peacelives10

Have any of you struggled with losing weight with the lap band because of hypothyroidism. The reason I'm asking is because I have struggled with losing weight with the lap band since I got it back in August 2010. My first week post op I gained 7 pounds and was reprimanded by my surgeon for not following the rules (even though I couldn't get anything down but a few sips of Water and the liquid pain killer I was prescribed). The only success I have had with the lap band was getting to my lowest weight of 212 pounds but since then I am 224 pounds and have been since January of this year. I began to get very frustrated and depressed because I was following the rules with 1 cups of food of the right foods (low fat, high Protein, low carbohydrates). I was exercising and still do with zumba, walking off the pounds with leslie sansone, bike riding, and the epileptical machine. I can only get in about 600-900 calories a day and find it very hard to get in more than that. Every time I went to see my surgeon, my weight remained the same at 224. I was ashamed and angry that I was working so hard but the weight was not coming off but I thought that my surgeon might be able to shed some light on why I wasn't losing weight. Instead, he aggressively accused me of not following the rules, of drinking sugary drinks, eating fatty foods, and not exercising. My mother was in the room with me and told him that I don't do any of that and he proceeded to tell her "well, you may live with her under the same roof, ma'am, but when you go to sleep, she's probably sneaking food into her room." I ended up getting a fill that day of 2 cc's (I have a 7 cc band). I had to return the next day because of acid reflux and I couldn't even swallow my own saliva. I left feeling guilty and ashamed and angry. I was following the rules and tried to explain that I was but he talked over me with his accusations. I let it go and thought that with the fill I was finally going to lose some weight. I exercised and ate very good like I have always done and still remained at 224 and even went up to 226 on some days. One day I would weigh myself and I would be 222 then the next day I would be 227. I got depressed and angry and stopped exercising because I felt like it was lose-lose situation. I went back to the doctor for another fill and of course I weighed in at 224 pounds again. I explained to him that something is wrong and that I'm not losing weight. His response was to accuse me again of not following the rules. I told him what I ate and what I do for exercise and he talked over me and said that "listen, if you eat fatty foods and drink sugary drinks you WILL NOT lose weight!" and I told him I wasn't eating fatty foods or drinking sodas. He wasn't convinced and sent me to the dietitian next door for a "lesson in eating properly with the lap band" because I can't seem to follow the rules according to him. I told him that if I wasn't following the rules then I wouldn't even show my face at his office out of embarrassment for my lack of trying. He told me to come back in 2 weeks with a food journal so I could show it to him and to go to some website to read and re read the lap band rules until they stuck in my head. He told me that I think I know everything but I don't and that if he put me in the hospital with IV's and no food that I would lose 20 pounds in a week and he guaranteed it. I left feeling very depressed and hopeless and ashamed and guilty. His accusations were becoming true in mind. I thought it was my fault. I became scared of food and didn't eat for a week because of him.I just drank water and propel water and a few crackers. The next week I limited myself to 300 calories a day. I knew this obsession with food wasn't right but his accusations turned me to this behavior. It is the 3rd week and I'm due to see him next Wednesday and I still weigh 224 pounds even with liquids and only eating 300 calories and doing zumba. I am very depressed about my situation and even more upset that my surgeon doesn't believe me. I went to my general doctor last week and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and he told me that this could be a very good and legitimate reason why i am not losing weight. I looked up hypothyroidism and found out that it's very hard for people with this condition to lose weight and that their metabolism is very slow. I feel that my surgeon should have known or suggested that something was wrong inside of me, that maybe it was my thyroid, rather than just accusing me of not following the rules. I see him next wednesday and when I tell him about my hypothyroidism I know he will just accuse me of over eating again. I am taking thyroid replacement pills now and hope that they will help a little. My question is has anyone else had these problems regardless of exercising and eating healthy. And has anyone found out they had hypothyroidism while trying to lose weight with the lap band? And I do have good restriction and stop when eating when I feel full and am not hungry between meals.

Thank you guys for your quick replies.

