REALIZE BAND NOT MEANT TO RESTRICT

It was fun talking to you after your last surgery, so I look forward to it. Maybe I should call you! 

I asked about what could be done and the chronic pain clinic told me that they were at a loss. And one of the doctors told me that he couldn't do anything because the damage to my diaphragm was pretty severe and I would stop breathing if they tried to treat it. Sooooo, I decided to keep breathing, after all. It's amazing how much pain something so thin and membranous can cause. I never would have imagined before I experienced it.

I hope the epidural helps, Pump! 

It better help or else my trip to Hawaii is going to suck for me because I will have to hide the pain from the Camel and the Camelettes. I don't want to ruin our family trip because of my pain. Ask your doctor about the epidural injections and make sure they knock you out because being awake for it is very unpleasant and it burns like a MOFO.

Hindsight is 20-20 which is why I will continue to campaign against all LAGB. The risks IMO are greater then all the other WLS combined and are far too common. The problems are not " easily fixable " as Naomi would have pre-ops believe. You're not just fighting your band surgeons, you are fighting your insurance company and their improper requirements of " medical necessity " 

It will help. I know it. And you'll have a great trip to Hawaii. Not as great as it would be if I were with you... but still. 

I agree with everything you've said. Nothing about this is "easily fixable" at all. I'd rather "have organs removed" than have the band ever again in a million years.

I guess I lucked out that years ago, if a doctor said, "The band has to come out or she's going to die," the insurance company paid without question. I can't imagine having to fight the insurance company. I wouldn't have had the strength, honestly.

Insurance companies are a ***** and a gamble when it comes to follow up care of the band. I fought and lost two separate appeals just so I could see my band surgeon. They refused me a simple visit based on the fact that they considered my lap band surgery "  a success " successful meaning I had lost most of my weight and had kept it off and they saw no need to grant me another visit to see my band surgeon...It wasn't;t until I started throwing up blood that I was granted a visit and by then it was too late because the band had already eroded.

I truly believe they gave me the " surprise you now have a sleeve in the recovery room " as a consultation prize because they knew I could have sued them for denying me all my requests to see my band surgeon.
Those idiots paid for SEVERAL ER visits and hospitalizations trying to cut cost by denying my appeals for a simple band surgeon visit. I hope they appreciate all the ER and hospital bills I caused them for all their stupid denials.

I had really excellent ins too, it was the HMO ******** who kept denying me my covered benefits.My office co-pays were only 3.00 dollars, my ER co-pays were 35.00 dollars and all inpatient/outpatient hospitalizations were 100% covered, and I never had to meet a deductible.

haha  ...vagus ...my bad


thankfully, the author is much smarter than me. (or has a better editor)

I read the whole link and it is VERY enlightening! Thanks for sharing.

Kate,

I've seen this article so many times and it makes me angry every time.  My band has NEVER caused a decrease in apetite, no matter the fill level.  The only way it has helped me is my limiting the amount of food I can eat at one time.  At optimal level, I am satisfied with 1/2 - 1 cup of food, but my hunger returns within 2 hours.  If I'm really, really lucky, I might not hear growling for 3 hours, but usually it's within 2.  So, I personally, don't get the statement that it's purpose is to curb hunger/appetite.

I truly envy those who say they can go hours without hunger with their band - I've never felt that.  And it's not because I need a fill.  Even too tight, the time spent before I can get in to get an unfil is not hunger free.  Maybe I'm just weird, but how I wish the band worked for me like it does others.  I just feel like a failure anymore.  It's just one more WL attempt I've failed at.  My band is loose now because of needing an unfill due to esophogeal dialation, and I'm gaining weight, but I'm terrified of getting another fill because I don't want to have any more problems.  I don't want to lose the band and what little restriciton I have now becaue I'm afraid of gaining all that I've lost back, but it just doesn't work for me the way this article explains.

cat

 I'm afraid that there is little doubt about saying the band does not work as it should for everyone. Sorry you are one of those. But well done  well with what you do have.

Kate

Hugs! My heart goes out to everyone that has gotten the band just to realize it is not working for them they way they have advertised it to work. And it saddens me to to hear you and so many other say they feel like a failure! YOU ARE NOT A FAILURE! Like me, you believed the advertising from what we considered to be a reputable company when they made the claims  about getting full faster/feeling full longer. Apparantly this does happen for some bandsters and I am thrilled for the ones that have had success in that regard, but I hear so many ppl on here, even some of the ones that love their bands, say it just doesn't work that way for them. :-(

If you got a pacemaker, and it did not regulate your heart rate as it advertised that it would and you continued to have arrythmias/bradycardia as a result..........you would not consider yourself to be a failure. You would consider the pacemaker to be a failure. The same principle holds true with the band. All of you out there that have put the effort into working WITH the band, and have done YOUR part should NOT feel like a failure! It works for SOME. Please do not blame yourself if you are one of the many that it does NOT work for!!!

Hun from what I have observed, the Lap-Band doesn't work any better than the Realize band. :-( They both have very poor long term results!