enterprise01

My doctor said 15% of lap-band patients will fail with the band because they will find ways to defeat it, i.e., eating ice cream, shakes, etc. I believe he also said that a majority of patients will only lose about 50% of their excess weight. When I had my one-on-one consult, he very specifically asked me if I would be able to accept that the band might only help me lose 50 pounds, instead of the 98 that I want to lose. I believe that the band will work for me and that I will lose more than 50 pounds. Statistics are not a crystal ball. If you are determined, you will succeed. I refuse to be part of that 15%.

Shouldn't you be able to get a fill around Feb. 2nd? That's your 4 week mark, right? Have you made an appointment, yet? I regret telling so many people because they are already being critical. I feel like a broken record trying to explain that the band hasn't been filled and even when it is filled, I may need several fills to get it just right. I should have just kept my mouth shut in the first place.

I agree -- it's very individual, so do what works for you. Factors such as sex, height, body frame, activity level, and current vs. ideal weight should all be considered when determining optimum caloric intake for weight loss. I'm female, 5' tall, and have a sedentary lifestyle, so I'm obviously going to need far fewer calories than a 6' 2" man who exercises regularly. For me to lose weight steadily, I need to consume 700-800 a day. This would be close to starvation for other people. The guidelines that nutritionists give you are exactly that -- guidelines, not physical laws. Different approaches work for different people. Listen to your body and do what works for you.

I found this same publication a couple of weeks ago and am puzzled by a couple of the warnings. Isn't the lower stomach sutured to the band to help prevent slippage? Many docs prescribe ibuprofen based pain-killers for post-op care, so are NSAIDs really that bad for the band?

I envy those with restriction. I'm considering taking phentermine to suppress my appetite until I can get a fill, but I hate the idea of resorting to drugs. The side effects of phentermine are awful, but it's better than this constant grumbling stomach. Where do you get QuickSlim 30? Does it have any negative side effects? Can you take it in the evenings and still sleep at night? 8pm to midnight is when my appetite is really out of control.

Carole, I was banded 5 days after you and am in the same position. I feel no restriction and my appetite is getting ravenous. I hope my will power will hold out until I can get a fill. It's terribly frustrating. Every day friends ask me how much I've lost and I have to tell them that I'm not even 2 weeks post-op yet and the band hasn't been filled, so give me a break. And the hunger pains are just killing me. Seriously, they are very painful. When my stomach growls, it's like someone is twisting a knife in my gut. I can't wait for that first fill -- I hope it's big enough to do the trick.

I have shoes that are older than 10 years, so I'm sure my band will last longer than that.

This is from Inamed's website: Is there a chance the device will need to be removed? The LAP-BAND® System is a long-term implant, but it may have to be removed or replaced at any time. For instance, the device may need to be removed to manage any adverse reactions you might have. The device may also need to be removed, repositioned or replaced if you arent losing as much weight as you and your doctor feel you should be losing. http://www.lapband.com/lapband/riskinformation.do and this: <TABLE style="WIDTH: 502px; HEIGHT: 126px"><TBODY><TR><TD class=content-bold>Can the band be removed? </TD></TR><TR><TD class=content>Although the LAP-BAND® System is not meant to be removed, it can be. Surgeons report that the stomach generally returns to its original shape once the band is removed. After the removal, though, you may soon go back up to your original weight. You may also gain more. http://www.lapband.com/lapband/lapbandfaqs.do </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> Sounds to me like this is intended to be a permanent device. I don't know what the deal is with Sharon Osbourne.

I hope it works for you, but if it's painless, I'm skeptical about it's effectiveness. Electrolysis works by destroying the hair follicle with heat and/or electrical current. That means pain to me. I started having electrolysis when I was 15 and have been going off and on for 24 years now. It seems that just as I get one area taken care of, I start growing hair in another area. I'm currently working on my chin, too. I tried laser, and it didn't work at all for me. Please keep us posted on the e-pen.

I agree with BabyGotBack -- we're here for support and information, not personal attacks. If you don't agree with something that was posted, say so and move on. There's no need for insults.

I'm very sensitive to anything that is spicy "hot" as opposed to spicy "flavorful." Pre-band, I always ordered my Thai and Indian food mild and always tried to avoid jalapenos when eating Mexican food. Despite those precautions, I still had to drink about 5 glasses of water with Thai, Indian, and Mexican food to soothe my burning tongue. How do banded people who are sensitive to spicy hot foods deal with not being able to drink water while eating? Do you just avoid the food altogether? Or is there another trick to soothing the burn? I can't imagine going without my ethnic favorites.

