Allformyson

I haven't been on here in a while, not sure if my info is up to date. I had my surgery in April 2009. Lost 60 of the 100 I need to lose. Seems like I should be further along with it wasn't because of the band, but because I wasn't always on track all the time. Anyway, I've been dealing with a lot of reflux and burning symptoms. I knew I had a tight band but I still felt like I was able to eat way too much. To make a long story short, my doc send me for an upper GI and low and behold my band slipped. All of my Fluid was removed from the band. I wait 2 weeks for a repeat upper GI and see if the band went back into place. If it does, he said they can start to slowly refill it. If it doesn't, looks like I'm having it removed. He questioned me as for my reasons for wanting the band over another procedure. (btw - my new doc isn't who did the surgery as I moved to a different state about a year ago). I think he would rather not put a band back in, though it is up to me. He mentioned a sleeve which I don't know much about but will have to research. Also said I could just take the band out and have nothing. I'm not worried about the surgery itself (other than financial), but I feel like the slippage was definitely my fault..not feel..it is. I know it was in the right place after the surgery. Anyway, anyone have experience with this. Thanks.

Update! After all of my fill was taken out all of the reflux symptoms disappeared, which has been very nice. Obviously I was overfilled. I was at about 7.25 out of a large 10 cc band. The reflux started when I went up to 7. So anyway, yesterday I had another upper GI. The band went back into place!!!! No surgery needed!! My doc refilled me up to 4 and said we won't go as high as 5 or 6.

Well if anyone can be 100% perfect all the time, then more power to them. I have excuses..yes calling them excuses...tired single mom, just want to pass out instead of exercise, was separated and divorced in last year, went out and drank too many calories.....so yes it was me, not the band. That said, my doc said I am well above average for weight loss statistically. The most honest part I think is still knowing that I need something to help control my portions. The next two weeks will be very telling, since I have no restriction now. But I am hoping for no surgery at this point.

I am a little over 5 months post op, had 4 fills. I started at around 245 and am currently 209 and haven't lost any weight in about 2 months. It is all my fault, as I had pretty good restriction with my last fill. I could probably go for one more fill but I'm holding off for now because of what is happening. I am very tight in the morning and afternoon. I usually eat 2 scrambled eggs in the morning and I can still get those down most of the time, but sometimes I have some pain (I think I'm eating too fast still). I was eating chicken or tuna for lunch and recently switched to Protein shakes because the solid Protein gets stuck more often and/or causes pain. The problem is that by dinner I am very hungry and I can eat anything literally! The problems with Breakfast and lunch don't exist at dinner and I probably eat too much. I am also finding I snack more on foods that will go by the band easier without the pain (yogurts, cheese for example). Is that strange to be really tight in the morning and not so much in the evening? I think I need to buckle down and figure out how many calories I can eat and still lose weight. I haven't done it before because I was relying on the band to do it all for me. How did you go about figuring it out? Thanks.

Oh, I'm not giving up!! I realize I need to do more work now (it was nice in the beginning when the weight just melted off) and I'm willing to do whatever I need to do.

I have lost about 35 lbs so far. I haven't lost much in the past 2 months but I think that is mostly my fault. I just had my 4th fill about 2 weeks ago. I think I'm somewhere around 5-6cc in a 10cc band. I haven't had much restriction until now, but some other things have changed too. I do get stuck slightly more often which I think is due to me still eating too fast. But lately certain foods have been painful to eat. I don't know how to describe it, but it seems like when the food hits my stomach, a razor is cutting me from the inside. I'm wondering if I should get another fill (have an appt in 3 weeks). I would actually like to get fuller faster but this pain isn't pleasant. It's not just with certain foods either. I had no problem with eggs before and I have been getting pain at time with eggs. Thanks.

I am 3 1/2 months post surgery and have so far lost about 35 lbs total, had 3 fills so far. This past month my hair has really started to fall out (and too bad it's not the grays falling out lol). Not so bad that I have a bald spot, but by the end of a shower I do have a handful of hair. I think I am getting enough Protein and calories. M weight loss has slowed, so I don't think lack of calories is the problem. I probably eat too much at this point and trying to figure out how much I can eat and still lose weight. I surely haven't hit my sweet spot with the fills yet. I take my Vitamins as directed. I haven't been using Protein shakes and just trying to get my protein from food: eggs, chicken, beef, dairy, fish. I was thinking maybe I should start having shakes. My doc also recommended Biotin as a supplement. Anyone else have any advice. I also have been under a lot of stress lately, but this sure isn't the first time I've been under stress. But I'm sure it isn't helping. Please help if you can!

I had my first fill about a month ago. I received 3 cc in a 10 cc band. Sorry, I don't know the technical name for the bank I have, but I apparently have the larger of the two 10cc bands, if that makes any sense to anyone. When I first got the fill I was pretty satisfied with little food. Now, about 3 weeks later, I barely feel satisfied. I am astonished about what I can eat sometimes. Definitely not like it was preband, but more than a probably should. I have still lost some weight since last fill, maybe about 3-4 lbs. I will get another 1cc at the next fill. Just wondering if there is anyone went thru something similar.

Has anyone's doc or nutritionist ok'd these products? I am on mostly soft food and can eat chicken and fish too. I'm just getting a little tired of them all the time and found some Morningstar black bean burgers in my freezer. One has 11g of protein. I'm going to predict they are probably ok b/c I'm sure there are some vegetarian banders out there ..but wanted to get thoughts.

