Wheetsin

I'm in MO, but I don't drive a truck. :cool: Waiting a few days after a fill is a wise suggestion, but the window for problems isn't limited by a few days, weeks, years... :eek: Problems can strike at any time. I would suggest you speak with your surgeon about the possibility of needing an emergency unfill (it won't guarateeably be needed, but everyone I know has needed one at some point), and make sure that you have his/her contact information to give to whatever ER or physician you're able to see on the road. Also, just because I assume you will do a large portion of your eating in the truck, or be in the truck shortly after eating, make sure you have some containers/lids handy. I've had two close calls in my car (felt fine at the restaurant, but problems struck on the way home), and one in a service limo to the airport. All three times I could pull over or have the driver pull over, but it may be more difficult in a semi on an interstate, especially one without much shoulder, or a long bridge, etc. I do travel frequently by plane, and have a few "rules" for travel days. Most of them probably won't apply to you (e.g. being extra tight while in the air), but I also just try to be generally smart about when I eat in relation to when I fly. If my flight is at noon, I'll just have liquids that day. If my flight is in the evening, I will eat, but generally not within 3 - 4 hours of my scheduled departure time. (Once upon a time I missed a flight because I was yakking in the bathroom for two hours, and not about to board knowing I wasn't done yakking). If there are times on the road where you're kinda screwed if something happens, just be aware of it and consider it when you plan out your day.

What did the psych who did your referral/evaluation reccommend? Behaviors take a while to change, even cognitive/behavioral behaviors. Say the next time you do something and want a cookie, you drive yourself to the jewelry store instead, or go buy something nice for the house. Chances that you will completely 100% truly overcome this aren't great. You may well find other outlets, or you may stay an emotional eater, at which point it's up to you and your band to moderate what you're eating. There's nothing terribly and horribly wrong with having a sundae after an extremely productive week (yeah, I could argue that, but let's face it...), but having one every time you do something moderately OK, and using your actions to justify the eating... not so ok. :cool:<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Being pregnant doesn't mean you have to gain excessive amounts of weight. I know a bandster due February 7th and she has gained 19 lbs, which is just a few pounds shy of her target for someone who is overweight. Most of that 19 lbs is accounted for by the baby, the extra blood, Fluid, etc. We are trying to get pregnant, but I'm nearly 2 years out. My surgeon would've killed me if I got pregnant 3 mos out, and pregnancy would have no longer been an issue. (We had to sign documents including one stating that we would use reasonable means of birth control for the first 12 months we were banded).

Just a suggestion, but what about knit dresses? They're fine for company, and terribly comfortable for lounging. I don't know the exact name of what I'm thinking of, but it's basically a knit dress with an empire waist and ties in the back. This is what I wore post-banding and post-cholocystectomy, and it was perfect. I few days post-op I could get into track suits (and wore them the rest of the time), but for the first few days I couldn't wear them because the waist band hit exactly where I had two rows of staples. BTW, the dresses won't go to waste once they're too big like the track suits. I still have mine, now many sizes too big, and they're perfect for Sunday morning house cleaning.

I had a big long response to this, and then the direct issues hit with the board and I had to delete it. THe list is a good thing because it's comprehensive. No one should take it as a "buy lots of this" rule. Most everyone has used something on the list. The things that were most beneficial for me post-op were: Had hubby move a recliner from his home theater room to the great room (where I was staying). I lived in that recliner for 2 days, would have been lost without it. Had hubby bring down a laptop tray, which not only housed my laptop but gave me a reachable place to keep the phone, remotes, food/drink, medication, etc. "Koosh" type pillow. I brought it to the hospital and used it to support my abdomen on the drive home, and in the car for the next 3 - 4 days. I also used it at home to help support when I had to cough or sneeze. Knit "house dresses" - not sure what you'd call them really. Empire waist with a tie in the back. Cheap, comfortable, and best of all didn't require any bending or real moving to get in and out of, I just had to lift my arms. It also hung loose, away from my incisions, which was very nice. Calamine lotion and Bendaryll cream. Incisions get *itchy* and these two things brought my only relief. Liquid Tylenol, once I no longer needed the Lortab elixir. That's about it, and most of it was for convenience. Gas-x will do nothing for surgical gas, BUT if you happen to be a gassy person, it may help with gastrointenstinal gas post-op. Post-op gas is usually CO2 pumped into your abdomen - long story short - until you look pregnant to separate what's inside of you so s/he can see and access without stuff laying all over other stuff. Not the same thing as digestive gas. Digestive gas is confined to your gastrointestinal tract. Surgery gas is "free floating" in your abdomen (hence why it can migrate into other areas of your body, while gastrointestinal gas stays within the tract). Taking a pill that stays inside of your gastrointestinal tract, and only works on the gas in it, isn't going to do much to disspate or relieve gas in, say, your shoulder or collar bone area.

