squiggle

dehyrdation is baaaad. just went through that after i was banded. go to the er right away and get some Fluid. you'll feel better right away. this is a very serious thing, so if you think you might be, err on the side of caution. it's better to spend a few hours in the er with a drip in your arm than a few days in the hosptial. good luck!

my mother wouldn't introduce me at all.

yes, practicing habits will help. i had to wait on a lot of pre-op testing, and each delay felt like such a blow. i managed to take it all very, very personally. but, i decided to use that time to not exactly diet, per se, but to start eating like i already had the band. started using small plates, small forks and spoons, and chewingchewingchewing all of my food like 50 times. i figured that if i could get into that habit *before* i was dealing with the changes that the band was going to introduce to my life whenever i did manage to get it would ultimately be easier and more lasting. it also, in a twisted sort of way, made me feel like i was more actively involved in the process of waiting, as i was now 'practicing'. i'm thinking it helped. if nothing else, it passed the time and allowed me to think positively about the band instead of dwelling on all the delay.

that was totally my experience, too. i felt *awful* and i knew that i couldn't get anything in, and the first time i experienced that i couldn't believe that i was hungry! but i just listened to my body a bit and soon found out it was gas. made me really understand why gassy babies are always so frantic to nurse.

:huggie: thank you!

i've been having a lot of trouble with diarrhea since being banded and not being able to tolerate anything other than small sips of Water or ice. i was starting to feel much better this afternoon, even thinking about venturing out into broth. however, the loose stools came back with a vengence tonight, and on my doctor's orders i took a dose of immodium. we're both concerned about dehydration. i took 3 tbs of immodium, and then had to do a few sips of water to get the taste out of my mouth. very shortly, started to feel awful. cold sweat, chills, watering mouth, then i began to vomit HARD. all in all, i wretched six times very, very intensley. right now i feel much better, but my throat is raw and my voice is scratchy. have i damaged the band? i'm afraid to even sip any water for fear of this happening again. advice???

i'm amazed by how much better i'm doing! lessee...i started off thinning my Protein drink down to the consistency of Water. when that went down well i started drinking it straight. when *that* went down well, i made some cream of mushroom Soup with three cans of water and beat the lumps out of it with a hand mixer. when that went down well, i actually had some refried Beans tonight for dinner. i did thin them down with water, beat them with the mixer, and chewedchewedchewed. no problems at all. :biggrin1: :hungry: so i think i'm officially getting on the very verge of being able to tolerate mushies. if someone had said that to me last week, i would have thrown up on them. LOL. i'm still also pretty sure that the band is unharmed, as i'm getting full from six to seven ounces of nearly water consistency soup. it's really stunning how quickly dehydration can effect your body, but also how quickly you can bounce back from it. i even started a new job today.

you know, those all liquid pre-op diets must be brutal. i feel your pain. i was lucky to have a surgeon who required a low carb diet. no more than 30 net grams a day. are you at least allowed things like sugar free popsicles or Jello? if you are, you might find that the sweetness in them might help you fulfill your need for something other than liquids. just remember...every day down is a day closer to goal!!!

well, the other day i was out and about so i stopped and bought a large glass of ice at dairy queen. it TOTALLY tasted like french fries. sort of grossed me out. what's your pre-op diet consist of?

you know, you could be onto something... http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gallbladder-removal/AN00067 maybe you could ask your doctor about the mentioned prescription drugs to see what he thought? in the meantime, you could certainly add some benefiber or something to the foods that you are able to tolerate now. perhaps having something 'beefier' in your intestines might give the bile salts something to grab onto? i wouldn't think that Fiber would cause any problems if it doesn't work, as long as you don't go crazy with it.

garsh...thanks! i'm glad you liked it! this one is not for sale...a little girl owns it. ...although i should probably try to sound snooty and just say that it's in a "private collection".

no long term experience with this, sorry. however, can't antibiotics sometimes cause or worsen diarrhea?

welcome and good luck!!!

lessee what i can dig up about myself so that y'all get a chance to know me... 1. spent three months traveling and taking my time driving from texas to seattle and all points betwixt and between 2. witnessed bill cosby being a total a$$ to a perfume counter salesgirl and had all of my sweaterlovingjellopuddingpopeating illusions shattered. 3. lived next door to tony orlando of tony orlando and dawn. telma hopkins (one of the dawns and later on family matters) lived with him and i would go over to play with her son. big house with red walls, potted palms, and full of people and smoke all the time. 4. worked for CALL ME NOW!!! miss cleo as a telephone tarot card reader 5. had a very surreal conversation with a totally wasted johnny depp back in his dating kate moss hanging out with the butthole surfers days. odd, odd, little man. 6. picked up a paintbrush and started painting with no fear and total abandon just to see if i could do it. got hooked. 7. wrote an awful romance novel when i was nine. still have a copy of it (all 250 pages) tucked safely away in a garfield trapper-keeper in my closet. what did i know of romance back then? hell...what do i know of romance now? 8. got totally lost in london all by myself and ended up having *the most fun*. it was the best part of my vacation. 9. lived in a haunted house. 10. learned how to float and tape drywall when i was sixteen years old. 11. myself and my companions got sloppily drunk in las vegas, proceeded to get kicked out of three different casinos (one for trying to correct the grammar on the marquis) and ended up heckling the seigfried and roy sign on the strip. still not quite sure why... 12. started a greeting card company http://www.grumpycatgreetings.com a few months ago and here are a few samples of my paintings, since nobody asked. LOL http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/28094875/?qo=11&q=by%3Athemanda+sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps and http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/24884398/?qo=19&q=by%3Athemanda+sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps there's more at http://www.themanda.deviantart.com if you wanna delve deeper...

