Amoud

I am going a little crazy and can't figure out what to do. I was banded Feb 10 and went for my second post op visit March 31st. I was oh so excited as I thought I was going to get my first fill. In total I lost about 31 pounds and was feeling great, although I hadnt lost an ounce since March 3rd or so. I was so dissapointed when I found out that my Dr. will not give me my first fill until the end of June as he said he wants me to change my mentality toward food before my fill, and apparently gaining weight in this time is a big no no. I feel desperate, like my progress has stopped and I am torn between staying with my Dr. until he fills me in June or going to another clinic. I must say, my Dr. is great, gave me the best care pre-op and did a wonderful job with the op but I am so frustrated by this. Anyone else have to wait over 4 months for a fill? If so what was your Drs. reasoning?

Hi Everyone :biggrin2: Just wondering, how do you guys cope when you get an intense craving, or feel desperate and weakened by it all. I try to curb cravings by drinking a Protein Shake and waiting for a bit to see if the craving is still there. If it is, I indulge the craving but just a bite (maybe 2 :biggrin:) When I feel I am at a low point, I log into to lapbandtalk.... you are all an inspiration.

I also suffer from constipation (much more than before the band). I know I am not getting enough Water, but to help 'move things along' I have started to mix milled flax seeds or wheatgerm into my Protein shakes. I hate the thought of taking meds daily and flax and wheatgerm have other benefits as well. I have also started sprinkling them on top of my cereal (oatmeal is the best) and a few other foods, it will all depend on your taste. Milled flax seeds carry 22% protein and around 28% fiber. They also have a load of other benefits (Flax Seed Nutrients, Nutrients In Flax Seed, Flax Seed Nutritional Content)

I made a very very bad food choice yesterday, very bad. I was at work and ate what felt like a tonne of chocolates (gourmet ones, bitter centers). It was great at the time but I worked out like nuts when I got home and consumed 2 Protein shakes, an apple and green tea for the rest of the day. I actually felt ill after eating them (good sign, perhaps it will teach me a lesson) but here is the question.... How long does it take my body to turn those Godiva's into fat? WHen should I see the effect of my binge?

Thanks all, it especially got me when niki said that it is curious how guilt feels. I do still eat chocolate of the cravings is intense (i.e if I still want it an hour or so after a shake) but just ONE piece!!! I think I tried every chocolate in the box yesterday. Surprisingly the scales are showing I am down 1.5 lbs. Have I found a chocolate solution LMAO. Don't think so.... I was wondering if I was going to see a nice little bump up after my binge. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GUYS :biggrin:

I have the same issue. I was banded Feb 10th and until the first or second week of March I couldnt burp at all. I would feel the burp coming, and it would stop when it hit the top of my stomach. It is a terrible feeling but will get better. I coldnt even force out burps, and still cant. Now I will fill up with gas, and when I get to a point of exploding out comes the longest burp you have ever heard. It is not standard burps either, I sound like a fog horn lol. I have some small burps now so I am assuming it is getting better. The burping also gets more frequent once you start food so hang in there.

My surgeon said that even if it is liver bruising it is just bruising, it took about a week for it to go away completely, and gas and constipation didnt help it either. To help with constipation I used ground flax seeds, I put them in the coffee grinder until they were a fine powder and mixed them with my Protein. A lot better than meds. Hope you feel better soon,

Did you get any bruising with this pain? I had this happen and it was liver hemtoma as they have to retract your liver to get at everything. The pain was extreme, I could barely walk upright and it didnt start until a few days after the surgery

Hey Watcher, Try imported beers from England, they are non carbonated and when chilled go down real smooth (someone mentioned Guiness, which is a 'stout' but that is an aquired taste). I lived in the UK for a bit and loved the "bitters", and they come in various strengths. Milds are the tastiest and you can ask your beer store if they can get it for you, and here is the kicker... these beers dont have all the chemical garbage your average carbonated beer has, so no crushing hangover. But as mentioned.... beer has a lot of calories....

I am with you, I just started on my treadmill a few weeks back and am still struggling, I can do cycles (3 mph - 3 mins, 5 mph 3 mins, 7 mph 3 mins and so on) Would love to get back to running again

I am in the same boat, 201 lbs for the last 3 and a half weeks. I am getting discouraged and started having 'bites' of stuff I shouldnt (Mars bars, wings, fries) and as bites seemed to make no difference they got to '2 bites'.... you get where I am going with this. I havent had a fill yet so I am a bit relieved I havent gained but at the same time it is a bit hard to come off that post band rapid weight loss high. I am pushhing Mr. Dr. for a fill this Monday and hopefully this will keep me from carb killing my body. Here's a funny thought, I was eating a piece of cake last week and had coffee and put Splenda in it... heheh, like a diet coke with a Big Mac and Super Size fries.

Same here..... Banded Feb 10 and I have lost about 30 pounds and a cup size. I was a nice D and now a comfy C.... I miss my boobs. Anyone seen Nurseamy's before and after pics? I am definately getting mine done with my tuck.... she looks fantabulous!!!!!

I was expecting high glucose but to my surprise my triglycerides were through the roof (420.85) and so was my cholesterol (271). Also on ultrasound my liver was seen to be fatty. I wasnt expecting this and was extremely scared of the results. I completly changed my diet from that point as I am only 30 years old and my starting BMI was about 37. This is a real eye opener and I would have never thought I had these levels, I was a heart attack waiting to happen!!! I will go and be retested this week, fingers crossed :wub:

I have insurance but not for bariatric. I live in the Middle East and had it done here... self pay for 2,082. Not bad at all when I see how much self payers have to fork out.

