Hi Brandy, I see the original post was awhile ago, but I haven't been on the site recently. I just wanted you to know you are not alone.. It hasn't worked for me either. I have been diagnosed as having esophogus problems. Basically I can over eat the band and my esophogus is stretching. This is very serious and my dr. was so surprised I don't have any acid reflux. He is recommending I take the band out. But I am resisting. I think it does help me somewhat, I just never ever feel the full sensation. So the band does limit my quantity but I vomit alot. I am sorry so many people wrote about exercise. When you are overweight, exercise is difficult. It is a catch 22, You need to lose to move around easier and you can't lose. That is why we went this drastic route in the first place. So just keep in mind to keep trying, I am always on some new plan to try and make this work and not have to have it removed. Good luck. I have lost 40 lbs. since my lapband 4/05. I hit that mark last Oct. and haven't lost any more since and have been really trying. Debbie

Hello, my surgery is scheduled for May 30th and I'm getting scared. There are three specific things that scare me, complications, losing my hair permanently, and gaining it back. I'm estranged from my husband, live alone in the mountains 10 miles from the nearest town of a whole 5,000. I am not a healthy person to begin with, I have been told I have MS, they are testing now. I've been heavy since preschool, I have pictures of me in 1st grade with cellulite. I want to be healthy, I'm just afraid. Can anyone give me some feedback on the hair thing? My hair is the longest it's ever been, the middle of my back, blonde and thin. It grows very slowly. Is thin worth bald? I'm just scared, thanks. Cyndi

Bill, I'm sorry to hear your story. It sounds like a high price to pay for weight loss. But I wanted to ask you about your complications. It's relatively easy to explain intestinal blockage to be related to RNY...I've seen it in people post WLS and other abdominal surgieries....But Seizures? Are you so malnourished? Did you have MRI/CT scan of your head done? Could there be a cause for seizures that comes from the brain itself rather than consequences of WLS? Did you suffer a head trauma recently? I wanted to let you know that Seizures are very common....About 10% of people have them. It's less common for them to start later in life, unless there been some trauma/tumor /stroke, etc. events....or withdrawl from alcohol/drugs. I do believe that finding a GOOD Dctor is vital, so I wouldn't recommend just picking one from phone book. I'm sure there is national and local organization for people with seizures/epilepsy.... find them on-line, talk to people who are local in your are and get a referral through them. Best of luck to you, Rita

I've observed many DS patients as well...because I'm fascinated at the claim of "eating normally"...DSers DO have food intolerances...not at the top end (meaning food not going down) but a reaction to certain food groups, namely simple carbs. I see many people on the DS boards posting that they have to avoid white carbs to keep bathroom/gas issues in check. Eating normally means no food intolerances, no repercussions to eating certain foods beyond perhaps them just being less healthy choices. I see over and over DS patients saying that if they want to eat pasta, for example, they time it so they won't be at work or in a public place to avoid nasty gas problems. I also see plenty of DS folks who have trouble eating, especially in the beginning. I've also worked with more than one DS patient and they had no idea how their gas smelled...they figured it was just like everyone else's but that wasn't the case...they had to find jobs that didn't require them sharing a lot of space, had charcoal underwear or charcoal seat pads to try to help with the problem in the office. No, they weren't running to the bathroom constantly, but you sure didn't want to be in there at the same time or go in right afterwards if they had a BM. The misinformation is that the DS is some magical procedure that allows you to make no lifestyle/eating changes, still lose the weight and keep it off. That's false advertising. The DS certainly allows for more freedom of eating than some other procedures, and certainly the ability (and need) to eat more fat since so little of it is absorbed, but that malabsorption can lead to oily stools...which isn't "normal" either. And the moment there is any reaction to eating certain foods that wasn't there pre-op, we step away from "normal". I'm not saying I think the DS is a bad surgery either...but a lot of DS folks advertise it as one thing, then on their own boards, expose more about how living with it really is...the 2 pictures aren't quite the same. It all comes down to what someone is willing to live with...it's a plus/minus column thing. I have seen DS folks on OSSG gone wrong...and no, they don't convert to RNY...they get intestinal reversals because that's really their only option at that point and the stomach portion can't be reversed...and while they have fewer issues with ulcers than RNY folks can, they CAN, just as anyone with a stomach of any sort, have ulcers. It just won't be specifically related to their surgery. If I was forced to choose a malabsorptive procedure, I'd choose the DS over the RNY...I don't personally see how anyone would WANT dumping...dumping is a side effect, a complication, and can be dangerous. And I don't like the idea of choosing a certain food and being punished for it by getting very ill...being morbidly obese was punishment enough...I shouldn't have to pay penance the rest of my life for the "sin" of being fat. And I don't like how some surgeons advertise dumping as this great feature...it's not a feature, it's a side effect and really, the emphasis should be on these surgeries as being tools...not our eating babysitters or punishing nannies. Those *****ly too heavily on the surgery's mechanics to make food choices for them rather than relearning how to make healthier choices and consciously doing so are the ones, regardless of surgery type, who won't do well weight-loss-wise in the long run. Those are the folks we see who've managed to out-eat even very distal RNYs and the DS...then they say "My surgery didn't work"...no, their surgery was fine...THEY didn't work... The current problem with the DS is the relative lack (compared to RNY or lap-band) of very experienced surgeons and it's well-known that one should only go to a very experienced surgeon for that procedure due to its higher complexity. So, how really, without taking a lot of risks on the patient level, are we to have more very experienced DS surgeons? Unfortunately that means some patients have to take that much higher risk in the DS learning curve if there are to be more surgeons. It's a bit of a catch-22. At least (and this is a good thing) it discourages the surgeons looking to make a quick buck off the obese by going to a weekend RNY seminar then opening their practices to patients for that procedure and banking on patients lacking proper research... Nancy

I was so touched reading your post. Have you gone to have your gallbladder out now that you are on social security and medicare? They should pay for it and medicaid will pick up the balance so, if no-one told you about this, please look into it. Janey