Gastric Balloon.... anyone had recently??

[megan1996x0x0]

Hello All,

I am 21 years old from UK and my BMI is 30.2 i am 171-172 pounds and only 5'3. I put on 2 stone in the last year or so ago and am very down with my weight and it wont budge back off!
I have decided to go with the 6 month balloon, and was very excited to fly to prague to get it done.. only to read all the thread on this website and its put me off!
TBH i dont mind the whole sickness and losing a lot to begin with ( if anything i want to lose some asap to notice it!)
I am worried i wont lose anything at all! I have really bad eating habits and i dont drink enough water!

I am now thinking of booking with mediconsult... anyone heard of them?? They have many reviews for other procedures so i guess they are legit and they are cheaper.

I was wondering to anyone who had a ballon who as similar BMI to me how has it gone/going?? Did you lose anything?

And can you return to work and be normal a few days after or is the sickness really as bad as everyone says???

Hope to hear back from someone!! eek xx

 

[Mazza]

Hello and welcome!

The balloon is usually used to allow patients to more safely lose weight prior to having another form of weight loss.

I would advise you to think long and hard about getting a very much temporary weight loss surgery tool. For instance, when its removed, what happens then? In reality you will probably put what weight you did lose back on.

You're doing the right thing in thinking about doing something about your weight BUT you are very young and maybe you should try and conquer your bad eating habits first? x

 

[TiaLi]

I had a balloon a couple of years back. I am going to be brutally honest with you: if I were you I wouldn't waste money on it. Yes, you can lose weight with a balloon, but that will primarily be down to your own motivation and willpower, the balloon itself plays a very small role in any success you have. You will lose weight in week 1 without even trying because of all the vomiting, but that is all water weight and will stop (or even reverse) once your stomach has accepted the balloon and you can eat again. I didn't feel any restriction at all with the balloon, on the contrary I found it almost working against me at times because the heavy sensation of having it inside my stomach in a weird way resembled hunger. I did lose weight, but that was because I was highly motivated - I would have lost it without the balloon as well at this particular point in time. I put it all back on (and more) once my willpower weakened.

Paying for the balloon, and travel to the Czech Republic, is a lot of money to spend on something that is not very effective. I'm sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but I'd rather be honest with you. This is of course just my experience, others may disagree. I should also point out that my BMI was significantly higher than yours.

In terms of the sickness in the beginning - yes, it is pretty bad. Your body will react just as it should when there is a foreign object in your stomach - by trying to expel it. So you will vomit pretty much around the clock until your body just one day decides to give up. It's like a flicking a light switch, one day you live with your head in a bucket, the next everything is fine. For me it took about a week for the balloon to settle, so a couple of days does sounds very optimistic. For this reason, you should also factor in cost for accommodation in Prague - it'll be difficult getting on a plane until the sickness has subsided.

I wish you all the best with whatever you decide though!