HeatherO

Some people never have a problem getting stuck. You are more likely to experience it when you have tighter restriction ... or if you are distracted and eat either too big a bite or not chewing enough without thinking (it happens to all of us at least once post banding because life goes on and banding doesn't fill every thought once you are a veteran). I never got stuck until my second fill.

If you overeat, feeling full can feel like the early stages of being stuck and isn't comfortable . . . but you really don't want to be so full you are uncomfortable. However, if you are really stuck . . . you will absolutely know it as you start sliming and it is much too uncomfortable to be anywhere but in the bathroom.

It doesn't hurt to let them fall off on their own either. I had one that came off on its own a little earlier than the rest. This incision did not heal as well as the others and the scar is a little worse, it also stayed pinker longer. If you really want to take them off but they don't come off easily, baby oil works wonders. It also helps to remove tape residue.

We all go through this stage and it is really awful. You feel so hungry you could eat anything . . . and banding isn't making one iota of a difference post surgery swelling and pre-first fill. As you said, you know what to do and what needs to be done . . . but doing it is easier said than done. None of us found ourselves obese without having some kind of food issue - and banding doesn't make it go away in the beginning. There is no way to make it through except to struggle through it. We made a life altering decision in getting the band . . . it is up to us to make it work. So the only choice is to find the strength within yourself to take it one day at a time . . . and do what needs to be done until you get your fill. I promise it does get a lot easier with time. You were just banded at the end of October, so you have been banded less than three weeks. At this stage almost all of us are still on mushies and haven't even moved on to solid foods. If you are eating large portions of "normal" foods, then you could be risking the health of your band before you ever got a good start. To allow the band to heal properly and set into your stomach, you need to minimize stomach movement by staying on soft foods and avoiding large portions. So please . . . for the health of your band, don't risk it by eating outside of your post-op diet . . . and if your post-op diet has you on solids already, you should try to limit the quantities or if you are too hungry to do that, keep it soft. This early stage of banding is the most vital for your future success. You can do this, it is tough . . . but what is a couple of weeks of hell compared to a lifetime of better health. You know what to do . . . now is the time to do it.

Reading all of the terrible threads about removal, although good for getting a full view of potential problems, is also a good way to scare yourself silly. Statistics show that you will lose a significant portion of your excess weight on average, and complication rates are very low (but if you look at threads only related to complications it is going to appear to be almost 100%). Are you willing to follow the bandster rules? Are you ready to make a change in your life? If so, success can be yours. Take it from someone who started at the cusp of morbid obesity who is now only a couple more pounds from a normal BMI in less than a year. The band can absolutely, positively reshape your life if you are ready to commit. I also had my doubts and never told anyone about the surgery other than my husband . . . out of fear that even surgery would not help. I love, love, love my band and it is the best think I have ever done for myself. I really hope you follow through and can help ease other peoples concerns about banding in the near future. Best of luck with your decision.

Baby food was too bland and boring for me. Applesauce, cottage cheese, potatoes, squash, soups were all great and I could add spice to them. I found that I absolutely loved low fat refried beans mixed with a little chicken broth sprinkled with cheese . . . yummmmmy.

I got lucky with this amazingly enough, I look perfectly normal. Even my "girls" look pretty good wthout a bra and my cup size hardly changed at all. I don't think I lost much fat in these areas because I didn't have much there to begin with. However, my derriere is a wrinkly/saggy and I have some excess skin on my thighs. I really think it is all a matter of where you carry your fat and how reslient your skin is. Your biggest problem areas do not always look their best post wls even if everything else shapes up well.

I saw my OB yesterday and she said I didn't need prenatals, what I was doing was sufficient. I am taking chewable Spectravite orange flavored multi-Vitamins from CVS pharmacy and a Folic Acid supplement from Walmart (the pills are teeny-tiny, like baby aspirin). Total Folic Acid is 800 between the two sources - she said she wanted me taking 800-1000, but when we discussed my diet (lots of healthy Proteins, veggies and dairy products) she said I was in great shape. The first OB appointment was interesting with the ultrasound. My husband was with me during the whole appointment, and was definitely squirmy when she was doing the physical examination . . . staring at an interesting spot on the ceiling, lol. The doctor asked me if I was working out three times a week . . . I said yes. Well, that was true until about two weeks ago when I had started getting too darn tired to make a decent supper or sometimes get up up off the couch after working all day, lol. When she walked out of the room, he said "Hmm, three days a week???" I almost pelted him with a magazine, lol. Anyways, I am off on a tangent. I only eat the cooked rolls too. There is just something about sushi and soy sauce that seems to make a really light, healthy and enjoyable lunch. I took a Japanese class some years ago and we went to a Japanese restaurant as a group. I tried Octopus sushi, which wasn't cooked, and I didn't realize what it was until I had tried it and noticed the sucker from a tentacle on another one. It didn't want to go down, and I was much too polite to spit it in a napkin, so I had to grin and swallow . . . . yuuuccckkkk. I vowed to never eat uncooked sushi again, expecially any form of Octopus sushi.

