slcmommy4

The great thing is that you know you can lose weight with the lap band, so you'll be able to lose again. I got pregnant 7 months after I got the band, this is my 5th child. I was freaking out a little at first, but just remember the babies health is the most important. I got my fill taken out at 17 weeks. If I could do it over again I would have gotten half taken out, and then at 6 or 7 months looked at where I was at and maybe had the rest taken out. I'm in my 7th month now and have gained back 17 pounds, but I gained all of that since my unfill. I went back at aboutt 22 weeks and had them put a little back in. But I still have no restriction, so I am a little worried. But I just keep thinking that I lost weight before and I'll do it again. So don't worry about it, and just see what happens. If you are losing to much weight and it's 3 or 4 months then have a little taken out. But you never know you could gain the weight you need just fine. Hope this helps. Good Luck

I am pregnant with baby # 5 and this is the first baby since my surgery. I got pregnant about 7 months after surgery and I am now in my 7th month. Not only was I not gaining but I was actually losing so I got my fill taken out at about 17 weeks. If I could do it over again I would of had half taken out, because I feel like I've gained too much weight. I literally gained 12 pounds 4 weeks after getting unfilled. So at about 22 weeks I had a little put back in, and it's still not enough because I have no restriction. So my advise would be to weight until about 15 weeks or so and get some taken out, then if you havn't gained a lot of weight by your 6th month you can have more taken out. Obviously the baby is the most important thing rightnow so you want to be giving it all the nutrition it needs. Just have fun with the pregnancy and enjoy it. You only have to add like 300 calories a day so really you probably only have to have a little fill taken out. Good Luck with everything.

The lap band is only going to help you if you've gained weight because of eating too much and not being able to stop. All the lap band does is force you to eat less. So if you think there is some other reason for your weight gain then it probably won't work. On the other hand you could be in denial. I was never overweight and then I had babies. I exercized a lot but could never lose the weight, I honestly thought it was because of my thyroid disease. I was 210 when I got the surgery and I am 5'7. In 7 months I lost about 40 pounds. It wasn't until after the surgery that I realized I had been sabotaging my weight loss by the amount of food I ate. I had no idea. Having the surgery was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I searched for an hour and this was the only before pic I could find of myself. I was probably 15 pounds heavier then that by the time I got the surgery.

I searched for an hour and this was the only before pic I could find of myself. I wish that I had taken some progression pictures as well.

I was severely nauseated for about a week. Every time I stood up I had to throw up. Make sure that you are getting up and walking around even if you feel sick. Because I didn't get up that often(because of the nausea) I ended up with blood clots in my lungs. The only reason I found out about the blood clots is because the nausea was so bad I went into the ER, that's where they found them. If I hadn't went in it would have been fatal.

First I will give everyone a heads up on what has been happening, I had my lap band surgery the 21st of February. I admitted myself into the ER 6 days after the surgery because of a slight pain in my chest but more for extreme nausea I was having. It turned out I had several blood clots in my lungs. I've been in the hospital for 3 days now and was just told that my insurance will not cover this because it's complications from the surgery. Anyway I have to inject myself every day with blood thinners for six months and have to go into my doctor several times a week. This is going to cost me about $1000/mth. I'm guessing based on other hospitalization bills we've recieved in the past that this will cost anywhere from 7K to about 12K. Don't ask me how we are going to do it. We are both students and have 4 young children. And I had to take out a loan to get the surgery. Not only that I have to pay for the blood thinning treatments as soon as I leave the hospital. Honestly I think I'm just in shock right now. I have no idea how we will pay for this. What I've learned is that blood clots are apparently very common under any kind of surgery, and once you have them there is no way of getting around it, you have to take blood thinner for atleast 6 mths or you could just drop dead one day. So I would encourage anyone thinking about getting the surgery is to have a back up as far as finances go, just incase. I didn't get the leg compressions with this surgery but I did have them with another much more invasive surgery 2 years ago, and I can't help but wonder if I had them this time if it would have made a difference. All they gave me for this surgery were leggings, that kept falling down by the way. So anyway I guess I just want to say don't take the surgery lightly because, I did, I honestly did not think anything would happen, I had to learn the hard way. If you have the surgery atleast make sure that your doctor does give you the leg compressions I know it made a difference with my first surgery. Anyway, good luck to all those considering this.

