sophiekitty

I was referred to Dr. Lublin in Santa Monica by my insurance company, Blue Shield HMO. After I got my referral for the surgeon consultation, everything went pretty fast. I saw the surgeon on 12/20, finished the tests, etc. by the end of January and now my surgery is scheduled for 3/31. This has all gone much faster than I anticipated. I've been to a couple different websites like this one looking for any mentions of him, but so far nothing. I was just wondering if anyone has been to him for WLS.

I'm 6 months post-op and I can eat pretty much anything. You might want to try Barilla Plus pasta. One serving has 10 grams protein and 4 grams fiber and it has omega 3 in it.

I've always liked tacos, but since banding I crave tacos, soft or hard. I have to have tacos at least once a week. I never used to like cottage cheese, but since banding I love it.

I had gallstones about 6 years ago. I had the pain just under the area between my breasts and it would radiate out to my back. Nothing I did made me comfortable when I had the pain. Then all of a sudden without warning the pain would go away. Prior to having the gallstones, I lost about 25 pounds. I went to see my doctor about the pain, she saw that I had lost weight and concluded that I had gallstones. She sent me to have an ultrasound and they found gallstones. It was the first time I had surgery and I was so scared to have surgery. But by the time the surgery date came around, I was so happy to get that sucker out. I was have pain from the gallstones passing a couple times a week. Good luck.

Do you still have your gallbladder? You might ask your doctor about gallstones.

Do you have hemroids (sp)? Sometimes when you're stressed they can flare up.

I have an umbilical hernia. I was hoping I would be able to have the lapband and the hernia taken care of at the same time, but my surgeon said I would have to weight to get the hernia repaired after I lost some weight. I've had the hernia repaired twice already and the surgeon said the reason it came back was because of my weight. So I guess I'll have to wait.

I had the same problem. I was on clear liquids for 10 days after surgery. I was banded on a Monday and that Thursday in the middle of the night I started getting hungry. The hunger woke me up and I had to have a glass of skim milk to get back to sleep. Yeah, mine wasn't head hunger either. I had a growling, gnawing stomach. It will definately get better once you are on mushies. I remember that the first thing I had when I could go on mushies was refried beans. The best refried beans I've ever had. Just hang in there. It will get much better.

I don't think eating 1500 calories is unreasonable, especially if you're still losing eating that amount. I've been banded for 4 mos. and had one fill about 2 mos. ago. I've been following Weight Watchers. The points I'm supposed to eat a day are 30 points which is about 1500 calories a day. I'm really happy with the way things are going because I can eat pretty much anything. I haven't had any PB or stuck incidents. I'm eating between 25 and 30 WW points a day and I'm losing between 1 to 2 pounds a week, some weeks more. I get full much quicker and stay full longer between meals. I'm very happy with the whole situation. Now I still have to deal with head hunger a lot. I still miss eating lots of food, but the band makes it easier to deal with because at least I'm not truly hungry all the time like I was before.

You should ask your surgeon about whether you can use the protein powder with water. My surgeon didn't allow that during the clear liquids phase. Before my surgery, I asked him if I could use the Isopure protein drinks that come in bottles which are clear and he said those would be okay. Basically, clear liquids are just that, liquids you can see through. The only thing he included in the list that you couldn't see through is skim milk. I liked the Isopure drinks at first, but after 10 days of drinking them, I couldn't even look at an Isopure bottle.

My surgeon has his lapband patients on clear liquids 2 days before then for the week after the surgery. On his list clear liquids consisted of broth, water, fruit juices (like apple juice), skim milk, decaffinated tea and coffee, sugar free popsicles, but absolutely no carbonated drinks.

My doctor told me he used a 14cc band because I had to much fat around my stomach for the 10cc band to fit.

I'm at 30 points a day, 35 bonus points a week and I probably eat about 25 on average a day. I asked my doctor about the number of calories or amounts I should eat and he didn't really give me an answer except to eat till you're satiated. After my fill, he seemed to think I wouldn't be able to eat more than a few bites at a time, but that is not the case. I have 5ccs in a 14 band. Before I had the band, WW portions didn't really even get me from meal to snack, now I'm able to not get too hungry between meals. I've been losing 1 to 2 pounds a week, sometimes more on what I'm eating. I'm not really exercising either. I want to eat healthy and not just protein. I see people on here posting about eating 1/4 to 1/2 cup of food at a meal and I don't know how they get enough protein, fiber, vitamins, etc. in their diets. I don't know, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm losing weight.