I saw my OB yesterday and had my first ultrasound. She highly recommended it and even said it would also be a good idea being banded because a lot of uncontrolled vomiting in a short amount of time may not be good for my band. She also mentioned that our bodies are not as able to handle the flu during pregnancy and it increases risks of hospitalization. So I read about the risks of both getting and not getting the shot and I understand them. I have decided to get my flu shot.

What a great point, lol. It would have been a lot worse if he was bothered by how I looked in the first place but I've always been just mom. I never thought about it that way before.

Well, this one isn't rude at all but I was rather shocked about it. It seems like it is always family that gets us more than anyone else. This one goes the opposite direction . . . from the child to the mother. Since banding I went from 225 to 144 on a 5'3 frame (big difference on a short girl) in a little over 9 months. I am pretty much at goal now for all intents and purposes (3 - 4 pounds from a "normal" BMI). When I was about 150 or so, I asked my 16 year old son (who never said a word about weight loss and doesn't know about my band) "have you noticed that I lost a little weight this year?" His answer, "No, you look the same to me" . . . I was shocked. What is worse, I can read my son and he wasn't yanking my chain or playing with me, he honestly never even noticed. My feelings were really hurt at the time. I think this was because I changed everything about the way I look and for him not to not even notice this transition . . . I must be about as important as the wallpaper in the bathroom. Everyone in the world, even the teller at the bank who I see maybe 1-2 times a year since the advent of online banking, seemed to notice . . . but my own child . . . nada. Anyways, I got over it. I have a teenager at home and I know he loves me . . . specially when he needs money or the latest xbox 360 game, lol. He is a good kid, never been a problem. It is just hard for a mom to remember being her childs whole world and later becoming her childs afterthought. I think most teenagers worlds revolve around themselves for a few brief years and then they come back to appreciate you once they start college. At least I hope this is true . . . :0)

I am not from the area, but am up for chat. We are all about the same age. I have been banded a bit longer and no much too much about the early days that you are currently going through. Kaitiana, how did your surgery go?.

Hello thirty-somethings, I am 33, banded in January of this year and at 10 months out I am only 4 pounds away from goal and a normal BMI. I love my band and wish the best of luck to all of those newly or soon-to-be banded 30 somethings.

I would go soup and an entree or appetizer and swish it around and then take it home. If the soup is too chunky, you might find it is hard to deal with and you can't eat much volume so you may want to go light.

LOL, no wonder I couldn't guess. That's a good one.

I tried everything to battle a night-time reflux problem from eating schedules, to medications, etc. Only one thing cured it, but it cured it completely . . . a small unfill. For me, I either have great restriction, but can't sleep at night for the coughing and waking up with my mouth full, or I have moderate restriction and have to work a little harder to lose weight but sleep like a baby. Currently, I am sleeping like a baby, :0)

Wow, it sounds like you went from no restriction to overfilled. However, the fill level when you are close to your sweet spot can be changed dramatically by very small levels of fill. It sounds like you not only found it but passed it by. If you can't eat and are only taking in liquids, you should schedule an appointment right away. I didn't do this when I got too tight and over a 3-4 day period I went from uncomfortable to an inability to even drink. My stomach got irritated from my attempts to eat anything and swelled. When I went in for my emergency unfill, I was absolutely miserable. I had a 4 hour drive and I was hating life every single moment of that drive. Also, because of the irritation in the stomach, I had to be unfilled by a larger amount that took me to no restriction within about a week. Waiting too long set me back. When you do get an unfill, ask for a very small one and plan on staying near the office for a while. Make sure you can drink a large bottle of Water before you leave, even if it takes 30-60 minutes. One more thing, my fill doctor gave me some advice when I was in for the emergency fill. I will share it with you, but ask your doctor as well because this goes against what they usually say. She said that if you ever get to the point where your stomach is so irritated again, an adult sized dose of liquid children's Motrin will reduce the swelling. I mentioned that it was on my list of never take medications. She said that you should never take it regularly, but in the case where you have a lot of stomach swelling, one or two doses will help and causes no long term damage. However, it is never to be used regularly. Let us know how it goes.

