Desdemona

I'm really pulling for you out here! keep us posted! I go in for an endo on Monday AM too. Best wishes

I just got out of the hospital this past week. Got my band 4.5 yrs ago. I was having similar problems that you are having ---spasm in center ---- like fluttering. Sometimes I got a tightness -- like a band around my upper waist just under the diaphragm. Sometimes there was burning in the back. Food (and even water) was suddenly getting stuck a lot. I could feel pressure to left side above and below the band. I had my gallbladder out 6 yrs ago. I was really worried that my band slipped or eroded. Then -- last week it got really bad and I was actually afraid I might be having a heart attack so I went to the ER. I almost fell off the table when they came back and told me I had panreatitis because I have always drank between 0 to no more than 5 glasses of wine a year. They put me on IV and clear liquids for a few days before releasing me. They think it's either from the high blood pressure pill I was taking or that a stone was caught. I was very surprized to find out that you can still get gallstones after you have a gallbladder removed. The stones can really raise cain with the pancreas. From what you are describing -- it sounds like your gallbladder. I'll bet your band is fine. I feel much better after going to the hospitial. They did all kinds of testing while I was there including upper GI, CAT scan on whole abdomen, Blood tests, EKG and even an endoscopy. My band, esophagus, heart and stomach are all fine. It's worth going to the doctor and getting tested so you know exactly what you're dealing with. Don't worry.

Missy-- I'm hearing fear from you and I understand. I agree w/elcee. You sound scared and confused and we want to help. Go to the ER. I've been through this too and my band is in great shape (4.5 yrs). You are dehydrated and your tissues are irritated. That causes swelling inside and that closes things up. You need Fluid. You probably need to get more unfilled. You need to let it rest so the swelling goes down. You will feel so much better once they take X-rays to make sure your band is OK. It is easier to know what is happening and address the causes than to guess and worry. If you wait -- you could be doing damage. Best wishes

I don't think there is much for you to bring with you because you won't be there that long. Some people are same day but some are overnight. I was suppose to stay 1 night but needed to stay 2 because gas pain in my shoulder from anesthesia took longer to clear. The amount of weight you lose will truly depend on your pre-surg BMI, how active you are and what you drink or eat post-surg. I lost 35% of my excess BMI within the first 5 or 6 wks but I also followed a very strict post-surg. diet that my MD ordered. It was mostly clear broths, sugarless jello, sugarless frozen pops. I very gradually worked in very low carb protein drinks and then small amounts of protein and veggies. I have tried to stick to low carbs and watch calories but I fall off the wagon every once in a while. I'm a real couch potato and I know that I would have met goal a long time ago if I had been active. I have only recently begun to exercise. I went to a barriatric center in a large teaching hospital. They sent me through all types of testing and they also have very detailed barriatric manuals that contain detailed instructions and lists on how to prepare, what to buy for pre/post processses, what to eat and when to eat it, what to expect and do etc. I think all barriactic surgeons should provide written details. You or your insurance company are shelling out good money for this surgery and I hope patients let surgeons know that we expect good care. If your MD hasn't given this to you --- there are several good lap band guides that contains all these good tips on Amazon. Just search "lap band" and they'll come up. I have "Lap-Band for Life" by Ariel Langardere and it's very good but there are others that cost less and look good too. The best advise I can give you is -- do not abuse your band or take it for granted. If you don't find out how to take care of your band and change the way you eat -- you will be at very high risk of band complication and band loss. There are a lot of people that have run into problems and lost their band. Sometimes -- it just happens no matter what --- but usually it happens because either the MD wasn't good enough or we didn't do what we were suppose to do after we got the band. The band is a tool but you must do your part too or there will be problems. Best of luck.

Is HE obese too? Like a previous poster already said - there are risks to all operations. The risks get a lot worst if patients don't make the effort to find experienced surgeons. They get even worse if patients don't learn and follow all rules. It's also true that sometimes-- people can follow all the rules very well and still have problems. But --- if you read the studies --- you will find that the amount of life-threatening problem with the band are not even a small fraction of the life-threatening problems from obesity. Studies also show that WLS is the ONLY stastically significant WL method that works in the long run.

Ariel Ortiz and other leading developers of modern gastric banding strongly caution against using protein shakes or soups because the band is not designed to work with fluid, soft food or crispy (crackers, chips ect) foods. They will go right through without providing saitity at all or for long. A person will consume all those calories and then be hungry. My MD (at a teaching hosptial) also pointed that out. I do keep an Atkins drink with me in case I'm stuck someplace with no decent food choice but the bulk of protein should be from desne meats/fish. The denser chicken/salmon will stay in the pouch for many hours and is far better quality protein than any drink.

There are several good reasons why well-informed surgeons do ask people to lose some weight before banding. It's not only because the liver may be too fatty to place the band. Usually they can plance it even without liver shrinkage. Reducing fat from the liver before surgery gives the surgeon more room to get underneath the liver and move things around to place the band. The less fat on the liver -- the better the band fits into place around the stomach.

I don't think you are eating too much at all but it does sound like you are not getting enough protein. Why only 1 protein drink? You're body uses up protein within a few hrs so make sure it get it at least 3 times a day. Also --your body need protein to burn up fat.You don't say what is in the soup you are eating. If it's basially clear chicken or beef broth -- that is good but if it has a lot of carbs in it -- that will slow your weight loss. Carbs also fill you for a short time --but they also lead to hunger. I'm surprised that your surgeon didn't give you a very specific diet to follow that included types and amounts of food.

I have heard that Unjury tastes the best but you have to send for it. I am very happy with getting Atkins Royal Chocolate at Walmart. I prefer a protein drink that is already mixed because it's so easy and portable. I always keep 1 with me. The taste is OK but nothing to write home about. A nutritionist once told me that it isn't a good idea to buy protein drinks that taste GREAT because then they are too much like milk shakes and treats - and that can be dangerous. We can end up drinking too many calories with them. We also need get over viewing food as a treat rather than nutrition.

If you check Amazon again at http://www.amazon.co...duckduckgo-d-20 you will find 35 reviews of the book by lapband patients who give a lot of information about the book and explain why it helped them. You will also see that the 35 lapband reviewers gave the book consistenty high ratings. If you click right on the book (where it says "Look Inside This Book) you will be able to read the table of contents, the Introduction and sample pages and charts from several of the chapters. All of that together makes an excellent description of what's in the book. Best wishes.

My Plastic Surgeon told me to do Zumba. I said "ZUMBA??!! ARE YOU KIDDING??!!! I'm 60 YEARS OLD!!! I CAN"T do ZUMBA!!!!" She said, "ZUMBA!!!!!!!!" So I tried it and didn't like it. Never knew what direction to turn in and almost fell. But for some odd reason --- I thought "SPINNING CLASS" and I must have thought I was a teenager that day because I tried it. To my utter astonishment I LOVED it!!! I said to the teacher "Listen, I'm 60 years old and have been a couch potato for 50 of those yrs. Do not make fun of me or yell at me." She laughed and said, "we don't do that in here." Ends up that the instructor is also 60 (rock hard muscles!) and that half the men and women in the class are between 50 and 73. Who'd have thunk it?!

Yes. You will get to the point that you can almost wrap your fingers around it. Some people lose so much fat around it that they have to have it reseated deeper or moved to another location. I never had it moved but I understand that it's a fast/easy surgery that often happens in MDs office.

stretch marks are celluar skin damage that can not be reversed but that doesn't mean that at least part of your skin won't come back. It all depends on your genes, how long you have been overweight, and the type of skin you have.

Try to keep away from processed lunch meat like bologna. Have Roast beef or sliced smoked turkey. Also, you don't have to just think "lunch meat anymore." You can either cook up a fresh whole chicken or buy a whole cooked chicken from the market and slice it up for your lunch or supper. It's much better tasting and healthier than lunch meat. If you like fish --- use salmon or sole or shrimp. You can make up your own meatballs and freeze them and take them out as you need them (do not buy meatballs ready made from the store because they are full of filler). If you are keeping your carbs pretty low -- you can use ham or sausages. As cool weather comes along --- take a nice thermos of thick stew or chili. Also --- make extra food for supper and take it the next day for lunch.

Yes. Eat proteins (eggs, shakes etc) and --- GOOD GOLLY - step AWAY from that sugar (apple sauce)!!! Sugar will make you hungry.

Is your MD THE Ariel Ortiz Lagardre? Even if he is not -- Ariel Ortiz Langrdre wrote an excellent book called "Lap-Band for Life." You can either get it from Amazon or order it at your local bookstore. It's an excellent and complete handbook written by 1 of the key developers of the lapband. It will explain what to eat -- how to eat and a whole lot more about the LP.

Some days are going to be harder than others but believe it or not -- after you get your band -- there are going to be a lot of days that you will walk straight past plates and bowls full of the foods you are craving now and they won't even look appetizing to you anymore. You'll wonder why on earth you'd want to eat that. And --- believe me---before the LB I NEVER met a carb that I didn't like!

Dear Gripe -- Yes. This sounds totally lousy. I remember I once felt totally stuck too. Everywhere I looked on all sides -- it was all going wrong. I felt like if I couldn't make something happen soon -- I'd go crazy. Then I thought ----- well----since I don't seem to have any control over anything else --- I may as well try to focus on something I DO have some control over. I decided to do something about my fat. I got the lapband and lost 82 lbs. It took me a while longer to get through the other stuff but eventually those other problems cleared up. And at least -- It was a LOT easier to bear because I felt a whole lot better (physically and emotionally) about me. People were so surprized with me and I was so pleased and surprized by me too. What a great feeling! Then I began to get the idea that if I could change that -- maybe I could actually change other things too. I DID!! So get your band done and at least enjoy your self-empowerment and the "new you" until you can also get to a better place in the enviornment too.

People have made a lot of good responses to the study. They are right. I do know that a fair amount of people end-up having it removed because of complications. Many of those complications are associated with: 1) older types of bands, 2) older surgical techniques, 3) less experienced surgeons, 4) patients not sticking to proper LB habits. Also, sometimes a person's body just doesn't do well on the band. I read all those studies before I got the band. I did the best I could to pick out a good surgeon. I read some books about how to live with a LB. But even after all of that --- I have to say that I have not always been good to my LB. I have times that I do well and other times -- I really go overboard and I gain up to 10lbs. So far -- I have been able to turn myself around ---but I live in fear that someday I won't be able to do it. I keep hoping that over time --- I can learn to control my bad eating habits so that if something happens and I have to have it removed --- I can maintain on my own.

Hi Ravenesquedv- I'm 4.5 yrs out so I really empathize --- however---I think we need more info to help you think about this. For example, I'm wondering if you had a high BMI vs a low BMI when you started. And I'm really wondering if you lost all of or most of your excess weight before gaining it back. If you lost a lot --- how long did you keep it off before gaining? I ask because -- there could be a bunch of different things that are causing the problem and it's hard to make suggestions if we don't know more about your situation.

I'm 4.5 yrs post LB ---I'm a lot older than you --- and I'm a researcher so I can answer your question about 5 and 10 yrs from now. Mis 73 is right --- lots of success on this board. The other place you should look for outcomes is on Pub Med where you will find the medical research abstracts of all the published studied on obesity and weight loss methods. WLS is the only method with long-term success. It is possible that within 10 yrs -- they will discover another WL method that works as well as WLS but there is no guarantee of that. In addtion, I'd be very worried about any medication method they might find because they often find very serious medical problems with WL medications. According to the reserach, If you get the WLS and follow all the post-op instructions -- you will lose a lot of weight and you are likley to keep at least a large percentage of whatever you lose off. You will feel better both physically and mentally. You will do better in work and in relationships. You will reverse most, or all, of any developing medical problems. If you don't get the surg, it is very likely that you will be considerably heavier than you are now in 10 yrs. It is likely that you will be on medications for weight-related problems. You'll stretch your skin out a lot more. You will be less fertile if you want to get pregnant. If you have a baby in 5 or 10 yrs --that baby is more likely to be born heavier than what is healthy. Babies that are born overweight or children who are overweight by the age of 6 are almost always obese teens and adults. They will be more likely to get very sick at a young age -- have a harder time socially and in school. If you have kids in 5 -10 yrs -- you will have a harder time keeping up with them and you will be less able to help them learn healthy eating habits. As you get older -- you will have a much harder time getting a good night sleep. That will make you tried and depressed. I not only know these things from research ----- I actually lived them -- and I know many other women who have too. Every once in a while I read about some woman who managed to lose a lot of weight and maintain that long-term but I never actually met any woman who did that. All the older women I know were like me. They just yo-yoed or kept right on gaining until we were were all older and sicker. All I can tell you is --- I have thrown away the meds and I no longer have sleep apnea so I don't sleep with a mask on anymore. In fact, I sleep great. I went from a size 20 to an 8 and it feels great. I'm the oldest one in my office and I look the youngest. I can do things (like walking for miles on the beach or ride a bike) that I haven't done in 25 yrs. I'm still 15lbs overweight but I never gained back anything I lost. Men of all ages, sizes and types smile and open doors for me now. People are friendlier. My bosses now come to me with ideas, opportunities, and offers of promotions because they have a more positive preception of me. They think I'm smarter now even though I have the same brain I had when I was heavy. I also want to add that you will find some very sad cases on this board from people who have gotten the LB. In some of those cases -- those people didn't do anything wrong. The LB has some risks and sometimes bad things happen even when someone is doing it right. In many cases bad things happen or it doesn't work well because people didn't follow post-operation instructions. That happens a lot. So the bottom line is --- if you get the LB -- you have to follow instructions and even if you do, something still might go wrong. (LB is no different than driving a car. You do take a chance whenever you get behind the wheel but chances are excellent that you will be fine as long as you follow the rules of good driving.) On the other hand -- if you don't get WLS --- you can BET on a LOT going wrong. One good thing about the LB is -- it is reversible if something better is invented --- or if you don't like it --- or something goes wrong. Hope this helps you on your journey. I thought it over about a yr and a a half before I did it. Keep learning about it and talking to people. You will do what feels right for you. I wish you the very best.

I agree -- it was a tough decision. I did LB for the same reasons you did but a few more as well. Research shows that if a person is more than 100 lbs -- they will probably be more successful with bypass (but there are certainly a lot of people who were over 100lbs and did fine). I was about that. If I was much more than that -- I do believe I would have done the bypass. Research also shows that people who tend to eat junk food when they are hungry do much better on bypass whereas people who tend to want to eat a real meal when they are hungry are good candidates for LB. I like junk food too but when I'm hungry I want real food --- not junk. Now -- when I look back on it --- I think I was overly afraid of the idea of bypass. I'm glad I did LB but if someone over 100 lbs cared to ask for my opinion -- I would tell them not to be afraid of the bypass.

I'm more concerned with how they are affecting you. I hope they are not scaring you. The truth is that WL surg is the ONLY known WL method that statistically works. That means that while we can always find a few exceptions where people have lost and maintained a large amount of weight---almost all people who lose without WLS end up gaining it all back. If anyone doubts that -- all they have to do is go to Pub-Med and read the abstracts on weight loss methods over the last 40 yrs. Research very clearly shows that WLS is signficantly successful for most people who get it. I got the LB in spring of 2008 and it has changed my life. Now everyone at work tells me that I'm a great inspiration. Even the ones who are not overweight say that I'm inspiring them to take better care of themsleves. Most of the overweight ones have asked me for a heart-to-heart talk about WLS. They have found someone they can confide in about their weight problem. Some of them have now gotten the LB too. I'm now 1 of the oldest people in my workplace but I now look like the youngest. My boss came to my office to tell me how pleased she is to see so many people in my office taking better care of their health and she says it's because they are following my lead. So ---- you GO girl! Don't let people bother you!

If you are a Low carb person --- the 5 day pouch is the way to go. I have also done it 2x and it works like a charm. I understand what you said about gaining weight with all the stress and changes. I guess that's how we all developed our weight problem in the first place --- by emotional eating. However, you also have to remember how good you were in losing the weight. It took a LOT of work and focus on your part to pull that off. You have proved to yourself that you CAN do it. It's also really important that you try not to yo-yo. My fear for you is that you could hurt your body or risk losing your band. The only thing I can advise is that you try to use the 5-day pouch to get back on the track. If you do and you lose it all and you are able to stay within a good range then you will be doing really good. If you find that you can not lose the weight or if you do a major regain again after losing again, it may be that the bypass would be a better choice for you. But --- I do think you should try making the band work for you before going that route. Best of luck to you. Don't beat-up on yourself. That will only make it worse. The most important thing is that we keep learning and keep trying until we succeed.

I'm wondering about a few things in your situation. How did you lose the 150lbs? Did you do a lot of exercise? What did you eat? You obviously must have worked very hard. That does tell you that you are able to stick with a plan. But then you gained it back. How did you gain it back? What did you eat and how often? Where there any changes in your life (places, work, people, events?). I'm asking these questions because I think they are really important and can help us understand what happened?