jillrenee15

I had a similar experience in January, the pain you are feeling is probably your esophagus where it empties into your stomach spasming from the whole works being sore and irritated. Kind of a rhythmic pulsing pain. Comes and goes every few minutes. The only thing to fix it is a little unfill so everything will go down ok again, without your esophagus having to push so hard to cram it into your smaller stomach. Give it a couple of days. Mine finally went away about 3 days after I had a slight unfill. It was still sore though for about a week or so. Drinking cold liquids and eating regular food still was uncomfortable for that whole week. Keep sipping warm fluids to help soothe.

You really won't lose anything your first 2 months or so. Don't expect too. If you do, bonus. Mushy, soft foods are very calorie dense, and you can eat more of them. You don't have a fill yet, and may need several over the next 6-8 months to get any restriction at all. The 10lbs you've lost so far is great, but don't expect it to continue, and don't beat yourself up about it if it doesn't. I personally last 12 pounds the first week after placement, and didn't lose hardly another pound until about 4 months out after I had gotten a few fills. Stay strong and take this opportunity to retrain yourself how to eat. Small bites, small portions, lots of chewing and no drinking with meals. It will pay off!!!

My favorite thing right now is: Use those frozen chicken breasts in the bag, they have lots of added fluid, when cooked they stay very moist. I put two frozen chicken breasts on the pan of my toaster oven and cover with foil. 20-25min at 350. They are wonderfully moist because they've been steamed under the foil. Shred the chicken a little in a bowl and put some of your favorite barbeque sauce on them. I put this on half of a well toasted whole grain english muffin with a sprinkle of sharp chedder reduced fat cheese. Back into the toaster oven or micro to get all warm and gooey. Pair with some veggies, cooked or fresh and you've got a very well balanced meal. Lovely lunch or dinner. I'll eat the chicken cold too. It lasts me for several days of quick lunches.

Did you consider you may only be getting about 800 calories? Slim fasts are what 150-200? Plus dinner of maybe 400-500? Try increasing your calories a little. Have another 100-200 calorie snack during your day to get yourself going again. A couple of slices of turkey breast and a low fat cheese stick. Some tuna salad and a few crackers. Something with protein!!!!!

I got a good digital one at walmart, I don't know the name. It was $26. It is always within 1/2 a pound of the dr's scale when I go. It doesn't have %body fat, but I didn't think I needed that. It has enough settings for four different people. You can save your weight and it will tell you how much total you have lost. I really like it, it is accurate and a great scale for the price.

Yes the doctors are in this to make money!! If you were worried about paying for fills, maybe you should have considered going to a doctor where all fills are covered..

Harper hospital in Detroit has a group of doctors that do lap band and are 10,700 for cash pay. Fills are 150 cash pay after 90 days. Great Lakes Weight Loss. They will go through insurance though also.

I don't think I would have went with a fill and another surgery at the same time. You body is sore and irritated. Your stomach is grumpy. Let the swelling go down for 2 weeks or so and try again. I'm sure your doctor will start much smaller this time, maybe 1-2cc. Also, personal here, were you on your period or near it? I totally have to avoid fills during the week to week and half around mine. My band goes haywire and gets overly tight.

Also keep in mind there is NO WAY they can get every drop of Fluid out of your band to measure how much is in there. Also, different people will read the ticks on the syringe differently, this can also account for such a small discrepancy. It depends on if they are holding it up to eye level to read it, or are leaving it poked in you to read it. Fluid in a cylinder is under vacuum (the syringe plunger) will have a curve in the surface. Are they reading the edges or are they reading the bulge? When you have lost a cc or two, now there is something to worry about.

6.5 was pretty good for me, tried for a little more restriction and over did it with a .5c fill. Had .25 taken out that same day. Thought at the time I could eat too much still. Was losing slowly though. Had to have 1cc taken out next day to let swelling go down. Going next week hoping to get my 1cc back that I had to have taken out. Have gained a pound in the last month. :sneaky: I'm still pretty tight in the morning though, usually eat my main meal in the early afternoon. Tried an egg and sausage english muffin this morning (homemade) and could only get about 5 small bites down. The dogs were happy!! But just now for dinner had shredded chicken breast and little barbeque sauce on a toasted whole grain em and went down without a hitch, the whole thing no less. But I know I won't be hungry for a long time.

Everyone around where I live has had rotovirus for the last couple of weeks. Lots of throwing up and such. I was scared when I got it I would hurt my band, but I only threw up once. I feel lucky. When my daughter gets head colds she throws up mucus a lot in the mornings. Everyone is different I guess.