i realize that i'm just a baby bandster, so i really don't have anything that i can contribute as far as the amounts of weight lost or the fickle nature of the band. (i have, however, had one hell of a week that i've had the band if that earns me any points...) but, even if i have to struggle for every pound lost and i have to be ever vigilant about what goes in my mouth and how it goes in, i view that as one step away from all of the awful things that can happen when you're this overweight. sure, the band might be hard to manage, but so is diabetes. so is blood pressure. so is heart disease. nothing about being obese, morbidly obese, or even super morbidly obese is easy except getting there. even if my band only serves to act as my conscience or the pain in my butt sitting on my shoulder whispering "do better, do better" it will have been worth it. jmo. i am very sorry to hear about those that are having problems with the band, though. i can only imagine how frustrating and saddening that must be after going into this with such high hopes.

i LURVE craigslist! got my cats through a contact there. wonderful couple, great kittens. the only problem with cl is that it seems like people flake out a lot. either they don't show up when they say they will, or they're not home when you come, or they're unprepared when you get there. or, maybe that's just an austin thang... (i'm in san marcos, so spread my cl'ing between the two.) but when it works, MAN is it great!

okay, i'm back home. did go to the emergency room, and they admitted me straight away. i was so dehydrated it wasn't even funny. they had to give me four bags of Fluid alltogether. it took nearly three full bags before my body started to produce urine. yikes. also got morphine and some drugs to stop the nausea and the diarehha. after the fourth bag, i was able to start taking liquids by mouth again. drank a lot of Water and some apple juice, and then they allowed me to go home. the doc on call for my surgeon said he thought it was unlikely that i had slipped my band. based on the amounts of fluid i was able to take by mouth, he felt it was still in place. i'm not entirely sure, but i'll default to his experience. my surgeon will be back in town next week and i'll see him for my surgical follow-up, so i know we'll address the placement of the band at that time. for now, all i care about is that i'm able to drink and maintain fluid. i'll deal with other stuff later. i was finally able to start adding in some liquids other than water, too. for lunch just now i had about 5 ounces of a pre-made Protein drink before i got full. does that sound like the band is still there and working away? whew. i'm glad i'm starting to feel better. last week really, really sucked.

thanks, all. i have no idea what's going on. my stomach is just rolling and clenching, and i'm keeping a wet cloth on my neck and sniffing rubbing alcohol to try to stave off any more heaving. i'm just trying to make it through to the morning, then i'll drive the hour to the hospital where i had my surgery and go to the emergency room. right now, i want an iv, some anti-nausea meds, and some pain meds. i'm seriously, seriously miserable. i've been in tears on and off since it happened, worrying that the band got messed up, that i made a horrible mistake in even getting it. it's a true pity party of the highest degree. i'm pretty sure it wasn't a pb. i felt like my toenails were going to come up, and it was so loud it woke my son from a sound sleep.

okay, so far today i feel human. VERY annoyed with my doctor's office for not returning my call. they shall be hearing about that in full. so i ended up looking for natural remedies to dirreaha last night, and took one teaspoon of vinegar. then i sat down with a big old glass of Water and made myself just sipsipsip until it was all down, figuring that it would either all run right out of me or actually get to where my body needed it. went to bed about three am feeling like a giant water balloon. but...everything stayed in and stayed solid. woke up this morning and urinated. both good signs. ironically, while typing this the doctor's office called. they didn't really have anything to add, but they did say that if i started to feel badly again this morning/afternoon they wanted to see me.

i'm two days post-op. had some gas pains in the hospital in my shoulder and my side. right before release i started having very liquid bm's that passed a lot of gas, which felt better. now i'm just a slave to the potty. my intestines are just gurgling and rolling ALL THE TIME and everytime i start to walk i've got to run to make it to the throne in time. up till now i've been on Clear liquids because i just don't feel like i want anything else. i'm sipping on a Protein Drink right now because i thought that maybe something more substantial in my body might help? as far as meds go, i haven't needed to take anything very much. my last dose was an extra strenght tylenol liquid early last night. is this normal and temporary?

this just gets worse. i can't tolerate anything except sucking on ice. if i slip and take a swallow of Water, i almost instantly get explosive stools. i'm sooooooooo thirsty, though. i feel like a desert. i called my doctor's office and spoke with a nurse. she was going to call the dr on call and get back with me. i still haven't heard anything. i'm miserable. my head hurts, my stomach hurts, i feel like i'm going to die of thirst, and i can't get anything in.

i'm three days post-op now, and all i want is water. i feel like i just can't get enough of it. everything else i drink just makes me thirsty for water... any more than four sips of water and my stomach is fullfullfull and i start with the belching and the gas and the stomach rumblings. i was dreaming last night of sitting down with a big, full glass of water and just chugging it all down. ahhhh....

good luck!

thanks for the reassurance. i'm feeling very ucky right now. i'm not really in any real pain, but this is just so *distasteful*. bah. let it pass soon.

hey, jodie...'nother texas gal in a small town here, so i know what you're saying. a wal-mart, a dq, a bbq joint and a gas station, and then you're outta town. about exercise: you could do chair exercises for your upper body and just leave your knees totally out of the equation. the point is to get your heart rate up and to start burning calories. who cares how you do it? if you can't afford hand weights, fill your water bottles up and use those as weights. would it help your knees to wear braces? it sounds like if you had something to stablize the joints it would be less stressful for you. or maybe you could customize your bike with some reminder breaks, or something. i'm thinking maybe a bar on the front and a bar on the back that when you hit it it will remind you to not go any further or you'll overextend your knees. like a bumper, or something. i don't know how possible that would be... good luck!