Gastric Banding anyone? Mod Note: No Clinic Names

robgti wrote: »

Hi jcahill

I also have my apointment tomorw with a begium company? May I ask were is yours

Cheers

reminder - please do not share these details on thread folks, thanks.

hi. I'm just wondering how you got in with the consultant? Did he/she recommend anything in particular?

Hi debathy,

I don't think you are too young to be considering surgery. I know how you feel; I started to put on a lot of weight because of PCOS and an underactive thyroid when I was about your age. I am nearly 25 now and I feel like I have missed out on a lot of the so called "good years". I don't have many friends and I never go out. I feel lonely and I am depressed.

I wish I had known about the surgery earlier and I would have considered it sooner. it's a pity your mother isn't very supportive. if I were you i would look into finding another doctor that isn't so dismissive. i found my doctor to be very helpful as i have medical conditions that contribute to my weight, but a proper doctor really should check you for any weight related issues anyway. sometimes it is just very hard to lose weight and i dont like what your doctor said to you.

i think you should definitely research the surgery a bit more, and if you have a medical card or vhi it can be covered. maybe you could sit your mother down for a proper conversation and explain to her how bad you feel and how your weight is affecting your life. maybe with the research that you do she will understand how having surgery could benefit you.

good luck

Hey Debathy,

I was banded in April, and so far have lost five and a half stone (2 of them pre-op) I have had two fills, bringing the amount of saline in my band to 4mls, and so far I have good restriction - the amount I am satisfied on is much reduced, and I'm eating healthier.

I just wanted to give you some words of advice regarding banding. A lot of people think it's a miracle cure, that you get the band and that the weight falls off you - this is not true at all. Okay, so the band helps, but you still have to watch what you eat. There are also a lot of changes you have to make to the way you eat.

First off, you have to eat much, much more slowly. I cannot emphasise enough how slowly. You have to take tiny bites (the size of a thumbnail) and chew approx. 30 times; you then have to leave 30 secs - 1 min until you take the next mouthful. Try it with your next meal - it's hard to do!!!

Secondly, you have to stop eating after about 20 mins. The feeling of being full as you know it is not the signal you are looking for - if you eat to fullness, you have overeaten. Overeating over a long period of time can cause damage to the band, and could make you very sick, and result in the band having to come out at your own expense. Training yourself to stop eating when you've had enough - not when you are full - is one of the most difficult parts.

You still have to watch what you eat. I use an iphone app to track calories, and I don't generally eat more than about 1200kcals on any given day (with the odd exception of course!!) The band helps by slowing you down and giving you a satisfied feeling on less food, but if you eat the wrong food, you won't lose weight.

You have to do a week long all milk diet to prepare for the surgery. This. Is. Hell. I hated it, and found it very hard to stick to, but stick to it you must - it's to shrink your liver to make surgery safer. If the surgeon opens you up and finds your liver is too big to safely operate, he will close you up there and then.

After the op, you have to have nothing but thin liquids for 2 weeks, nothing but mushy, baby food consistency for two weeks, and then you can eat solid food. I had a few teething problems, and I was on mush for nearly six weeks!

When you are on solid food, you have to eat dry, hard crunchy foods. Soft, slippy foods like pasta in sauce, are called slider foods; they will slip right past the band and you will not feel restriction, therefore you will eat more. As well as that, most slider foods are high calorie, so you will be able to eat far more of the stuff that's bad for you!

You may have problems with certain foods. I can no longer tolerate doughy bread, cheese or minced meat that has been formed - for example, burgers, koftas, kebab meat.

You cannot eat and drink at the same time - you must leave an hour after eating before you drink.

you can never have fizzy drinks again, and that includes beer.

If you eat too fast, or don't chew enough, you get what's known as Iron Fist. This is horribly painful and unpleasant - it occurs when food gets 'stuck' over the band and can't pass through. It feels literally like a fist is grabbing your heart, you get massive pain around your ribcage and it can last ages.

If you get IF, one of two things will happen - the food will pass into your stomach (usually with much belching and bringing up of mucus and saliva) or you will have what's known as a 'productive burp' - literally, you belch and the chewed food comes up again. Not nice, and it can irritate the top of your oesophagus. If it does, you usually have to go back to fluids/mush for a few days until it settles down. (I've just spent half an hour with my head hung over the loo because I took a bite of naan bread and didn't chew it well enough - I won't be eating any more of it!!)

The main risks after surgery are band erosion - where the band ''eats'' into your stomach wall - and band slippage - where part of your stomach herniates up through the band. Both of these things will require the band to be removed. Another risk is that a pouch forms above the band by routinely eating too much. These risks can be cut by following the band rules, but they can't be eliminated.

Having said all that, the band is the best thing I've ever done. I still have to diet, but on the odd occasion I'm not watching what I eat (like on holiday) I don't really regain weight. I started at twenty and a half stone and a size 24, heading into a size 26 - I'm now 14st 13lbs, and fairly comfortably in a size 16. My life has changed immeasurably for the better. If I'm eating out, I save a fortune too, as I only eat a side portion! Well worth it for not being able to eat bread!

I know the above sounds like a huge amount of change - and it is - but they are all changes that are doable. You have to be willing to work with the band, or it WILL NOT WORK!!! If you have doubts that you will be able to keep up those changes long term, then the band is probably not for you - bypass or gastric sleeve might be a better option. It's important to go into this with your eyes open. Do your research, and know what you are getting into BEFORE you commit to surgery.

Best of luck x

No idea on Quinn Healthcare but VHI have just recently covered the cost of my bariatric surgery. I thank God every day and acknowledge that I owe them my loyalty for life!

shellita wrote: »

Not a full feeling as in the way I used to feel full, but since I had the band (over 1 year ago) when I have had food (even less that 20 mouth fulls) I get a tight feeling in my chest and I stop eating. I described this and was told thats you feeling full. So I stop eating then. However since this fill I don't feel that.

I got my band last June so Im used to feeling like that, even a few peanuts or 1 slice of toast would be enough to make me feel this fullness a few months ago.

I explained exactly my eating habits to the nurse & specialist from the hospital that was in the clinic I go to for my fill. They both agreed I am eating correctly, and don't see any problems. I am not vomiting or getting pain.

Don't take this wrong as I am just trying to understand.
Are you saying you eat 20 mouth fulls and don't feel anything?

I feel my band ''tighten'' I suppose is the right word for it - it's not a feeling of fullness as I would have known it before the band. I try not to eat to the level where I feel that though, if at all possible I try to stop eating after the 20 mouthfuls and listen to my body - I may not feel full, but I don't feel hunger anymore. That's the signal we should be looking for, not fullness.

It sounds to me like you have a good balance - you can eat anything, and you're not being sick. A too-tight band can be dangerous. If you feel you need a small fill, then do - it's hard to know, we want restriction but not to have our lives curtailed.

Hey shellita,

A typical days eating for me would be something like this:

Breakfast: 30g cereal (shreddies, cornflakes, or muesli, nothing soft like weetabix) and skimmed milk, or maybe an egg scrambled or poached, and a rasher.

Lunch would be a wrap with chicken & salad, or maybe cous cous or pasta with chicken or tuna - portion size would be probably about a small cereal bowl or a bit less.

Dinner would be similar to lunch, or would be grilled chicken with 2 baby new potatoes and 2 tablespoons of steamed veg, or it would be about half a ready meal (usually tesco lighter choices) or half an innocent veg pot with a bit of chicken thrown in.

These are the quantities I eat, but make no mistake - I CAN eat more... I just stop after the small portion. When I stop, I have a think about how I feel, and honestly, although I'm not full, I'm not hungry either, and that's the cue to stop. It's the hardest part of it, stopping when you are satisfied, not when you are full.

As for the salad, some salads are great band food - a chicken salad on rocket/radicchio leaves, some olives, raw peppers, mange tout, baby sweetcorn - all good. A salad with wet canned tuna, iceberg and thinly sliced onions, covered in dressing, will go straight down and won't provide restriction because when chewed it's very wet.

I'm not an angel by any stretch, but I do count calories. I don't go over 1200cals a day generally, more if I've exercised, but never more than about 1800cals a day. Eating good band food stops me feeling hungry, but it's my willpower and food choices that have lost me the weight, not the band - the band is just helping out.

I think you need to go back to your provider, ask for a SMALL fill (half a ml maybe) and see where you go from there. My last fill was 1ml, and it made a huge difference, before it I could eat basically anything, afterwards, I had to be careful. It's a delicate balancing act, but really, it's willpower that's gonna get you there.

Edit: Sorry, just saw that you're going back for a fill. That's good - in the meantime, it's willpower, and sticking to band rules - small plate, eat slow, chew, and stop after 20 mins. I hope the fill sorts you out.

Hi everyone,

I am a final year psychology student in UCC. My project is based on Gastric banding here in Ireland. I am looking for people who have undergone the surgery as well as family and friend members that know or live with someone with a gastric band. It consists of filling out a questionnaire that takes about ten minutes to complete.

If you or know someone that can help me I would really appreciate it. I need to have my data collected by the end of next week and I am a bit behind

If you are interested, please PM me for more information

Thank you so much!!!!