I feel like things are always stuck. Almost everytime (maybe 7 out of 10 times) I eat I have a sliming episode. Even when I eat Slooowww. So slow the food is cold and I don't want it anymore. I get maybe 7 bites down, then I start feeling that uh oh, stuck feeling. I sit there and swallow and swallow and swallow the lump of yuck so I don't puke. Finally I have to get up and go to the sink and out the slime goes. :thumbup: After that, I'm fine. I can finish eating if I want. Has anyone else had this with all foods? I do NOT feel like I am too tight. I don't often even have a chance to get full because I do this first. I know what full feels like and sometimes it would just be nice to have that contented full feeling after a nice meal. I do have some restriction, however, because I can not eat breads easily, spaghetti is an absolute never again, french fries, and lettuce is troublesome. I have a two year old, and I portion my plate out to match his, figuring that is about the size my stomach should be. Does that sound right to you? Sometimes this is enough, other times not. I do not think I am to a good restriction yet, but I don't think I'll be getting a fill at the end of the month like I had planned, just so I can get this under control first. I have resolved to get the chew chew chew down to a science first!! Any other thoughts??

If you feel you can ask family, go ahead and ask. If not, there are a lot of medical finance companies out there. The one I used charges a flat rate regardless of credit (11%). If you own your home, try for an equity loan. You could take $15,000, the interest on the loan would be tax deductible, not to mention all of the medical expenses would be deductible on your taxes next year. Be sure to shop around for the best price/doctor combination. If you were to take a personal unsecured loan, you would pay that rate of interest anyway. I wouldn't go to a doctor that charged 30,000 when I could drive a ways and go to one that charged 10,000, especially if their practices and experience were similar. Good luck!

We are all busy, what with kids, family, work, running here and there. What can you delegate to someone else to give yourself a 1/2 hour a day? Do you get a lunch hour? Have a quick snack before and then a walk, maybe another snack mid afternoon. Do you have children old enough for chores? Have them run the vaccuum, or empty the dishwasher, or fold the laundry or clean up after dinner while you put in an exercise DVD or walk the dog, etc. We have to learn to make time for ourselves if we want a healthier lifestyle. Maybe the key is to UNschedule a little.

Yes, you have to force yourself at first. I'm on midnight shift this week and naturally feel like hell, but I made myself get on that treadmill tonight, even though I had no daycare today and only got 3 hrs of sleep while 2yo took his afternoon nap. Yes to all the previous posts, re-evaluate your eating. See where you could improve, this is an opportunity to re learn a healthy lifestyle. When I'm on day shift I force myself up at 5am to get my half hour in every morning. It helps me get through the whole day feeling more alert and energized. I would never think of exercising before bed though, I would never get to sleep.

I went for my fourth fill this past week. I needed a small fill. I knew I was really close to my sweet spot and just wanted a small tweak. I could eat more than I should still, I think. Didn't have too many trouble foods, and when I took it slow, I did alright. Anyway, the weather was horrible naturally, it decided to snow 4 inches on the day I have to drive 3 hours to Detroit. I was an 1.5 late to begin with because the traffic was so horrible. We crawled at 30mph all the way from north of Pontiac to Downtown Detroit on I-75. I finally get there and see the doctor. He disagrees that I actually already have 6.5cc, as the chart had said. He takes out and takes out and takes out until he can't get anything else, measures what's there and gives me a .5cc fill to take me up to 7.0cc. I did some Water drinking and right away I knew it was too tight. After about a half hour they took out .25cc. That felt better, so I went home. Well, here is where it gets scary. After about an hour drive, I start hurting again, it's too tight! I can't drink water, I can't drink my shake I brought, I can't even keep my own spit down. I'm sliming and spitting into a coffe cup the whole way home. I figure I'm swollen from all the in and out they did and it would pass. NOPE!! All night long I was sick. I couldn't keep anything down, I couldn't even swallow. I called my ER in town and they told me not to bother coming in because they wouldn't treat me. So, I had to drive all the way back to Detroit the next day to have more removed. They took out a whole 1cc. I had to really push to not be unfilled all the way. I pretty much told them that I can't afford to start over. All that night after the little unfill I drank hot water, hot broth, coffee, etc. Cold things hurt badly. I think my esophagus was spasming also. It was horrible!! It felt like the pains I used to get when I was having a gall bladder attack, that tight band squeezed around my middle, squeezing on and off. All in all, today I'm still sore. I hope I haven't caused a slip with all the retching and pbing. I have slowly started on some soft food. Soups and such. Had a couple of bits of chicken at lunch, but was sliming pretty bad. At least liquids are going down ok now. I know this is a long post, but thought others might like to know what happens sometimes when the fills don't go right, and what can happen when you're too tight!!!

I have half a tub of the powdered chocolate MM on my counter right now. It does not mix very well, even in the blender. There is always to many crunchies left. The calories are way up there too, and I don't think they are worth it too me. I do use some Atkins RTD occasionally after a fill though. I don't think protein shakes are the way to go for me personally. They don't keep me full at all. I would rather chew my calories than drink them.

By law your medical department at work, your surgeon or anyone that treats you or has anything to do with your records can not disclose what you are having done without your approval. (HIPPA) So if you do not want the doctor to tell your work what you are having done, he can't. He can write you are having surgery and will be able to return to work on such and such a date. However, where I work we have our own medical department with doctors and such, and we do not get sick days, per se. When we have surgery or whatever and want our time off paid, we have to sign a release letting our medical department get our file from the doctor if we want work to pay for time off. However, medical can not disclose to the building boss or anyone else at work what was done. Hope this helps.

Have you considered an IUD? The Mirena one has some hormones that help you to have much much lighter periods, it's good for five years, and you don't have to worry about it. I personally have the other 10 year one. If you have insurance, they normally pay for it. I have also used Seasonique bc pill in the past, which you take non stop for three months, then have a 1-week rest, then three months again. I loved it. It was awesome only dealing with my period four times a year. Watch getting fills during your period too, especially with your current problems. I learned this the hard way. Got a little fill and had to have twice as much taken out the next day. I'll definately avoid that week of the month from now on when I schedule my fills. Keep your chin up and ask your doctor for pain meds!!!

I had this happen to me recently also. I got a too tight fill, and an unfill before I left the office, then had to return the next day for more unfill. All in all, it was about 3 days before they were finally gone, and I haven't had it again. They are VERY painful and scary. To me it feels like a gall bladder attack, if any of you have had those before. Like in the center of your chest your band is too tight, and there is a steel band tightening all the way around you. I'm hoping to not have another episode when I get my fill back where I had it. I don't know if having on episode makes you prone to more or if it was a one time thing for me. Anyone else have any insights?

I'm still just a beginner in exercising, so maybe what I do will be a little more to your speed. I went and bought a really good treadmill at sears last month when they were all on sale. 12mo no interest or payments on a Sears card. When I first started I could only do about 15 minutes at about 3mph before I about died. Now I'm up to 35 minutes at 3.5 mph with about 5 minute warm up and cool down on top of that at about 3mph, all with an incline of 3. I noticed today this was starting to get easier too, so I'm going to start some short intervals of jogging and walking fast next week. My knees are a little sore, but I know it's worth it and I have to do it. It's not bad enough to have to take something. It's a hoot to see my 2yo get on the treadmill when I'm done. He's always got to have a turn too!! I've got a couple of 5lb weights I use for my arms after I'm done with my cardio. I can go to the gym here at work, but I think I'll save that for when I've lost a little more weight. I'd like to start doing some more weight training as time progresses. I've been doing this 5 times a week for the past month.

I'd rather chew my protein and calories, than waste them on a liquid that doesn't keep me full. I keep Atkins rtd vanilla in the house for after a fill, sometimes my stomach is a little irritated after a fill for a day or so. I've tried the Muscle Milk chocolate powder also. It was not so great. Didn't mix in very well, always had chunks, even in a blender. Still have half a container sitting there from last September. Other than that, I don't bother with protein shakes. I really believe we should be eating our protein, not drinking it.

I never did quit before surgery either. I should have because my lungs were quite congested right after surgery, and smoking also impeeds healing. I did try chantix way before my band, and it does work. I just let stress and life get to me and started again. It works by curbing your cravings for a cigarette, and if you do slip you don't get that high of "ahh, a cigarette" that you feel now. The only thing was that it made my stomach very queezy. I would have to go lay down and let it pass. I have a whole month still at home and was considering trying again, but I'm worried how it will make me feel now that I have a band. This pill is teeny tiny, so I'm not worried about it getting stuck. I was considering trying the gum, but I seem to remember no gum chewing in my band literature. Does anyone know if this is only right after banding or forever? Good luck to you on quitting!!!

Everyone goes through this bandster hell. It will likely last longer than your first fill, so be prepared. Your band will not be helping you unitl probably your 2,3 or even 4th fill. I lost weight the first week after surgery, then never lost another pound until after my 2nd fill. Those 2-3 MONTHS felt like 2-3 years, wondering if I had paid all this for nothing and where was my help? But be patient, practice right now BEFORE your fills proper bandster eating. This is the best time to learn how you should eat before you get much restriction. Start preparing yourself by learning to measure or eyeball your portions, get all of your water and protein in, and start exercising now if you have been cleared to do so by your doctor. Best wishes on your journey.

I eat cereal quite frequently for breakfast and sometimes as a snack at night time. I buy the Kashi GoLean Crunch (9gr protein), or the regular GoLean (10gr protein) and use 1/2 or less of an Atkins Vanilla protein shake for the milk which adds another 7gr protein. A serving of this cereal according to the box is a whole cup, and you don't find that very often. I just let it soak a bit, and there's not much liquid left in the bowl. I also use the shakes for the liquid in the quaker high protein oatmeal. I do find that it doesn't hold me quite as long as a more substantial breakfast would, but I don't have any trouble making it to lunch time. I couldn't even finish my whole cup this morning, it is very filling, my 2yo finished it off for me. You can put this stuff on a lot of things, like mixed into yogurt or even cottage cheese.