Oregondaisy

I called the office and they said they would have dr.campos call me back. I don't think he will though. I called before and they said the same thing and he never called.

I am going to call the doctors office tomorrow. I know today is a holiday.

There are a lot of working poor people who just barely get by, and their employers do not offer medical insurance. while it's true that they could go to the hospital and not be turned away, sometimes they are sick but don't feel it's an emergency situation where they need to go to the hospital. Here, if you need to see a doctor but have no insurance, the doctor's office makes them pay cash before they can be seen. I know quite a few people in this situation. They don't have the cash, so they just hope that what ever illness they have will just go away, or use over the counter medications.

People without medical insurance usually go without health care. There are many people in this country in this situation. I have to pay $500 a month for insurance and it's not very good insurance. It hardly covers anything, but I am afraid to not have any medical coverage in case I were to come down with something like cancer. It could financially ruin me.

Everyone has told me diarrhea is normal but it sure is getting old. I've also been told that once I moved to mushies it wouldn't be as bad but it's no better. It's gotten to where I am afraid to eat because I know it's going to run right through me. Can any of the more experienced sleeved people tell me how much more of this I can expect? I am eating eggs tuna and chicken salad, and fish all with the same results. Is there anything else I can do besides take Immodium every evening after I am tired of going to the restroom all day long? Should I just take it when I get up in the morning?

I don't know. I thought I was doing fine.

Orea, if you move to Northern CA you won't be too far from me! I can't imagine moving 8 cats!

Almost 2 years. I was banded in 12-06 and in 10-08 I started throwing up in my sleep. This went on off and on for a couple of months until I finally had an esophagram and it showed the barium just sitting in my esophagus for over 15 min until the x ray tech called my dr. who had him remove half of my fill. Then things started moving. I thought it was strange that I never had problems in the day time. I never threw up in the day time and nothing was getting stuck. I hadn't had a fill for a year, so I didn't think I was too tight. When I finally got my band taken out, the x ray showed my esophagus was very dilated. Dr. Aceves said I had been using my esophagus for a stomach.

You can buy unflavored Protein mix at GNC if you have one there and mix it with any of the clear drinks. I have never heard of that other stuff.

There is also that Nectar stuff. Isn't that a clear liquid?

I would love to listen to that. It really was sad that she only lost by 6 lbs. They don't give any money to the 2nd place winner, do they? She did win 10 grand at one of the challenges.

We have a dr. here that is C Section happy. He always finds a reason that it's medically necessary. It's probably because he gets paid more for them.

My esophagus was dilated before I revised to a sleeve. I could see it on the screen myself. I have an x ray I took home from the hospital when I had my sleeve surgery that shows it. If you want to have your esophagus go back to normal, you need to be on a liquid diet. It's very common for bandsters to use their esophagus as a stomach. It's called pouch packing.

Did you want this to be moved to the sleeve section? That can be done, but I am not sure if it would get the results you want. A lot of people just go to new posts, so it doesn't matter where it's at. Then there are people with the sleeve who might not be reading the rest of the board. For me, I revised to a sleeve because my band problems were just beginning. I felt that they were only going to get worse. I was worried about having silicone wrapped around my stomach and what it would do to my stomach long term. I had to have most of my fill removed due to acid reflux, so the band was pretty much worthless to me at that point.

I am sure I could have done that. I gained 7 lbs one weekend,when I was under a huge amount of stress. I am a big stress eater so I am sure I could have easily gained 20 in one month eating ice cream and brownies if I let myself eat as much and as often as I wanted to.

I got the sleeve before I gained anymore weight from having a worthless band. I could see myself eating right back to where I started, since I felt like I had no band at all. Dr. said if I got anymore fills, I would go back to puking in my sleep. I lost that 7 lbs when I was on clears for 10 days. I just started on soft/mushy food. I talked to Nina and she said that I should wait the full 10 days to start mushies so I did I am not a fan of eggs at all but I just had some egg salad and I could not eat more than a couple of bites. It felt like when food is stuck with the band, so I stopped eating. I will not eat pasta at all because I am down on carbs. Carbs just make me crave more carbs. I did have that fish. I am not sure what kind it was because it was in that Healthy Choice frozen meal. It was good though. This is going to be interesting.

I gained 15 lbs when my band was loose but I could afford to lose more than that. I still had an overweight bmi so I am hoping I can lose 20 all together and the scale has been stuck for the last week. I don't get why I can eat more though because our stomachs should both be the same size. I have real trouble with diarrhea so I am glad to be moving to mushies. Even with mushies though I bet I have the same trouble because a lot of the foods like cottage cheese are milk products. I should buy some lactaid when I go out.

I gave you a good suggestion. If you're throwing up most foods, you probably are too tight. People don't lose well if they are too tight, and can't eat most foods.

I have always admitted to being a big worry wart. I am going to try some egg salad tomorrow.

If you get sick on most foods there is a chance you are too tight. People tend to eat slider soft foods when meat and hard protein get stuck. I have found a lot of people actually lose weight when they get a slight unfill so they can eat properly.

I am worried about how much I am able to eat. My bf brought me a healthy choice frozen dinner. He did that because he knew I wasn't cooking these days. I was able to start mushies yesterday. I ate the entire piece of fish and whatever portion of broccoli came with it. I would say a half a cup. I did not feel full or stuffed. I just felt not hungry, if that makes any sense. I remember Elizabeth and Susan saying they were full on like 3 bites. I would say that piece of fish was the size of a 3 x 5 index card.

The feeling of being full when you have good restriction with the band feels like if you eat one more bite, you are going to puke.

I still go to my support group held by my band dr. He does not care where you had surgery. He just wants people who have had WLS to go to a support group. There are people there who have gone to Mexico or other hospitals due to insurance reasons. There are all types of wls at this support group. There are a lot of people who had gastric bypass, and bands, and the sleeve is just now starting to become more popular, so we have had some new people coming who have had the sleeve. He has never done a sleeve, but he has done so many gastric bypass surgeries so he has experience with the staple lines. It's just that most insurance companies are not paying for sleeves yet.

pbing a lot is not normal. Every time you pb, things swell up inside and that just makes the problem worse. That is why you should go on liquids and mushies for the next 24 hours. Scrambled eggs are famous for giving most bansters problems. I don't know why. It's a very fine line between being too tight and exactly right. If you're pbing often, you should talk to your doctor. Pbing is exactly what causes the band to slip. I had all these problems too, and that is why I finally had my band removed and had a revision surgery to a sleeve. With a sleeve, they just make you a tiny stomach and there are no fills or unfills. I got really tired of fills and unfills and trying to find the exact right spot. If you are too tight, you can also dialate your esophagus because food can't go through the band so it sits in your esophagus. This is very dangerous. Just try to eat tiny bites. The size of a pencil eraser is what is recommended. Eat slowly, chew well, and if you are still pbing doing this, talk to your doctor.

You don't really need any follow up once you have the sleeve. You don't have to go back for fills, etc. You just have a smaller stomach and go on with your life.