I actually did things a bit backward. I had 3 children then a tummy tuck and lipo. I then got pregnant with my fourth child. After my fourth I went and had the lap band. I actually had made a decision not to have children after my tummy tuck because I was so worried about ruining my tummy tuck. Although my pregnancy didn't undo my tummy tuck, I did get the stretch marks and my stomach isn't as flat as it was. That being said, you can get pregnant after a tummy tuck, it doesn't affect the pregnancy at all. The question is whether you are willing to go through the expense and pain involved just to have to do all over again. If you are willing to do it again then don't worry about it. Getting the tummy tuck was the most painful thing I have ever gone through in my life. You can't even sneeze without being in the most extreme pain ever, but I would do it over again if I had to. Good Luck making your decision.

Love WENDY'S Chili!

I havn't had a fill yet because I've had a good amount of restriction since thesurgery, but here's what I eat, B-2 eggs over easy L-Chili 1cup D-Oatmeal or chicken salad Surgery date 2/21/08

Even though I've had several complications it's still worth it. Banded by Dr Alldredge, Southvalley Surgical Sandy, UT

:cursing:Well, I'm in 7 days post-op and back in the hospital with several blood clots in my lungs. I'm definately surprised because I had had a much more invasive surgery 2 years ago where I couldn't move for 2 weeks and nothing happened, although I did have the leggings that pump your legs every few minutes so I'm sure that helped. I guess I'll start at the beginning, in hopes that if someone else goes through the same kind of situation that they atleast go get checked out just in case. When I came out of the surgery I had serious trouble breathing which I know most people do, but looking back what concerns me is that I was the last one out of the surgery center, and there was only one nurse who was basically waiting for me to leave so she could go home. I was way too nauseated to walk around at all before I left. My husband said when he had his they forced him to walk around right away. Anyway the next day I had to re-admit myself into the ER where I was staying because I could tell I wasn't breathing right and not getting enough oxygen and my chest hurt so bad. The conclusion was that I wasn't taking enough of the Pain KIller.The pain killer basically takes the pain from my lungs so that I am able to take deeper breaths and get my lungs working properly again. Meanwhile I am so nauseated I can barely walk, but I force myself to do it. I get home after a short stay at my sisters. The pain is pretty much gone and I feel like I'm breathing better, but at night I notice that I can't take those deep breaths you usually need to be able to sleep. Something just didn't feel right. The next couple of nights I was able to sleep a little better but when I would breath in or out at the end of the breath there would be a sharp pain in the middle of my chest toward my back . In the meantime I feel like a have the stomach flux and can't do anything. After 3 days of this I decided to go into the ER. They discovered the blood clots and Fluid in my lungs. They asked me if I ever threw up or coughed severely that would have done it. I hadn't. They seem to think it happened during the surgery. Now I'm in the hospital for 2 days and have to be on blood thinner for 6months. HOnestly if I hadn't had the extreme nausea I wouldn't have even gone into the ER. So I'm glad I did. An interesting thing though is that I tried to call by doctor 5 times. One time before going into the ER the first time, 3 times during the week, and once before I went into the ER again. How ridiculous is it that I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Basically it goes to a machine where it has you push a button for and emergency, then it tells you the doctor on call, and it will try to page him, seconds later it tells you he's unavailable and to leave your number. I left my number twice and didn't even bother the other times. When you are sick and uncomfortable and panicked the last thing you want to do is wait for someone to call you back. I should of been able to atleast get a hold of someone. When I had an abdominaplasty 2years ago it didn't matter whether it was the weekend or the middle of the night I was always able to talk to my doctor directly. Very Frustrating. I'm still glad I had the surgery, and apparently blood clots are common with the surgery, I'm just glad I have insurance for these hospital visits or I'd be in a lot of trouble. I'm not sure how much I weigh rightnow but the last I checked I was 192 which is down 18 pounds from a week ago. I just want to get feeling good so I can enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who responded to previous posts. And good luck to everyone.

