Band users--would you do it again?

Jean -
This week marks my 2 year 'bandiversary'.

I love my band, and have been successful in losing over 100% of my excess weight.
I made a committment to my surgeon to see him at least monthly for the first several months, and then every 6 weeks or so for a few months.
I have probably seen him in his office about 12 times in 2 years.

I was a big 'sweet eater' prior to my band, often eating huge volumes of sweets and excluding any type of healthy food.

I made a decision prior to my surgery, to get into OA (on line) and work with a sponsor to identify the trigger foods that caused me so many problems.

I was pretty sure that with the band I would still be able to overeat cookies/candy/cake, etc -- since those foods melt in the mouth and slide down pretty easily.

Not everyone finds it necessary to eliminate any types of foods -- they are able to eat all things in moderation --- but that does not work for me.

I would do it again in a heartbeat ---- but I would also suggest you give the VSG a good hard look -- less maintenance and very encouraging results.

 Not everyone finds it necessary to eliminate any types of foods -- they are able to eat all things in moderation --- but that does not work for me.

Someone mentioned on another board the other day that all bandsters can eat is "mushy sh*t". What a load!

The only thing I have issues with is beef, and that is a problem with my crappy teeth, not with the band.

Here's what I had at breakfast this morning: scambled eggs with swiss, extra crispy bacon and a 1/4 of an english muffin. Does that sound like I'm deprived? Plus, I didn't have to chase it with big piles of vitamins.

Yay for us!

damn it girl I need to come over to your house for breakfast lmao !!!!   I havent had bacon in ages that sounds so good .  BLT's for the weekend yum yum lol.

 We usually go out one morning a week for breakfast/brunch.

You know I was never ever a breakfast eater in my life. When we go camping I would have a sausage, egg sandwich or something but 90% of the time I would skip breakfast.

That has been really hard to get use to getting the band is making myself eat breakfast .  What is funny before the band I could never eat eggs from home I would get the worst tummy ache ever. The only egg I could eat was from McDonald's .  Now since I got the band I can eat eggs very weird lol.

For some reason this past week I have been craving Egg / cheese muffins lol. I found some Sara Lee 90 calorie muffins with only 20 carbs for a whole muffin and 6 grams of fiber . I have been eating that for breakfast before my workouts .

 

I can eat bacon too..yummm lol it is strange the stuff i can and can not eat...but i am so happy and healthy now yahoo

Hi Jean welcome, I have to start by saying I love my band and would do it again. It gave me my life back .  The sleeve or RNY were not available in my area. The band has cost me a lot financially I have had to have a lot of appointments for fills and unfills I am very sensitive to fills ( thankfully I am not a self pay I just pay my deduct able and copay) I am currently unfilled due to pain in my chest not sure what caused the swelling that made it feel tight  but hope to have it refilled in a month or so. I will continue to keep my band if possible but if not the sleeve is what I will revise to. I did not have any foods that I could not eat I just ate a lot less but  I  really have to pay attention to the amount I was eating (I measure most of the time) . There is no way to predict if the band will work for each person or not. I say choose what you and your doctor think will be best  for you. Is it hard with the band? Yes,  Do I think the Band surgery is a successful surgery? Yes .  I have not been to this point in 30 years. So even if I am unable to refill it in the future I would have done it all over again to get where I am  now. Good luck to you in what ever you choose.

I don't think I would, I would have done the RNY or sleeve instead.  I have constant left shoulder pain and now at 2.5 years out, I am starting to gain weight.  I never got down to goal either before I started gaining.  Don't know what I am going to do now. 

I got my band about 10 wks ago.  I would defiantly do it again.  its a slower process but its wonderful...I don't have to worry, is this going to make me sick, I'm not restricted on anything I eat.  I love it.  I am looking forward to the rest of my life, for the first time ever....I am down 37lbs since 3/23, so I am very happy with it...

It truly is a personal decision, because some people have had a lot of issues w/ it, but every surgery no matter what it is, can have issues.  You just have to decide what is going to work w/ your lifestyle and personal preference. 

Best of luck to and listen to your gut(no pun intended) and you will make the right decision!

Jamie

I almost got a band, came within 16 hours of it, actually.  You can read about my experience and why I switched to the VSG on my blog if you're interested (I still stop by here now and again as there are topics that are common to all WLSs that I might be able to chime in on).

If you want to hear the full spectrum of experience, I would recommend asking for people to share their band experiences on the other boards (VSG, Revision, RNY, DS) as well so you can get some perspective on what it's like for people that it doesn't work out for. 

It's important to be completely thorough in your own education and research when it comes to choosing a surgery, so please do ask as many questions as it takes on as many boards as it takes until you feel you've got a holistic view from many different perspectives.

If you're interested in medical research on the different WLS methods, there's a ton of excerpts and links to articles in my VSG appeal letter post.

Good luck with whatever you decide!