HeatherO

I think 30 off by August will be no problem at all as long as you follow the recommendations with eating and exercise. I am going overseas to Turkey this summer as well. It is awesome to travel overseas and find that you can buy clothes off the shelf that fit and know that you look your best. It is also wonderful to be able to travel and not worry about weight anymore. I used to think, I am going away in so many months, I need to lose xxx pounds and then I would be depressed if I didn't make it. Now, it is not even a worry. I hope you have a marvelous time in Prague and good luck with everything. Have you started the liquid diet yet?

I am not really active on this board anymore. I think once I got the hang of banding and it became a way of life, I didn't really have to think about food or dieting so much so I stopped posting frequently. However, I do get emails from threads I have posted on. I have been banded since January of 2008, got to goal the first year and am maintaining goal weight. I was up to a size 18-20 XL when I got banded and have stayed in a size 8 or so and Medium for years now (except for pregnancy). I have actually met three people who were banded in Cleveland through here in the past. If you have any questions about the process, just let me know.

Lol, I remember your comments from years back on this post during my earlier days of banding. I just thought you were very passionate about it and not afraid to speak your mind. I miss your posts as I have not really been on here in forever and I am not sure if you are still really active as well. You were my all time favorite poster back when I first started with this forum. I hope things are still going great with you. :0)

I just wanted to say that I have been there and done that. The second surgery was a piece of cake and very easy. I didn't have hardly any pain and didn't even take pain meds. I was up and about almost immediately. I think it was because they are just replacing something that was already there that the recovery was almost nothing. I actually felt better immediately after surgery because dealing with the slip was a thousand times worse than dealing with the second surgery. Good luck and I hope your experience is very similar to mine.

I posted before but it has been a while. I have now surpassed my 4 year anniversary. I did have a complication with a slip at 1.5 years and had to have a new band installed but it has been fine ever since. I went below goal and stayed there for the longest but I was unfilled for my last pregnancy and still have about 15 pounds to go back to goal. My baby is 4 months old now, so I think I am not doing too bad. My goal is normal BMI . . . and eventhough I hover at the top of the limit for normal and occasionally drift into overweight, that is fine with me. I wear medium sized clothes, I can buy whatever I want off the rack, and food doesn't rule my life. For me it has been a win-win. One thing I want to mention is that sometimes I feel like the band has changed my relationship with food and I could probably get by without it . . . and I am wrong. I had a slip and had to start over and also had two babies. That means over the 4 years I had 3 times I had to get completely unfilled and start from scratch. The moment I am unfilled, the obsessive, extreme, bottomless pit of hunger comes back with a vengeance. I realize that for me (and I am only speaking for myself, other people have different reasons for being obese) that my insatiable appetite led to obesity more than behavioral issues. Why is my appetite out of control when I am unfilled/not banded . . . I don't know but all I can say is thank God for my band.

I wouldn't bother mentioning it at all early on because it is not really important in the early stages of a relationship. It is just one piece of your health history and you typically wouldn't discuss those kinds of things with someone casually right after you meet them. Once you get to know a person better and feel comfortable discussing this it makes more sense to share.

I started Nuvaring because I was getting nauseous with birth control and it is working great. No weight gain and all of the benefits of being on BC (greatly minimized TOM issues). I highly recommend it. I should have gone with this option years ago.

It can definitely happen. Mine slipped at the end of my first lapband pregnancy when I was in the hospital for the delivery. My band was empty at the time but I had some vomiting while in the hospital and evidently that was enough. I had to get a band replacement afterwards.

My slip was first diagnosed with a flouroscopy (you drink the barium solution as you are x-rayed to see the flow of liquid. It was then confirmed with an endoscopy (you are put to sleep and a camera on a tube goes down your throat to view the condition of your stomach). I am happy the lactonex works for you and solved your issues with milk products.

I had that experience and unfortunately I did have a slip. My band was completely empty when it happened but it felt like it was so full it was closed. Anything I ate or drank just came back up eventually. I had to have a band replacement surgery to fix it. You posted a while ago. Did you go to your band doctor and do you know what is going on? I hope everything is OK with you.

