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I feel like I'm a lot thirstier since I've been banded. (Unfortunately I'm still hungry!) I know I'm not drinking with meals but between meals I find myself unquenchably thirsty, drinking glass after glass of water and still parched. Anyone else experiencing this?

if anyone's experienced this. I am not a lap-band success story thus far. I was banded in April 07. I've had two fills- had no restriction after the first and what I thought was restriction after the second. But- I would have days where I felt as if I had no lap band at all and days where I PB'd from liquids. I called the office in TJ where I had the surgery done and they said I had a "finicky band. They said I should wait a little while and see what happens and come down to TJ again if it didn't get better. Well, my elderly mom got very ill and I've been caring for her so I hadn't gone down (that was 4 months ago). I was able to get more down if it was liquids (yogurt, ice cream) or soft (mashed potatoes, pureed fruits and veggies, chocolate. Protiens are virtually impossible except for some very soft fishes and occasionally eggs work. I cannot get bread or pasta down and forget fruits and veggies. Then, about 2 weeks ago I got a bad stomach flu and threw up for two days. Ever since, I feel like anything I eat is scraping my insides and I feel like the port feels different from the outside. I'm going to TJ Saturday but was wondering if anyone had any ideas about what's going on. I've been so sad and frustrated about the band because it was a big deal to do (emotionally and financially) and so far it's a bust. I know people on this website say that the band doesn't fail, people do, or that the band isn't a solution, it's a tool, but I have to say, it's been hard to eat healthy when I can't get down meat,veggies or fruit. Any insight???

Dear God, I'm so, so sorry for what you've been through. I don't know anyone in the Atlanta area but perhaps you should call the Obesity Control Center in TJ. They have lists of American doctors if patients need emergency help. You can find them on the web. I hope this all works out for you.

I am having the same issue and I was actually coming on to find out how you know you've slipped. Can you tell? Currently, I am Pbing sometimes on almost anything, especially animal proteins, then other times can eat large amnts of almost anything. If I'm having a run on PBing I get so damn hungry that I eat loads of yogurt and ice cream. I've actually gained weight! I have to go to TJ everytime I need to fill or have it looked at so I'm resistant. I am having a hard time understanding how this all works if sometimes I'm tight and sometimes I can eat anything. Any clues?

I got a fill a few weeks ago. I sometimes have restriction, sometimes not. However, I get stuck all the time. I've read other people saying that junk food goes down easier than good food and though it was BS but I am having major problems with meat, chicken, fish, fruit, many veggies and starches like Pasta, potatoes and breads. I can however eat yogurt, ice cream, cheese and chocolate with abandone. Anyone else experience this? I chew very well, take small bites and don't drink when I eat and I still get stuck. But by the end of the day, I'm starving since I've PB'd most anything solid I ate. So I fill my stomach with yogurt and ice cream, then I feel horrible. I don't think I'm too tight only because when I do get food in I can eat plenty before I'm full. It's very confusing. Any info would be appreciated.

I just started a new thread yesterday with almost the same exact situation as you're having. I'm not losing weight because I find myself filling up on the high calorie things I can get down- like ice cream and chocolate. Can't help you with any solutions but I feel your pain.

I got my second fill about a week ago. I can drink anything, I can eat most starches and veggies as long as I chew, chew, chew. But, it seems like no matter how much I chew steak, chicken, lamb...I get stuck. I've PB'd multiple times on protiens, even with small bites and a lot of chewing. Anyone else have this issue? And if so, any suggestions on how to deal with it?

Hi, I was banded April 24th and just had my second fill yesterday morning. I have not lost any weight since surgery and in fact put some on once I started on solids. I'm so envious of all of you with your big weight loss. I got filled to 2.0 by my doctor in TJ (ORTIZ) and am feeling a little restriction for the firs time. I find it so disheartening but I walked a long and vigorous walk this morning and vow to keep it up. The doctor said not to worry, the band will work for me once we find the right fill, and I'm sure he's right. It's just that I was hoping to be shorts worthy by the summer , and I'm definitely not!

you can buy whey protein powder at the health food store and mix it into anything else you drink or sip (carnation instant breakfast, soup, pudding), it has a creamy taste and is a really high quality protein and easily digested.

