Karel M

Had my band out in June and I am still having difficulty swallowing protein such as meat, chicken, turkey and fish. This was the reason I was de-banded in the first place. After a call to my gastroenterologist yesterday, he said he spoke to a few associates who do the band and this is a very common problem. Many of the people who have problem swallowing with the band will still have it post band removal as well. He asked whether I had difficulty swallowing pre-band and I said "no". He is hoping that my ability to swallow will be restored within the next few months. If it is not we will have to look into it. News regarding Jenny Craig. I am formally off Jenny and they won't let me continue without a drs note. I made it no secret to them that I had stomach difficulties when joining. The plan completely backs me up, and gives me stomach pain, even with laxatives galore. Both my GI dr and internist feel I should not fool around with this plan and should discontinue it immediately. While trying to figure out why this could be happening, I looked at the ingredients of the "so called food" and they are nothing but Chemicals. First Nutri/System, now Jenny. Weight Watchers here I come. At Least I can use my own store bought healthy foods. This is a recent update. No one said I was easy. I had years of rejections for the bypass due to my Chrohns disease and IBD before I found someone who would even do the Band. I have to say now, that my pain dr who I hated for saying I would be a poor candidate for the band was right. He knows me better than I know myself/ Karel

Are you in a support group at your drs office? Have you talked to his nutritionist? My band didn't work, that why I had to have mine taken out after 3 years. I would rather lose the weight and get it all over with now than have to live the rest of my life fat. Remember not fitting into booths at diners or having to get extentions when you fly on an airline? These are the things that I thought I could conquer myself after having my band removed, but now its 5 years later and I gained even more weight than when I had it put in. If you go back and read my story, I lost around 35 pounds after the surgery just from being on the liquid phase of the diet. I have gained it all back plus, as I now weigh 230. My heighest ever. HELP!!!!!

Fran, its a tool, but if the tool doesn't work, its hard to use it. Good luck. If you want to talk to me, I would be very happy to talk to you. E-mail me a NYwhiteangel@aol.com., Karel

My surgeon never owned up to any complications re: my band. All I can tell you is that I had dysphagia as soon as I started to eat solids and lapsed into what they called " soft food syndrome". I am still having the dysphagia now that my band is out and after speaking to my Gastroenterologist, he says after speaking to a few surgeons that he knows who put in the band, that it is not uncommon for the dysphagia to continue post band removal and if it still persists after a few months, we will do testing. Karel

I have been on it successfully many times. It is a healthy way of life and one thing I need is discipline. I have to be careful about this constant yo - yo dieting I have been doing or i am going to end up with Heart troubles. Karel

Just an update Current mood: optimistic Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes I finally made up my mind to have my gastric band out. I have been debating on it for weeks. I am not sure whether I just didn't give it a chance or if it was put in too high which causes me difficulty swallowing. I go back and forth in my thinking constantly. I have an appointment with a very prominent pain dr in the city in July, that writes many articles on chronic pain and tolerance, and also conducts a lot of experimental trials on new treatments and new drugs. My reasoning then goes to: what if I feel better and I really want to put all my efforts into losing weight? Perhaps I should see a nutritionist and psychologist like they wanted me to and really have the band adjusted and go to support groups. Then I say to myself, "Nah, I'm never gonna change, this is my lot in life(having chronic pain) and I just have to accept it."Anyway, after trying to eat a turkey sandwich the other night and only being able to get 2 small bites down before it got stuck in my throat, I could either wait patiently and see if it got digested, or go and throw it up. I decided that I love food too much and although I may be able to live on 2 bites, my head was still hungry and I wanted to eat the rest. I am also lacking the nutrition that meat, fish and chicken would give me. My cholesterol is a little high because I live mostly on soft foods that include cheese and thats not good for me either. It would be so nice to have a balanced diet. I just have to be on Weight Watchers for the rest of my life and do the best I can. The surgery is Thurday, June 15 at Northshore- LIJ hospital at Syosset. I stay in over night and then come home the next day. Say a prayer for me and wish me luck and as little pain as possible because when I had the sucker put in, they were unable to control my pain the first 2 days and I was miserable. This time they have the pain group from that hospital meeting with me before the surgery so hopefully I will have an easier time.

