Gastric Balloon

[alligatorCAN]

Gastric balloon in Canada

Does anyone know of a good place for an American to get the gastric balloon in Canada? The balloon is not offered in the States yet and I really am interested in getting one. Any information would be helpful. Thanks,

Hi CaliGrl, there are actually quite a few places, most major cities. I'm guessing you're from California, so the closest to you would be Vancouver. I'm getting a balloon there from Dr. Woodhead at the end of the month - he's the only doctor on the west coast that does them as far as I know. There's also a doctor in Calgary, a few clinics in Toronto and a couple of clinics in Montreal as well. Dr. Woodhead is also a lot less expensive that the other clinics, as he does it in a hospital rather than a private clinic.

Good luck and feel free to message me if you'd like more info.
Alison

 

[alligatorCAN]

what i find pretty disturbing, is how you guys pay for surgery and go through all this pain and horridness, to go and eat such shitty shocking foods as butter on toast?
Im guessing it never occurred to you guys that this was possibly the reason you got a little overweight in the first place? Butter is pretty much 100% fat, even the copycat spreads are no easier on your stomach.
Perhaps you might want to go for thicker vegetable soups than watery noodle ones?

Hi Wishes, I had a look at your site and wow, congrats on a fantastic job on your weight loss journey. You are really doing great and look terrific. I'm sure you have struggled in the past, and could understand that whatever route people have chosen for their weight loss is a personal decision, and of course positive support is a lot more appreciated than scorn and criticism. I also noticed on your most-recent weight loss blog post that you confessed to "eating like a glutton" at a BBQ - we all slip up and don't eat healthy 100% of the time, despite our well intentions.

Best of luck to you and everyone else on making it to your goal weight!

 

[wishes]

Wishes- this balloon is not a wonder solution as you say and just because you have one doesnt mean u cant make mistakes ( as most people on regular diets do),

Agreed wholeheartedly, i looked into all the options myself multiple times but chickened out at cost and surgery. Also really hate feeling ill and stomach cramps.
But what im saying is, even most dieters stick with the diet at least more than a month before cheating. Surely the motivation that you spent hundreds and thousands of dollars and are in pain and vomiting everytime you eat, is enough to at least convince you to think twice about things going in your mouth?

 

[chick1980]

Wishes, I do agree with you and that the money spent does play a factor in my motivation to lose weight , as it did with Lighter Life at £70 pw ( 12 weeks worth!!) its the sickness that really puts me off ...I think some people dont get the sickness and if they do its not hugely unpleasant therefore they can 'get away ' with the odd slip up like normally dieters.

In the early days I guess we ballooner just dont know what to eat and as with any diet old habits sometimes die hard.

think whatever route we take we need to ensure we allow people to discuss their failures and success on this site freely as surely what brings most of us here is the feeling that we just cant always talk about these things to our friends and family for fear of driving them mad!! lol

 

[wishes]

heh yeah i know one girl who had th gastric band i think, she lost a bit of weight but shes back eating the amount she used to be with no problems at all. I think her band is possibly set to tight or loose?

Funnily enough though, if you get sick and cant eat for a week, your stomach shrinks. you can do this with diet as well and 'get used' to small amounts. Thats half the problem in the first place, eating too much stretching your stomach to large so you get hungry more etc.
Also i think stupidly large portion sizes when eating out doesnt help, more often than not my family goes out now and buys 2-3 meals to split between the 5 of us.

 

[laurie1985]

heh yeah i know one girl who had th gastric band i think, she lost a bit of weight but shes back eating the amount she used to be with no problems at all. I think her band is possibly set to tight or loose?

Funnily enough though, if you get sick and cant eat for a week, your stomach shrinks. you can do this with diet as well and 'get used' to small amounts. Thats half the problem in the first place, eating too much stretching your stomach to large so you get hungry more etc.
Also i think stupidly large portion sizes when eating out doesnt help, more often than not my family goes out now and buys 2-3 meals to split between the 5 of us.

Hey, well done on ur weight loss? i take it you did it just through dieting? how long did it take you?

 

[Rahksan]

Cost of surgery

Hi CaliGrl, there are actually quite a few places, most major cities. I'm guessing you're from California, so the closest to you would be Vancouver. I'm getting a balloon there from Dr. Woodhead at the end of the month - he's the only doctor on the west coast that does them as far as I know. There's also a doctor in Calgary, a few clinics in Toronto and a couple of clinics in Montreal as well. Dr. Woodhead is also a lot less expensive that the other clinics, as he does it in a hospital rather than a private clinic.

Good luck and feel free to message me if you'd like more info.
Alison

Hi AlligatorCan,

Can I ask how much Dr. Woodhead, is charging you for the surgery. I am from Newfoundland and the cost on this end of the country is $8000 and I would have to fly to either Quebec or Ontario to have it done.

Rahksan

 

[deetreacle]

Hi everyone,
how you all doing?
Im still not keeping that much down, but feelin a lot better and spasms starting to go, only there a bit now and at night thank god............
acid not to bad now either so just need to loose lots of weight now, i feel and look very bloated still so its hard to think it will ever happen, but i eating so much less so it had to ha ha..
So hows everyone else doing, any news, and are you all managing ok??
Well if I dont hear from any of you have a fab weekend, its springtime so it time to get outside and have a lovely walk it will make us feel great by the time we get home..
Bye for now

 

[alligatorCAN]

Hi AlligatorCan,

Can I ask how much Dr. Woodhead, is charging you for the surgery. I am from Newfoundland and the cost on this end of the country is $8000 and I would have to fly to either Quebec or Ontario to have it done.

Rahksan

Dr. Woodhead charges $5100. It's cheaper than out east for two reasons (I think), one is he does the procedure in a hospital whereas the others are private clinics. Two, the private clinics have dieticians that you work with on a regular basis over the time your balloon is in, so there's more support after the insertion. Hope that helps.

 

[wishes]

Hey, well done on ur weight loss? i take it you did it just through dieting? how long did it take you?

Lost most of it over the first year, probably about 90lbs? the rest over the next year. I had a goal in mind, i set my goal, once below that i slowed down a lot. The last bits im deliberatly letting go slowly off. Getting into good eating habits more than dieting as such

 

[CaliGrl]

Hi Alison

Thank you for the information. I am doing the research on the gastric ballon for myself and two of my friends. Two of us live in California and the 3rd lives in Virginia and so we are open to flying to the east coast of Canada.

Could you please give me Dr. Woodhead's contact information? Thanks,

 

[alligatorCAN]

Hi Alison

Thank you for the information. I am doing the research on the gastric ballon for myself and two of my friends. Two of us live in California and the 3rd lives in Virginia and so we are open to flying to the east coast of Canada.

Could you please give me Dr. Woodhead's contact information? Thanks,

Dr. Woodhead's office number is 604-946-6500; he's in Delta which is just south of Vancouver, BC. I've also heard good things about the Surgical Weight Loss Centre in Toronto () and Laser Montreal (). Also, check out the Puget Sound Surgical Center in Seattle, as they are supposedly starting a clinical trial on the balloons and looking for participants.

Hope that helps.

 

[cathybarts]

My experienc3

Hello

Just had to let you know about my balloon as I am so pleased. I had the balloon inserted on 4th April 2009 and since then have lost 21lbs. I am in the UK but just wanted to let you know how I am finding it. I have been very sick for two weeks but feel fantastic as my system is being cleansed.

I have lived on pureed soups and never feel hungry which for me is a new feeling as I have always been a bit of a greedy thing.

I am getting into clothes I haven't worn for 2 years and it is so exciting. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to lose weight quickly and doesn't want dastic surgery.

Would love to hear from anyone out there with their experience and if they are as happy as I am.

Cathy, Brighton, England

 

[chick1980]

Hello

Just had to let you know about my balloon as I am so pleased. I had the balloon inserted on 4th April 2009 and since then have lost 21lbs. I am in the UK but just wanted to let you know how I am finding it. I have been very sick for two weeks but feel fantastic as my system is being cleansed.

I have lived on pureed soups and never feel hungry which for me is a new feeling as I have always been a bit of a greedy thing.

I am getting into clothes I haven't worn for 2 years and it is so exciting. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to lose weight quickly and doesn't want dastic surgery.

Would love to hear from anyone out there with their experience and if they are as happy as I am.

Cathy, Brighton, England

Cathy, Great news well done on the loss, If you look at my thread "MY JOURNEY BEGINS" there are a few of us on threre at the same point , I had mine 11 days ago now and have had a similar story to you cant eat very very odd for me !!!

Keep us updated on your fab journey.

Amy

 

[deetreacle]

Hi everyone,
Well im nearly three weeks in and got to say still feel shit ha ha..... im still getting a bit sick and have a mother of a pain under my breast bone which goes through to my back, i had to come home sick from work last week and been working today an it was hell... but the good new is iv lost 21lb yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
If I could just get rid of pain and leep a little bit down it would be fantastic!!! So if anyone has a miracle cure please please tell me id love to feel well for bank holls at the weekend.
Now how is everyone else doing, I see your doing well Chick good on you, hay did you have an air or liqued one, just wondered if thats why I feel so crap....
Well keep me posted all and good luck for this week
x

 

[tinamckeown]

Hi Di,

I have had my ballooon out for 9 months now but remember the chest/rib pain well! The can actually physically manouver the balloon out from under your ribs and push it down into your stomach. Its a bit uncomfortable first time but can be done! I also found that as the weight comes off and you are close to being "normal" weight the balloon becomes really obvious and makes the top half of your stomach really stick out - bit like alien!

xx Tina

 

[alligatorCAN]

Hi Di,

I have had my ballooon out for 9 months now but remember the chest/rib pain well! The can actually physically manouver the balloon out from under your ribs and push it down into your stomach. Its a bit uncomfortable first time but can be done! I also found that as the weight comes off and you are close to being "normal" weight the balloon becomes really obvious and makes the top half of your stomach really stick out - bit like alien!

xx Tina

Hi Tina - 9 months later how are you doing with the weight loss? Did you keep it off? That seems like the big question, reading everyone's posts it seems like the balloon does indeed help with weight loss, but were you able to maintain?
Thanks.

 

[deetreacle]

oh wow Tina somebody who actually knows what pain im in, it sounds like it is under my rib cage and not in my stomach thats for sure... who moves it back down in to the right place it is something i need to go back to hospital for...that would so make sense as nothing seems to be going down my food seems to be stuck at the bottom of my throat an when it is tyring to pass the pain is hurrendus.. let me know how to get it back down if you can, id be most apreciated
dee x

 

[katerow]

Under my Ribs!

Hi - I have had my balloon since March 16, and have lost about 25 lbs. The problem is--it is always under my rib cage. It's uncomfortable to sleep, sit, etc. Sometimes it is not there, but I can't figure out what causes it to move. Any ideas about this, and what I can do about it?

 

[laurie1985]

hi katerow,i was told by dietician to drink plenty water as that will make balloon float to the top meaning u cant eat as much as it cant get past balloon so im just guessing that its ur water intake that makes the balloon move around. maybe next time when its annoying u take some water and see if it moves???