Jean McMillan

And you can put unjury chicken soup flavor Protein Powder and/or powdered milk in your canned soup to boost the protein content. Just have to watch the temperature with the Unjury because high heat makes it clump up.

No heavy lifting is good, but I doubt that the general anesthesia will be out of your system after only 1-2 days off, and if you're taking pain meds, you shouldn't be driving, never mind caring for patients of any size. If you find yourself dragging partway through your work shift, is your supervisor going to be OK with you going home early?

We sabotage ourselves for a lot of reasons, and at different times. Two things seem to be a theme for me. One is my fear of deprivation. I'm the well-educated child of well-educated, middle-class parents, so I've never been deprived of food, but since I've been deprived of a lot of other important stuff (like personal safety), food has always been my comfort. Another thing that can hold us back is that the physical weight loss journey goes a lot faster than the mental one. When I had lost 50 lbs, I felt like I had to pause, rest, take a few deep breaths, and gather up the strength and resolve to go on. The 50 lbs was a little more than half of my excess weight, but it was so disconcerting, so out of synch with my beliefs about myself, that it could have been 500 lbs. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a short weight loss vacation, but I've seen a lot of very successful bandsters lose their way for years after a vacation that feature candy, Cookies, alcohol, etc. Thanks for your honesty in posting this. It reminded me of how far I've come, and also of how helpful counseling has been for me, especially after WLS.

I think you may be too tight, but it's hard to evaluate that when your upper GI tract is all irritated from eating problems and PB's. I would stay on liquids for a few days, then gradually transition to purees, then soft food, then solid food. I understand your doctor's insistence on solid food, because that's what provides the most satiety, but unless he's got a band himself, he has no way of knowing what it's like to try to eat solid food only a day or two after a fill.

Most of the time I was banded, I could not eat "real" scrambled eggs. I could eat ribeye steak, but not scrambled eggs. Go figure. But I did find that I could eat scrambled egg substitute (like Egg Beaters). Edited to add: Oh, and the mac & cheese? Pasta didn't work for me very well at all. In fact, it still doesn't work too well. It's too gummy to be an easy food for a lot of bandsters to eat.

What does your bariatric surgeon have to say about your disappointing weight loss?

I don't know enough about you, your eating (food choices, amounts, frequency), exercise, and fill history to give you suggestions. Are you talking about a weight loss plateau, and if so, how long has it lasted? Have you discussed this with your surgeon and/or dietitian? Do you feel that you have optimal restriction? Do you think you need a fill? Etc, etc, etc... Three days of a liquid diet might help knock off a pound or two, but it's not a longterm solution.

I'm getting a bit dizzy myself. To which I'm entitled (I suppose), as a natural born blonde.

Is the Elite Fusion a whey Protein product? I ask because I'm wondering if the problem is related to lactose intolerance (whey is made from milk). It might be a very mild intolerance that's just aggravated because the Elite Fusion is a big part of your caloric intake right now, and that will decrease as you transition into purees and solid foods.

My dear boy, you are the one that brought up the subject of surgeon-slamming. In the future, you might want to consider keeping to yourself any outlandish notions that you can't (or won't) defend.

I can see that the numerous posts you mentioned can be historical fact, but how can you know (as fact) the motivation behind them?

Or maybe...just maybe...Dr. Ortiz is a good surgeon with a good bedside manner and scores of happy, successful patients. I suppose you could give his office a call and ask if it's true that he gives his patients a "gift" of some sort for referring new patients to him. In the name of thorough research, you know....

And start saving pennies....My surgeon charges a non-refundable patient transfer fee - about $300 if you had your surgery in the USA, about $1000 if you had your surgery outside the USA.

(((Hugs right back atcha!)))

Autoimmune disorders like RA are considered a contraindication for the adjustable gastric band. I had 5 happy years with my band before having it removed in April 2012 (due to stenosis from 20+ years of silent reflux). I had the vertical sleeve gastrectomy in August 2012. I'm having a hard time adjusting to my sleeve, but I'll to list the pros and cons as objectively as I can. THE BAND Pros: Adjustable Reversible Reduces hunger & appetite Provides early and prolonged satiety No malabsorption of macro or micronutrients Cons: Slower weight loss (average 1-2 lbs/week) Small, gradual fills can delay weight loss until enough saline is put in to create optimal restriction Contraindicated for people with autoimmune disorders Risk of esophageal and/or stomach dilation, slippage, and erosion Risk of reflux, especially if the band is too tight Need for frequent aftercare visits (fills, unfills, checkups) Certain foods can be difficult to eat SLEEVE GASTRECTOMY Pros: Faster weight loss Greater weight loss (but it's really too soon to trust the stats on that) Reduced need for aftercare visits Supposedly eliminates hunger (due to reduced production of grehlin, the hunger hormone), which has not been the case with me Supposedly makes it easier to eat a wide range of foods (again, not the case with me) Cons: Not adjustable Permanent - not reversible Can cause malabsorption of miconutrients (vitamins & minerals, especially Iron, folic acid, B12) Reflux is so common that PPI's are routinely prescribed to sleeve patients (and long term use of PPI's can also cause anemia) Risk of dumping syndrome (from rapid gastric emptying) Risk of staple line leaks (very painful, can be life-threatening) The good news about my sleeve surgery is that I've lost 20 of the 30 lbs I regained from losing my band. The bad news is that since surgery, I experience extreme spikes and dives in my blood sugar, which is apparently the cause of the ferocious hunger I experience about one hour after I eat, no matter what or how much I eat. So far no one has been able to fully explain or resolve that problem, and it makes my daily life a misery. Also, I experience dumping when I eat anything with more than 5 or so grams of sugar in it. I've become very anemic and have to take an iron supplement every day. A hemoccult test showed that I have some kind of a gastric bleed, so tomorrow I'm seeing my gastroenterologist in the effort to find out if the anemia is caused by the PPI I'm on (omeprazole) or the gastric bleed (from ulcers, a perforation, or something else). I can't take it lightly because my mom had colon cancer, so I'll probably have to have a colonoscopy to identify the source of the bleed. Now, having said all that (and clearly not being a happy camper), I do know many people who've been sleeved and are delighted with their weight loss and the lack of side effects and complications. I just wish I was a member of that club. Jean

Why don't you try posting about this in the Georgia group? Here's a link to it: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/forum/24-georgia-local-lap-band-support/

I was told to drink one ounce of liquid every 15 minutes. I used a timer to stick to that schedule for about one day, but gave up timing it because one ounce every 15 minutes was how much and how often I'd drink anyway. I don't think there's anything downright harmful about drinking more or faster as a new post-op, but if it makes you uncomfortable or causes you to regurgitate the liquid, go back to slow sipping.

That made me laugh. I think it's highly unlikely that any LBT member has anything to gain from promoting a certain doctor by any means, including badmouthing another doctor. As a marketing dude, surely you know that slamming the competition is a very short-sighted promotional strategy. The idea of that makes me laugh almost as loudly as the old "You're promoting the band because the manufacturer is paying you to do that" claim. If that's true, I want to know WHERE THE HECK IS ALL MY MONEY?

Except for in the first week post-op, when your upper GI tract is irritated and swollen from surgery, it should never, ever be difficult to drink Clear Liquids. A sore throat after surgery is probably from the breathing tube put down your throat during surgery. Everyone: please follow your surgeon's & dietitian's post-op eating progression. Cheating is a really bad idea, especially when you're still healing from surgery.

So you ended up buying Bandwagon Cookery (the cookbook) for $19.95? Let me know if you'd also like to buy Bandwagon.

I had Lap-Band surgery in September 2007 but had to have my band removed in April 2012 because of esophageal stenosis (damage from 20+ years of silent reflux). I had sleeve surgery in August 2012. I'm having trouble adjusting to life with my sleeve. I loved my band and if I could go back to 2007 and plication was available then, I would have band with plication done. Jean P.S. - Thanks for the compliment about my WLS knowledge. For the benefit of other members who might be reading this thread, I want to say that I'm not just a puffed-up know-it-all. I'm a freelance writer specializing in health and medicine.

Click on the link and follow the instructions I gave previously. But if that still isn't clear enough, I can give you link that takes you directly to a shopping cart (and pay with a credit card).

Medical science has a lot of theories about the causes of CFS and FM (including immune system disorders, inflammation, toxins, neural or hormonal dysfunction, trauma, etc. etc. etc.). I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 2 years after my band surgery. When I was writing an article for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Life magazine last year, I asked a fibro "expert" if my fibro could be the result of my immune system rejecting my band, and he said it wasn't likely.

Examples of autoimmune diseases are lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren syndrome, type 1 diabetes. The theory behind the contraindication is that someone whose immune system attacks its own tissues is vulnerable to having their immune system "reject" the band (which is made of biocompatible materials that don't bother people with a healthy immune system).