HeatherO

I read that post the exact same way at first glance, lol. Then I had to laugh when you mentioned it the next post.

There are Isopure premixed Fruit Drinks that are clear and not thick but they are expensive if that will be your sole source of protein. I would have to wonder that if your gag reflex is so sensitive that it is triggered by fluids . . . are you sure that having surgery may not make it a lot worse? Is it possible that surgery is not the best choice in this particular instance knowing that surgery itself is going to make you ultra-sensitive to dietary issues where you already have a sensitivity?

Good luck, GreenChrysalis . . . I hope you will be joining our happy group soon.

You have tons of time to figure out what to do :0). Take the time to breath and do a little reading/researching. I got a complete unfill mid way through pregnancy because I got excessively tight. My fill doctor wont fill me again until after delivery. It has been rough because I can eat a big meal and 30 minutes later I am HUNGRYYY. If you are tolerating your current fill OK, I wouldn't suggest having it removed unless you are vomiting or having problems getting in the calories. Good luck with everything. We hope to hear more from you as your pregnancy progresses.

I would suggest you go in to see your doctor to diagnose the problem. Erosion is serious and if there is a problem it needs to be addressed quickly. If you have a leaky band, it can be easily diagnosed by your doctor as well. They can check volumes and changes in volumes. Good luck. I hope everything is fine with your band and you just need a fill.

I am sorry the insurance is treating it that way. Obesity carries much greater risks, and banding is an outpatient procedure for many of us . . . they don't even compare. How much is the surgery in Turkey out of curiousity? I have been in Turkey several times in the last few years visiting family and was a little nervous to go after banding in case I couldn't find aftercare in case of emergency. Istanbul is so large, you have more options. I am always a little nearer to Ankara. Good luck with everything. Spring break is a good time for banding if you have a solid week to recover and take it easy. :0)

Jodi said it all!!! You can probably choose within a list. Definitely try to research and make an informed decision. Experience is important and I wouldn't want to be within the first 100 procedures a surgeon performs . . . I know someone has to be, I just don't want it to be me. For me it was well worth going out of town to have a trusted, admired and experienced surgeon place my band. Good luck!!!

I have been banded over a year and made it to goal in that time. I need to know more about your cough to answer the question. I was too tight for a little while where I was fine during the day but at night would have a little liquid/food that would come up into my throat causing a need to cough. I took some meds for reflux, slept with pillows propped so that my head and shoulders were elevated a bit higher than my stomach and stopped eating after 7 PM which helped a little bit. Having a slight unfill made the symptoms go away completely.

Wow, I am amazed what a big boy Grady is . . . I can't imagine carrying around a baby internally at well over 10 pounds. I bet he has already outgrown all of his newborn clothes before he ever even touched them, lol. Laura has a point about pitocin leading to c-sections. Anecdotally, everyone I know who has had it has also had a c-section. Kat is the first person who mentioned someone who had it and still delivered vaginally. I was reading in a baby book last night that said doctors still don't know exactly what combination of events/signals within the body that triggers labor to begin. It was hypothesizing that there could even be signals that come directly from the baby signaling that they are ready for the outside world. It is interesting to think about. Has anyone heard anything about why LBT is on the blink more often than not lately??? Occasional hiccups aren't unusual but this has been many days of frequent problems.

Hello Everyone, I can't wait to hear Kris's baby news. My husband wanted to wait until the baby was born to find out the sex . . . but that is just impossible for me when I have an option to find out early. Laura, your pic's from the shower were great . . . it looked like a lot of fun. The cake was really cute.

I am not sure about the port flip. However, with the post op diet . . . it is important to follow it to prevent future slippage and make sure that your stomach/band heal well and settle properly. Your stomach shouldnt churn to digest food at this stage and even if you chew well - liquids still require less churning. Someone posted this article on another thread today: Lapband Slippage: Causes & Prevention | Arturo Rodriguez, MD If making sure the band works for you and reaching your goals of losing weight over the long term is important, my suggestion would be to go back onto your standard post-op diet directly and not deviate unless your doctor says it is OK to do so. Good luck.

