hungry4help

my level of restriction seems to be a moving target. i started feeling restriction around 7, but each month i've had to have a top off to maintain that feeling. my usual routine: first two-three weeks are tight-ish, then by week 4 the feeling subsides. as of last week, i'm up to 9.2. anyone have a similar experience?

hi all... i read this thread far more frequently than i post to it, but wanted to say that i love the idea of a group weigh-in on fridays. count me in. i've definitely made some poor food decisions in the last couple of weeks and this jut might be the to snap me back to reality. i'm (kinda) looking forward to firing up the scale tomorrow.

if you've got limited mobility and not moved much at all, try jogging in place while you watch tv even if it's just during commercials. also, see your doc about a fill. don't be ashamed to go back. all of us slip up and it's important to use all the resources you have. you can get back on track.

hi all... like many of you i didn't feel restriction after my initial fills. it take awhile and sometimes you may not feel restricted until 2- weeks after a fill. sux, i know. also, it's doubtful that you'll feel restricted when the you're only on liquids/mushies. you're surgeon and dietitian can explain in more detail, but remember to follow band rules: well chewed solid Proteins, veggies and carbs. don't drink for at least an hour after eating. you're going to need food to, for lack of a better word, plug up your pouch. it's only when your pouch is full that you'll feel sated and therefore restricted. from what i can tell from all of your previous posts, many of you seem to be at the beginning of your fill stages. patience, dear friends. you'll hit your sweet spot. just remember band rules and communicate with your surgeon and aftercare team. good luck everyone.

i've lost count of my fills too. i'm now up to about 8.2 ccs in a 14cc band. i'm going in for another fill this thursday and planning to ask for .5 or .75 more. haven't felt much restriction in a couple of weeks. let me just say, that made thanksgiving a bit problematic. luckily there's a gym in my apt bldg and i worked out for about 90 minutes that day. still, i'm sure i ate more calories than i burned. i'm trying not to stress out about it too much. i know i'm not always going to make the best choices, but i'm smarter than i used to be and i'm in this for the long haul. a day's indulgence isn't the end of the world. still, i've got to make sure the day was an anomaly and not the norm.

it's been a really long time since i've posted to this thread, but i wanted to thank all of you for posting your thoughts, your ups, your downs and all your tips. i may have posted since being banded, but i'm an avid reader. i've learned so much from this site and this thead in particular. thanks again to one and all!

oxford was so easy to deal with when i first got my lapband. all told, the approval process took a little over two weeks. i know, i was definitely fortunate. now i'm hoping to tempt the fates again and hoping oxford pos will cover a tt/pani. like many here, i'm had a recurring rash and a ongoing back pain from the skin now hanging off my midsection. ugh. i've obviously got more lbs to lose, but i'd like to line things up so that the next step in the process will be a little easier to deal with. anyone here dealt with oxford for ps? what was your ps approval process like? what did information/proof of medical necessity did you have to provide them? thanks in advance for your help and the info.

hi bubz... and welcome to the site. i'm an occasional poster, but have a frequent reader here. i was banded back in march and have found a lot of great info and support here. i'm sure you will too. welcome again.

not sure if you need a fill if you're already having a hard time eating throughout the day. the time table of my appetite is similar to yours. tight in the mornings, eases up at lunch and by 8p, i can pretty much eat anything (and in quantity!). i've experimented by slightly upping my portions for a 7ish pm dinner. i try to eat something that will sit in my pouch for a couple of hours, eg beef or chicken. following band rules re: drinking is important at night, at least for me. if'm super hungry and can't stand it anymore, i'll have a yogurt or some strawberries as a late night snack. and, if i really get the munchies around midnight, i just try lots of Water. what i've realized about my sensation about hunger is that i've often confused hunger with thirst -- especially late at night. anyways, my 2 cents. good luck.

