angelnurse

thisisforme, I had surgery exactly 18 months ago today. I still drink at least one protein shake daily. I use Optimal Nutrition 100% Whey gold standard in vanilla ice cream or double rich chocolate. I get in at GNC. I add SF pudding to thicken it and SF syrups to add flavor. Some of my favs are: choc. with toasted marshmallow syrup; choc. with raspberry syrup; choc. with Almond Roca syrup; choc. with peanut butter syrup; vanilla with banana cream pudding, pineapple and coconut syrup; vanilla with pistachio pudding; the combinations are endless. You can get SF syrups in so many flavors. Hope this helps you.

Mamota Good Luck! Your surgery date is my 18 month Bandiversary. You are doing the right thing, my only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. I have been morbidly obese all of my adult life and this is the first time in my life that I feel "normal", whatever normal is. I walk in a room and don't feel like everyone is looking at me and thinking "WHAT A FAT PIG!" I never want to feel like that again. I'm glad that you're not scared, it means this is the right thing for you, in my opinion. Good luck again with your surgery.

I add a tablespoon or so of sugar-free jello pudding to my shakes and that thickens them. It comes in lots of flavors and I like pistachio in my vanilla protein powder, it thickens and flavors.

They say the first place you put on weight is usually the last place you take it off. I always put on weight in my abdomen and of course it's the last place that it comes off. I've been there done that with the baggy-butt and legs look. Hopefully, I lose the gut and I'm planning on a belt lipectomy 6 months to a year down the road. Thank goodness for plastic surgery!

My Doctor wanted me to take off 3 weeks. I'm a Pediatric Home Health Nurse and I work nights, so was very hard enough to get the 2 weeks off, let alone 3. I was very glad that I took those 2 weeks off, to recover and settle in to my new routine.

I was able to go completely off my CPAP after 6 months and -94.5 pounds. Don't know if that's the "norm" but my Doctor thinks most people with sleep apnea can get of their CPAP machines with significant weight loss.

One of the reasons that you feel depressed after surgery is because of the anesthesia. Anesthesia is a Central Nervous System Depressant. It takes 3 to 4 weeks, on average, for the anesthesia to "wear-off". Give yourself time for this to happen.

Got my first fill of 1ml at 6 months post-op. My Doctor says if you are still losing 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per week, there is no reason for a fill. I'm almost 18 months post-op and have had 2.6ml in my band for 6 months. I'm going in for my 18 month check-up on 6/19 and am considering a slight fill, maybe to 3ml? I've hit a plateau and having a hard time shedding these last 40 pounds.

WASaBubbleButt is right about only being able to process 25 grams of protein at one time, plus it's hard on your liver and kidneys if you take in more than your body can utilize at one time. You usually need to wait 2 to 4 hours between the protein, whether in shake or solid form. You need to find the protein source that you like and it can change after surgery, so you'll have to experiment and find out what works with you and your taste buds. Good Luck!

My Dietician wants me to get a minimum of 80 grams of protein per day. There is a quick equation to figure out daily protein requirements: weight divided by 2.2=grams of protein per day. Also bare minimum requirement for basal metabolic functions you need 48 oz. of water per day. You should try to get @ least 64 ounces a day. I feel better when I get more. Hope this helps!

My support group meets once a week. I'm very lucky, most groups meet only once a month. In my opinion, going to a support group is so important, you learn so much. Our "Leader" had gastric bypass surgery herself, so she really knows what she's talking about, having gone through it herself. Our support group is with our surgeon and it includes patients that have had lapband as well as gastric bypass. We learn so much from each other and it gives me something to look forward to each week.

Wenjea, I used to take antibiotics 3-4 times every winter for Chronic Bronchitis and never had a yeast infection orally or vaginally until I got Pneumonia and they ended up changing the antibiotic 3 times. I was able to prevent this by taking acidolphilis every time I started antiobiotics. You can get this at your local Health Food Store in either liquid or capsules. You can also get milk at the grocery store with acidolphilis added. There is also the yogurt but you have to make sure that it has "live" cultures in it or it won't work. I'm a Pediatric Home Health Nurse and have a client that does the same thing, every time he starts antibiotics, we give him liquid acidolphilis 4 times/day. It works for him and certainly worked for me.

I found out when I went in for a fill and my Doctor tried 3 times, to acess my port in his office and about 10 more times under fluoroscopy. I didn't know that it had flipped, it wasn't noticeable to me. It didn't hurt until my Doctor had poked me a dozen times and in the process prodded and manipulated my port. Of course it was sore again after surgery but it healed without any problems. My wallet hurt more than anything!

How many grams of protein are you getting per day? How much sleep? How much water? I'm a Nurse, that's why I'm asking all these questions.

My recipe is as follows: For 4 oz fillet, I mix 2 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese with a little garlic powder and 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried parsley. Heat the skillet and add some olive oil mixed with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to the pan. Add the fillet and cook for about 2-3 minutes each side. Then put half of the cheese mixture over the fillet, then flip the cheese covered side over and cook for about 1 minute. Put the remaining cheese mixture on the other side of the fillet and cook an additional minute. The cheese mixture forms a crust and the fish remains moist inside. I really enjoy this and the cheese adds flavor, texture, protein and very little fat.

? Have you had any blood work done? Are you anemic? What does your Doctor say?

I take 2 Centrum chewable multi-vitamins and 1000 mg calcium per day. Used to take sublingual Biotin to help with hair loss but that was in the beginning only.

The port is sewn to the fascia over the muscle, but sometimes the sutures come loose or there aren't enough sutures used. My Doctor did not know why this happened to me, but of all the lapband surgeries that he has done, I'm the only one that had my port flip and had to have a revision done.

I had the same problem as you when I went for my first fill at 6 months, my Doctor could not fill my port, even under fluroscopy. My surgery cost $2,105.25 to do the port revision. Luckily I had just gotten my income tax return to pay for the surgery. It was worth every penny! Good luck in finding a surgeon to do this. The recovery was easier for me the second time around.

I originally was going to have the RNY but 2 weeks before surgery I had an "anxiety attack". I decided that I didn't want my insides changed permanently. I didn't want to worry about the anemia and the malabsorption. I'm now 16 months out and have lost 129 pounds. At one year I had lost 115.5 pounds. My surgeon said that I was right up there with his RNY patients. You can lose as much as the RNYers, you just have to do all that you can. You need to put forth the effort and work with your Doctor on "tweeking" your band. I'm glad I decided to go the lapband route, NO regrets here!

They don't sew it to the muscle, because muscle rips, they sew it to the fascia. The fascia is the thin membrane that covers the muscle, (like when you get a chicken breast at the store and its has the thin white membrane that covers the meat, same thing.)

Oooppppsssss!!!!!!

Down 129 pounds & counting!

Down 129 pounds and counting!

Shelly, Dr. Pennings only does his own patients fills, if you had another surgeon do your lapband he won't do it. It has to do with liability. I don't know if all Doctors are like that, there are several Doctors in Spokane that do lapbands, they might do your fills. Good Luck!