shelley1057

Can anyone tell me if the Crunchmaster gluten free crackers which are made with quinoa, sesame seeds and brown rice are allowed for low carb diets? I love these things and thought they might be beneficial when I'm allowed to resume solid foods.:thumbup:

Today is 13 days since my surgery and went for my post-op visit. Since I didn't see him after the surgery I asked him what size band I got. He said the large Allergan LapBand. When I asked him what the maximum capacity of it is he kind of hemmed and hawed and said they have never really filled one to capacity before. Huh? He was pleased with my progress, 23 lbs since starting the pre-op diet and 11 lbs since surgery. Incisions are healing nicely. I asked when I'll be able to have a cocktail again and he said on my birthday Oct. 1st. I asked him if it's true you get drunker faster after having LapBand and he said yes, but they don't really know why. He scheduled me Aug. 1st for my first fill. When I got home the insurance company's bariatric dept. called to see how I was doing. I asked them what keeps the Drs. from putting in tiny amts. of fill and having you come back every month so they can bill your insurance $600 for each visit. They told me my fills will be covered for about 6 months until he hits that "sweet spot". I get suspicious as I've had Drs. use every excuse to have you come back in just so they can bill insurance and get the co-pay from you. I was glad to hear the fills will be covered under the surgical portion of the bill and I shouldn't even have to pay my co-pay! She also told me about some "protein shots" you can get at the grocery store to keep my protein intake up. Any of you heard of them? She said they taste like Koo-Aid. Well now I'm on the full liquid diet and looking forward to staying fuller longer! Can't wait for the fill though!

Hi everyone. I was banded June 29th and recovered rather quickly. I had no problems whatsoever until 2nd fill after which I experienced gas pains originating on my left side below the rib cage. No where near port or stomach. It subsided after 2 weeks. I had my 3rd fill 3 weeks ago and notice now I have gas almost all the time now. Especially after eating. I do have restriction and only Pb'ed a couple of times trying to eat bread. I use Citracel nightly for regularity so I know it's not from being backed up. Does anyone have any ideas what is causing this? Will this go away eventually?

I would describe the pain as sharp with movement and deep breaths. Radiates only to my shoulders though, not lower. I do find it strange to get it now since gas was not an issue right after the surgery.

Yeah...this is definitely gas. I feel it in my shoulders when I take a deep breath so have been taking some gas-x which helped some. I have just been perplexed as to why I got it now in this stage of the game. But remembering those 2 high fiber Vita Top muffins I had and I think the fiber disagreed with me! I never could tolerate fiber that well. That's why I use the Citracel instead of Metamucil...less gas! I woke up this morning with the gas pains and it really startled me. Just had my dinner and the pain went away somewhat. Just wondered if anyone else had this happen to them.

Went yesterday for my 3rd fill and NOW I feel the restriction! Last month I felt tight for a couple of weeks but noticed I was eating less and staying full longer. I also noticed after fills I get a pain in my left side just below the ribcage. It subsides after a week or two. Today I was only able to get a couple of bites of food in and actually got stuck for a couple of minutes at lunchtime. This band has been everything I hoped it would be. Fantastic tool!!!!

I just took a couple small sips of water and it went down. I should have known better since it was a small piece of pita bread and breads and tortillas bother a lot of folks. You have to remember there is swelling for a few days after a fill too so I should have just stuck to liquids like I was suppose to.

My former insurance co. wouldn't cover the procedure . And this is a Medicare HMO which has to cover all the same stuff Medicare would cover. So I switched insurance co. in January. I asked the surgeon's office which companies they had the best luck with and got Humana HMO. They covered everything except for the $100 co-pay I was responsible for. They actually have their own bariatric dept. which contacted me after the surgery to check up on me. They will also cover the fills without me having to pay a co-pay everytime I go to the office. It might be worth checking into switching to a different company. Might pay a little more but still should be able to get under a group rate.

