kiz

My doctor leaves a 4 oz pouch, so his goal is for his patients to eat 1/2 cup meals with proper restriction. Are you able to eat up to 1/2 cup of food without getting sick? Is it when you eat more than 1/2 cup that you start having the sliming episodes? Did your doctor let you know how big of meal he expected you to eat comfortably? If you're not able to get 1/2 cup meals down without feeling sick, you probably need a tiny unfill, imo. Oh, I just noticed this was your first post. Welcome to LBT! :mad:

From everything I've read, I have no firsthand knowledge thankfully, the main symptoms of a slip are the onset of reflux, nausea and vomiting because more stomach is being squeezed by the band which causes an obstruction. Your symptoms sound very unusual, and maybe they're not related to your band at all.

You might be losing fat off your stomach, or maybe you had residual swelling from the surgery and subsequent stuck episodes, it's really hard to tell why you feel less restriction now than you did previously. Maybe your body is just adjusting to the band. It never hurts to call your doctor, but I know some people have reported not getting the full effect of their fill until two weeks have passed. I did have one or two fills at two week intervals when I was feeling very little restriction.

"And no matter what product you buy, someones making money off it." That's true, but if the person recommending a product is also the person making money from the sell of the product, I want to know up front.

The big glass bottles aren't all that travel friendly, and I only drink 1/2 bottle on days I need a protein boost, so the new packaging will be great for me. I'll check back a CVS at a later date. Thanks again.

What's the difference between Isopure and Isopure Plus? The store I buy my Isopure doesn't carry the Plus. Your web site says CVS carries it, but I when I was at CVS today, it turns out they don't. Thanks. I hope you find that Isopure Plus does work for you, oni.

That's wonderful news, nizee!!! Congratulations, and best wishes to you and your growing family. I don't have advice to give as my "baby" wears size 10 men's shoes, at least that's what he needed at the start of the school year, but who knows now. You might want to ask your question in the pregnancy forum, if you haven't yet. I'm sure you'll get lots of help from the "band moms". Here's a link to that forum: Pregnancy with the LAP-BAND®

I agree with Melly, if you're doctor is going to arbitrarily stop giving your fills without getting you to your sweet spot, I'd look for a new surgeon. That defeats the purpose of having the band.

awww, Big Ed, you sound like a sweetheart of a husband. Good luck on your band! P.S. My husband has the good skinny genes (thank goodness our kids inherited them as well), but I'm even starting to tax his weight control. I push my extra food onto his plate when we're eating out, when I know we can't have a to-go bag or something hi-cal comes with the order. The other day, I even had a dream he was going in for band surgery..lol

Hi, shi, and welcome to LBT. Congratulations on your weight loss! You're doing great. This forum should give you lots of good ideas: Cooking, Baking and recipes - LAP-BAND® I clicked on "Search this Forum" at the top right hand corner of the Cooking, Baking and Recipes thread and ran a search first for chicken and then fish and selected "show posts": Chicken - LAP-BAND® Fish - LAP-BAND®

It sounds like you're on top of your research, and that's the best way to get started. Good luck on finding the right surgeon, and I hope you find tonight's seminar very informative.

I take Centrum chewables (or a generic), calcium and liquid vitamin B12. I take vitamin D drops that you add to your drink in the winter when I'm not getting as much sun.

A couple months after my band surgery, I started feeling very run down. I started taking liquid B12 in addition to my multivitamin and calcium, and I was back to normal in just a few days.

Well, darn, about the Isopure. Shows what I know. Sorry. I have a feeling the people who had problems with olestra were either more sensitive than my family to the product or ate a whole lot of chips (I only had olestra with Lays). We never had any problems with it, but I personally liked the baked variety of Lays much better. I thought olestra was oily and had left an off flavor. I'm pretty sure that they're still on the market, but just grab the baked Lays when we want chips, so I haven't paid attention.

I'm so glad to hear that, ghetto. I was really worried about you. Of course it's better not to cheat pre-op, but it doesn't sound like you went crazy with it, so I'm sure all will be fine. Now, post-op ... follow your doctor's instructions. It's very important that you let the stitches that are holding your band in place to heal, so that you have a strong bond, which will lesson the likelihood that you have a future band slip. Good luck tomorrow, and I'll be thinking of you.

It's a 9cc band, but fluid can be in the tubing. I just happen to be somebody that needed more than what the stated max amount is to get restriction. If I had to guess how much is in my band, I think it's around 11cc. For my sanity, I stopped counting each fill, because I was so sure I was never going to get good restriction that had staying power.

Don't worry. There are plenty of people, most in fact, that reach good restriction before they reach 9cc in their band. However, if you don't get there right away, it will happen. My doctor kept telling me not to worry, and as it turns out, he was right. :thumbup:

A pressure fill is only offered to Realize Band patients by my doctor. I'm not sure if that's the case with all doctors. He did it in conjunction with fluoro so he could also see how quickly the barium went through. He had a gauge on a IV pole that he connected to the needle as he was checking my fill level. He said it was high (maybe in the low 40s, but I didn't ask what that meant exactly). He said he also had a few other patients didn't get good restriction until that level. I kept a careful list of all my fill amounts until I got over 9cc, and then I started freaking out a bit and stopped. I was convinced I had a leak or some other major issue, because not only did my restriction wane after each fill in just a few weeks, I could tolerate any kind of food, and I could easily eat up to and even more than a cup of food. (My doctor shoots for 1/2 cup meals). I know some fluid stays in the tubing, but that still doesn't account for why I need so much fill for restriction. I can now eat 1/2 cup meals and stay satisfied for four hours, and sometimes longer. I don't pb, slime or have reflux, and I can still eat most every food (even those that some call non-band friendly foods), so I just think I'm sort of an anomaly.

It wasn't until I had over 9cc in my Realize band to get to my sweet spot. My doctor gave me a pressure fill (to measure the pressure wasn't too high), and that was the fill the got me to my sweet spot. In fact, that last fill was only .5cc, but it made all the difference.

If I remember right, I got 4.5cc. That's probably on the upper side for a first fill, but it wasn't too much for me. It took me several more fills to reach a good level of restriction.

The band is higher than you might imagine, as is our stomach. Starting mushy foods in a week is a little quicker than most, but I'm sure it's not all that unusual. Since you obviously still have swelling, could you stand to go back on liquids for another week? You might feel better.

It also took me several fills to get to a level that I had "permanent" good restriction, rather than fleeting. Why so long between fills? Can you get yours moved up?

I always plan to attend, but sadly it doesn't always work out. Right now, it's on my calendar with no pending conflicts. I hope it works out, and we can meet in person.

I'm sorry you're having so much pain, Peggie. I hope it eases up very soon. I just wanted to tell you that although you have glue on your incisions, you probably have stitches that dissolve inside that you can't see. I didn't realize that I had them until one stitch popped out.

Have you told your doctor about your allergies? Maybe, at least for the pre-op diet, you could concentrate on getting in lowfat, lowcarb Protein from other sources rather than shakes. There are some Protein drinks that aren't milk or soy based. I drink Isopure, when I need a protein boost. It's more along the lines of a Gatorade type drink than a thick shake type. I'm sure there are others on the market too. (There was an ad on The Biggest Loser last night, for a powdered fruit flavored protein that they mixed with water). The store I go to carries Isopure, but the first link I found was to Isopure Plus. I don't know how they're different. The Isopure I drink has zero carbs, 40 grams protein, 160 cals per 20 oz. I'm only using it to supplement my diet on occasion, so I only drink half a bottle. I hope you find something that doesn't upset your stomach. Here's a link: What is Isopure Plus | Isopure Plus Ingredients