Well, I'm 7 days post-op and back in the hospital with several blood clots in my lungs. I'm definately surprised because I had an abdominoplasy 2 years ago where I couldn't move for 2 weeks and nothing happened, although I did have the leggings that pump your legs every few minutes so I'm sure that helped. I guess I'll start at the beginning, in hopes that if someone else goes through the same kind of situation that they atleast go get checked out just in case. When I came out of the surgery I had serious trouble breathing which I know most people do, but looking back what concerns me is that I was the last one out of the surgery center, and there was only one nurse who was basically waiting for me to leave so she could go home. I was way too nauseated to walk around at all before I left. (My husband said when he had his they forced him to walk around right away.) Anyway the next day I had to re-admit myself into the ER where I was staying because I could tell I wasn't breathing right and not getting enough oxygen and my chest hurt so bad. The conclusion was that I wasn't taking enough of the Pain KIller.The pain killer basically takes the pain from my lungs so that I am able to take deeper breaths and get my lungs working properly again. Meanwhile I was so nauseated I could barely walk, but I forced myself to do it. I get home after a short stay at my sisters. The pain was pretty much gone after 4 days and I was breathing better, but at night I couldn't take those deep breaths you usually need to be able to sleep. Something just didn't feel right. The next couple of nights I was able to sleep a little better but when I would breath in or out at the end of the breath there would be a sharp pain in the middle of my chest toward my back . In the meantime I felt like I had the stomach flux and can't do anything. After 3 days of this I decided to go into the ER. They discovered the blood clots and Fluid in my lungs. They asked me if I ever threw up or coughed severely that would have done it. I hadn't. They seem to think it happened during the surgery. Now I'm in the hospital for 2 days and have to be on blood thinner for 6months. HOnestly if I hadn't had the extreme nausea I wouldn't have even gone into the ER. So I'm glad I did. An interesting thing though is that I tried to call by doctor 5 times. One time before going into the ER the first time, 3 times during the week, and once before I went into the ER again. How ridiculous is it that I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Basically it goes to a machine where it has you push a button for and emergency, then it tells you the doctor on call, and it will try to page him, seconds later it tells you he's unavailable and to leave your number. I left my number twice and didn't even bother the other times. When you are sick and uncomfortable and panicked the last thing you want to do is wait for someone to call you back. I should of been able to atleast get a hold of someone. When I had an abdominaplasty 2years ago it didn't matter whether it was the weekend or the middle of the night I was always able to talk to my doctor directly. Very Frustrating. I'm still glad I had the surgery, and apparently blood clots are common with the surgery, I'm just glad I have insurance for these hospital visits or I'd be in a lot of trouble. I'm not sure how much I weigh rightnow but the last I checked I was 192 which is down 18 pounds from a week ago. I just want to get feeling good so I can enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who responded to previous posts. And good luck to everyone.

First, I want to say thank you for your prayers and concern. I really appreciate it. Things have turned out a little bit differently than I hoped. Because I was self pay for the surgery my insurance will not be covering any hospitalization or treatment. My hospital and ER bills are probably going to be around 7-10K and the treatment for the blood thinner which I have to inject myself every day for the next 6 mnths is going to be about $1000/mth. Don't ask me how we are going to do it. We are both students and have 4 young children. What I've learned is that blood clots are apparently very common under any kind of surgery, and once you have them there is no way of getting around it, you have to take blood thinner for atleast 6 mths or you could just drop dead one day. So I would encourage anyone thinking about getting the surgery is to have a back up as far as finances go, just incase. I didn't get the leg compressions with this surgery but I did have them with another much more invasive surgery 2 years ago, and I can't help but wonder if I had them this time if it would have made a difference. All they gave me for this surgery were leggings, that kept falling down by the way. So anyway I'm really not sure what we're going to do since we had to take out a loan to get the surgery. I guess I just want to say don't take the surgery lightly, even though it is very minimally invasive. I had to learn the hard way. Good Luck with your decision

