Tell me the truth....

I love this website and wish I had been informed of it sooner.  I hope to have my band placed by the end of July.

As I pilfer through these amazing, candid & informative forums a thousand questions come to mind....questions that may not have occurred to me in the past 9 months of researching the band.

Tell me the truth, for those of you who are gaining weight or have a "failed" lap band surgery, can you HONESTLY say you have been sticking to program?  I just want a realistic picture of what I am up against.

Thank you for your honesty in your reply.

In Him & through Him,

Donna

Hi Donna,

I had a great first year with my band and lost about 65 lbs. Then my complications set in. For me, complications meant that my band would randomly tighten up without a fill. When the band would tighten up, I would be unable to eat any food of substance and would vomit frequently. The only thing I could get down during these times were liquids or slider foods. There were other times when not even water would go down.

I would immediately call my surgeon. My adjustments were covered by insurance and my surgeon was local. He would always work me in as soon as possible for unfills. When I would be unfilled, my hunger would return and I would definitely eat.

After the band rested for a few weeks, we would start to fill it again slowly, but no matter how little we put in, the band would always have the random tightening making it impossible for me to eat many healthy foods.

This fill/unfill cycle complete with slider foods/liquids and return of hunger (basically not having a WLS tool at all) led me to regain all my weight. When the band wasn't working, it was as difficult to maintain my weight as pre-op.

I wanted my band to work so badly and I was fully compliant. I went to all my follow-up appointments, my surgeon even used fluoroscopy for my fills to try and get the amount right, I tried to eat appropriately, but my band would often make this impossible. I visited a personal trainer 2-3 hours per week and also started swimming at the Y.

Here is a question to ask people who blame the patient for band failure...why do so many of these patients go on to great success with their revision surgeries?

I can tell you this, I would not have lost nearly 90 lbs in 6 months with my VSG if I were not compliant with my nutrition and exercise.

That is my honest story.

Best of luck to you. I hope all goes well and you have a smooth and speedy recovery!

Lindsey

My band slipped (or at least I was diagnosed) 2 years out.  My slip was due to bad placement in the first place from a quack of a surgeon. 

I had lost about 105 pounds at that point, and almost to goal.  

With stresses going on in my life and and an unfilled repositioned band, I started regaining weight.  My new doc took my fills very slow, which is understandable, but going through a separation, losing my house and my dogs, among other things.....I turned to my vice.  FOOD.  I caused my weight regain of about 40 pounds. 

However, I have had good restriction since November and I eat like I should about 80% of the time.  When I don't eat well, I can't eat too much at a time.  I have been working out like crazy....and HARDLY ANY WEIGHTLOSS. This is making me very grumpy!    I am wondering if I have some metabolic issues now.  I can't see how I couldn't lose weight.  Seriously.  I am tracking my food closely, and if I am still stalled in another two months, I am going to go to my doc and ask for a revision or something.  UGH

This is a very similar question to "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

In MOST cases being compliant with band rules are nearly impossible for lots and lots of bandsters.  It is not that they do not want to be compliant, it is that the band PREVENTS them from being compliant.

I know that all folks who get the band go into it with lots of hope for finally conquering their weight problems.  Can you imagine the let down when they find out that the band is extremely difficult to work with because this magic restriction never comes?  What comes is too loose, able to eat anything,  too tight, liquids only, or worst of all, no control whats so ever.

When I say no control, I mean everything is being done as advised by the band rules and protocol.  The band is a trickster.  One day you can eat normally, the next it's puke city.  How do you follow rules when they change from meal to meal with absolutely no happy medium?

I know there are people who blame the bandster for not following the rules and that is why they failed.  I say Bull****!  This is so sad and people who do this have an unhealthy agenda.

No one is perfect, nor should they be expected to be.  A device that demands such strict adherence and then makes it impossible to adhere is ******G CRAZY!!!!

Now some band Nazis will wag their finger and will love to put a struggling banster down.  I guess this gives them a feeling of superiority.  I think most of these people are afraid to admit that the band sucks even for them.  Eating your words with a rotten band hurts, just like the solid protein one is supposed to be able to eat.

No one should have to sacrifice a normal life to lose weight.  Eating is an everyday requirement for survival.  It shouldn't hurt and cause permanent damage to your insides.  THE BAND ALONE CAUSES THESE PROBLEM, not the bandster.  It should be taken off of the market, it is worse than many other devices that have been recalled.

I love irony, but not in the case of the band.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. I truly appreciate it and they have given me much to consider.

In Him & through Him,

Donna

Yes things can  happen to people without them being at fault , BUT there are cases that the person is at fault also .

Not all the time is the bands fault sometimes it is the person's fault .  Before anybody jumps my ass I'm not saying anybody is lying on here hell I dont know if you are telling the truth or not, just like everything I write you dont know if I am telling the truth or not  its the Internet you can say whatever you want , anytime you want , and whenever you want nobody knows if you are telling the truth or lying about it only you know that .

There is a girl in my support group that came right out and said yes it was my fault .I kept my band to tight to long because she was losing weight and she didn't care about if it was causing damage or not .  Well, in fact it did cause damage she had a nasty slip and now the band has to be removed .    She was 100% fault for her band problems.

Not every case where you hear about band problems is the bands fault it is the persons fault. 

If you dont think some people keep their bands tight especially if they are losing weight fast then you are naive.   Or if you dont think people will keep their bands tight so they eat less so they will lose weight faster then once again you are naive .   People will do what they have to do to lose weight even if its risky especially if they have been fat all their life  or even if the docs tell them not to .

