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Have you been checked for diabetes. Excessive thirst is one of the signs?

Just read some info and apparently this one is not a statin - not sure if that makes any difference. http://www.drugs.com/zetia.html In rare cases, cholesterol-lowering medication can cause a condition that results in the breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue. This condition can lead to kidney failure. Call your doctor at once if you have unexplained muscle pain or tenderness, muscle weakness, fever or flu symptoms, and dark colored urine. Cheri - I think you should stop taking them and call your Dr.

My Drs have been trying to get me to take statins for years and I stubbornly refuse. I don't buy into the whole cholesterol /heart disease thing. I think the main reason so many people are on statins is due to the power and greed of the drug companies.I am not saying that others should also refuse to take them but people should be aware that there are numerous side effects to statins such as liver problems, joint pain, memory loss etc.There are also studies that show that lowered levels of cholesterol can actually cause an increase in certain types of cancer etc. Cheri what you are experiencing sounds horrible. I would go back to your Dr ASAP. Also check the package insert - are these things listed as normal side effects or are they listed as the ones that say "if you start experiencing ......... stop taking the meds and contact your Dr immediately". You may be having a rare but serious reaction.

After banding you don't normally feel in your stomach. The feeling is normally higher up in the chest. If you overeat it can be really painful whereas previously you would have just felt "stuffed" Yes you will feel satisfied but you don't get that OMG I can't believe I have eaten so much I can't move kind of feeling.

I think everyone is different. Although I never felt that I was in the "green zone" I lost weight constantly with very little effort., so it depends on what you believe restriction to be. Do you eat less than before, are those smaller amounts keeping you satisfied for 3 - 4 hours? If so then you have restriction. (My idea of the green zone was some kind of mythical place where I would never be hungry and never think about food except at mealtimes and honestly I don't think that place exists. I think that for most of us we do think about food even when we are not hungry and that is something that we have to learn to control. With the band it is so much easier).

You are right. They pump the body full of gas to distend it and make it easier to see & work. After surgery they try to pump as much out as possible but some often remains trapped. This puts pressure on various nerves and is often felt in the shoulder. Remedies for gas don't work as the gas is not in the digestive system. The pain killers that you were prescribed for after surgery should help though.

You are supposed to go back and see your Dr at least once a year. You may need just a tiny top up fill. A small amount of fluid does get lost from your band over time. I also think that it is normal for the effects of the band to start wearing off over time. The further out from surgery you are the easier it becomes to eat foods that previously may have been difficult. The first period after WLS(any type) is often referred to as the honeymoon period. Your tool is at it's most effective and your motivation is at it's highest. After a while you get used to each other and become more comfortable, you let down your guard a bit, you don't make as much effort etc. That is why people should aim to lose as much of their excess weight as possible and to learn good habits during this initial period so that it is not so difficult to maintain after the honeymoon period is over.

It doesn't really matter which are right and which are wrong, so long as they are consistent. If they both show the losses correctly then that is all that really matters.

The reason they are telling you a Former Fat Person to be on liquids is so that your stomach can heal from the major surgery that you have had. If you don't stick to the post op diet you may do damage which could lead to your band slipping, not now but at some point in the future. Yes it's hard, we all know that, we've been there too but the diet is there for a reason. If you are struggling drink more often, drink thicker liquids. I made lots of homemade Soup with things like vegies and chickpeas, lentils or Beans for extra Protein and blended them to the right consistency. They were very satisfying. Remember the 2 weeks are only a very short time they will soon be over. You can do this. At this point your motivation should be really high which should also help to get you through.(if you can't follow your Dr's instructions now then you might not end up being a Former Fat Person).