There's no way I could do that. I have a great deal of pain if I lean forward or to the left. It feels like all my organs are shifting, and then when I straighten up, everything shifts back. Very yucky feeling. Anybody else have this? I'm hoping it will go away soon, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

What's the petho position? I haven't heard of that.

I called my doctor's office because I've been having the runs since surgery. The nurse said it was perfectly normal. She said being on a liquid or soft foods diet doesn't provide enough bulk, so everything tends to go right through. She told me I could go ahead and eat some dry toast or crackers if I wanted to. Of course, check with your doctor before you decide to deviate from his eating plan.

I had surgery on a Wednesday and planned to go back to work the following Monday. I was still feeling weak on Monday, so I didn't go back to work until Tuesday. I think I had a harder time than a lot of people. It's all very individual. My doc said no straws, too. Good luck.

My period started a couple of hours after surgery while I was still out from the anesthesia. I was very nauseated and the nurses forced me to sit up even though I was having trouble actually waking up from the anesthesia. Well, when I sat up, Aunt Flo came flowing. What a mess. And I was too sore to bend over and clean myself up, so the nurses had to clean me up and put the mesh panties and maternity pad on me. Very embarrassing.

Kbattal's very first sentence in this thread is this: "The following site is a good source for information for a nurse or a doctor to do fills correctly." (emphasis added) I did not get the impression that kbattal was recommending self-fills to the rest of us. I did not say that Americans have better choices than the rest of the world. Those of us in America (or any other country for that matter) with good health care have more options, and we are fortunate to have such a thing. Kbattal clearly does not have that advantage since he said that the nearest fill doctor is 500 km from him. Yes, I have seen lots of posts from Americans bemoaning the lack of fill doctors. Not everyone in America lives in a large city with lots of options. Not everyone in America has good health care. And the band is still relatively new in the U.S. The more popular it becomes, the more fill doctors we'll have. It's just going to take some time. I have no personal knowledge of the conditions in Romania or what options Kbattal may have available to him. That's why I'm trying not to judge him despite the fact that I would never take the same risk that he did. I just think you're being a little too hard him. Putting him on the defensive won't encourage him to stop his risky behavior.

Thanks for the information. I would never do my own fill, but I appreciate the link to the photos of how a fill is done, especially since I have not had one yet. If someone choses to take this information and use it unwisely, that's their problem, and not kbattal's fault. Many of us in this forum have the good fortune to be living in America with good health care. If we don't like or agree with our doctor, we have the option of finding another doctor. So let's not be so critical of those who don't have our advantages. It's easy to judge when we're not in that situation ourselves.

Talk to your prescribing doctor and see if there is a liquid form of what you are taking. If there is, your doctor will have to write you a new script for it. If not, you may need to find a pharmacy that does compounding. Usually, the big ones like CVS and Walgreens do not do compounding. One of my cats was on chemotherapy drugs for over 9 years, and since giving her pills was nearly impossible, I found 2 local, family-owned pharmacies that would convert her meds into chicken flavored liquid for me. They were even able to make one into an injectable. Call around to different pharmacies and ask the pharmacist if they provide compounding services. So far I have not have any problems with my pills, but I have not had a fill, yet. One of my larger pills can be cut up into smaller pieces, but I do have one med, which is a controlled released formula and can't be broken up. I'm worried about taking it after my first fill. I suspect I'll have to revert to the non-controlled release version and take it several times a day instead of just once.

OK, I just talked with Dr. Spivak's nurse and asked her the purpose of the soft foods as opposed to solid foods. She said that it's about giving you time to adjust to the band and preventing discomfort when eating. If you're not accustomed to your band and you overeat solid food, you'll get a sensation in your chest like a heart attack from the pressure on your band. I asked her about the issue of giving the stomach time to form scar tissue around the band, and she said that it was really more about your own discomfort. I asked about asparagus and she said just to be careful of fiberous foods because they can put more pressure on the band.

First of all, it completely pisses me off when someone tries to compare quitting smoking (or alcohol or drugs) to losing weight. You can go the rest of your life without a cigarette (or a beer or a hit of cocaine) and be just fine, but the same is not true of food. (Don't let your husband compare your failures with weight loss to your failures with quitting smoking -- they are separate issues -- one is a psychological addiction and the other is a physical addiction.) And you have to have food. Unlike other addiction recovery programs that promote total abstinence, with food you have to learn moderation. Well, that's damn hard to do when you feel ravenously hungry. That's where the band comes in. It is a tool to help control your appetite. Second, using his mother as an example is unfair. Someone who gains 30 lbs once and then diets and exercises and keeps it off is not someone who has a chronic weight problem. It's just not the same. Period. My boyfriend had exactly the same responses as your husband. Why can't you just diet and exercise? Well, I can diet and exercise for about 3-4 months, but then my appetite gets the best of me and I start overeating again. My boyfriend is a cop and was in the Army for 23 years. He's the perfect example of self-discipline, so he cannot understand why I'm the way I am. I've told him point blank that I have very little self-discipline and self-control, and that an intelligent person recognizes her shortcomings and seeks the appropriate help with deal with her problems. When I explained to him that the band is tool to help bolster my self-control, he was marginally better with the whole idea. Fortunately, we have not co-mingled our finances, so he could not make an issue of the money. I basically told him that I'm going to do what I want to do, and he can either support me or not. And, yes, some people do fail with the band. But at least with the band, you have a chance. I know that going back to just plain dieting and exercising would not work. It hasn't worked for the past 25 years, so why would it work this time? I need more help than Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or any of the other programs can give me. Our history of repeated failures with dieting is evidence that we need to do something different. Don't let your husband bully you into not doing this.

Oops! I hope I haven't done a disservice to Nutrisystem. Most of their food doesn't taste bad at all, but the texture does leave something to be desired. In all fairness, Nutrisystem has a couple of excellent meals that I'm looking forward to eating again in 4 weeks. They make the best granola cereal you'll ever taste. Cindy, it sounds like you've been doing great. And, yes, I understand how a 14 can still feel like a 26. I've been fat for so long, it's in my head as much as it's on my body. Getting your self-image to see the reality of your weight loss can be difficult. In the past, when I've dieted and gotten down to a size 12, I couldn't see that much difference in the mirror. I'm going to have to work on that. How many fills have you had? When was the last one?

That's great!!! You must be feeling so good about yourself.

That's where I'm at, too -- about 1 cup of mushy food and then I'm full. I'm keeping my calories around 800 per day right now. According to my scale, I've already lost 10 pounds, but we'll see what the doctor's scale says when I go in for a fill. I think part of that 10 lbs was from the vomiting after surgery. Yes, like you, I need structure, not restriction. Nutrisystem will be good for me because the portions are pre-determined. I know portion control is the key to weight loss for me. I admire people like Dolly Parton who can do the portion control without the help of a band. Remember when she lost all that weight in the early 90s? She says that she eats all the same foods that she used to eat, she just eats half the amount. And she's kept the weight off for more than a decade. I could never do that on my own.

Cindy -- Perhaps I should have been a little more clear. I seem to have given people the impression that I'm eating delicious creamy fettuccini alfredo and Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies, which I'm not. The alfredo and cookies are Nutrisystem. They are not real alfredo or real cookies. The alfredo is very much like a soup; the noodles are tiny and thin; and it is low fat, high protein and only 170 calories. The cookies are smaller than bite-size and don't contain actual chocolate chips; a package is 100 calories and low fat; and they practically dissolve into nothing as soon as you put them in your mouth. I was suffering from disabling nausea following the surgery, and the protein drinks triggered vomiting, paritally because of the unpalatable taste. Thank god my doctor only requires liquids for 24-48 hours post-op, which I did comply with despite the vomiting. On day 3, according to my doc's instructions, I was able to eat soft food, which made me feel significantly better. I consider all the Nutrisystem canned/powdered lunches to be soft food -- they are practically mush. Have you seen their chicken salad? It's like a moist paste. I am not eating any of their meals that have large chunks of meat, so I am attempting to stay away from "solid" food. The asparagus was probably the only real lapse in judgment. My plan is to get completely back on Nutrisystem after the 4 week period. All of their dishes are actually quite small, high-protein portions, which should work great with the band. I gained over 40 pounds while on Nutrisystem last year, not because I failed to eat the food, but because I ate the food, was still hungry, and then ate another meal, plus 2-3 Cokes. My ravenous appetite has always been my downfall (plus that damn Coke addiction), and that's why I got the band -- to help control the appetite. For you the band may be about starting a new relationship with food, but for me it's about having the chance to learn moderation. My problem is with quantity. And I simply refuse to believe that I could never have real alfredo or real cookies at some point in the future if my appetite is under control. If I take the stance that certain foods are never allowed, then I know I'm setting myself up for failure. That's just how my brain works. Thanks for the info about the scarring around the stomach. I had not considered that and will talk with my doc about it in more detail before I eat something like asparagus again. I appreciate your input. Us newbies need all the info we can get. And don't worry about being harsh -- I can take it.