2muchfun

I have a very complicated routine for stalls/plateaus. There's a forum called don't sweat the stall stuff: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1102-dont-sweat-the-stall-stuff-new/ If I can find the time I'm going to post how I lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks and broke a 3-4 month plateau/stall.

Mary, food not only can get stuck but it can back up into your esophagus. If you swallow too much food at once or swallow a big chunk of bread or meat, the food can stop right at your stoma(band portal). Any food swallowed after this will start to back up into your esophagus. The feeling you get is like a golf ball stuck under your ziphoid(lower sternum). If you catch it early it's like a small bean bag is lodged there and can take up to an hour to pass. Kandi, we call it slime like in Ghostbusters. So sliming is quite normal and very few of us escape this disgusting body function. Your esophagus is creating phlegm or saliva to aid food lodged in your esophagus to pass through to the stomach. The problem is that so much is created and if you just swallow it, more buildup and backup to the food already lodged in your stoma. So it's best to spit it up if you can. All of us have spent some time in a restaurant bathroom hocking up slime till the stuck food pases. Some people develop the ability to PB(productive burp) the stuck food up and spit it out. I've only been able to do it twice in over 2 years.

Everyone's body reacts differently to this surgery. My body was traumatized by all the meds and anesthesia they pumped into me. I don't know how much you're eating but this could just be how your body is handling the abrupt change? If you're sticking to a low carb diet then this is what happens when we curb the carbs. It will get better but sometimes we have to push ourselves to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

When your doctor determines you need one. There's no standard answer to your question. Some people never need a fill. They're few and far between but they do exist. Most of us got our fill the first 30-60 days and a follow up adjustment every 30 days till we reached the green zone. Every doctor has a different protocol so only your own surgeon makes those decisions.

Not necessarily. I didn't feel satisfied with less food till my 3rd fill. But everyone is different?

If I had to do this all over again, I'd opt for band w/plication. The two forum members I know of here, haven't needed a fill and feel satisfied with less food than I do. Plication is similar to being sleeved without the removal of 85% of your stomach. You don't get the ghrelin reduction but you do feel satisfied with less food. Wise choice. Looking forward to hearing more about your journey!

I don't think I realized at 2 months the one thing that the band was teaching me? Eating healthy! The band really opened my eyes to how badly I had been eating for most of my life. Now I love preparing healthy foods and the easy to fix, easy to eat foods taste like crap to me. I can drive by any McD's or taco bell or even Papa Johns and no longer flinch

Good boy!! Your lab is happy with you! .5 is what I got last time and at first I thought it was too much, but I gave it time and now it's just right.

You really need to relax! It takes a lot more than a few bites of food lodged in your throat to have a band slip. It would take months or years of this happening for your band to slip. Failure? Not hardly. The band isn't a fragile piece of plastic It can take a lot and what you're experiencing is just par for the course. eggs happen to be the one food that almost everyone struggles with and if you're still swollen(most of us were at this point) eggs will continue to be a problem until the swelling goes down and you learn how to eat smaller and chew bigger. So, chill out, you're journey is going just as it should and just try to learn from your mistakes and listen to your band. tmf

I just bought the Muscle Milk Pro 50 powder and it's the best I've tasted far. I'll be trying other flavors soon. I also have Dymatize chocolate and it's OK, but has a flavor that can be off putting. I have Premier in the fridge too. It's my least favorite but it's easy when I'm on the go or in a hurry.

It always amazes me how ignorant some doctors can be? I don't think my doc was all in on it either but he stepped back and supported me. He's average weight and I'd have to guess he's old school, eat less, eat from this stupid food pyramid and you'll lose weight Sounds like your doctor is cut from similar cloth? Maybe we can find some studies to show him that 95% of all diets fail and over 50% of WLS patients lose 60-70% of their excess weight? I'll see what I can find and you can shove it up his nose

They go through as long as the stoma(hole) is open? Sometimes even the stoma can swell shut from all the trauma from surgery. And, your lower stomach can swell making it difficult to eat and drink much. If you're on pain meds, the sphincter from your stomach to the small intestine can misbehave causing food and drink to remain in your stomach for many hours. If your pouch were stuck, you would only be able to drink 1 or 2 ozs before an intense pressure and pain would cause you to stop. You should be sipping all liquids slowly and if you're taking pain meds, you might want to stop or take fewer pills? Have you had a BM yet?

Can you share so if we see a similar post we can pass along some wisdom?

Puking as in vomit, hurling? Or, PBing(productive burp)? Do you mean you puke 15 mins after a meal or after one bite or drink? Do you feel pressure under your sternum/ziphoid as you eat and does it build up to more pressure?

Wow, you must be on top of the world? So glad you posted. Lots of newbies here and it's always good to see the successful banders.

Bandster Hell is hell. I was in it for 4 months before I started to lose weight. It's frustrating I know but the doctors are trying to help you see and feel the band working it's magic. Oatmeal is a slider food and doesn't offer much in the way of satiety. I'm not sure bacon and sausage is the answer(you're the first human I know of who doesn't like bacon) but they do offer more satiety than slider foods. I'd suggest low fat hamburger, or chicken breast or tenderloin steak for satiety. So, I went through similar venting stages like yours for 4 months till my 3rd fill gave me a level of satiety/restriction that started my weight loss journey.

I've not seen erosion into the liver? How can that happen if it's sewed into the lining of your stomach? Anyway, there's a band revision forum over on the sleeve forum and almost all of them had the band and then revised to another WLS and some are still in limbo after removal.

Icy is right but I'm a thinking they'll give you a thumbs up. My doc recommended walking by day 3.

Angela, you should copy and past this to a note to keep on your desktop. No harm in using it again. It's good enough to repeat over and over for newcomers and there are dozens of newcomers every week. Great post!

2.5 years out and yes, every meal is a struggle. I think I'm eating slower, but the tighter the band, the slower one must eat.

Rapid weight loss or gain at this time is simply Water retention. I lost 7 lbs of water from Tuesday night to Wednesday noon. Sodium, carbs and lots of water can spike your weight in one day.

Wish I would have been made aware of Bandster Hell and that I might not start losing for 4 months.

I went a year between fills and was stalled at about 30 lbs from goal. The band seems to lose fluid(it doesn't) and your esophagus becomes stronger pushing food through the stoma. I was in the yellow zone for over a year and it was like I was dieting all over again. I wasn't getting the satiety I got back in 2012 so I was back in the diet cycle again and we al know how worthless that is? So, I got a fill a few months ago. I'm definitely tighter now and losing weight again. No need to feel like you're failing. We really do need this tool or we wouldn't have gone through all the trouble and pain to have it installed. Go get a fill and thank me later

Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa3Lwt6ElIs&list=UL Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4jYJipQ7vc part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbdhf44ZweI&feature=relmfu Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF3TCKUn3YI Part 4

I've never heard the term runners knee? Cartilage can break loose and cause lockups. Or, you can have a floating kneecap that is causing the lockup? Other causes are torn or stretched ligaments allowing the joint to no longer align? Your ACL and PCL hold the femur and tibia heads to align but if you have damaged ligaments, the alignment can cause your problem. Also, Only an MRI or scope can tell for sure? There are several other ligaments that hold this joint together and if any one of them is damaged you can bet there's going to be some misalignment? Swelling can also cause problems.