newbie bander

I will admit that reading posts of complications
has scared me and def made me nervous about my future with the lapband.
I got the lap band to save my life. Apparently, I made the wrong choice.

I will say to everyone who has had any complications what so ever,
that I am sorry for that and do hope/pray that you are well or able to get
well. And that I hope you are successful in whatever you choose.

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who has written me and supported me 
in my questions/posts on this forum. But I won't be posting on this forum any longer.

Don't be afraid, just make it your business to stay informed. I really want you to enjoy your band experience. I wish you 150% success and a complication free WLS journey.

thank you for the nice words.

 I felt the same way as you once.  But I got past the fear and started bookmarking threads where bandsters DISCUSSED their problems, symptoms etc, so IF I began to have some of those signs I would recognize it early on.  You have your band, use it to achieve your goals!  The intent of those of us who post about our issues is to make sure those who are undecided about their surgery are fully informed AND to provide information to fellow bandsters to prevent further damage.  Please read the posts with an open mind.  I learned to do that and it probably has saved me from permanent damage.

thank you. i will also (bookmark) the warning signs.

Leaving the forum is not going to in anyway prevent band complications. It is what it is, and it's much better to know what you're up against and be prepared. OH is a good resource if you use it correctly. Read the posts that are informative, and ignore the rest if you want. But one small suggestion here............if you do return yet again, do so under the same screen name instead of changing yours again. People get a little suspicious of those that are continually "recycling" screen names, lol.

 Maria , she was given no choice so don't criticise! She did not deactivate, it was done to her because she criticised OH.

I felt the same as you for a time. I decided to just skip the posts that I thought might be about problems. It wasn't that I didn't know that the problems existed since I had done my research; it was more that just out of surgery I couldn't handle it. When about 6 weeks passed and my brain wasn't so muzzy from the anesthetic I  began to read them again. I still skipped some people just because they got my newly improved blood pressure up. Those were the ones that basically said that if we had gotten the band we were dumb and uneducated. I would read their "statistics" and knew they were skewed but didn't know how to counter. Most of those people that bothered me are no longer on this forum.

I urge you to continue here because y ou need support. You will get it if you ask. Ignore specific posts if they bother you. You can even block a member if you want. I decided not to do that since I realized that I did need to know some of the s/s of problems, how to be alert to them, and to be able to tell others how to get help if they experienced trouble.

You have a tool, use it to the very best of your ability. You can pass along your wisdom and the success you have. Good luck

thank you granny. i appreciate your words to me. they mean alot.

I'm so glad that when I was first banded this forum was soooooo different. There were so many more people and we supported each other. I'm still hoping it will change back. Good luck on your new WL journey and know there are a few of us, still around!!