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It's a liquid, isn't it? Other than carbonated beverages, I wouldn't think you'd have problems consuming it. BUT, remember how many empty calories is in booze. :paranoid

*More natural rate of weight loss which means less risk of sagging skin. *No "window of opportunity" *It's a less invasive surgery: -lower rate of complications and death related to the surgery -the complications are easier to manage -quicker recovery time, possibly less painful -no cutting and re-arranging of my anatomy -no change of the natural digestive process -no need for Vitamins and supplements for the rest of my life. I should be able to get all I need from food. *It's adjustable *It's reversable should I have complications or change my mind *has a generous, but effective learning curve-healthy eating habits should be adopted from day 1 *has been labeled "the thinking person's WLS" *no punitive "dumping syndrome" *I can eat like a normal person, within the bandster rules which are not difficult to adopt and generally healthy advice. *safety net effect: I may put my weight loss on hold if other health issues take a priority, without fear of gaining. That's my 2 cents..........

You know........just in the last month or so I noticed the same thing. I use secret, too. Maybe the "secret" of Secret is that after a while it just don't work anymore. I've worn it for years and never had a problem, but just lately---pppeeee yyyeeewwww. I'm convinced. I'm switching. Pah..Strong enough for a man but made for a woman... bulls**t! :speechles

:hat::eek: :wow2: A 4lb cyst ?! GEEZ-LOUISE! I'm glad you got that diagnosed and taken care of. I'm not sure if I would have been able to figure out that all the symptoms fell at the last half of my cycle. Bravo to you. I agree, if you really need the ibuprofen, try the liquid or chewables then drink Water afterwards to flush your pouch. It's a NSAID and can cause irritation to the lining of your stomach, therefore your pouch and lead to big problems with your band. Good luck to you.

I was mortified when Ace was in the bottom three and Kevin was "safe". :hat::juggle: I think "Chicken Little" needs to GO!!!! :tea:

Kay, Congratulations! 12 lbs gone is 12 lbs gone no matter whether it's water or fat. Keep following your doctor's instructions and your lap band rules, you should be just fine. I agree with Theresa, measure yourself. Sometimes we get into plateaus or slow losing spots. During those times we often lose inches instead of weight and it's important to keep motivated. Those inches can be motivation. Now's the time to do it so you can see the dramatic results between start and finish.

This is a great thread. I'm having such fun reading these posts. My grandfather, at dinner, used to tell us kids to "eat every bean and pea on your plate." As a kid, I thought he said "pee" and I kept wondering why he'd want us to pee on our plate. I also believed in the swallowing seeds and making your belly grow. To this day, I avoid watermelon seeds. In fact, I barely eat watermelons at all. Give me a cantelope, at least those seeds are easier to remove...Ha ha.

Clara, I think you'd get more replies by starting a new thread with this specific question asked. I have never had this problem, so I don't know what to say. My first inclination would be that you're just a bit too tight or that on the days that you are able to eat, you irritate something and make your stoma swell so that the next day you can't eat anything. Just a thought. If you can't even get liquids down consistently, personally I think that's too tight.

Karen, ABSOLUTELY! I just went through nearly 5 months of suffering. I was told I had esophageal spasms and that I was just "overly sensitive" to the spasms for some reason and to "seek counseling". My pain was in the center of my abdomen. (normally, they're in the right side of the abdomen even up under the rib cage and around to the back) In fact, I kept thinking I had something stuck in my band. I had never had anything stuck so I had no point of reference, but I was convinced that's what it was. The pain always started about an hour, maybe an hour and a half after I ate. It varied in intensity sometimes growing to the worst kind of pain and pressure that I wanted to die. I realize that my symptoms were not "text book", but we're human not machines and besides I think having the band also contributed to my unusual symptoms. I'm not familiar with "nutcracker esophagus" so I can't comment on that, but I have become very well-versed in gall bladder. Obesity is one of the leading contributing factors to gall bladder disease and rapid weight loss is a direct cause of stones. Why doctors do not consider this and do a simple ultrasound is beyond me. You have all my sympathy and support. Good luck to you. I hope they find whatever is causing your pain.

