giveyouthemoon

I've had this an according to my surgeon, it's very rarely actual acid and is usually food left in the pouch backing up into the esophagus. I find that if I stop eating by 7:00 (and am vigilent about it) I don't have problems. Also, this is a strong indicator of being overfilled. Maybe see about a slight unfill to take care of this? For me, a bit of an unfill left me ravenous and ready to eat EVERYTHING in sight, so I got the fill back, and *really* have to manage it to keep from aspirating.

Man, I was scared sh-tless walking into my surgery, and so I suppose all I was saying was "ok" and "thank you". I honestly have no recollection of what I said. My surgeon wasn't there, but the anesthesiologist was...and he was very nice. I think I was just nodding and complying with what they said. I just remember being *freaked out* that I was laying there, naked, in a room full of strangers and wondering why in the hell I was going to let them cut into a perfectly healthy, albeit overweight, body. When I woke up, I patted my stomach, felt the glue there and asked "am I done?" Being under was to me sort of blank. Like I left my body. The closest thing to dying I've ever known.... So I was sort of shocked I came back, to be honest. I do remember struggling to come out of anesthesia. And so this VERY kind male nurse, in an attempt to get me conscious, asked me my sister's telephone number. I said the area code...passed out ten minutes...woke up...shouted the next three numbers...passed out.....twenty minutes later...woke up and mumbled the final four digits. He teased me about it later when I finally shrugged off the stuff....I was very embarrassed.

She said she had RNY. It's been all over Yahoo news. Here is one link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070731/ap_en_tv/people_jones_reynolds_7

This is a hard question to answer. A lot of people here will say "oh I was up and shopping the next day". That was not me. I was in a LOT of pain. It took me a full week to feel human enough to go back to work. And even then I was in a lot of pain. I found what *killed* me was sitting at my desk for hours, then getting up to move. OW! Of big importance right away after surgery is to KEEP MOVING! The pain will be much better if you do. Good luck!

Not everyone tolerates whey very well. For some (me included) it can give me terrible gas and diarrea. Might fiddle with other sources of Protein including soy and egg whites. Also, your tummy might not have liked all that protein all at once. If it keeps up, maybe try diluting it more or drinking Water with it and drinking slowly.

As a recovered bulimic, this issue was one of the first things my therapist brought up with me when I was going down the road for this surgery. She works with patients a lot to recover from destructive addictions including eating disorders, drugs and alcoholism. She told me, in her professional opinion with over thirty years in the business, that an addictive person does not stop being addictive. Where you can make great strides, however, is to find another way to channel your addictions. She told me of a woman, a recovered alcoholic, who will stay up night and day making quilts. It keeps her hands and mind busy so she doesn't drink, and gives her the benefit of having completed something. For most, not all, overweight people, eating is a way of coping with life's issues. We turn to food in time of crisis, in time of joy, in time of boredom, etc....that is our addiction. By having this surgery, you are physically limiting your access to that comfort. If you don't find a way to get that comfort, you will turn to *something*, and not always a productive or healthy something. It's why you see many RNY patients become alcoholics. It's the "next way" to deal. And for me personally, to say, "oh I'll just become addicted to exercise!!" WILL NOT WORK. It may work nicely for a few, but I doubt it. I know this, I will never be addicted to exercise. I have to force myself to exercise...I don't enjoy it and it brings me no comfort..... So what, might you ask, have I substituted? Unclear. It's an issue I still struggle with and I find now, over two years out, the band *might* have made my food obsessions worse, not better. Now that I can't have certains foods, I yearn for them..... It's a sticky road. It's why I've said here, on these boards, over and over....NO ONE should go down the road to bariatric surgery without the help of a trained therapist. There are a LOT of issues that come up on the road to weightloss. All of us are fighting our own set of demons. It's having tools in your toolbox to fend them off that is the dividing line between those that are successful and those that fall prey, again, to the demons. Just my opinions, don't have to be yours......:eek:

Worst post banding stuff.... 1) when in the hosptial for my overnight stay, I forgot where I was and tried to turn over onto my side (I usually sleep on my side) and I yanked really hard and pulled at the recently tortured muscle where my port had been sewn. Ow. Hurt for weeks. I finally purchased one of those girdle bands for around your middle to support the muscles. Helped a lot. 2) Rampant diarrea post surgery from the anesthetic. I was in pain AND had to jump up and scoot to the potty. 3) My first PB. Note that ALL of these were pretty soon after surgery. I'm two years out and doing great!

Hi! I'll bet that person had to wait so long due to trying to get insurance together. If you are looking into this and want insurance to pay, now is the right time to start talking to them to get right approvals. Once you have approval it goes fast from there. I was self pay, had my first meeting with the dr in May and surgery in June. I was the one who put it off because I needed to wrap my head around it. I could have had it done within weeks. Ask LOTS of questions. Make sure you understand what you are getting into, and yes, go to the seminars. Hear what questions other people have. Good luck! This is exciting!!

This is going to be a frustrating answer....but the truth is, your mileage may vary... Both person x and person y can eat 1200 cals a day and exercise three times a week and x can lose 80 lbs in a year and y loses 40. It's weird. It depends on a lot. What you have to do once you have the band is try stuff out. Try fiddling with fcalories try fiddling with types and frequency of exercises (and of course fills) until you find your sweet spot for losing.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent"- Elenor Roosevelt The only reason that his comment hit home is that it plays on your own insecurity about yourself. We all have it. I've three times in my life been asked if I was pregnant. It's ridiculous. That guy probably thought he was doing "the right thing" -- he also has some jacked up paternal and patronizing sense of needing to belittle a woman. He's probably roiling with his own faults and insecurities, that's the only reason people act like that. Mentally tell the universe you forgive this guy (forgive the sinner, not the sin) then make sure you remember to forgive *yourself* for all the hard and mean things you've said to and about yourself. Remember that you are loved...most especially by your own self and with that love, nobody's harsh words can get in. *hug*

People treat me a lot different, but then I treat me different too. I'm nicer to me and like myself more and I think it shows, so people are nicer to me too. But people will always treat other people like crap. It's just a feature of humanity I guess. And some people will actually treat you worse..they are upset, used to you being "the fat one" and get jealous when you are not. So, like I said, it's going to go on anyway...mean people will find a way to be mean. Regarding how fast people lose...it's depends on the person. Some are very slow, some are very fast. I was a fast one in year one, lost 100 lbs. I still have thirty to go and it's going veeeery sloooooowly now. : shrug :

Becca, Alex is right a PB can happen any time. However, if you haven't yet PB'd, and are about to get your first fill, now is the time to be careful. Chew *slowly*. You might be a bit inflamed after the fill making you even a bit over tight early on. Just follow all the same rules you already know and it will all work out!

It is not unusual at all to not be able to eat breads and crackers and stuff. That's sort of to be expected. The band is working best if you can eat hard Proteins and veggies, in small portions, and when you do, you stay full for several hours with no hunger. If you are eating "right" foods (proteins and veggies) but get hungry quick. then maybe look into a bit more fill. For now, from what you described, you sound like you are at a really good fill level. Don't push the fills!! Enjoy 'em while they work!!!

I didn't have reflux with my dialation, tho it was pretty mild dialation. Since your Dr. isn't concerned, give it a couple more weeks. Mind your portions, and see if it doesn't improve. The fact that you don't have reflux is, actually, a good sign. Sometimes the band feels loose for no reason. Sometimes the band feels tight for no reason. Just got to go with it......

Yep, me! I'm always tighter after flying for about two to three days. I also get tighter if I go to a high elevation. About a month after my first fill I flew to Colorado Springs. That was a miserable week.

Sudden loss of restriction. Like, you had it, then *boop* you didn't. Pouch dialation doesn't always come with reflux. It's a "prelude to a slip" so if you think you have one, best to have it looked at under floro. If you've NEVER felt restriction...well, then that's not the issue here. BTW, you wouldn't be "the only person in the world that has to have their band filled completely".

Oh girl...BUY IT! And who cares if you shoot past the sizing? It will feel EVEN BETTER to pull it on and have it be too big!!! Plus, when you are at goal size, you can take that to a seamstress and ask them to make you that dress in a small size. I'm jus' sayin'....

Yay! That is wonderful news and I'm so very happy for you!!!!

I stand before you now, fellow bandsters, humble. This is a celebration of my two-year baniversary on Saturday (yay!) but also a cautionary tale (cue *heavy* music). A year ago, I wrote my one-year bandiversary post. You can read it again here. A year ago, I was positive, upbeat. I'd lost 90 lbs and felt great! But I read that post again and see the beginning of difficulties. The downswing was starting..... Year One was the year of tenacity. I lost almost 100lbs in a year. I was a success!! I stuck obsessively to my low carb diet. I ate small, I ate low carb, I exercised and I was rewarded with rapid weight loss. Year Two has been a struggle. A dogfight. Filled with a lot of sadness, depression and fighting the internal demons (what the venerable Jack calls "The Dragon"). First, the results: In Year Two, I've lost a meager 22 lbs. Now, I'll take that. I'll take a loss over a gain anytime. But sitting at a 110 lb loss since surgery, I'm still about thirty lbs from goal. And those 30 lbs feel like the highest mountain in the world to overcome. This past year has been about being way too smart for my own damn good. I remember my surgeon telling me that people "get smart" about their band and learn how to eat around it. In Year Two, I stopped being scared of a PB and dove headfirst into trying any and all foods. Hey, some worked. Like cookies. Did you know that the right kind of cookie goes down with the greatest of ease? Especially if it's lubed up with some ice cream! Wooo! Yeah. I took my eye off the ball. Now, it's due to Trink (my band) that in a year of running amok and eating quantities of cookies and ice cream (and a whole variety of other things that I shouldn't) I didn't gain weight. It was Marimaru who said recently, in this post that, "When I'm not good I don't gain weight, which is all thanks to my band, and when I am good, I lose slowly, which is frustrating, but it's the right direction and that's how my band works for me." Man, I read those words and it just drilled right to the heart. This is how my band is working for me, now, too. Year Two has been A LOT of not being good. I've nowhere to place the blame but my own two shoulders. So on this Two Year Bandiversary, below are the biggest lessons learned to date about the band. I want to put this out there as much as anything for someone who is considering the surgery. What I've learned: 1) My doctor told me this, and I glossed over it....wanted to believe otherwise. But here we go. The band works best when you are eating right. There you have it. We ALL want it to work best when we eat crap because it prevents overeating. Sure, and there is plenty of crap food I really CAN'T eat. But the trickster brain will find some kind of crap food that WILL go through. I can't eat cake. Clogs the pipes. However, I CAN eat cake if I mush it up with ice cream. And it goes through REAL easy. However....when I eat salads, and proteins, and don't drink liquid with meals...I fill up quickly, stay full longer and lose weight. This I think is the MOST undersold problem with the band. It *requires* participation. It's mentioned that you have to "work harder" at the band than you do RNY in the initial years. It's true. It's this rule I've faltered on the most this year..... 2) They aren't kidding in all those magazines and TV shows when they say the best way to lose weight is to exercise. 'Nuff said. 3) It's all about the fill. Don't fight getting a fill. Don't fight getting unfilled. Being overfilled doesn't make you more moral, a better bandster or a better person because you can endure misery. Being under filled or not having a fill doesn't make you a failure. I see so many folks get so bound up about fills. Fighting against getting one when they need it or fighting against having some taken out when *clearly* they are overfilled. I know, I was one of those folks. I went one year with the same level of fill. In year two I've had a variety of fills and unfills, tinkering with what works. My body changes, how the band feels changes and because of that I need the fill levels to change. My doctor supports this. If your surgeon offers a "support" plan where you pay an amount for all the visits and fills you can use, take it. Then you don't think about it, you just go in and have it taken care of. I wish I'd internalized this lesson a little more at the start. The band is not a "static state". Again, in this way, it requires your particpation. And finally.... 3) The demons you have about food don't go away. In fact, something about the band actually magnifies them. My loving bf suggested recently that maybe I should have the band out because instead of giving me a feeling of control, it gives me a feeling of beating myself against a wall about food. Just recently, I had to admit to my therapist that I've once again become a full-fledged bulimic. Thankfully with her guidance, it was a short-lived return of this terrible problem, but for a while there, it was back with a vengeance. This was me fighting myself, fighting The Dragon, fighting the band. Sometimes, I want so desperately to eat a big cheeseburger and fries I feel like I could rip my eyes out to be able to do so. Yes, that sounds dramatic, but sometimes I feel like that. Thankfully the feeling always passes. But biggest lesson here is don't go into this surgery alone. Get a good therapist. Get a good support group in place. This process isn't easy. But it is manageable. Having a restrictive device on your stomach doesn't make your issues go away. It makes you have to face them, head on, unflinchingly. So at Year Two what do all these lessons mean? Well, it means I really do love and need my band. I feel like it's both a lifesaver and the bane of my existence. It's my job to "do the work" to continue to make it a lifesaver. I've now been about two weeks back on track and suddenly, once again, with eating right and small portions, the band feels good again. Weight is easing off. These last thirty pounds look insurmountable. I know they aren't. Just have to stay head down, hardworking. So today I celebrate my Bandiversary. I really do. And as I blow out the candles on my sugar free sweets, my fondest wish for Year Three is to find some peace, some calm, some sense that food doesn't haunt me, it nourishes me. My goal is to make friends with food. Right now I'm taking advantage of this friend and it's not going well. If I can find balance, if I can learn to love my body "as is", if I can just make peace with eating, then this will have truly been a successful journey. Today, I mark my success in lessons, not pounds. Wish me luck. I’m plugging my nose and jumping back in........ (if you slogged through my whole quite pensive post, thank you! )

If your migraines are sensitive to estrogen, then for a while when you are losing weight, they might be bad. Your body stores excess estrogen in fat and as you lose it, the hormone swirls around, making it no fun. I hadn't had more than a couple migraines a year for several years and then found myself having them more frequently due to this issue. They have since tapered back off again. I guess the experience differs by the person. I can't see a big cause and effect other than maybe by eating better you reduce or eliminate food triggers?

Your body knows it can't be broken down when the esophagus tries to push it through and it can't. Can happen right away or an hour later, I've had it both ways. It's why sometimes something goes down ok and sometimes it comes up. You'll see people here say that "gee, I've had that before and it was fine". As aubrie said, it takes hours for all the food to leave the pouch. That's the whole idea, keeps you feeling full longer. For me, when I PB, it is like vomiting, though not as convulsive on the ol' system. Sometimes I bend over and it comes out in a blob. Mostly it comes out in a heave. Keep asking questions!!!

You have to go through a period of grief in this process. YOu have to grieve the loss of being able to use food as your comfort. Don't underestimate how big this change is. You are changing everything about how you look at food. YOu are changing how you look at yourself. This is BIG stuff. You are totally normal. I TOTALLY went through this as well. I was so very depressed about it. What turns you toward loving your band? When you see the pounds start to melt off. Even that has some grief along with it, but it's far more interesting at that point. Hang in there! It does get better, I promise!

No, there is no acid since it's the top of the tummy. The esophagus pushes it through the band (as my dr tells me). Your saliva helps break down the food. What can't be broken down and can't be pushed through ends up coming back up, thus the magical PB.

Boo - Wow, comparison to Kate Winslet? Just, wow. You are foine! Thanks for the inspiration. And yeah, today, so far, eating is good. Been PMS'ing real bad and wanting sugar. I gotta get on top of that! insubordination - yeah, if you've struggled with an ED in the past, definitely look into getting support now. It can really f*ck with your head, you know? Hang in there, PM or email me if you need back up! nurse4126 - each day is another choice to take another step forward, you know? I agree, a band around that part of my brain that thinks sugar is the BEST would be nice. *sigh* liberty2003 - 123 lbs down? YOU. ARE. MY. HERO. Wow. Huge congratulations on your amazing success!!! Hazelbunny - I think that's the hugest thing about the band, what makes me want to keep this thing forever....even when I eat bad stuff, I can't eat anywhere NEAR the quantities that I could. It forces me to stop....THAT makes it all worth it. Alexandra - THANK YOU for all your hard work here on the boards. I swear I almost started crying when I read about your recent troubles. I'd always looked to you as "the long term" bandster with all the answers. You still have all the answers and you get a new band too! How are things, by the way?? BadGirlinFL - thanks!!! I believe in being open about all this stuff. It's been such a blessing (and a curse) for me. It is important for us all to be open about what troubles us so we can better figure out how to fix it, you know? Again, thanks for all the great words!! It's amazing!! Ya'll rock!!!!

Bawilliams1 - wow, congrats on your success and making goal!! Wow, I want to be in that "maintain" stage!! I'm *really* good at maintaining! That's actually true, the band works SO well for me at "maintaining". Oh well, I still have some work to do, right? I also sometimes slip into too many liquid calories or mushies. Sometimes it's just easier, right? I recently got a bit of an unfill and now if I do liquids I get WAY too hungry. I *must* eat hard Proteins and veggies to stay full. It's a constant battle.....