That was a great article, thanks for sharing. I noticed that some of the big risk factors for slippage have been introducing solids too early after surgery and carbonated beverages. Threads come up with questions regarding eating solids early or drinking cola from time to time and many people make up their own minds regarding when to eat solids or include carbonation that are not in line with their doctors recommendations. However, this article shows that these behaviors do increase risk for future slippage. It is worthwhile to keep this in mind when you decide whether or not you should follow post-op diets or banding rules.

I really, really, really would love to go . . . but with a new baby it is really not reasonable to commit to traveling anywhere within the first month after the baby comes unless it is close to home. I think even if there is not 100% turn out, it is still workable for those who can go if the option is open to switch to a hotel and drop the house if necessary. This really has been a strange year. There have been tough economic times in the past . . . but this is the first time that I can actually see so many people affected. Usually it only hits a select few but this time it is across the board and I am seeing friends, family and acquaintances struggle at every socio-economic level. I don't even want to mention how many thousands in retirement money has drifted away from me over the last year. The only thing I can be thankful for is that I have many, many years left to work my tail off to gain it back. I just hope this period of time is just a distant, unpleasant memory for all of us over the next year or two and life gets back to normal. Pamela, best of luck in defending your dissertation which is not very far in the future. You are going to feel like a million bucks once you put this stage of the process behind you.

Crystal Light and other SF beverages are ok to drink, but they will never be as healthy as Water because of the artificial sweeteners. Some people are sensitive to sugar free sweeteners and get headaches or dietary disturbances if you drink too much of them. Like anything else, I think they are healthy in moderation. I wouldn't substitute them for all water intake, but an occasional drink or two can be a welcome part of everything day consumption.

I agree, ketosis is a common cause of bad breath during high Protein, low carb diets and other than being diligent with brushing and mouthwash along with breath mints keeping it from being worse . . . you may not be able to make it go away. You might want to google search ketosis breath remedies to see if there are better suggestions. If you add more carbs into your diet it can take you out of ketosis with better breath, but you won't be losing as much weight. Bad breath is a temporary trade off for weight loss that wont last forever. It is worth it to melt away the pounds. I would take a couple of weeks of none too lovely breath to maintain my girlish figure, lol.

That is awesome news. It is always great to move into the next zone . . . 200's. I found that throughout my banding journey I would have no loss, loss, no loss, loss, it was never steady. However, over time it always kept dropping. Just wait until you get into the 100's . . . life changes completely at that point and it is only a matter of time if you keep doing what you need to do. Good luck and congrats :0).

I guess what concerns me is that your doctor "thinks" but doesn't know. An erosion is serious and I think you would definitely be having some other problems other than just lack of restriction. Also, if your port is disconnected or leaking, that can easily be tested by going in for a fill and attempting to withdraw Fluid . . . or adding fluid and then attempting to withdraw it and check volumes a short time later. If this started in November and it is now March, you should have been seen and diagnosed by now. I would suggest scheduling an appointment as soon as possible. You can never get better unless you find out what is going on and start addressing it.

