RestlessMonkey

I wonder when they are going to rename this web site ANTILAPBANDTALK.com?

Just a head's up...many surgeons prefer you forgo the straws, at least for a while, because they can increase gas. And one thing you DO not want to do when you are newly post op is make MORE gas! Check with your doc to get his/her take on it.

How much have you lost? When I had gall bladder issues it hurt ACROSS my back, not just on the right. You probably should call your doctor. Any "new" symptom when we haven't done something (like get a fill, change our diet, etc) should be run by the doc (unless it's like you have lost a lot of weight and people are chasing you. That's different! ) Good luck.

It's ok...don't feel bad about "pop". Where I grew up we called them all COKES. Sprite, Dr pepper, tab, didn't matter...it was all COKE.

How much water is too much is a hot debate. Aside from too much, I wonder when it isn't really that helpful. You can get to the point where you are just washing electrolytes out, water soluble vitamins, tasking your kidneys, and so on. I think 64 oz is a good amount, more than that would be personal, much more than that and you should get your surgeon's take on the debate.

Your experience is so different from mine, I'm hard pressed to help you.. and your surgeon, IMHO, is an ass. There I said it! LOL I think (this is personal opinion, not medical advice) that what you are eating is way WAY too soon for your stage, especially since you had so much trouble with being too tight, swollen, etc. I'm not a doc and don't even play one on TV (or here) but good grief I'd have thought that once you FINALLY got unfilled and things settled down, you'd need to take it slow and easy. If you vomited a lot post op (with being too tight etc) you may have slipped your band. And what type of spasms do you have? Are you totally unfilled right now? What med do you take for it? (if you want to answer and it's too personal to post here please PM me) If I were you, I'd be doing full liquids and mushies, proceeding REALLY carefully. I live in San Antonio and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican food (born and raised in El Paso which has even better more authentic food than here) but I wouldn't have gone for it at 3 1/2 weeks if I had the history you do. In fact I had a great worry free recovery and didn't have Mexican until week 6...(not counting refried Beans as mushies; they weren't spicey though) and then I had soft stuff...a chile relleno. I didn't even approach chips till week 8...they went down fine, but still I never had your issues! So I'm afraid it was too soon... I'd also by now probably have changed surgeons. I guess you should call him Monday and ask. You've had so many issues. If you were healing well, it were at week 6 or so, and you had those issues I'd "guess" that probably you just weren't used to the diet . If you are unfilled what you ate wasn't too much and should've been digested normally, providing you've healed well and your pouch and stoma didn't become agitated. So...ask your doc. I wanted to share with you my thinking because I think your doc kind of pushes you around (like you don't know if you have diaphragm spasms...which are usually hiccups, or esophageal spasms, which can require band removal) so maybe I can help you figure out what to ask and what to do about your stomach. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

You need to ask your surgeon; they are all different and he will have advice tailored to you, your situation, his experience with his patients (based on his skills etc) so do as he says.

Unless you are usually active like that, odds are that you're just sore from the exertion. However if you still feel bad on Monday call your surgeon and run it by him.

Great! You're on the way! thanks for the update!

Hang in there! It's a process, but it will happen for you too!

Rutiglius, I hope you don't mind if I use this example to clarify something? (If you do PM me and I'll pull the post if it will let me) You'll note she said "she learned her lesson about bread" Very smart...she didn't say she'd NEVER eat bread again. I think the point was she knew she would need to eat "consciously", paying attention to how fast, how well chewed, etc. And that's important I think because for a lot of people, being stuck is at least unpleasant and can be, if it's a "bad" incident, scary and painful. HOWEVER, unless you don't really LIKE the food that was stuck and don't mind never eating it, rather than avoiding it forever the smarter thing is to reassess WHY you're stuck. IF you ate too fast, or too large a bite, or didn't chew very well or got distracted by company or some other thing and didn't pay attention, then it's possible that you CAN eat that food if you "do it right". I've been BAD stuck on chicken to the point of thinking I had a heart attack. The problem was I didn't chew well enough. I KNEW when I swallowed it that I shouldn't have done so that soon. My doc says to give it a while and then try again if you think you might have made an operator error. So that's something to keep in mind too. A solitary stuck episode with a certain food doesn't mean NEVER. It may; but you need to do the work and figure out if it just didn't go, or if you just didn't follow the rules. I think that may be one reason I CAN eat anything; I'm not a medical miracle LOL but just had a great surgeon teach me a lot. So Rutiglius, at some point soon, as I think you meant you would, you'll re-try bread, chew well, small bites, and probably be fine. One "trick" I was taught about bread too is to alternate it with something of a different texture. That way it's not all in there where it can make a ball and stop things up! Toasting it also is helpful, I've heard. Remember it takes babies a while to learn to eat (when they are young and their little brains aren't all full of stuff) so give yourself a break when you are learning how to eat with the band. Allow for some missteps, but don't let them scare you.

For almost all of us, it doesn't happen until we get restricted. So unless your surgeon put a fill in your band during surgery (and by all means call and ask since it is a special worry of yours) you won't need to bother or worry about it as you progress through the stages post op. Then...it happens almost always due to operator error. We forget, or aren't used to restriction, or are distracted and either don't chew well, or don't take small bites, or eat too much. Sometimes it happens when we try a new food that doesn't sit well. The only other reason would be if you are TOO TIGHT, in which case you need to get some fill removed. I was banded 8/2008 and didn't have a PB episode until March of the next year, when I was pretty well restricted.

