jmw0424

I had self pay surgery in detroit. loved my doctor but he left jsut after doing my surgery. his partner that I now see is nice and he has been very helpful< but I have to pay 150.00 each fill and I have not yet found my sweet spot. the only time i feel restriction is if I swallow food that i havent chewed well, or eat a regular portion (ie.... 4-6oz meat 1 cup veggie and starch, 2 slices of pizza, two eggs and a slice or toast, whole sandwhich etc...) I have never had an issue with any food (not that I want to) but i get this odd shoulder pain when my stomach is empty, and I am finding that it takes more then I should be eating to make the pain go away. I am hoping to find a doctor that does fills under fluro, as my u=current doctor doesn't and he also says at 7.5cc's I "shouold be at restriction and don't need any more fills or I will end up too tight" I don't want that but I woulod rather pay once and know that I am at restriction instead of paying a bunch of times for a .25cc injection and a good guess. any help would be great. thanks

so finally after my fourth fill I think I am in the green zone. for the first time I feel restriction when I eat. I am still able to eat any food with out PB, but if I eat too fast or too big of a bite or dont stop soon enough, then I will get stick and that is not comftorable! I am glad to have enough restriction to regulate my portions with out feeling jungry, but still not be so restricted that I have to leave out certain types of foods. I like the fact that I can eat out with people, and aside from eating slower and less, I am just like them on to the NSV!!!! my family spent the week at disney world last week. Talk about HOT and HUMID!!! anyway for the first time in a LONG time i got onto every ride with out wondering if I would meet the seat size requirement I also wore tank tops the whole time with out avoiding pictures because I wasn't worried that my arms looked HUGE. granted they are still bigger then avg size people (they were even big in compairson to the rest of my body when I was heavier) but for the first time they were not the focus of my attention when I looked at pics of myself also no second chin in photos!!!!!!! last but not least I had been holding off on shopping until just before the trip and I am happy to report that I was able to shop in the regular womens department and not the plus size department!!!! I comftorably wore sz 14 or 16 bottoms, large skirts and large shirts!!!! I even got a few xl shirts from the juniors department and a sz medium skirt from old navy (clearly elastic is my friend lol ) I am almost 6 months into this journey, and I am half way to my goal weight, but I am 100% at my goal lifestyle, and that is way more important to me. It feels so good to finally be happy with me and know that I am leading my family in a healthy active lifestyle.

so finally after my fourth fill I think I am in the green zone. for the first time I feel restriction when I eat. I am still able to eat any food with out PB, but if I eat too fast or too big of a bite or dont stop soon enough, then I will get stick and that is not comftorable! I am glad to have enough restriction to regulate my portions with out feeling jungry, but still not be so restricted that I have to leave out certain types of foods. I like the fact that I can eat out with people, and aside from eating slower and less, I am just like them on to the NSV!!!! my family spent the week at disney world last week. Talk about HOT and HUMID!!! anyway for the first time in a LONG time i got onto every ride with out wondering if I would meet the seat size requirement I also wore tank tops the whole time with out avoiding pictures because I wasn't worried that my arms looked HUGE. granted they are still bigger then avg size people (they were even big in compairson to the rest of my body when I was heavier) but for the first time they were not the focus of my attention when I looked at pics of myself also no second chin in photos!!!!!!! last but not least I had been holding off on shopping until just before the trip and I am happy to report that I was able to shop in the regular womens department and not the plus size department!!!! I comftorably wore sz 14 or 16 bottoms, large skirts and large shirts!!!! I even got a few xl shirts from the juniors department and a sz medium skirt from old navy (clearly elastic is my friend lol ) I am almost 6 months into this journey, and I am half way to my goal weight, but I am 100% at my goal lifestyle, and that is way more important to me. It feels so good to finally be happy with me and know that I am leading my family in a healthy active lifestyle.

that is so great! congrats on your success and I am sure your story will help another person out which makes telling it all the more worth while

I'm with you in the wanting to be a runner thing. In high school I did softball and hockey and even though I was about 150-160 with lots of muscle, I had large breast and could never run with out feeling like my stride was messed up and my breast hurt. I had a reduction a few years after I graduated, but by then I was out of work out mode. I think it is hard for people who always got exercise through sports to realize how important it is to begin a work out routine when high school is over! Esp people who would have been fat were it not for being in a sport year round, anyway I just downloaded couch to 5k yesterday and I am looking forward to being able to really run / jog for 25-30 min. on the ground, which I found out recently is NOTHING like the treadmil!! I have been doing good on the treadmil walking for 5 min and jogging for 5 min but when I tried it with my kids at the park I could hardly jog for 2 min :grouphug: anyway good luck and my goal is to do our local 5k run / walk for breast cancer

I think in most cases you will always get an answer from the nurse, that errors on the side of caution. first not every pill can be crushed (entric coated, time released etc) so saying you need to crush every pill is silly. I would say to split the pills that are long, such as Calcium pills, but most sizes of round pills are fine for just about every. also keep in mind that you dont even have any Fluid in your band so the odds of getting stuck are slim. If you do need to crush your pills now ( while the swelling in your stomach goes down) then rest assured that you wont have to do it forever. I will tell you my diet progression, but every doctor is different. I think mine advances diets a bit more slowly then some others that I have heard, but again better safe then sorry. week one - Clear Liquids only ( only approved non see through item was Protein shakes) week two- week 1 foods + full liquids ( Jello, cream Soup, etc) week three - week 1 &2 foods + soft foods ( cream of wheat, pudding, mashed taters, hummis, cottage cheese etc) week four - weeks 1,2 &3 foods + non red meat Proteins ( fish, chicken, shrimp, lobster, crab etc) week five - weeks 1,2,3 & 4 + fruits and veggies advoiding uncooked veggies until well tolerated week six - weeks 1,2,3,4 & 5 + red meat, Pasta, bread, and rice - be careful with these foods, try them in small amounts one at a time until you know how u will tolerate them. **NEVER FOODS** carbonated beverages & gum that was it. good luck and if you are unsure of anything call your doctor or nutritionist

I still get painful burps / stuck gas if I go too long between meals. It took me a while to figure out that was the cause, but I am almost 100% sure now. It also gives me referred pain in my shoulder, which is what prompted me to get to the bottom of it. try gas x and hopefully it will improve when u get onto more solid foods. also drink very slowly and eat very slowly. sure u know but no straws. all of those things make u swallow more air, thus more burps :smile2: as for the drinks, I use chocolate powder from walmart, and add a 1/2 tsp of Peanut Butter or 1/2 of a bananna..........or both if it has been a pretty low cal day and make a smoothie. anyway this helps with the taste for me, but u have to be careful because PB has lots of calories so dont use too much. if u like other flavors better, then just add some sort of frozed fruit in place of ice and blend it up and that helps too sure the pain with laughing will pass once u heal more, but it takes a long time for the port site to stop being tender at times, I am still waiting for that day Good luck to you:thumbup:

my doctors told me that when people get filled to the point that "lots" of regular foods are not tolerated and they have to do things like hot tea to tolerate solids, then they are usually too full and either eat too little or eat slider foods and both problems will cause u to be hungry soon after eating. He told me the best fill level is to be tight enough to feel not hungry after 1/2 - 1 cup of solid foods and have only a few common foods on the can not tolerate list. so maybe you are a little too tight?

2 pounds and a few ounces and I will be in the 100's ( what me and my friends call ONEderland lol ) I have been under 200 pounds in the past, but only by 10lbs or so and I always gained it right back with in a few months because I lost the weight taking Adapex and couldnt maintain such a low cal diet when I stopped taking the pills. Anyway it feels good to be this close again, but this time I know I did it the right way eating healthy foods in moderate portions and moving my butt off the couch. I dont have restriction yet, but I know I will soon and this time the weight will stay off.........and keep dropping:thumbup:!!! It has taken lots of will power and my loss seems to be going slower the some others, but I am thrilled and looking forward to my future.

:tongue:Thank you all so much for the support !!! The last couple of pounds are holding on for dear life, but they can't stick around forever. I see my doctor next week for another fill and I think at that point I will have some pretty good restriction. might not quite hit the "sweet spot" but as long as I am no longer hungry after 1 cup of food or less, then I can do this :cursing: I am learning that I dont need to be "full" after a meal, just not hungry any more. Again this website has been a wealth of information and I am so greatful to have others with my same "issues" to seek advise and support from. Thank you all again

I am down almost 35lbs. my pants are getting looser, but I am not small enough to drop to the next size yet. I out it on the fact that my 18's were getting pretty tight and had I bought new clothes would have prob needed to get a 20, so now my 18's are looser but I am not ready for a 16 and prob won't be for another 10 or more pounds.

hey hun I had a reduction when I was just 19 back in 2000. I can tell you that it DOES get better :confused: They will look very odd and mishapen for about 3-6 months before they "settle" into place. Like you I felt like they were too small right after, but when the fell into place I gained a full cup size. I currently wear a 38 C if I want some cleveage or a 38D if I am looking for full coverage. I wont say that there are no problems each breast is shaped differently. My nipple placement is uneven and the areola is different shaped and size, but in the end I am still happy I did it. My back thanks me every day. As I got older one thing I found is that as I gained weight (was only about 130 at time of reduction with 28" waist) it was hard to fit into plus size tops as they seemed to be made for large women with large breast. Since you are loosing though it seems as though you wont have to deal with that problem:) If after a few months they still seem to small then just invest in some heavy padded bras and they increase you 1-2 sizes. all of my bras these days are padded push ups

:confused::laugh: LOVE THIS!!!!! Our sweet tooths must be related LOL So far there are not any foods that I can not eat as long as I chew well and eat slowly. I have only had 2 fills though, so this may very well change. I have had a couple of times where something I was eathing seemed to get stuck. It caused some discomfort, but I didn't PB or vomit or anything. I can also say that those episodes happened when I was really hungry and ate a little to fast or my bite was a little too large.

I am finding that for me the stomach gas with lots of belching and even left shoulder pain seems to happen most often when my stomach is empty for too long. at least that is my new theory that I am testing and so far I am correct :confused: I had problems about 2-3 weeks post op and then was fine until just a couple weeks ago, now I have been getting lots of gas. The thing those two time peroids have in common is a mostly liquid diet. I am currently doing a meal replacement program with my doctor to "jump start" my weightloss and have 2 shakes and dinner. I am finding that if I eat a small snack between shakes I do not have the problem with the gas.

are u blending your shakes? are u using a straw to drink? those are two things that make it easy to get some added gas early on. also are u taking small bites quickly? this can cause gas pain you have to not only take smaller bites, but also eat much more slowly. I still sometimes get gas pain that makes my left shoulder hurt, but gas x seems to help alot. i also had lots of gas in the mushie phase, i think it was because my stomach was pretty much empty most of the time and for me when I am hungry I get a gassy stomach. hope it goes away for ya

I didnt really know it was an option, but I am going in aug. and would be interested to know if resturants allow it. let me know what you find out

I got it the first time about 2 weeks after being banded. IT is a pain in my upper left chest area like just below my clavical and sometimes goes into my left shoulder. It lasted for hours and had me a little freaked. It was associated with TONS of belching so I assumed it was gas pain and when I finally got home from work I took some gas x and leaned over my bed needs on the floor. after abotu 4 times of doing this it finally went away and stayed away. I decided that it was user error and I was eating/drinking too fast and trapping some gas. The odd pain has appeared on a few other occasions again with lots of belching (which does not relieve the pain at all) but goes away quickly. That is until yesterday. I had it SO bad and I was stuck with no gas x as I was in the hospital with my daughter having her tonsils out! I too gas x as soon as I got home and have taken it several times since with little relief. the thing is that there is no way it could ahve been an eating or drinking error because it started at 6am right when I got up and had not eaten yet.............nor did I get to eat until 4pm when we got home. another thing I get is a pain/odd feeling right where my port is during these episodes. feels kinda like something pressing under my ribs. So at this point I dont know if it is gas or if it is referred sotmach pain. I have done a TON of research on the issue and honestly it doesnt seem like anyone else knows for sure what causes it or how to get rid of it for good :smile2: hope it doesnt lost forever. BTW I always have that strange feeling where my port is, and sometimes if feels like my port is buldging out after I drink or eat.......strange

