gingy

Hello All, I was banded on 3-24 in Durham, NC by Dr. Portenier. Prior to surgery he told me about Gastric Plication and told me that I could have that done at the same time as the band. I opted to do it. Kinda like 2 WLS in one. Just wondering if anyone else did this?? If so what your experiences thus far have been? I felt absolutely awful the first week after surgery. A lot of gas on my chest, shoulder pain, nauseous constantly and many, many esophageal spasms. The 7th day was much better and I have felt more normal. I'm not doing so great at sticking to the all liquid diet for 3 weeks. I have had some mushy Proteins. Like cottage cheese and refried Beans. I'm still not taking in a lot of calories a day.... still staying hydrated like I'm supposed to, but the scales just aren't moving down. They did the first 5 days. But nothing after that. I appreciate this forum and I love hearing the success stories! Gingy

I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today, because EVERYTHING is pissing me off! First I take my boys to the movies this morning and there are so many babies in there crying, you can hardly hear the movie. Why bring babies to the movies? Get a sitter! Second we go to lunch, walk back out to our car and someone has parked so close to the drivers side, my oldest son and I can't even open the doors. We have to crawl through from the passenger side. If you can't park your big @ss SUV (which I like SUV's) then park at the end of the lot and walk! Don't park so close to me that I can't get in the car!!! Third we go to fill up the car with gas and the lady beside me is smoking at the tanks!!! If you want to blow yourself up today... then do it... but not my family and me with you! Her own daughter yelled out the window at her to "stop smoking at the pumps mom!!!" geezzzzz how dumb can you be? ok - just typing this made me feel better! and i didn't even talk about how pissed i get when non-disabled people park in handicapped parking or sit in the handicapped section at the movies... i'll save that for another day. have a safe and happy 4th!

Weighed this morning and I'm 198.0 Finally under 200... YAY!!! Very proud of myself!

sure! i've lost 45lbs. still just have 4cc's fluid in my band. i went last week for a checkup and we decided not to do any fills right now because i have great restriction. i eat about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of food twice a day - then 3 to 4 smaller snacks throughout the day. like a cheese stick, some veggies, beef jerky or fruit. but that's a very small portion when i have a snack. i still do the low carb, high protein diet. i really only get hungry about 11pm at night. i think that's because that's when i go the longest without food.... from 6 - 11pm. i feel great - have energy and exercise. i'd do it all again in a heartbeat. thanks, gingy

i don't feel i have enough info to answer. my doctor did say that he didn't expect the gastric plication to last very long. couple of years at the most. in other words, the sutures would come out and the stomach would go back to normal size. just one thing to think about. good luck to you! i wish you the best Gingy

I don't know what's wrong with me today! I have been eating everything in the house!!! I usually eat low carb, high Protein... but today I have broke all the rules. Even after eating my protein and veggies... I'm starving. I get full initially... but within 30 mins I'm hungry again I even drank a 12 oz soda today.... something I haven't done in over 2 months. It's like I'm trying to sabotage my excellent weight loss. I got on the scales this morning to a surprising loss. I was soooo happy. I'm almost to ONEderland. Now I just keep eating and eating. I have tried almost every carb snack we have in the house.... something that I'm usually not even tempted by. I need some words of wisdom... and to stay out of the kitchen Thanks!

half way there!

S&C, I'd do it again in a heart beat! I'm 35 years old, no co-morbidities. My BMI was 40. I lost 10lbs prior to surgery just because. My doctor did not put me on any special pre-op diet. Since, I've lost 32 lbs. I have 48 to go. I do low carb, high protein as well. It works great for me. I don't feel like I'm starving myself... and I've never cared for the sweets much anyway. From the beginning I've had great restriction. The plication is to credit for that. I've had one fill and have 4 cc's in my band. I get full quickly when I eat. I still eat 6 small meals a day. My recovery time was about 2 weeks - then another month to get my energy back. I got tired easily. My husband only took 2 days off work for my surgery, so I was back being a full time mom right away. Driving and doing everything. Hindsight, probably not the best idea... but I didn't have a choice. My weight loss is not super fast... nor do I want it to be. I want the process to be about learning how to eat right, exercise and not focus so much on food... like I used to. Slower weight loss has helped my skin not be saggy too. I'm very pleased with my results!!! I'd do it all again Good luck to you! Gingy

yeah, that's all i needed... just to get it off my chest! my boys are really young and my husband works 2nd shift (gets home about 2am), so i never have anyone to "vent" to. i guess this was my outlet today thanks for listening!!

yes we do! nice to have you to talk to!

i had Lapband with Gastric Plication March 24 - very happy with the results!!! 10 lbs lost before surgery and 32 since surgery. Have 48 lbs to go. Portenier was my surgeon too. Glad I did this. Recovery time for me was about 2 weeks... then another month to get my energy back.

