raingal
Hello!
I was banded in June 2008, and just have not had any luck with it. I am self-pay, and was feeling really ripped off by all the effort and expense and not having it work the way it was supposed to, until I read everyone else's story. Now I feel lucky that my health has not been severely compromised by this thing!
With all the fills I've had, all I've experienced is sliming and difficulty in getting healthy food down. I never felt full any sooner than without the band, and the feeling of fullness didn't last longer as I was told it would. My doctor kept saying, "just eat only about a cup of food per meal." Well, that sounds like dieting to me! I got the band so that I wouldn't have to do it all myself and constantly deprive myself; I would feel satisfied with less.
I've eaten so many cold meals because it took so long for the food to go down. I've had to run to the bathroom and vomit so many times. I lost only about 15 lbs at my lowest, but eventually I got sick of having constant discomfort with healthy food and not being able to get the food down no matter how small my bites or how much I chewed, and i started eating slider foods instead, and/or drinking with meals. In November 2010 I had all the fluid removed, and it has been more comfortable since then, but now I just want this damn thing out of my body.
Now I am at EXACTLY the weight I was when I was banded. And, exactly three years after I had it put in, I am scheduled to have it removed and be sleeved by Dr. Jaime Ponce de Leon at Angeles Hospital in Tijuana on June 17, 2011. Ironically, Dr. Ponce used to primarily promote banding, and now he is preparing a presentation for the Cabo Bariatric Congress about how poorly the band performs - long-term weight-loss results, all the awful physical complications, and the high number of people who subsequently have the band removed. I hope the tables are turning and the information is starting to get out to bariatric surgeons and potential clients that the band should be banned!
