I HATE THE F** LAP BAND!!!

IVE JUST ABOUT HAD IT! i dont even care who rips me a new one this time... some people can be so damn self righteous. anyway im glad for the people it works for but im sick of being on a diet where i cant even eat healthy foods without feeling pain, the foods that i shouldnt eat go down easily, and now ive developed acid reflux...oh and nail biter I HAVE GAINED 20LBS SINCE MY SURGERY JULY 7, 07. i wonder if anyone else would start questioning why im so pissed off. im sooo tired of reading how well its working for others and how me and some of my peers who had it done have not lost a single pound. Its a scam. Why is it that people turn to weight loss surgery because diets have failed in the past and all of a sudden are put on ANOTHER DIET and are the diet gurus??? it makes absolutely no sense, i guess i didnt do my research because every diet has failed me in the past i guess i thought yet another diet might help..the fills back and forth and the unfills are getting ridiculous...and now i have developed depression and self hatred because of it. at this point im ready to tear this stupid thing out of my body myself.....please tell me if anyone at all feels the same, i could just be crazy and ranting? anyone out there???   *****also******  i DO NOT want advice from the people that succeeded with the band..im not on the lapband forum, i want to know those who have regrettted it! thanks!

Hello Can you get a revision to the RNY????? How possible would that be for you? I know it must be hard dealing with this, but at some point you need to pull up your socks, accept it and fix it. I know it sucks....

Congratulations on your fairly long-term success. But, I need to point out her premise here. She doesn’t wish to be plagued with MORE FAILED DETING ! Even with your admirable success, your profile as recently as Oct of last year suggest it's a struggle to find the most optimal DIET (foods) to lose and/or maintain your enviable success to date.

Rock

I was banded July 5, 2007. I have only lost 20 pounds and that is only because of the liquid diet the month after surgery. I have had 6 fills. My 10cc Vanguard Band has 13cc in it. I have never ever ever at restriction. Yesterday I saw a new doctor and we are tossing around the idea of doing the sleeve. I thought maybe my band was just too big and maybe should have a 4cc band put in. I'm not sure what to do. This new doctor said my band may have eroded into my stomach, I almost fell off my chair. I go in on Monday for an EGD. I hope we will have answers soon. I am like you, I feel like just ripping this damn thing out. My depression has worsened also. I am past dissapointed and frustrated, I am now devastated. Hugsssssssssss To You Debbie

finally someone who feels like me, i went to the doc today and had another fill...even when i fill nothing seems to work. i still eat. and to gain weight. grrrr just unhappy. even if my bf tells me all those nice things ..it sounds like this to me blah blah blah  i lost all self confidence. technically since my last fill i stayed the same that was 8 weeks ago...but i feel like i gained a million lbs. and its soooo embarrasing, coworkers dont understand and wonder what kinda crappy surgery i had. anywho message me if u wanna chit chat..i totally feel ur pain!! hugs! nancy

I agree completely with you, it's such a shame that doctors do not tell people how the band does not work for everyone.  I actually stopped coming on the board for a while because it was so depressing for me that there are people who have been so successful and here I am over year since my band surgery and only 30lbs lost (by the way that is a stretch because the scale seems to be increasing everyday!!)  I hate this band and how it always made me feel like my food is sitting in my chest.  For a while I felt like a fat anorexic because all I did was vomit from the good food however the bad things like chips stayed down wonderfully.  I have so many side effects and no weight loss to show for it I can't even hold it in anymore.  After trying and failing every single diet plan out there from pills, to shakes to processed food I go and get a surgical procedure to alter my stomach and I go and fail that too!!

Now that I have ranted some......you do have to shake it off and move on and as I have done either look for information about a revision or see what other choices you have.  The bottom line is that like me I assume you are tired of being fat.  I don't even want to be a little heavy, I am finally ready to be THIN!!  I pray you are able to begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel......On another note though I am now playing a waiting game with my insurance company to get my band removed and have RNY.........that's another headache, but that's why we are all her to support one another through the craziness!!

omg i totally understand your frustration too!! yea mine is almost a year and have only 17lbs of weight gain as of today to show for it. not so good. and now all the heartburn and acid reflux does not help at all. at this point i hate looking at myself in the mirror, im scared to eat cuz i keep thinking about the heartburn but i doubt ill lose weight this way too...so im a failure all in all. and yea only the bad food stays down for me. and now even that will be tough to eat. do we all have to go thur such misery to be thin?? im at 246 right now, at my lowest i was 229. im sooo mad at myself for letting myself blow up like this. i want to get down to about 150..but now i feel like ill never see that number. im giving my doctor til july then were gonna start looking into other options..its good to hear that im not alone. i should start a rally against the lap band!!!

The lap band is only suppose to be a tool for weight loss. If you are feeling food getting stuck in your throat/chest, this means that either you have eaten too much or too fast. The reason chips go down well is because they are hard, try eating crakers instead. I know you don't  want to hear this but even if you get the RNY you may not be permenatly succesful with your weight loss. I am a nurse and I have had many patients regain some or all of their weight. The stomach is a muscle and you can strech it back out if you don't eat properly. But, with the RNY you will have the metabolic problems that go along with the surgery like B-12 deficencies.
I had the Lap Band in July08 and a revision in April09 becasue the band had slipped. They changed it to the Vangaurd and initally I also felt no restriction. Because of that I gained back about 10 pounds but I have now stabilized. I have not lost too much more weight but that is my own fault. I have not been exercising and my eating habits have not been so great. I hope to now get back on the wagon and get healthy for myself. I hope you find a surgery or weight loss regimine that works for you but remember you have to be the one who makes the surgery work.

seriously I do want to get the word out that the band is NOT all the commercials say it is!!  I hate this band, and it makes me sick everytime I see that commercial that fooled me!!  Think about it........if a person tries and fails countless diets the decision about what type of surgery is going to work should not be influenced by television ads.....it's disgusting.  But I agree with you that you should just wait as long as you can and listen to your gut, tell your doctor how you feel and make him listen!!  I'm always here if you need an ear!