I just had my second fill last week and can relate now to the above sensations. I don't get full per se but will experience an uncomfortable sensation in my chest that feels like a baseball is lodged there. Also hiccups. I got pain just once from eating a scrambled egg too fast. But learning to slow down and listen to my body's signals is all new. I find now it will hurt to drink liquids right after eating so I wait a while. Unfortunately I can no longer get in the gallon of fluid a day. I believe I have about 8cc in a 14cc band so I'm sure these signals are going to be more pronounced when I have the 3rd fill on the 27th.

Hi Folks- Well it's beginning to happen. Yesterday I went with a co-worker to clean a woman's home we hadn't seen since the first part of June. I was banded June 29th. After being in her house a short while this woman approached my co-worker to ask if I had been ill recently. She thought I had cancer due to the weight loss! Well she asked me about it and I told her about being banded. She was so excited for me and relieved! I don't see it as much yet. I saw my eldest daughter last week for the first time since being banded. I have lost 40 lbs. to date. I was wearing some clothes that I haad in my closet that were too small before. Both my daughter and my mother say they're too big and make me look pregnant. I go for my second fill Monday and can hardly wait. This is the most weight I've lost in my life and it has been almost effortless. I rarely get hungry. I just hope the rest of the weight loss will be as easy as this has been.

I always wore a EE. At my highest weight of 298 lbs I couldn't find anything to fit and developed plantar facsiitis due to wearing flip flops with no support. My ankles swelled too. During my pre-op Optifast diet I lost all the ankle swelling and can now wear my normal 9EE shoes and tie them! I'm back into my orthotics though trying to heal the facsiitis.

Well it finally happened to me. I had my first fill Aug.2nd. I think about 3cc in a 14cc band. Anyway have been doing well and losing 2-3 lbs weekly since I started. Last week went to spend a week with my oldest daughter and her family. I wasn't really adhering to the low carb part of my diet but still watching caloric intake and charting it daily. But decided to partake of a few cocktails. I was drinking bloody Marys and trying to keep the calories down. Friday evening I had a few and felt it coming on. Hadn't eaten so was really surprised when I ended up in the bathroom sliming away and gagging. It passed relatively quickly. So now I know too much alcohol can bring it on too! And I lost another 3.4 lbs last week! But like I said I gave up the food calories for the alcohol calories and I don't believe this would be healthy for too long!

I had the dissolving sutures and glue and then steri-strips over that which came off on their own within 2 weeks. I had my first fill yesterday and the skin below the port incision is still numb so I didn't feel a thing.

I brought me a snap front duster style house coat for walking the halls. Also a bra that hooks in the front would be perfect. Just as long as it's not tight. And I had a pull over cotton top with some cotton pull on capris that were comfortable for riding home in. Bring whatever you want. the family can hold on to it until your in a room. They are just being lazy by telling you they don't want you to bring anything. That way they don't have to keep track of your things. Good luck!

I haven't been able to get the recommended amount of protein in my diet so I bought some protein "shooters" at Walmart. They seem to be the cheapest I found so far. But the taste is horrible. I mix it in a gatorade bottle with Crystal Light and it makes it go down easier. so I'm planning on keeping them around to keep my protein intake up. Ingesting protein will speed up your metabolism. the weight is coming off so it must work for me.

You can eat with me anytime. I'm deaf so the "gurgling and burping" wouldn't bother me in the least!:ohmy: As for having to spit out the fibrous stuff I'm sure you use a napkin for that. I have problems eating with folks that use their forks as shovels! And then proceed to talk with their mouths full. My ex FIL used to think it was okay to pass gas at the dinner table!

Leigha- You already look fabulous! WTH would you need to lose another 8 lbs? Promise me you won't get all obsessed with that number on the scale. Unless you were holding it all in with Spanx where is that 8 lbs located?

Hey Jess- Hope I can put your mind to ease. Most of us are modest, self conscious probably due to being fat. Anyway no one will take your gown off. you are covered on the OR table with a sterile field. Your gown will be moved out of their way after you are out and after the sterile drape is placed over you. I know this because I'm a retired RN and we are taught to respect the patient's privacy even when they are out. When you come to in the Recovery room your gown will be on and you will be covered with lots of blankets. Hope this answers your question.

Good Evening Folks- I'm in a bit of a dilemma and confused and thought maybe you could clear things up for me. My instructions from my Dr. says to eat 3 meals a day with no snacking in between. And also not to eat if not hungry. Okay today I started on real foods after 2 weeks of clear liquids and 1 weeks of full liquid. I don't have any fill yet. This morning I made a nice garden omelet with 297 calories. Wasn't hungry for lunch so skipped it. For dinner I had a homemade salad with some romaine, veggies, shaved chicken deli meat and cheese. So my total caloric intake for the day is about 715 calories and only about 30 grams of protein! I ate it even though I wasn't hungry. Chewed it up thoroughly. I'm to do the high protein, low carb diet. I can't see where I'm gonna get the recommended protein every day. And these low calorie diets make me gain weight! My body probably thinks it's starving and hangs onto every ounce of fat! If I'm to get all this stuff in everyday shouldn't I be doing more frequent, smaller meals? Even though the Dr's. office says no eating between meals? Any suggestions?

By the way Laura, I LMAO reading about you getting a buzz on Nyquil. That stuff is 80% alcohol. Next time just make yourself a "hot toddy"! Cheaper and probably better tasting!

I also used to partake of the daily white russians during cocktail hour. It would normally take about 3-4 to get me buzzed. My Dr. says i can have one on my birthday in Oct. And he assures me it will affect me sooner. I think perhaps it's due to decreased body mass? A bigger person will tolerate alcohol more then a thinner person. And after you've been off the stuff a few months I'm sure you decrease your tolerance. I still plan to have the occasional cocktail but have to remember that our bodies DO NOT use the calories in alcohol for energy. It gets stored as fat and can be utilized later if needed with the breakdown of fat into energy. That's why alcohol makes us fat. In men especially it gets stored around the abdomen, hence the "beer gut". When I started drinking at age 40 is when my abdomen started getting so big.

Wonderful for you! I am 19 days out from surgery and have lost 25 lbs. I found some clothes in my closet that I never wore because I bought them and then quit smoking so gained weight and they were too tight. Now they fit beautifully! My hairdresser noticed yesterday I've lost weight. Others are commenting they can see it! I just know I feel better. And I haven't taken my diabetes medication in over a week! My fasting blood sugars are within normal range! We are well on our way! If it seems slow going just remember the slow weight loss is usually the permanent weight loss!

I think the health care professionals at these seminars push whatever is the latest "thing" at the moment. When I went we were discouraged from gastric bypass due to the complications and the tendency to put all the weight back on. by the way Randy Jackson did have GB first and then he had a band put over this when the weight started to come back on. Years ago my daughter worked for a hospital that was the first for doing bypass in the area and she did everything trying to talk me into it. I saw the mortality rate was one in every 100 and decided it was too risky. I had the opprtunity to see some pts. after GB when I worked in the hospital and it's scary to see the ones that have malabsorbsion problems and are slowly dying! Now the "sleeve" is the latest thing and I really don't believe it's any better than the band other than it doesn't have the problem of food getting stuck like you would with the band. They're just going to try and talk you into whatever is the trend. (And don't they get more for the sleeve?)

I just thought it strange he wouldn't tell me the capacity of the band he used on me. Maybe he thought I would get all hung up on the amount of fills or something but after everything I've read on here I think it's safe to say we can go by how it FEELS after fills. I'm just looking forward to the day I get restriction without vomiting!

Thanks for the information guys! I was looking around on another site and yeah I think the large band is 14cc. I would hope it'll be 3 or more fills. I understand the stomach swells after each fill and it takes a couple of days for it to settle down. I'll have to see if I can find those protein shots but I don't think the Dr. wants me using liquids for protein unless there is very little calories and carbs in them. But I can check them out for the post-fill days!