Wow. I thought I had it bad waiting 1/2 hour. It is hard, especially when it's hot out and, for me at least, eating almost all protein, which makes me very very thirsty too.

Does anyone have issues with cooking for the family after you had your surgery? I can imagine the smell of food alone makes it difficult or are you so full that it doesn't bother you? There are some things my DH likes that I can't stand so I was planning on making those at first. This might sound kinda funny but I also have a 14 month old whose food might be more tempting. He's only starting to get molars now so he is still on somewhat soft foods (as in no hard/crunchy stuff and he doesn't like meats yet) so a lot of his foods are what I imagine I would be eating eventually. The problem there is that until age 2, his foods are made with whole milk, cheese, cottage cheese, etc.

After the initial painful period after surgery I had no desire for food. After a while certain smells (as well as being hungry) would make me crave food. But knowing I could do some real damage to myself has kept me from giving into any craving. It's more like a passing thought now..like "oh that smells good, I'd would eat that if I could", then it goes away. I heard of some people who allow themselves a small piece of chocolate or 1 hershey kiss. I think there is room for it in moderation, especially something like dark chocolate that has antioxidants & flavonoids in it.

Actually, the hunger isn't too bad compared to being on liquids where I was hungry a lot. Volume makes a big difference. I eat 2 oz 4x day. 1 egg = 1oz so I eat 2 eggs in the morning and it is very filling. Compared to 2 oz yogurt which can leave you hungry and hour later. This said, my weight loss has completely stalled at this point.

My plan is close to crzytchr. I am my first week of mushies + allowed chicken but only get a total of 1 cup of food a day which increases over the next 2-3 weeks until I need to reach the 50-60g Protein goal. I think right now I'm only taking in 15-20g protein probably. I actually break the meals into 4x day instead of 3 which helps with the hunger.

My doc stresses Protein (my doc does 1 week of some allowed carbs for some volume, then cuts them out again) and exercise. Just follow your doctors orders and the plan he gives you. I just started mushies today too and I'm expecting the weight loss to slow some but I'm still eating such small portions, I can't imagine gaining. Let's hope!

I agree with all the above. The key will be to find something you enjoy. There are many options, walking, home video, take a dance class, take any class, learn something you've always wanted to. Sometimes doing things in a group is more fun if you find the solo activities boring.

I take Flintstone's Complete with Iron 2x day. That doesn't have or not enough calcuim so I take Viactiv 2x day. 2 Viactive = 100% RDA for calcuim.

I was banded on the 16th too! About a 2 or 3 days ago my hunger came back too and it is really hard. I'm usually ok in the morning and evening but getting thru the day is really hard. I haven't strayed from the "allowed" list but at times I have had extra serving of Ensure here or there. Doc says 1/4 up of Ensure 4x day - 12g Protein total. And then I see people here drinking 50+. I'm drinking 250 calories a day..I don't understand how anyone can say hunger is in the head when you are drinking 250 calories a day. Can you tell I'm grumpy and not loving my band yet? lol. I have lost 12 lbs already though. I think that is great for now but I honestly don't want it to be that way every week. I have my post op Monday and get to start some soft foods then. Hang in there.

I stayed overnight and glad I did too for the reasons stated by the above poster. The IV pain meds were great and so was the non-flat bed. When I started the prescription meds they didn't help as much and glad I had the day of IV meds. I even watched some movies and favorite shows on the TV which doesn't happen at home with a very active toddler.

Sounds like a plateau. How long have you been doing that same workout? Maybe you need to change things up a little. Drop cardio to 4/wk and add in an extra weight training day. Or try something totally different.

I had my surgery on the 16th and I still haven't had a BM. Today I took some Milk of Magnesia but nothing yet. I wasn't on a pre-op diet so I had a regular dinner the night before surgery and I'm surprised I haven't had one yet.

Hi everyone. I was banded on Thurs (4/16) and stayed overnight at the hospital. My pain was very controlled in the hospital with the morphine except for walking around makes my stomach feel like everything moving around in there. My doc does a barium swallow/x-ray and after that the gas pains started (maybe just a coincidence?) but the gas is getting better. Then once the x-ray showed everything was good, they took me off the morphine and would only give me the prescription stuff I'm taking here at home. Doesn't seem to help as much but today I think I'm doing better overall. My pain is mainly in the port area and it feels swollen and hard at the same time. It still hurts to walk around much. Then to top it off, I got my period last night - UGH! I'm just trying to drink as much as I can and am drinking the Ensure which I don't think tastes bad at all. Maybe today I'll try some of the broth for a change. So far I don't mind not having food and I'm not very hungry otherwise.

I didn't have to do a preop diet, just couldn't gain any weight. I didn't do any major splurges either...it wasn't going to make me miss or not miss certain food later I figured what was the point. The nurse advised that if you do do any major splurges do them well in advance of surgery. She cited someone who ate a whole cheesecake the night before sugery.

I'm scared I will get canceled... tomorrow is my pre-op and my mild cold got worse over the weekend. I think my congestion is getting better but sore throat and now glands are back. I tried Zicam (waste of $9), drinking lots of OJ, doubling my Vitamins..anything and everything. Surgery is Thurs. My husband took off work to take care of my son (and me) and he wont' be able to take anymore time off anytime soon.

My 14 mo old has a slight cold and I will inevitably get it too. I already feel it in my throat. Will this postpone my surgery if I'm not better soon? It is a week from tomorrow.