Bdumont

I am so happy to read your post. I went to the doctor about 3 weeks ago. He was going to give me a fill but wanted to do it with the xray. When he had me drink the white stuff my esophagus was not working right. There was not spasms until the very bottom and than it just ballooned out. He removed what he put in there and left me where I was. I then went for a endoscopy, a few biopsies and nothing showed up. No bacteria in my stomach etc. Everything seemed great. Then two days later I'm feel completely filled. Maybe something got stuck in there or something but I don't think so because I have absolutely no pain. I've been having the same problems you have. Can't eat much, somedays I get home from work and have counted my calories up and have only eaten under 300 calories all day. I'm having a little problem drinking the fluids I need so I'm pushing that more than anything, including drinking protien drinks for meals instead of eating. Friday night I had reflux so bad that it kept me up all night. I had problems keeping it from getting in my lungs . . . some may have gone in since I got up with pressure on my chest. Felt like I was having an asthma attack but I knew it wasn't asthma. I had ear aches and a headache. My husband made me stay in bed the day and and I drank water and a little bit of tomato soup. Took my nexium by dumping it on my tongue instead of swallowing the capsul, everytime I layed down reflux would come up. Heck it even came when I was sitting or standing. I felt so bad that I knew that if I went to the doctor he would have put me in the hospital because I was so bad and dehydrated. The only thing that kept me from going to the doctor was the fact that with my insurance If I step foot in the emergency room my deductible is $600, so if the doctor is not in his office, I do not call him. Saturday night when I had supper ate 4 wheat thins very slowly and drank some protient drink. Later when I went to bed I took my meds and layed down (with 3 pillows). As soon as I started to fall asleep the reflux came. All I could think of is that I was going to have another night like the night before. I came downstairs and forced everything out of my stomach that could come out. I'm sure the doctor would not like this but it was the only thing I could think to do. For the little I drank/ate I think everything was still in there, except some of the water. I then went to bed and low and behold I sleep the entire night (on 1 pillow) not reflux. Today I have taken it very slowly, and made sure then everything I have does not make me fill too full. Actually for breakfast I had about 1/2 cup tea and 5 tiny bites of a protien bar. Then I could tell it was time to stop. I was ready to go to the doctor on Monday and have some taken out. I've never been really tight before. I didn't get any resistance at all for about the first year after my surgery even though my doctor was giving me a fill every 2 months. Now I am tight I am going to try and stick it out. My husband had lap band on month before I did in April of 2010 and he was tight after the 3rd fill. He lost all his weight the first year. I've continued to lose but only between 1/2 lb and 1 lb a week. He has been telling me I need to just go slow and try and stick it out. I am so thankful for reading your post today, I really thought I was too tight and something was really wrong because I couldn't eat much at all. Now I think I will stick it out and even if I can only eat 4-5 hundred calories a day for a while I won't worry so much about it. For the first time I have lost 6 lbs in 3 weeks and that feels good, I really would like to keep up that pace for a long time. Thank you again.

Great work . . . it feels so good when your husband notices how good you are looking. I hit onederland this last week, by my new and improved scale. My old one I was there a few months ago, but I knew how to manipulate that scale if you know what I mean. It is really good to be there but I am NOT is a size 12. I'm still wearing 1x. I'm only 5 feet tall which is probably the reason . . . wow, people who are tall show the lose of weight a lot more than us short people do. I'm still happy though because when I started this I couldn't find anything to wear in a regular store. I had to go to the fat people store and then I was wearing a size 4x. It was impossible to buy pants that fit right. I was wearing a 24 and am now wearing a size 18-20. I've lost 98 lbs so far. I do wear my clothes lose though and am hoping this summer I can buy some new slimming clothes. I've been wearing sweat shirts to work all winter that are loose hoping my weight lose will really show in the summer. Keep up the good work . . . won't it be wonderful to be in a size 9 again.

Good luck Heather, I know it must be hard with two children you have to cook for also. My daughter is a single mom with teen boys, makes it really hard for her because she didn't stick to a healthy diet while they were growing up and now they refuse to eat the "good" meals she tries to prepare. You have done really good with the 6 month pre-op diet. I actually gained 1 lb. during that time. The liquid two week diet before surgery is really hard too, but you seem to be doing really good with that. I think this shows that you will do good after the lap band. Remember it is not the band that loses the weight, it is the healthy eating and sticking to it. I know two poeple who had the band and didn't work at it. They would eat anything that would go down. Needless to say they are still struggling with weight issues 2 years later. I think that you will be very successful though. Valentines Day . . . what a great day to start a new chapter in your life.

I told my family, but didn't tell my co-workers. I did talk with a few people that I knew already had it done and have talked to some poeple that I thought could benefit from the surgery but I just felt that my co-workers did not need to know my personal business. I had my realize band in May of 2010 and have lost almost 100 lbs so it has come off slow. Not how I wanted it but the doctor says that is best. I go every two months to the doctor and last month was the only time I gain any weight . . . yes, I really screwed up at Christmas this year. My kids talked me into making peanut brittle again and that goes down really good(too bad). Why is it that all the stuff you are not suppose to eat goes down so good, lol. At first I was ashamed that I had to have the band put in to lose weight and I couldn't do it by myself . . . didn't have the will power. I don't feel that way any more because everyone that has had the lap band knows that it is not the band alone that helps you lose weight but it takes a lot of work on your part to make it work. It is hard to convince people that this is true but I know it is and I know I have worked hard. Good Luck!!! Betty

