Cocoabean

If it has caffeine in it, it will have a diuretic effect and does not count toward your liquid goals. Caffeine-free counts, but the majority of your liquids should be water if at all possible.

Eating should not be painful. Unless you are stuck. Keep and eye on things, if you get to where you cannot get liquids down go in ASAP. If yogurt is not going down well, you might be a little too tight. I was overfilled once, I was having trouble with yogurt, got stuck on string cheese. When I got stuck on mashed potatoes is when I cried uncle. I got half the fill I'd just had put in taken out. After things calmed down I went back a month later and had that put back in plus a little more. You might try going on all liquids for a day or so and let any swelling go down. Feel better!

Welcome, Brenda! This is a great place to be. Ask your questions. You'll get great support here.

That is so awesome, you are doing great on your program! (sitting here with a big stupid grin on my face)

I don't have my 3 month data, but it wasn't much. That is when I first really started losing. I had postponed my first fill due to a cruise. I was banded Feb 15, went on a Cruise the last 2 weeks of April, got my first fill sometime in late April/early May. At 6 months I was down 25 from my surgery day weigh-in. I was a lower BMI start. I was also a very slow loser, but I got there!

For the first 6 weeks you are healing, TRY not to get on the scale. HA! I know, I know. A band does not proving much weight loss immediately after surgery. This is NOT gastric bypass where patients lose the majority of their weight shortly after surgery. Your body has been through quite the trauma of surgery, you might have just a little bit of fill in your band, if any, from the surgery. If you are losing anything right now, it is due to YOU. Ok, anything you lose with a band is due to you, but it sure helps to be in the green zone. My surgeon told me not to worry about my weight until we started doing fills. If I gained a few, he didn't care, he said. He said that he knew I'd done tons of diets over the years and they don't work, why torture myself now with an unfilled band? Just wait until we get it adjusted right and THEN we'll talk about weight loss. LOVE him, by the way! I was banded Feb 15, 2008, I did not start losing until June, after my second fill. Really, this is a lifetime journey, not a one time event. It's a process. You will get there. To quote my favorite movie, "patience, Highlander."

Did you do it yet??? If you want to shower you need the bandages off, you don't want wet bandages staying on the incisions. THAT is a recipe for infection. Be brave, you can do it!

I've never weight/measure portions. When I eat, I eat slowly and really try to listen to my body telling me it is SATISFIED. Not full. If I eat until I am in discomfort, I have eaten too much. If there is pain, then I am most likely stuck. If I feel any pain I stop eating, because if I am stuck putting more food on top of it just makes it worse. If I stop at the first sign of pain, it will often go down and I can finish my meal. I eat until I am no longer hungry. It takes time to develop the skill, but I did not want to "diet" for the rest of my life, and weight/measuring portions is dieting to me.

Don't try a dense fish at first, like swordfish. I do pretty well with tilapia, I've gotten stuck on cod. Surprisingly, I can eat shrimp just fine. Remember small bites and chew well...especially when you are trying a new food.

It was a generic full liquid diet. If you have specific instructions from your doctor, stay with that, of course!

I was moved to full liquids at day 3. The soup should go down fairly quickly, and you'll feel better. If not and you are in pain, give your surgeon a call. Just do a few ounces at a time--sip sip sip and let it go down between sips. Feel better!

Sorry to hear that, but at least you know what caused the gain. Hopefully the leak is coming from the tubing or port and can be easily replaced. Keep us posted!

http://www.nlm.nih.g...ions/000206.htm What You Can Eat and Drink You can eat or drink only things that are liquid. You may have these foods and drinks: Water Fruit juices, including nectars and juices with pulp Butter, margarine, oil, cream, custard, and pudding Plain ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sherbet. Fruit ices and popsicles Sugar, honey, and syrups Soup broth (bouillon, consommé, and strained cream soups -- but NO solids) Gelatin (Jell-O) Boost, Ensure, Resource, Sustacal. and other liquid supplements Tea or coffee with cream or milk and sugar or honey Ask your doctor if you can include these foods in your full liquid diet: Cooked, refined cereals, such as Cream of Wheat, cream of rice, oatmeal, grits, or farina Strained meats, like the ones in baby food Potatoes pureed in soup Do NOT eat any kind of cheese, fruit (fresh, frozen, or canned), meat, and cereals that are not on your “okay” list. Also, do NOT eat raw or cooked vegetables. And, do NOT eat ice cream or other frozen Desserts that have any solids in them or on top – things like nuts, chocolate chips, and pieces of Cookies.

My doctor submitted to insurance right before Thanksgiving. They have 30 business days to respond. With all the holidays and office closures it was mid-January before I got approval, surgery was a month after that. My surgeon required a 2 week pre-op diet.

Sasha, you will find it to be an emotional roller coaster. We've been taught to clean our plates, then we have surgery so that we have to eat less...then we get angry when we CAN'T clean our plates... i mean really, how silly is that?? But I still struggle with the mental part of not being able to finish my portion, it's just wrong. There are starving kids in China! I can't take it home, I have to eat it. It's just a Lean Cuisine, I should be able to finish it! The list goes on and on. But really, we had this surgery to limit our intake. When you feel satisfied stop. If you feel pain STOP!!! If you feel pain and keep eating you are setting yourself up for more pain. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten stuck on the first bite of a meal. It makes me want to cry. The last time the DH and I were out for lunch. He was kind of pressuring me to eat even though I was in pain (stupid of me to listen) so I ate on top of the pain. On the way home I started sliming. It was a miserable ride. I thought I was going to have to have him pull over. I keep dog poo bags in my purse, but didn't want to urp in front of him, because he would join me. Listen to your band, don't listen to your plate or anyone else. You are worth it, the food is not! You will taste it again.

Oh yes! When you are dehydrated, do your rings fit tighter? Mine do. Shows me that my tissues puff-up trying to hang on to every drop of liquid. Your stomach would be the same. That would make your band feel tighter. My band's tightness changes from day-to-day. I call it a fickle, freakin', foofin' band! But I love it just the same!

I don't do low carb. I eat wraps rather than sandwiches. I don't have a problem with tortillas, but I do with soft breads. Many bandsters cannot eat tortillas, though. I am afraid it will be trial and error for you.

Preplanning and visualization. Sounds silly, but really...picture yourself with a small plate of band friendly stuff. Picture yourself taking small bites and chewing well. Picture yourself being successful! It's amazing what that can do for you. Remember, it's about family and friends, not the food!

In the US the FDA just recently approved the use of the band down to a BMI of 30 with a co-morbidity. That doesn't mean that insurance companies are paying for it for BMIs that low. Also, doctors could band someone with a lower BMI before FDA approval as an "off label" use of the band, if the patient is willing to pay. But each surgeon decides what is right for the individual patient.

The sleeve shows excellent results so far, but it is a fairly new procedure as a stand alone. It is the first part of a duodenal switch procedure that is done most commonly for very high BMI patients. Sometimes the first part of the procedure is done, then after the patient has lost some weight, they go back and do the switch. They found that many patients did well with just the sleeve portion, and chose not to do the switch. So it has grown into just the vertical sleeve gastrectomy procedure as a stand alone. That is my understanding, anyway. There are quite a few risks involved, you will want to research those and speak to your surgeon about them. Such as staple line leaks. That risk is early on, and once you heal is then of no concern. You can also get strictures of the sleeve, where part of it gets tighter like if you put a rubber band around a banana. I have no idea what the rate of this happening is. The surgeon must decide how large to make the sleeve, if he makes it too large, you can eat too much, too small and you cannot eat enough. There is no adjusting it, nor is there adjusting with bypass. In the sleeve procedure they cut away about 80% of your stomach and actually remove it from your body. There is absolutely no going back. With band and bypass, they can both be reversed. Band easier than bypass, and many will say bypass cannot be reversed, but it can. It is just rarely done, and it isn't easy to do. My surgeon has reversed 7 bypasses. With the sleeve, as the removed stomach is in the trash...reversal isn't going to happen. As previously stated, there is a verticalsleevetalk.com site now. Be aware there are many there who were previously banded with bad experiences, and have not much good to say about bands. Do keep that in mind if you head over there. But they would have the most info about sleeves.

Do you have sinus issues? Kind of out of left field, but there have been many people on here who've had unexplained tightening of their bands who finally correlated it to post-nasal drip. Just a thought. One finally had her band removed. If my band failed to work for me, I'd not hesitate to revise to which ever procedure my surgeon advised. But then, I love my surgeon and trust his opinion. I hope you find some answers, or peace, or a good decision.

There is a big learning curve, that is for sure. And for me, after every fill, there is more learning to do! After my first 3 fills I could sip with meals (my doctor was ok with it), but then it became an issue. To be honest, one way I get unstuck is to chug a few ounces of water. It will immediately start the launch sequence and bring up the water and the item that is stuck with no retching. I don't recommend it for everyone, as vomiting is never a good idea with a band. But to the OP, if you were having soup before you drank the water, that is a liquid, so adding water on top of that should not cause any problems other than draining slowly if your band is tight. A bit of discomfort, yes, but no permanent damage.

Can the infirmary at work give you some IV saline?

Call your surgeon's office. There should be a service on that can get ahold of him. Explain about the ER. He might meet you there for an unfill or at least speak with ER docs. He might even meet you at his office for an unfill. You cannot go all weekend without fluids.

That tightness is the first sign of being stuck for me...do NOT eat more when you feel that. Yes, it gets frustrating when you can't finish what you think you could eat. But get used to it. I've had times where I get stuck on the first bite and the rest goes in the trash. Very frustrating when eating out and I cannot take it home. Be aware, many bandsters cannot eat eggs. I can, but they are a common item to get stuck.