me i would be more than happy to help... But I really think the most important thing is to stick to it. Dont force food in. Take your time (chew). And always do as the Dr says!

So glad my dad found this site for me to share my experience.. Keep up the good work everyone. Hope to speak to you all really soon!

:-) Hayley

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Hi all,

Congratulations to all who have lost weight as a result of having Gastric Lap Band surgery. And to those who have not lost any weight yet. Dont give up! It can be tuff, but as long as you stick to it, and follow your Doctors orders you too will succeed.

So I guess I should tell you about my experience down here in Australia.... After i sat down and figured out the conversion of how much I have lost from lb to kgs, I realized its quite a lot. I had a Lap band put in in March of 2005. At this time I weighed 124kg (274lb). My knees and my back had just about given up on me. I cant blame them when I look back now! It has been tuff. There would be tears when I had a few bad days of eating, days when it seemed nothing would stay down. But I hung in there and learned a few things to help me along the way. The weight was just dropping off, I couldnt keep track of it at times!

It is now September 2006, (18 months on) and i now weigh 62kg (137lb) Which means I am exactly half my oringal weight. Yippee!! I never dreamed it would happen.. But here I am and I seriously feel fantastic. I am sharing clothes with the sister I used to look at and think I wish I was that skinny. Its hard to explain the joy.. I am a single mum, and found it very difficult to find a man due to the huge amount of weight I had put on over the years. Now they are finding me... ha ha now I cant choose.... ha ha...

8 weeks ago I had a tummy tuck. It is amazing, what a difference! A flat tummy, I mean FLAT! I do need more surgery, however being a single mum, money is tight and I just cant afford it at the moment. I need boobs, thighs and buttocks. But hey really, I feel so good it all really doesnt matter.

As I said earlier I have learnt so much about the lap band.. If anyone needs any advice please contact me i would be more than happy to help... But I really think the most important thing is to stick to it. Dont force food in. Take your time (chew). And always do as the Dr says!

So glad my dad found this site for me to share my experience.. Keep up the good work everyone. Hope to speak to you all really soon!

:-) Hayley

Hayley, I am so happy to hear your success. That must be an awesome feeling to feel good about yourself. Keep up the good work and thanks for the offer of advice. I will keep that in mind since I am struggling. I have been banded since 3/24/06 and have only lost 18lbs. I can't seem to shake off this plataue. But one day I will share my success like you. Sylvia

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Thanks Hayley,

Since this is place for support, it seems there are not a lot of true success stories on here, just success in progress. It is nice to hear how well it works.

Becki

HAYLEY,

YOU INSPIRE ME!!!

THANK YOU AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!

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hayley, your story give hope to alot of people . i would like to know the following things :

1. what was your diet like?

2.did you exercise ? how often & what kind of exercises?

3.how many fills have you had?

4.did you pb alot?

thank you for allowing us to ask . best wishes for your new life & body

slm

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Hayley, I am so happy to hear your success. That must be an awesome feeling to feel good about yourself. Keep up the good work and thanks for the offer of advice. I will keep that in mind since I am struggling. I have been banded since 3/24/06 and have only lost 18lbs. I can't seem to shake off this plataue. But one day I will share my success like you. Sylvia

Sylivia,

I would be glad to be of any help I can.. please feel free to contact me with any questions you think of.. Congrats on 18lb its a start and you will get there. I hit a platou (spelling???) at around the same weight, then I realised what I was doing was: When I felt sick from eating and brought it up, I would then go back and have another go at that same meal. I realised after a while that the reason I wasnt loosing anymore was because I was throwing up for a reason..... I was full, so there was no need to go back and eat straight after being sick. Maybe this is the same for you??? When I stopped doing this the weight started to fall off again.

It does take time.. Stick with it... Im sure you will be as delighted as me with the results.

Hayley

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hayley, your story give hope to alot of people . i would like to know the following things :

1. what was your diet like?

2.did you exercise ? how often & what kind of exercises?

3.how many fills have you had?

4.did you pb alot?

thank you for allowing us to ask . best wishes for your new life & body

slm

slm,

Will be glad to answer your questions as best I can.. May be difficult with the language barrier, but ill try!

1. My diet was simple. At the beginning it took a while to get used to the do's and don'ts. I stuck to very soft foods such as cereals and pasta. Apparently everyone is different. I have a few friends who are able to eat things that I cannot and vice versa. So far my discoveries are: Steak, chops, bread are a FORGET IT! Never go down, so don't even try anymore.. But I guess my biggest discovery is that to loose weight it is all about quantity. Wish I had of known this before the surgery. But yeah I pretty much eat anything but in far smaller portions. Fish and chips (fried) able to eat, but now only able to get down 3/4 of a peice of fish instead of fish, chips, potato, seafood sticks and so on... McDonalds I used to eat large meal and cheeseburger, now i just manage to squeeze in a cheeseburger (mind you takes me an Hour!) Some people say they have loads of trouble with rice. I have found rice to be a good friend. Remeber to save your drinks for at least 1/2 hour after you eat!

2. Exercise: I was naughty. I didnt do much exercise during the weight loss. I do however highly recommend it. As if I had of excerized a bit more, I may have not had as much excess skin to be removed.