I think you may be experiencing the resumption of your appetite. After the surgery, I had no appetite and I thought that was a result of the band and that I was feeling true restriction. After a week or so, my appetite returned with a vengence and I had no restiriciton (but did have sticking and even PB'd once). Then I looked on this site and realized that I shouldn't expect to have an restriction until one or more fills. I just got my second fill today (I'm on liquides for the day) and will soon see if I have restriction. Read about "bandster hell" on this site for more tales on this subject. Good luck!

had my first fill two weeks ago. no restriction in terms of feeling full sooner but i do get stuck once in awhile if i don't chew enough. wondering how soon i can get another fill and if anyone else has had this experience?

cannot give you words of wisdom, only company in your feelings. i posted before on this but continue to feel frustration that i have absolutely no restriction and am gaining weight. i know the band is only a tool but as you have stated, if i could limit my intake without the band doing it for me, i wouldn't have gotten the band in the first place. my confusion is that i do get stuck sometimes if i don't chew meat long enough or take a big gulp of something starchy but that doesn't translate into getting a full feeling. once i'm unstuck i can continue eating without feeling full. the only real change i've noticed is that i'm so thirsty all the time, which i'm assuming is because i'm not drinking with meals so i'm probably getting less fluid than i usually do. i drink glasses and glasses of water between meals but it never seems to quench the thirst. mostly, i feel sad that it's almost july and my surgery was in april, i thought by this time i'd be down 20 or 30 lbs. not up 6!

I too was banded almost 2 months ago, have had one fill and have actually gained wieght since the surgery! I'm not having restriction, although I do get stuck if I don't chew foods thoroughly. I am hoping that with my next fill things will change. Right now, I feel like I spent money and put myself through surgery and it's all a waste! I'm feeling like a failure and like I'm hopeless.:scalesno:

I was banded on 4/24 and got my first fill last week (1.4) and am in the same boat. i felt slightly more restricted initially but feel less restriction now than before the fill. I have so little restriction that I was nervous my band had slipped. I too am so disappointed, feeling like i was hoping to be pounds lighter by now and instead, I think I've acutally gained a few!

Just got my first fill and he used the floroscope. It was cool seeing the barium empty from the pouch to the lower stomach and seeing the band inside me. I was afraid that if they didn't use the floro that they could stick the tubing by mistake and create a leak, but I'm just paranoid, I think.

I'm not sure what that was but I was told to do liquids for three days before food. When I got my fill I had to do a barium swallow and then drink a lot of water when the doctor thought he had me at the right amount (1.4?) When I drank the water I heard a "glug,glug" like when you empty out a bottle at the end. Maybe that's what you heard?

There seems to be such negativity towards people who are having a hard time sticking with an eating program once they are banded. Yet everyone says that the band is only a tool and we have to still deal with our food issues. It seems to me that none of us would have taken the extreme step of having surgery and a foreign object placed in our bodies if we didn't have a pretty big problem with food to begin with. So, why are people who are eating over the band or having a hard time sticking to the plan being treated with such impatients? Frankly, I'd love to have a forum here to talk about food issues (our relationship to food, our feelings about not being able to eat, our struggles with sticking to the rules) without being put down. Isn't that disapproving voice part of what drives us to destructive behavior? I was banded 5 weeks ago, have had no fill yet and since the third week past surgery have been pretty much eating like I did before banding. I feel scared and weak but I'm afraid to talk about in any forum for fear I'll just be told to "stop it" or "what do you expect if you don't follow your dr. instructions?" or get no support beyond being told that once I'm filled it will be different. The emotional issues around eating (whether the reasons I eat are just physiological or not) are half the battle for me, and I'd like to think I can discuss them without judgement. Is anyone out there feeling the same way, or am I just sounding like I'm a whiner or rationalizing behavior?

Another wayt to approach your son is to tell him that up until now you have been open with him about what you are doing in your life but if sharing your life with him is going to cause problems, you'd rather keep it to yourself. Let him know that you've put real thought into this decision, that you believe that going through with this is what you believe will give you your best shot at survival and that having your families support in this decision would mean the world to you. good luck!

I am having my first fill on June 4th and will (hopefully) experience some restiriction. I didn't have any hunger for the first week after the surgery and I thought "this will be a breeze." Then the hunger came back, and without restricition I am able to eat with abandon. So I'm in some ways, in the same place you are. This is what I've been thinking: Yes, my eating is definitely addictive and a habit but it's also an adaptive behavior. I use food to comfort myself, to calm myself and to distract myself from other issues in my life. So, if I take food away, then the other issues in my life that are being literally and figuratively covered up with my eating obsession will be uncovered and what's REALLY going on inside me will be revealed. And if I deal with those issues I have a real shot at unraveling my food addiction once and for all. Thinking of it in this way makes me feel that this is an opportunity that I am grateful for. I have tried so many diets, hypnosis, therapy, yoga and meditation and nothing has gotten to the root of the issue because I always end up lapsing back into old behavior or transferring my obsession to starving myself (that's when I've lost weight). This banding process, I'm thinking, will be different because I won't be stuffing my body beyond what's pleasurable or denying myself when I'm starving, I'll be answering to my bodies actual needs. I don't know if I've ever done that! Of course yu are having intense feelings about losing the ability to overeat at will. It's obviously something that has worked in the past and you are entering unknown territory. But we've been banging our heads against this wall for a long time, don't you think? It's time to take a chance on a new way of living. Hope this is coherent.

