SoccerMomma73

Nope, this isn't normal. My advice, if you're getting fluids down okay would be to go back on liquids for a couple days and see how things go, if it seems to get going better start advancing. Now I appear to be a weird bandster and tend to get tighter a couple weeks after my fills but it looks like most people start to loosen up after a week or two. Good luck. Take it slow. If you can't get liquids down you have a problem and need to get help.

Welcome to banded life! You are likely stuck...not necessarily completely blocked but it sounds like there's something down there that just hasn't passed. As long as you can drink fluids okay and aren't in pain you're okay for a while. Sometimes warm fluids (hot tea is my favorite) will help, sometimes time will help. I've read on here of people taking papaya enzyme or pineapple to help break down whatever is in there. Good luck, hope it passes on it's own. FYI I have a hard time with prawns, very dense and it seems like no matter how tiny my bites or how much I chew I struggle with them.

Okay so I'm probably going to hell (and be banned from LBT for all of eternity) for this....but if anyone is interested in purchasing some boy scout popcorn send me your e-mail address and I'll send you the link. The entire thing can be done on-line and delivered straight to your door (sorry, always wanted to use that line). They do have light so it's not all bad (I however ordered cheese...far from light). And keep in mind it's for a good cause! And please forgive me for posting this!!!! And now back to our regularly scheduled program. Steve is a tempermental brat, if he was my child he'd NEVER get out of timeout.

I'm 37 and sometimes now sure if I was grown-up enough for the surgery :smile2:

If you're comfortable, eating comfortably, and losing at a rate you are happy with then why mess with perfection? Congrats! You've done great!

A phone call on a weekend is impressive! I have a rough band weekend. Meat and I didn't get along at all, so this morning I called and cancelled tomorrows fill so naturally, after that, I've been able to eat without incident. Go figure. I'll give Steve a few weeks and see how things are going.... Ya just never know from one day to the next do ya?

Congrats! Oh what I'd give to be hosed down by a fireman....::thumbup::

OCCASIONALLY you can find someplace with Soup that's okay for mushies. You may be able to piece together something like soup and potato (baked or mashed) but I think most restaurants aren't real mush friendly. Sorry. On mushies I lived off of refried Beans thinned out with chicken broth then pureed with salsa and a little sour cream, I still do this when I get a fill. I also did a fair amount of greek yogurt (I'll only eat the honey or caramel, I can't stand the fruit flavors for some reason). As I progressed I did ham or chicken salad either grated finely or pureed until it could be spread and had no chunks with a little mayo and boiled egg whites spread on crackers (once allowed of course). I think I was so thrilled to be off liquids I could have stayed on pureed/mushies forever...pre-op I thought this stage would be the worst, post-op it wasn't so bad. Good luck!

Been there, done that...and waited way to long to go back. As long as you're getting liquids down you're safe to wait a little while but within a week or so you should be able to tolerate soft/mushies and from there advance, if not, then it's time for a tweak. And no, you should have pain from swallowing one small bit of fish. Possibly you're irritated from the foods you've tried to eat so things are even more swollen than they would be just from the fill...creamed Soups and mashed up Beans thinned out with chicken stock are my staples when I get like that. Good luck!

I apologize for any misinformation I may have provided by the above quote. A baked potato provides many nutrients. These include: protein 7.5 grams, Vitamin C 29 mg or 48% of the recommended daily value, B6 1 mg or 46 % of recommended daily value, potassium 1600 mg or 46% recommended daily value, magnesium 84 mg or 21%, folate 84 mg or 21%, niacin 4.2 mg or 21%, manganese 1 mg or 33%, choline 44.2 mg (no recommended daily value to date but is believed to help prevent your liver from accumulating fat and help in maintaining healthy brain cells in adults), and fiber 7 grams, not a ton but 26% of the recommended daily value. There are many more but you get the picture. A baked potato, with the right toppings, is not evil, it is not the highest protein food choice in the world, nor is it the lowest. I was simply trying to help the original poster not feel like crap about his food choices after reading some of these replies...Eat the freaking potato or don't eat the freaking potato.