I kept my older fat clothes with the thoughts of using them as maternity . . . but it didn't work out. First of all, they are just unflattering. The necklines are too big and they are just poochy in the wrong places (think belly is bigger but arms and legs and everywhere else stayed relatively skinny). These clothes fit when you are bigger everywhere, not just in the mid-section. They looked, and more importantly I felt, very frumpy. After losing a lot of weight and being able to wear what I wanted, I just didn't want to go back to frump any longer. As an alternative, i just bought some clothes that worked both as normal and maternity such as tops that gathered below the bustline but above the belly . . . they look great both before and after pregnancy. Also, I bought a bella band which is just like a halter top for your belly and I wore it over my pants, unbuttoned and unzipped the pants and used a hairband to loop through button holes to the button. This worked perfect, gave my belly plenty of space and comfort and it looked smooth over my belly. It was on the cheap but it looked good, my belly lines were clean and round and I didn't need a new wardrobe. I am now 30 weeks along and it is working great this pregnancy as well.

I had a lot of stretch marks and 80 pound weight gain with my first child prior to banding. I had 1 band baby and found that after losing the weight with the band baby, the small excess of skin was enough to allow me to grow with pregnancy without getting bigger or any stretchmarks. I am now 30 weeks pregnant with the second baby and I still have not had one stretch-mark or extra skin. It seems like the extra skin from weight loss allows pregnancy to occur without additional impact in my case.

I think part of it might be the mind set. If you cry because of thinking about the deprivation again, it doesn't sound like you had a good experience prior to pregnancy. Eating less and feeling full shouldn't feel like deprivation. Your band should be tight enough to have restriction yet loose enough that you can eat healthy foods that support breastfeeding while still being able to be completely hydrated. I would just focus on the positive aspects of having a little more restriction, make sure you get in plenty of hydration. Also, a fill is not the end-all of the situation. If you get a fill and it seems too tight or seems like you are milk supply is beginning to diminish, you can always get a slight unfill. Try not to think about it in terms of feast or famine, all or none . . . it is a balance. I know that for me personally, I thought this way for years and years prior to banding and at any given point in time I was yo-yoing somewhere between overeating consistently or being on an extreme diet. Getting a little fill is just tipping the balance more in your favor. If you can continue to breastfeed successfully while slowing losing a few pounds and feeling more satisfied with your meals, it sounds like a win-win situation to me.

I got pregnant at 9 months out and had a lot of problems with band tightness. I ended up with a complete unfill. Even with the unfill, I had a slip at the end of pregnancy and had to have my band replaced. You can definitely slip during pregnancy and banding along with being pregnant is hard. I wouldn't suggest doing it before a years time at a minimum. Many people have problems during pregnancy. It is better to let your body to adjust to having the band before going through the strains of pregnancy on top of it. Also, there have been many complaints about being able to get to the "sweet spot" after being pregnant, even if you were there prior to pregnancy. I wasn't banded when my first son was born, gained 80 pounds or so and (prior to banding) I never returned to the pre-pregnancy weight. After he was born, I began my "overweight to obese" portion of my adult life. However, with my band baby I gained about 35 pounds during pregnancy but lost it all over the summer that my daughter was born. I was around 150 or so when I got pregnant, was 185+ on the day of delivery and now, two years later, I weighed in at 133 this morning. It did come off very fast with banding and I weigh less now than I did prior to pregnancy.

I got banded in January '08 and got pregnant the same year in September . I had already lost almost all of my excess weight and was pregnant within 2 weeks of going off the pill. For me, it was a mistake. I got really sick with the pregnancy and had a lot of problems with my band. I had to go in for several emergency unfills due to sporadic tightness where I couldn't drink Water. I had a slip while in the hospital after having the baby in June. I had my band replaced in September of '09. I am now 30 weeks pregnant with my second band baby and am not gaining any weight, frequently sick, having band problems. Some of us are fine with pregnancy and the band, some of us have a lot of complications. Several people I knew who were banded and pregnant at the same time as me in '08/'09 also had band complications during pregnancy and required resurgery. My personal opinion is that it is better to let your body adjust to banding for at least 1 or 2 years before putting your body through the strains of pregnancy. If I could go back, I would have changed the timing. If it is more important to have children quickly then to be banded for right now, it would be better to put off banding until you can really focus on it. On the other hand, if you are already banded, the difference of waiting at least 1 year post banding to have a baby is not such a big sacrifice when you think about it.

Does your family and friends know about the band? If so, it won't be so hard. If they don't it is a little odd at Iftars not to eat much or take that first huuugggeee drink of Water. :0) I wish you the best of luck.

