Melissannde

Hi Caitlin, I'm banded 22 months. I still like to eat, but I can make better, healthier choices now that the appetite is more under control. You will get there, have patience. I sometimes think when they install the band, they remove our patience... we want the weight off NOW. You are doing very well for being banded only 2 weeks. Please remember that people who are doing well with their band tend not to spend time on the boards, but are out living their thinner lives. Those who are having problems are the ones who are most vocal. :/ Follow your doctors plans/guidelines/orders (whatever you like to call them) as closely as you can and you should do very well. And sometimes the band IS installed with Fluid already in it.. I came out of surgery with a starter fill of 3cc. Another lady I know (same doc as me) came out with 4ccs. Regards the Water, my surgeon says it may take a while to be able to drink 64 oz a day. Keep trying and you'll get there. I keep a water bottle practically velcroed to me.. LOL Congratulations on beginning your new life!

Mattie, it sounds like your band is beginning to work, even with no fill. As you get fills, you will likely find that while you will still get hungry, the hunger will be under more control and will happen further apart and you will be able to make better choices of what kinds of food to put in your body. This is not an absolute.. there will be days that you are hungrier than others, and days when choices aren't as good as others. Just try to string more good days together than bad. And it may take more than 1 fill to get good appetite dimming. Some people get it on one, others take 2 or 3 or 4. The time before your first fill is supposed to be about healing, not weight loss. The appetite control is why I got banded rather than doing weight watchers or some other plan. I don't want the band to be a strangulation device (restriction). I want to run a little bit loose. YMMV Congrats on the smaller meals and making the first steps. I believe you are on your way!

Like ElfiePoo, I am going to comment one more time on the "stupid" comment and then let it go. It is really unfair for you to make blanket comments such as "I think a lot of people probably read it that way" or the one you made earlier (perhaps I'm paraphrasing, but this is close enough) "the band doesn't work for most people". When you take other people's words into your mouth (well, fingers as we are typing) you ruin your own credibility. Also screaming in posts when you type all in caps and in violent colors is a huge turn off. Calm rational discussion will appeal to much more people. I'm really sorry you and your band don't get along. I'm really sorry you feel like you wasted your money. I can understand where you're coming from as the only reason my insurance covered my band is that I had had to have a life saving surgery 16 months earlier that met my deductible. The life saving surgery? We had to pay for a majority of it out of pocket. Being self employed sucks sometimes.. insurance wise. I have no idea, other than the 14 fills/unfills, what or how you have tried to make the band work. If you'd like to discuss it without making accusations or recriminations, I'd be happy to make suggestions and I'm sure others would here too. If you just want to complain about wasting money and bash surgeons.. oh well. It seems to me that the money has been spent, might as well try everything you can to make the band work before spending even more on another surgery (which will still require a life-style change). Best to you

Just a brief post to say I will reply to this later. I have college age kids in this house and we have to take turns at the computer (yes, no wireless here.. LOL.. I live in the dark ages somewhat). I don't take your reply as a knock at all.. you're trying to understand and that's good. I'm cool with rational discussion. Talk to you later. P.S. Most of the others who've replied re post banding long term eating are on the right track.. but I have my 2cents to add later.

No, you read it into it.

You can use "real" sugar if you budget for it in your daily calories. And provided diabetes isn't an issue. I don't know enough about diabetes to get into that discussion here, but I do know sugar is a problem for diabetics. Some people are sensitive to the artificial sugars, beyond just the tasting funny, they have GI issues. Keep trying different ones, you may eventually find a formulation that you can live with. Thankfully with banding you shouldn't have dumping issues like the RNY often does. One of the cardinal rules or guidelines of banding is No liquid Calories. So keep an eye on the amount of sugar you're using so that it doesn't stymie your weight loss. Hope this helps.

You're very welcome. I find many/most of Jessie's advice to be helpful. I give her a lot of credit for helping me understand how to work my band long term.

I didn't intend to tell anyone, but my husband let the cat out of the bag at his work (again hospital based), so there that went. LOL I don't tell everyone who comments on my loss, but I do share if someone seems very interested, especially if I see that they are someone who might benefit from banding. I agree with Pay It Forward. There has been one person at my gym who has gotten banded since watching me lose and another at my church who has visited my doctor and is in the process of deciding whether to band or sleeve. I also tell my other healthcare providers (big duh) and I've told the trainers I work with at my gym. I tell the trainers so that they understand when I don't want to do extreme situps (from a heads down position while sitting on a ball) or any other exercise that puts a huge amount of stress on the abdomen. Keyword, huge. I will do regular crunches and ab exercises, just not extremes. All my immediate family knows (sisters, brothers in law, parents are deceased), but not extended family. I'll tell if asked, but we're not in that close of contact.

Hi, When I read your original post I'm seeing 2 different questions. 1) not traveling 2 weeks after surgery 2) not traveling 2 weeks after a fill. The first one, yeah, I think you probably need to at least be close to home for the first two weeks after surgery. I say "close" as my surgeon is an hours drive from me and I know he does surgery on folks 2 or more hours away. In fact, I had a different surgery at a location 4 hours from home, but they didn't want me going any further until my first post-op check. Not traveling 2 weeks after a fill.. this is something my surgeon recommends. I've never tested it out, so I don't know how I would do. I don't like flying, so mine would only be in a car. I'm not trying to be negative, just giving my lack of experience! LOL. I would suggest sitting down and having a heart to heart with your surgeon about your concerns re fills and traveling. I suspect he/she worries that you might get too tight suddenly while away from home and not be where you could get an unfill. Or that you could get an unfill, but the cost of it would be prohibitive for you. Maybe you could get very small fills to alleviate that possibility. Maybe you could make arrangements for emergency care (just in case) with bariatric surgeons in the areas you visit on business. I hope ya'll can find a "work around". And not everyone needs fills. Some go long periods of time after banding before needing an adjustment. The very lucky make it all the way to goal without adding saline. Hope this helps some.

Hurray for you and hugs to your daughter.

This is an excellent question. I am still dealing with it almost 2 years out, but it really does become easier as time goes on. I want a new house.. the way mine is designed, you have to pass through the kitchen to do anything!! I now go to the gym 5 or 6 days a week. That takes up a good amount of my time. I am somewhat lucky in that my kids are older (college age, but still at home.. for now) and if they don't like the "healthy" foods I've fixed are quite capable of making a sandwich or whatever. Most of the time they do eat what I fix tho.. I read, crochet, and am slowly getting involved with Relay for Life. Before banding, I was so ashamed and shy, I was practically a hermit. I didn't go out of the house unless forced. Don't get me wrong, I'm still on the larger size.. still over 200, but am soooooo much better that I don't mind going out. Having been SMO for many years has given me a different perspective on life as being only Obese. Don't know if I'm expressing myself very well ...

I didn't see ElfiePoo use the word "stupid" anywhere in her post. Where do you get that from?

I think there's a weight loss conference in Vegas sometime in the future.... Congrats on the weight loss.

The post-op pain/nausea can also be affected by what kind of pain meds you are given. Many are given liquid vicodin. Good stuff, but can cause nausea in those who are sensitive to it. My post-op pain was not well controlled because I was given only Darvocet!! NEVER again will I let someone cut into my abdomen with only Darvocet as post-op medication. I tried to tell the NP that Darvocet would not be enough at my pre-op appt. She assured me it would be.. I was right, she was wrong. I got through it, but was not a happy camper and let her know it at my 2 week visit. And that was stupid of me. I should've called and insisted on better pain coverage from the get-go. Call your surgeon if you don't have adequate pain control. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi Swirl, I know this wasn't addressed to me, but to Lolly Moe, but I hope you won't mind if I respond. What I ate before surgery were things like Fried catfish, plates (multiple) of nacho's, tortillas, fried chicken, baked potatoes, along with healthy things like broccoli and cauliflower. I also ate cheese on almost everything (except the fried foods.. lol). Anything in the house was fair game. Tortilla chips were ALWAYS in the pantry. Now, I eat baked fish, baked chicken, thick Soups made with lean (at least 90/10) grnd beef or turkey, pot roast made with leaner cuts of beef. I almost never have a potato. I will sometimes cook green Beans with new potatoes, and I might have about 1/2 of a golf-ball sized portion of the red potato, but that's it. Tortilla chips are a rare treat now, mainly at a restaurant. I buy 2% cheese and limit my intake of it. I do eat low fat, but that is a personal choice. I know lots of people who don't agree and eat full fat products and if that works for them.. great!! I go low fat for two reasons, 1) it has helped me with weight loss and 2) I have some very small GB stones that act up if I eat too much fat. I could have GB surgery, but I don't want it and am trying to avoid it by eating low fat. So far it's working.. last GB attack was July 4 when I ate two pork ribs in succession. I probably could've gotten by with eating 1.. but 2 was too many. :/ I rarely eat fried foods now. My husband and I go out to eat about once a week. Sometimes he'll order something like fried shrimp.. I'll order grilled fish .. and we share. He gets a bite of my fish and I get one of his shrimp. Of course I'd like more, but I like my smaller pants lots better. ::shrug:: I'm not perfect.. back in December I caved and had a full fried dinner. It was very good and I lucked out and didn't have a GB attack. whew. I didn't have to do a pre-op diet other than 1 day of Clear liquids, so I was still eating carbs post-op (well, after getting back to solids). I gradually weaned myself off of breads, tortillas, rice, Pasta, etc. Took a while. Hope this helps you some. I'll be glad to discuss this more if you're interested. Again, please excuse my jumping in to your discussion with LollyMoe.

