Re: Hi all- I need to vent

[Guest guest]

Hi Kate,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Are the physical attributes of the band

working ie. not physically able to eat a lot? Can you get down a 1/2 cup of

compacted solids? Or are you doing what I did for three years and exist on

purees and slush and unconsciously downing more and sometimes more

calorie-laden food? Although I managed to lose 70kgs in that time (still a

whole lot more to go tho) - it was very slow and I put it down to being

able to get more than that amount in slush form, into my body three times a

day. It would appear that those lucky devils who can eat normal food but in

the small quantities that a well-fitting band allows, are the best losers

(or

winners).

Don't give up - I'm still fiddling around with my band trying to get it

right and not having much success. The other side of it is that I am in

danger of putting it all back on if I can't sort it out and that is also a

very depressing thought. While not knowing any diabetics with a band, I've

observed that the diabetics I know eat very good food, just the kind that I

hope to - so it may be that that may not be so much of a weight problem

relating to food intake. It is good that he has managed to catch it tho

before other symptoms had appeared, but it was not good news was it.

Would love to hear more from you about the band and what kind of food you

have actually been able to eat. Some of the surgeons appear to be

remarkably casual in the post-op service, don't they? I think there are

quite a lot of us out there sloshing around on baby food; or vomiting our

guts out unnecessarily and that is not what was supposed to happen. I don't

know that sticking more fluid in the band is necessarily the right

response. I think a lot of my problem was that I was so scared of vomiting

in the initial stages that I wouldn't dare eat any solid textures and

didn't really " retrain " my banded stomach to stretch a little and start

working properly.

And yet, there appears to be a lot of people on the line who have no

problems with food, or who vomit regularly and appear to be suffering no

ill effects. I don't know. All this talk of vomiting scares me a bit. After

just having my band repositioned this month because of a slippage and now

having to go back next week to have the port turned back, I'm back to being

too scared to breathe. I still feel that vomiting a lot would disturb the

system and up or down would go my band again. When I go back and read

through the

brochure on foods, they did stress that vomiting was to be avoided.

I just wish we had more information on the post-op variables of eating -

there appears to be so many.

Yes, it is hard to hear this talk of success for those that have reached

goal isn't it? Every time I read them and silently congratulate them on

their success, I think to myself that I have lost all this weight, (much

more than they weigh now) but am still morbidly obese - In fact the same

weight as some of them started. It does make me feel like giving up. I have

stayed basically the same for almost a year now and it is depressing - to

be so close and yet standing still.

All we can think of when we feel like this, is why we went into it in the

first place and how we felt there was nothing else that was going to work.

Kate, don't give up - keep online and use all this available time you have

been given to exercise, plan and think it through. I walk over 12ks a day -

half

before work in the morning (5.00-6.10am) and the rest in the evening

(5.30-6.40pm) and now I wouldn't miss it for the world. It is my time to

think, to just put one foot in front of the other and take off. Very hard

to start. So many times in the early days, I would stop still, turn around

and start walking home. Then I would get so angry with myself and take off

in the other direction at such speed.

I'm really glad now that I kept it going because it is the one thing in a

very busy lifestyle that keeps me sane. And more importantly, it is the one

thing that I feel proud of - I have had no control over my weight loss (in

fact, feel I have lost in spite of myself because I have not been able to

" do it right " ) and therefore have no sense of achievement with it; the

lapband experience for me has promoted a sense of failure once more in over

forty years of weight reduction attempts - The walking is my only sense of

achievement in this whole deal.

Sorry to be so long-winded about all this, but I really hope you will keep

in contact and that it can be sorted out for you. It must be the food

- either type of food or amount. Please talk about it. How much fluid do

you

actually have in your band?

Hope to hear from you

Dianne

at: dfc2948@...

----------

> From: KGByrne1@...

> To: ozbandegroups

> Subject: Hi all- I need to vent

> Date: Saturday, 28 October 2000 9:32

>

> Hi

> I went to see Dixon yesterday arvo, and I was extremely

> depressed to find that I haven't lost any weight since four weeks

> ago, and in fact since being banded on 10 July I have only lost 5

> kilos total. I wasn't aware that it was possible to NOT lose weight

> with the band, and so many people seem to have such a lot of success,

> but not me. says i am extremely insulin-resistant. Apparently I

> will become type 2 diabetic soon, he says, as a normal reading for

> insulin-something is 20, and my fasting level was 98, which he says

> he has never seen before.

> Sorry to sound so negative, but being unemployed, as well as having

> no weight loss is just all getting too much to handle. I am going to

> research this insulin resistance as I haven't heard about it.

> put another .3 in the band, but I am starting to feel really

> depressed about it. Sorry to be so negative, I am really happy for

> all of you who are having such success, I just wouldn't mind a bit of

> luck coming my way!

> Have a good weekend.

> Kate

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kate

How much fluid have you in the band in total now? Also how much can you eat

at meal times?

Sally

[Guest guest]

Hi Kate,

I shouldn't really be here (I'm a kiwi living in the US) but do lurk

and wanted to respond to your message.

I'm really sorry to hear of your difficulties. It seems a shame that

your doctor did not test for insulin resistence prior to your surgery

so that you could at least have discussed how it might affect your

weightloss.

I don't know how you feel about medication but thought you may be

interested in a drug I was given by my doctor over here in the US.

It was called Glucophage. Apparently it is a drug prescribed to

diabetics to help control their insulin and preliminary studies have

shown that it can help people without diabetes to lose substantial

amounts of weight by helping to control their insulin levels.

She said she read about it in the latest issue of Prescription

magazine and I imagine that I could get a copy if you wanted to

follow up. Just let me know and I'd be happy to ask her for the

article and post or fax it over for you.

I'm not interested in taking it ... mainly because, unlike my doctor,

I'm actually really pleased with my current weight which - although

above 'normal' - is a hell of a lot better than it used to be and

certainly acceptable as far as I am concerned.

Anyway ... just thought you might be interested!

Take care

Karlene

TAMPA, FLORIDA (previously AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND)

Post-op: Surgery with Schroeder, NZ, 25 August 1999

Vital Statistics: 32, Married, 6'0 "

Weight: Starting 149kgs, Current 95kgs, Lost 54kgs

You can see my pictures and story in the PROFILES section of the NZ

Lapband Support Group website (http://www.geocities.com/lapbander)