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Sorry to be Negative Nancy, but....

To be honest, I think that I may have made the wrong choice of bariatric surgery. I was banded on May 30th. I have only lost 11 lbs. It's disheartening. I have to say that I have gotten to know myself better since surgery. I know I am a food addict and that the lap band is suppose to help me learn to eat more healthy. I really thought that it would "police" my bad over eating habits, when in reality it doesn't. I got a fill last monday... monday afternoon I could eat a cheese burger. I don't know if there is something wrong with me, but it doesn't seem to ever help me. I am always hungry. It feels like the food goes down to the top of the band the fills my esophagus, then fills to the top of my throat and slowly drops down into my stomach. The problem with this is that my stomach never feels full but the throat does for about 2 minutes. I don't get it. I talked to my doctor, he kind of blew me off and said to give it some time. I am so frustrated. I just want to eat a little and feel full.... but I never feel full. So I started working out...and eating a low fat high protein diet this week. Apparently carbs and sugar make you feel more hungry or so says the mighty internet site. It's been a week... a very tough week. And I am still starving. It is very hard for me, frankly if I was a person who was able to diet with out the help of the lap band, I wouldn't have needed the damn thing to begin with. If I could diet and had the will power to control what I eat I wouldn't be morbidly obese. I am only speaking for myself, I don't mean to say that for every obese person. I think everyone has there own issues that cause unhealthy life style. I can only speak about my issues. My stomach literally growls most of the time and it's so loud other people can here it. I think I may eventually have gastric bypass cause it seems for me for what ever freak of nature reason... just was a waste of money. Which came out of my pocket and not from insurance btw. I really don't know what to do. I thought coming here to the forum might give me some idea about others who have been unsatisfied with the band. I want to use it to the best of my ability. I just really thought it would help more. The only thing it does is make me feel nauseous on occasion. Then stuff gets stuck for a minute or so and cause that oh so lovely feeling of having a heart attack. Then that passes and I eat the rest of my meal... then 1 hour or less later i feel like i am starving. Maybe my doc could just tighten the damn thing all the way and I would have to drink liquids for the rest of my life and I would finally be a thinner person. Oh, and not to get too graphic but lets just say for the last 10 days since I got my fill I have had digestive issues. I thought maybe it was something to do with the antibiotics from surgery which I had to take for 30 days which is a whole nother story. So I searched online to find out what could be causing the problem, started taking some vitamins, probiotics and lots of imodium. I feel a little better today, but I am still hungry and irritated by the whole thing. I am starting to think that I am just meant to be fat... :smile2:
Raeband

Raeband

6
 

Turning lemons into lemonade! Great recipe

Yesterday I was so bad! I think I ate everything in site! I just had one of those days. I am not going to be down on myself about it! Although I did gain a pound! Damn it!   So today I woke up with a positive mindset, I am off work today and headed to my mom's. She's got a pool so I am going to do a ton of laps and stay on my diet! I did discover that I love "splenda blend" it is splenda and sugar together. It only has 10 calories! It is great in coffee. I also have a great recipe to share if anyone wants a good drink! It's just lemonade but it taste like it has 1000 calories but it has 0! It's just fresh squeezed lemons, splenda, ice and water. Combine until it is to your particular taste. I like I whole lemon, 2 tbs splenda, ice and 16oz water.   Stay strong everyone! :smile:
Raeband

Raeband

5
 

My banding thoughts so far...

I live in Birmingham, Alabama. I had lap band surgery on May 30th, 2008. Hospitals are never fun and my surgery went ok, with a few minor issues. I had surgery 6 years ago for sleep apnea and then gained some weight and the apnea came back with out me knowing it. I stopped breathing during my lap band surgery and had to be intubated. Then because my O2 levels were so low , they made me spend the night. By the following day I was better and went home. The surgery was not very painful and the day I went home I was just a little sore but the doc gave me lortab . I had a lot of nausea from anesthesia. So I also took phenegren. I had some issues with feeling really severe pain in my chest and back. It turned out to be caused from swelling and air bubbles. My best advice is to never drink and eat at the same time. when you drink you swallow air. The air gets trapped between the slow moving food particles and the liquid, creating bubbles. It feels like a heart attack. It helps to try and burp. It will pass after a few minutes. I think that the physical aspects of the lap band, are easy to deal with in comparison to the emotional and metal aspects. I can only speak for myself in this regard but for me it's the honest truth. I am addicted to food, I have suffered from emotional eating my whole life. I believe it is a learn behavior that I developed in childhood. I had serious issues with the liquid diet even after just a few days. I was starving! I cheated and ate food way too early. But it's part of the reason I didn't loose as much weight as some people. Once I realize I could eat, psychologically I felt better but at the same time I was disappointed that the band didn't seem to be "policing" my eating habits. I went through weeks of being depressed and sometimes really upset with myself for spending so much money on something that didn't seem to be working. I paid out of pocket because my insurance wouldn't cover it. About 8 years ago when I was much thinner, I had a tummy tuck and breast reduction. I developed MRSA which is a staff infection. It became septic and I almost died. Since then my body has been colonize with MRSA. Now all of us have staff that naturally grows on our skin, but the kind I now have is resistant to antibiotics. I was sent by my surgeon to an infectious disease doctor before surgery, he had me take two different antibiotics for 30 days prior and after my surgery to minimize the risk of another life threatening infection. These antibiotics cause the natural bacteria in my digestive system to die. So I had a lot of diarrhea and still do. I have also felt very tired since surgery. I have missed a lot of work and it has all been a big struggle. Almost 2 weeks ago I found this website. It took me a while to sign up and get the nerve to start posting and blogging. Since I have been here I have learned a ton. I started taking probiotic which help replace the natural flora lost from antibiotics, I also have taken since surgery a muti vitamin called Vitaband. It's chew able and taste pretty good. I also take a calcium supplement by Vitaband. They are cinnamon and are so good! I added Vitamin D, 1000 milligrams and plan to talk to my doctor about getting a B12 shot for some much needed energy. I take glucosomine chondrotin for my joints, as a heavy person I have bad knees and this seems to help. For me the key to vitamins is consistency. It takes a while for my body to tell the difference from taking them. I feel much more "proactive" since coming to this website. I feel empowered by the answers that I have gotten and by the support of the people here. It's great to hear success stories, they keep me hopefull. I have the realize band instead of some of the other band's on the market. I love the realize website. I have started keeping track of my progress there and it has really helped. It has a place to sign in and I can fill out every thing from recipes and food diary to triggers and emotional issues. I keep track of my workouts, glasses of water, vitamins, band tightness ect. A year or so ago, I bought the biggest loser books. I never used them and just brought them out the other day. It turns out that the things they preach in the books go along with the eating and workouts with the lap band. I have found so many really great recipes that are low fat, low carb with portion control. There is also a great workout and great advice on how the body works, what it takes to loose weight and keep it off. If you google "biggest loser books" amazon as sets of them for sale, all three books for 20.99 right now. Or the biggest loser website sells them. My diet.. I am trying to limit my calories to 1800 daily. I know that sounds like a lot to most people but what I have learned is that if you starve your body, it will hold on to fat! I also try to eat consistently every 4 or 5 hours, eating small snacks at a time. this keeps the metabolism balanced and working for me, without having ups and down with blood sugar. This keeps the weight coming off. I try to get in 100g of protein each day and I keep my carbs as low as possible. I have did a bunch of research on protein shakes and finally settled on one. I ready several reports online about obese people and soy protein. Apparently it helps obese people loose weight faster than whey or wheat protein. I have order some and when it gets here and I try it, i will blog my thoughts and the brand. My doc also recommended VHT Evtreme smoothee. They are a simple good tasting drink that helps when you don't have anything for breakfast or a snack. they are made for people who have had the lap band, Ebay has the best price I have found. Chocolate is my favorite. It's great when I crave chocolate like for those PMS moments. I joined a gym and it came with a few personal training sessions. I got some great tips from my instructor. He said the more protein the better within the calorie range for me. He also advised that I eat my carbs in the morning. They will give me some energy to work out and also give me time to burn them off before they have a chance to turn to fat. I would say the hardest thing for me so far is to stay away from sugar. I love sweets and I love a good cup of coffee with real cream and sugar. I am having coffee in the morning and using the splenda that is part sugar part splenda. I plan to ween myself slowly off of the sugar. It turns out that carbs actually make you more hungry!! I just learned that. That's totally why I am so fat! i was a carb junkie! In turn protein makes you feel full longer Let see... what else am I doing? Oh, yes... I still don't think my band is tight enough as I can eat big bites. I think from what everyone told me in chat, that I need to be tightened again. So Monday am, I am calling to request it. I do really well on my diet all day.. then late at night I want to eat. I was thinking about trying a diet pill but I haven't found one for the evening. I don't want it to keep me up. I think tonight I am going to try and go to bed if I start feeling hungry or read a book. Well, that's all I can think of for now. I am just happy to be here, happy my fever went away and happy I am re hydrated from yesterday. I am going to keep drinking my clear liquids and stay hydrated, as for the diarrhea issue. If it comes back today, I may have to go to my general care doc and find out what the heck is going on. I am so tired of going to doctors that I hope that won't happen. Maybe my body just needs a bit more time to adjust to this new life style.   Thanks for reading! Stay strong! We can all do it! Rachelle Perrin As of today I have lost 14lbs in almost 6weeks. Slow and steady wins the race!
Raeband

Raeband

3
 

Thanks to all that helped me in Chat!!!!!!!!

It's Sunday and I am feeling much better. I am still on imodium but feeling better since I have become hydrated. But enough about me. I wanted to say thank you too all the people who have responded to my post and blog and especially to those in the chatroom! The chat room is genius! I was so down and out before talking to you. I learned so much more from one hour in the chat room than I did in 6 weeks of internet searching and calling my doctor's office. I hope as I progress to keep an active journal. I hope the journal will be helpful to others who like me have been discouraged. Thanks again! Rae
Raeband

Raeband

1
 

Info on Bariatric Advantage Suppliments

Some folks in chat have asked me about the vitamins, shakes and suppliments I take. I wanted to post the website. Bariatric Advantage - Nutritional Supplements, Vitamins, Proteins, and Help for Gastric Bypass, Distal, Lap Band, Realize, Stomaphyx and Duodenal Switch Surgery Patients
Raeband

Raeband

1
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