eadreel

MCCLB, My story is almost the same. Only I was doing great until last spring. Since May I have gained 40 pounds. I was unfilled last July and was basically not adjusted correctly since. My doc got sick in October, so I have not had a chance to have an adjustment since September. Over the summer I lived through some pretty nasty stuff and have been emotionally eating to cope, so when I finally went to my doc this week, I was told that I would have to have a barium swallow to see if I distended my pouch and if I did, then I would be unfilled for a while to see if it would heal. If not I will have to have the band taken out. If I haven't distended it he still wants me to see a shrink about the stuff going on. My doc totally understood that it wasn't my fault and I had some REALLY bad stuff happening to me and I coped with it the ONLY way I knew how to.

I have Tricare Prime and only have to pay $70 for my nutritionist appointments. For protein and multivitamins I was given some guidelines and found Designer Whey at GNC and Flinstone Complete chewable at Wal-mart. You have a Health and Wellness center available to you so you can use the exercise physiologist that works in the office. You have free gym membership, so basically I think the doc you chose is ripping you off or isn't a covered provider.

You can always print out the billing page (If it isn't resolved in a couple of weeks) and take it to your Tricare office on base and I would say, toss a fit, but tell them they are paying, especially if you are AD Prime.

It could also be that they used the wrong billing code when they submitted to Tricare. ETA: My whole hospital bill was denied two times while the hospital figured out Tricare billing codes. Also the only out of pocket with Prime for me is the nutritionist.

I have the same problem, just living with it! I'm six month post op.

I don't think that is a good idea. Have you gotten proper restriction yet? I view every pound I lose before finding the sweet spot a miracle and a blessing and when I am not losing, I view it as a chance to learn HOW to eat. I practice chewing, making smaller meals and using smaller dishes. When my H goes away I continue on like normal as far as my diet goes. He just left this morning, and I ate my normal Breakfast, making my normal lunch and dinner. I used to go on crazy diets when he got deployed. When he went to Korea for a year I lost 70 pounds and gained it ALL back when the Korea tour was over PLUS interest! My diet doesn't depend on what my husband wants to eat. HIS diet depends on MINE!

My literature says that when proper restriction is attained that I should be satisfied with half a cup to one cup of food in volume. I double checked with my doc, nut, and support group and they all agree with the half a cup to one cup of food in volume. They also said to first eat a four ounces in weight of my Protein, then my veggies and if I still feel like I am hungry to then eat my starch. I don't have proper restriction yet, so I don't know if the dietary guidelines about the amounts are true. I assume they are since the volume of food I eat now with a 4cc fill is a whole lot less than what I ate with the 2cc fill. My doc said until I get proper restriction to eat when hungry, make good choices, and to chew everything into liquid.

My port is sitting really really wonky and the ultra sound didn't show the tubing, which he didn't want to puncture because he had to come in from the high side. Whatever that means. Basically the syringe has to be laid almost flat on my tummy with the plunger top pointing toward my head and the needle toward my feet. At least I won't have to have another fluoro session (probably took 10 pictures or more)! I have had way over 25 x-rays of varying types, so the risks for me are already on the high side. I am sure that most fills are easy and not too difficult, I just drew the short straw on this one. I did not know about not eating. I will probably start doing that with the next fill.

I just had my first fill and I went from the restaurant to the doctor's office. I never asked my doc if I should or shouldn't eat a normal meal for my current food stage. I am on liquids for 24 hours after a fill. And so far it is satisfying. I have a total of 4cc's in my band right now. I couldn't get my fill on my first appointment because my doc couldn't find the port! I was rescheduled to get it done under a fluoroscope and it still took 30 minutes to get the needle in the port. My port is tilted at an odd angle that was hard to get to because he didn't want to accidentally puncture the tubing. And bring something to do after the appointment. I was too shaky and light headed to drive for about 30-40 minutes after all the poking and prodding and pressing down really hard on my port site.

I was told to NOT shave prior to surgery because shaving leaves microscopic cuts and they could get infected too easily. They use clippers instead of a razor.

I have been on and off steroid shots and oral meds for the last couple of years. You gain weight because it messes with your blood sugar levels and insulin levels. When too much insulin is released it make fat. Plus you are eating a little more because of sugar crashes caused by the steroids. Can't get around this response with diet. Ya just gotta suffer and pray the damage isn't too bad.

I was supposed to have my first fill today, but after my doc dug around and tried over and over to get the needle in the port, I asked him to stop and schedule to do my first fill under fluoroscope. He the thinks my port might of flipped over and the ultra sound showed it is slanted instead of level. The needle would hit the port but skitter off it like it was hitting something hard. :thumbup: He did say I lost 2 pounds in two weeks.

I'm 5'4", 33yo, female, and at my pre-op diet consult I was 245 pounds and my nut said at least 55-65 grams/day. If you know your body fat percentage then you can figure it out. It is 1 gram of Protein for each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of lean body mass. Or you can find a lean body mass calculator online.

My H realized that he would rather have me for the next 50 years instead of the next 10-20 because I would have died from obesity. Surgery is really much safer now a days. My doc has NEVER killed a patient, I asked. The official Lap-Band site states that there has NEVER been a death during or immediately after surgery in the US study. Would your fiance be saying the same thing if you had to have your gallbladder out? You are doing this to save your life.

I asked my doc about flying. He said that I wouldn't have to get unfilled to fly. They pressurize the cabin and there shouldn't be a problem with the band. I am sure that there are Lap-band docs over in Japan, but if you don't use their alphabet and their language when searching, and unless their websites are in English, then you won't find them. How long are you going for? I have flown through Japan on my way to Korea, so I know it is a long flight. Bring a plastic spoon and fork with you! Eating Ramen noodle Soup with chopsticks is hard to do! Another time when flying over there I got some kind of seafood salad sandwich and another time I got American food, so what you get is a guessing game. Do whatever you are comfortable doing with the advice of your doc!

My doc said he would take the band out if I started smoking again, and I don't know if he is serious or not, but he did say that if I started smoking before surgery he would not give me a band. I quit 14 months before surgery with Chantix. I think I read somewhere that smoking increases acid production in the stomach and can lead to heartburn, reflux and ulcers. I think I also read somewhere that smoking increases the chance of band erosion into the stomach.

Six or seven days post op is when bandster hell started for me. Sure I feel physically better, but I am starving and there is NO restriction yet and I am still on the doc's post op diet and won't be able to move on till he ok's it. I get to follow the exact same diet as his bypass patients. YAY :thumbup:

It was really hard to ask for the emotional stuff for me. Asking for people to address my pain or loneliness. I didn't like being that vulnerable. It is still hard to do, but I do it now because it is good for me and has made a HUGE improvement in my life over the past year or so.

I use fitday.com. I think that the official LB site, once you sign up for My Lap-band journey they have a food log you can use and print out for doctor appointments. It is fitday too. There is also caloriecount.com and nutritiondata.com (you can make your own recipes). Fitday and nutritiondata are both free. I haven't signed up for caloriecount, but I think it is free. Also you can just use a notebook if you didn't want to do it on a computer. Just make columns for quantity, food, calories, and Protein, fat, carbs. Or whatever it is you are wanting to keep track of. I used to use a notebook (before they had the sites) to track sodium, cholesterol, Fiber, calories, mood, time, protein, carbs, fat, and quantity. Some people use a spreadsheet program. I found that I am more compliant with tracking when it is a website.

I have a ton of surgery scars on other parts of my body. I know that constant touching or brushing or rubbing them lightly feels good for a few seconds, but beyond that it starts to HURT like a pinwheel is being run over them or fork tines are being dragged over them or a green scrub pad is being rubbed on me. So, are you wearing anything new or different? Did you recently change material that comes in contact with that area? I know that anything made out of lace really hurts my scar tissue and some elastics are irritating to me too. Are you wearing pants or skirts that are a little too tight or too loose? Over the years I have learned to keep my lower back and butt scars covered with nylon or cotton full bottom underwear (granny panties) or I go nutty with the pain of the rougher material of clothing rubbing them and my neck scars never get covered with scratchy collars or any scarves, even silk, or turtlenecks. My LB incisions haven't healed yet, so I don't know how they will react since the wound closure and healing process is different than anything else I have had before (staples and sutures). Right now my port incision itches like crazy and sometimes I can feel the lump that the port makes.

I replace my food with whatever is needed for the emotion that is driving the desire to eat. If I am bored I play a video game, read, watch a movie, do my hobby (make jewelry), call a friend or family member. If I am lonely I make a phone call, ask my H to spend some time with me without the TV, ask a friend to come over. If I am hurting emotionally I ask for comfort from friends and family. If I am hurting physically I do something to address the pain. I am working on the happiness trigger. So far it is shopping or playing board games. I also quit smoking and went on a diet and quit work at the same time! I had to find some coping skills quickly!

I think it depends on how you personally recover from a surgery. Me, I didn't recover so well. I needed help getting out of bed and up off the couch. It was painful to bend over to pick up anything on the floor (such as feed and Water the pets) and I was dizzy most of the first three days and in a lot of pain. 5 days after surgery I finally ventured out of my house and the five minute car ride to and from church was horrible. Not to mention the sitting and standing for an hour during service! I still haven't dared to try driving and it is now 8 days post-op. Also I accidentally lifted one of my steri-strips when I took the cover bandages off and had to have my husband go to the drugstore to get me some butterfly closures. Some people recover like they never had major surgery and some recover badly from major surgery. If you have never had surgery before I would arrange a really really good friend or maybe a family member that is physically capable of lifting you from prone to sitting positions to stay with you a couple of days. The worst that can happen is that you don't need them after the first day and they go home.

Fine, maybe a little constipated now. I started the slow shuffle the day after surgery as much as possible and used gas-x like crazy and the kaopectate stopped the sugar alcohol runs and I did try just one pop today to see and it did cause some running, so, for me it is definitely only those ingredients so far. My BM's have become solid. I will find out tonight if milk sugars will do me in. I had been using chicken stock or Water in my cream soups and light soy milk in my Protein shakes and cream of wheat, tonight I am making cream of mushroom with 1% milk. I also mix cream of wheat (its on my list) with most of my cream soups for bulk, as my swelling resolved pretty fast :thumbup: and physical hunger is rearing it's head. I didn't like having the runs and I didn't check with my doc about the otc meds for it, as it was the weekend. Everyone is different and that will go away eventually!

My H says it looks like a product key code maybe attached to something in your signature and something in the coding is wrong so it shows.

I think my prob was due to the sugar alcohols in the sugar free popsicles (Chrystal Light) I was eating. I stopped eating them and that prob went away. I'm six days post op, not counting surgery day. And I took 2 Tbs Kaopectate and that seemed to help until I figured out it was the popsicles.