I am doing Jenny Craig since I had my band taken out and I am loving it. The food is delicious and I don't feel deprived at all. I am one who didn't want to have to deal with the hanging flesh that rapid losing causes because I have chronic intractable pain. When I have to have any surgery, plastic or otherwise, the drs have a hard time controlling my post op pain. I see how miserable a few of my friends are who have the bypass. They try every food to see if they can have it without having dumping. Is that how you want to live the rest of your life? I certainly don't. I made up my mind that Jenny Craig is going to be the last plan I do. I made a rather hefty investment in being a lifetime member and I have lost 8 lbs in 3 wks with the setback of my incisional infection. I am on the mend now and feeling great. Good luck in what ever you do. Karel

Update: Of course my incisions got infected. Everything happens to me. I got infected on a Tuesday and I had my post-op appointment on Thursday so I figured I'd wait. The pain on Tuesday and Wednesday night was intense. I am a chronic pain patient and have been a nurse for 26 yrs, but even my diludid didn't help that pain. When I got to the dr on Thurs I saw a female dr who's name I didn't catch. She was gonna send me home with nothing because I had taken a shower before my appointment and the wounds looked pretty clean; red, but clean. I complained that the pain was unbearable and there has to be something wrong. She then called Dr Powers and when he pressed around a little, he decided to give me an antibiotic. He sent me home and said to keep the wounds open to air and just wash them with soap and water twice a day. Saturday morning I woke up with blood all over my nightgown. I am putting loose gauze on them and hoping for the best. Of course the antibiotic is giving me diarreah but i'll try some immodium today because I am not gonna disturb anyone on a holiday weekend. As far as Jenny Craig, I gained 2 lbs. My belly is very swollen and it wasn't a full week when I weighed in so hopefully I'll do better next week. The food is scrumptious, nothing like Nutra/System.I was really suprised because its nothing like it was years ago. When I went to the center on Saturday morning, my counselor gave me about 5 minutes and that was it. I complained so she said I should call her on Monday and she would have more time to go over my meal plan. I am hoping to have a better weight loss next week, if not they are gonna have to reduce my calories. I'll keep you informed, meanwhile it feels so good to be eating like a normal person again. I feel so bad for my friends who had surgery and can't reverse it. I have a few friends who rather dump then give up sweets.

What an experience it is having the band out. I can finally taste and enjoy my food. No soda for 3 yrs, or eating and drinking at the same meal. I feel so good to be able to honestly feel full because I had a balanced meal. Of course I have been celebrating by having all of the foods I have missed also, but enough is enough and after trying to do WW on my own all week and failing, I realize I need help so I went to Jenny Craig. My thinking was, I'll just use them to get off the 1st 15 lbs, then i'll go to WW. After seeing how warm and sincere the people are at the center I went to, I joined for a yr and made a committment to get to 165 lbs. I'm at my all time high of 229 now. Wish me luck. I am happy with my decision. Karel

I eat completely for emotional and psychological reasons also. Always did. I eat because I am lonely, angry, frustrated, enraged. Then on the other side of the coin, I eat to celebrate. There is a book out there somewhere called. "Its not what your eating, but whats eating you." Maybe finding a local chapter of OA would be a good idea. I am starting Jenny Craig tomorrow. This will give me the opportunity to deal with BOTH the physical and emotional eating I am going through. Karel

Ok, an update, my band is out and the surgery was much easier than the surgery to put it in. I feel so much better to be able to swallow and enjoy my food. For now I doing Weight Watchers on my own, but mom is going to join L A Weight Loss soon, and if she finds it successful I will probably join also.