Oh shuddup, you don't know what you're talking about, you've only been banded 6 months, you're just a newby! Is that better than "don't listen to him, he's not even banded?" You never fail to make me laugh. I love that you're doing so well without taking yourself too seriously. Tell 'em to take a picture of your gut before they throw it away...you'll be totally grossed out and it makes for a great show and tell at parties!

Y'all are so funny. I will say I agree with the mixing it up philosphy. I think you need some structure such as saying for lunch you'll have 1 serving of Protein, 1 serving of veggies, and 1 serving of carbs but I would vary the protein/veggies/carbs from day to day simply because different foods have different nutrients in them and if you're doing a cookie cutter food plan day to day you might be missing something. I do take a flintstones Vitamin most (cough) days of the week. I'm not a big fan of the "my way is the only way" philosphy. I think there are a variety of ways to maintain a healthy weight in a healthy way. Yes a baked potato is mostly carbohydrates. It has a little protein and (if you put the right toppings on) almost no fat. They are very high in Vitamin C, B6, potassium, choline, manganese, folate, niacin...the list goes on. Oh, and a ton of Fiber which cuts down your colon cancer rates AND is proven to help maintain a healthy weight, go figure. Different docs have different diet instructions. Different countries have hugely different diet recommendations. The US bariatric community is HUGE on protein but Aussie and UK not so much. I'm not saying one is right and one is wrong, just different, and different is not necessarily bad. I wish you all well on your weight loss journies. As long as you're doing it in a healthy manner I don't care how you do it, just be healthy about it.

I"m like Cocoa, slept on my side with about a zillion pillows in various places. My doc never gave me any post-op sleeping instructions and, other than having difficulty getting comfortable I never had any issues.

Touche! I am supposed to have a fill Tuesday...I am petrified. I waver back and forth between going to get a little one and holding off. I may need a counselor after this summer's incident! Right this minute I'm leaning towards going but we'll see when Tuesday gets here! Like the above folks, I read daily but rarely reply, just not a lot going on. Getting up every day. Putting one foot in front of the other. Most days loving life but occasionally wondering what the heck I did to end up here.... Take care, I wish you all well!

Damn gurl, you look GOOD!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!:wub:

I...am almost afraid to type out these words.... I lost a pound last week. Then I lost another pound the first half of this week. Maybe? Perhaps? The never ending plateau is coming to an end? Maybe? Oh please, oh please, oh please let it be!

I had to stay overnight, didn't need to. Would have rested better in my own home. I stayed at my parents place for 2 nights (mom's orders) but really I was up and around and getting my own drinks etc.... I would have been fine by myself without help. That said. My son was 5 at the time and I'm single...so, I would have been fine home alone but needed to leave him with the doting grandparents for 2-3 days and let them worry about feeding him and getting him to school, etc. I had 1 spot that oozed a tiny bit but nothing gross or bloody. I was able to handle all my bodily functions without issue.... Like above, I think paying a nurse would likely be a waste of your funds. Good luck!

Dottie-I think I'm joining the "just get it over" crowd. I think I'd want to get everything done, focus on healing then come back 100%, well, okay, 98%, but ready to focus on the diet/exercise/weight loss portion of your journey....but then I've always HATED waiting. I had an interesting hiccuping incident today. I've always had violent hiccups, the kind that shake your whole body and give you a raging headache but since I've been banded my hiccups are frequently painful (not always) but for the most part I hiccup 5-10 times and I'm done. I've also noticed when I'm more restricted I hiccup more. I had one of those bad band days today. Woke up not hungry (snotty) ate a little late morning but just felt pressury from it, drinking fine though. This afternoon I got a massive case of the hiccups that went on for almost 30 minutes. Incredibly painful and everytime I hiccupped I felt like I was going to throw up so I was pacing the halls by the employee restroom contemplating reaching in, grabbing Steve, and ripping him out with my bare hands when suddenly the damn things stopped....and the pressure went away, and I was instantly starving for the first time all day....best I can figure something was stuck (semi-stuck?) and irritating "things" and the hiccups finally pushed it through. I've been fine since, no pressure, discomfort, anything. (my co-workers think I'm a freak and one of my supervising physicians was convinced I was dying) Just another one of those freakish band moments (but hey, at least I'm not hurling in bushes!!!!)