Hell, I have had people in my docs office tell me just to lie to the doc so he will give you a fill that is what I do .  You dont think people like that are just asking for trouble ?  Dont you think some people lie to their docs so they can get more of a fill some docs dont care about all this we know that .


I get so tired of hearing its all the bands fault 100% of the time when that just isn't true .  

Once again I'm not saying everybody is lying on here that had band problems and it wasn't their fault but we will never know the TRUE statistics of what happens with the band because people will not tell the truth about what really happened.

I can come on here and say I eat healthy all day long and I do my exercises all day long and I dont eat this or that .  How do you know that I'm really doing that ?   You dont know I'm just a person sitting behind a computer screen that can type anything I want especially if I want to make it look good. 

 

There may certainly be cases where a person is keeping their band too tight for some reason, but I know for me that when the band would tighten up, it would have been impossible to keep it like that. It was miserable and I wouldn't even be able to drink water. I mean, no one can live like that for any extended period of time. If I would call my surgeon with problems on a Monday, he would fit me in on Tuesday for an unfill and I would hate having to even wait that long.

Steeler Fan's post was not directly at me specifically, but I do feel the need to respond because I do feel that most often (maybe not always), it is the band's fault as that was my experience. Prior to my problems, I lost about 65 lbs in one year. That is not exceptionally fast weight loss. So, I definitely wasn't trying to stay overly tight to get the weight off quickly.

As I said, when I was unfilled, I was hungry and I would eat. That part of the regain was all me. When the band wasn't working for me, it was as difficult to maintain my weight loss as pre-op.

Again, please consider how many lap band revisions go on to success with their new WLS type. I have a restriction only procedure. If I were to sit around all day and eat slider foods or not follow my plan, I would not be having such great success with weight loss while maintaining healthy labs.

Yes, Steelerfan is right in that I am just a person sitting behind a computer screen and I can type anything I want. You can't follow me to the gym (which in full disclosure I haven't been to in over a week!) or watch what I'm eating every second of the day.

But, I can show you pics of me immediately post-op in December:



And me a week ago:





 

You look great Buckeyegirl!!!

I think it is hard for a lot of people to even know when they are too tight because the band is so very fickle from day to day.  I don't blame the banster for any of it because when you come right down to it, the band is a flawed product.   If a device is that easy to abuse, food addicts and people with other eating disorders, which is probably the majority of WLS seekers, should steer clear of it.

You look really good :o)  Congrats on the weight loss and I'm glad you found something that worked for you .

I just wish there was TRUE stats out there about the band because I dont think its as bad as some of you make it on here .

Yes, I do realize things can happen I might be in one of your all's position next week but I also truly believe that on some of them numbers in them stats that people was at fault for the band doing whatever it did to that person .

Like some of you on your band problems it was a crappy ass doctor that didn't place the band right  and you have problems that is part of all the stats out there that shouldn't be because it was the doctors fault for not knowing what the hell he was doing in the first place.

I would like to see true stats of people at fault for the band doing whatever it did and I like to see stats on the band itself taking a nose dive and stats on doctors that didn't know what they was doing.

But the sad  part is we will never know them true stats because not everybody would be 100% honest  on it.

All I'm saying just because people say well its the band's fault is not always the case.  Not everybody is going to come on here and tell the God's honest truth .  They are not going to make themselves look bad its easier to put the blame on the band because that person didn't follow the rules or just didn't care .

That is why I have a problem with the post because everybody in god's creation is going to come on here and damn the band saying  how bad it is , but are they really telling the truth ?  We dont know all we can do is assume .

I dont want to fight or argue with you ladies and gents. Saying my surgery is better then yours because I think them threads are bull**** and very childish to be honest I'm not in grade school no more,  But I think its also fair to look at it at a different view also instead of putting the blame always on the band when sometimes that is just not the case.

I agree with you that the true stats are not out there, but this is where we would disagree. I believe that the band mill surgeons are not fully disclosing and/or reporting the true stats to the FDA in regards to the band. I firmly believe that the band stats are far worse then what is actually being reported.

Band mill surgeons don't want to lose their cash cows. So they keep silent about the real band stats. Band mill surgeons can perform multiple band surgeries a day, but can only perform one DS or maybe 2 RNYs in a day. Think how much more money they can make when they are able to perform multiple surgeries in one day verses 1 or 2 a day.

Most band mill surgeons are only in their offices 2 days out of the week doing pre and post op care because they are doing multiple band surgeries the other 3 days of the 5 day work week.  It's all about the money for them, and that's fine because these people have to make a living, but they should also DO NO HARM.

Both of my bands were placed correctly according to my post op band removal O.R. reports. So I have to wonder if
1. They actually were placed correctly or
2. They always diagnose " slipped band " rather then disclosing the truth about all the internal damage the band actually does.

Do you really believe that most of us are just bitter and negative in regards to the band because we gained most or all of our weight back ?

Do you really believe that we have no lives or that we are just here to cause a lot of drama and negativity ?

Can't it just be because we have suffered so much pain at the hand of the band and surgery mill surgeons that we just want to get the word out and help pre ops from choosing a surgery which is next to impossible to follow and may cause them to experience incredible pain or that we want post-ops to know that we are here for them.

We are just here to help.

Yes I know I can be aggressive on some days, but I am really trying to share my experience with the band in a more positive way. I am not always successful because I am a hot head. I'm not always successful at reeling in my big mouth, but I hope to get better at controlling it.