3. Fills: If my memory is correct I think I have had 3 or 4 fills but only little ones. My cousin has had 10 and he is still struggling to loose the weight, so again everyone is different. And you will know when it starts to work. It can be quite a rude shock!

4. Sorry here goes that language barrier... Not sure what you mean by pb???

Good luck and hope all goes well

Thank you Hayley

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hayley

4. Sorry here goes that language barrier... Not sure what you mean

it is when you eat to fast or to much at one time or over eat . you vomit or bring food back up or thing get stuck

thanks for you advice ,

slm

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hayley

4. Sorry here goes that language barrier... Not sure what you mean

it is when you eat to fast or to much at one time or over eat . you vomit or bring food back up or thing get stuck

thanks for you advice ,

slm

Sorry about that... Yes i did pb a lot... A hell of a lot!!... Its all about learning what you can and cant eat. I still vomit to this day. But its is because i am trying to eat something that i know I shouldnt. You will learn how much your stomach can handle and when you do the vomitting will slow down. I found that i had "off" days, by that I mean things that would usually go down fine didnt. This could go on for a few days, then it would be all fine and I could eat fine again. Not sure why. And this is why I advise if it happens, dont go rushing back to get the fill taken out, as it may only be temporary.

Glad to be of help!!!

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Hey guys and girls,

Just been to the doctors and have found a new problem, thought I would share it with you all incase someone else is having a similar problem. I was getting a strange burning sensation in my throat whenever i ate certain foods or strong smells, which a lot of the time caused me to vomit. But I could tell it wasnt the lap band causing it as it was a different feeling. So went to the doctors today and apparently im suffering with Heartburn/ Stomach Acid.. What has happened is, we have a valve at the top of our stomach which stops any acid we eat from coming back up, however since having the lap band my valve is not functioning as it should, so the acid is coming back, which was causing burning, vomitting and terrible taste in my mouth. So glad I found out that is all it is. Have been put on medication and it already seems to be working.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey guys and girls,

Just been to the doctors and have found a new problem, thought I would share it with you all incase someone else is having a similar problem. I was getting a strange burning sensation in my throat whenever i ate certain foods or strong smells, which a lot of the time caused me to vomit. But I could tell it wasnt the lap band causing it as it was a different feeling. So went to the doctors today and apparently im suffering with Heartburn/ Stomach Acid.. What has happened is, we have a valve at the top of our stomach which stops any acid we eat from coming back up, however since having the lap band my valve is not functioning as it should, so the acid is coming back, which was causing burning, vomitting and terrible taste in my mouth. So glad I found out that is all it is. Have been put on medication and it already seems to be working.

Ekchick, it sound like I'm having the same symtoms as you are. I went to my Dr. and was put on Protonix. I was told I have acid reflex possibly and we would try meds for 1 month to see if it helps. Thursday is a month and will go back for follow up. I does help but if I eat later that 7pm ouch I get my reflexes when in bed or asleep I gag on my acid siliva. Yuk! I took my med. about noon today and did not have any problems sleeping. I will need to talk to the Dr. to see if any guide lines apply. Maybe he will refer me to a specialist. I hope you are feeling better and keep us posted. Good luck :D

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Ekchick, it sound like I'm having the same symtoms as you are. I went to my Dr. and was put on Protonix. I was told I have acid reflex possibly and we would try meds for 1 month to see if it helps. Thursday is a month and will go back for follow up. I does help but if I eat later that 7pm ouch I get my reflexes when in bed or asleep I gag on my acid siliva. Yuk! I took my med. about noon today and did not have any problems sleeping. I will need to talk to the Dr. to see if any guide lines apply. Maybe he will refer me to a specialist. I hope you are feeling better and keep us posted. Good luck :D

Just so you know, my doctor informed me that after taking the meds, if the problem was still there he was going to send me to check and make sure I dont have an ulcer! I have been on meds for 3 weeks now and yeah as soon as I eat something high in acid I am in pain again. So I go back in a week or so, will be sure to keep you updated! Please do the same for me.. Incase my doctor is incorrect!

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JERIB,

Good luck next week. Dont be scared. Its not that bad...

You will be a bit sore, but its all worth it. Trust me your first 4 weeks are the easiest. Because you

have not yet had a fill you will find you can still eat quite a large amount. However Im not sure how they work in the US

but in OZ for the first 2 weeks I was on liquids only then the next 2 weeks vitamised foods only. I thought it was really tough at the time, however once I had my 2nd fill I quickly realised that those first few weeks were soooo.... easy!

Take care and let me know how you go... Reamember always do as the Dr. says and you'll be fine!

Hayley

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Hayley,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It has been helpful reading your posts. I am yet to be banded on the 23rd of this month. I have much anxiety, for fear that it won't work. Positive results are definately great to hear.

Do not worry...

As i have stressed before and cannot stress enough, follow your Dr orders and you will be fine... He is a Dr for a reason! Dont try and force food in.. When you feel a bit sick it means you have had enough. Dont go back and try again on the same meal after you have vomitted.

You will be fine.. Think positve... Its the beggining of a new life... You will be amazed at how different the world is on the skinny side!!! Even though it shouldn't matter!

Let me know how you go and if there is anything I can do just yell out!

Hayley

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