Thank you!!

it's in my sights too! 202 this morning! proud of you all... keep up the good work

i've had 2 episodes this week where i've tried a new food (both meat) and it got stuck on the first or second bite. man, talk about ruining your whole meal!!! all i could do was sit there and just breathe and relax and try and get it to go down on it's own. it finally did both times thankfully. but i do not like that feeling!!! very uncomfortable!

thanks for the info! good to know

today has been soooo much better! i'm back on track, thankfully

I have 4cc's in my band. I also had gastric plication surgery at the same time as the lap band. So I get full very quickly... but wasn't prepared for getting stuck so much at just 4 cc's.

you really don't know who's on the other end of the computer screen... i'm pretty sure Dave is Homer Simpson... posing as Dave_NW.

i'm getting stuck about everyday now. this is getting old. i think it's me though... i still try and rush my meals. i just need to slow down. i have found a couple of foods that just will not go down. so i have to avoid them. i wish you all the best!

So sorry I have not been responding.... please forgive me. I haven't been checking this site as much as I used to. I'll try to answer your questions... I have had my first fill. I now have 4cc's in my band. Even though I was feeling restriction prior to getting a fill, my doctor wants me to keep getting fills so that I learn to use the band and rely on the band for chewing, chewing, chewing and eating slowly. I was not doing this at first. I quickly learned that I could eat at a normal rate and get full fast because of the plication. It kept me feeling full after about a cup of food. But now that I have Fluid in my band, I have to chew a lot, eat slowly and use the band or I get stuck. The reasoning behind learning to use my band is because we don't know the long term effects of the plication. My doctor's guess is that over time the plication will come undone (the sutures will come out).... and if I don't know how to rely on my band, then things will go bad for me. It's hard to explain what gastric plication is... but my best explanation is... they take the excess part of your stomach and fold it over onto itself and then suture it. Then you have a long, small, narrow stomach under the lap band. Google "gastric plication" for more info and videos of the surgery. That's what I did to understand it better My first month I lost 14 lbs. Then I stalled. The scales stopped moving... I was really depressed about that. So I started reading on here to gain info on what the "old timers" did to lose weight. I found that the best weight loss and quickest came from the ones doing low carb, high Protein diets. When I started that, my scales started moving down everyday!!! I eat all the meat and green veggies I want. I stir fry fresh veggies almost daily and cook some type of meat to have to eat on whenever I'm hungry. I get hungry about every 3 hours. Keep your carbs under 30g a day and your protein 80g or higher a day. The fat and calories don't matter. I don't count those at all. I'm not saying you shouldn't.... just saying I've found a way of eating that works for me and I no longer have to worry about fat and calories.... because I'm keeping my carbs down and my protein up. I wish you all luck and I hope this helps! I'll keep better watch on this topic now... so ask any questions you need to. Gingy

after my 3 weeks of liquids was up... i started the low carb, high Protein way of life. the scales move down daily. i eat bacon or turkey sausage for Breakfast. sometimes will make an omelet. any and all kinds of meats throughout the day with fresh veggies. i cut up and stir fry fresh veggies almost daily. zucchini, squash, broccoli, green onion, carrots and peppers. then i'll fix a pork roast, or some type of beef or chicken. that way it's accessible to me when i need to eat. i eat 6 meals (and/or snacks) a day still. i go about 3 hours between meals. when i'm hungry the meat satisfies me the most. i love the veggies too... but i try to eat more meat for the protein and fullness. i'm staying under 30g carbs daily. string cheese is a good snack. good luck to you.

voted! good luck. i'm 35, mother of 2. i understand your need to do this!

i understand your frustrations. my clothes still fit the same way too. i was really discouraged in the beginning because i was not losing. then i started doing some reading on here to see what the "old timers" were doing to lose. i finally decided on a low carb, high protein diet. that has helped so much. now everyday the scales are going down. not a lot at a time... just 2 tenths of a pound or 4 tenths of a pound, everyday... but at least it's not staying the same or gaining. i eat meat and green veggies. and drink lots of water. anytime i crave something, i eat a piece of meat and it satisfies me. not sure if this interests you or not... just thought i'd share. good luck and hang in there! you can do this!

oh no! that is bad. i understand the FREE part -- how many times in life do we get free meals... LOL!!! i wonder however if it's the socializing/nervousness of eating slowly and chewing so much in front of others?... that causes this to happen at your work events? now that i think about it, both of my times i was dining alone with my 2 boys (ages 3 and 5) and was trying to get them to settle down... therefore i wasn't concentrating on chewing and eating slowly. hmmm.... maybe there's something to this... good luck with future events!!!