I'm doing WW online and tracking my weight on there. I've done WW several times in the past and really like it. It seems really sensible. I've been making a lot of the recipes from their cook books and the recipes are really good. I usually make simple things like stews and they usually have portion sizes of 1 cup to 2 cups depending on the recipe. I've been losing about 2 pounds per week on average.

I'm almost 3 months post-op and have one fill and I can drink water almost as fast as I used to. I live in So Cal and it's been very hot here. I've been so thirsty that I've had about 16 oz. of water in a very very short period of time and I've noticed when I drink really really fast I can feel the water kinda sit in my stomach. I'm still getting used to not drinking during meals, that seems very hard. My doctor says I can't drink 30 min. before or after meals, and the second 30 min. is up after I eat, I'm drinking my water.

I had my lapband surgery on 3/31/08. I was on clear liquids for the first 10 days after surgery. I had the diarhea problem post surgery while I was on clear liquids. I think what goes in is what goes out, if you know what I mean. I was also taking Benefiber because after the diarhea phase the first week, I had constipation. The Benefiber works really well. I still have problems here and there with constipation, so I try to eat things high in fiber and protein like beans and whole grains. Good luck.

I've done Weight Watchers so much my mind thinks in WW points, not calories really. I try to limit my Snacks to 2 or 3 points. My favorite snacks are: Laughing cow light wedge of either garlic herb or french onion, Hummus (I found avocado cilantro hummus at the farmer's market) with either baked tortilla chips or Ak-Mak crackers (high in fiber) 6 green kalamata olives (I love olives, can't live without them) WW yogurt with a tblspn ground flax seed mixed in (tastes kinda like pie to me) fruit (watermelon, cantelope, etc.) string cheese or light babybel with 7 almonds 4 oz. cottage cheese with a tblspn of ground flax seed mixed in edamame (I found a recipe for edamame spread, gonna have to try it with Ak-Mak crackers)

That doesn't sound like an unreasonable amount of food to me. What is it total, a little over a cup.

A couple of weeks after my surgery (3/31/08) I was able to drink more than sips of water or liquid. I'd start drinking like I normally would before the surgery, but then I would catch myself and start to sip again. Now I'm 2 months post-op and I drink water like I did before the surgery (gulps of water sometimes) and I have no problem. The day of my fill and the first couple of days after I stuck with the sips because I could fill the water going down and staying in my pouch a little bit. But since then water is no problem. I think the hardest thing to deal with is knowing that I can't just "pig out" and eat like I used to before surgery. I get full a lot quicker and its hard to stop sometimes, but I do because I don't want to make myself sick or expand my pouch too much. I went to a restaurant recently and ordered with friends fried zucchini to share and I only had 2 pieces. It was a little frustrating because in my head I wanted more (I always want more), but I knew I just couldn't do it. I think the psychological issues around food are the most difficult to deal with and get over. I'm not sure when or if I ever will have a handle on it.

I had surgery on 3/31/08 on a Monday and on Thursday I started having problems with dizziness and lightheadedness. I was on clear liquids 2 days before surgery and 10 days after. I'm now two months out and I've finally in the last two weeks gotten over the dizziness and lightheaded feeling I had since surgery. My PCP took blood tests to see if I had low blood sugar, etc., but nothing was wrong. I have had problems with vertigo in the past so maybe that had something to do with it. But I think once you start eating normally (real food) things get better. Good luck.

When I had the gallbladder problem, I didn't have nausea. I just had the pain in the sternum area that radiated to my back. It was a horrible burning pain. I thought I was having a heart attack. I could not find a comfortable position, not sitting or lying down. I've never been in so much pain as the pain from gall stones passing. I know other people who had gallstones and were nauseous and threw up, but I never had any of that. Just the burning pain. The strangest thing to me was that I would have all this pain and all of a sudden it just stopped. I guess at that point the gall stone passed through and the episode was over. Towards the end of that experience, I couldn't wait to have surgery to get my gallbladder out. Good luck in finding our the cause of your pain.

I have a 14cc band and my surgeon put in 5ccs at my first fill. I don't think I'm as restricted as some people on this site describe. I've never PBd or gotten stuck. But I'm not hungry after eating a Lean Cuisine and I'm losing 1-2+ pounds a week, so I'm happy with that.

Do you still have your gallbladder? When I was having gallstones that's where my pain was and when it was over the pain would go away instantaneously.

My surgeon required a liquid diet for 2 days before the surgery. I guess the pre-op and post -op diets differ a lot among surgeons.

I had surgery on 3/31/08. The first month I lost 16 pounds. I've lost 26 pounds altogether counting pre-op and since the one month time period.