Welcome to band Elfie. I feel your pain! After voluntary unfill #1 followed by emergency unfil #2, I have not lost a thing, but consider it a great success that I haven't gained anything either. Plus, I've been a lazy slug so I don't particularly deserve to lose anything recently. So congrats on the NSV and on not gaining! Denise, ewww, ewww, and ewww, but congrats ont he unexpected funds, woohoo! My son's first soccer game of the season was this morning. After standing in the rain for 45 minutes and getting miserably soggy, we had 2 players and no one from the other team showed up so home we came. Yuck! Now I'm sitting here watching the grass grow, I swear you can actually see it it's growing so fast since it rained, and thinking "crap, now I have to mow again".

Doughy breads, dry solid meats (pork roast, chicken breast) if it's not super solid or involves sauce I can handle it, rice...rice does not like me unless I only eat like 2 grains. Popcorn and nuts have actually been staples of my diet since I was banded, the only time popcorn bothers me is if I scarf it by the handful (did it once, will never do it again).

Dear Steve-Thank you for allowing me to have a fully enjoyable holiday weekend at the lake with my family while having PMS and not trying to kill me. Maybe you and I can work this out after all. Love and kisses Yours in bandedness Christie

Yay for you! He's using the threat of losing you to control you and well screw him. You don't need that BS. You're a beautiful strong woman who deserves someone who loves her and will stay by her side every day, not just the one's he wants to.... Don't cave, you deserve so much better than this!

This is one of those "you get what you pay for" moments. Keep in mind I'm in family practice, not a GI specialist but all I know about a nutcracker esophagus is that you have increased pressure in the esophagus and can cause hellish chest pain and swallowing problems...it IS technically a motility disorder and seems to have an increased incident of GERD associated with it...but can't tell ya if it could cause an increased risk of dilation (hopefully your specialists knew best and it doesn't and this is all a fluke). But again, with the amount of GERD you've had, I would think they'd want to recheck you occasionally and see if things are progressing/regressing/etc. Again, after my little incident this summer I am PARANOID but I think I'd be asking if they intend to check you again or just wait and do it if your symptoms worsen. (Okay, so I would lay awake at night imagining my band prolapsing until I knew for sure but that could just be my OCD flaring up!) The good news is you've done great and aren't having horrible problems so at worst it's probably still just a small dilation.

I wish I'd done it sooner! But seriously, I love my band. In no way, shape, or form do I regret getting it. On my bad days, sometimes I wish I'd gone for the bypass or sleeve...most of the time I'm fine but some days the dietary restrictions are a pain in the butt and I get frustrated because I want to stop on the way home from my son's soccer practice and get a freaking sandwich already...but bread and I are currently not friends so instead I come home and have something else...I know in the long run it's the best thing but like I said some days it is more work than I was expecting! But overall 2 thumbs up. Good luck and congrats on taking charge of your health!

Stac-I have heard of mild dilation turning to more serious dilation. Given your symptoms it would make me paranoid....(but then, I'm already a little paranoid with this little bugger). Are they planning on monitoring you occasionally and recheck or just wait and see? I'm starting to get a grasp on the PMS tightening thing I'm just going to have to be extremely careful the week before, meat is not my friend! Now that I look back on my little obstruction event, I started having the discomfort and throwing up/PBing/whatever the week before my period and it just progressed. So, I think it was all hormone related. Damn that mother nature!