Coco

Hi Paulina, You are lucky to have lost so much with such little restriction, usually it takes 3 or even 4 fills before you hit your sweet spot. (The restriction that allows you lose weight every week) Your port will move around quite a bit in the beginning until it finds a place its happy to latch on to. It took me about 3 months to stop noticing my port, I stopped being concious of it when I was going to sleep and when I moved around in that time. As for vitamin tablets, if you are eating a healthy diet you should be getting all your vitamins but if your worried you can get them in liquid form, a good multi vitamin covers you for everything. Good luck with your fill on the 2nd and take it easy you've only just been over a month banded.

Hi Everyone, I just feel well enough today to come on the computer. The leg was fine it was the rest of me that took time to recover, I felt like I was body slammed against a wall by hulk hogan! I felt so bad I phoned the hospital the next day to check was it normal to feel this bad and I was told by this very cheerful nurse that yes it was and to also expect a feeling of really bad jet lag.:eek: I have to say all of the staff that I came in contact with in Loughinstown were absolutely lovely, they couldn't have been nicer to me. So Dini, you may well need a slight defill, but it might be as well to ask for an xray just to check. Sometimes a defill for a short time can fix a slip. But well done on the weight loss. Size 10 :mad:. I hope you are feeling better soon but don't wait too long to get it sorted. Thanks to all of you who wished me well. I am from today well on the road to full recovery, I'm not supposed to drive till tuesday, but my darling husband who has been so terrific this past week and basically stepped into my shoes for the whole time, has to go back to London tomorrow,(work) so I'll have to be able to drive from tomorrow. Talk soon.:cool2:

Hi All A few thing here....... Pouch stretching.... Why do you risk it. There is no shortage of food, eat a little, wait, if you are still hungry after 20mins have a little more. Do not drink with your food, and for at least an hour after. You have paid a huge amount of money not to mention taking the major decision to have the op done. It takes time for your head to catch up with what you have done to your stomach. Be patient, it will get easier but for now you all really need to use your common sense. As for a flipped port, unless its been stitched into place your port will flip around some, it can be easily manipulated right side up by your healthcare professional, so you can relax on that one. Finally, you can eat loads and you've had a couple of fills......... yeah, that happens too, it varies from person to person but until you reach your sweet spot with the fills you will have varying degrees of restriction, again, relax, we all want to be thin yesterday but it took you a while to gain the weight so it will take time to lose it. Good luck to all of you, I wish you comfortable restriction and shed loads of weight loss.:rolleyes2:

Me too, :rolleyes2: I do eat healthily but I still crave and give in :tt1: to my cravings. But a little of what you fancy does you good.

Hi Guys, :tt1::lol: this is so funny, I'm sorry I feel your pain honest I do. Been there done that and bought the tee-shirt. WHY ARE NONE OF YOU WEIGHING YOURSELVES? This is what makes it all worth while, you sip on your soup, you slowly swallow your yogurt, you wince at another glass of protein shake. THEN YOU WEIGH YOURSELF and the needle is moving DOWNWARDS. How great is that, I think its fantastic! You will be able to eat normal food soon, when the swelling goes down, and you've lost a load of weight and you band will loosen and you'll be running to your dr for a fill to gain restriction. Every time you feel sorry for yourself stand on the scales, its the only thing that will make you smile till your able to eat solids again. Good luck. Welcome to the losing side. It gets different but not necessarialy better.:rolleyes2::smile:

Hi Skinny, Just make an appointment with Jan.:tt1: Did Lu give you a reason why she would't do a fill? :rolleyes2: If you're not losing weight and feel you don't have enough restriction, as far as I'm concerned its a no brainer, you have a fill. How's the meeting shaping up, are many of the girls coming. I'll be there as long as I can drive/walk. Having my V Vains done tomorrow.

Hey Ellen, That's a by-pass by its posh name.:rolleyes2: But its worth getting as much WLS info as we can so we know whats on offer. If he will be working for the HSE it will be a long wait to get to see him. I know from the wait list in Loughlinstown that waiting to be seen takes about 3 years, then you must fill out a questionnaire stating how much you eat & exercise keep a two week diary of all you eat and exercise etc. Basically its a right pain and on top of that you really have to have one foot in the grave before they offer you the op. Maybe with more surgeons in the country the waiting list will go down. But the HSE don't offer the lap band as yet. Just the by pass. I've seen that web site but I've not been on it for a while, I must check it out again.

Hi Princess, I would stick with Dr Jan if I were you, he did your op and will know whats right for you. It takes most of us 3 or 4 fills to feel real restriction. General rule of thumb is, if you are not losing weight or are gaining :tt1:, you are due a fill. I think its very important to weigh yourself every week and keep a written record that way your weight loss can't be averaged out over 6 to 8 weeks, you can tell when you lost weight and when you stopped. I hope that makes sense, in my head it does.:rolleyes2: Glad your enjoying the site. Incidentally, I find Lu terrific, but I know she's not to everyone's taste.

Hi Cisco, Six weeks is a really short time. The swelling must go down and once that happens which can be up to eight weeks, you will notice your band will be a lot looser, and you will be begging for a fill.:tt1: My surgeon recommended getting back to normal food once I was able, staying on liquids or mushies too long can be detrimental to losing weight. The liquids and mushies go through the band too quickly, don't fill you up for long enough and as a result you have more. The idea of the band is to fill the pouch, (the upper stomach), that should take about 2hrs to empty and as a result you will be full for much longer with a lot less food. Start by putting your food on a smaller plate, at least half what you would eat pre band. Put your fork down between mouthfuls and chew, chew, chew and then chew some more. This is a lot more difficult than it sounds:lol: but its worth getting into the habit of if you want to prevent pb's and sliming. Don't spend any longer than 20-30mins at your main meal. If you've not finished it by then throw it out. Once you get to your sweet spot you should be losing 1-2lbs a week just by cutting down on the food. Add in a bit of exercise and the sky's your limit. Good luck and welcome to the losing side.:huh2:

Hi, I say fair play to you, once you know what you're doing. Nobody else is going to help you. One word of warning, if you are able to fill you will also be able to defill. I'm not sure how healthy that would be for me, I would be tempted to defill if I had say a wedding to go to and then fill it back up the next day.:rolleyes2: But thats me. I do hope this works out for you. Good luck.

Hi Penny, Would be very interested to hear about Bons. Will they be doing bands or is it just the By-pass?

Hi Penny, Would be very interested to hear about Bons. Will they be doing bands or is it just the By-pass?

Hi Roe, I'll second that, hear hear.

Hi Kermit, Good to hear from you again, you know the best time to post on here is when you're feeling down, all of us are here to support each other and its when we're down that we need the support. You have the band, it takes time for your head to catch up with what you've done to your stomach. Take that time, obay the rules and I swear that weight will fall off. Sometimes we need to kick our own asses, so well done there:lol:

Hi Penny, You poor thing, I've never heard anything so ludicrous in my life. You know from my posts that in the past year I have lost just a couple of lbs shy of 5 stone and dropping. I've at least 2 more stone to go. It is obvious to me that this doctor is simply thinking of the aftercare issues. He is not prepared to take the distance into consideration and so the easiest option is the by-pass in his eyes. Oh my god this sort of stuff really pi**es me off, as if it wasn't difficult enough for us to make the decision to go down the surgery route without this sort of miss information being bandied about. Penny all you have to do is look on this forum on the bandster who were banded a couple of years ago to see the amount of weight they've lost. It was suggested by Roe I think that you contact that surgeon in Belgium, I think she is right, particularly if they are setting up an aftercare service here. Most GP's don't want to get involved with WLS but there are a few who are very supportive. Sorry yours is not one of them. Keep doing the research, come back to sound off here:smile:, and we are all routing for you.

Hi Princess You must follow those rules, they are fundamental to the band working. If you drink anything with your meals you will be forcing food through your band. This will cause several problems #1 You will force the food through your band and will eat more as the pouch will never fill up. #2 If you do this repeatedly you risk a band slip. #3 You will not lose weight and will most probably gain as you are not using the band as your guide to fullness. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you must not drink while you are eating, drinking more than 30mins before you eat is ok, but wait an hour after you eat before drinking anything. Don't worry, it will become easier with time.

Hi Roe, Your band is different to mine, my one is an 8ml band. As you know I was banded by Jerome, my band slipped 5mths after the op. I was text book lap bander up until then and was loosing 2lbs every week even while on hols. I was in complete panic when it slipped as I thought it would set me back months. Thankfully, I was dealt with very quickly and within 2 weeks I had my band repositioned and was back on track. Although I was overfilled and suffered with some heartburn and was only able to have fluids the whole time I was away (the whole month of August) I lost 10lbs in that month, (not the best way to do it, but had no choice as I was out of the country) I finally got my restriction to a comfortable level (with some defills and refills and an barium swallow xray) within six weeks or so of coming back from hols. Anyway, as regards the cost, I was told by Debbie in ACS that the 10K I paid for the op covered me for the life of the band and that any problems I had with it I was covered. So it did not cost me an extra cent. That is the main reason I went with ACS. that and the fact that they were based in Ireland. I know that they have received a lot of crap in the media, but I have to say, and I do regularly, that I have no complaint about the way I have been treated. Dr Jerome, the nurse Lu and Debbie have been nothing but respectful and helpful and professional any time I have needed them. You must not expect a slip, it only occurs in about 2% of people and it doesn't always mean a re op. in many cases it can be fixed with some defills. So don't worry.:seeya: Is everyone enjoying our new look LBT? Maybe it will work better than it has been for the past couple of days.

Hi Nikki, Great to hear from you and I'm delighted the pregnancy is going so well. There are one or two other bandsters who will be delighted to hear you're doing so well too as they hope to become banded mothers soon. That is a really positive post you written, it is so true, when we are early into our banded lives we want the weight loss immediatly, and it can be disheartening when it takes longer than we thought. Its also more difficult when we have people looking over our shoulder to see how much we are losing. Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy and keep us informed of how you're doing.

Hi JJ, It might be wise to have a defill if you feel no looser after a week. If you are happy to carry on with the Protein Drinks and yogurt and custard(lowfat) for a couple more days then do. As for your weekend away with your friends, tell them you have a tummy bug and thats why your not eating. If you loosen up you can say your on a low carb diet or something, its only 2 days you can cover that, and just imagine how good you'll feel when you weigh yourself when you come home.:pray2:

Hey Alesha, I thought you were starting that spinning class. I was looking forward to hearing how it was going. If you want to shrink your bod thats the way to do it. I speak from others experience you understand, I don't acutally do it myself. :lol: Go on girl you go for it.:wink2:

Hi Penny, Good luck with the research. Hope it works out for you, consider all your options and choose wisely. It would be better to take a bit longer to decide than to make the wrong decision. Aftercare is key, you must be able to have someone to turn to in an emergency. Hopefully you'll never need it, but it should be in place for you anyway. PM Elsie, she is also researching and trying to decide who to go with, you could compare notes.:pray2:

Hi Skinny, I'd love to join you but it will depend on how I'm feeling as I'm having my varicose veins done on the 23rd but if I can drive and walk ok I'll be there. I hope some of the girls who missed the last one will make this one.:smile:

Hi Blacknamaste, Welcome to our thread, its great to have a longtime bandster join us and I hope you'll pass on your wisdom now your three years on with your band. In answer to your question, there is only one place in Ireland doing the band although they have put the ops on hold here in Ireland at the moment, and that's Advanced Cosmetic Surgery, they have a web site where you can get their contact numbers ect. I'm sure they won't turn you away because you've not had your op with them. Phone them and ask, I have no idea what the charge as their patients fills are covered in the whole cost of the op. Best of luck and do come back and tell us where you had your op and how much weight you've lost and all the details that we bandsters relish.:smile:

Hi Paulina.g Those of us who were banded in Ireland were banded with Advanced Cosmetic Surgery (ACS) in Dublin. I'm not sure if they are still doing it in Ireland anymore has they have had a hard time of it with the Irish Media. But if you go back a couple of pages it appears that we may have the Belgium people over here to do either clinics (fills) and or the lap band op. So keep watching this thread for further info. Where did you have yours done and how do you manage with fills/aftercare?

Hi Ellen, Firstly, if you are comfortable to go on with the liquids for a week or so I think from experience as you lose weight your band will loosen. Its only a worry if you can't keep liquids down. Then you need a defill or you risk dehydration. As you are still seeking your sweet spot I would carry on for a least a week. But its your body, your call.:smile: Secondly, if you needed a defill I would approach ACS, I don't know how much they charge but I'm sure they would see you. There is no waiting list it is just a matter of who's working on which days. I know that Lu works every second Friday and every Saturday morning so if your worried I'd give them a call. Does your GP know about your op? Sometimes if you're lucky and your GP is supportive of the op, they might be willing to help. Good luck and let us know how you get on.:eek: