justme2u

just banded 12/10. i don't remember much about leaving surgery center, didn't talk to surgeon afterwards, but now I am a little surprised at my port location. It is almost to the middle of my stomach and is about 2 inches under my left breast. I did not discuss port location with my surgeon (my fault) but when I brought a list of questions to the office I did discuss it with the Nurse that I did most of my dealings with before the surgery and the location she indicated is not where he port my port. Very difficult to wear a bra. Anyone else have this problem or have theirs so high up?

I had a fill on 4/9. I was very tight and for 5 days couldn't keep anything but liquid down. By the 7th day started eating food again, very tiny bites and chewing really well. Now I have had this feeling of pressure in my stomach and chest. Even waking up in the morning, I felt like I had something heavy in my stomach. I was able to eat two scrambled eggs this morning, still full and pressure 6 hours later. Is this normal? Surgery 12/10/08 no fill 3/12/09 first fill 3 cc's 4/9/09 second fill 1.5 ccs

I chose the lapband because it is a slower and healthier way to lose weight compared to GB surgery. My surgeon makes his patients wait 3 months after surgery for the first fill. That is an eternity in Bandster Hell...... I finally got my first fill of 2cc's in a 10cc band this week. My weight loss has been very slow, but steady.. I was banded 12/10 and down 28 lbs. I started an exercise bootcamp and do that for an hour and a half 2 days a week. That is the most intense exercise you can imagine. I also do cardio for 30 minuts on my own 2 days a week. But I am so sick and tired of people who know I have had the surgery, looking me up and down and getting that look like, what went wrong with your surgery because I am still fat. 28 lbs on someone my size is nothing..... I guess they all expected me to be a size six by now. I can see the look in my co-workers and family memebers. It just pisses me off... Ok, I'm done venting...

I was initially never told, but there is a lady on here who had her band removed because of over use of asprin. When I read this I looked at Allergen (the manufacture of my band) and it states on there to use caution with NAISD because they have been associated with band erosion so I asked my surgeon and he told me to take it occasionally was fine, but not on a daily basis. Just my 2 cents.

um, yeah. My husband convinced me to try it one time after too many drinks. It hurt so bad, cannot imagine doing this for fun.

I am almost 6 weeks post op, an am just getting to the point where I don't obsess with it. I would get the creeps thinking I allowed a foreign object in me. Then there is the worry of leaks, slippage, errosion and couldn't believe I made this decision. I remember on the way home from the hospital I cried because I was so disgusted with it in me. But time does make it better. Like I said, I rarely think about it, unless when I lay down to sleep, eat, or am working out, then I obsess about it again.

I suffer terrible migraines. Take Topamax to help control them and Fiorinal when I get one. When I went on my pre-op diet I had a terrible migraine that lasted for about 5 days. I couldn't take my medicine because it contains asprin so called the doctor and they said I was going thru withdrawal from caffeine and sodium. Other than make sure you get your nutrients and protien there wasn't much I could do until it passed. Amazingly post op I felt great, my body got used to it and now I don't drink any caffeine and watch my sodium and have only had one migraine in the last month. (I average 1 every week)

I was just banded by Dr. Carter on 12/10/2008. I thought he was nice but was dissapointed and surprised when I went for my post - op appt and didn't get to see him but one of the office workers. I am trying to accept that I have to wait 8 more weeks for my first fill.

Ok. I am 4 weeks post op, lost 18lbs with the pre-op diet up to now. But for the last week and a half I have not dropped a pound. Not gained anything either, which is good. I know I am in what everyone calls Bandster hell but I still have 8 more weeks till my first fill. Up to now, I have not been eating much, so didn't think I needed to count my calories; however, after this standstill decided I would give it a try. I had no idea where to begin. I found this really neat site www.thedailyplate.com and it counts everything for you. It is the easies thing I have found to help me. It tracks your water consuption, exercise and for me, most importantly calories and protien. Thought I would share. By the way, I swear my nutritionist said I should only have 1000 calories a day. Doesn't this sound really low. I mean, I have no restriction so am going at it alone on this and I'm thinking if that is all i had, then I could have done this on my own without surgery. course I wouldn't have the hope of fills coming up to help me stick to it.

I am 4 weeks post op and on solid food now. I know how you feel. I feel miserable. I am eating 1/4th of what i did before surgery, walking and still nada..... I have been at 18lbs lost for the last week and a half. Plus with everyday I can tell i am having less and less post op restriction and able to eat more and more. At first it seemed like a great idea for my surgeon to wait 12 weeks (3 Months) after surgery for the first fill, but now it doesn't sound so great to me. I have feakin 8 more weeks to go in Bandster Hell...........Sorry venting.... I too am getting so discouraged and depressed over all this. At least we know we are not alone.

