OnTheWay to Thin

I only have reflux issues at night, and only sometimes, but I bought an incline wedge pillow and that really helped.

I understand your frustration, it is something we all go through, this period is called "Bandster Hell", but, please be patient, it will happen. I have been overfilled, and believe me caution on your doctors part is a really good thing. If you get overfilled, you can't even swallow your own saliva and that is awful. I had to suffer through this for 12 hours and it was awful. Then a complete unfill so that all the swelling could subside, which took 10 days then I had to start all over again.

They worry about things like pneumonia if you have been ill, especially with a respiratory illness. So better safe than sorry, if they recommend a reschedule it is for your health and safety.

Hi I worked in insurance for a very long time... I actually did medical preauth for surgery, and the above comments are correct. Keep all personal information out of the letter, they don't care, state the medical reasons for the surgery, not the life style ones. Sadly, obesity surgery is either covered or it is not, and knowing your personal information will not change the yes or no answer that you receive, so stick to the facts, get a letter from your doctor recommending the procedure and send that in.

Congrats Ann that is fantastic, I wish I was there, but I have slowed way down... so looks like a 2 year plan for me to get there.

You need to call your doctor if this does not improve within a few days, often after a fill, you are a bit swollen and after a week to 10 days the fill will back off a bit. You did not say if you are able to drink ok? If you can't get your liquid down, call the doctor asap. Normally they want you to eat somewhere between 1/2 cut and 3/4 cup per meal. Most bandsters have difficulty eating in the morning (I sure do) so they have protein shakes for breakfast then a meal for lunch and dinner. It also depends on what you are able to eat, are you able to eat normal food but just very small quantity?

I am with you, up 1 lb :-(, but trying my best to get it going the other way. I have not been able to get anymore fills because I have been having reflux, so I am kind of stuck, but determined...

It sounds like they are just giving your stomach a rest so that it can reposition itself correctly in the band. This happens with a few and an oddly shaped area forms that makes the band not function correctly. I have heard of people doing this for 2 weeks or so to let this happen then slowly refilling the band. Hang in there and call your doctor, if he did not explain his plan he should have and you deserve to get the answers you need.

Wow you are trying to do it all! Just reading your post makes me tired. There is nothing wrong with having a healthy snack around 4 before you leave work, to help you get through the day and feel less stressed. Try a small yogurt, string cheese, applesauce, small fruit cup, some carrots, a piece of fresh fruit, or a small hand full of healthy nuts. You will eat less overall and eat better if you are not starved by the time you get home and get dinner on the table. You might also try working out at home a few nights a week, taking a walk with the kids, riding a bike or something so that you save 40 minutes a day and then go the gym on weekend days when you have more time. Just a few ideas, best of luck to you.

Still out here, still struggling, scale has not moved in forever, so I am trying to figure out why. I know i eat too much in the evening, but during the day I am fine. I am dealing more with the food addiction side of things now and trying to retrain my thoughts. After a year, I find I am starting to be less carefull and slip into old habits. So time to work harder again. I am happy with my loss so far but have more I want to do!

Been there too, if you cant keep liquid down for more than a few hours you are in danger of being dehydrated and need to be seen right away, I spent a hellish night once spitting up every 10-12 minutes as my saliva would fill my pouch and nothing was going through... it may be that you are just really swollen, but you may have to go with little tiny fills from now on to keep this from happening.

plateaus are a real pain in the butt but they happen to all of us. Hang in there, keep doing what you are doing, take a look at what you are eating, and measure your food and calories for a few days. Then you will have better information on how to shake it up. You may need to add or remove a few calories to get past this set point. Best of luck.

they are not good choices diet wise, but you may be able to eat some or all of them until you get good restriction. Now at full restriction, I cant eat anything bread like, and many battered type items are just as bad. So I try and stay away from all of those items, once you have gotten stuck on them, it is just no fun to try anymore.