I am wondering if it is possible to ever truly shake the dieting mindset. The good food/bad food, I shouldn't be eating that etc way of thinking. I have been banded just over 2 years. I reached my goal at about 8 months and have been happily maintaining ever since. I don't diet, I don't log my food, I don't low carb etc. If I want a biscuit(cookie) I eat one, ditto chocolate so essentially my band is doing exactly what it should be doing. Allowing me to live life as a normal healthy weight person without having to think about it too much. Yet I still find myself looking at "new" diet books (and some of the old ones I have in my study), reading articles, watching things on TV and wondering if I couldn't be doing better. If I have a really "bad" day I may even start logging my food onto calorie king. Usually when I do that it confirms that I have eaten far more as Snacks or unhealthy extras for the day but that my total consumed for the day is less than it should be. I then don't bother logging anymore. I see the virtues of a low carb way of eating presented and wonder should I try that .......................... and so it goes on. It would be nice to not think like this but as they say old habits die hard. Is it just me or do some of you find yourselves doing the same?

Glad you've been to see your Dr and hopefully things will now get better. Did you get told where the blood was coming from? Keep us updated.

I would love to know the answer to that too. SM you obviously have some agenda. Instead of hiding behind negative posts come out with it. If you have had a bad lapband experience tell us what it is. Or are you just trying to promote another type of WLS? If so fine but then tell us which one and why so that we can make our own decisions. Or maybe you are working for a surgeon and trying to promote him/her? Whatever please be transparent. If you are against the band that is your prerogative but making veiled comments that don't really tell us anything weaken rather than strengthen your argument.

Usually if mucus is brown it is because it is blood stained - old or partially digested blood is brown rather than red. Whatever it is if I was you I would be going to see my Dr urgently, you may have a slipped or eroded band or something similar. Hopefully not but better to be safe than sorry.

I've just read your story. The thing to learn from this is that a lapband is not a quick fix solution. It is something that requires ongoing work. Remember it is just a tool, - you still have to make the correct food choices. And that is true regardless of which type of surgery you have had. What you have to decide is whether you want to be slim and healthy more than you want to eat "bad" foods. ( There is no such thing as a bad food but there are lots of foods that should be regarded as sometimes foods not always or everyday foods). If you want to be slim and healthy you need to recommit and realise that the power is in your hands. Restriction will not stop you eating chocolate, Cookies, icecream, candy etc etc. In fact too much restriction will make eating these foods easier than the kind of foods you should be eating. Go back to your Dr. Check that you are at an appropriate level and then start doing what you did in the beginning. Making healthy choices and exercising. If you have a food related issue that you think you cannot overcome on your own then go and see a food psychologist. Your band is still there, you can start utilising it any time you want to.Try to make your new eating plan as close to a normal balanced plan as possible. Sometimes extreme plans such as low carb are hard as they are difficult to stick to long term. We tend to think of them as a diet and that once we have finished losing weight we can stop eating that way and go back to our old habits. And of course that just leads to regaining what we have lost. An eating plan needs to be for life. Something that is easy to sustain, something that can fit in with daily life and all the types of events that we encounter. So long as you do the right thing 90% of the time you should still lose. So cut right back (as opposed to cut out) on those bad foods and get back on track. Banning foods completely often has the opposite effect to the one we want - as they are forbidden we want them more - if we know they are allowed in moderation they do not have the same power over us. I think I have rambled on a bit here but hopefully what I am trying to say is getting across! Well done on looking for help and all the best with your new found motivation.

I disagree. If anything this site has a disproportionately high number of problems. Most people on here (with some exceptions) are relatively new or are having issues. That is because when people are having issues they look for support or solutions. On the other hand people that have been banded for a while that are not having problems don't come to sites like this because they don't need to. They are too busy living their lives.

You might want to look around the site, I believe there is another very long thread dedicated to the very same issue.

I have a friend that has recently been diagnosed with this. She also doesn't have a lot of info and is not sure how it will affect her life. Hope all your questions are answered soon and that you are able to get your band.

And lets face it a gag reflex is a gag reflex. You don't need a band to have one of those. I also don't think that was the way the question was worded. It was worded as though the actual band was going to get in the way.