The answer to this may be somewhere already but I haven't been able to find it. I am on a time released medication which I have still been able to take in capsule form (I have not had a fill yet). I am getting my first fill on June 4th and will have to empty the capsule into some applesause and swallow it once I have restriction. My doctor does not know for sure if the fact that the digestion process is slowed down will affect the effect of the medication. Anyone have info on this?

I resent the hi jacking of the term "Pro-life" to mean that one is against a woman's right to choose. How about if you ask if we are pro-choice or anti-choice?

I live in Southern California. Everyday when I'm driving my kid to school I go by large groups of Latino men, waving down cars for work. They are clean looking fellows, some with lunch boxes and tool boxes. I see the same guys everyday, this is their profession. They are hired as day laborers by painters, gardeners, contractors, handymen... some of them are quite skilled and they wouldn't be there if they didn't get the work. They negotiate their salaries on the spot and are paid in cash. If they don't agree to the money being offered, some other guy will. If they get hurt on the job, tough luck. They are an interwoven part of the economy in these parts and often the same people who are moaning and groaning about illegal immigration are the folks hiring them! I feel for everyone. The illegal immigrants are here trying to make a better life. There's no cohesive immigration policy in this country. Officially, we take virtually no low-skilled laborers from Latin American countries. I feel for the low skilled laborers who are American citizens or are here legally- their chances to make their way into the system and live the "American Dream" are very slim when they are being undercut by low cost, no benefits labor. I feel for the small business owners who are trying to stay afloat and be competitive in the market. I don't know what the answer is but I know there are people much brighter than I who would have a few suggestions. What I do know is that demonizing these illegal immigrants, spending billions to erect giant fences (simply cartoonish), or allowing vigilante groups to patrol the deserts and mete out punishment as they see fit (last time I checked we were still claiming to be part of the civilized world) are NOT solutions to this problem. I am a second generation Italian-American. I believe this country is better and stronger because we attract people from other countries who want to be better and stronger. There was a time when my family and the others in their Italian ghetto were seen as the scourge on society. My grandparents couldn't read or write. My grandmother died not having learned English. Two generations later, I can count among my five siblings alone, a Phd, a teacher with two Masters degrees, an RN and a very philanthropic CEO of a Fortune 500 comany. Yes, 50 years ago my grandparents may have gone to free clinics, lived in subsidized housing and applied for "relief" but all in all I think this country made a pretty good investment in us. I believe that the children of todays unskilled workers may be giving birth to our future generations most esteemed citizens. Don't they (and we) deserve our best effort in coming up with policies that make sense for everyone?

oh juli- i have been eating smaller amounts than i had been for sure but they are normal portions (as opposed to the 'supersize me' portions i had been eating). when i do overeat, it's things like (don't judge me) ice cream and yogurt. i'm definitely not losing and may be gaining weight but i'm not eating until i'm busting or anything. at this point, i'm back on mushies and white knuckling it until june 4th (my first fill) hoping to get some restriction then.

I wish I had not gone in with the expectation that I would be up and running within a couple of days. I had read so many testimonials that people were back at work in 3 days and felt perfectly fine two days after, etc. So when I was still feeling punky five days out and my incisions were sore 2 weeks later and my shoulder hurt for a week I thought there was something wrong. Surgery is surgery and it takes time to feel better. I was banded 4/23 and I'm still a little sore around the incisions. and of course, the more i read, the more i realize that i'm totally normal in my recovery. I also wish my doctor (ortiz in tj) had explained post-op (the reason for the diet, the physical sensations etc.) in more detail and with more info. without this forum i'd have been in a panic more than once. but there's so much diversity in opinion that i would have like to heard my doctor's reasons for his version of the post-op diet, or his protocol for the first fill...

What I love most is that the people who are most offended by the post are named "lap dancer" and have said "monster penis and busting virgin vagina's and rectums"- now that's family friendly!