Hey guys - I'm posting this in the board questions area, but we'll see where it ends up. There's a known issue (I ran into it and thought I must have done something really weird) with posts posting to the wrong place, and even with the wrong forum opening when you click on one to open it. I've already sent several examples/screenshots to Alex & the other mods, so trust that we're aware of the problem. Until this is resolved, any posts you make will probably post to the wrong area... to completely unrelated threads in unrelated forums. (E.g. I posted something in the pre/post-op forum, that actually posted into the food forum). In fact, even though I opened the board questions forum to post this, I can see at the top of my screen that it's going to post into January 08. So January 08 guys, help me spread the word. :smile:

Yeah it was a known issue for a while. I tried to post in the board ques area, but of course it send my post over to like "December 07" forum, and then dropped my message. :cool: I logged what was happening and sent it on to Alex & the other mods. Either he fixed it, or it fixed itself... knock on wood.

I get pain between my shoulderblades when something is stuck or when there is too much pressure in my esophagus (e.g. something is not stuck, but I've swallowed too much at once). It subsides as the food passes/esophagus clears. It grows in intensity if the stuck does not clear itself.

Moved, you will likely get more views/responses here than in Rants n' Raves. :cool:

Ginger, I don't know when you were banded, but it took me -- I'm going to guess 12 - 14 months to really "learn" the band. I thought I knew what I was doing, I was even giving others advice, but I will still having problems more frequently than I wanted to. Not PBing too often, but lots of discomfort. Lots more trouble eating than I should have had to worry about. So I did this "back to basics" kind of thing. I allowed only small bites, and made myself wait 5 mins between each bite. And if I felt the slightest pressure, no more eating until it had passed completely. This was key, I think. I would get a slight pressure, and think - I just need to burp, or I would confuse it for the same (harmless) sensation of just feeling food in the pouch. Then I started to get this realization that (this will sound corny) I wasn't really listening to what my body was saying. I was assuming I knew what things meant, when I think I had been way off base. Life has gotten much easier since I've really started "listening." :smile: For me, if there's food in my pouch, I can feel it. It's just a little pressure. Tiny. Like if you fill your hand with Water, the water puts pressure on your skin. If my food is passing through, I don't feel anything. Everyr are now and then I really can't tell, and have to work to monitor it since I have no soft stop. If that's the case, I will take a very small sip of very cold water and wait and see what it does. If it's just sitting there, I won't feel the cold rush down into my stomach. If it goes through, I will feel the wave of cold.

Internal changes with fluid levels, imperceived differences in eating behavior, etc. If you're starving after tea & coffee, maybe eat something? If you can't eat in the morning, maybe try a protein drink, and if it does ok add in some bulk like fiber cereal. Proteins keep you full faster than any other category of food, so focus on them whenever possible if hunger is an issue for you. Tea and coffee have the consistency of water. Neither will keep you full for long.

I slept in a recliner the first 2 nights, then made it into bed with a LOT of extra pillows. So, if you're trying with just the standard number of hotel pillows, tell room service to bring you 4+ extras. Basically turn the bed into a big soft recliner. I'm a side sleeper and I found that around night 5 I could sleep on my side if I supported my stomach with a pillow underneath it. Moving would wake me up, but it beat the heck out of having to stay on my back. Where is it hurting, and what does it feel like? If your shoulder is hurting, that's a much different scenario than your port incision. I also had my gallbladder removed a few months ago, and my port incision was re-opened for that procedure. I slept in bed starting the second night, again using the many pillows technique. I probably could have done the bed the first night, but my reopened port incision was a bleeder, and I felt it best not to risk any position other than on my back, with limited movement.

Missed the 2nd part of your question. For vitamins I use Centrum chewables. I also take Folic Acid and Potassium, both of which I just chew and swallow, they don't have any taste (to me).

I cannot take pills unless I crush them, yuck. I had to take a round of Prednisone and Flexerall for an attack of sciatica, and it was pure hell. I've tried just cutting. I tried cutting a pill the size of a Tylenol into 4 pieces, so we're talking fairly small, and it resulted in one of my worst PBs.

As for reporting problems, the current way is to post a question... here. :smile: That provides a way to ask questions, without overflowing our PM inboxes - which we greatly appreciate! As for your issues, I personally have no idea if your user options are set up correctly. Perhaps Alex will see this and be able to help.

There is lots of information out there on these topics. Here are a few for starters. Flying with a lapband About to fly and freaking out....HELP<!-- google_ad_section_end --> Scuba diving banded? Scuba Dive? Tight after Flying LapBand and Scuba Diving Pre-Op question-Scuba<!-- google_ad_section_end --> Etc. If those, and similar search results, can't provide the information you're looking for, you are welcomed to post a poll. It would be very difficult for someone to do it for you, vs. doing it yourself, because we would have no idea how many variables you want, what options, anonymity options, etc. etc.

