I Want My Band Removed Now!!!!!

Shalee04 · 03-06-2008, 05:12 PM

Wasa and Westcoast Great words!!

globally yours · 03-06-2008, 06:03 PM

Yaz, have you checked out the book Weight Loss for Dummies? There's a section in the book about the very feelings you have. Kinda sounds like grief, and food is the loss.

West Coast and Wasa, more power to you!

Leather · 03-06-2008, 08:25 PM

Keep us posted Yaz. I'm hoping your Doc will move you to mushies asap, I think eating again will help you. In an earlier post I said I was 3 1/2 weeks past surgery, looking at the calender I am only 3 week past surgery. Once you get to mushies things get very easy. We will all be waiting for Tuesday to see what doctor says and to see if your spirits are better by then. Keep your chin up.

lindaa · 03-06-2008, 08:34 PM

Yaz, You weighed almost 200 pounds and had a BMI of over 40 at 22 years of age? That's not an astonishing number of pounds yet, however unless you make a dramatic change on the role that food plays in your life, your weight will only go up as you get older. Where will you be at 25? 30? 32? What will you do 10 years from now when you're pushing 250 pounds or more? Do you think there will be a surgeon who will be willing to give you another band once you've had one and had it removed? Why not just keep it, and like someone else said, don't fill it yet? Try to think about the big picture instead of reacting to how you are feeling at the moment. In the meantime, try to get a handle on why you have such a strong attachment to food.

Please understand that I'm not trying to be mean. I just think that you need to think this through and try to anticipate the consequences of your decision on the rest of your life. Sometimes we need to act more from our heads and less from our hearts. Again, good luck, hon. I'll be checking back to see how things turn out for you.

favorite · 03-07-2008, 12:18 AM

dont get a fill and once you start to eat you will feel a lot better. you are depressed after losing the comfort of food to help you get through the day. the liquids stage is a bitch. once your post surgery swelling goes down you can eat pretty much, almost as much if not as much as before you were banded. you should at least wait a few months and see if you change your mind. you just might surprise yourself. whatever your decision, good luck.

AthinnerDenise · 03-07-2008, 02:07 AM

I can relate to you being depressed. My daughter had WL surgery at 25. Before she had the surgery she was very depressed. Then the weight started falling off her and now she goes skiing, wake boarding, wears a bikini, and is happier than she has ever been in her life.

sheilamj1fan · 03-07-2008, 06:40 PM

Yelp it's normal to feel that way...it will pass. Trust me ;)

Be blessed!

o2bthin · 03-07-2008, 07:06 PM

Yazmin, I feel for you. You're awful young to be going through this radical change in your lifestyle. I would say that maybe you shouldn't have had the surgery in the first place, but that wouldn't do any good, because you've already had it. I do not think you should make the decision to have it removed based on the emotions you are feeling. What kind of support system do you have? It is crucial to your success. You can't do this alone, and you shouldn't try. Think of yourself as a team member. There is you, your surgeon, your primary care provider, your nutritionist, your counselor (you need one), a good friend who will encourage you and a Lap Band support group that you meet with on a regular basis. If you didn't have this in place before your surgery, GET IT NOW! There is no quick fix to obesity and there is no quick fix to the band you have now---getting it removed won't fix the feelings you are having either. It's totally normal to feel what you're feeling---food was your best friend and comforted you and you don't have it. If and when you are able to eat, you will sabotage yourself by "eating around the band" unless you get some support and believe in yourself! You can do it...health is a lifestyle commitment with or without the band. Good luck.

NancyJ1960 · 03-07-2008, 07:18 PM

I'm sort of in agreement with you, but as you said you did this for a reason. 22 is very young to be making such a permanent lifestyle change. Contact your psychosocial worker. I know this is not an impulsive decision for anyone but none of us know exactly how we will be affected afterwards. My thoughts for you, rushing into removal is impulsive, as human beings we are very adapable and hopefully this will pass too. Good luck with your journey.

MichelleInCA · 03-07-2008, 08:51 PM

Having been treated for depression myself (successfully!), I would urge you to get your depression treated first, then plan the removal of the band. The depression is the dangerous thing for you right now. Your surgeon could perhaps give you a referral to a shrink?

NanaRenan · 03-07-2008, 09:27 PM

There's been a TON of sage advice shared here already.

But I'm on the side saying just leave it in there. If you don't want to eat normally, then just don't ever go have a fill. The limitations and 'restriction' you're going through now are just a result of the surgery and will dissipate. In fact, you'll be eating normally in another week or two and hungry enough to eat the legs off the table -- I did.

And the scales will show it, too! Wait until then to make your final decision -- do you WANT to watch the numbers climb?

And frankly, I think some of your anxiety and depression is related to the general anesthesia -- which you would get AGAIN to remove the band.

I'd stated for many years, "I'd walk from New York to L.A. and back again if I could be a size 10 when I was done."

Well -- 'working the band' is definitely easier than that hike would be!

EnchantedRuby · 03-07-2008, 10:39 PM

Ok So I’m not going to sit here and lecture you, Yaz about how wrong you are for giving but at the same time I’m not going to encourage you to have the band remove. What I can do for you is tell you my experience. See I tried everything and at your age I was already close to 200lbs.. I kept thinking that’s not bad as long as I don’t actually hit 200 I’m still ok. So I started dieting to “stay under 200” and dieted, and dieted. I turned 30 and I was at 265lbs!! How?? I exercised a lot at that age. I never ate red meat, never drank sodas. So why was I so heavy?? So I gave up dieting and started to love me for me!!. Whether 190 or 265.. I was happy. I started eating what ever I wanted to and before you know it I was for some reason loosing weight. 1 year ago I got sick. Found out I was border line diabetic, hypertension, and severe sleep apnea. Not to mention I was having major pain in my legs at night. So I started to diet HARD. Counting calories, working out, I joined weight watchers. Nothing was working. To me having the Lap Band or the bypass was an “easy way out” for lazy fat people. No I didn’t miss read you post, I know what you meant but this is what I felt. When I first met with my family doctor he asked about my thoughts regarding the surgeries. My response? No thanks. Then he basically told me that at the rate I was going I was not going to be able to see my son get married and have his kids…

Did I go through the “what the heck did I do to myself”?? Of course.. I cried myself to sleep at night for being in so much pain and watching my hubby and son eat anything they wanted. I’m an “emotional eater” a ‘food addict”!!.. All I wanted to do was eat to feel better. But guess what? The food gets better and you shouldn’t deprive yourself of food. I would “kill” the urge at first by just sticking my figure in food for a “quick” taste. I chose to stick to pureed foods longer than I needed to, but you don’t have to. The first few days are hard because you are still swollen. You’re body is still trying to adjust to the “foreign” object. I feel great now, I won’t lie to you and tell you I feel 100% all the time because I don’t. I get tired sometimes and just want to sleep. I get hungry a lot and want to cheat and not to mention I still feel a little sore when I try to do something I shouldn’t.

Hope all goes well for you.. Either way you choose to go.. good luck!

shortgal · 03-08-2008, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angie4b1g

A good reason for insurance companies to make this so difficult.

I can't believe you'd have surgery without thinking it through FIRST.

I can't believe they paid for hers and didn't pay for mine even though I was covered and over 40 BMI. I just lacked the proof that I was overweight for the last 5 years. Heck I was overweight since I was 10 years old! But the proof , as they required it, was lacking!

I'm guessing there was no 6 month supervised diet required either, that might have solved it before surgery.

**Jack** · 03-08-2008, 01:32 PM

I share the distress of the OP here...and I went through a bit of it myself....my original avatar was Homer smacking his forehead....the 'what have I DONE to myself' pose.....

and I can't rush to the rescue of this Bandster without filtering through my own experiences...

I wish at 22 I had the opportunity to avoid spending the next 40 years as Morbidly Obese...

would I have been able to see the real notion of "normal" and "the REAL me".....probably not.

And WasaB, you're right on in so many ways....however on a minor POV I disagree, re: "Having WLS does take much of the joy out of eating."

I haven't found that at all. What it has done for me, is to take the joy out of OVER eating.....and that's the whole point.

I'm not sure where in my young life I stepped onto the path to Morbid Obesity....and I can't blame anyone....I don know that as the 'littlest one' in my dysfunctional and distended family, I learned to eat for the wrong reasons. Hunger had nothing to do with my eating.

By the time I was 32 I had strongly established notions of what I could do and eat....and drink....

I spent 5 years as a vegetarian....the only fat vegetarian I knew....somehow I overlooked the fact I was the only vegetarian that drank beer....plenty of it...and not because I was always thirsty either...

Much of it was to wash down that huge gulp of whatever I was stuffing in my face at the moment, so I'd have time to get yet another plateful of whatever was available...

So personally I ignored the 'real me' and fed the 'unreal me'....and did so for decades.

By the time I was 42 I could tell something wasn't right....and lab results showed in no uncertain terms I had to make the choice between drinking beer and keeping my eyeballs and kidneys.

By 52 I was losing the battle for my body parts, even while continuing to overfeed 'the real me'.

I was overwhelmed with the sudden realization the 'real me' was losing the opportunity to NOT be Morbidly Obese with all the co-morbidities that certainly could/would kill or cripple me.

The real me decided that where I was at, was not worth what I was going through.....and the 'REAL' real me wanted HIS chance at a good life......

So here I am. And NOTHING tastes as good as being thin feels.

Good luck in your journey yazmarrero85. Be gentle with yourself.

globally yours · 03-08-2008, 01:38 PM

Here here Jack!