Hello everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your weekends. I can't believe it is March already. That is the funny thing about being pregnant, so much of your time is spent "waiting" time is either passing at a snails pace or you blink your eyes and a month has gone by. I made some beef stew in the crock pot this morning before leaving for work. It just sounded good today and the weather turned cold again. I think it said it was 17 F today in the car . . . brrrrr. Michelle, you are such a dear for helping out that family and it seems to be going great. I am always afraid of offending people, but it sounds like in this case they just really needed a little help. It feels great to help, but it is sooo much better to be appreciated for it as well. Kat, My goodness . . . no wonder you get hives, I get itchy myself thinking about all the stress you have been dealing with. There is something about unruly teenagers that really makes me crazy. We just rented a film called Eden Lake last night. A bunch of pre-teens & teens started stalking and tormenting a couple on vacation . . . definitely suspenseful, gory and disturbing, which is great if you like that kind of movie. Could you post some no-trespassing signs and go out with a camera to take pictures when they are there? At least they would know they are on record and perhaps make themselves scarce, but then again . . . perhaps that would just antagonize them and you might find worse things happening afterwards. Spreading manure might help. I guess what scares me the most is that you said they found a crack pipe. That makes people dangerous because you know they are not thinking with their right mind. Not to mention that your valuables become more at risk . . . they have already broken into your shed. Do you personally know who any of these kids are? Judy, would Kris be up for a little company to break the monotony? Maybe play cards or watch movies. It is probably hard for both of you to wait and you could maybe share the time together. My mother "hung out" with me during labor with my son. It was really a special and exciting time for both of us . . . something I didn't realize I would enjoy so much but I have never forgotten it. Suzanne, those pic's were great of the basement. Someone went through a lot of time and effort to make it nice. I really want to do a kids play room in a theme as well, perhaps tropical-under the sea theme. I must be a bit shy . . . because there is no amount of alcohol or prodding that could convince me to sing karaoke although my sisters thrive on it, lol. TracyK, good luck with your van, I hope it is something small. Be careful with mechanics if you take it somewhere as well. My husband just had a problem with a break line leak about 2 weeks ago and the garage said it would be around $1,250 to fix because it needed break lines, calipers and wheel cylinders and break shoes . . . basically it sounded like the entire system needed replaced. I balked at the price and my brother came up to take a peek while it was still on the lift at the garage. He looked and only said, take it down, we are taking it with us. He fixed it for about $70 and a couple of hours of labor. My brother said the googly-eyed mechanic was trying to put one over on us (and this was at a big break repair chain). Laura, I am feeling your pain as well. I seem to be having aches and pains but it all depends on how I am sitting or laying. If I lay on my back or sit a certain way, I can hardly get up again without the sharp sciatic pain. It really is just easier to walk around than to sit. Also, sometimes I sit on the floor . . . always have . . . but I swear getting up again seems like scaling a small mountain sometimes, lol. I feel like am going to be as frail as a 90 year old women in another two months.

You just need a way to channel your energy into different activities. The first few weeks/months are hard because you are breaking out of certain behavior patterns . . . but just try to find things you enjoy doing. Channeling energy into exercise, going on hikes, reading books, etc help. You will find you only need to seek out different activities in the beginning. After a while, like Jack said, life takes over. With more energy and not building your day around food there is just so much more to do and enjoy.

You are not alone. Most if not all of us ended up obese and banded because we did not have a healthy relationship with food and eating. Most people have some level of success with banding and a few do not. You are already taking a step in the right direction by understanding you have a weakness with emotional eating. The band will make your hunger go away, but not the need to self-medicate through eating. If you really want to be successful with the band, you need to tackle this situation head on. Start finding supportive people to which you can be accountable. Become active in forums which definitely helps. Try to get some counseling on food addiction or emotional eating. If you put a lot of work and effort in to overcoming the reasons why you are an emotional eater and work on changing your behaviors, there is no reason why banding will not be successful for you. Good luck.

That is a wonderful nsv. When you move into the category where people see you as thin/skinny without ever knowing that you used to be heavy. Congratulations, gingerbug. You are doing wonderful . . . especially at a little over a year out. I agree exercise makes all the difference in the world, without it I would have exceeded my goal, I probably would have been 20 to 30 pounds away from goal.

It sounds like you need an emergency unfill and soon. You probably will not feel much better until you have one. One thing you can do, although speak to your doctor first to get approval, is take a dose of children's liquid motrin which will reduce your stomach irritation and swelling. My fill doctor has had me do this before during an emergency tightness and swelling incident and it definitely helps. However, you don't want to take it too long and this medicine is usually on the do not take list for bandsters. Good luck. I hope you find a little relief soon.

That sounds very odd to me. Unless you had some extreme swelling post surgery and your skin was not able to hold up under the pressure, it doesn't make sense that you would get stretch marks from surgery. There are lots of creams out there that might help you heal. Especially if you look in a maternity section of a store. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

I got to goal on my Realize band in less than a year. It works great. Once I reached restriction, I stayed there for many, many months without requiring another fill. I am happy I went with Realize, but I know the other option is good as well. I may have done just as well on the other band also. Good luck!!!

Congrats to all of you new preggo's!!! Welcome to our happy group :0) I can't wait to hear updates on how you are all doing. I ended up getting a couple of emergency unfills due to extreme tightness and my band is now completely empty. However, if it is not bothering you, I wouldn't consider having any Fluid removed if you can keep it in comfortably.