I agree with getting the junk out of the house. Both my husband and I had band surgery. He had his in April 2010 and lost 100 lbs in a year. I had realize band in May 2010 and still haven't reached 100 lbs. I did have a slip up this year around the holidays and showed a 3 lb gain at my doctors office, which I go to every two months. It is the only time I went without losing weight. I went for close to a year before I really felt resistance but I was determined that I was not going through that surgery for nothing and kept to the diet. I did sometimes feel that I made a mistake having the surgery when I could have "done it on my own". That of course was before I felt resistance. Now it is really working. I am having a problem with my esophagus but hopefully that will work out ok without having to have all the Fluid removed. Please hold on, keep to the diet, get the junk food out . . . if it is there you will eat it. I know that is true. Drink lots of Water all the time. My doctor does not tell us to prepare for the fill in any way. He just said to eat soft foods for the first two days afterward. Usually we have it done in the morning one day and by the end of the next day we can eat our regular foods. Please don't give up. I wish there were support groups that people could go to. I think that would help me a lot. I did try and come here at the beginning and just did stay with it. I'm trying again. It's been two years almost for me, so I have experienced some of the issues of having a lap band. GOOD LUCK TO EVERY ONE.

Hi again, and thanks for the commments. I still haven't heard the results of my endoscopy but hopefully the doctor will call on Monday. I do have another appointment with him on March 7th. As far as the problem with eating and fluids it is not as bad. My husband pointed out that I seemed to have more problems after the endoscopy so maybe my stomach was swollen a little. I was beginning to think the doctor actually left more in my band than he thought. I think he said he has put 10.5 cc in up to date, and I have the realize band. I forget how much can actually fit in there. Last night for the first time my dinner went down without a problem and I was actually able to drink water shortly after dinner. Before I couldn't drink for several hours after I ate. I have never had the problem drinking to wash down the food which is what they tell you not to do. If I would try and even take a sip of fluids while I was eating that would be the end of my eating . . . couldn't get another thing down after the sip of water. So I've always waited until later to take a drink. The good news is that I lost 4 pounds since my last visit to the doctor which was about 3 weeks ago. The most I have lost since my surgery in May 2010 is 7 pounds in two months, so I think I'm back on the right track (as long as the tests all come out good). I'm just afraid the doctor will want to take all the fluid out of my band if my esophagus still balloons out when I take the swallow test. I need to still lose about 60 pounds. nerdybrat: I hope that things are better for you. You are right 11 pounds in less than a week is not good. Please write back and let me know how you are doing. I don't get on the computer often so please don't get discouraged if I don't respond right away. My husband had lap band put in just one month before me in April 2010. He lost all of his weight in about a year. He only had 100 pounds to lose and he has been able to keep it within 5 lbs up or down. The great thing about him is he was taking a lot of insul twice a day and now he is not on any diabetic meds at all. I know men loose faster than women but it was hard for me to see him losing so fast and me just losing a little each week. The thing is I was exercising also and he wasn't. We were eating about the same diet, or he was eating a little more than me. We just had our blood tests done on Saturday and I am worried his A1C will be higher. Last time it was 6.1. He has not been watching his surgar intake by having cappicinos in the morning and tends to eat more carbs than he should. Hopefully everything works out for him. I will be thinking of you and hope when I hear from you again you will have good news. tat1too: So sorry to hear you are having the problems you are. I've have not heard of this issue before. Can you have the band removed? Has it done any good for you at all, meaning have you lost your weight and have you become more healthy because of it. I've never really had to puke, but have had sliming. I'm going to ask my doctor about that problem, if he has had patients that their body reject the band after several years, I will want to know what to watch for. I know that when I was really having problems getting anything down I was willing to go on just a liquid diet rather than have the fluid removed. Of course I have not talk to my doctor about this because he has not suggested removing everything yet. I just read about that happening to people on the intenet. I am willing to do almost anything to keep it in and filled so I can continue to lose weight. I have a really good doctor. His name is Rantis and he works at Alexian Brothers and St Alexis hospitals. Some bad news we received is that our insurance company sent us a letter yesterday saying that they have not renewed their contract with those two hospitals . . . I don't kow what I'm going to do if I lose my doctor, I have so much trust in him. Sorry for going on so long . . . hope to hear from both of you agian. I thought that I would get an email notice when someone commented on my blog but I didn't get anything. Probably don't have things set up right, but I will come back and check my blog. It's been nice to meet both of you. Betty

Hi, I had my realize band put it on May 3, 2010. I've lost 93 pounds. It is going very slow. I'm doing what I should, it just took a long time to get resistants and then I started losing 6-7 pounds every 2 months when I went back to my doctor. Once I got resistance my doctor would put in only 1/4 cc for each visit without doing the swallow test. Christmas season 2010 I did great . . . Christmas 2011 not so good. I put on 8 pounds but the day after Christmas I got right back to work and lost those 8 pounds very fast within two weeks. About 2 weeks ago went back to my doctor and he was going to do a fill but wanted to do it with the xray swallow test. When I swallow that white stuff my esophagus did nothing. Did not spasm like it should and when the liquid got down to the bottom, just before my stomach my esophagus expanded. Since then I have realized that it is not normal for phlem to come up while I am eating (not food). I just swallow and continue to eat slowly. I went on the internet and it seems to describe what is called dysphagia. I had an upper Gi endoscopy and it show everything is ok except there is a little irratation at the bottom of my esophagus and the doctor has prescriped Nexium (2 a day for 2 weeks and then after that 1 a day). He did take some biopsies of a few things in the bottom of my stomach but said he is sure they are nothing to worry about, the were very small. Has anyone had and problems like this. I haven't been on this blow for more than a year and I hope that I can get back to find out what anyone says about it. But please give me your input. Thanks a million.