Humming Bird

I was very sensitive and had to progress very slow. I am still very sensitive to many types of foods and have to do things very slow after a fill. Another thought is that you may have had a fill during surgery. Have you been back to see the surgeon? This would be one of those things you should really talk with him/her about. I would think you should be able to eat at least some mushy stuff at this point.

One of the big misconceptions I'v seen quite a bit is the belief that only Gastric bypass patients have hairloss. A good example of this is when I went with a friend to a support group meeting as part of her pre-op research. There were about 7-8 of us that had already been banded and quite a few people who were researching pre-op. One of the pre-op people asked about hairloss. The director who was running the group, and should know all the details about the band, said, "that only happens to by-pass people, not banded people." One by one, all of us who had already been banded said, "I had hairloss." Many of us had tried everything to prevent it and it still happened.

Over time some of the fluid does go away, through an osmosis type thing. I had 5.3cc in my band, then I went in almost a year later for a fill and he could only get out 4.6cc. I asked if he thought I had a leak. He said "no, it's been a year. I got a fill that brought me back up to 5.2cc. I went back in a few months later (last week). I had this nagging fear that I did have a leak. He removed the fluid and I still had exactly 5.2cc. No Leak. I got a small fill and am now at 5.7cc. I figure that will last me about a year and I would bet in that amount of time some of the fluid will be gone again through osmosis, not a leak.

If I'm going to a nice place I order a glass of wine. I make sure I drink the entire glass of wine before the first bite of any type of food.:martini_shaken::biggrin3: If they have some type of thin soup (like tomato) I get that and then can manage to eat a few scallops or crab. :lunch: If the soup is very chunky I can only eat the soup. Sometimes salad is a good choice for me too.

Your stomach tissue will swell inside the stoma (the opening where food passes through) just from the trauma of surgery. The swelling goes down and you find yourself eating pretty normal. Then you get a fill or 2 or 3 and hope you reach a level of restriction where you are satisfied on very small amounts. There will come a time when you get stuck along the way. The band is very crude and reminds you with pain if you don'ty chew well or eat something you can no longer tolerate. In that sense, it's a "learning tool."

I had 2.7cc at surgery in a 10cc band. All went well and it only took me 2 fills to reach my sweet spot. Congrats on being banded!

Ice reduces swelling in any human tissue. That is why they say put a bag of frozen peas on a black eye to reduce swelling. After surgery That is why they have you put an ice bag on the area. For my first week post-op I was told to only drink ice cold liquids to help the swelling go down faster. I have found that after a fill it helps me to have zero "fill swelling" if I drink something ice cold shortly after a fill (like a slush). It has worked well for me the last few fills. I just had a fill tues. and had zero swelling. I'm pretty tight, so if there were swelling I'd know. Potato chips would not be a good choice, but that goes without saying. Bottom line ..... cold reduces swelling, not heat.

Like I posted above, restriction and green zone/ sweet spot have been the #1 thing that has helped me. When I say basic guidelines I mean VERY basic, like chewing every bite well. I don't chew things to a liquid state or so much I get grossed out, just well chewed. I pick fat free and sugar free when I can. I do not try to eat things that give me trouble. That way I avoid that pain or stuck or slime feeling. I know my full signal and stop eating even if there is only one bite left on my plate. That last bite gets thrown away. I don't count calories and have not since day one. When I have proper restriction, it is pointless because there is just no way I can eat as many calories as I did when I was morbidly obese. I accept the fact that when I am at my sweet spot there are some foods I just can not eat. I'm ok with that. I try to stay active and don't lay around watching TV. Even if it is just cleaning house, it's better than lounging around.

I thought I would really miss some foods more than I do. I was a fast food junkie. I was a junk food junkie. I was a fried food junkie. I can fry anything and make it taste great! After being banded I did miss things like pizza, but I didn't miss them for long. Now the foods I used to "love" don't even sound good. I don't even crave them. Maybe you can relate ......... When my son was a little kid we went on a picnic and a long drive in the mountains. We had potatoe salad and coleslaw. He got car sick and ended up throwing up the potatoe salad and coleslaw. To this day (over 20 yrs later) he will not eat either. They don't even sound good to him. For me, the band works the same way. Not that I have thrown up a lot (a few times over 2 yrs.), but some foods just don't sit well so they no longer even sound good. Bread and fried foods just feel very heavy and yucky when in my pouch, so I don't even crave them.