Well it would have to be about 16 just to get anywhere close to the band and really bendy and probably pretty narrow. Generally when you are doing that kind of stuff it's not bendy. But if what you are saying is that your partner has one like that then I feel truly sorry for you and yes I think your reflexes would be rejecting it. Funny, when you mentioned orally I was thinking of you receiving not giving................

Of course you should tell the trainer, for several reasons. I disagree , I think the decision to tell or not is a personal one. 1. Some trainers make you drink Water several times during a work out. You need to be careful with this. It could make you throw up. Just drink (sip) at your own speed. 2. Some exercises press on your abdomen- be careful of your port site. Agreed. You could just tell the trainer you have had a recent op and need to be careful. I am sure you can come up with something if you don't want to tell. 3. All lap band patients should wear a medical alert tag in case something should happen that you can't speak for yourself. This is overkill. If you are ever in a situation where you need urgent lifesaving help the band is the least of your worries. Plus with XRAYS etc the med facility should see it anyway. 3. it is important to get an adequate amount of Protein so that you can build muscle.. www.myvi.net/katelm 4. You should be proud of the band.... and your trainer will be proud to be part of your journey to better health. Best of luck to you!!!

Note for future. chicken IS NOT MUSHY. The chicken is probably stuck at your stoma. Not good at this stage of the process which is why there are very specific eating guidelines. You need to phone your Dr. If you have any fill in your band it is likely that it will be removed so that the chicken can pass through. If there is no fill I am not sure what the Dr will do. You have to be able to drink or you will end up dehydrated. I just hope that you haven't done any serious damage.

The mind boggles? Is this question for real? What worries me is that if someone can ask questions like this it would seem that they know very little about the band. I would be doing a lot more research to make sure I understood what the band is and where it goes before having surgery. To answer: The band is inside your body around the top part of your stomach.You cannot feel it once it is there. I cannot by any stretch of the imagination figure out how someone could imagine it could get in the way orally. Even having toured the sex museum in Amsterdam and seen all the strange stuff there I don't know what kind of sex a person would be having for that to happen. Your port you can feel through your skin if you are trying to. It feels like a hard lump. It doesn't interfere with sex at all.

Firstly I am surprised at what you are eating so soon after surgery. My Dr still had me on liquids at that point but every Dr is different so as long as you are following your Dr's instructions that is good. When you have a band with some fill and a reasonable level of restriction if you eat too much you will normally feel it in your chest, around about where you would expect your heart to be. The feeling can range from mild discomfort to OMG I'm going to die. You are not going to feel full in your stomach the way you would have felt preband. Your message does have me confused though. You say you don't know if you are uncomfortable because of the meds /eating or whatever then in the next line you say you felt fine.So are you uncomfortable or not? And when do you feel uncomfortable? At this point in the process you generally won't have much restriction so you will not feel the full benefit of the band yet. That only happens once you have had a couple of fills.Do not rely on your band to stop you overeating, serve up the portion your Dr recommended and only eat that - even if you feel that you could eat more.

No I am not hungry all the time. I eat much smaller portions than before the band and stay satisfied for a lot longer. That isn't to say that if someone put chocolate or cake or something yummy in front of me I wouldn't want some because I probably would. But that is not hunger , that is "head hunger" which is completely different. With the band it is a lot easier to say no - it puts you back in control. The advantage to the sleeve over the band is that you don't need fills so you feel the benefits almost immediately. With the band you have to go for fills so it can take longer to feel the full benefit. It is possible however to eat around(cheat) both these types of WLS. Whatever you choose you have to be prepared to put in the work and follow the rules given to you by your Dr. The surgery is not a magic wand it is a tool that you have to utilise correctly to get the maximum benefit. Good luck on deciding what you think is the solution best suited to you.

It seems strange that he said that you wouldn't be able to tolerate a specific antibiotic. I am wondering why? Maybe you should call and ask him. It's certainly not something that I have been told or read anywhere before.