I went for my first fill today and when the doctor inserted the needle I felt a pop and felt something move inside my abdomen in my port area. My mother heard the pop. Is this popping noise and sensation normal with the first fills or with all fills? I'm scared that my port may have come dislodged or flipped. I didn't want to may a big fuss about it already because my doctor had already accused me of not following the rules 10 minutes earlier and I didn't want to create another situation where he felt he needed to accuse me of something.

I ask myself the very same sad question, "what am doing wrong? and why are so many people on here losing weight and I'm not?" I was banded on August 24, 2010 weighing in at 221 on the day of surgery. A week after surgery I had to go to my lapband doctor's office for a routine check up and weighed in at 224. It is now January 11, 2011 and I weigh 218. I do everything by the book. I follow the rules. I get all my recommended Water in, I exercise 5 days a week (Leslie Sansone 3-5 miles each day), and count my calories. I have counted my calories before and I have put everything that has gone into my mouth into a journal. I usually take in about 900 to 1000 calories a day, but the scale does not budge. I get all my Fluid in (64 ounces) and drink nothing but water with crystal light and get all my Protein in. I'm on a high protein low carbohydrate diet. Before being banded I used to come on here everyday and I would read all the success stories and be so excited that I was finally going to get my chance of being banded and finally losing the weight like so many people on lapband talk have done...but so far the results have been disappointing and embarrassing. I get a fill tomorrow. hopefully that will make a difference. I just don't understand it. Before I was banded I lost 25 pounds on my own doing the same exact thing...nothing but water and crystal light, high protein, low carb, 3 to 5 miles a day and I lost weight...and now I'm banded and nothing...I change up my routine with turbo jam and bike riding and I'm still not losing anything. It makes me sad and I don't understand it at all. The worst part of it is that I have a friend who was also banded..10 days before me and she lost 50 pounds in 2 months. Every now and then she would text with "how you doing? how much weight have you lost?" and I would sadly lie and say "oh, I lost 20 pounds already" knowing full well that I had lost nothing at all...she would also post pictures of her befores and afters on her facebook with comments like "I need new pants again..this weight is just falling off!" I'm happy for her success but when you compare what she has done to what I have done..it just doesn't add up ..she eats out almost everyday, eats unhealthy foods, and doesn't exercise at all...and I do the exact opposite of that and I've only lost 3 pounds? I'll stop complaining now...

I was banded on August 25, 2010 and since then I have lost 3 pounds. This weight loss is amazing.

I have really bad cramps when I get my period and I got mine about 3 days after my surgery and the pain was unbearable that I crushed two midols into pudding...bad bad very bad idea. It didn't taste like anything at first but then all of a sudden it burned my mouth and I threw it up What helped me was the liquid pain killer you get after surgery. lortab. It took the pain away for about 12 hours...I took 2 doses and the pain was gone and I was loopy but happy that the pain was gone.

You're definitely not alone. I lost 27 pounds pre-op and was 221.2 on the day of surgery. 3 days post-op I went down to 218 and then I got my period on my 3rd day post op and I always gain 4-8 pounds when I get my period. My weight the next day shot up to 225 and stayed that way for an entire week. I've now been off my period for 2 days now and it will not move from 224. I'm 17 days post op and I gained weight! I feel so discouraged and keep wondering if I did the right thing with the LAP-BAND® and all..and keep telling myself that I could have and would have lost more weight on my own without the surgery in 17 days. I am losing inches though but I want to see pounds lost. At least I can say that my clothes do fit better and my stomach bulge has gone down. And then I read about other people losing 20 pounds 2 weeks post op. My friend called me the other day who had the LAP-BAND® done on August 2 of this year and she told me she lost 20 pounds so far and I she asked me how much I had lost and I lied and said "oh, i've lost 10 pounds" when I had really gained 6-7 pounds. I want to call my doctor but I'm afraid he'll say to get a fill and I don't want one yet...and plus I do have restriction maybe because of swelling or something. Anyways, I weighed myself this morning and it was 224.8 and it ruined my entire day. I'm still on the liquid diet..I eat nothing but cream soups...one can a day gives me breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and between that I drink two 4 oz of protein shakes and drink lots of water...I start pureed this coming monday and am I afraid that I'll gain more weight.

I couldn't sleep either and I take a high blood pressure medication that also helps me sleep. I had my surgery the same day and I crush my pill in applesauce or pudding and it works well. The applesauce was kind of hard to get down but the pudding was a lot easier. I crush my pill and put sugar free pudding into a medication cup and eat it like that. I tried to just crush it and mix it with water but it was unbearable. I ended up gagging and hurting my incisions. With the pudding or applesauce you can't taste the pills at all. Make sure to get sugar free products.

My name is Jenny and I was originally supposed to be banded on August 24, 2010, but due to my doctor's family emergency my date got changed to August 25, 2010. I went in for pre-registration on August 23 and they told me to be there at 12:30 pm the next day for my surgery. There were 3 other people in the pre-op room with me. Myself and another woman was getting banded, one was getting revision because her port had flipped and another one was getting gastric bypass. I undressed. I had to take off everything and I mean EVERYTHING! put on my knee high compression stockings and non-skid socks and the gown. One of the nurses took my vitals and she attempted to start an IV on my right hand and beforehand she told that their hospital prefers to inject numbing medication (lidocaine) before attempting an IV. So, she injected lidocaine and it burned so much when it was injected and then she put the IV in and moved it all around, fumbled around for the vein, took the IV needle out half way and shoved it in again trying to get blood back flow. She then said sorry again and tried my other arm on my forearm, injected more lidocaine (it burned again) fumbled around for the vein (it hurt) told me sorry and took out the IV. Then the head nurse came in explaining that her policy for the pre-op room was that every nurse got 2 chances and 2 chances only to try to put an IV. So, with saying that, she, the head nurse, attempted another IV on my left hand, injected more lidocaine and got the back flow for the IV (FINALLY!). By this time it was already around 1:30 pm and the anesthesiologist had come to speak with me to explain his part of the process in the operating room and he asked me if I was nervous and I said yes so he asked the nurse to give me something to put me to sleep. I feel asleep fast. Then I woke up like an hour later and was told that the doctor wasn't going to come in til 5 pm. It was 8 pm by the time I decided to get dressed and leave the hospital to reschedule for another day. I left. I thought maybe him not coming was God's way of telling me that I wasn't ready for the surgery yet. But then I got home and I cried to my mother and brother that I should have stayed. Then at 10 pm the doctor called my mother's cell phone apologizing for his lateness and that he would go ahead and do the surgery tomorrow morning and that I would be the very first one in the operating room. I got too excited and said yes. So the next day I was told by the doctor to show up to the pre-op area at 7:30 am and the IV was quick this time. It was 8:30 am and I was finally wheeled into the operating room. Being wheeled away from your family is one of the hardest things ever! I was wheeled into the operating room and they told me to scoot myself onto the narrow operating table and I was looking up into the bright over light they have and I think that's when I wanted to jump off the table and run back to my family. Instead I felt my eyes get all misty. I wanted to cry but I held it together. It's just really creepy being in that operating room and you being in a very vulnerable state. They covered me with a warm blanket. It was too warm. I don't like being covered with blankets ever because I get hot easily and I think I was even trying to shrug it off of my body. Then they attached the arm portions to the operating table and spread my arms apart and strapped then down with a pad that felt cool and gelatinous to the touch. By then I was already feeling drowsy and I could feel myself going under anesthesia. The next thing I knew I was in recovery with a oxygen mask blowing oxygen 100 mph into my nose and mouth. I wanted to remove it but I was told not to touch it and I obeyed. It was so so very very hard to try to keep my eyes open. My lids were so heavy but I felt that I needed to make myself open them because every time I drifted into sleep with the oxygen mask on I felt like I had stopped breathing...so that made me very scared (of course I didn't stop breathing, it just felt that) So I fought off the sleepies and kept my eyes open and finally after a while I won the battle and eventually I was able to take off the oxygen mask. When the nurse took off the mask she told me to try to keep taking deep breathes. I tried but I was still kind of drowsy and drifted into a second long sleep and my respirations would reach below 94 and that's when the machine would start beeping. So every time it beeped I took a