WrenBird

Everything you've experienced, I've experienced. It gets better and once you find the right amount of fill everything should be fine. You'd know if you band has failed...You'd be throwing up and you'd be very very sick. If you have too much fill you graze too much and end up eating more, and if you don't have enough you don't feel satisfied. So you may even have this problem after your first fill. Stick with it, I know exactly how you feel. I'm on my 4th week (I think) and it got better and I got used to it more and more after I had food stuck...Getting food stuck is horrifying and once you experience that for the first time you'll never want to go through that again, so you'll pick your foods and portions a little better. Hope this helps.

Is Optifast classified as a protein shake? I use those. 3 of them is under 500 calories a day and I always lose a dramatic amount of weight on them.

All I've experienced so far is my clothes getting a little baggy. I see my friends and family often so they haven't noticed my weightloss. I did see my fiancee's sister yesterday who said I had obviously lost weight. I hadn't seen her in a while, so she noticed it pretty well. Made me feel happy :-)

Good idea! Berocca might help too.

Rest for a few days. If the port has detatched itself from the abdominal wall the only way of getting it to re-heal is to stop moving the muscles in that area...Everytime you do, as I'm sure you know, the muscles or tissues essentially tear themselves and heal. If you stay positioned it will give the tissues a chance to heal. If the problem persists see your surgeon...The last thing you'll want is a flipped port.

Ask your chemist if there's a liquid version they can order in.

Whoa whoa whoa!! Holdddd on a second...There's such a thing as calorie free Powerade!?

I wish I had've been on this website and read all of the problems before I got my surgery...Would've been better to know what to expect.

You could be constipated? When was the last time you relieved your bowels?

Same with me...The only reason I'm losing weight is because I'm terrified that spending $17k on surgery is going to waste. :w00t: I exercise for an hour every day and usually eat nothing but Optifast and salad. ...Yesterday I got hungry and went on a stupid binge. I ate over 2700 calories and was still hungry afterwards...First time I've ever done a 3 hour workout.

Hi, I use Senokot. It's a natural remedy, but if you have bad constipation it can make your tummy feel a little silly. I can usually do a number 2 if I have dairy products...It's bad though because obviously dairy products aren't going to always be healthy. Being on laxatives for a long period of time can result in relying too much on them. Can you eat more fibre? I know carbs are difficult, but fibre and some fruits (even dried fruits like prunes) can really get it moving.

It sounds like you've reached a plateaux period. I'm in the same boat at the moment. It's driving me nutts but apparently it's the most important time to exercise because you're not losing water weight. :w00t:

I'm looking a bit baggy too! Even though I've lost less than 10 kilos, my favourite pair of jeans are too big now! I'm a bit happy and a bit sad about it...Not quite sure what to think lol. :w00t:

They say that about baby food too. There's adult liquid ones that I've been meaning to get...I'm not sure why they're not more popular.

Quietly? With practise. Should you be practising? No. lol. Try to avoid it at all costs.

If you were banded on tuesday maybe walking isn't such a good idea. I fainted in the shower a few days after my surgery from over doing it while washing my hair lol. Immodium seems to work for gas with me...Not sure why, because it's meant for diarhea and stomach pain...Have you seen your chemist? I'm not sure what different drugs are called where you're from, but there's gotta be something where you live that helps with gas.

I was thinking of selling my old clothes on ebay and using the money to buy some clothes at an OP shop. My favourite jeans are already hanging off of me...At first I was a bit upset by that but then I realise "hold onnn...I'm losing weight...That's a good thing" lol. Ask for some of that stuff for Christmas!

That reminds me. I need to go onto those. We have liquid vitamins available here, so I'm thinking that may be easier...Those chewable ones sound nice though, but I don't think I'd be able to get them through my band.

Thanks for letting me know. I really appreciate it :thumbup: It might be worth not getting a fill for a while and waiting for the fill to dissapear from the band and test it everyday to see if it's getting any better. I wonder how long it takes for a fill to leave the band. I'm not sure if anyone's ever done that, but after 4 fills I can imagine it might be frustrating and you'd want to try anything. Good luck :-)

Hello everyone. I've been looking everywhere for this answer. I've been goggling it for days and noticed there's a few people who have this problem, but I haven't found any answers. I don't ever feel full. I was banded about 4 weeks ago, 3 days ago I had my first fill. I feel like I could eat 3 pizzas, but even though I'm hungry, it gets stuck unless I blend it up finely. It hurts when it gets stuck and apparently this isn't restriction... I feel like the band isn't really working for me with this problem...I don't ever feel full, I just feel 'hurty'. I can eat as much soup as I want because it just slides down between the band, anything thicker and I get a huge amount of pain in my tummy every 5 seconds. It's like the only restriction I get is bad, painful restriction. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Has the band been positioned incorrectly? Is anyone else having this problem? I've had the problem since I got the band, without fill and with fill...Increasing the fill may result in me not being able to drink liquids so that's probably not an option. I'm just so hungry.:wink2:

5 minutes before eating should be fine. It's actually encouraged to drink before you eat, that way you won't be tempted after. I'm not sure why doctors are telling people to do it 30 minutes before eating...That sounds like over kill to me. If the food is slowly going through your band, drinking water dumps the food all at once through the band. Having too much pressure on the top of the band might result in a slip, so if the water creates a blockage of the dumped food, it will be quite painful. The problem with drinking is if you're eating and then decide to have a big massive gulp, you're not going to realise there's a problem until 2 seconds later, so by then you could've drunk the whole glass and there might be a problem. Some people are told to drink slowly, and I think that's some pretty good advice to follow. About 10 minutes after you've eaten, take a small small smalllll bit of water to test, then larger and larger, but give it time to go down before taking the next. I think the times are just a precaution, but if you're smart about it, you can get away with it slightly if you're dying for water.

I've only been able to hold up that diet for the past couple of days after I got my fill, before I could eat canned chicken and stuff. Foods with a lot of water like citrus fruits just pass straight through it so it's made it easier to eat. I am thinking of going onto protein shakes though. I can't really think of any other protein-type foods that will get through my band besides the shakes. Do you reckon a shake would be good enough? I've been meaning to buy some frozen berries for a while to blend with the Optifast shakes to make them more interesting - I get those shakes for free, so I'd preffer to go onto those, but after a while they get a bit boring so I'm thinking of putting blended fruit in them. I'm not sure how much fill I'm going to need out...From the sounds of it maybe 1cc. I'll probably be getting that done next week. Fingers crossed that solves all of the problems. Cheers, WrenBird :wink2:

Thats my problem. My appetite isn't supressed. I was on appetite suppressants before the band was put in and it was successful - the band has only succeeded in making me eat mushy foods.

My nurse from the hospital I was at had it done and she was the same. It's more common than I thought.

Congratulations :-) I'm yet to find the right one for me.