Wheetsin

Moved to pre-op forum. The psych eval should be an opportunity for a professional clinicial to evaluate your eating behaviors and style, assess your likelihood for success as well as the expectations you have for surgery, and then provide some assistance in techniques to help maximize your success. These would includ eprograms of behavioral change, coping mechanisms, helping to reset expectations of needed, etc. Unfortunately many psychologists do not seem to do this, and instead throw out some standardized assessment tests (e.g. personality tests) and that's about it. IMO a -good- program will be comprehensive, including a psychologist who does more than give you tests. Tests won't do a thing that spending a few hours talking with the patient can't do, and talking & prescribing action plans can do SO much more.

scales pretty much suck. The one thing people never seem to realize is that a scale does what it's designed to do which is report the weight of your entire mass: your skin, hair, and everything in and on your body. They do not tell you changes in your fat or size, just in your overall weight. We get a lot of posts here of people freaking out because their scale has shown an overnight weight increase and they assume they gained fat. All the scale is saying is that your entire mass weighs more now than it did. It says NOTHING about your fat. I've had to post this as a reminder to people whoa re freaking out about overnight WEIGHT (not fat) gain probably 50 times, if not more. Hopefully your post will get some readers.

Soups, even hearty soups, are fine (IMO) as long as your restriction allows you to eat them. The deal with soups is that many people find that soups "go right through" the band, thus they might need to eat more to reach the "full" sensation. If you want soup and need to eat more, then I say just eat more. It's not going to take a lot more to get the feeling, and for me personally, I can feel full on soups, especially if I eat them earlier in the day, say for lunch.

Some caffeine is fine, it would be very hard to avoid caffeine alltogether. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do drinka lot of tea. I don't care for the flavor of decaf tea so I drink the regular about 80% of the time, decaf the other 20%. I try offset this with healthy amounts of water.

I have such mixed emotion over this, and I feel bad for that. Need to get this off my chest in a big way, and it's much more rant than logic. On one side, my parents have completely given up with their weight. They were always hefty, but not always obese. Now - especially in the last year or two - they're out of control obese. My mother is pretty much out of all store-bought clothes. We tried to find her something to wear to a wedding in the spring and at Catherine's (sells the largest sizes around here) she was in their largest, 6x, tight. My dad is about 5'10 and in a 52 pant. Neither of them can walk from their car to their house without being completely out of breath. Hell, neither of them can get off the couch without being out of breath, and I don't feel sorry for them, I feel sickened. All they do is sit in reclining furniture and watch TV, eat 5 or 6 plates and 3 or 4 deserts at buffets, and wonder why they're gaining weight because "I don't eat that bad." (as my mother says, while she claims to be eating healthy grilled chicken, which is actually a grilled chicken breast smothered with cheese sauce and sour cream). My mother is the type who doesn't like to own her actions, and is constantly seeking out a medical reason for her obesity (her latest is that she thinks she must have Cushing's, because she has a large pannus) and the next big cure, book, herbal remedy, whatever it may be. *sigh* They don't admit to giving up, but they have, and this is going to be one of the only things that will help them. I KNOW THAT WITH NO DOUBT. I want them to be healthier and live longer, so I am in support of them getting the band. I even made their info night seminar appt, went with them, answered their questions, did their insurance battle for them... just about did everything for them (once they started expressing interest). I want healthy parents. We're going on vacation in Spring and my concerns are 1) they will not fit on the plane and will be humiliated, 2) they will not be able to walk with us and will opt out of some activities rather than face am embarassing compromise like a wheelchair or scooter, 3) they will be disappointed that the trip is not planned around food. When I go on vacation with my parents, those SHOULD NOT be my top worries. I want them to move beyond their weight, and I KNOW that some type of surgical/behavioral/manual intervention is the ONLY way it's going to happen. I want my parents around for a long time. I want them healthy, and able to breathe and fool good about themselves. So in that sense, I WANT them to get banded. Very badly. Their insurance JUST started approving the lap-band. My mother called me today to ask for more help in getting this done. I asked her if she had made up her mind to do it and she said "Yep!" And I was just like... oh. Good for you. I couldn't even pretend happiness. Which is where the flip side comes in. To be completely honest, I love my parents, but they disgust me. Now that I can see their behaviors for what they are, without being immune to them because I'm doing the exact same thing. I hate eating out with them because I can't stand to watch them eat, it repulses me. I can't stand to listen to their excuses for being overweight. I can't stand to hear their pathetic distortions around diet. Huh mom, have you ever tried just cutting back your calories if you REALLY want to diet? No! That's because you aren't looking for a diet, you're looking for a quick fix that requires no committment or determination on your behalf. Surprise, you're not gonna find it. I feel resentful and spiteful. My mother, although she did not vocalize it and did support me in her own way, was very much against me getting banded. It didn't matter, I was doing it anyway, but I did want to have talks with them about how they felt about it. When I first told her I was really thinking about it, her response was, "Oh, so you're giving up? You're not going to even try another diet?" Man, those words stung, because I didn't see it as giving up, I saw it as the most logical solution to my growing problem. Her second remark was, "You know I'm going to be jealous if you go and lose a lot of weight." She was one of those people who would always have some kind of comment about the easy way out, about how it just doesn't seem normal, she just couldn't understand, etc. I lived with that for about a year, until she started seeing the results AND seeing that I was still healthy AND seeing the ways my life was changing. Then things changed with her. She suddenly started talking about "maybe" wanting the band, and "maybe" wanting my dad to have it. Even when I started losing the weight and was offering to hand over TONS of clothes to her, she took them, but had her own sort of anger about it. Like after giving her 12 bags of clothes, I asked if she knew anyone else who could use them and she was like "Uh what about me?" I know she was jealous, but she was sooo judgemental. I'm very much in a situation where I took the full 100% brunt of her jealousy, disgust, resentment, her own hate for herself and her situation, etc... I took it all, head on, in the form of judging me for what I did, and aggressive/passive aggressive reactions to my situation, and I swallowed it like a ball of throns for over a year. And now that she's seen me lose the majority of my weight, and be successful, now all of a sudden she wants to do it too. I fell like - yeah, give me shit about it, and now that I've proven it can work, you want to hop on the bandwagon too. I should see her actions for what they are, and be able to hold my head higher, and I do to some degree. I know/understand what's going on. But I still can't help but feel really freaking ticked off about it. And happy. I'm a bad daughter.

I'm not a Nov but I know several people with 10 cc bands who had to have 7+ ccs to feel restriction beyond the day they received the fills.

Sorry guys, I sort of had my cathartic experience with my intial post and then let it lay. Update - my parents have submitted their paperwork and are waiting on insurance approval. I have not yet talked with them about my feelings, I do not feel it to be an appropriate time or circumstance. But I have encouraged them to do something in the meantime (which they aren't doing). Something meaning - don't give up. I'm tired of them saying "Well we tried so-and-so's diet but we just didn't lose weight on it." Well have you tried kicking the fads and doing something revolutionary like plain and simple cutting your calories? A lot of you guys know this, but I'm huge on owning your actions, taking ownership, and being willing to admit fault. We all do it, but catching yourself and correcting it (what I strive for), and sticking your head in the sand - uh uh. And I'm big on the idea that you pretty much hand over your right to bitch about something if you aren't also trying to effect some change about it. And that's where my parents are. They're eyebrow deep in denial and as much as they're asking me questions and eager to learn about banded life, they're not "there" yet. Even the questions they're asking me show that (Can you still eat ice cream? Did you lose without exercising? Can you eat XYZ?) I never asked if I could still vaccuum banded because I didn't give a shit, so I know these are things in the front of their minds, so I'm doing what I can to help ease their (eventually, supposedly, hopefully) transition. I have tried to encourage them to start adopting parts of the bandster lifestyle now, before they have to go cold turkey (assuming insurance approval). Things like foregoing the soda, which other than coffee is all my father drinks; chewing (we had dinner the other night and I "challenged" them to take the same bite size as me, and now swallow until I did); making better choices when ordering or cooking; trying to help them see where the trucklod of fat & calories & carbs is residing in their "healthy" meal. This too shall pass.

Here are my thoughts, in no particular order: - Women have a higher chance of being obese than men, hence statistics. - Women have a higher chance of self consciousness about their weight, hence more probability to seek solutions. - Women have a harder time losing weight than men, hence more likely to seek assistance. - Women are more likely to need "support" than men (at least admittedly), hence more women on forums, hence a skewed percentage of females banded. I could go on. I can't say any of the above are absolutely true, but it makes sense to me.

Cognitive distortions. Same reason we justify waiting until Monday to start the diet. E.g. one that a banded friend of mine is dealing with when she thinks of her upcoming cruise - "I hope I don't lose weight between now and then or I won't have any clothes to wear. I need cute things to wear, so I better work at staying this same weight." When is that a good idea??? Stupid crap I think - "This is all I'm going to lose, thanks everyone for all the help."

Yeah, I am. Well, I CAN drink, but sometimes I have to wait for it to clear, or deal with a bit of pain if I drink too much/quickly. But usually by 11 or so liquids are fine. That's just how my resitriction is.

Hi mmh498, I'm not from St. Joseph but I have family there and usually visit at least once a month. Too bad the hospital system there isn't yet in favor of bariatrics.

Quoting myself so I don't have to retype:

The band has a sort of empty balloon lining its inner circumference. This is attached to some tubing, in turn attached to a port. A needle is used to peentrate the (self-healing) port and inject saline, which travels through the tubing and into the balloon, filling it, which tightens the esophagus. When my surgeon does fills it takes a total of maybe 2 mins and goes like this: Lay down, surgeon pushes around until he finds the port. Location is marked, surgeon gets the syringe (already filled with saline). Needle is poked through the skin into the port, saline is injected, port is pulled out, area is wiped down and a band-aid is applied. Then we're given a glass of Water to drink, to ensure we aren't too tight. It's quick, doesn't hurt, and you leave with a tiny needle mark and a band-aid.

