Morning Everyone,
I found this board and thought that I should write and let you all know my experiences of the Gastric Balloon and the worst case scenarios that can happen. When I was 22 I had Gastric Balloon fitted at St.Jans hospital weighing 23stone. A fantastic little place in brugge very high medical care but as so many of you have found very little aftercare. The ballon procedure is to numb the back of your throat and give you a seditive they then slope and endoscopy down your throat to check your stomach and ask you to swallow the balloon down. This is in the least very uncomfortable. After the procedure I waited for 30mins for the aneasthetic to wear off and left to return to England.
On the way home the dreaded pain began. You start vomitting but because your stomach is fairly empty it is just green goo as you havent eaten 12-24 hours before the procedure. 12 hours on because of the level of acid in your stomach and a balloon now being in there you get heart burn. The level of stomach acid is to high and it hurts like buggery. along with the dry wretching.
for the first 4 days you will have a hell off a time but with simple over the counter medicine such as Zantac this can be controlled. Your stomach usualy becomes accustimed rapidly a max of 2 weeks and your not vommiting. For me it was the standard 4 days.
Then the liquid diet starts and you start your normal tasks.
Let me tell you this is the best bit you start loosing weight rapidly. I went to the gym 4 times a week and became healthier fitter and stronger for the first time in my life. I looked great! And boy did people notice. The designer clothes came on and the energy that I had transformed me. Being overweight makes you feel awfull and less outgoing also I found during my various sizes people take you less seriously when you are over weight maybe because you look comical or because they feel that there better because they have the ability to limit there intake. There are many reasons people are overweight but thats another thread......
So 4 months in I had gone from 23stone to 15:10! 6 months 14.5 then I plateued your stomach can handle normal sizes and is used to the balloon and you just dont get the weight loss anymore at this stage.
This balloon was such a radical change in my life that I stupidly kept it in far to long 10 months then the enevitable happened and it slipped into my large intestine. I was admitted and at first the doctors thought I had constipation and kept me in for 12 days whilst I lost a further 2 stone in 12 days! Bloody NHS! They finally conceeded removed the balloon by cutting through my abdomen and stitched me back up.
13 months on I'm back to the same size I was at the beginning (well close).
Heres the kicker I'm off to have a second placed in Prague in a month. It is an amazing piece of kit and the temporary discomfort at the beginning is worth it for the change in your life. But you have to learn about eating from this and healthy exercise you also have to be very strict and dont leave it in to long. When it does come out your stomach is still the stretched over sized stomach it was before the only differance is you havent got a large part of it filled now so you will start eating more but if you strict in this phase your stomach will shrink again to a normal healthy persons size and you've done it. But all of us will have to struggle to watch our food intake for the rest of our lives.
This can help it does help just take my story of how not to do it and learn the lessons of doing it safely. I didnt want to have it removed because it made such a change in my life but it almost cost me my life. This is the only danger with the gastric balloon (well not only but the mayor one) leaving it inserted to long.
Good luck to everybody.
wow thanks for that long post! I cannot believe you had it in for that long! here in canada my removal date in 6 months is already booked. In fact Im hoping to have it out in 3-4 months as I want to get my body ready to start trying for a baby.
now to gain all that weight back you must have been overeating a lot, and perhaps not the ideal candidate for a balloon as its so temporary. have you not considered a lapband?
In my situation I was a normal weight all my life until a few bad years where I piled on 40-50 pounds. I have stopped overeating and kept at that higher weight for 4 years (not gained anymore). My problem has been that every time I tried to diet, I would just get so damn hungry and give up. I just cant do it. I felt that the balloon would stop the hunger and let me eat less, to lose the weight.
when I get back to my normal weight I know I will not pile it back on. For one, I now know how impossible it is to get off, so if I gained even 10 pounds I would make sure not to continue. I will never forget that I resorted to putting a balloon down my throat.
when the balloon comes out yes I will resort back to my normal eating, but my normal eating does not make me gain weight, just maintain. Id need to be constantly overeating to gain all that back, and thats not going to happen. I'll be very happy with my 1800 calories per day and will eat how I ate for 20+ years before I gained the weight. It was the trying to cut calories to lose the weight that was impossible for me.
anyway I feel that the balloon is only good for those who have not had an ongoing weight problem, those people probably need the lapband that has long term control. here in canada they tend to perform the balloon on those with smaller amounts of weight to lose, not those with over 100 pounds.
tomorrow I would have had the balloon in for 2 weeks, its not been easy but Im feeling a lot better. I still cant imagine working out, but I guess at some point I wont feel the balloon at all anymore and will be able to do that.
