Jersey Jesse

Here ya go: [ATTACH]8526[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8525[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]8527[/ATTACH]

Hey Dave - Never had a fill and I really can't be sure if its willpower or if its restriction. I definitely feel full after 6-8 ounces of food, so there is definitely restriction there, but knowing that I can't gorge myself also creates a psychological cutoff point for me, so I limit what I eat before I even start eating. I look back at the pictures of me from "before" and I don't feel like the same person either. Looks aside, I feel like I have a different life.

Hey Dave - Thanks for the boost. My journey was a simple one. I used to be into the gym and lifting weight. General fitness but not a fitness freak. Then, I met my wife. We went out every night, wining and dining, and I spent less and less time in the gym. Well, years down the road, and me getting bigger and bigger (topping off at almost 350 at 6'0") I was ready to try anything. My wife and I found out I was going to be a father, so I committed to losing the weight, but I needed the tool that only the band could give me. My insurance wouldn't cover it, but my wife was supportive, and so, we put it on credit cards (ugh). Well, $19k later, the surgery was done, and I was on my way to what you see in my signature now. I was banded on January 30th, 2006. In November, I started working out again. Now, I'm down to a 36" waist (from 48") and wearing regular Large t-shirts (down from 3XL), so I am very pleased with where I've come in little over a year. I've never had a fill, and honestly, after my 3 month checkup, I haven't see my doctor or any other person who's had a band, so this is where I go for my morale boost when I need it. I continue to lose weight at a much slower rate (maybe 2-3 lbs a month) but I'm replacing a lot of the fat with muscle so I'm not really hung up on the weight numbers as much anymore. Now, I have a beautiful daughter who is 18 months old, and all the motivation I need to continue my journey. I do it for as much her as I do myself. Me before

Wanted to join this thread. Nice to see other guys here.

Add me to the list. I've currently lost 110 pounds

Just some updated pics of me at the gym this morning. For what its worth, I don't think that BMI is correct. I'm down to a 36" waist now and have 22" arms so I don't really consider that BMI number from TickerFactory to be accurate, but maybe someone knows more about it and can clue me in as to how those numbers are calculated.

I'm a Web Engineer and Internet Security Specialist working for one of the top 5 largest international banks, managing their online accounts websites.

Just thought I'd post a recent update. I'm going to the gym now and starting to add muscle, so the weight isn't moving much now as I'm replacing fat but my sizes are going down so I know its working. Now if I could just get rid of the double-chin.

The problem is very easy to control so that you won't have to ever spit in a cup. The answer is - SMALLER BITES. I have had to learn the hard way that all it really takes is eating VERY SLOWLY and taking tiny bites. I read the best article about how to eat, and they said "picture the amount of food should be able to fit on a toddlers spoon" so thats what I did. When I was home, I used a toddlers spoon to measure how big of bites to eat, and thats what I ate with. Lo and behold, NO RETURNS!!! Now, when I go out, I know how I have to eat so I can avoid this unfortunate occurrance. Hope that helps.

Me on the day after my daughter was born (October 20th, 2005) Me at my daughters first birthday party (October 21st, 2006)

Lucymann - I hate to say it, but you really shouldn't be drinking V8 3 days after your surgery. You are ONLY supposed to be drinking Clear liquids for the first 3-4 days. After that, you're supposed to be drinking semi-clear liquids like broth and diluted juices. V8 is very harsh on your stomach right away. Also, since cold liquids makes your esophagus contract, I would do all I could to stay away from anything cooler than room temperature. The contractions on your esophagus could cause unnecessary strain on your stitches. Just my 2¢.

Its been a while since I was last on. I've been so busy with work. Not to mention, my wife and I had our first child (daughter) in late October of last year, so now at 8 months old, she consumes a lot of mine and my wifes time. Ok, so I'm writing today to tell everyone that I have been having a lot of success with the holding my breath during restriction pain, but I wanted to share something else that I've kinda figured out. Sometimes, the way the food seems to settle at my band seems to get stuck, and holding the deep breath works for most occasions, but theres been some times that holding my breath didn't work. So, if you're like me, and holding your breath doesn't always work, consider trying to let all your breath out, really squeezing out every last bit of air and squeezing your diaphragm. When the pressure of my lungs being full doesn't help, sometimes, giving as much room as possible to the area also seems to help. And yes, I double-checked with my doctor and nurse and they both don't see any problems or contraindications for doing this. Just thought I'd share. Good luck!

GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY!!! I had my support group meeting last night and before I went to the meeting, I stopped by and spoke to my doctor. I explained what I've been doing with the deep breathing. I told him about some of the concerns mentioned here. I also asked if he felt that it could in some way be a detriment to me and my band. His reply, "If it relieves pain and it doesn't create other problems, its perfectly fine. The organs and tissues in and around your stomach/band area are soft and flexible and breathing would have no adverse reaction to your band or digestive tract." WHAT A BIG RELIEF!!! So, I went to my meeting after our conversation and I shared my discovery with the group. Everyone felt so encouraged to have something new to try that they were buzzing with questions and interest. The nurse who also sits in on these meetings seems to think that this may, if enough people have success with it, be added to the instructions given during the pre-op class. We shall see what the others think of it. Jesse Banded January 30, 2006

I'm losing weight at a pretty slow rate now, 1-2 pounds a week. Some weeks I don't see any movement, other weeks 3-4 pounds, but on the average, I see about 2 lbs a week. I can't complain. Its been 86 days since my surgery and I'm down 61 pounds. Thats still an average of over 5 pounds a week. When it stops for two weeks straight, then I'll talk to my doc about the fill. Also, I have my 3 month visit coming up soon. I guess I'll run it by him again then. Thanks, Jesse Banded January 30th, 2006

Mine took about 5 days to go away, but the trick was that I stopped eating solids during that time. I went back to Soups and mashed potatoes, etc. Also, the Prilosec definitely helped. Let me put it this way - I saw the doctor on a Tuesday, he told me he wanted to do a follow up endoscopy on me the following Monday (6 days later). Monday morning rolled around and they called me to confirm and I didn't need to go and ended up cancelling because my symptoms were completely gone. A couple more days of nursing the area and taking it easy and I was right as rain. Hope that helps. Jesse Banded January 30th, 2006

Thanks for the advice. I'm typically a "not broken don't fix it" kinda guy but I was concerned that there was a time period that a fill was required. My weight loss is much slower these days then the first 6 weeks, so I wasn't sure it was still something to be concerned with. Thanks for the affirmations. Jesse

What I want to know is, if I'm having restriction now, and I haven't gotten a fill yet, even though my surgery was almost 3 months ago, when will I be ready for my first fill? Jesse

I had the same thing. I went to a gastroenterologist and he determined that I had esophagitis. The good news - it goes away. The bad news - it hurts like hell till it goes away. Here's what I was told to do. Take a Prilosec OTC once a day. Eat only soft and mushy foods. Its an inflamation of the esophagus, and only time will heal it. Antibiotics help the recovery process, but in the end, time is all it takes. Hope that helps. Jesse

I don't see how taking a deep breath extends the esophagus. This concern seems to have been brought up a couple times, however, the extension of the esophagus couldn't be any worse than a hiccup, which also is a spasm of your diaphram that does a much shorter duration of the deep breath technique I've been trying. Lets put it this way - if a deep breath were a problem for lapband patients, don't you think it would've been considered long before now by the thousands of others who've had the band done, or the thousands of doctors performing the surgery, or the millions of dollars spent by the pharmaceutical company who holds the patent? If deep breaths were dangerous, the FDA would've never passed the band as a viable WLS tool. In any event, tomorrow night is my support group meeting and I will ask the doctors present to see if they feel it might be a problem for us. In the meantime, I will continue the deep breathing until I hear otherwise. I'd rather have relief than discomfort.

Pam - You're a worrier like me, so I'm going to do my best to alleviate some of your worries. Its not choking. Have you ever eaten a bagel or some other dense doughy food and it felt like a brick in your chest? This is very similar except for the fact that you can't drink to make the feeling go away. It doesn't feel like choking either. It feels just very uncomfortable. It CAN be avoided. I hate to say it but when it first happened to me, I panicked. I called the nurse and she asked me a very simple question "does it happen when you eat mushy food?". What a revelation of a question, because the answer is "no, it doesn't happen with mushy food". If I eat oatmeal, chili, Soup, pudding, etc, no discomfort. So, her reply was "you're taking too big of bites". I'm having a hard time still in the infancy of my surgery trying to determine exactly how much I can swallow, how much is enough chewing, etc. Its definitely "biting off more than I can chew". Port sticking out??? You really have a misconception of what the port is and what it feels like. I will tell you two things I have discovered regarding the port. 1 - The port isn't visible and never will be. 2 - Its actually a welcome reminder that you had the surgery. You can slightly feel it under your skin. Good luck with whatever you decide. I couldn't be happier with the surgery and will never look back. Jesse

