heather14

I'm on day 5 of my pre-op diet (getting banded 2/18) and feeling really miserable. i've been lethargic all day and have a terrible headache. also, my stomach is quite upset. is this normal? i can't tell if i'm getting sick or i'm just desperate for a sandwich. my emotions are telling me i would feel better with some real food. today i felt so sorry for myself i had some soup with essentially the same nutrition as my shakes, but was this a mistake? i'm supposed to be having 4-5 shakes a day and optional plain low-sodium broth or steamed green veggies. this just isn't cutting it and 9 the thought of 9 more days seems unbearable. even dog food looks good. help!s

i am set to be banded 2/18 by dr. bradley schwack at nyu. Did you have good experiences or bad experiences, please help! i was so excited but i'm scared!

i'm having the same problem, except i never had high blood pressure and am not on any medications. i have been feeling lightheaded, dizzy, and grouchy on and off for two weeks. i went to have some fluid taken out before my period (i thought it was due to PMS) because i could barely get down a single protein shake in a day and was frightened by the way i'd been feeling. so they took some out and i gained 3 lbs in a week, yikes! last thursday i had them put the .5cc back in and i'm feeling exactly the same way i did before. two things about this are weird in that i felt find and could drink as much water as i wanted in the days following my fill--it's just the last 4 days or so that i'm having a lot of trouble with food and water. the second is that i had this same amount of fluid in my band for six weeks before i started feeling badly. i'm genuinely nervous that i'm going to fall over or faint, but the NP/fill lady read my blood pressure as 90/60 she thought that was good! that seems too low and i feel like crap, but i'm afraid to get much taken out because i really want to keep losing weight. that said, i'd like to stay alive even more. has anyone else experienced dehydration or low blood pressure? what did you do about it? i'm confused--maybe the way i'm feeling has nothing to do with the lab band at all? why didn't my doctor who is normally overly cautious seem concerned? ugh, maybe no one can help or i just need to go see my GP, but it helps to vent a little

Name, real or screen~Heather Age~29 Weight on February 28th~258 Goal Weight for March 31st~248 Exercise Goal for March~at least 30 minutes of cardio 4-5x/week Dietary Goal for March~stay under 1200 calories every day Personal Goal for March~lose the guilt Date Banded~2/18/11 Total Weight Loss Since Banding~ 15 lbs.

i had this too! i went back to my doctor because i was very worried about how much it hurt to breathe (see post "worrisome chest pain"). i couldn't get a real breath and was very scared. it took at least a week for me to feel that i could get a deep breath without pain. and now that i'm two weeks post-op it is gone. it still hurts if i get hiccups or need to burp, but i think that's my diaphragm healing from the hernia repair. i also think some people are confused about the difference between post-surgical co2 and intestinal gas, as i was from reading people's posts. after surgery i had tremendous pain in my neck, shoulders and chest and i was sitting around trying to fart because of what i'd read. walking around helps the pain because it gets blood circulating, not because it makes you "pass gas." i think most of my pain was due to the hiatal hernia repair which i didn't even know occurred until i called my doctor in a panic. needless to say, i wish someone told me about the potential for this pain before surgery. the shoulder pain everyone talks about was like a paper cut compared to what i felt was happening in my chest. so the good news is... hang in there for a few more days and it should diminish. mine was the worst in the morning. was this the case for you?

is anyone else having chest pains, especially in the morning? i'm 3 days post-op and feeling panicked when i wake up because i can't get my breath. eventually i do, but i really hurts to take a deep breath. is this normal? help!

thanks, guys. it is still painful and thinking about calling my doc because it just doesn't seem right, but i feel better after reading your posts. mimi, i did get a hiatal hernia repair i think. you think it's my diaphragm doing something funny? how did you all know that the pain you were experiencing was from gas? the anesthetist mentioned something about left shoulder pain, but said they didn't really know why it happened. and nobody ever told me gas pain could feel like this--it's horrible and doesn't resemble any gas pain i've ever had in my life before.

Hi all! Surgery Tomorrow! i live alone so i'm making my preparations and wondering what was helpful to you on surgery day as well as what you wish you had. So far i have gas-x strips, skim milk, vitamin water, soups, protein shakes (of course!), and a heating pad. anything else you guys can think of that i should have on hand or bring to the hospital?

thanks guys. i am now on day 11 and feeling okay for two days, crappy for 1. the lethargy was killing me so i cheated--yup, it's true. but it didn't help me feel better. i think my body was just in shock going from pig-out mode to pre-op diet. i burn about 800 calories at the gym four times a week, so an intake of under 1000 calories just wasn't cutting it. i know it's not good to go into this with the mindset that this pre-op diet is impossible, and therefore i'm not doing it, but at least when i cheated i made healthy choices--cottage cheese, grilled chicken, a bit of hummus. okay, so i totally broke down and had a pb and j, but i learned that it did not make me feel any better. mostly tums helped-- i was feeling so nauseated until i took the tums. my bmi is not that high so i can't imagine that i need to be on the exact same stuff as somebody with bmi over 50 in order to have surgery be safer. that said, i didn't get any gratification from my cheating and i have tried to stick as close to the regimen as i could. i think it's mostly to prep us for the necessity of being strict about post-op diet. i only have a couple more days and although my scale at home is all messed up, i feel like i've lost at least 10 lbs.

the risks associated with being obese are much greater than those with lap-band surgery. also, very few people are aware of the motivation for their criticisms. even when people say they have your best interest in mind, if they are criticizing you, chances are it's an issue with them coming out, usually an underlying resentment. people who are truly on your side use compassion and relate their experience rather than their judgement.

hey there. i've had a hard time with my pre-op diet too. but i definitely recommend Muscle Milk Light instead of slimfast--better tasting and better for you. and occasionally i substituted a cup of nonfat cottage cheese for one of my shakes. i'm also allowed broth and veggies, so although it tasted gross, i found that some broth with mushrooms helped a lot in the evening. and tums--the shock to the system made my stomach upset and i would be tempted to remedy that with pb and j, but tums helped. good luck!

My surgery date is 2/18. i'm 5 days into the pre-op diet and learning how to use this forum because i am freaking out and need some support. my bmi is on the low side at 41 and i'm using that to convince myself that it'll be ok if i have some sushi. or eggs, or dog food--anything. i'm starving!