I didn't really have an "A-HA" moment or an awakening of any kind. It was rather gradual. I knew that I was obese. I dieted. I failed and gained weight back. I'd diet again once I got the courage up. At one point I even came to the conclusion that maybe I was destined to be obese and gave into it. This, by the way, only caued me to gain another 20-30lbs. After another of my diets where I had lost 30 or so lbs, my husband and I went on a cruise. I had all kinds of new outfits to wear and was feeling great. Problem was, sometime between the time I bought the outfits and the cruise, I must have gained some weight because they were tight and I felt bad. I was on the deck of the cruise ship reading "O" magazine. There was an article in there about WLS and had a detailed description of lap band in there. I thought to myself, "this could be for me". "I have to check this out". "I think I could do this". I felt very inspired and started right then to investigate more into lap band, the procedure and the after life. I booked a seminar and a year after that, I had the surgery. It was only afterwards that I realized how bad I looked in photos. I avoided them like the plague anyway. Only afterwards that I realized how poor my self esteem is/was and all of the physical things that I haven't been able to do. When you gradually start feeling better, walking lighter and breathing easier you look back and say-"hey, I really have been adjusting my life around this obesity."

WOW! You poor thing. Technically three surgeries in a matter of 2 weeks?! I can imagine the gas has you all bloated up and it wouldn't be unheard of for it to settle in your back. Mine was mostly in my shoulders and chest. I agree with the others' advice, walk when you can. It will help the body re-absorb the gas. I've also heard chewable gas-x helps although I never tried it. Maybe you need more time for your body to heal. This was an unforeseen complication as well as a second surgery that was only 10 days ago. Depending on your job and circumstances, I would think you should be allowed more time to recouperate. Here's wishing you good luck and Hope that the gas dissipates.

I agree with Skye. I think rather than legislate a ban on the advertisement of foods we need to mandate education. Currently, the advertising of certain food items are focused to certain populations. Whether that's children or their parents, the consumers it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's working and we're blindly going out to purchase these and similar items because they look or sound tasty. We have no idea what they're made of or what the consequences of eating these items are. Maybe the food industry has to be forced to get on board with the drug industry and spell out any possible side effects. I don't care whether it's some boring, soothing voice that tells me this has the "potential" to contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity or cancer. As long as they do it. As long as they tell me it has "x" amount of artificial ingredients, "x" % of fat, etc. Yes, we as humans are capable of making decisions for ourselves but we are easily influenced by our senses and the pressure of our peers. We need to KNOW what we are doing and LEARN to make better decisions. Most fast food chains are making more nutritious choices available, so why do we still choose the french fries? Heck, even those frozen "healthy" meals are supposed to be questionable, with all the artificial ingredients in them. So we need some truthful education from the makers of these foods. That's my 2 cents. Sorry for rambling.

I'm pretty sure I got mine at WalMart, but I didnt' like the taste and have only taken a couple doses out of desperation.:yuck: Since I've been banded a while, I now take regular tylenol tablets, just broken into smaller bits (not crushed, just small pieces). I suppose you could get the chewable children's, too.

If I'm doing protein shakes, I do a combo of sugar free carnation instant breakfast with Unjury. I can get creative with it, adding peanut butter or fruits. I've gotta do variety or I get really tired of the same old thing all the time.

Pain under your right rib cage that radiates around to your back, especially after you've eaten foods that have a higher fat content. Vomiting "bile" or the green liquid of the gall bladder is common. If you have a stone that is blocking the hepatic duct, you may turn jaundice (yellow). However, mine presented itself differently and that's why they thought it was esophageal spasms. The pain was in the center of the lower part of my rib cage called the epigastric area. It started out as a pressure always about an hour to an hour and a half after I ate. It kept building until I felt like I was going to explode. Since I have never PB'd or had anything stuck, that's what I thought was wrong with me. With this pain I sometimes vomited, but it was only mucous and it was very sour.

O.K. I'm gonna get ready for all the virtual slaps here. I have 1cc in a 4cc band. I've been up to 2.5cc and have had it removed because I was having pain that the doctor thought was esophageal spasms-turned out to be gall stones. Anyway, I have always been able to eat bread, muffins, cake, tortillas, biscuits, you name it. I'm not upset about it. In fact, I'm glad. What I've done though is instead of having a sandwich with 2 slices of bread, or a whole bun. I eat just one slice of bread or take off half the bun. It's just too filling. The band has taught me "everything in moderation". If I want to make sure I get my Protein in, I've got to limit the carbs.

First, I want to reply to Josephine because I think this is important. Gall bladder disease, including stones has a direct correlation to obesity and weight loss. Obesity contributes to the problem and rapid weight loss can actually cause the stones. It has to do with the high fat diet of the obese and the fat that is in our bodies that we are now trying to shed. Second, personally the surgeries were about the same for me. I took 2 weeks off for lap band and was really up and around just a few days after the surgery. I was sore, but I was moving and doing good other than the gas pain. As for the gall bladder surgery, my tummy and everything healed exactly the same as the lap band even though I had staples for the gall bladder but not the lap band. Even the gas pain was about the same. I was slower getting up and moving for the gall bladder, but that was not related to the gall bladder at all. They dislocated my artificial hip during the gall bladder surgery and so......I had other complications. Without the dislocated hip, I could have easily gone back to work within 2 weeks.

I just want to thank you for this thread. I get this question sometimes and others like it. I seem to be dumbfounded or speechless at it and only think of witty things to say so long after the question has been asked that it's no longer relevant. Thanks again for helping me be prepared.

Glad you're feeling better Elizabeth. So sorry you had such severe problems that the band had to be revised then removed. But VERY glad you had the option to have the problem fixed.

Jesse, All the abreviations and accronyms are in a post where Frequently asked questions are located on the board. By the way (BTW) a PB is a productive burp or a bandster vomit. It's called a productive burp because basically we burp, but bring up "stuff" with it. It's not really vomiting because there's not digested food or gastric juices in it, only the chewed up stuff you recently swallowed. It's not comfortable and often rather painful.

I usually notice a pound to a pound and a half close to that time of the month and the cravings....:croc:they get me every time. Salty Snacks, sweet snacks, it doesn't seem to matter. But once "Flo" has completed her visit, usually the weight gain is a distant memory. I never really noticed it before surgery, but then again what was a pound or so when you weighed close to 300. Also, the scale was a bad word in my house at that time.:bandit

Everyone's given such great advice, I'm not going to repeat anything. But I'm going to add something that has been hinted at once or twice. I know that what helped me to learn what a smaller bite was and to eat slower was to use a toddler spoon. I thought my dietician or nurse or whoever told me to do it was crazy for telling me to eat with a pickle fork and a baby spoon, but it really did train me to eat smaller bites and chew better. As you transition into your regular diet, it may be a wise decision to use these tools to train yourself. I don't use them anymore other than I keep the toddler spoon in my lunch bag for convenience (it's smaller and cute). Good Luck

Louise, I'm sorry you feel this way. I don't mean to question what apparently is a firm decision on your part, but can you tell us about your journey other than you weigh more than you did before and you're vomiting all the time. Maybe we can help. Sometimes support is all you need to get you going again.:angel: As far as the removal surgery, I wouldn't think the surgery itself wouldn't be much different than having the band installed. They'd have to take the band off of the actual stomach and I'm sure remove the port. I have no idea about costs. It depends on where you go and if you have insurance coverage, I'm sure.

I was rather surprised at Gedeon. I was nearly certain Kevin would go. Maybe the "cute" factor kept him alive this week. The only thing I can figure is that he's got some weird fan base out there that called like crazy. The others were my picks to go. No surprises there.

Sarah, I think gall bladder problems seem to be the last of the problems that doctors finally think of when you're having problems. When I was finally diagnosed, after nearly 6 months of suffering, I was never so glad to have something really wrong with me. I know that sounds crazy, but you may have some idea what I'm talking about here. When you're sick and in the most pain of your life you'd do anything to relieve it. My band doctor actually told me to seek counseling to figure out why I was having "esophageal spasms" that turned out to be gall bladder attacks. Welcome to the gall bladder out club. I know I'm a proud member because I'm finally feeling better.