It's my 3rd day post op and I'm feeling much better. The first couple of days were pretty rough. One thing that kind of made me upset was that I was having complications and I couldn't get a hold of anyone! Dr. Alldredge was supposedly the one on call but he didn't answer and there was no way for me to leave a message. I couldn't get a hold of anyone in the office or at the surgery center. That's kind of ridiculous. Also they should probably do surgeries in the beginning of the week not the end so that if there are problems we can contact them. I finally just had to admit myself to the ER. I was having a lot of difficulty breathing and a lot of pain in my chest. Basically what had happened is I wasn't taking my pain meds regularly and because of that my lungs and chest hurt so bad that I couldn't breathe and wasn't getting enough oxygen,so the ducts in my lungs were collapsing and I was at risk for getting pneummonia. Once I started taking the medicine, I was able to take deeper breaths and feel much better. I have to say though that the Lortab liquid medicine is just horrible tasting. The thing that has surprised me the most about the surgery is the nausea and the pain in chest and lungs. Also, I can only pray that the swelling will go down where the port is because it protrudes a lot. I also can't believe that I havn't eaten in 4 days and I don't feel too hungry yet. I havn't got on the scale and I actually don't plan on it until about 6 weeks out. But we'll see. I may not be able to resist. Well Good Luck to everyone. 1 day before surgery 210/210/130 3 days after 210/?/130

I was also banded the 21st and suffering same kind of pain. Take your pain medicine!. I know that sounds obvious but I didn't and had to go to the hospital because I couldn't breath and my chest, lungs hurt. Basically if you take the pain meds it will make it so you can get more air into your lungs. If you are not getting enough oxygen you will develop pneumonia. I still can only take water, that's O.K. Take medicine and do the breathing treatments. Also try to cough to get your lungs active again.

I'm so relieved to finally have this done. I have to say that it was a bit more than uncomfortable. Where the port is, is pretty painful and swollen but for me the worst part is the nausea. I know it's important to walk but the minute I sit up I feel like I have to vomit. I hate the medicine they've given me because the pain medicine makes me nauseated and then the medicine that I have to take for the nausea makes me tired. So basically I feel like If I want to stay awake then I have to hurt as well. One thing that surprised me was the amount of pressure in my chest, It is a lot harder for me to breathe, but it's a little better today. I had a tummy tuck 2 years ago and if I compare the pain of the two surgeries the tummy tuck was like a 10 and this was probably a 3. But it was more painful and uncomfortable than I was expecting. It's been a day and a half since I've eaten but I don't feel hungry. I'ts nice to not feel hungry for once. Well, good luck to everyone. I look forward to seeing your progress.

I am a stay at home mother of four, ages 6 mths to 9 years. I've been going to school part time for about 4 years and I'm guessing it will be another 3 years before I graduate. I'm 31 years old and grew up in Salt Lake City. When I graduated HS I went to Boston as a nanny and met and married my husband 8 mths later. We are now in beautiful St. George, Ut and I love it. I enjoy oil painting, golf, woodworking, photography and am starting to explore photoshop. I can't wait to start exercizing and would love to start doing pilates and marathons. Today is my 1 day post op, and the first thing that went through my mind this morning is what I was going to eat. I wasn't hungry but I guess it was just habit to think about food as soon as I woke up. Hopefully, that will go away. I am 5ft 6in tall and weigh 210 pounds. My BMI is almost 35. I'm hoping to get to atleast 130 pounds. Good Luck to everyone who has done the band or who is thinking about it!

I'm the same BMI/Height/Age as you. I have my surgery in 5 days. If you want to keep in touch and see how things are going, let me know.