WOW!!! I actually contributed something useful to this place rather than just take. I couldn't be happier. To reply to a couple different posts: Kim 8 - I'm so glad it worked for you. Its not a proven method, just something that I kinda stumbled upon. As for the sounds, I think that is the sound of the air in your stomach being forced up through the food in your esophagus so that the food can squeeze down. The sound to me means relief as I feel instantly better when I hear it. Vera - The flapping arms was something I heard about but it didn't seem to make much of a difference to me. I'm a barrel-chested guy and the movement of my arms seemed to have little to no affect on me. I will tell you though, its a little more socially acceptable to take a deep breath and hold it rather than flapping your arms in a restaurant. Nodumblonnd - Slime is a graphic way of describing what happens when food gets held up. Whenever you eat, your mouth produces saliva to assist the food with passing thru your esophagus. When food gets stuck, your mucus producing tissue in your mouth secrets a thicker saliva (aka Slime) that, when swallowed, should help you swallow the food easier. Its very slippery. However, because the band is actually restricting the food flow and not just a large bite of food, swallowing this saliva just makes the situation worse. To complicate matters, you feel like you should swallow but you physically can't. It doesn't have room to go anywhere. Did I explain that correctly? I hope it makes sense. As for me, I've been doing the deep breath thing now for the past week and guess what - my blockages seem to be happening less and for shorter durations. I think it may have something to do with the breathing making you excercise muscles down there that haven't been given much of a workout. Now that I've been doing it on a routine basis, it seems easier. Once again - I'm so glad to have become a member of this forum and just hope that I can help as much as I've been helped. My wife thanks all of you too. Jesse

I could use a little help here. I have been having port pain lately and it is swollen to the touch and when I have to flex in the area of the pain, especially when getting up to stand or reclining to sit down. Other than that, I feel fine. The pain is significant enough that I took one of the percocets left over from after the surgery, and its cutting down on the pain. My question is: Is this necessary to see the doctor for? I had the surgery 1/30/2006 and up until 2 days ago, my port hasn't been a problem at all. I truly believe that I must've twisted the wrong way while I slept and thats what caused the pain. Also, one other thing I'd like to know is: by now the stitches should be gone, shouldn't they? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Jesse

bump bump bump

I had the Band on January 30th, 2006. I am having a big problem. Whenever I eat, no matter how much I chew my food, the first few bites seem to go down just fine, then about 2 minutes later, I feel an intense pain in my esophagus/stomach. It feels like someone is choking me, but in my stomach. I've talked to my doctor who said he's seen this only once or twice before and stated that he really isn't sure why it happens. He suggested that I take a few sips of warm Water first before each meal. The problem is, I don't always have access to warm water when I eat. I haven't been given a fill yet, and to date I've lost 41 pounds. My issue seems to be that it happens most when I eat denser foods. If I eat a salad with dressing the problem doesn't exist, but when I eat chicken, fish, breads etc, this pain comes on strong. I'm then unable to drink water or even swallow saliva. The pain is very strong and lasts for about 10 minutes. I'm unable to remedy the situation after it starts, and eventually, the food drops into my stomach and I feel fine again, but my appetite is completely gone. PLEASE HELP!!! I had an episode tonight at dinner, eating a small piece of chicken, and I was getting frantic cause I couldn't figure out how to make the pain go away.

I had the Band on January 30th, 2006. I am having a big problem. Whenever I eat, no matter how much I chew my food, the first few bites seem to go down just fine, then about 2 minutes later, I feel an intense pain in my esophagus/stomach. It feels like someone is choking me, but in my stomach. I've talked to my doctor who said he's seen this only once or twice before and stated that he really isn't sure why it happens. He suggested that I take a few sips of warm Water first before each meal. The problem is, I don't always have access to warm water when I eat. I haven't been given a fill yet, and to date I've lost 41 pounds. My issue seems to be that it happens most when I eat denser foods. If I eat a salad with dressing the problem doesn't exist, but when I eat chicken, fish, breads etc, this pain comes on strong. I'm then unable to drink water or even swallow saliva. The pain is very strong and lasts for about 10 minutes. I'm unable to remedy the situation after it starts, and eventually, the food drops into my stomach and I feel fine again, but my appetite is completely gone. PLEASE HELP!!! I had an episode tonight at dinner, eating a small piece of chicken, and I was getting frantic cause I couldn't figure out how to make the pain go away.