My bad, I didnt realize until after my post my BMI is down to 32.4!!! Trying not to obsess on the numbers too much now, I guess it is working.

Hey Snow. I was banded Feb 10 and my port is just below my breast bone (as mentioned, look for the largest incision). My BMI was 36.6 and I am now down to 33 and a bit. When I touch the port area it is a small lump, and if I put pressure around it, it actually looks like a button. My husband jokes that it is my 'on/off switch" and I can be quite obsessive with touching it, which makes it a bit tender and can turn a little red. My best friend was banded 2 days before me and she got a rash a few weeks later as her incisions got infected. She is a nurse and said she was getting this red, itchy burning rash from the gauze (she wasnt on antibiotics at the time). Hope your DH feels better soon and congrats on the band, the best is yet to come :wink2:

Wow, I cant imagine cost like this. I live in the middle east and medical is free here if you have residency and my surgery was free, all I had to pay for was the band itself. My surgeon is a bariatric specialist who is on conference in the US regularily and gave me his cell number if I need anything or have any questions both pre and post op. I had a private suite for my surgery and my cost was $2, 082 all inclusive. Any follow up appointments are free as well, and I think I will pay about $14 for each fill. I dont think I would have ever had the surgery had I been self pay living in the US. I had my first consultation with the surgeon on Dec 31, 2007 and was referred on to the dietician, general and psych the next week. I got the OK for surgery on January 18th and was booked for surgery on February 10th. It was great, no months and months of waiting and I must say the medical care was first class. I am so happy with my band and my surgeon. I am booked for a follow up on March 31st and hopefully getting my first fill :thumbup:

I HEAR YAH JILL!!!! I want to burp so badly I could cry. I am almost a month out and although I can get out the occasional burp I feel plugged up most of the time. The burp rumbles in my belly, starts its way up and stops around my ribcage. This continues until my stomach is so full it cant help but escape, and look out when it does. It sounds like a fog horn but it is such a relief. I cant even force out burps which makes the feeling all the worse. I find drinking warm teas makes it worse also, not sure why. My Dr. said the inability to burp is a good thing for me as I suffered from GERD before the surgery and am happy to say not a trace since, and the band keeps all that acid down there in the bottom of my stomach. Dr said the worst case scenario is having to go to the hospital to have a tube inserted into my stomach to release the air.

I posted about this a few weeks back. I am 3 and a half weeks out and still have some. It is right across the top of the belly button (nowhere near your incisions!!) and runs in 5 or sinch inches across. It is a hard feeling to explain, not really burning but burning, pain but not like someone hit you and mine felt almost a bit 'numb" or desensitized to touch with the exception of the burning/not burning pain. I know this sounds retarded but am I close? I was wearing jeans and other non-elasticated pants, and when I sat up at my desk it was terrible pain. I stopped wearing anything around my waist and that seemed to help. I am not sugessting you go pantless lol, but some jogging pants or elasticated waists helped me out. The pain was only really bad for a few days (about a week post-op) and doesnt last forever. Thank god, someone else with this weird feeling !!

I hear yah on trouble with the post-op diet, but find it is handy to always be prepared to keep myself from making bad food choices. If you are on powders that require mixing I keep a tupperware shaker cup with me as well as slimfast, ensure or any other in serving size containers and bottles of Water or tetra packs of milk so I can mix on the go. I find slimfast filling (you can even buy them readymade) and it beats my chocolate cravings. Cold Soups also help and will keep for a good period of time (expecially in the winter as there arent any worries with them fermenting if you leave them in the car). Healing time is important as you will have this band for life, treat it well and it will treat you well.

Banded Feb 10th..... all my weight was post op, I didnt calculate the 4.5 poubnds pre-op

Ha, I was just talking about the dreams with my husband last night. I love food, and am a self confessed food addict....drown your sorrow in a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Since my surgery I have been having majorly 'weird' dreams. I am not fighting monsters but I am having dreams about people I went to high school with and university. Last night we were all on a vacation resort (let me go off track and say I havent seen these people in more than 10 years and my husband knows none of them) and I wandered off with my infant son and met up with a high school friend, and we were talking and I was trying to order a mango smootie but kept leaving without paying? It got dark really fast and I went back to the hotel (and met a work colleague on the way) and one of my university lab partners was swimming in a pool in the lobby, and he told me my husband was looking for me. I was trying to get to my room but forgot my room number and the reception wouldnt give it to me. I think perhaps these dreams may be telling us of some of the underlying issues that helped us eat our way to where we are now that food isnt a crutch. Remorse of loosing friends, abndoment issues? Who knows. In my dreams there is always food involved but in my dreams I never get to eat the food for some bizarre reason.

No doubt Drs are all different. I was banded on Feb 10 and have been put on a liquid diet for the first 4 weeks. I am a lot like Rock, I dont feel like I have the band, I was walking right out of surgery and never needed any pain meds. My only discomfort was some liver bruising from the retractor. I have nibbled here and there, making sure what I was nibbling was a good food choice (steamed broccoli, cauliflour, wild rice etc) and have never really taken more than a mouthfull. I have never felt any discomfort from anything I eat which makes the 4 weeks of liquids torture. I should be able to start mushies next Sunday, and I cant wait. Hang in there everyone, a month of torture is more than worth the lifetime of health and happiness ahead.

I have been having a sort of numb surface pain just above my belly button. It is no where near any of my incisions, and it is difficult to describe. I am a little over 2 weeks post op and this started a week post op. It doesnt quite feel like a bruise, nor is it completely numb. When i run my fingers across my stomach there is decreased sensation in comparison to the rest of my stomach, but at the same time it hurts, not exactly like a bruise but a stinging like pain. Has this happened to anyone else? Any ideas?