Let's have a civil discussion: How is it possible to NOT feel restriction?

Other than a faulty band or port, and botched surgery, how is it possible that "the band" doesn't work? 

How is it possible to not have restriction? 

Is it possible that expectations are too high so when the weight just doesn't melt off,  without effort and lifestyle change, the patient chalks it up as "the band failed"?

I'm intrigued.  I'm not making accusations.  Your thoughts??

Just curious...Have you had WLS?  If so, which one?

Yes.  I have the Lap Band.  I've had, and am still having success.

Lack of weight loss is minor in light of the other problems that a band can cause.

A persons individual anatomy plays a big part in restriction.  The right amount of restriction, if that even exists, is very hard to achieve.  Most people will be too tight or too loose.  In the meantime, fills and infills to achieve that elusive sweet spot are more than likely doing damage to your esophagus and stomach.

Everything about the surgery is faulty.  Humans are not meant to have their stomachs "cut" in two by a hard device.

It is very possible to have expectations that are too high when most people are set up for failure as soon as they have the surgery.  I consider the daily pain and inconvenience living with a band to be the biggest failure even if you do lose weight don't end up with permanent damage.

You obviously wanted to lose weight and willingly chose gastric banding, correct?  Were you not aware of the risks?  Or were you aware of the risks, but your desire to lose weight outweighed (no pun intended) the risks?

I clearly understood the risks.  I educated myself.  I wasn't misled by my surgeon or the staff.  Before I was even APPROVED, I had to have a psych eval, meeting with a nutritionist, fill out a 15 page application, meet with the surgeon, have labs, have an upper GI fluoroscope, and have a lung x-ray .  

Bottom line I was willing to take the risk in order to lose weight.   

Do you think there was a miss-communication between you and the surgeon and his/her staff? 

I had a band, but I have never had RNY.  There is no amount of education that will prepare you for YOUR individual experience with a band.

When I was researching the band, not enough was know about the complications and failures with the band.  I didn't want a malabsortive surgery, so I though the band was the answer.

Like everyone else, I was hoping to be one of the lucky ones, but I wasn't.  I don't think there was any miscommunication.  The medical staff don't know all there is to know about living with a band.  I had all of the required tests and evaluations, but they do little good if the product itself is so risky.

I wish you continued success.

Let’s see. I can only think of situations where I can eat food that just sort of slide through my stomach. I know this differs for each of us. For me, it’s salads, soups and crispy snack items. I can eat a good amount of these before feeling fullness.

One of the challenges of being a Lapband patient is not relying on restriction. I must confess restriction still saves me at times. I work more on knowing when I am full and have that feeling of fullness.  Changing my mentality on how much and how often I eat is something that I have worked a lot on and am doing pretty good at it.

Tom

I know with talking to my doctor that the Lapband and Realize band are way different. The lapband expands outward when filled while the Realize band spreads width wise. I think that must made a difference.
Also the stomach is a muscle, that is why at different times of the day you are tighter than others. I would assume because we are all different and muscles work differently it is possible that your stomach muscle in some might stretch or relax when the band is placed.
I know that when you are pregnant (I am right now) you release a type of hormone that relaxes your muscle including your stomach and because of this my restriction is almost not there. It is really easy for me right now to eat whatever I want anything will go down so I have to be careful. So I think it can vary depending on people.
I have had success and have had restriction at times but not always, you have to be really disciplined. But I think with that comes a difference in people, I think some peoples bodies just dont take well to objects being placed in them and their bodies will try to reject the object. Luckily I have not had any of those problems but they must be real since so many suffer from them.

For me it took FOREVER to get restriction.  Once I got it I was good to go though. 

I was recently unfilled and am working on getting restriction again...it really SUCKS!! I'm up 20 pounds and have switched surgeons.  This new surgeon will not tell me how much he puts in and wants me to go by how I feel....UGG....that is going to be hard to get used to.  

Tooty, I am the same way with my fills!  I honestly do not know how much is in or not.  I used to follow it closely and then it drove me nuts.  So now I also just go by how I feel, what I can eat and what I can't.  I just got 1cc removed but I don't know how much is left right now.  

I did have a total unfill last year and I was able to eat entirely too much but instead of not feeling restriction - because my body was not used to eating like that, I would feel the left shoulder pain instead of restriction.  I was only unfilled a month and then refilled but not to the level I was at before.
 
Maybe I'm the off one to say that as a bandster having a restrictive procedure but I never think about restriction in the ways others talk about saying never getting there.  I'm the type one day I can eat something the next day I can't so my body in itself contributes heavily to how my band works.

I just had an unfill yesterday as I've been having some discomfort due to stress. 

In the end I don't think it matters how much is in there.....I am very wowed when I see people having almost full bands.  I have never been over 4-5cc (depends on how much they pull back from the tubing that the level varies which always annoyed me before when I wanted to know!) and If I had to guess where I am right now, id probably say somewhere around 3cc.

99% of the time when I think i "need" a fill because I have gone a few days eating more than I usually can - that very next day, I'm right back to being tight and usually end up cancelling my fill!