OP is/was a spammer. I let this thread be since there was discussion around it. He or she has come back with similar, single word "humble" handles and posted the same topic with links to that site and others, all of which I've taken down.

The band is above your stomach, so you probably won't feel anything stomach unless it's a referred pain or something. My surgeon is fairly aggressive with his fills. With smaller bands he does .5 - 1 cc at a time, depending on which fill it is, what weightloss has been, etc. For larger bands I believe he starts at 2 - 3 cc, but that's just what I've been told by peers with the larger band. 2cc sounds like you're getting fills fairly aggressively. Some surgeons only do 1cc (large abnd) or .5cc (smaller bands) at a time. Some let you come back for another fill at your discretion, and some make you wait a certain length of time. The best way to describe restriction (for me), that isn't yet to the point of being painful, is kind of like having a burp sitting in you that won't come up. A sort of "pressure" that lets you know something's there.

Also, are you sure they said 1 cm referring to the opening of the band itself, and not the opening of the band + your esophageal tissues?

What you're describing sounds kind of impossible. What size band did surgeon install? The cms refers to the inner diameter, and there aren't any 1 cm bands (unless I've just passed into a new dimension!) Are you sure you didn't get a fill (maybe you received one immediately post-op?)

I'm going to paste an old post of mine, just because I'm lazy and don't want to re-type: There's really nothing you can do for it, so save your money. Body trauma, including surgery, and anesthesia are known catalysts for hair loss. Like everything hair, it's a cycle, and it too will change.

Just fine for me, as does all other seafood I've tried to swallow. Gave up the chewier meats just becaus they're not worth the effort of gooifying.

Abbreviations and What They Mean Stickied in our FAQ forum. You might benefit from spending some time there. You can find additional information by searching for "sliming". Many results.

I tried to blend chicken and it made me gag. Not a band gag, but just a "omfg that's nasty" gag. My favorite mushies were: Refriend Beans, black or pinto, preferrably of a spicy & fat free variety. I may or may not have added sour cream, cheese, hot sauce, and chili verde. Hummus Edamame puree with garlic and butter Cottage cheese Really wet meat (chicken, tuna, etc.) salads And probably a few others I've forgotten.

I'll skip the long scientific explanation this time but when you eat crap food, there's an actual response within the body that makes you crave more of it. So detox is definitely in order. It's hard, just like any detox, but as custom, it does get easier after a few days of getting the crap out of your system and allowing your system to get back to an equilibrium. I have to disagree with that. I can a) eat too much ice cream :glare: not lose and c) be hungry while also d) be too tight to get solids down. I can also a) eat too much, :eek: not lose and c) be hungry while d) just be really good at eating around the band, despite being tight. Just two examples, but in either of those, a fill is the last thing I need. I would recommend a checklist closer to this. If you are: a. Exercising/eating to ensure that your caloric consumption is greater than your caloric intake... b. Feeling more actual hunger now than you were before (assuming you've been through a fill or so)... c. Requiring larger portions to satisfy you now than you were before... d. Able to pass foods you weren't previously able to pass... e. Not feeling restriction when you eat (it does have a pretty distinct feeling)... f. Needing to eat between meals to stay satsifed, whereas before you did not... g. Etc. then you probably need a fill. But there's no way you can just throw 3 criteria out there and say matter of factly that if you meet these, you need a fill, period. Just can't happen any more than you can say "if you can eat more than an ounce you need a fill" -- we all just vary too much if what we're able to do.

I'm not sure why surgeons push the bypass. I am really beginning to think it's a matter of THEIR success and not ours. A sort of bragging rights. And money. It doesn't make sense to me. My surgeon said that for someone in his family, he would recommend the band over bypass. But when I accompanied a friend to his info seminar just a few months ago, bypass seemed to be pushed in favor of the band. I can't see how long-term RnY is better. I just can't. I know too many RnYers in my life who are now having a miserable time trying to quit gaining weight after an initial 12 - 18 months of losing. I know many who eat more, and more frequently, than I could ever dream of with my band. Of the longer-term RNYers I personally know, none of them look "healthy" to me. That's hard to describe. Their coloring is off, they look sallow, even when they're still fat. And they are having their own regrets. A good friend of mine who is about 5 years out from RnY and has gone from a 28 to a 10 still regrets her choice and can only say, "I wish I'd known about the band..." And I should say that she (the one who's a 10) is the only one close to her goal weight. There are situations for which I would advocate the bypass, but they're few and far between. I just don't see how it's a good thing. But that's why I'm here, and not at gastricbypasstalk.com I guess.

Why did you need esophageal manometry? Did you have known issues or complications prior to surgery?

I don't know what "the extra pillow thing" is, but I was able to side sleep by supporting my stomach with a pillow. Then again, my port is more centered than on the side. Your surgeon's advice is good. The port is sewn into your body, and you need to give the sutures & area time to heal. sleeping on the side of the port & putting more pressure on it could complicate the healing process. If you're losing sleep, I'd say don't worry about it too much. Rest. If you're not working, use a recliner or prop on a couch and rest during the day. Sleep won't win the race, but resting (e.g. not exerting physically) will be so important.