2muchfun

Look at your band site(stoma) as if it's a funnel. Large and even small chunks of food can plug it up. For me, it's usually just too much food eaten too fast that impacts and overwhelms the pouch area in front of the stoma. For example: Triscuits with all their little crisp threads, even chewed to mush, seem to behave like a dam in front of my stoma and no food can pass till the esophageal peristalsis contractions force the bolus of food to pass the stoma. Dry foods like chicken, roast pork and beef seem to struggle getting through my stoma. It rarely is painful for me but it is quite uncomfortable. It happened Saturday night at a restaurant. I had to wait about 30 minutes for it to pass. Sometimes, it can take an hour to pass. I've never been one who can PB(productive burp) these up. I do slime a lot though. Sliming is when your esophagus creates a lot of saliva/phlegm to lubricate the path through to the stomach. If you're home, you can spit it up. I've spent several minutes in restaurant bathrooms spitting up gobs of slime. It seems to reduce the pressure and discomfort. Ask me anything? I've probably been stuck 300 times in the last 2 years.

Here's a simple explanation as to why we stall after 2 weeks: http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html And to those of you that believe they should be losing 10+ lbs a month? This is not a realistic goal. Just do the math. You may lose this kind of weight the first month but after that 4-6 lbs is more realistic. Very heavy people(mostly guys) who participate in extreme exercising for long periods may lose this kind of weight, but most of us can only look forward to a 500-700 calorie/day deficit which equals about 1.4 lbs a week. jmo tmf

I had no real pre-op diet. Just told to take it easy the day before and just liquids for dinner the night before. But, my surgery was the Monday following Thanksgiving, so I went out with a bang. We don't eat turkey for Thanksgiving, we have prime rib. I bought a prime, prime rib from costco and pigged out Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sick of food by Sunday and ready for surgery on Monday.

When you say puking, do you mean hurling/vomiting from your lower stomach or do you mean PBing?

Oh, and like many other forums, we have trolls here too!

It's rarely up to you as to how much is put in your band. Trust your doctor. No it doesn't hurt and if you want to see a visible demo just go to youtube and search lapband fills.

?? Did you pass out??

As said before, every doc is different and most docs will look at each patient as an individual. Low BMI patients may not need to go on a 2 week pre-op diet. I know I didn't. But if you have 200 lbs to lose, it may be necessary? Trust in your doctor. He/she may have more insight into your health than anyone on an anonymous website forum? tmf

Fluids, fluids, fluids.

Surgeon fees are subject to an allowable by the insurance company. Some docs will charge $10K but then the insurer will only allow $1600-$3000. So, 20% should be around $320-$600. The surgeon usually accepts the allowable by the insurer and of course, your co-pay? tmf

People have written 500+ page books on this subject. Explore the lap-band pages as much as you can. You'll encounter several horror stories and more success stories. My one piece of advice is this: My doctor and nutritionist never told me what to expect after surgery. I really thought I'd immediately start losing weight by the pounds. I thought I'd come out of surgery and I'd immediately be less hungry and eat less. Nothing could be farther from the truth. None of this happens till your band is properly adjusted and for me that was 4-7 months after surgery. The 4 months after surgery were "Bandster Hell" for me and you'll read here that this is normal. You may not lose any weight post surgery till your band is adjusted(filled). Your band may not have any saline in it so you might be starving for months after surgery. This is the part where you're still on a diet if you want to maintain or lose lbs. Just remember I told you You may also drop 50 lbs in a few months, let's hope so eh?

Have you found the incision where the port is?

What Cheryl said! Our bodies do not like change and your body could be throwing a tantrum trying to persuade you into feeding it food it likes? When you went on a diet before this, did you also get nauseated? tmf

A stuck episode seems to come from the sternum area. Maybe you got something stuck? Most stuck episodes take care of themselves in a few hours though. Can you swallow Water?

I just looked through your gallery. You're a walking talking billboard for WLS. Your doctor should create an ad around your success. tmf

I've always been aware of what it took to lose weight and if I could lose 2 lbs a week I was grateful. But when I was banded, I got this googley eyed notion I was going to lose 10 lbs every month. And you know what? I didn't? So, if you're new or in a stall. Do the math. Every pound put on came from 3500 calories you consumed. So, every lb of fat you lose will require you burn off 3500 more calories than you consume(easy to get googley eyed and forget this) So, if your body needs 1400 calories a day to function normally, and let's say you walk and burn off 300 calories a day through exercise, you're body needs 1700 calories/day to maintain. And if you consume 1000 calories/day your deficit will be 700 calories a day or 4900/week. That equals about 1.4 lbs a week you'll lose. Now throw in Water weight gains and losses it's going to be up and down but mostly down. Good luck.

I used to get those signals. Now, occasionally I'll get a hiccup or two but mostly I start to feel pressure near my sternum where the pouch is so I stop for a while to see if it stays or goes away.

People with food addictions or dependency are like most other addicts. It's hard to quit and for many a lifetime of over-indulgent habits die hard and some never do. A properly adjusted band won't allow us to eat as we once did. We can't drink and eat, we can't force a swallow with another forkload of food, we can't evade chewing, and some foods just don't agree with the band. So, some banders learn how to "eat around" their bands by consuming ice cream, pop, Cookies, candy, chips etc. A lifetime of eating taco bell, McDonalds and KFC can be impossible for some to leave behind, so they don't. Serious people who understand the serious nature of their lifestyles understand they must change and consume healthy foods or suffer the consequences. Success rests entirely on the patients willingness and/or strength to leave the old lifestyle behind. tmf

So true However, on rare occasions, for me, it helps me get past major disappointments in my life. For instance. My Denver Broncos got their butts handed to them last Sunday Cheesecake and pizza for a couple of days got me through my 2 day mourning period. Yeah, feeling awful over a stupid football team is silly, but I'm a guy, what can I say. But I now know for a fact that comfort food does assuage my guilt, disappointment and emotional issues. So, after 2 days, back on track and feeling better. Food is great and it's much better than beating my wife(as if I could, 3rd degree blackbelt in tae kwon do).

If it was a slip you'd be in pain, reflux, unable to swallow many foods etc. You may just need a fill? What are you eating daily?

My my, you're a hottie!!

So good to see you're getting this so early. Congrats.

Whew! I almost went back 3 times and erased my post thinking I was being too harsh. Sometimes my online filter takes a siesta

Sounds like you're still in Bandster hell? I was in BH for 4 months. Not until my 3rd fill 4 months post surgery did I start to feel that satiety you speak of. Then by my 6th fill I was in the green zone. The feeling of satiety can be elusive and sometimes non-existent for many banders. It's a subtle feeling for me and I have to look for it. This is the time we refer to as being one with your band. Or, getting in touch with your band. It's not really the band we want to communicate with, we want to look for that trigger that says, I'm no longer hungry? It's a difficult one since most of us have always thought the "full" feeling is when we can stop and sometimes it was the stuffed feeling before we felt we could stop. So, look for triggers like burping, hiccups, runny nose to see if you're no longer hungry? Do not look for the full feeling. If you're looking for full, you'll eat too much. tmf

I don't see much information from you but you might want to eliminate the idea that the band does the work? The band is there to assuage your appetite not to stop you from eating. How many calories do you consume a day? Do you track every calorie you consume? What kind of exercise? What kind of foods do you eat? Losing weight is simple math. Burn more calories than you consume and you lose weight. This may be as little as .5 lbs per week so don't expect big swings of 3-4 lbs per week unless you're eating slider foods or sweets? Go back to how you behaved when you lost weight last spring? What were you doing different?