I took Phentermine for 8 months back in 2001 and dropped 82lbs in those 7 months. It was great, I never ate, completly lost my appetite. It is an appetite suppresant and speeds up your metabolism so you will sweat, get hot flashes and terrible dry mouth. Can raise your blood pressure and should not take it if you have any heart problems as it can make your heart race. I could just eat a hard boiled egg for dinner and be fine. After I got off the pill my appetite came back with a vengance. When I stopped seeing the weight Dr. it was terrible, I gained the 82lbs back in about 9 months, plus another 20 on top of that. It totally screws up your metabolism.

I always start on the top and work my way down. Face, neck, arms, boobs. But for some reason my stomach is the last go.

I am saving money as I type this to have a tummy tuck and give the girls a lift. I know from all my yo-yo dieting and pregnancy that I will need it.

vonnie, did you get banded yet? I used Dr. Carter. I am ok with him. I was disappointed that at my 3 week post op appt I didn't get to see him at all but only the office people. I wish that when you had a post op appointment you actually spoke with the person that actually performed the surgery.

Do either of you know of a support group in Arlington? My surgeon has a support group but it is too far to drive after work and I wouldn't make it so I was looking for one in Arlington/Mansfield area.

dnurse, I have aetna and they paid for my surgery. I went to True Results off Precinct Line in Hurst. They contacted my insurance and did everything for me. My aetna plan had me go thru 4 months supervised diet, cardiologist, chest x-ray, see a Psychologist etc.... But True Results took care of everything for me, it was so easy. www.trueresults.com. I picked Dr. Carter but they have other surgeons that I know others have gone to that they love them.

Hah, I have been wondering the same thing since surgery, but low and behold it happened to me last night for the first time and trust me, You will KNOW when it happens. I took a long nap yesterday, and for some reason when I lay down and get up, my band is terribly tight. I didn't wake up last night until around 8pm and was starving. I went into the kitchen to heat up some pot roast with gravy on it but while it was heating up, I grabbed a potato and took a huge bite out of it, thinking I would just chew it up to mashed potato form and I swallowed. I guess the bite was way to big and then the chest pain set in, it radiated to my back. Then my mouth started watering like crazy. I tried to take a drink of something to wash it down and that was WAY the wrong thing to do. Then I started burping and up with the burps came the drink mixed with the potato. That kept happening over and over for about 5 minutes util I think the potato was all up. (sorry so graphic) Needless to say I was so darn scared, I lost my appetite and waited about and hour and just drank a protien shake. YOU WILL KNOW WHEN IT HAPPENS!!!

I'm with poodles. For some reason this has been a much harder recovery for me. Not sure if it is because I am older, more out of shape, or what, but for me it was the gas pain. It was so terrible and no amount of pain meds will ease the gas pain. After my emergency c-section, by the third day I was up and drove to my work to show off the new baby. I expected that this time. but by the thrid day I was still moping around in serious pain. I couldn't imagine leaving the house and driving the car. I am almost four weeks post op now and still my port site is terribly sour and I have constant pain in side and back.

I am new to all this as just banded, but I believe it is safe to say just about everyone on this board has a problem with food or we wouldn't have gone to this extreme. I am only 3 weeks post op and have already had a break down because I wanted to eat so darn bad and my dh and son can eat everything and I just watch and I got so upset and started crying. I truely miss my food. I am an emotional eater. I did have an appt last week with my Surgeon and they asked me if I have had any emotional problems yet and said that is why they wait 12 weeks for the first fill so that we have time to work out our emotions. I sure hope they are right. Good luck, I know we can all beat this.

Although I'm almost 3 weeks post op and have been too scared to try alcohal yet, I did ask my nutristionist and surgeon about bloody mary's (my favorite drink) and they both agreed it was a good drink if I used Spicy V8 because of the nutritional content. They did warn me to be careful though because of the sodium. New Year's here I come, figured I would try my first Bloody Mary then.

Good question. I was banded 12/10 and am just finishing up a terrible sinus infection, tons of blowing nose, sneezing and coughing and I swear I can feel my band now evertime I eat or k. Plus my port site has swollen back up. Can't wait to see other responses.

I was banded 12/10 and my port site is still very tender. If I bend wrong or do to much then it starts throbbing. I have been to one post op appt and have another on in 5 days. I am sure this is all normal.

We are supposed to be here to support each other and share our experiances. No one that I know of on this site is an actual surgeon and should be degrading someone for their decisions. I too did tons or research, I have one of the best surgeons in the DFW area who has been preforming this suregery since 2000. He has preformed thousands of surgeries and his post op diet consists on days 1-5 liquid, 5-10 mushie then by day 14 on to regular food. He also gave me a book to read written by Paul O' Brian MD. The Lap-band Solution a partnership for weightloss. Page 119 discusses why there are variations in surgeons. My point is that as long as you follow YOUR surgeons rules, he/she has reason for them and these other people on this website who apparently are "self described experts" want to tell you that you are doing it all wrong need to show me the MD after their name. By the way the book states that one week after surgery liquid, week 2-3 mushie then solid. These are the standards accepted by the Centre for Bariatice Surgery in Melbourne.