Banded Together

I had the realize band surgery August 19, 2010.  Just yesterday I went in for my 3rd fill….I have a total of 8.5 cc’s in the band.  I have not lost ANY weight since the surgery but have gained about 20 pounds!  I do not feel any restriction, and can eat anything, just like before the surgery, breads, pasta, rice, you name it….everything goes down just fine!  I actually feel like I do not even have a band in me!  This of course is the total opposite of where I want to be and I am beyond frustrated!  All I do is count down the days until I can go get another fill and pray that “this time” I will feel some sort of restriction and see some weight loss.  I would like to know if anyone else has had this same horrible experience with the realize band.  I don’t know what to do!

DoubleLLS -

You’re in the frustrating part of your weight loss journey for two reasons. First, you don’t feel restriction, and second, you’re still learning how to use the band. That learning process is made more difficult when the band isn’t providing the restriction you were hoping for.

Some lucky people feel restriction within just a couple months and others take a long time. Sometimes it’s three fills to 8.5 ccs and sometimes an extra cc or even .1 more ccs is all it takes to get to proper restriction.

One thought that occured to me reading your story is liquids. Are you being careful not to drink with and after meals? A lot of people have trouble with that at first.

When you go in for your fourth fill, be sure to talk to your provider about everything you are doing and let him or her know your frustration. One thing that will really help keep an open and realistic conversation would be to keep a journal of your meals and perhaps also make notes of sensations you feel when eating those meals. The more information you can provide during the consult, the better your provider will be able to work with you.

HI!  I was wondering how your progress is doing now.

Thanks for the inquiry, sorry it took me so long to reply!

I would say that I have made a tiny bit of progress since my last post from November.  I am up to 10 cc’s in the band but have gained about another 10 pounds :(  The TINY bit of progress that I am going off of is I have started to feel a little bit of restriction when I eat meat of some kind like a steak or a hamburger but that is only if I take big bites and eat quickly.  If I eat slowly, take small bites and completely chew up my food I don’t notice anything and I can eat the same portion size of food as I did before the surgery…..therefore, I have gained a total of about 30 pounds since my surgery in August.

My next fill was supposed to be today but my doctor is sick and we rescheduled for 2-7-11.  Once again, I am hoping that this next fill will make all the difference!  If after this next fill I still feel basically no restriction like I do now I am pretty much going to give up on this surgery working for me!  I know that is a negative attitude but I have been getting fills like clockwork, am up to almost the maximum of cc’s in my band and have gained 30 pounds…this is ridiculous!  My selfesteem is at an all time low and I can’t take the continued weight gain anymore!  I am probably going to join Jenny Craig.  My problem with that is if I do lose weight on the Jenny Craig program it will not be because of my band giving my restriction it will be because of the diet, which in turn means that I will not be able to get anymore fills because my doctor will see that I am losing weight and think that it is from the band even if I tell her that I don’t feel restriction.  I have had success on the Jenny Craig program in the past but always have trouble keeping the weight off.

Has anyone had over 11 cc’s in their band??