My band slipped while I was in the hospital after giving birth. I was given a pain pill, I took it and got horrendously sick with vomiting and my band slipped. My band was also empty at that time and I didn't think you could slip with an empty band . . . now I know that you can. It was horrible in that I was so uncomfortable, couldn't even get Water in and had to have a band replacement procedure immediately following the birth of my daughter. In all honesty, I had problems throughout my pregnancy with the band. It would get unexpectedly tight sporadically and then I could eat anything I wanted. My band was really, highly sensitive to hormonal fluctuations which are common during pregnancy. I am now pregnant with my second band-baby and my band is sometimes so tight I have to go on a soft/liquid diet from time-to-time even though I have had a couple of unfills. My band is fickle with pregnancy and it hasn't been easy.

I haven't posted here for a while but thanks for adding me as a friend, Nouzi. :0) I won't be fasting this year because I will be 8 months pregnant during Ramadan and I am still having a lot of problems with morning sickness. I have fasted in the past during Ramadan since being banded but it was really rough for me because my band was tightly closed. I ended up dehydrated because of a lack of Water and found that after not eating and drinking all day, by the time I was ready to break the fast I could hardly get anything down. For me, the only way to have a successful fast is to have my band partially emptied during Ramadan. However, if you are relatively new to banding and your band is not at restriction yet, it might not be a problem at all. The hardest part is to keep getting the water in with the eating restrictions since you also need to sleep at night :0). Good luck. I am soo excited for Ramadan to start. Even if I can't fast this year, I still love this time with my family and friends and can't wait for it to begin. :0)

I am really sorry that you are going through this and my thoughts are with you and your family. I hope that your dream will be realized in the near future and that your health will stabilize as well. Did the doctor give you any indication as to why it happened? How far along were you?

I agree with Jack, it is best to get to a doctor right away. Those aren't normal symptoms of banding and could be something much more serious especially when you are speaking of chest pains/spasms. If it were related to the band, I would thought you were less likely to feel that way after an unfill as compared to before when you were too tight. Good luck with everything and please let us know what happens. I hope you feel better soon.

It will definitely work once you get restriction . . . it just sounds like you aren't there yet. Atkins or other dieting might help you along the way until you reach restriction. Just keep working at weight loss and know that when you are finally restricted, it is going to be a lot easier. I struggled the first several months because of no restriction . . . yet have lost 100% of my excess weight in less than a year. Just keep a positive outlook and don't give up.

I don't understand what you mean by this. However, I hope everything is OK with you.

I had a band baby at 33. Our financial status was stable, our lives were good. We wanted to wait until the perfect time when all of our goals were met . . . but I realized the clock was ticking, I had already lost the weight and was at the border BMI between normal and overweight. Sometimes you just have to do it and everything will fall into place on its own. There is no perfect time. If your life is relatively stable, you and your partner are ready to make the commitment, and you have the love to give than now could be a great time. I have one thing to mention about being banded. My OB said I should prepare to give myself 6 months or so to get pregnant and to not expect it to happen to quickly with our age. It took two weeks after going off the pill. Losing weight seemed to make me ultra fertile and I never expected it to happen so quick. It may not be the same for everyone, but I read plenty of posts regarding people who become almost instantly pregnant after losing a lot of weight when they struggled to become pregnant in the past. Now I am 35, have been on the pill for 15-20 years and had only had the one pregnancy where I went off the pill for two weeks. I had to go have a surgical procedure done at the hospital to remove cancerous cells from my cervix, was prepped for surgery, they had me take a pregnancy test which is required for all women under age 52. I failed the test (or is it consider to be passed, lol). No antibiotics, taking the pills regularly for many years at the same time, normal BMI at 136 pounds at 5 '3, don't drink or smoke, advanced maternal age, and there was noooo way I should have been pregnant. Yet it had happened. I thought the pill being 99% effective was just about the same as 100% if you take it correctly. I guess that is only if you don't happen to fall into the 1% of people who get pregnant.

One more comment, now that I have been banded for several years, I can tell you that there seem to be as many people who have band tightness issues, as band looseness issues, as no change in the band when they become pregnant. It is kind of like morning sickness in that some have it early in pregnancy, some have it throughout pregnancy morning, noon and night, and some don't experience it at all. It seems like it affects all of us differently and you never know what you are going to get until you experience pregnancy while being banded.

If I get really stuck, I can be sore for days. Also, I wouldn't push solids if I weren't feeling right - Soups and soft things to let the inflammation and swelling go down help more. If I am irritated and try solids too quickly, I can have another stuck episode, get more inflamed and it can just keep snowballing. This is my second pregnancy with the lapband. In both cases, my first symptom was not missed period, sore breasts, nausea, etc. . . . it was always my lapband feeling like I had just gotten a huge fill. In both cases, I needed an immediate unfill (and then discovered I was pregnant within a week or so). It doesn't affect everyone like this, but it did affect me in this way.