donali

Your band is too full if you are experiencing problems. You are already too tight if all you can do is swallow water and your own saliva - you must be able to eat enough food to meet whatever amount of calories required to keep you alive and well. If you can eat enough to do that, but emotionally you cannot stop when your pouch is full and you are constantly getting stuck or throwing up, then you are too tight. Your behaviours MUST match what the band allows - if you are unable to adjust your behaviours so that you avoid throwing up, then you are too tight, even if you can eat too much. This is a mental thing as much as a physical thing for most people. And most people are tighter in the mornings then later in the day. I would not use your morning restriction as a decision factor unless you are unable to drink warm liquids in the mornings. If you're unable to do that, then you are definitely too tight.

I cannot say for sure if it is true or not, but my personal experience is that liquids tend to be harder to contain than food, meaning if there is too much pressure in the pouch, liquids are thin enough to be pushed back up into the esophogus. The pouch is stomach muscle, which is designed to stretch. There is a difference between the normal stretching all pouches will do when you eat food, and pouch packing, which will, over time ("they" say), permanenty stretch the pouch. That is still debatable in some circles. Some people here have claimed to be told that they have "stretched" their pouch. I don't know if that is really a small slippage, or if the tissue of the stomach really has been stretched and remains at a greater capacity. For normal stomachs I have read that they "shrink" over periods of lesser consumption. Who knows for sure what is really true? If you are not experiencing discomfort, my best guess is that you are not in any danger of doing any kind of damage. I am not a medical professional, just some stranger on the internet, but that is my opinion.

Here's a smaller version of your original photo, so we can see you without scrolling:

Hi Ginny - You're beautiful. Here's a cropped photo - let's see if you can see your face any better in this avatar:

Anything that gets put into the pouch faster than it goes out will back up into your esophogus, including liquids. If you're newly out of surgery, sipping helps ensure that you are not filling your pouch faster than it is emptying, and therefore not putting any stress on the new sutures. As you become more healed, you will probably be able to drink Water in the more normal way, although many people who have reached their "sweet" spot or who are pretty tight cannot guzzle liquids like they could pre-band, or even in their early days. If you are not uncomfortable with the speed that your liquids are being taken in, then you are fine. You will know if you are drinking too fast or too much at a time - that feeling/sensation is unmistakable. I have even had water come back up if I was tighter than I expected and took a couple of big swallows of ice water.

Smile time!!! ******* Spotted on T-Shirts: I CHILDPROOFED MY HOUSE, BUT THEY STILL GET IN. (On the front) 60 IS NOT OLD. (On the back) IF YOU'RE A TREE. I'M STILL HOT... IT JUST COMES IN FLASHES. AT MY AGE, "GETTING LUCKY" MEANS FINDING MY CAR IN THE PARKING LOT. MY REALITY CHECK JUST BOUNCED. LIFE IS SHORT. MAKE FUN OF IT. I'M NOT 50. I'M $49.95 PLUS TAX. ANNAPOLIS--A DRINKING TOWN WITH A SAILOR PROBLEM. I NEED SOMEBODY BAD... ARE YOU BAD? PHYSICALLY PFFFFFT! BUCKLE UP. IT MAKES IT HARDER FOR THE ALIENS TO SNATCH YOU FROM YOUR CAR. I'M NOT A SNOB. I'M JUST BETTER THAN YOU ARE. IT'S MY CAT'S WORLD. I'M JUST HERE TO OPEN CANS. EARTH IS THE INSANE ASYLUM OF THE UNIVERSE. KEEP STARING....I MAY DO A TRICK. WE GOT RID OF THE KIDS. THE CAT WAS ALLERGIC. DANGEROUSLY UNDER-MEDICATED. MY MIND WORKS LIKE LIGHTNING. ONE BRILLIANT FLASH AND ! IT'S GONE. EVERY TIME I HEAR THE DIRTY WORD "EXERCISE", I WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH chocolate. CATS REGARD PEOPLE AS WARM-BLOODED FURNITURE. LIVE YOUR LIFE SO THAT WHEN YOU DIE, THE PREACHER WILL NOT HAVE TO TELL LIES AT YOUR FUNERAL. IN GOD WE TRUST. ALL OTHERS WE POLYGRAPH. ********

Can you believe I have actually been working for a change? While at WORK?!?! Will wonders never cease! lol Sorry you're having a hard time of it kid. Wish I had some good advice for you. Sounds like you and Gerber have it solved for the moment... **hugs** xxoo :banana :Bunny :banana :Bunny Are you feeling any love yet??

Hi Chris - Here's the post from page one of this thread: I can't tell you all how much it means to have all this support. To quote beloved DeLarla, "I'm feeling the love." To fill in a few of the gaps in this particular post (for those of you who didn't read/remember my "gall bladder" attack post, here's some of the background missing. I had just been doing research on erosion coincidentally. Or maybe all that research CAUSED my erosion... lol THAT's it... I have not had any problems/symptoms. I had no reason to go to TJ for this follow-up, except that on Thursday, 6/3/04 I had what felt exactly like an intense gall bladder attack. I had severe pain in my back about band height, and pressure/heat radiating inside from the area around the top of my stomach. I felt like if I could just burp/fart/have a bowel movement, I would feel better. That's EXACTLY how my bad gall bladder attacks felt. None of those things happened, and I had my sister race me home from work - I didn't feel as though I could even drive. After two hours or so from the onset, the attack went away, and I have been attack-free since. Just like my old gall bladder attacks. Since I don't have a gall bladder anymore, and have never had these symptoms again since I had it out (June 1992), I was concerned. I really didn't think it had anything to do with the band (and it still may NOT - I did a bunch of googling on post-gall bladder removal attacks, and there was tons of info - I figured it was very likely that I had formed a stone in my bile duct - that could still be the reason for the attack), but decided that since I never had bothered to have my annual band check-up yet, I should go do that before I see my PCP on 6/30. I didn't want the band to be a suspect in hunting down the gall bladder attack cause. I was CERTAIN there was nothing wrong with my band - I have good restriction, no stomach pain, no reflux, no problems what-so-ever. My port has been bugging me this past week, but that's a constant come and go thing with me. It's almost funny that this attack came on WHILE I was reading articles about erosion... I almost feared the whole experience was psychosomatic, since it came on so suddenly with no obvious provocation. I thought, geez, not only can you psyche yourself into fainting off the toilet while reading vericose veins articles, you can psyche yourself into some sort of attack by reading band erosion articles! What a maroon! So. That's why I went for the endoscopy. Normal, prescribed band maintenance. With a little push from a bizarre gall bladder-like attack. Which still may have nothing to do with the band. My advice to you all (and I can only imagine how frightened you all must feel, 'cause I felt the same way when someone posted stuff like this): Do your regular band maintenance. That means once a year you should have an endscopy - that is NOT if you're having problems. It's my understanding that's a regular part of an annual band check-up. I do not hear of people doing it though, so maybe it's not? But that's what my doc said at the seminar I attended in late October, so it's been on my mind to have it done. I just hadn't gotten around to it. So thanks be to the fates, or whatever, that I had the attack, which forced me to do what I had planned on doing anyway. And I hope, and pray, and wish that I can be the 1-3% in your guys' lives, and that this doesn't happen to any of you. I think that would only be fair. And if my being the fall guy could ensure that, then I am happy to do it. You're all very welcome.

Have a great vacation!!! We'll miss you!!!

Keep on those docs about your wife! **hugs** to you both - what a heart-breaking situation. Love your writing, of course. What I was building was a "safe" room - I didn't realize it was going to turn out to be a prison...

Maureen - Congrats!! But... if you've gone from a 46 to a 38, and you're JUST NOW getting a new bra... It just begs the question... uh... what exactly were your old bras doing? And we can never have too many bra pics on the site.... lol

Hang in there, Sultana - I echo... there is NO "window of opportunity" with the lapband. Some people actually lose more in their second or third year than they did in their first - they get to the right fill level, they get their habits down, their body and mind gets to a point where it's ready to release the excess weight. In the meantime, life is for the living, so go out there and Celebrate all of your blessings, and your 30 pound loss!!! Whoo hoo!! I carried a 40 pound air conditioner into the house yesterday, and my poor legs could barley lift me up the stairs. I've lost 2.5 40 pound air conditioners - no wonder I could barely move!!! **hugs**

Wow - Ryan, too cool. Do you have any deceased relatives that were medical doctors? Perhaps you were a medical doctor in a former life? I am very interested in the idea of a collective consciousness that some claim they can "hook into". I liken it to my own experiences, on a very small, teeny, tiny, low level, where I go to sleep on a problem with the intent of finding inspiration in my dreams, and waking up with answers. I saw a story a few years ago on TV about a person in India who does medical procedures (surgery!!!) without any kind of medical training, or anesthetic. They "channel" some deceased prominent doctor to do their work. Now that I write this, I get vague memories of a possible debunking story, as well. The human mind is an amazing thing, and since science states we only actively use the smallest fraction of it, I like to believe the rest is for the psychic/telekenetic abilities that seem to lie dormant in the vast majority of us. As I child I truly, truly believed that if I concentrated hard enough I could move things with my mind. The fact that I never succeeded in moving anything only made me think I had never concentrated hard enough, or not in the right way - never proved to me that it was impossible. lol My scientific boyfriend finds that particular personality trait amusing. I'd prefer to be able to say "endearing", though... lol

DeLarla - Have I mentioned lately that I love you?!?! This was my laugh for the day! xxoo

OH, Bright!! The people you know come up with the most amazing things to say... lol Thanks for sharing that laugh, and for being able to laugh about it yourself. I am a little jealous that Rica's your favorite, now, but I'm gonna change all that soon... :devious ... Let your imaginations run wild!!! :bandit

Ooooo!!! See, I LOVE these stories!! Vera, that is too cool. I keep willing my Dad to come visit me, but I have only had the rare dream about him. Sometimes we have weird light spots on our digital photos around Christmas time, and I always say that's him. Sometimes I smell cigarette smoke in my house, and I always tell him "Hi." He was a heavy smoker, and no one has smoked in my house in the last 3 1/2 years since he died. My sister and I joke that he'll never come visit, 'cause he always insisted there was nothing afterwards, and we always insisted there was, and he HATES to be wrong, so refuses to visit us now... lol MY BF has promised to come visit me from the other side "in the least frightening way possible." lol Hopefully that is a long, long time away! We've had weird coincidences happen, like one of the Admins here at work had bought a sympathy card for us at the time of Dad's death and collected a bunch of signatures, but had forgotten all about it and never passed it on. About 7 months later she was cleaning up her desk and came across it, and brought it to Mom. Just happened to be the day of Dad's b-day. How cool is that?

Ooooooh! LOVE this topic. I have nothing good to relate personally... When I was younger I was terrified I would meet up with a ghost, so I made a pact that I'd believe in them if they promised never to show themselves... lol Now that I think I'm a little braver, nada, nothing, zilch... I've tried to retract my bargain, but to no avail. I've heard so many stories it's hard to NOT believe. But as scientific as my mind is, I tend to lean towards, "If someone claims it's true/happened, I believe it's possible until proven otherwise." Please share, those of you who've had experiences!!

lol

Gorgeous before, gorgeous after, gorgeous inside... Girl, you have gorgeous dripping all over you!! Congrats, Sweetie!! Love the pics!! xxoo

Seven pages in two days?!?! I can't keep up, but need to read this thread, so gotta post!! I accept no challenges, but cheer you all on and wait for the inspiration fairy to club me over the head...

Whoo hooo, Penni!!! 16/18?!?! You GO girl!!!

Chantal - So so glad things are looking up again! I was on Wellbutrin for 6 months, and it saved my life. Whoo hooo!

Michelle, you make us so proud!!! Congrats!! Whoo hoo!!!

So glad everything went well. Here's wishing you a speedy recovery!!

Love the black dress with purple - stunning!! Whoo hoo!! Congrats!!!