my primary care phys prescriped clotrimazole and betamethasone dipropionate cream. it's a mouthful, i know! stuff works well and isn't very messy. also, i've been told that having been prescribed anti-fungals helps your case when it comes time to ask your insurance carrier to cover a TT/pani. best of luck.

i had been losing and gaining the same 3-4 pounds for the last month, but i hoped on the scale today and it registered 218. here's to hoping i finally broke through that plateau. i had been hoping to be in onderland by the end of the year, but i don't think that will happen. i'm just trying to let that go and remind myself that i'm healthier than i have been since my teens. the weight will come off when it comes off. in the meantime, i've got to make the choice to eat well and exercise often. but as we all know, that's easier said than done.

hey all... weight seems to be a, um, loaded issue in the lgbt community. my gay-guy friends tell me all kinds of fat-phobic horror stories, especially about the chelsea boys in nyc. among us lesbians, i know it's just as much of an issue. most of my friends are fat-friendly feminist types and i know some of them will have an issue with my being banded. that's prolly why i haven't told any of my friends. (i do have support from my sister and sister-in-law; my two closests buds.) has anyone else been reluctant about telling people?

for the past 7 months, i've considered myself lucky. i had one sliming episode right after surgery and then was feeling fine, dropping weight and feeling restricted. then this past weekend, something strange happened. i had a decent dinner -- a few ounces of swordfish, some whole wheat Pasta and string Beans -- at about 7:30p. the portions were a bit larger than normal, but nothing outrageous. i went to sleep around 12:30, still feeling a little full, but not exactly stuffed. then i woke up at 3:30 and felt a tightness in my chest; the kind of tightness that i recognize as my signal for feeling full. i got up, drank a sip of Water and within 10 minutes, i was having a bad sliming episode accompanied by some heaving. it continued off and on throughout the night until about 7:30 when i actually belched a bit and felt something pass. has anyone else ever had a similar experience and slimed so long after eating? have been wondering if this had anything to do with my band or if i just had some food poisoning.

juli... just a shout out to you and your ticker. damn, girl. you're seriously working that band. i'm thoroughly impressed and inspired.

thanks all... i'm still not 100% sure what caused my middle of the night sliming episode. but i am feeling better. since the weekend, i have noticed that i'm much tighter than i've been at any point since my last fill (about a month ago). the odd upshot here is that i'm eating much smaller portions which in turn forces me to be careful about what goes in my gob and what order i put them in! e.g., Protein first, carbs second, Water an hour or so later. since i'm not experiencing any reflux (a symptom of a band slip), i'm not too worried about the weekend episode. am just chalking it up to my band wanting to have a conversation with me.

i just didn't like the taste of unjury or the other bariatric Protein shakes. after a lot of taste testing, i found muscle milk to be both yummy and nutritious. chocolate is my favorite flavor and i usually blend two scoops with about 3/4 Water, 1/2 cup of ice and 1/2 of frozen strawberries or blueberries. that makes about a 8-10 oz frothy shake with 25g of protein. it's become my go to Breakfast if i'm short on time. it also makes for a great after workout shake.

NAME.........................surgery date.....todays date....Lbs lost 1. SpecialK .................3/17/08........9/7/08............53.9 lbs 2. scrappy_friend .........3/17/08........9/4/08............54.0 lbs 3. aJoneen.................. 3/04/08........9/4/08............31.0 lbs 4. WestCoastMom....... 3/27/08........9/4/08............60.0 lbs 5. julietj1970................ 3/03/08........9/4/08............40 lbs 6. SugarBean.............. 3/24/08........9/4/08............88 lbs (30 before surgery) 7. Tess415...................3/10/08........9/4/08............60 lbs (23 before surgery) 8. jegtlf.........................3/24/08........9/5/08............56lbs 9. emmersglue .............3/18/08........9/5/08............48lbs 10. lglenn3000.................3/17/08........9/5/08............28 lbs 11. Busy.........................3/17/08........9/6/08............41 lbs. 12. tp78..........................3/13/08........9/8/08............36 lbs. 13.potatie........................3/27/08........9/11/08...........56lbs 14. TKT2FLY.....................3/17/08........9/14/08...........63lbs 15. MSBoss08....................3/06/08........9/17/08..........64lbs 16. Hazel-Eyes...................3/14/08........9/17/08...........31 lbs 17. hungry4help..............3/3/08...........9/18/08........65lbs (10 before surgery)

