The long way to success?

It has been 2.5 years since my surgery. I have had a lot of trouble since I flew to Europe in Aug, 2009- 6 months post-op. They tried 3 or 4 times to fill my band after that, but when I reached the point of having restriction, my band area would swell until I could not eat or drink. This whole process would take months. Finally my doctor decided that I had a hernia (dah!) & on April; 12, this year, my band was replaced & the hernia repaired. As you can imagine, my weight has yo-yo-ed over & over. I didn't gain all my weight back but about half of it. Each time I was unfilled after weeks of struggling to eat, I would gain what I had lost & more in a matter of a couple of weeks ****il my metabolism would settle down).  My weight has been fairly stable for several weeks but not without a lot of effort. Part of the problem is that I am constantly hungry without restriction.
The reason for this post is I would like to hear from others who have had a similar experience & were still able to be successful. I am feeling quite discouraged & wonder if I will ever get this weight off.

Thanks
Charline

PS-I don't want to hear from band bashers. This is the only type of weight loss surgery available to me where I live, bashing the band will only further discourage me.

My experience with the band is that I was either very hungry or too tight and getting sick. I did have a month here and there were I was in a good place- I am 18 months post op. I reached my goal in Sept. and have maintained it within about 5 pounds since then. I now choose to keep my band pretty loose, so I can eat breakfast (I used to just do a protien shake) and some bread, pasta, rice. After paying for the surgery (my insurance wouldn't cover, wish I had appealed that decision) I was very motivated to loose the weight. Part of me wishes I had given it one more go around before I had surgery, I hadn't "dieted" or excersised in years. Anyway, as far as hunger, I just rode it out. Sticking to a high protien, low carb diet deffinatley worked. The protien helped my hunger a bit, as well as not having the blood sugar spikes and drops from carbs. I was moderate as far as fat intake, most of my fat came from nuts. I stuck to lean protien like fish and chicken and non-starchy veggies for lunch and dinner. I had 1-2 snacks a day, usually low fat cheese sticks and nuts. I found adding a couple of planned, healthy snacks really helped. That way, I was never too hungry for a long period of time. Anyway, hope this helps a bit, you can do this! Keep us posted on how your doing. Best wishes!

I had a lot of success when i achieved restriction in the first 6 months after getting the band. It was amazing. I lost over 50 pounds and was never hungry. However, after the unfill in Sept 2009, I have not had restriction (unless it was way too much restriction) since. I have had 2 fills & have a third at the end of July, but no restriction yet.  I have been successful with the band & I know how great it CAN work, but this tool is not working for me now. Before the last surgery, I would have a series of fills & over several months & I would have restriction. However, my band or area of the band would get tighter & tighter until I could only have liquids. I would be like that for weeks with some good days but mostly bad days. When not even water would go down,  I would  be unfilled, only to start over, with smaller fills. Round & round, weight going up & down.
The band was wonderful once, I just hope it can be again.
I just want to know others have gone through a replacement & were able to get it working again after the failure.  I am sure there are lots of people who have had struggles like mine.
Thanks for the encouragement.
(BTW the ticker below is where i started after the second surgery & it showns my progress to my  first goal which is to be down to my lowest weight since the first band surgery. This was in August  last year.)