deep breath and my respirations would climb back up to 97 or 98. After I got that down I started to notice that my mouth was bone dry to the point where I would gag because it was so dry. This freaked me out. I hate having a dry mouth. So I asked for a wet sponge and my nurse brought a cup with ice cold Water and a sponge and wet my lips and my tongue and it felt like the most wonderful thing in the entire universe until she took it out and placed the cup and sponge on a table behind my bed so I wouldn't be able to reach it. My mouth started to get bone dry again and I freaked out again and I had to ask another nurse for the sponge and I opened my mouth expecting him to wet my tongue, but no dice. He just wet my lips. I made sure not to ask him again. So finally I saw the anesthesiologist and he was peeking into the curtain of the patient next to me and I waved him over and I asked him if he can give me the cup of ice cold water and the sponge and he did. He gave it to me in my hand, the cup and the sponge and I swear if was physically able to yell out "I LOVE YOU" to him I would have. So I felt a lot better that I had control of the sponge now and I constantly wet my lips and my tongue when needed. And I guarded that cup like it was my most prized posession. After that I felt between my legs and noticed a pressure there and found out I had been cathed. It felt weird and I just wanted it out and I was told by my brother who is a nurse that once you tell them you can get up to pee on your own and you actually do it then they'll take out the cath. So I told my nurse I wanted to pee on my own and she took out the catheter and I was helped to the bathroom by a male nurse. and OMG I Peed! on my own! I went back to my area and the male nurse that escorted me to the bathroom told me to sit on the recliner chair so I did. but he opened by entire back side of the gown but by this time I didn't care what was showing. He would open it so I wouldn't have to manuever myself to get the back of the gown out from under me thus me causing unnecessary pain to myself. So I sat there and I asked for some pain meds and the pain went away quickly and I feel asleep in the recliner chair. And then they woke me up and took me to x ray so I can drink some liquid in a little medicine cup so they can track it going down through x ray. The stuff was horrible and it was a small amount but it took forever to finish because it was so horrible. but at the same time I was thirsty and my mouth and throat were so dry that I was thankful for anything to drink even if it was that horrible stuff. I was done with x ray and taken back to post op to my recliner chair and I asked my nurse if I can go home now and she said that they had to wait for the results of the x ray. I just wanted to go home already. It took an hour and a half to get the results from the x ray. Everything came out fine and then my nurse told me I could go home but to just give her about 30 more minutes so she can bring me some "food" and explain the LAP-BAND® rules to me and to schedule my follow up appointment with my surgeon/doctor. She brought a tray that had chicken broth, a bottled water, a popiscle in a cup that was half way melted and some Jello. I could only take 2 very small sips of water and one smaller sip of chicken broth by the time I was done. I didn't even touch the jello or popsicle. So then my mom was in the room with me and the nurse explained the rules and told me I could get dressed to go home. They took out my IV and the male nurse who escorted me to the bathroom about 3 times adjusted my stockings and told me to keep them on for a couple of more hours because his wife had to wear them too and that they helped her. He closed the curtain, I changed into my exercise capri loose fitting pants, and a dark t shirt cause I didn't want to put my bra back on because of the incisions. I came out with my pink crocs, my white compression stockings showing, and my high water capri's and my nurse laughed at me telling the others to look at how cute I looked. I guess I looked funny. I didn't care. I just wanted freedom! By this time my mom had left and I was escorted to my family and I got into the car and we drove home. When I got home, it was a completely different story. I took a nose dive. I cried and wailed. Crying out that I had made a mistake and that I wanted to go back to the hospital to get the band out. I couldn't drink any water at all or any liquids for that matter. I cried and cried and felt like I had committed the biggest mistake of my existence. My family got real scared. They had never seen me react that way. I cried for 3 days and I was really depressed and wanted the band out. I think it was the fear of not being able to drink anything at all without feeling pain. My thinking and reasoning were irrational. I started looking up "how long do you have to wait to get your band removed" on google" I did this for 3 days and I was completely determined to have my band out. The reason I was freaking out and wanted it out was because I could not, it was not physically possible for me to drink any liquids whatsoever plus I needed to take my liquid antibiotic and liquid painkiller. If I couldn't take water down then I was I going to get my medicine down? The antibiotic was 2 tsp and the pain killer was 3 tsb. It doesn't seem like a lot but it was. I took me 40 minutes for me to drink my painkiller (and without water cause water meant more more liquid I couldn't take in...which made it worse because the taste was just horrible) The next day I wasn't crying as much but I still felt that same restriction. I couldn't take water down plus my mandatory meds. So I googled the same thing again and cried again, and I was particularly attached to my mother and brother. I would not let them leave my side for nothing! I begged that they stay with me because I was afraid to by myself. So my mother laid in my bed with me while she watched her novelas and I cried and stroked her arm telling her not to leave me. She missed work the next day to be with me. The 3rd day I didn't cry until the evening when I started taking my pills for all my comorbidities. I had to crush them in applesauce because it was the only way I can get it down. So I started crying because the applesauce hurt going down but it was the only way I could take my crushed pills (I first tried crushed mixed with water and it was horrible to even get it down because of the taste) So I cried and my brother who is a nurse was already annoyed by me and by my irrational thinking and reasoning that he sort of gave it to me straight and told me "WHAT"S WRONG WITH YOU?" and him just yelling at me made me cry even more and I backed into a corner like a wounded animal and he said "look at you!? you're backing into a corner like I'm going to hit you!" I cried more and felt like no one understood me and the pain that it took for me to sip water or take my meds. The next day I was a lot better and didn't cry anymore. Today is the 30th and I'm doing a lot better. I'm not depressed anymore or crying. I'm back to myself again. Laughing and joking with my family. Those first 3 days were horrible and I don't know what came over me but I felt as if something else, some other force had took over me. Looking back I don't even know who that person was. Like I said, I'm doing a lot better 5 days post op. My family is especially happy that I'm back to normal. And now I can sip liquids like I could before I got the band. well, not has much intake but enough to keep me satisfied and happy. I've been on the clear liquid diet for 4 days...i was told to do 3 days but decided to do 4. This morning I moved onto full liquids which includes, sugar free pudding, yogurt without granola or fruit pieces, or seeds, and cream of Soups, and cream of wheat...I ate pudding today and it felt like I had swallowed a burp with my pudding, it didn't hurt but it there was some discomfort but I decided to eat it more slowly and it's getting better. I'm on the full liquid diet for 2 weeks, then I move on to pureed for 4 weeks, then soft foods for another 4 weeks, then finally regular food after that. I mapped it out on my calendar and i'll be done with my food stages on November 7. By telling my story I don't want to scare anyone out of getting banded. I just thought that I would be honest on what happened and what I felt the first couple of days. Please, know that it does get better with time. The pain starts to subside, the soreness goes away, and you'll be able to take in a little bit more liquids then you think you can (just not too much). I also cried on the 3rd day because I had to start nursing school on the 30th and I was a wreck thinking that I wasn't going to be able to go to school and I was just going to end up crying all the time. Today was my first day of school and it was no big deal. Everything went well. I didn't drive myself though. The most annoying thing those 3 days were getting in and out of bed, the soreness in my neck and back, and arms. Also, I'm a belly sleeper and I've been having to sleep on my back and cautiously sleeping on my side that doesn't have my port. BENGAY really helps with the soreness a lot!

would you mind telling me how long you stayed in the hosptial for recovery. And how much the cost was for removal.

I'm in the same boat. I have BCBS of Texas and they are taking forever to even look at my documents. It's been 2 weeks and every time I call my insurance company, who ever I get in touch with tells me that my papers are there but no one has looked at them. When I tell them if someone can please look at them as soon as possible all they tell me is "well, just give it another week and a half or 2 weeks" It's driving me crazy. I'm a college student and due to start the nursing program this fall and was really hoping to get my LAP-BAND®® surgery before the semester starts on August 30. Looks like I'm going to have to put it off til school has break which will be Thanksgiving break.