Kerimhann

I wanted to reported this here as it seems we either say something when we panic or when we finally lost lots of weight. I have been banded August 2010 in UK (single incision surgery from my belly button). I was very much scared from the surgery but all was fast and ok. I got my belly button infected so it was my first disappointment but finally it went away and healed perfectly. I am on a 14 cc band and 1 cc was in the band when they placed it. I got my first fill 1cc fill in October 2010. It did not effect my eating much except instead of 2 large pizza and 2-3 large coke, I was down to 1 large pizza and lots of coke. I was demotivated and asked myself if I did the right thing. Now there was something in my body and if I wanted it out I needed another surgery. After 1 month, there was almost no change in my weight. So I got another fill. again more chock episodes but everything was down one or other way and no weight loss at all. second fill, third fill, forth fill. etc. Imagine after each fill NO CHANGES. It was frustrating. I was reading here people having no fill and losing lots. Anyways as of Jan 2011, I got my fifth fill. Yes it works:)). I am at my sweet spot. I feel never hungry. I can not eat more than handful of whatever I want, soft mainly mushy. I can not drink fizzy drinks. And it feels different. I also started seeing many stretchmarks and started gym a month ago. For those who are like me, after so many fills you haven't seen much difference. Just be patient and wait. You will definitely find your sweet spot. And one tip. never ever eat if you do not feel hungry, just because its dinner time and everyone in the family is around the table. My rules in losing weight: - Do not eat anything in the morning till a moment you really really feel hungry. - If you have a partner, let him/her prepare family meals. stay away from food, kitchen or supermarket. - Wait till you will hit your sweet spot. You can definitely not eat a bowl of rice. - Do enroll at a gym. Believe me even in 1 month, it does wonders. You will not lose weight as you wished because you are gaining muscles (for men and for those who are more into weight training like me). But you will lose inches. - Remember it worked for soooo many people and will work for you. - Ice creams, candies, anything you can suck or melts in your mouth is your enemy. Make a drastic change. Kerim Was 129 kg in Aug and now 110 KG: 19kg lost which is almost 40 pounds

Hi, With liquids or even soft musshies you can not overstretch your "band". You should be drinking lots of Water and fresh juices btw.

ElfiePoo, thats true. I got to know from my physician that our sweet spots will never stay the same. Band will loosen up after few months and we might need another fill. That is also an indication (often) that we are overeating; he said.

Thanks for the messages. Answering or commenting on the few issues. pizza and Soda: I have to be honest here. I was eating that and believe it was going down fine. You do not realize till (now) that it was woowww. Today we went to pizza hut with the family and all I could eat was top of a single slice in 30 minutes. What I wanted to show is that there are people like me here who do continue their old eating habits and portion size and after you finish your meal (unfortunately only after:))) you feel guilty and ask why you still do that after the band. I call this "magic pill phase" as many like me thought band will change things day 1. Hunger and eating: After my visit to an experienced nutritionist, she in fact suggested that to me same did my doctor. Eat only when you are hungry. Not when you are starving. But do differentiate when you are really hungry or eating from other reasons such as socializing with a lunch with friends, family dinners, etc. I started using their advice. I did not cook or always prepared and eaten my food before I did enter the kitchen. Unfortunately I was not at the dining table for a while, etc. And immediately 10 kg (20 pounds) was gone. I was not hungry at all. Sweet spot: ElfiePoo; sweet spot is the phase when you do not eat like before and you are very much restricted. If you can still eat like before or way too much than you might need another fill. At sweet spot hunger is almost diminished. Purpose of my message is not start a discussion on eating habit but give hope to people. Cause I lost hope at one point.

Its normal. I am 3 months post op with my first fill, till my first fill I was able to eat as before, after my first fill half of what I could eat before but still was not able to lose any weight. Tomorrow second fill. I have read so much here that it takes 2 or sometimes more fills before you feel the good restrictions. However I must warn you that do not forget to chew. Although you do not have any fill now, you are banded and band somehow tightens the porch.

Its normal if a food is stuck on your porch. Sometimes it takes a good hour before the food which was stuck there slides down but feeling of nausea stays for another hour for me. Did you try to drink soda? it always helps. Kerim

I think you asked how it feels, instead shall I get a fill. Well here is the answer. After the surgery you will feel full and cant even drink a glass of Water. Some has this for weeks and some has for days. This has nothing to do with your band's restriction but surgery. This will go away. Some people can eat the way they did before. Honestly I couldn't. I had often food stuck and my portion size was small. Yet, I wasn't losing any weight. So I got my first fill (i have a 14 cc band and got 5,5). At first I realized more food getting stuck and even in small quantities. Yet, I said to myself, I am not losing weight I need another fill. Now, after few weeks, i realized that I should not do that because If I get another fill I will have more episodes of stuck food which is not fun. I cant breath, I cant talk, I cant move, I cant even vomit so an hour long torture. I can now see that I am learning to eat slowly, chew chew chew and eat small portions. Also I feel less hungry. I also started gym and saw pounds coming off. So, you will fill restricted maybe not same as what you have now as a post-op but you should learn from your first fill and only do the second one if you really dont feel anything.

there is even a special turkish site called kelepcekardesligi.com

Hi Everyone, I had my first feel few days back. It went very fast and painless as it was done by my surgeon himself under the x-ray. They also did barium test. However I don't seem to see much difference. I can "feel" the band more easily if I eat piece of bread, but I cant feel the fullness. I have a 14 cc band and I have now 5,5 cc. Let me know if you felt the same when you had your first fill and also how does it feel when you get on to your sweet spot. Kerimhann

You are not alone. I did move to regular food and I gained back 6 lb. So I also stopped eating it. I went back to more dietty food. Its normal as we are not filled yet.

I am a month post-op, gas is very normal. Also you will experience left shoulder pain and it might even move. Mine moved from left shoulder to upper back. I couldnt also drink even water. few sips maybe. it will all go away. be patient. walk walk walk. It will help with the gas.

You have already lost 26 lb. so celebrate that. take it easy

You are not alone here. There are many people like you and "me" who failed to complete the pureed food phase. Some of us have the greatest will power and they can and some can not. Its not so easy to damage your pouch or your stomach after 18 days. Just go easy for few days. I did the same thing, I was scared it slipped, called my surgeon and he laughed. He let me watch a youtube video to see how he stitched part of my stomach around the band. He said take it easy to yourself. as long as you do not vomit "immediately after even drinking a water" your band is not slipped.

Its a normal post-op health issue with sensitive people. You lay down naked almost 1,5 hours. Its normal. I am glad its not because of your wound being infected.

Its impossible. How do you know its flipped if I may ask? Because your port is stitched into your stomach muscles. Its not hanging somewhere.

Unfortunately biggest problem lap-band medical community has, is that there is no single standard advice for post-op dieting. Some says solid foods after 8 weeks (2 weeks Clear Liquids, 3 weeks smoothies, 3 weeks musshies), some says shorter with smoothies and some says eat when you feel like you can, etc, etc. Anyways according to my surgeon who is the second person in the world who introduced lapband and first one in the Europe; its almost impossible with new stitching technics things to go wrong unless you had a double whooper meal from burger king, etc. I am 4 weeks post op and I know what you feel. Realize that your band is tighter in the morning. So my advice is start your day with a juice. Make the band relax itself and open up a bit in its own time with liquids. You might have a smaller band like me and you might also have a tighter band. If I eat even mushies in the morning it will get stuck. I have to drink Water which will make it worse, and i have to scroll all around to make it go down slowly. Thanks god I dont vomit (thats the single dangerous behavior for us) Also listen to your body. You must learn that your new life is different. food will stuck all the times if you eat more than a golf ball. So eating like before is a history for us. Try this, eat only 1/3 of the same bar and see if it gets stuck as well. If not that's your pouch size. You must learn to live with that. For me most difficult thing is that I cant drink water like before (non-stop a cold water from a bottle without a break). Now, even 4 weeks post-op, I need to drink water glass by glass. Thats my body and I have to learn to lose weight this way.

Hi BardotheBulldog, if its not your wound which are smelling, its the toxins which smells. First make sure they are not from your wounds. I had such thing, smell was coming from an inflammation from my belly button (I had a single incision). If your wounds healed well, then its the toxic smell. When people go on a juice diet or even raw food diet, till they clean their system, they stink. I did juicing for a month and nothing worked to stop the smell. I had even someone who I worked with told me that I stink so bad that she can not stand next to me. Its horrible but its for your good health. Look at your tongue, if its white (chalky) then its for sure the toxic smell.

My advice is do listen to your body. Every doctor is different, every doctor tells a different story with a different logic. I agree with ElfiePoo, if a doctor himself has a band, then I trust him twice. My doctor(s) do not have band but they do understand what it is to be on the bandsters hell stage. If you feel you will have a better weight management till you have a fill, take the pills. Remember also, you might need 2-3 fills before a proper restriction. I am 3 weeks post op, and have cheated on my diet, and scared to death till I spoke to my surgeon who explained me not to panic as he stitched my stomach around the band in such a way that its almost impossible for me to slip the band.

Hi All, I was banded on 22nd of August (single incision). After my surgery I felt immediate restriction (i know its not the real one) yet I lost around 20 lbs. Now the issue is, I want to first apologize of all those who I judged before my surgery on their "cheats". I am an official cheater and scared to dead of a slippage. Please do not judge me like I judged many of you. On the day 8th day post op, I ate some grapes and cheese. on the 11th day post op, I ate a sandwich. after that i felt an immerse pain under my left chest and lower left back ( I guess this is kidney). I got nauseated and vomited a bit stomach Water. I don't have vomiting feeling now, i feel still restricted yet not like day one and I am wondering if I had a slippage the day I had that pain? I also have a constant pain, not much yet its there, under my left breast. anyone with an advice?

Let us also realize that its a very confusion world. For instance before my operation, my doc said (day before) go and have a nice meal. When I told him about the liver shrinking diet he prescribed, he told me that it was more to do with preparing us post-op than the liver. Reading this forum gave me similar thoughts. Each doctor says something different and its confusing somehow. Some people here could start mushes after a week and than to solid food, some people could start after 3 weeks than directly to solid food. Its a challenge to find the "right" information with scientific evidence.

thanks everyone for your responds. I also think my band is still in place as I burb as before, I have the same fullness after a glass of Water. I am mainly on liquids again and eating soft foods. I am feeling restricted which is good and I will wait and see during the first fill.

Hi Everyone, I am having my lapband surgery finally tomorrow at 3 PM in Manchester, UK. Although I do not live here in UK, I wanted to do it here because I can have it done by Prof. Favretti who is the best surgeon in this field and I can have the SILS (single incision). Because I am a self payer, I came here. Now, I am in my hotel excited, nervous and a bit scared. Today I met with Healthier Weight people and Dr. Ashton, great people very kind and I am more in easy. Dr. even told me to have a nice dinner. I was scared that I was not religiously following the diet and my liver will be very large. They were not worried. I am scared from narcoses, like many thoughts come to my mind that I can sleep and never wake up again or wake up during the surgery. I know its just what I create in my mind but I am feeling as such. I am 125 kilos now and I aim to be 85. Pray for me..

I know what you feel, I felt the same. But here I am, 2nd day after surgery. I am feeling great (except gas and burping so be prepared)

Hi Everyone, First of all thank you for all who send me msg on the pre-op forum before my surgery. I wanted to share with you my experience, fears and 1 day post-op experience. I was 228 pounds (128 kg) with a BMI of 42.3 pre-op. I am 33 years old male living in the Middle East. I tried everything, all types of diets, health eating, etc. yet when you have around 100 pounds to loose, nothing much helps. You lose 20 pounds but you still look fat. After much of a dilemma i decided to have gastric balloon which was good for 6 months yet when it was removed, all the lost weight came back. So I decided to try the lapband yet I was scared. After reading and orienting a lot on internet and on this forum, I was ready for it. Yet I wanted SILS, which is a bellybutton surgery. Because I am a self-pay patients and no need to go through the insurance struggle, I was free to choose my doctor and procedure. I have chosen Healthier Weight LLC in UK who worked with the best lap-band doctor in the work, Prof. Favretti. (indeed he is the best I believe). I cheated few times during my pre-op liquid and low calorie diet. First advice to all, take it serious and never ever ever cheat on that. My liver was bigger than expected so I had to have 2 smaller incisions. Yet my large scar is invisible in my belly button. Anyways, yesterday was my surgery. I was scared. I was more scared from anesthesia. I came to the hospital, and they gave me some relaxation medicine which didn't help much. Out of entire experience Healthier Weight staff and Prof are top notch. Yet I was not and I am not happy with the anesthesia staff. I had Anesthesia before and I had a pleasant experience. This time, they gave me few injections before hand which made me unstable yet not sleepy, than they put me on sleep. When I woke up, i got to see that I had 3 incision which made me almost cry, I came 7 hours flight to UK for single incision and I had 3. Yet later got to know that my liver was way too big, however contrary to normal surgery, my biggest scar is invisible. Which made me ok. Coming out of anesthesia was not very nice. Again in my previous surgeries I never had that. However I was scared that I will die:)) I know how it sounds or anesthesia awareness, nothing happened:) By the time I slept a bit, and anesthetics left my body, I was ok. I don't have much left shoulder pain, I have left lower belly pain. I have sore throat as expected. I am not feeling hungry, I sip Water and I am now today on liquid diet. As of today I have lost 11 lbs.:confused:) so a good start. I have no feeling of hunger, after few sips of water I feel fool, a bit discomfort on my left belly. Thats it. Those who are scared, try not to. Believe me its very easy. Make sure you find a right doctor. love you all and will update you.