2muchfun

^5^5

You were intubated with a breathing tube. Your throat is just irritated from the tube.

Is he refusing to give you more fills? Time to shop around for another bariatric doctor? There may be a financial cost in moving your bariatric needs elsewhere but sounds like it's necessary. Could be tough though? Most docs don't want to take on issues created by another doctor? And, will your insurance support it? Otherwise, you're going to have to confront your current doctor and be assertive if that's in your personality makeup? Doctors can be real A-holes sometimes. Their egos can get in the way of their bedside manners. But, if moving your business isn't possible, you have no other choice, right? tmf

Let me be the first to apologize to you for some insensitive remarks aimed in your direction during these troubling times. I know if for some reason my band journey came to an end, I know I'd gain weight, without a doubt. I'd still work at keeping it within reason but it would be a very bitter pill to swallow. I hope I'm not piling on here, but, I too would be incredibly disappointed. And in your case, the botch has left you with few alternatives. Wishing you well. tmf

Is it on the outside or inside? Is it rubbing against your clothing?

This is a tough question for any of us since everyone's palate is different and our lifestyles vary so much? I usually fall back to Soups if I'm in a time crunch or stressed. Progresso soups are only about 300 calories and go down easily. There's always a version that sits well with my current tastes. If I get hungry between meals I'll munch on a honeycrisp apple. tmf

I'm nearly 2.5 years out and I still slime maybe once a week. I've accepted this as a condition to being banded. I still work on eating slower and smaller but it's still a struggle. Over the last year I've made some progress though. I once used to get stuck/slime 4-6 times a week, and now it's just 0-2 times a week. I've developed this sixth sense of recognizing that slight pressure in my pouch/esophagus when it's time to slow down/stop and allow food to pass through. No slime, no stuck episode. Just keep working on it. You spent a lifetime developing bad eating habits, it may take a few years to mitigate/eliminate those bad habits. tmf

Well, most all of us screw up at some point in our journey so jump back on the wagon and restart yours. I'd suggest/recommend not going to any restaurants again before your surgery. The temptation is just too much for any of us before being banded. And, if you don't drink Water, what do you drink? You must be drinking something?

Well, most all of us screw up at some point in our journey so jump back on the wagon and restart yours. I'd suggest/recommend not going to any restaurants again before your surgery. The temptation is just too much for any of us before being banded. And, if you don't drink Water, what do you drink? You must be drinking something?

What a story! This is another example of how we all misunderstand how our bodies immune/rehabilitation systems work. One would think that an anti-inflammatory drug would reduce the swelling in our stomachs as well as our knees, backs sprained ankles? But, the fact that the drug flowing through our veins causes some of the stomach bacteria to dissipate can then cause the stomach to produce fluids that actually cause more inflammation? I now deem you to be the forums master authority on Nsaids tmf

Portion sizes will depend on the type of food you eat. Typically, 4-6 ozs of Protein will fit in the palm of your hand. Of course, that also depends on how you cook it or what you put on it? MyFitnessPal is a good tool to start to understand how many calories you're consuming per meal. It can help you to eyeball your portion sizes instead of measuring with measuring cups. Some people still use cups to measure their food, but if your band is adjusted properly, your portion sizes will be suggested by your satiety signals. It sometimes takes me 30 minutes to eat a meal but usually it's around 20 mins.

Think of some clever remark like, "Hey, how do you gals lose weight eating Krispy Kreme and Smashburgers". Of course, you may want to tame it down? I'd think that if I was in a group and I posted I was eating Krispy Kreme(example) I'd assume everyone knew I didn't care about losing weight.

I asked Alex to contact you since I'm on a PC and don't know what your screen looks like on an Ipad.

What kind of device are you using? PC, Ipad, Iphone, Galaxy?

This is where being a guy comes in handy. We're not all that sensitive. We just say, Dude, what the hell are you eating and why? If they go away, oh well.

Zeniada is correct. 10 years ago the only band available anywhere was a 4 CC band. So, each fill of .1 CC makes a big difference. I have the 14 CC band. There are now two allergan type bands 10 CC and 14 CC. Most bands in Mexico are still 4 CC. Doctors make the decision of band size by looking at the circumference around your stomach during surgery. Cindy, much has changed in the last 4 years regarding knowledge of how the band works. I'm going to offer you some videos below that explain how the band works. Years ago, doctors believed the pouch filled up and that's what made us feel full or satisfied. Check these out. You don't want to overfill your band. These will take up about 40 minutes of your life but it's well worth it. Dr. O'Brien is a bariatrics doc in Australia and has done thousands of bands. 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

Do you remember to look for satiety signals like hiccups, burps, runny nose loss of appetite during a meal? Many banders from years ago were taught a different way of using the band as a restriction device and it's really not that at all. It's simply there to make you feel satiety with smaller portions of food. Sorry, don't mean to preach to the choir but we see many band vets come back who seemed to have never gone through orientation or any nutritional classes. Welcome back.

I love and miss my steel cut oatmeal days. For we banders it's a slider food and doesn't give us the satiety we need. Lots of Fiber and a low glycemic value so it should be fine for sleevers and bypass folks.

Woo Hoo! Almost there. Just be sure to chew chew chew.

