elikis

I am so inspired reading the stories of others who have been able to conceive. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 15 yrs and have been through several rounds of clomid with IUI and have tried every herb and supplement and weird suggestions out there. I was diagnosed with PCOS several years ago and have been taking metformin since. I was finally able to conceive last year and miscarried after 7 weeks. Our next available option was to try IVF. But, wow, that is expensive. So, we decided to focus on getting healthy instead and hope that this will right all of my hormones issues and get me to a place where we can conceive naturally. I just got banded 8 days ago and am already feeling very positive. I have already lost 15lbs and can't wait to get my first fill, get cleared to excercise more and get to a point where I can start trying again. I know that the literature says to be sure not to get pregnant for 18 months, but there is no way that I am waiting that long! I'm already 36, I can't wait anymore!!!!!!

Good luck to you! I hope everything goes smoothly for you!:thumbup:

Hi Angeleyes! Remember we are only 5 days out! There will be plenty of time after we are healed to be mad at ourselves for not doing what we told ourselves we would! I have graduated myself to more substantial meals than I was having the first few days because I am having difficulty getting all of my calories in and do not want to end up with my body in starvation mode. My doctor told me that I just need to be careful to chew chew chew chew chew because getting something stuck would not be a fun experience. I have seen a lot of people on this site talk about learning their lesson after getting something stuck from eating the wrong thing or by eating too fast. I am petrified of that, but am glad in a sense that this will help to keep me in check. The reason that the band is a tool is that it will help with portion control and hunger pains, EVENTUALLY. There is a learning curve involved and an adjustment period that you should prepare yourself for. Right now is the healing phase, you haven't even gotten a fill yet. So anyhow I'm not sure you can call it cheating if you didnt do anything that could cause you harm. Now, on the other hand, if you attack that cheescake.............. How are you feeling physically, btw?

Hi Angeleyes, I really am doing well! I have really had to learn in this week what I can do and what I can put into my stomach to avoid this evil annoying gas that seems to come and go. Yesterday I realized that the gas pains working up my esophagus had to do with going too long without putting anything into my stomach. I haven't been keeping up with the prescribed diet because I was afraid and not really hungry, but realized that when I do eat the right thing in good time it seems to keep the gasses from coming up. I stopped taking the vicodin after day 2 since I didnt really have incision pain. The only time my incisions hurt anymore is adjusting to the gravity change when laying down to go to sleep. I do so much better in my lil pillow cacoon on the couch. I tried for the first time last night to lay in bed with my poor lonely husband, but the stretched out stomach from laying flat was not comfortable at all and was even causing some pain. Walking around a lot really does help, but for some reason I havent left the house all week. I guess I have enjoyed this experience as time to be alone and figure out my body and help it get back to some sort of normalcy. Maybe I'm afraid of driving past temptation too! I don't have anything but what I need at home, so I guess its safe. I hope that you feel better soon, I do love hearing the experiences of others and its especially interesting and helpful from my bandster twin!! Keep posting! Keep in touch!

I am also 2 days post-op. I had some pretty terrible gas pains in my chest the first night and for the first half of yesterday. I started sipping peppermint tea and this was an amazing help. Peppermint is said to encourage digestion and help with gas, GasX strips are peppermint but they didnt really work for me. I think the warmth of the tea and the constant sipping really worked. My only issue now is some pain when swallowing, trying to figure out if this is normal or not. As of this evening the pain when swallowing has gotten better though, so I am hopeful that by tomorrow I will start to feel normal! Sip some peppermint tea (its naturally caffeine free)!

I'm starting to feel a little worried about the feeling I have every time I swallow. I am feeling fine (gas-wise) until I take a sip of anything! Every sip feels like a giant lump going through my esophagus and then air bubbles seem to come up each time. Is this normal? Has anyone else been experiencing this? What does it feel like when you sipped liquids 2 days post-op?

Hi Outrageous Octobers! I am officially a bandster now! So for all of you who haven't had their surgery day yet, here is my experience. 7am - Checked into the hospital and registered. 8:30am - Finally called in by the nurse to begin prep 8:30 - 10am - Prep consisted of - Urine test, body wash, blood thinner shot in lower belly, IV put in, anti-nausea medication introduced int IV, visited by surgeon to make sure I didnt have any further questions, visit by anesthesiologist to make sure I am not allergic to anesthesia, visited by OR nurse to introduce the next part of procedure and to wheel me into OR. 10am - transfered from mobil bed to surgical bed, asked to breathe the oxygen.......(thats all I remember there). 12pm - 12:30pm - awoke slowly - new nurse advised me that I had slept longer than the norm so they did not give me pain medication. 12:30 - was asked to drink a full cup of water 1oz at a time until completed and to blow in lil machine to excercise lungs before being able to go home. 2pm - still trying to finish the cup of water. Each sip was difficult to get down due to gas pain in chest. Had only drank half of the cup. The nurse decided to call my husband in the waiting room to tell him I was still working on it. As she was talking to him, I began to violently dry heave. (it was so loud and uncontrollable and embarassing). I hadn't taken any pain meds so that REALLY hurt my belly!! The nurse became quite flustered as if she didnt realize that would happen. Sure made my husband upset, since he could hear it and wasn't allowed to come see me. The nurse called the Dr. and asked if I should have an Xray, but he said that if I didn't actually throw up anything that it was going down so I was probably just being irritated by the gas. He said I could go home without finishing the water. 3pm - got home and tried to get comfortable while hubby went to the store to get liquid vicodin and gas-x strips. Gas pains continued all night, but I was still able to get some rest. By this morning the gas is better, but continues to come back each time I try to drink something. Not sure if GasX is working or not, I don't feel anything happening, but who knows if it would be worse if I didnt take it. I haven't really been consistent in taking the vicodin, the incision pain is really not that bad. Overall, the experience up to this point has not been nearly as scary as I thought. The absolute worst part was the dry-heaving and also having a headache throughout. I finally broke down today and broke up an imitrex and took it. It didnt seem to irritate anything any worse that regular water does! And if finally made my headache go away! Woohoo!!! Hope that everyone is doing well, and thanks for all of the well wishes, I hope everyone keeps updating! :smile2:

Wow!! Good for you! So happy to hear of your good head start!:crying:

My surgery is tomorrow too! I feel Ya!! Am really, really, really hating chicken broth right now!:puke:

Surgery date is almost here and I am feeling pretty anxious. I'm not worried about the eating changes, that part is already laid out for the next few weeks and I like having a plan. The part that is annoying is not knowing how I will feel afterward. How bad will the pain be? Will I be able to go anywhere or will I be laid out for a few days? I've never had surgery before of any kind and have never been anesthetized! Am I the only one obsessing over this?

Thanks for the advice! I will try that! It seems to me that the people who are having the least amount of pain are the ones who are trying to stay active, I imagine it helps with the gas pain.

Congratulations, I'm so nervous, my date is on monday and I'm just not sure how much time I'm going to need off of work! Did you have the gas pain?

Yorba Linda! Surgery will be at Orange coast memorial in fountain valley.:thumbup: