snowbird

My surgeon's nutritionist specifically told us NOT to try to eat jello for the first couple of weeks, because it tended to make people vomit.

It doesn't come without warning. It is much more controllable than regular vomiting. I have "put off" a PB episode for about 20 minutes when I was riding in a car, although that's unusual.

How do you weigh your head without the rest of your body? Maybe I don't want to know . . . See, there is a place for ellipses.

Agree. My other pet peeve is people who can't actually ever end a sentence . . . because it is easier to just type dots . . . and then more dots . . . because the mind wanders and never finishes any single thought . . . I'm going to get all old on everyone and ask, don't they teach anybody the use of a single . anymore?

My doctor put me on liquids for three days after the first fill, in case there was swelling. Occasionally I eat something that causes pbing and I put myself back on liquids for 24 hours, again to reduce any swelling caused by the puking. It sounds like you are either too tight, or have caused some swelling that is interfering with your getting foods down. I would try just liquids, no cheating, for 48 hours, then try to eat something solid, but small and well-chewed. If you still have problems, call your doctor and ask about an unfill. Yes, what you describe is "sliming" when your saliva and stomach mucus has nowhere to go but up.

Sounds like enabler behavior to me. My sister in law is like that; no surprise that her husband is an alcoholic. She constantly pushes food at my husband and me, brings stuff over to our house, tries to tempt us with stuff we shouldn't eat when we visit her. I don't really understand the behavior--maybe I should read a book. But for some reason she feels better if she can feed her family's addictions.

Glad you said this. I keep seeing where people say it's tax deductible, like the whole thing is automatically a deduction. NOT! Since we drive to Mexico for dental work as well as our fills, we have started to keep track of mileage and other travel-related medical expenses better, though.

I'm not really good at exercise, but I try to ride my bike 10 miles a day. I usually have 1/4 c. (dry measure) oatmeal for Breakfast or a Fiber One bar, then Soup or chili or a lean cuisine for lunch, then meat and vegetable for dinner. Portions are small--a couple of oz of meat and maybe a half cup of vegies. I sometimes have a 100 cal. bag of popcorn for an evening snack, a sugar free pudding, or even a spoonful of Peanut Butter. I try to keep under 1000 calories a day. I don't get hungry except for once in a while before I get up in the morning, which I credit to little in the way of carbs in my diet. I take a couple of fiber pills in the morning with my coffee (two cups a day, with creamer and sweetener) and my doctor's nutritionist suggested a couple of chromium picolinate tablets. My band is pretty tight for me, although I only have 1.9 cc in it. If I eat too fast or don't chew enough, I pb fairly easily, so I don't know as what I am doing is the healthiest way to go about it. I have my treats--an occasional gelato or cookie, but don't bring home much junk. There's no sugar, potatoes, rice, flour, chips, Pasta, or anything like that in the house. I've learned if it's here, I'll eat it, so I don't buy it. If I start overdoing it on the peanut butter, I have been known to toss a nearly full jar in the trash. There's no doubt I am still a compulsive eater at heart. I think we each have to try to learn about ourselves, our weaknesses, and our strengths to figure out how to make this tool work for us. Good luck on your journey! it definitely can work for us.

When I read your post I kept thinking about Dr Oz on the Oprah show. He kept illustrating the band by holding both hands out in a circle, like the thing has a six inch diameter! So no, medical professionals don't necessarily know what they are talking about. I had an endoscopy last September by a g.i. specialist, and he had never ever even heard of a lap band. Your band surgeon may be able to check your band position by a fluoroscopy without actually going in with endoscopy.

I have ordered children's meals at Disneyland (not Disney World) and they have never questioned me. No card needed; I have one, but I have never used it. When I go out I often order appetizers or a cup of chili. The hardest part is teaching your head that no, you aren't going to be able to eat all that. My stomach already knows it, but the head has a hard time catching up.

It's always up to you. You decide what is easiest for you to deal with. For me, I'm too lazy to try to remember who I told and who I didn't, so I tell anyone who asks. I also feel that by doing so I may help someone else who is desperately trying to lose weight. People who disagree with me don't bother me, and I have only had one who came out and said they thought it was a wrong decision, although I would be surprised if others didn't think it. I simply told that one relative my reasons and past experience with other weight loss methods. I'm more willing to get into a lapband discussion than a political one; no one is going to agree with my reasoning about everything, and I just consider the band one more of my own convictions. It doesn't matter if others agree with it or not. I welcome the opportunity to bring the process into the open and educate people about it. If you don't enjoy doing that, don't mention it.

I am a very happy Mexican surgeon patient. I am lucky in that Mexico is not far away from where I live, so I can go back to my surgeon for aftercare. I personally would be leery of going to a US doctor whose experience was less than my surgeon's. Country of origin has little to do with competence.

A yeast infection really can look like what you describe. I use Lotrimin powder, like what they use on athlete's foot, after my shower. It seems to be the best thing for it that I have used.

January 2007, people, not 2008!

Jack, she said 2007, not 2008, so she may be talking about over a year's time. Are you sure you are measuring your food and not just estimating calories? I know I often lie to myself, and I don't want to doubt your word, but it seems very strange that you are not losing weight on under 1000 calories per day. Do you keep a food diary during the day? As I understand it, not everyone loses weight with a band, but it is usually because they are eating too much by eating around the band with things like ice cream, or not getting fills in a timely manner. Many people swear by exercise but I have to admit I am not one of them. I ride my bike 10 miles most days, but whether I do or not does not seem to affect my weight loss.

Check with a user names FurEllie. She had a similar problem a few months ago. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f79/great-while-lasted-49338/

I think it's called a mons lift. A lot of women find they need them after large weight losses. I figure I got so much else that's sagging that that would be the last on my list of PS to-do's!

The most wonderful thing anyone ever said to me in my life was not a guy saying he loved me. It was my daughter telling me that her choices in life were so easy because she always knew which way to go because she had good parents. You only have a couple years left to raise your children before they are off on their own. You probably only have a few years left with your parents. I know it can be lonely, but use that time well, and some guy will see what a wonderful person you are, and the REAL Mr. Right will show up.

This really depends on your doctor, so you should be asking him. For me, I had a smaller 4 cc band, which usually is not filled at surgery. The larger bands sometimes have a fill at surgery, but for many people the first fill is about 6 weeks after surgery. You should be talking to your doctor more to see how he does things. Are you planning to go back to your surgeon for fills, or do you have someone set up locally for fills?

I'm just coming off a plateau that lasted 6 weeks. You are way ahead of me in weight loss, so I don't have much advice other than have patience. Oddly enough, I have noticed that even if the scale says I'm not losing, I may drop a clothing size. Sometimes I think my body just needs to stop and regroup, then it continues on its weight loss journey.

Eight pounds in three weeks sounds like a fairly fast weight loss to me. I understand you are concerned that you are eating sweets and other junk food, but I don't think your weight loss is slow my any means. I can't keep ice cream or sweets around either. I treat myself occasionally, but make sure I buy only very small packages--the snack size with only four Cookies, or a single ice cream bar rather than a half gallon. Even if I can't stop myself from heading back to the store the next day, I still have eaten a small portion of the treat rather than binging on it. Just about all of us are not in control of our eating. If we were, we would never have needed the band to begin with. Having the band doesn't cure the underlying problem of overeating, but provides us with a tool that helps us manage it. It occurred to me last night that I am at the point that the band will not make me lose any more weight, but will stop me from gaining it back. If I want to lose weight, I have to make a conscious effort to limit what I eat, even though the band won't let me stuff myself and gain my hard-earned losses back.

No, the stupidest question of all time was asked in my Lamaze class years ago. We were talking about how 10 cm dilation meant the baby was ready to be born, and one of the fathers to be asked why the size of your pupils in your eyes indicated the baby was coming. I thought my husband was going to die; he was literally rolling on the floor, since we were sitting on it anyway. Since I keep saying I don't really feel hunger pangs, it isn't a stupid question. Some people say they are ravenous and their stomach hurts. I never feel that way. Sometimes I just feel an emptiness and discomfort, and sometimes I get a headache that indicates hunger to me. When I ate a lot of sugar I would get big time hunger pangs, but I don't now.

I went clothes shopping yesterday, and I felt like one of the "before" pictures for tummy tucks. The good news: I actually fit into some size 6 pants, which I don't remember ever doing since I was about . . . prenatal? The bad news: everything showed the big roll around my waist, which is flabby enough to grab and shape into interesting sock puppet impersonations. Then my son called to say he met with his college advisor and he needs two more years (years 5 and 6) to get his degree, so it doesn't look like I'm going to have any extra money for surgery in the next few years. I was shopping for exercise clothes since I'm starting a dance exercise class today. I didn't want to still be the fat girl there, but it looks like I will be.

I did have episodes of diarrhea post op, which I attributed to the liquid diet. Dumping, from what I have heard, You more medical types can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it is an immediate evacuation of the bowels after eating. I think we bandsters can have diarrhea, but it isn't actually dumping. RNY is an abbreviation for a particular type of gastric bypass surgery called Roux-en-Y. Edit: Whoops, Wheetsin beat me to it.

Per my doctor I am not supposed to have any Protein shakes after the initial liquid diet phase. I am supposed to eat normal, healthy meats and vegetables and some carbs. I know what I am supposed to do. However, I still have my sweet tooth that got me into trouble in the first place, so I try to limit my sweets to sugar free. Sugar free Snacks do double duty: they satisfy my craving for chocolate, but don't make me want more and more and more and . . . I personally think they taste just as good, if not better, than sugared snacks which are now way too sweet to my taste. I do have a protein shake once in a while for Breakfast or lunch. This isn't diet "punishment" for me, but a way to have a quick, filling meal when I don't feel like fixing anything else. I LIKE my protein shakes--I blend in fruit or coffee and ice with a little milk and they are yummy. I could have real food, and I often do, but sometimes I just want the shake. People feel differently about food post band; I don't enjoy eating that much anymore, so lots of times I take the easy way out with a high Fiber bar or a protein shake. This isn't a diet per se, and it's not that I am not allowed anything else; it is a choice because I enjoy them and I'm too lazy to cook for myself. The truest statement repeated here time and time again, is that everyone is different. What works for one doesn't work for another, and what is absolutely necessary for one is not necessarily ever ever done by another. You will find what works for you if you have patience and keep trying.