nicely handled, juli. i haven't visited in awhile, but glad to be back with all you cool folks. have hit an annoying plateau this past month. have still been exercising regularly and keeping portions to a reasonable size, but i'm losing and gaining the same 3lbs. also, i've been having a strange reaction to comments re: my smaller size. a co-worker was trying to compliment me in the elevator today and i was like, "yeah, i've dropped a few." she kept pressing by saying the difference was noticeable. frankly i just wanted to get off a floor early to avoid her chatter. it's not like i didn't think people would notice, but i guess i just never really thought about what to say to people. eg, at a recent birthday party, several people i hadn't seen in a year mentioned that i looked "so much smaller." my lame-ass response: "yeah, well, we all have our ups and downs." guess i've got some soul searching to do, as well as learning how to take compliments gracefully. hope everyone is well. am so glad to see some movement on this thread.

i'd wait a week or two. personally, it has taken that long for me to feel a fill kick in. i've gone two weeks with barely any restriction and then on day 15, boom: i can barely eat 4-6oz of chicken. the band is indeed a strange mistress. fwiw, i've got a 14cc band too and now have 7ccs in. i was in a sweet spot at 6, but then it disappeared after about 6 weeks. i've got an appt for next week and am hoping for another .5 to 1cc. i've been losing and gaining the same 3lbs for nearly a month. grrr. good luck and check-in with your doctor soon. fyi: here's a really good thread on the 14cc band... http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/does-14cc-band-give-same-restriction-10cc-band-50248/

until recently, my fills have always been problematic due to a tilted port. to clear, it's not flipped, just tilted downward. since the first few fill experiences were so bad, my surgeon finally did the 3rd one under flouro. that confirmed that the port was not flipped, but it didn't really help my doc stick the needle in. in fact, i was in the xray room for nearly an hour with 2 radiologists and my surgeons who all attempted to fill me! here's the strange thing. after several attempts and finally shutting down the x-ray machine, my doc gave it one last try. he pressed deep into my side, had me roll over slightly, raise my left arm (my port's on my left side) and he slipped the needle right into my port's sweet spot. since then, i've had two fills and he's hit my port on his first try each time. i'm not a dr., but i don't think it's necessary for everyone with a tilted port to have revision surgery. fwiw, my advice: try flouro first so that your surgeon can "see" your port. if s/he can get a feel for where it is and record a sense of the degree to which it's tilted, fills might get easier. best of luck.

ouch. sorry you're having trouble with your last fill. sounds like you definitely do need a slight unfill. you shouldn't be vomitting on purees. make sure to stay hydrated and keep your Protein levels up. best of luck.

it's been a struggle to find a palatable Protein shake. so many of them taste like, well, crap. after trying unjury and several brands sold at whole foods, i finally found one i like: muscle milk. i down a glass right after working out. be sure to get the light version (much less sugar). my fave is chocolate (195 cals, 24g of protein, 11g of carbs, 6g fat). i blender it with frozen strawberries and/or blueberries. it's pretty tasty and doesn't have that grittiness of other protein shakes. you can find it online or at GNC. good luck

congrats on having surgery and getting to your first fill. i doubt it will be a painful experience. as you've no doubt read, most fills are pretty uneventful. the doc uses his fingers to feel for your port location and then inserts a needle in the approximate location. it might take a little poking to find your port "sweetspot". it can be a little uncomfortable and if you're at all squeamish or nervous about the pain, you might ask your doc to inject the area with a little lidocaine. it helped me during my first few fills. good luck and don't worry!