mommieOf1

I'm going through the same thing. I had my surgery March 5th, and my doctor waits 6 weeks before the first fill. I lost 20 lbs the first week post op, and once I started to eat solids I gained about 3-4 lbs. It's frustrating, but I think I would've gained more if I didn't have my stomach imbricated! Lol I feel full so much faster after having the plication done, but I was a huge volume eater before, so I feel bad eating so little. My mind tries telling me I'm not satisfied after eating a ridiculously small meal. So far, I've had one episode of PB... even without a fill, I managed to get food stuck! omg it was nasty!! I'm taking the chewing/eating slowly rules a lot more seriously now. It makes a huge difference! Good luck finding the green zone!

Take a look at your arm fat, the skin nearest to your underarms. Try to stretch it. Now let it go and see if it bounces back. If it takes a while, or if it stays kind of shriveled, it's likely to not bounce back once you hit your goal weight. Regardless of how much you work out. Thin skin in that area has lost a lot of collagen and elasticity and those aren't things that working out will replace. Same goes for inner thighs. The skin in these areas has less resistance so it's easy for fat to accumulate there and stretch the hell out of the skin. Well, I've already accepted these facts. LOL All we can do is focus on losing the weight first, then worry about the cosmetic procedures later. Someone here once said they'd rather have deflated arms than have them inflated with fat. I totally agree! However, I'm 22 and totally understand the wish to wear sleeveless dresses, cute tops, etc. Let's just pray that our age helps us save at least a little money on plastic surgery lol!

My insurance did require this six month diet. I went to one meeting with my dietician and the nurses at my Bariatrics center tried my luck to see if I'd be approved for surgery anyway, they said sometimes people get approved without having to wait six months. Sure enough I was denied. I then gave up and stopped making appointments for my lap band requirements. A little less than a month later I get a congratulatory call saying I was approved!! They never stopped trying!! I guess the second or third request for approval worked and here I am. Almost 2 weeks post op and down 20 lbs!!

Hello everyone. I had my surgery on Monday, March 5th, at 9am at Marina Del Rey Hospital in So.California. I had the lap-band with plication and stayed overnight for a procedure that usually is outpatient. But because of the pain and vomiting, my surgeon recommended I stay overnight. The first day was awful. I woke up from anesthesia at 1:30 PM, and soon after walked over to radiology for my x-ray. After a couple of sips of the barium swallow, I threw up. The tech told me no one had ever done that before. So that kind of worried me! I felt much better after vomiting because I feel a whole bunch of burps came out at the same time. Anyway, everything looked good, they said. Hours later, the pain was unbearable. They pushed dilaudid into my IV and I felt much better. The next day I was still nauseated, and couldn't drink the Protein stuff they gave me, nor could I handle much Water. I was too scared I'd vomit. They discharged me sometime afternoon the day after surgery and I felt positive my recovery would be fast. Well, today I'm on post-op day 6. Throughout the past couple of days I've still not been able to drink much water, protein, or anything, am very weak, and start dry heaving when I lay down to sleep. I keep vomiting burps and mucous, I don't know where it comes from. Also, right before these episodes, my mouth salivates excessively!! I have to spit out tons of saliva, that's how I KNOW the heaving is coming. It's the worst feeling. It takes a lot of energy, energy I don't have in the first place, to expel this mucous. I can't help but to cry. I asked my nurse if that was normal and she insists it is. So I'm waiting it out. But how normal could not eating or drinking nutrients for 6 days be? I'm scared that if I do this for another couple of days I may pass out from weakness. I have awful gas pains. Both shoulders hurt like hell. Nevermind the incisions, that's not even bothering me. It's these little annoying burps that make my diaphragm jump and it's SO painful! So many times this week I've thought to myself "What have I done?? Why didn't I just diet and exercise like Jennifer Hudson?! Is all this pain really worth it? Will it ever be over?" I'm sure others have had worse experiences. But I feel so miserable. I have very little energy, and fear vomiting everyday. When does this get better? At this rate I don't see myself eating mushies or drinking full liquids anytime soon. What can I do to alleviate the discomfort of gas and nausea? I'm already on Lortab and Zofran!! And I STILL feel awful. Has anyone had plication with lap-band and experienced what I'm going through? I appreciate any responses. Comfort and success seem so far away right now. I just wish I could fast forward to next month.

I cheated today!! This is not good! I'm starting to feel hunger and I saw a hard lonely chocolate chip cookie and I had to have it. I'm only a week out, and I didn't even think twice! I let it melt in my mouth little piece by little piece and it was amazing. However, this worries me because already I'm showing no discipline. damn!!

Thanks for the replies, ladies. I'm feeling much better today. I do however, have the worst left shoulder pain as of yesterday. Why did the pain onset several days after surgery? Weird. I cried earlier because I was laughing at my baby, not realizing it would affect my shoulder. Omg I looked so stupid my husband thought I was joking. LOL Anyway, after I posted that first topic, I threw up once more that night. Just mucous and burps. After that I knocked out and I'm feeling better. I am starting to want to drink Water and try Jello. Although, I just started drinking Isopure today. So that's 6 days of NO Protein and very little water. I wonder if my hair will start falling off, or if it will really have an effect on my body. I'm still not physically hungry. But my head is. I finally understand what that means. My husband brought home his Panda Express leftovers and I just watched him eat it.... Chinese is my favorite food, by the way. It was painful. Can't wait to have that stuff again, of course, in moderation. I'm finally feeling optimistic and excited to see what the scale says this wednesday at my 1 week post-op meet. Thanks for the support, ladies.