I do the same thing but with Zucchini for the pasta. My husband sometimes does Atkins and he eats the "Dreamfield" brand pasta. Barilla makes a pasta with10 grams protiein in 2oz.. but it also has 210 calories in those 2 oz.. yikes!! Last time I made spaghetti sauce, I grated my zucchini and then had 1/2 oz of the Barilla mixed in with it. It wasn't enough to spike my blood sugar and make me too hungry later. Might not work for everyone so proceed with caution. We really like boiled cabbage in this household.. well DH & I do, kids (college age) haven't gotten a sophisticated enough palate yet.. so I may try the cabbage as spaghetti noodles since he's getting serious about Atkins again.

The length of time I stay full varies, but with a good fill, it's usually about 4 hours. Things that can cause variation: what I ate, emotional state, amount of weight lost recently, how much Water I'm drinking, how busy I am. When I'm going through a period when I'm eating correctly (dense Protein and a good amount of it) and it's not time yet for a fill, but I'm hungry sooner than I'd like.. I push fluids. Not easy this time of year as I don't want to drink as much because of the cold.. and I'm not fond of unsweet hot stuff .. blah, blah, blah.. Hang in there.

Doesn't work that way for me. If I depended on physically being prevented from eating.. it wouldn't work. I could still eat everything in the house. The way the band works for ME (and more than a few others) is that we eat our measured portions, and we step away from the table. Wait 20 minutes and see if our hunger is gone. Still hungry.. have more veggies (provided they're not loaded with high calorie butter or some sauce). Did you read Dr. Simpson's article? I don't want to go over it again if you have.

1/2 cup of food sounds way too small to me. But then again, 3oz Protein & 1/2 cup veggies sounded way too little to me 2 years ago..and now sometimes it looks like a lot. Maybe.. no, definitely, my perceptions have changed. yes, there needs to be a better word than restriction. I really try not to use it. I prefer "appetite suppression" or dimming or something like that.

Unfortunately, the band doesn't do all the work, you have to work the band. The good news is that once you start getting enough Fluid in the band, your appetite is dimmed enough that whatever amount of will power you have, it becomes stronger. And each time you resist something, that little bit of will power grows. Some thoughts about Will Power by Jessie Ahroni (posted on Smartbandsters ~ a yahoo group~ on 1-9-2011 Re: Willpower People usually have core beliefs about their own "willpower." Some feel that their willpower is strong; others blame a lifetime struggle with obesity on lack of willpower. Regardless of what your belief is about willpower, we invite you to rethink the concept altogether. What if willpower is not some special gift that you either have or don't have? What if willpower is simply the following: * A trigger (an internal or external experience that leads to an impulse) * An impulse (in this case, a desire to eat or stuff down feelings with food) * A decision (in this case, a decision to eat or not to eat) * An action (in this case, acting on the decision to eat or not to eat) What if willpower is simply a trigger, followed by an impulse, followed by a decision, followed by an action? You already possess every power needed to make good choices about your health and what you eat. Learn to break down this sequence and make a decision to eat only if you are physically hungry. Make a list of alternative activities to fill up 10-15 minutes the next time you are tempted to eat when you are not physically hungry.

My site to track is www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate. I mainly count calories, but keep an eye on sugars, fats, carbs. I also record my exercise (calculated by a polar HR monitor) and my water consumption.

Since it's been almost 2 years since I was banded, I don't remember the precise progression, but my doctor has most of his banded patients back on soft solid foods by two weeks. If you want to take it slower than what your doc says, that shouldn't be a problem. And I too could eat bread when first banded. It often takes a few fills to get to where bread is an issue. But, everyone is different.. there are those who can't tolerate it right off the bat. :: shrug :: Just be careful of the "white carbs", ie potatoes, rice, Pasta, bread and also corn. These things are high glycemic and tend to spike our blood sugar. Then when the blood sugar drops, we become ravenously hungry. I know it's not easy to do without them, at least at first, but if you find yourself hungry sooner than you'd like to be.. try weaning yourself off of these types of foods. There are lower glycemic alternatives that you can use if you are interested. Congrats on being banded. You're on your way!!

You might benefit from reading Dr. Simpson's article "It's not about restriction" http://drsimpson.net/newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter.html

My doctor's post fill protocol is liquids day of fill, soft foods evening of fill, back to regular food as tolerated the next day. If anything gives trouble (stuck, soreness, etc) back down and progress a little more slowly. Have you tried drinking some kind of warm liquid? coffee, tea, Water with lemon? warmth often loosens the band just a tad. Or tried a chewable papaya enzyme? If something is "stuck" the papaya may help it dissolve and move on down. Hope you feel better soon.

It is unlikely at this point to have slipped your band. However, anything can happen. I would suggest that you call your doctor Monday and confess that you misunderstood the postop eating instructions and what you did consume and for how long and ask for their help. I'm proud of you for realizing your mistake and getting back on track. That's excellent. I know it's scary to contemplate calling the doctor, but I'll bet you're not their first patient to fall off the post-op diet. They need to know so that they can help you. Try not to worry, worrying won't help anything. Just follow the postop plan and call the doc.