I felt a little like that too after I got home. I spent 10,700 and did not finance it. it came from savings that I kept thinking could have benn used on "more important" things. Then I realized that using the money towards my childs first car, a new pool, school, weddings in the future, etc....... would all be worthless in I was either too fat to enjoy them or died early (like most women in my family) due to obesity. As far as feeling guilty for needing surgery to loose weight, DON'T! and trust me it is no cake walk the band is a tool to help you loose, but more importantly help you to keep what you loose off. Think of this as your new start, and spending the money out of your own pocket will help be a motivator, because I will be DAMNED if I spent that much money and fail. This is the start to my forever success................and yours too

congrats!!!!!! it will be nice to shop in the non-plus size department

Clearly either I was not clear enough in my post or you are just misunderstanding me. I in NO WAY think the band is a magic tool and did a ton of research prior to choosing the band. I am willing to put in ALL the work it requires. I also know that the band does not help head hunger. what I was saying in that statement is that prior to the band I thought that I was just a big eater and it took large portions to be full (something that could be helped with the band) I am now realizing that I have a food issue as I suffer from head hunger, and I am dealing with it. not thinking that the band will deal with it for me. It will however be easier to loose weight once I get the right amount of fill. Sorry my post some how offended you but if you took the time to look at any other post by me prior to instructing me to "reevaluate my thinking" you would realize that I am not one of those people on here waiting for the band to solve my problems and waiting to loose my weight in 6 months.

GNC carries a product called anywhey it is favorless and you can mix it in anything. I will sometimes mix it with cyrstal light and I cant tast it at all. I also drink the chocolate whey from wal-mart. it is cheap and doesnt have the funky after taste that muscle milk does. IT is called "super advanced whey" by body fortress. comes in a 2lb container and has 28g of protein and only 130 calories. I bled it with ice and skim milk sometimes toss on 1/2 of a bananna or use frozen strawberries instead of ice and blend it. so far those are the only two I can tolerate.

thanks I needed this post today. Went shopping for a shirt and it's not that I was expecting to have dropped sizes or anything, but it I was a bit frusterated that I had surgery march 2nd and it is soon to be june 2nd 3 months later and I havent really made much progress IMO. I am still hungry, still "dieting" and realize now that I actually have a FOOD PROBLEM!! head hunger has been difficult to deal with and since I have not reached restriction I don't know the feeling that everyone talks about where they eat 1/2 a cup of food and know they will vomit if they take another bite. hell at this point I can take that big fist size bite of the burger you mentioned...........and keep taking them till it is gone :w00t: granted I dont do it, btu I am so ready of my band to be giving me a bit more of a hand then it is thus far.

grrrrr wish I was loosing that much per week. it is going much slower for me. Sure it is my fault I try to do the 2 shakes 3 snakes and dinner, but I almost NEVER make it. I have not fould restriction yet and I am still having a hard time knowing when I am full. I am starting to measure my food and not get seconds, but I get hungry like stomach growling and twisting hungry with in 1.5-2 hrs. it makes it really hard to stick to this "diet" on a good note I am not gaining weight :w00t:

I told my husband, mother, brother, and sister in law. my mom did tell a couple of my aunts even though I told her not to, so Iam sure bynow most of my family knows, but no one says anything to me. My mom had gastric bypass and is loosign fast, so they are more interested in her My decision not to tell people right away is because I dont want people watching me waiting for me to loose weight. once it happens then I will feel fine with telling them how i did it.

my first fill wasnt until 6 weeks post op. I didnt hurt at all and I dont think it would have hurt had it been done sooner either. THey do have to poke me very near my port scar (the large one) but really it hurt less then getting a shot. I wish I would have been able to get a fill sooner. From about week 3-6 I was starving good luck to you