I am so happy you are joining us :0). There have been so many who have suffered from PCOS and found themselves pregnant post significant weight loss. I am hoping you find yourself preggers over the next year and am sending tons of babydust your way. Happy banding as well, it has made such a positive impact on so many of our lives. I was under my TTC goal of 150 pounds, went off my birth control and within 2 weeks I had conceived. I never even had another period. Considering that I have wanted a 2nd baby for 16 long years, I was so shocked you could have knocked me over with a feather. By the way, I love the Irish accent and my family originated from Ireland and Scotland. If you saw me in person with my red hair, freckles, facial features, and knew my maiden name, I think it would be immediately evident, lol. What is BFP . . . I have never heard that acronym before?

First week was tough and I got progressively better the following weeks. However, by about 1 month out where I was eating more, that was the point at which I got some real energy back and felt a little better than even before banding.

If you hit the tubing line, gain a leak . . . then what? It is a whole lot of money down the tube. Insurance wont pay for a replacement if you are doing it yourself. It is too much of a risk. If the fill doctor is going slow, they are only trying to be cautious. People who are filled too quickly have other more serious issues with banding. She should talk more to the fill doctor or find a different one . . . that is a more positive option then taking her health into her own hands.

It is only really different the first month . . . and my hubby did do some of his cooking. However, afterwards we eat the same things. Sometimes I will make side dishes of pasta or potatoes that I dont eat, but it has not made cooking or food preparation any more difficult by being banded.

Congratulations on the pregnancy. Your body is still recovering from the shock of surgery and the baby directly after is going to be hard on your body. If you focus on nutrition you should be OK. I would say if you can eat comfortably and are not vomiting, then it may not hurt to keep the fill. However, you should definitely ask your fill doctor for their advice.

I went in for a slight unfill because I was too tight. The fill nurse wanted to empty my band immediately because of the pregnancy. We negotiated to a half fill - which means I can eat anything and everything and I am hungryyy. I tried to negotiate another fill and they said they would only do it monthly in .25 cc increments at their discretion . . . . so at that rate and if I am lucky, when the baby is six months old I might have restriction again. I am sad that I wasn't able to have more say about where my fill level was with the pregnancy. A little restriction would not hurt and I do not have morning sickness. They keep saying healthy baby is the focus but I don't understand how the possibility of mom gaining out of control leads to a healthier baby. Amazingly enough, I haven't gained more than a pound in the first three months, and it is not from not eating. It is almost as if my metabolism has changed after losing the weight.

He is adorable and thanks for the story. I hope the banded lifestyle starts working for you. There are so many helpfull hints and suggestions on getting started again on this site.

I have talked to a couple of people about cloth diapers and everyone I have talked with says that there really is not a big cost savings to going cloth if you consider washing expense, initial investment, etc. As a busy working mother-to-be who is also in graduate school, disposables will definitely cut down on my laundry but I am disheartened about the cost to our environment. I also think my husband would be unhappy with the thought of washing diapers and the rest of our clothing in the same machine regardless of separate loads. I was the oldest in my family and had to take care of my brothers and sisters when I was growing up . . starting with my sister at 8 years younger, brother at 14 years younger and later another sister at 19 years younger. I frequently had diaper duty and is was cloth diaper duty . . . what I remember most was yuckkkkk, changing a diaper was second nature, but rinsing and cleaning cloth diddies were absolutely no joy for me. Actually I just had a funny thought while I wrote this. As a teenager I thought my mom was crazy for having kids so far apart (and when I was in one of my teenage mood-swing, hissy fits . . . I even thought she did it just to make my life difficult by having me to care for them all, lol). It just occurred to me that I have just repeated history since my first child is 16, lol. I hear and now solemnly promise that I will not force any cloth diaper duty on my son (like as if he wouldn't flat out refuse anyway, lol). I went disposable for my first child and never looked back. Now I am not sure what I will do, I know that diapers have improved over time. I am leaning towards disposables but could jump the cloth fence, it is possible. I am going to have to give it more thought.