I am with Molly, I was a soda addict, quitting was HARD, but I did it, a couple of times I have tried a few ounces of soda and it not only tasted crappy after all this time, but it caused pain, so no soda for me, the carbonation seems to put undue pressure on the pouch and band and it is no fun for me.

I always have issues when I am congested or have a cold. I think it somehow makes the band a bit tighter or something, but I have to be much more careful what I eat and how fast, how big of bites, so until you have gotten over your illness dont panic. I suspect it is the same for you as for me.

You may be retaining water, females can pile on the liquid at certain times, and since we have avoided the scales most of our life and overweight we did not realize the extent of this. I can go up 4lbs just before and during that time, and then it goes away just as fast on the other side. Hang in there, keep following the plan and it will disappear again.

congrats, if you find you have a leak, dont panic, it is pretty easily taken care of. I had one in my port and because of that I wasted several months, so dont fret, watch your restriction, if it starts going away, then schedule the repair. I was so glad I did.

I have the same problem if I drink with my meal or within 20-30 minutes afterwards, I surmise that the liquid is causing what is down there to swell a bit and then it is a volcano. So try not drinking and see what happens. If you still get stuck, you are taking too big of bites and not chewing well enough.

Stick with soft stuff and slowly work up to firm proteins, getting stuck in public is no fun and you dont know how you will react so soon after surgery. The flip side is since you have not eaten much of late, anything will taste good! I was able to eat the meat of hotdogs without the casing, if I cut it up small and chewed well, but not hamburgers. Chicken was ok if it was moist, small and well chewed...

It is very mixed and varies for everyone. I did not initially tell everyone because I did not want to deal with the food police and other comments. But I am 1 year out now and have now told a few more. It is not really a secret just not something I share with everyone I know. I have had good comments, nasty comments, it just depends on the person. I have one friend I would like to strangle because she can't stop talking about it everytime I see her, and she has to share with others. And that is so totally not cool as far as I am concerned but I can't stop her from yacking so I have sort of given up on that. I guess I just dont want it to be the focus of every gathering, barbeque and so on, and when that person is there, invariably it comes up way too much for my liking. On the positive side, a couple of people who know have made the decision to do the same for themselves so I feel like that was a positive from my surgery. I am a slower looser, so I dont want comments about how slow it is going, I am down 60lbs and I know that had I not had surgery I would probably be up 10-12 from a year ago, so all in all I am pleased. I just had another adjustment, so I am hoping that gets me moving again, if not I may have to get another one. Hang in there, and if you run into someone that is less than positive do your best to ignore it.

Let us know what your dr says, the port is in differnt places for everyone as each doctor has their own preferred place to put it. So mine is on the right, my friends is on the left, but the port is always your largest incision.

It depends on if you swell when you get filled, I am always tighter after a fill, but it does loosen up in 3-5 days. So you will likely have to play it by ear. If liquids go down, and you dont have an issue then I would give it a day or so to see if it gets better. But if it stays like that you wont be able to eat so you may need to back off a little bit.

I have problems with larger pills like vitamins or tylenol capsules, so I cut my tylenol, and take my time release pills at night when my band is a bit looser. I use chewy gummy vitamins. But occasionally I still get stuck, part of the game I guess. After you are through the restricted food stage, a little pineapple juice helps, believe it or not, it is kind of slippery and helps to lubricate the pill through the band.

If I slime or PB it is usually due to my error, eating too fast, eating too much, too big of bites, so it can usually be prevented by paying attention to what you are doing. I find it happens most for me when I am talking and not paying attention to what I am doing. The other time this may happen is if I try to eat something I know I should not. i.e. certain things dont work for me no matter how careful I am, they are bread, flour tortillas, pizza crust, scrambled eggs, rice if it is dry, thick or chewy or al dente Pasta, puffy breading or batter. As we retrain our eating habits it gets better, but we have a lot of unlearning to do so some are slower at it that others. Remember this is a life long change, and it does get easier as time goes on.

Yep I did the same thing, it took me about 3-4 weeks to get over the tired thing. Good luck.