Lap Band's Appetite Curtailment Abilities

Thanks for clearing that up!  Scary!  The though of having your Vagus Nerve removed!  Yikes!  I'm always happy to see people respond to misinformation.  IT's so important to know what we are talking about.  If not, then we need to ask.  I am not one of them, but many people read and believe everything on the internet! 

The band DOES tout reducing hunger becasue it is designed to put pressure on teh Vegas nerve and falsley signal fullness. Mine did that. And now it is removed and I am not hungry like I was preband. Don't know why. But I am not...I ea a healthy paleo diet. That might be why. But physical hunder is different the psychological hunger that many heavy people have as a result of the reasons they over ate in the first place.

For myself, with the band restriction I filled up faster and felt full because of that........ Couldn't eat another bite.............. But with my wls I also changed my eating habits and ...........with less carbs my appetite calms down and I don't experience the desire to eat so often........ or feel hungry so often...... and changed my daily activities, becoming more active. which also help curb my desire to eat .....

This thread is very interesting because it points to th differences between the US and some other countries like Australia and th UK. We used to be told pressure on to vagus nerve signalled satiety. Now we are told that we should avoid this pressure and food should not be retained above the band as this can lead to problems. This puts much more onus on us to exercise control over what we eat and so makes losing weight with the band still harder! But for some, the help it can give is sufficient. I know some US surgeons are now following the UK/OZ line but clearly not all. 

For the band to work, your personal commitment has to be very high. For me, that was enough. For others it is not. And before anyone leaps in, I am not in any way implying that if you follow all the "rules" it will  inevitably be fine! I am just saying, the band, if used properly can help. Complications can arise for other reasons. 

I loved my band. It didn't make me not hungry... but I learned very quickly there were a lot of foods I couldn't eat without violently throwing up (I had black eyes from the pressure of puking more than I can say).  Eventually I started avoiding foods because I didn't want to be sick. I lost a lot of weight with the band and kept most of it off.

I don't regret getting the band.  I lost the majority of my weight in a year.  But this year I ended up getting diagnosed with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and my esophagus had stretched into another stomach. Gross, right?

My band was removed a few days ago and I converted to a sleeve.  Since I'm still recovering I don't know if the sleeve is better.  But I'm hopeful that I won't be sick everyday.

Foods I couldn't eat with the band (or if I tried I would be sliming and throwing up for a while):

salad

watermelon

banana

rice

bread

fried chicken

things I could eat easily with the band (and were part of my daily diet)

breakfast: latte from starbucks (I couldn't anything solid for breakfast)

lunch: chips or crackers

dinner: soup or some kind of seriously lubed up chicken or fish ( i used mayo on everything)

snack: chips, crackers, cheese. Anything crunchy really!