I've gone through the same thing. I am 210 pounds and a 35 BMI and people just treat me so rude. Even several people who I know have had the lap band think I should just diet or something. I just want to nip it in the bud now. Why should I have to wait until I have high blood pressure, diabetes and sleep apnea. I'm 31 years old and I want to enjoy my life. I've been trying to lose weight since I had my first child 10 years ago and instead I've continually gained weight and not been able to lose more than 5 pounds. I wanted to do it the normal way for a long time but it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. In a way I just gave up even trying. I feel like being able to get the lap band is a blessing because before I felt like things were hopeless and there was no way I would of qualified for gastric and I would have been to scared to get it anyway. But everything about the lap band feels right to me, it has given me hope that I can get to a healthy weight and be happy. People who aren't overweight just have no idea what it's like so don't listen to them. It's all relative, only we know how we feel in our bodies no one else has the right to say anything. Obviously if diets worked we wouldn't be going through this in the first place. Good Luck with everything. Keep us posted, 5 days before surgery 210/206/130

That's interesting that you both brought up Thyroid issues. I actually have a condition called Hoshimotos Thyroiditis which is basically a disease where my thyroid gets attacked by antibodies until the thyroid doesn't function at anymore. And they won't treat me for it unless they catch it when it's low. It's described as a lightbulb going out sometime it flickers on and off but eventually it goes off. Anyway all of the doctor's I've talked to seem to think that an underactive thyroid maybe causes 15 pounds weight gain at the most. I'm not sure I believe it but at the same time it never had any bearing as to whether I'd get the surgery or not. Regardless of my thyroid, I know that 4 pregnancies and eating too much are the culprits for my weight gain.The problem is is that I NEVER feel full and when I have tried to restrict portion sizes I feel like I'm starving, then I'm just cranky and mean, so I'm excited to finally have it done and feel full for once. My husband and my step mom have both had it done. My husband lost about 100 pounds in the first year. He hasn't lost much since but he's not good about getting his fiils, doesn't exercize and drinks soda and water with his meals. I know he would have lost more if he'd continued doing it. Anyway, Dr. Alldredge said that on average patients that he's seen lose about 50% percent of their extra weight. I decided that even if that was the case with me I'd be happy with that. Also, I think that if someone has an underactive thyroid and they think that it is the only reason they are overweight then I can see why they wouldn't get the surgery. But if someone also has clear food issues and it's possible thats the main reason that they are overweight then I don't see how having a low thyroid would make a difference. Anyway, thanks for your responses. It's great to see the progress you are all making!

Well I have my surgery next week. And my consult is tomorrow. I have a BMI of 35 at 210 pounds and I am a little worried that I wont lose the weight like I'd like. If any of you have before and afters and had a low BMI I'd love to see them. Even if I lost just two pounds a week I'd be happy. I love to exercize and I don't have a problem with sweets. By biggest problem is just feeling hungry all of the time and being able to put away a lot of food and still not feel full. So I'm excited to being able to feel full with very little food. Anyway, I look forward to hearing your experiences with the band. 1 week before surgery 210/210/130

It's final. My consult is tomorrow and the surgery is next week. I've decided to go with Dr. Hansen and Dr. Alldredge in Sandy. My husband and step-mother had the lap band done with them, and they have had a great experience with them. I could have done it down here in St. George but they are charging $4000 more and don't have the same follow up care. I just really like how informative and thorough these doctors are. I am nervous though. I have a 35 BMI(barely) and I just have this fear that I won't be able to lose. My husband hasn't lost like he thought. He does cheat though, he doesn't exercize, he drinks soda, and drinks a lot of Water with his meals. Sometimes I don't get why he did it if he's just going to sabotage it. I pray that I don't do it. All I've ever wanted is to be able to feel full on very little food, so it feels like an answer to my prayers. I hope all goes well tomorrow. Also, I would love to see some before and afters of banders. And I would also like to know of anyone who also had low BMI, how much lost, how long it took etc. 1 week before surgery 210/210/130