Jess527

I just found out I am pregnant, and I had the lapband surgery on August 23, 2011. It hasn't even been 5 months. I am nervous about whether or not I should have all of my fluid removed and I would just love someone to talk to!

Hi all, I haven't been on in a long time, so I just wanted to check in and see how everyone is doing. GG I saw you are doing better, that is great! I just found out I am pregnant, so I guess I will be getting an unfill and not getting filled again for over a year. So, good luck to everyone and I hope you all continue on your weightloss journey!

First congratulations to everyone who is exercising and losing inches, it takes so much will power for me! I am not exercising like I should be, but I am also seeing my clothes fitting different even though the scale has not moved much in the last week. My pants are getting baggy, but I have not lost anymore weight.

Yes congrats healthwoman, that is a great! I have a question for all, in the past week and a half I have started losing my hair at masssive amounts. I am afraid it will become noticeable by the end of the month if it does not slow down or stop. I am taking my vitaband chewables...are there any other supplements out there I can take to help stop the hairloss before it becomes noticeable?

Thanks GG, good luck on getting more protein in...I find it very hard to do. I did have some "cheat days" over the holidays, but thanks to the lap band I didn't gain any weight! This morning my scale put me at 193 and Dr. scale this afternoon (fully clothed) put me at 195.5. 5 pounds lost since the last weigh in at my doctors. I am feeling good, liquids for one day then soft food for a day or two. My in-laws will be here Saturday, I am happy I got the fill so I will not have to worry about weight gain. Usually a visit from family means eating out every single meal and trying all of the places here in San Antonio they have seen on the food channel. I am going to work on trying to get more protein in as well. As for the getting stuck, I have learned/decided no more pills in the morning, and maybe liquid or protein shake for breakfast. Only real meals will be lunch and dinner.. 1100 calories, huh? My fitnesspal tells me I should get 1200 and when I eat under that I usually lose better. Well good luck to all out there over the holidays, I KNOW they can be hard!

GG, let me know how tomorrow goes. Maybe you can put my mind at ease before I see the PA Wednesday. Plus, after losing my job and insurance my fills cost my $150 every fill, not fun. Just happy my surgery was 100% covered, it makes these fills a little less painful on the pocketbook.

I have an appointment Wednesday, and I am wondering if I should get a fill. I haven't really lost any more weight in the last two weeks, but I haven't been making the best food decisions. I am worried I will be too tight and wont be able to eat anything at all...Right now I can basically have anything as long as I chew it, I havent had a PB in (I think) 2 weeks. Most of the time I was having them within an hour or 2 of waking up and trying to eat. I keep going from 193 to 195 when I weigh myself. However, I cannot get down big pills and I am also worried if I get another fill I wont be able to take the pills I am taking now (my B1 pill). Just looking for some support from my August bandsters, I know I havent been on in a while but Im still here Also wanted to say thanks LisaAnn for the support, I hope you are able to keep foods down now.

Thanks GG, you always seem to know what to say! I stayed away from the chocolate and had some low fat string cheese. Surprisingly no yogurt in the house, I will need to rectify that situation. I calmed down and my hubby and I decided he is just not allowed to tell me what I am doing wrong. (Like eating too fast, or too big of bites.) I think we came to a happy medium. As for the beef and bread it makes sense, especially since the bread was really dry.

I am so FRUSTRATED! I need to vent...I had a PB experience again this morning, well it wasn't actually morning, but I had just woken up. I tried to eat a roast beef sandwich and I got stuck. I hate that feeling, it is one thing that I wish I could eliminate altogether. I thought I chewed really well, I guess not. Well my husband wasn't in there with me, and he started giving me a hard time when I told him what happened. (45 minutes of going back and forth from couch to bathroom incase a burp wasn't a burp, and grabbing at my chest like it was going to help) I guess I just wanted him to feel bad for me, and I got no sympathy what so ever. All I want to do is eat chocolate or something I know will go down with no trouble at all. My throat actually feels swollen, and I still haven't eaten a thing. Does anyone have any advice? I feel like I am a raging B!tch right now, and I want to take it all out on the wrong foods!

SO frustrated. I tried to eat a bean and cheese breakfast taco this morning and couldn't finish it because I got stuck. I proceeded to chomp down 4 papa enzymes and nothing helped...I thought they were the cure all until this morning. Sometimes I just forget to chew 45 times before I swallow, lol. Needless to say papa enzymes are not the cure all when you get stuck.

Sorry to hear, let us know how it goes.

Kristen, you cam get them from Walmart, small bottle $4 says papaya enzymes has 100 pills in it.

Papya enzymes...thank you! Sometimes I feel like they are a miracle. I haven't been stuck in 2 days, well a day and a half. Chewed some when I started getting that stuck feeling.

Glad everyone is doing well! Chich, glad the unfill went well. I am not having as much trouble getting food down, but I am choosing different foods then normal. I couldn't eat much Friday so I broke down and had a fun size candy bar, some wine, and a snack size doritos bag. I was still under my 1200 calories. I have to say it was frustrating. Chicken just doesn't want to be good to me, and neither does chopped beef. The meats are so hard, I can only get like 2 bites and I get the chest feeling. I will have some mashed potatoes for dinner tonight...wish I could just take a protein pill! Plus side, I'm down 197.4!!

Ms. Lady I am sure the fill will help, just a minor set back...just remember one day at a time! S2b, wow...3 days liquids and 3 mushies?! My PA says 24 hours liquids, 24 hours mushies then off to regular. Of course I forgot on my 2nd fill and went straight to the chicken. Maybe I should try your 3 day thing, couldn't hurt right?!

Definitenyl no clothes! Thanks all for the congratulations, it is appreciated...and congrats to Chich for reaching it is as well. I am having trouble eating more than a few bites of solids these days, I feel like I am seconds away from being stuck when I do. I wonder if I am too full, or eating too fast (I am chewing like crazy)? We will see, I will give it a few more days and see how I feel. I would just like to get more chicken down, so I can hit my minimum calories for the day at least.

Thanks GG, that was super motivational! I need to get that book. GUESS WHAT, like you said, I hit ONEDERLAND!! Woohoo, it was this morning, and my scale says 199.5. I feel like a new me (Yesterday the doctor's scale said 200.5 so disappointing, but my husband reminded me I was fully clothed) I got my second fill yesterday, and I am up to 7cc's in a 10cc band. For some reason, last nght I was so hungry (I had only eaten 160 calories all day because I didn't want to eat before my fill) I decided to have chicken. I totally forgot, until this morning when I woke up, that I am supposed to do liquids for 24 hours then mushies for 24 hours after fill. (I wish they would have reminded me) No wonder I could only eat 2 small bites of chicken and I felt like I was one sip of Water away from being stuck. Needless to say, I am on liquids today. I also received my labs back, and they said my B1 is low. Anyone else have this problem? I went to try and get thiamine (b1) from Walmart yesterday, but couldn't find it. I guess I have to hit GNC. My PA said this could cause memory loss that is irreversible if it gets too low. Also, I had too much uric acid in my system...which can cause gout. This is from having a high Protein diet and not drinking enough water. So, EVERYONE drinks those 64 ounces! Well, good luck all! [quote name=ncgg-5' timestamp='1319558810' post='1677954' Hope everybody had a great weekend. We got back home yesterday from the mountains and I am down another pound. Yeaaaah for me. My pre & post surgery total is 17.8 in 10 weeks, which is ok, of course I'd like more. But, the good thing is I am loosing inches and my skinny jeans are now too big. There have been a lot of good comments lately on "stuck" episodes. Keep up the sharing. You never know when something you say will help another Bander. Thanks Jess for that informative article on slippage. Hopefully none of us will experience it first hand. Kristenaz, I've been eating a vanilla Oikos Greek low fat yogurt at night with about a teaspoon of Agave syrup in it for a bedtime snack. It's 160 calories but worth it to me. Sweet and yet it has protein. The other good thing about having dairy at night is it helps you sleep. I take a water soluable Calcium right before I go to bed every night and in 15 minutes I can hardly hold my eyes open. That's why people have a warm glass of milk to help them sleep, (Yuk, on the warm milk) chicholious, you are a hoot arguing with the nurse. You go girl! My Dr will only do 1/4 cc. for me at a time. That's like a drop, but I trust him and will do what he says. Before I got banded I did a lot of research and ordered a book from Amazon called, Bandwagon by Jean McMillan. it is an excellent resource guide and I highly recommend it for all of you. She is a fellow bander that lost 89 lbs. One of her chapters is about being positive and the power of positive thinking. I needed to reread this. No more complaining from me anytme soon. Maybe some of you see yourself there too. From her book. After years of failure, there may be a small illogical part of you that does not believe you have enough desire, skill or knowledge to succeed at weight loss. We tend to self sabotage with thinking like this. Jealousy, comparing yourself to others that have lost more weight. Instead: we should congratulate ourselves for he 25 lbs we have lost. Consumed with fear or worry, "I had reflux last night - what if my band slipped". Instead: take positive actions and call your Dr. Negativity, focusing on what's wrong instead of what's right. "I can't succeed because my restriction isn't right". Instead: focus on how much better restriction is now that I've had a few fills. Procrastination, "I'll start making better food choices on Monday". Instead: do it today. Giving up easily. "It's just too hard to keep up the weight loss effort". Instead: do it one day at a time. Mental deafness, "why does my Dr keep harping on more exercise?" Instead: consider that he is trying to help you, even if you don't like the advise. Feeling worthless, "I don't deserve to succeed at weight loss". Instead: be your own cheerleader, if you don't do it who will? Denial, "We're getting pizza because my kids need it" . Instead, Who really "needs" the pizza? I believe that my attitude drives most of my success in life. Positive attitude yields positive results. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Yes, the boobs definitely get smaller. I am two months out and you can already tell, in fact they were one of the first things to go. I usually lose weight on my face and then around my lower section like legs and butt. With this surgery I lost in my face first and all in my upper section.

Which Protein shake are you drinking? I like the EAS AdvantEDGE Carb Control chocolate Fudge, but I do not know anyone else who likes them. (My husband says they taste disgusting, maybe I am just used to drinking them). I went back to work on day 5, and I did not have a hernia surgery, but I was still sore especially getting up and down from my desk. Walking around was easy, but getting out of my chair and sitting in my chair all day was agony. Every day it would get a little better, I hope this helps.

That is good that you have restriction, at 6 cc's (my 1st fill) I could eat any food after a week or two. I just got filled to 7 cc's (2nd fill) and I can definitely tell the difference. I can understand not telling everyone about the band, because they think it is like gastric bypass and that you should be losing like crazy. But, for some reason, every time someone comments my weight loss, I just blurt out I had lapband surgery. It is weird, I thought I would want to keep it to myself more but people's reactions have been pretty open after I tell them. I also make sure to tell them that the band is a tool, and that I should only lose 1 to 2 pounds a week with it. Good luck on your journey, and I hope it gets better after you have your 2 days of liquids and mushies.

This should be for a fill, if you need one. They will ask you if you are in your "green zone," if you aren't they should fill you.

I had been wondering about slipage, and today I received a newsletter from my doctor's office. It had this Q A at the end, thought I would share with everyone. What are the main signs and symptoms of a band slip/prolapse and what type of testing can be done to determine if I have this type of complication? A band slip (more correctly described as a gastric prolapse) is the term used when a portion of the stomach below a gastric band abnormally migrates or "slips" through the device and causes the band to become partially or completely blocked (see picture). The term "band slip" is not really accurate because the band itself doesn‟t actually slip or move. A slip will occur in 2-3% of patients who have an adjustable gastric band. While there are a number of proposed causes of a slip, what seems to be clear is that they are most common in patients that vomit on a regular basis. This vomiting can be due to poor eating habits (eating too fast, eating too much, not chewing well, etc) or from having the band too tight. The most common symptoms of a slip are pain when eating (especially solid foods), frequent vomiting after eating, heartburn, and a nighttime cough. Many patients with a slip will also find themselves gaining weight because they turn to "soft foods" like mashed potatoes, Pasta, and ice cream because it goes down easy and doesn‟t hurt. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, especially if it is on a regular basis, you should be seen at the office. If there is concern that you might have a slip, you will most likely be asked to have an x-ray study to evaluate your band. You will be asked to swallow some Fluid (contrast) and we will watch it go through your band which lets us see if you have a slip. If you do have a slip, the most common treatment is to remove fluid from your band to see if the "slipped" stomach goes back down to where it should be located. If removing fluid from the band fixes the slip, then the band can be slowly refilled starting 2-4 weeks later. If a second slip occurs once the band is filled again, it generally requires an operation to reposition the band. Occasionally a slip is so severe that taking fluid out of the band does not help and the patient must immediately be taken to surgery to prevent major injury to the stomach. Hallmark symptoms of a major slip are severe and worsening abdominal pain and inability to keep any fluids down including your own saliva. If you experience any of these symptoms, call us IMMEDIATELY! The bottom line when it comes to slips, like most things in medicine; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Make sure you follow our dietary recommendations (eat slow, chew well, don‟t overeat, etc) and keep in mind, vomiting is never normal after weight loss surgery! If you find yourself vomiting on a regular basis, make an appointment to come in and see us so we can figure out why and keep you safe on your journey back to health.

I say keep losing until YOU are happy, that is what counts. About 10 years ago I went on weight watchers and in total lost about 30 pounds (at that time, that was all I needed to lose)...once I had gotten down 15 pounds people told me I didn't need to lose weight, and why was I dieting? I told them because I am trying to get to my goal weight. You have to get to where you can be happy, all the people in the world can tell you how wonderful you look and how skinny you are, but until you reach your goal...I say keep going! BTW congratulations! Side Note-Dieting is a way of life, 10 years later and I found myself 113 pounds heavier than I was at my "goal weight." This time I will get it off, and keep it off.

Thanks, that was helpful info.