Unfortunately (I wish more doctors understood this) there are no real rules with the band, there are only guidelines. My experience will be totalyl different from yours, and yours from hers, and hers from his, etc. Tonight I slimed over some thick Soup. So there goes the 7 bites idea. :eek: One bite can easily do me in, if it's at the wrong time of month. Etc.

I order Water and 99% of the time and let it just sit there. I got tired of answering, "Yes, I'm sure." I used to pay $2 for a glass of tea that would just sit there, until I realized how stupid that was. :eek: Hmm, if you get an insistent waitress, maybe just say that you don't drink with your meals. I know bandsters who will pour salt over their food to keep from taking that one last bite, perhaps you could do the salt thing with your water, as another technique for insistent wait staff.

That's good to hear. I hate hearing about people who want the band, yet have their surgeons try to talk them out of it.

It got better over time for me, but was almost constant for at least 8 months... and got louder when I ate. Now I really only gurgle when I'm stuck or really full.

If you're PBing the very last thing you swallow, there's a good chance that you're eating or drinking one swallow too many. I don't have a "soft stop" (body's way of saying stop or else)and I had a really hard time with this in the beginning... actually for the first year or so. Another highly likely scenario is that you've downed a bad bite early on, but are eating a little too quickly and don't feel it until your last bite. Especially if your last bite is your last because you start to feel uncomfortable, vs. it being your last because it's the last bite in your plate. Sometimes a bad swallow (for lack of a better phrase) can take a while to register. During the "learning phase" it's a good practice to wait a good 3 - 5 minutes between each and every bite, to see how your body reacts to the swallow outside of what you can tell immediately. Let's say it takes 45 seconds for a bad bite to feel bad. You take a bit, immediately feel OK, take another bite, feel ok, take another bite... and then the bad feeling from bite 1 registers, and now you have 2+ bites sitting on top of it. Another possibility that kind of builds on what I've mentioned above is that an earlier bite is stuck, but when you PB the item that was actually stuck passes through, and what was on top of it comes up. This happens to me a lot. I'll often PB just saliva, because the stick moves through. I assume it has something to do with the churning/pumping. Kind of like a stuck drain. The "stuck" usually moves down. The only time I would let frequency of PBs have anything to do with a fill is for UNFILL. I would never gauge whether I need a fill by, "Do I PB a lot?" PBs are gonna happen, but they shouldn't. Feelign the food move through/down is fairly normal. I can feel it, especially when the food is particularly hot or cold. When I would try to determine if I needed a fill, I would look at these things: Is it taking more food that it used to for me to be satisfied? Am I eating more frequently than I used to? Can I easily eat foods that normally are more of a challenge? Do I feel restriction when I eat? Can I drink more than a tiny sip during/immediately after a meal? Sometimes you will hear ppl say that if you aren't losing 2 - 3 lbs/week, you need a fill. I'd kill myself if I followed that little rule. On a normal day, I can barely get down soymilk in the morning, but by evening can have a small meal. I've hit a phase of maintenance. I have more weight to lose, I just need to get off my ass and make it happen. Am I losing 2 lbs a week? Nope! Do I need a fill? Nope! :eek:

CoolCrystal, how tall are you? DH and I are trying to get pregnant. Before we started, I spoke with my doctor about the pregnancy vs. age vs. weight triangle. She told me my weight wasn't such that it would be a reason to postpone trying to get pregnant, and that especially considering my age, if I want to have a baby, I need to get started. (She wrote me a rx for prenatals that day). I'm 31, between 5'10 - 5'11, and 230 - 240. And I've had the same experience as you. When I'm bypassed is when I look bad - or poor perhaps. hair thrown up, baggy pants, hoodie, crocs... basically my "I'm way too tired to be here" look. :eek: When I'm dressed normally, I get "normal" attention.

Some air travel makes me extra ordinarily tight. About 10% of the time I'm uneffected, but normally I get very tight. It happens mid-flight, and will get to the point that in-flight liquids take a very long time to pass. I am a scuba diver, no problems, but I've also not gone below 60. Your husband's theory is correct. Going up alleviates atmospheric pressure so things get bigger. Going underwater increases atmospheric pressure, so things get smaller. A moderately filled balloon pops if it goes too far, but looks empty at 50 ft underwater. I talked several times with Inamed about this before banding, and they assured me no problems, and that the silicone the band is fabricated from is rigid enough to maintain its integrity. I'd imagine any changes are with the saline inside the band (should adjust to normal state as soon as pressure returns to normal), or more likely - the reaction to our soft tissues and their Fluid retention.

Sounds like normal adjustments. For a very long time I "gurgled" virtually non-stop. Sometimes it got very loud. Once or twice the people next to me at work thought I had burped, but nope, I was just making noises.

Go out and eat. There are usually mushy items on the menu. Soups, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, or baked sweet potatoes that can be mashed, refried beans, soupy beans, polenta, etc. You can also request most items be sent through the blender. Just tell them you've recently had surgery and have to have a soft diet. I've had them whiz up clam choweder to get rid of the rubbery chunks. :eek: