TLL

The idea of chest ports just seems...odd...to me? Of course I obviously don't have any experience with them, but they seem like they would have to be more noticeable from the outside, and more uncomfortable in general. I'm curious to hear some chest port people weigh in on it!

My port is above my navel and to the left a bit. My surgeon has never had any trouble finding it, fills are painless, and no scarring at all from fills. There will be a dot for a week or so, like from any itty bitty bug bite without the swelling, but then it completely disappears.

Yes, your gallbladder is on the right, but I had a lot of pain on my left as well. I really truly had pain all over my abdomen, the pain kept moving around which is what had me so confused at the beginning of it all! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, keep us posted!

I'm completely opposite of you there, Sasha! I used to not really like spicy foods at all, but it's definitely a big crave for me now! Pickles, jalapenos, hotter salsas...mmmm! I think I definitely yearn for them a lot more than sweet things, and pre band I was a sugaraholic.

Fast food cheeseburgers...they are really disgusting creatures! Mountain Dew. I LIVED off of the stuff. I took one sip of my husband's a few months ago and now it tastes like generic "citrus drink" or maybe floor mop solution, definitely not the classic Mt. Dew flavor of my dreams. And sadly enough, leafy green salads. I always used Romaine, spinach, etc. and just loved it. Never iceberg. But now that I have to chew so much more thoroughly, by the time I swallow, they have a dirt taste to them. So sad!

Ya gotta love this forum? I never thought of gall bladder even though I've seen so many here who have had it removed. Isn't it great? So many experiences!

You may even want to try cutting back on your fat intake until your appointment. I don't know what the exact correlation is, it has something to do with fat causing the duct to contract to release bile. I just know that within 24 hours of the doctor putting me on a very low fat diet (I had to wait for inflammation and infection to calm down before they could safely remove it), I felt like a million bucks! Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Congratulations! Doesn't it just feel absolutely amazing every time you hit a mile stone? I don't have any before pictures either for the same reasons. I'm hoping I can get a copy of my (surely hideous!) before picture taken at my hospital during pre-op day.

Congratulations!! You look absolutely amazing!

Could it by any chance be your gallbladder? I know when I first had trouble with mine, I really thought I had horrible gas pains that I couldn't get rid of. I tried everything to no avail and wound up in the ER in the middle of the night when the pain finally had me vomiting. It felt like I had huge pockets of gas roaming around in my entire abdominal cavity.

I'm about 6.5 months post op and I'm starting to worry a bit about the reduction in bowel movements I've been experiencing. I'm completely aware that with reduced food intake, that it's perfectly natural to have smaller and less frequent movements. However, it seems I'm only going once every three days or so and would like to find some natural laxatives (or dietary changes) that would be band friendly to try that would get things moving a bit better. Does anyone that has experienced the same thing have any suggestions for me? Thanks!

So will the "regular" Magnesium (oxide?) tablets work the same as the Magnesium Citrate? I grabbed a bottle of the Nature Made at Walmart the other day, but kept looking since I wasn't sure enough. I'm so easily confused!!

I'll pretty much never be able to run, my ankles are ate up with arthritis and my feet are on there way. Although honestly, not a huge loss for me, even when I weighed much less and had good feet, I still HATED running. haha But walking...that I can do! =D

I was going to pick up some Magnesium Citrate yesterday to keep on hand, but I was only able to find one brand and from what we could tell, the capsules were HUGE! What brand did you find that you could actually get down?

I'm extremely proud of you!

Wow, that's some really extreme bruising. I don't have any great advice, I can only say that if my bruise from the anti clotting stuff had covered that large of an area, I would be calling my primary for a second opinion on it. Keep in mind I'm really jumpy and quick to start making phone calls. haha Mine was that dark, but only slightly larger than the size of a soft ball.

I try to approach meals with portion size in mind from the get go. I don't personally weigh food or anything, but I try to have a realistic vision of what a food's true portion size is and stick to it. I try to under fill my plates. One tool that I saw in the hospital's gift shop (and really wish I had gotten while I was there!) was a lap band portion control plate. I'm sure there's many versions available, this is just the one I saw at the time. http://www.lapbandtools.com/products/Portion-Control-Plate.html

I haven't had to really worry about it until recently when I was put on Vitamin D by my doctor, but I've often wondered how people go about taking their various medications that must be taken with food, since we aren't supposed to drink with meals? With my Vit D, I've been taking it about half an hour before I plan to eat, but it's not something that will make you sick to your stomach or some such when taken on an empty stomach. How do ya'll handle it?

"It Won't Be Easy, But it Will Be Worth It" I plan on gifting this to myself as a tattoo once I reach 200. Awesome thread, btw!

Of course this winter has been much colder for much longer than normal anyway, but I am absolutely frozen to the core when I'm anywhere other than home! At work, at restaurants, in my vehicle, and most definitely outside! I'm not complaining (much) but at the same time I really hope my body gets used to the weight loss by next winter!

Yup, your other fills will be performed the exact same way. I've absolutely loved this method, I feel as though it takes a lot of the guess work out. I've never had any problems with being anywhere near too tight after one, I don't know for a fact, but I believe that they take out just a tiny bit more once the fluids go down.

I had a really awesome appointment with my surgeon this morning! I had been feeling a bit down in the dumps because I felt like I hadn't really been losing weight at the proper speed for the last few months as I've been fighting an uphill battle with my thyroid levels having been totally tanked (having trouble getting meds readjusted after such a large weight loss). I would stay steady for a week or two, maybe even go up a pound, and then the next I would drop five. But my surgeon seemed really stoked about how much I've lost, stating I've lost about 10 pounds more than he would have expected in that amount of time. He didn't even want to give me the fill I thought I might be needing, kind of "don't poke the dragon" sort of thing since things have been working. Which is really fine by me because I love being able to eat! haha So anyway, just...WOOT! =D Talk about a motivation booster!!! In another 20 pounds I will have reached my "normal" fat girl weight, the size I was all through my late teens and early twenties. I've lost over HALF of what I need to reach his goal weight for me...I CAN DO THIS!!! No, no...I AM DOING THIS!!!

Hi there, Leepers! Great to meet another bandster nearby! I can't believe you had surgery right before Christmas, what a trooper!!

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents that when this happened to me (and did for months!) it was my thyroid levels being extremely high after losing so much weight. Within 1-2 weeks after having my medications lowered, the dizzy spells went away completely!

Well, that might not be the most accurate description, but it's hard to put into words! I was banded July 24th, and had my first fill on August 29th. Everything has been just fine and dandy until Wednesday night. I was laying on my side in the bed and went to roll onto my stomach, and felt a quick sharp pain in my stomach. Nothing horrific, just enough for me to put my hand on my stomach and say OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! The pain quickly faded away and I moved on with my life. Until the next morning at work. I noticed that every time I bent at the stomach to sit down, crouch down, etc., this....feeling...occurred in my abdomen. It's, generally speaking, in the area above my navel but below my sternum. It feels like something is...creaking? Or rubbing? Or maybe like a light stomach growl, but it only happens when making that motion, and it doesn't feel "organic". It doesn't feel as though it's actually inside of my stomach itself. There's no pain at all, just the odd sensation. At times, if I put my hand on my stomach while bending, I can actually feel it again my hand. I've called my surgeon and will be going in to see him first thing Monday morning. I'm trying not to worry too much about it just yet, but my mind is already racing with all the worst case scenarios! I was just wandering if anyone else had ever had this happen? Or have any ideas they want to throw out there as to what it might be?