You're right; it seems like it's either feast or famine. So many people either trust their surgeons BLINDLY or totally disregard their advice, when in this, like many things, moderation is the key! You need to be able to trust your surgeon but ALWAYS ask why, if you don't understand the rationale or doubt what you're hearing. We older folks were taught to think that the doc=right hand of God, but most of us know better now. And good docs don't want that burden, IMHO! Even "arrogant" surgeons with poor bedside manners should answer questions, or send in someone who can and will. I think it's dangerous to be an uninformed consumer, especially of medical or health care!

Popcorn as far as I know is really only bad for people with diverticulitis. It MAY be causing gas but it doesn't have that much Fiber. You should probably check with your surgeon; it may be your gallbladder or some other issue. Just FYI I can eat popcorn fine and it doesn't give me the symptoms you describe.

You do know that many surgeons have a specific shake they prefer? or if not that, they have a range of cal/carb/protein/fat they want it to fall into. You should first find out from your doc or nutritionist if they have any guidelines they want you to follow. That's a great start.

Be sure to get your doc's guidelines on this...week 2 I was barely allowed protein shakes; drinking then would've been foolish and harmful for me, but not all are on the same post op plan. Let your surgeon guide you in this.

I would REALLY honestly see if I could find another surgeon. They aren't supposed to "punish you" (he's a surgeon and you are PAYING for the service; he's not your daddy or your mama!!!)

Well, for my diet, chicken is a "solid" and I wasn't supposed to eat that until week 6. Were you cleared per your doc to eat that? I ask because I know they are all different.

Of course lots of people feel that way and it's an obstacle to overcome. First let me remind you just how many people in our country are overweight. A HUGE percentage. I don't mean obese or morbidly obese, but overweight. Why is that? Are they all shiftless and lazy? Or, maybe, is losing weight hard? Secondly, remember that a SMALL percentage of people successfully lose weight, AND KEEP IT OFF, with exercise and diet alone. Again, if it were easy, or even generally a viable option, a large percentage of us would not be here. I don't know about you but I have attempted a huge portion of every diet known to man. I've done cabbage and grape fruit. In the seventies I did reconjugated Protein (I still have nightmares about that one) I've done Atkins, Jenny, WW (WW about 10 times) Richard's deal-a-meal...a thing called "Medical Weight control" for which I paid 1k in 1976... I even went through a year of behavioral therapy before I decided on the lap band. I have TRIED. You may not have done what I did, but odds are you've tried other things. Did they work? Did you keep it off? If not, are you weak, foolish, lazy? Are you "BAD"? or maybe, just maybe, is it that what you tried doesn't work? Lastly, say you needed a pacemaker. Although not happy about it, would you tell your cardiac specialist "OH NO. Other people don't need pacemakers. That is the WEAK way out. No thank you" Or would you be regretful that you need it but glad it's there, and GET IT INSTALLED? I think of the band as a pacemaker for my appetite. I'm not weak, lazy, useless, easily swayed, incapable. Neither is anyone else on here. We are brave. We had the courage to realize "what is conventional is not working for me. I want to be healthy. I'm going to gather up my gumption and move on this" I hope you consider what I've just written; it's as honest as I know how to be. We feel what we feel, but your basis, your reasoning, isn't sound. It's what you've probably HEARD, but that doesn't make it right,.

No I love my band. I didn't hit "the green zone" until May 7 and have lost about 2/3 of my total loss since that time. I have had no issues and LOVE my band; I wouldn't trade it for a million dollars. Although bypass and other options work well for many people, I researched and felt the band was right for me. I mulled it over for a long time and once I committed I've never looked back. It gives ME control for the first time in my life. My BAND doesn't control what I eat, my HORMONES don't control it, I do. It's exactly what I thought it would be and exactly what I wanted.

I have NEVER found 2 surgeons with the same set of "rules". I'm sure they must exist by law of averages, but I've never found them. Don't, please, make the mistake of reading something on here and thinking it applies to you. It can be overly harsh (like no drinking for a year, or NEVER having carbonation) or it can be overly lax (like "Sure it's fine to eat whatever you want by day 3 post op) ALWAYS ask your surgeon and/or nutritionist and follow the plan they have for you! :biggrin: And as my granny would say "Don't borrow trouble".

I don't think you need to be alarmed, but I think you're smart to ask. For all I know they'll just tell you to take gas x or something like it; we do, most of us, seem to generate more gas with the band (I'm sure it has to do with the new configuration) and your tightening happening so quickly just probably hasn't given your reconfigured digestive tract a chance to adapt. If you think of it, will you let me know what they say?

No I've never heard of it. Did he say why? I think that's going to make you more prone to slips but I'm just inferring that from what I know about the band. It needs to heal into place and that is vital to prevent slips. Plus it needs to heal properly as a hedge against erosion. Was he lacking in skill? What was wrong?

Did your doc tell you that you had to wait a year? IF not, from reading on here by now you should know "do what your doc says, not what you read on here" Call Monday and find out what his policy on alcohol is, and follow it.

I've NEVER heard of a doc intentionally overfilling a person. It's unkind at best. Yes the issues you describe happen to most people who are too tight and the "cure" is an unfill, the sooner the better. The point of the band is NOT to live on liquids. If I were you I'd probably try to find another surgeon actually. It sounds to me like he "punished" you for not losing. You need to address the issue promptly or you'll end up with a slip and esophageal erosion (which happens to anyone over time with uncontrolled GERD) Good luck.