Both foods are slider foods and in a properly adjusted band would slide through leaving you with some hunger. If you have to rely on slider foods here on out you won't get a lot of needed nutrition from these type of foods. I know it sounds good to only eat a few tablespoons of mashed potatoes and applesauce but there's a lot of empty calories there. How are you doing with solid Protein so far? Just remember this, all calories are not the same. Your body will need a lot of protein to stop itself from feeding off your own muscles for energy and subsidence. If this is the only foods you can tolerate, I would think you're still too tight and may be in the red zone? Could be swelling from the fill/unfill or could be too tight from an overfill. JMO tmf

I went to our annual Rockies baseball ticket dispersal meeting yesterday. We went to a New York Style restaurant and I ordered a sampler of ravioli, lasagna and stuffed shells. I only ate about 1/3 of it but the other guys around me were stuffing their faces with so much food it made me wonder as you have? Each one of the other 3 guys would shove a large bite of something in their mouth and before they even chewed twice had another huge bite shoved in over the top of the last one. My old paternal instincts took over and I kept saying, "slow down and enjoy this wonderful food"(on the inside of course). My "on the inside voice" seems to be speaking a lot lately. Fortunately, it's on the inside so I'm no pissing too many people off. I spent most of my meal in the nearly almost stuck stage of my meal.

Variety is so true. I've stumbled across some great recipes due to this band but I must confess, I've also made a few dishes that were so gawd-awful I wouldn't feed them to my neighbors obnoxious dog. I need to learn to trust my instincts as I'm preparing some of these dishes? Re: Chicken and beans. One of our staples and we do repeat most every week, is brown rice with beans. Sometimes mix some left over chicken, salmon, onions and mushrooms, toss a little Tuscan olive oil and parmesan cheese on it. So many ways to mix it up and it's so satisfying.

For dinner I usually eat: Low fat hamburger in the form of a patty or minced for a taco salad(also good for omelet filling). Salmon-baked, grilled. chicken in many forms. Ground, filets, roasted, grilled, stir-fry. Shrimp, stir-fry, grilled, boiled, on salads, kabobs. Steak, I prefer small tenderloins. Stuffed peppers with ground meat of your choice with rice, parmesan cheese and seasonings. Turkey in all forms. Deli turkey slices, ground turkey etc. Spaghetti squash is a low carb high Fiber food. Use it in place of noodles. There's no reason to feel deprived for any type of food with the band. It's a matter of eliminating the processed foods we all grew so fond of. If it's a white food, question it's validity. Milk, sugar, flour are all white and should be used sparingly. Ridding your house of chips, crackers, candy, processed breads and Pasta will be the hardest to do but temptation and cravings can and will be a challenge. One of the major contributors here is Jean McMillan, she also has a great cookbook you can buy through her website.

A lack of morning hunger hits almost everyone who has been banded. The band seems to be a little tighter in the mornings for most all of us. This leads to a little pressure on the valgus nerve which in turn provides some satiety. Most banders fall into the "Bandster Hell" phase of their journey within the first 30-60 days post op. Sounds like you're there? Bandster Hell is the time where your band is not adjusted properly and food can still travel through the stoma with little effort. You usually don't feel the satiety during this time and your hunger cravings can be enormous. The first 6 months can be a time of many changes. What satiates you now may and will change as you progress. You should eliminate the words "full" from your vocabulary as a term that identifies having eaten enough. Satiety, satiation, satisfied are terms you look for now. The band works different from other WLS techniques. The band helps us to feel less hungry with small portions of food. It's more voluntary than the sleeve or RNY. We have to pay close attention to the satiety signals such as, hiccups, yawning, runny nose, burps and of course, food on your plate is no longer appealing. Then, it's time to put the fork down. You should want to avoid the "full" feeling. If you feel full, you've probably eaten too much. You want to feel satisfied with less food and stop eating at that time. The only foods to avoid are processed foods like refined sugar, flour, fried foods and highly processed fast foods. Eating protein food types like chicken, hamburger, seafood are a must. Vegetables are a must. High carb foods are OK in small quantities. Potatoes and rice are OK but in small quantities. Your doctor should have given you a manual or pamphlet explaining what to eat and not to eat? Good luck and look for those satiety signals. They can be very very very subtle.

I posted this some time ago, but it bears repeating regarding exercise and weight loss: This study is specific for lapband patients but I have to believe this cuts across all WLS techniques? AE=Aerobic Exercise EWL=Excess Weight Loss PubMed Commons home Obes Surg. 2013 May;23(5):608-12. doi: 10.1007/s11695-012-0826-6. Aerobic exercise is associated with improved weight loss after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. Shada AL , Hallowell PT, Schirmer BD, Smith PW. Abstract BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is a common surgical treatment for obesity. Evidence for and against the association of aerobic exercise (AE) and weight loss after LAGB exists. We hypothesize that aerobic exercise is associated with improved weight loss and resolution of comorbidities after LAGB. METHODS: A review of a prospectively collected database identified patients who underwent LAGB over a 3-year period at a single institution. Body mass index (BMI), comorbidities, frequency, and duration of exercise were collected preoperatively and at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively. Excess weight loss (EWL) was calculated. Groups were analyzed using Fisher's exact test and ANOVA. RESULTS: Of the 145 LAGB patients, 120 had adequate data for analysis. AE had no association with weight loss at 6 months. At 12, 24, and 36 months following LAGB, patients who reported 150 min or more per week of exercise had an EWL of 35.5, 47.3, and 54.1 %, respectively, while those reporting 0-59 min per week of AE had an EWL of 25.3, 32.1, and 33.0 % (p = 0.03, 0.03, and 0.02, respectively). BMI and age was not statistically different among groups. Diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea were significantly improved in patients exercising at least 60 min per week as compared to those exercising 0-59 min. CONCLUSIONS: AE is significantly associated with weight loss and comorbidity resolution after LAGB. We propose that patients who perform more AE will have higher levels of EWL. PMID: 23196991 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]