I think many of us have a time like this and it is upsetting. Keep your head in the game. Sometimes we just need to evaluate ..... Am I slipping into eating high cal stuff? Do I need a little fill? Sometimes it just takes a little mixing it up to make the weight start dropping again. Drink an extra protein shake for 3 days. Drink more water. Change what you are eating if you eat the same thing every day.

Night coughing is one of the signs of being too tight. Make sure you are not eating too late, but if that does not help you are too tight. They can take out a very tiny amount. I think sometimes in our effort to find the green zone we creep over that line to the red zone. If they take out even .1 you may find yourself at a very nice sweet spot.

I didn't have to show results for pap, mamo ...... nothing ...... I think they are taking it too far asking for that stuff.

I think the #1 basic guideline for me is to get to my green zone and stay there. Some of my other basics: -Know my full signals and stop eating -Stay busy when head hunger sets in (sewing, crafts, cleaning house...) - Stay away from fast food - Stick with fat free or sugar free the best I can -Take my vits. -Try to drink fluids between meals. I like iced tea and coffee, and sometimes water. I do not measure and am sure it's not 64oz a day. -I drink a yogurt smoothie with protein powder every weekend (used to more often) -Try to eat a variety each day. Sometimes this is not easy because I do still never eat bread, pasta, rice, dense meats, eggs, fried foods....... -Weigh several times a week to make sure my weight does not creep up too much and then modify as needed. -I ate quite a bit of chili in my weightloss phase to get in protein. Not large amounts, just small amounts often. -I do not think of this "diet" or lap-band as a punishment

Night coughing is one of the signs you are too tight. If it is only one type of food that makes it happen, just avoid that food. If it happens with many types of food, go get a very tiny bit of fill taken out.

I wish this would be done on the weekend. I live too far to drive after work and make it. I don't get off until 5:00. Maybe I could get off early ..........an address and directions would be nice as I don't know the denver area well at all.

What a great reward! So happy for you I had a tattoo lasered off years ago and that was not too bad, but I'm a bit chicken about anything on my face. (for tatto removal they have to laser it several times with months between sessions to allow the broken up ink to be carried away by the body)

I agree. Too many bites that are too fast can be a problem. It also helps to set your fork/spoon down between bites until you have yourself trained. This way another bite will not get loaded on the fork too soon.

yes, it was strange for me too and kinda gross .... but glad to hear it's better now. Now it will be all smooth sailing with the band

The same thing happened to me. (I'm a dental hygienist) It does not sound like thrush to me. I believe mine was caused by my tongue drying out during surgery. This may sound a bit strange ........to get it to stop, I sucked on a mild cough drop and then chewed a piece of gum. This helped the tounge shed off all those little papilla that sound like they are going to come off anyway. Then I gently brushed my tongue a few times. The papilla will quickly grow back and your mouth will feel better for it. I just noticed your post is a few days old......did your tongue get better?

It almost sounds like they did not secure the band properly in the first place. If it were me, I would talk to them and see if they can re-position the band and secure it properly.

I agree with what Cindy said. Go back to your doc ASAP! Go get a fill and get back on track. Just do it! You will be happy you did.

All the pre-op diets are not the same. My pre-op diet was 2 weeks of Atkins. Some meds can not be cut or crushed because they are time release. You really need to go over your list of meds with both your PCP and surgeon.

:seeya: Hi, welcome to LBT! And , btw, Thank You for your service!:patriot: I am a stomach sleeper. I started sleeping on my stomach again about 10 days or so after surgery. You will hear many different ideas here about taking pills. My surgeon told me of a patient that had to have a stuck pill removed surgically. That was all I needed to hear. I have not taken a pill whole in over 2 years. After all, what is the point in chewing our food well if we can take a pill the size of an asprin, or as some say, an M&M. I take all my vits. in chewable, sublingual, or gummie form. The best thing you can do is talk about this with all your docs. Best of luck to you on your journey.

Anything that resembles bread gives me trouble. I don't eat any type of bread, rolls, buns, muffins, tortillas, bagels, donuts, pizza crust ......... I also have trouble with Pasta and rice. If I have a bread craving I eat a few reduced fat wheat thins. They don't bother me, but I only eat about 6-8. I don't bother with calorie counting.