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Aggie, I had the same experience yesterday. I was getting dressed to go to church and I couldn't find anything to wear. All of the clothes in my closet are BIG! I had no choice but to go into some storage bins that contain size 10-12 clothes. By the way, the clothes in my closet are all size 14-16. Anyhow, I picked the first pair of jeans I saw in the bin, looked at the tag and they were a size 10. I thought, these won' fit me yet. But a little voice inside dared me to try them on. It was a miracle! They fit! My husband and daughter were cheering me on.....I could not believe it. It felt so damn good!

I take the twice a day wellbutrin, it's the only anti depressant that has worked for me and also not increased my appetite. Only side effects I have are sweating, dry mouth and if I take the second one too early insomnia, otherwise it's fine. I cannot take the once a day wellbutrin because then I can't sleep at all. I've been taking it on and off for 10 years or more. Hope this helps.

Hi Mel, My insurance does cover my surgery and it did cover my psych evalu or as much as it will with my 90/10 rate so it only cost me 35 dollars. Once I started this part of the pre-op, it went really fast. My liquid diet was bad the first 4 days but all is good now. I think it will help prepare me for the Stage one portion of my new diet. Good Luck!!

Hi, my name is Ronda. I have been a bariatric patient for 10 years now. Initially, I had RNY done and lost 85 pounds with it. My maintenance was steady for about 5 years, but started declining--regained weight, bone loss, anemia, circulatory and cardiac problems. I have hypertension, but am severely allergic to those drugs for treatment. Weightloss and management is the only way I have of keeping my health in good shape. In 2007, I went to a new bariatric surgeon to seek an evaluation on my prognosis; he said revision surgery was needed to attend to severely stretched stoma. Insurance always held strong opposition to any treatment for my problems. This visit, Dr. tried 2 times to appeal the insurance for treatment--failed both times. Some time passed, and I had changed employment status and my healthcare needs were being covered on State Medicaid. This time, I learned that my bariatric treatment was covered under my Medicaid plan, but would need evaluations from the pulmonologist, cardiologist, psychologist, and dietician/nutritionist, in addition to following a dr-supervised weightloss plan with my pcp--I started all of this last September. It took solid 9 months of negotiating coverage and ultimate surgery that I had with my doctor on May 31st here in Phoenix. AZ. I am 3 weeks postop now. My loss is 23 pounds, and still mostly blender shakes and some pureed foods. I find that I don't really like what I ate preoperatively. Most of the foods taste too sweet--even if sugarfree. I had laparoscopic surgery so the healing is great--just unable to lift anything yet. I am driving, and doing most of my chores as long as I don't lift anything over 15 pounds. I walk the malls, and try to keep busy per dr's orders. Yet that is a challenge now that we have 110 or hotter days coming this summer. I still keep at it, tho. I know my surgery was a gift from God--in every sense of the word, as was the initial RNY procedure back in 2001. Both surgeries saved my life! Forever, will I be indebted to the Powers that Be.

Hi, Excuse me but I am new to online forums. I'm sure over time my tech-savvy will improve. I am 4 weeks post sleeve. My first 2 weeks were awesome I thought "wow" then I've been really going backwards. I have celiac disease which flared a lactose intolerance, which has added to my woes. At about 2 weeks on a minced and mashed diet I started to vomit all solids. It didn't matter if I took nause medication (I take Nexium) up it would come. Landed in hospital for a night just after xmas for fluids and a scope - all was fine. Home sweet home for a few days and the vomiting started all over again. My doc is great but I think he's wondering what to do with me. Also every time I eat solids or even thick Soups I get moderate to severe stomach pain - like a spasm and in my stomach that radiated to a variety of places over my tummy. I have now been told this is not 'normal'. After I eat, the pain goes away generally within 5 to 10 minutes. I am keen to here if others have experienced a similar set of complications and how did you cope and DID IT PASS? Cheers, Gmac (I have not figured a signature out yet!):thumbup:

Hi all, I'm having issues. I 'm supposed to be getting more protein than I think I am. I'm 9 days post op. even with 2 shakes that will give me 34 gms. Of protein I don't understand how I will ever get in the amount I need to meet the requirement needed. A serving of tuna has 10 gms of protein, but the serving size on the can says 1 can. There is no loving way I can get this much in. 60-70 grams is a lot and I'm worried that I'm not going to get in what I need. Anyone have any ideas?

I know this probably seems nuts, but I am looking for some reassurance. I was sleeved on 9/23 and by 1 week post-op I was down 10 pounds. (I had lost an additional 25 pounds prior to surgery.) In the past week the scale has not moved and I am freaking out a little. I am eating what I am supposed to (puréed foods and protein shakes) and exercising almost every day, though not as hard I I was pre-op as the incisions are still a bit sore. I read about other people who the weight just seems to be falling off and worry, even though we are all different, I know. Any words of wisdom or reassurance? I am thinking about not weighing every day.

im on day 10 ,, havnt got my surgury datw yet, just doing it to get used to it, im finding im extremely tired and having headache and finding it hard to concentrate,, the shakes diet isnt hard itself tho and ive lost 7kg so far

I am 6 days out and the pain is mostly gone. Yesterday I ate some cream of mushroom soup and It tasted so good. I ate more than I should have. About 10 teaspoons and the pain was almost unbearable. I have been eating 5 or 6 teaspoons tops. I couldnt help myself. It felt good and warm going in! lol I was miserable for at least an hour. But I did not throw up! I am having a bit of a problem with my bowel movements and the gas. Only a tablespoon full comes out and soft and chocolate, from my protein shakes. Will they ever be kind of normal again? I am afraid to go out because of the gas and What if its not gas. I have not got the two sorted out yet. Has anyone else had this? My jeans have elastic waist and they go up to where my surgery was and it is uncomfortable. I have been roling them down. I went to my family dr for my first checkup. My sugar was 89 with no medication and my blood pressure was low 80/60. So, we may have to cut out my Lotrel blood pressure medication. I go back in 1 week to see how that is doing. I did not get a b12 shot, but took blood and will call with results to see if they r needed yet. I think I am doing good. I am so blessed with no diabetes medication! So HAPPY! Take care all!

thanks all - i'm sleeping better now - 3 days post op i took 2 tylenol PM - i used to be able to do this - i took it around 10:30 - i slept like the dead - it was kind of scary when i got up to go to the bathroom - and i had a drug hangover till noon the next day - so next night i took 1 - much better but still hangover - guess i'm a cheap date !!! since i had to go to work the next day no more tylenol PM !!! congestion just would not go away - so i took some musinex last night and all day today - aaaaah sweet relief ... Now its the weekend so i can sleep in !!!! im doing very good - hope you all are too thanks

So the OR e-mail me today for my surgery time. Tomorrow at 10:30am!!!!

Hi Guys, I'm 19 days Post -OP had some complications with dehydration and was admitted after the second week. Spent another week in the hospital getting fluids. I had a follow up appointment yesterday and was put on puréed foods. OMG!! My fist stop was Taco Bell for some refried beans. As soon as I ate it I threw up none stop. I tired different puréed foods but I can't keep anything down. So I'm back on liquids the only thing that seems to agree with me right now. I was really looking forward to starting puréed foods but it's been a nightmare all I do it vomit until I'm throwing up bile. My doctor did explain I have a tight sleeve considering my stomach was already pretty small. Has anyone struggled with this will I ever be able to eat solids , soaps or anything anymore? I'm scared.

I'm scheduled for surgery on 5-1 and am going back and forth whether to cancel or not every 10 minutes. I come up with the reasons to talk myself into it and then I end up obsessing and come up with even more reasons why I shouldn't. The thought of having a foreign object in my body for the rest of my life is not easy. Not knowing what the band, tube and port are doing in my body at any given second freaks me out. I told the case manager that I'm dealing with at the hospital what I'm feeling and she said, "well maybe the surgery isn't for you". Maybe she's right. I've lost 40 pounds since I started this and wonder if I can just do the rest myself. I've been a fatty for most of my life and for anyone to think that just because I have a band inside me that it's going to keep me from wanting to and eat a pizza or a cheeseburger is crazy. From the beginning the whole logic of having to go on a diet and lose 10 percent of my weight is mind boggling. The first thing I thought was that if I could do that then why would I need this surgery. I know that they want you to lose the weight so that there are fewer chances of complications but I wonder if they also want it to make you think you can do it yourself and then back out of the whole thing. I have an HMO which only charges me minimal co-pay for this surgery so you can see why there may be an incentive to make you think that way. Even more mind boggling is that the people running the program (all skinny of course) give you this minimalist calorie diet and expect you as a fatty your whole life to look at them and just comply without question and ridicule you when you don't follow their diet to a T. Can you see my dilemma? I know I can cancel this thing right up to the moment I lay down on the operating table but I want to be ready a whole lot sooner than that.

I think it is very realistic to only want to be as filled as necessary to lose weight. For that reason, even though it frustrated the heck out of me, I appreciated the slowness with which my doctor gave fills. I have lost weight pretty slowly (but steadily) but was able to get used to each level of restriction as it came rather than suddenly reaching it and having to adjust. On the other hand, I am a HUGE proponent of getting the fills and restriction you need. I needed 5 fills before I got any noticeable restriction at all. (7.5 ccs in a 10 cc band) It made all the difference in the world. I would not have lost the 31.5 pounds I have lost had I not reached the proper level of restriction. I could not lose weight at all without the band and I needed to have quite a bit of restriction before I saw the scale move at all. Even at my sweet spot I am not breaking any weight loss records but I am happy because the band has finally allowed me to lose something!!! So what I am saying is: you need to determine what the right level of restriction is for you. I can eat about 2/3 of a fast food hamburger, but I can't eat the fries etc. that go with it. (And it's a hamburger, not a double cheeseburger!) If I could stay at a level of restriction that allowed me to eat a whole hamburger and fries, AND still lose weight, you better believe I would do that!!! But for me, nope. I need restriction. Just listen to your body and watch the scale. You will know what to do.

I've been known to not see the forest for the trees meaning I can miss the big picture because I was fixated on a small detail. I've been working on it for decades... literally. Well today I received another wake up call that I can't believe hit me so strongly even though I've been wandering through this "forest" of my weight for quite some time especially considering my family history. Let's start with my family history. I come from a large family that came from large families. By large I mean both in number and in size. My father is 6'2" and he's quite fit and healthy always has been but he's one of the lucky ones. His brothers and sisters are all large - some exceedingly so - but the problems only begin there. Most of my family has high blood pressure. Many have diabetes and of my six brothers and sisters I'm the only one with a weight problem but I'm also the one without high blood pressure or diabetes. I was always lucky like that. But with my weight I always had another fear lingering in my head: my paternal Grandmother. She passed away at 39 years old of a heart attack. My father was hardly 15 years old and she died 5 days before Christmas. She left 8 children that she had nearly back to back and my Grandfather who pined for her until he joined her in heaven nearly 40 years later. She was easily 400lbs but stood well over 6 feet tall and towered over my Grandfather in pictures. I loved her confidence to wear heels and his to stand next to such a statuesque woman. Her death left many scars as you could imagine. Dying that young of heart disease is frightening but when you're the only person in your immediate family who shares her body style it's even more frightening. I remember every, single day of my 39th year wondering if that was going to be me. Is that my lot since I didn't get the other diseases? It was scary. I remember my Aunt saying, "In this family the women through parties when they hit 40!" I wondered if I would hit it too. I did and kept on my yo-yo dieting trail. So what happened today? I had to retest my H. Pylori test since the results were inconclusive. I asked the phelbotomist if she could tell me my A1c since my husband (Type 1 Diabetic) was curious. She asked me if I wanted a print out to compare my numbers after surgery. I said sure. When I got home I started really looking at the results and came across a cardiac test. The range they were looking for was between 1-10 and I got 8.42. I was fine with that. In the range. All of my things were in the range. I was good, right? After looking at it several times I looked at the risk analysis that was in smaller print below it. It said this test determines the presence of inflammation etc with the following risk assessments: Low Risk <1 Med Risk 1-3 High Risk >3 Wait! High Risk is greater than 3 and I'm sitting on 8.42? If I was over 10 they would have most likely done additional testing. Now this isn't the end all be all of risk and I'm sure if it was a major concern my doctor would have told me but I can't shake that I always knew there was a risk and that I was most likely in that risk. But to SEE it was totally different. On days when this is really tough and I can tell just from reading blogs that this is going to be very challenging I will remember this and think of the Grandmother I never got to meet but I share so much DNA with and I will not break down but handle it and live well into my 40s and beyond for BOTH OF US.

I made a HUGE mistake. I'm now sitting in the waiting room of my surgeon's office waiting for my post op and hopefully to have my drain removed. The OBand center made the appointment for me last week. This morning I was so anxious for this appointment, I wore myself out getting dressed, cleaning my wound, hiding the drain, and then getting to the bus. I started not feeling well so instead of my cane, I took my walker. I have to go back a little further - yesterday my drain started to show a little pus around the stitches which is also a reason I so looked forward to this appointment. And yes, I did call when I saw it, but the nurse's response was "Well it's a good thing you're seeing the doctor". I was always advised before that you call for every issue, even if I think it's not a big deal. I felt like an idiot for calling. Fast forward to now, while I'm sitting in the dr's office an hour past my appointment. When I came in, I said good morning to the woman at the desk, who only side-eyed me before turning away (mind you, I've never been to the surgeon's actual office. I've always gone to the center for all my appointments). I signed in and sat down to wait. My doctor arrived at 10am, but seemed busy with calls. It happens, but after 45minutes past my appointment, I thought I'd check to see when they thought I might be able to see him. I asked, "I had an appointment with Dr Lyass at 10:15. Can you tell me how much longer it may be?" The woman at the desk, the one who side-eyed me, answered, "Talk to her". "Her" was another woman behind the desk. They exchanged words in a language I didn't understand, then "Her" went to get a third woman to speak to me, who I'll call "Three." Now Three is actually decent to me, and tells me that because the center made the appointment, they didn't put it in the system (wha'?). The doctor will just see me after surgery. Yes, that's what she said. But there's an update, because I take so long to text - I'm not young. His 11am appointment just went in. Yes, before his 10:15. If I didn't have a pus-y tube sticking out of my stomach, I'd leave right now, I'm so angry. Sent from my iPhone using VST

I am sorry you are going through all of this, I can relate. The best advice I can give you is be kind to yourself, keep up with or increase your exercise and drink drink drink drink!!!! You will be too busy peeing to eat!!! If the worst case scenario happens and you gain 10, 20, 30 pounds, it just means your band has been working the way it should and it is on vacation. When your rest break is over and you get the band functioning again you will simply become a bandster again and will lose the gained weight. Hang in there. I wish you well,Mimi

Houston, Texas I guess the first thing is to ask how the doctor does his procedures. Does he to it lapscropy (sp?) or open. Then how big is the band he puts in, and what should you expect from his point of view for the amount of fills you will have. Then I would ask if he expects you to be on liquids 10 days prior to surgery and how long afterwards. What type of food will you be able to eat after the healing period. If you take medications, find out if you can swallow them or have to crush them. Good luck. I had my band on 12/3/08 and my first fill 1/4/08. I'm down 35 lbs. and feeling terrific. I think you will be glad you chose this instead of gastric bypass. I've not heard to many good things about that surgery. Debbie

Well, I am happy to say that when i did my morning weigh in today I am at 205....that is 50 pounds down from my starting point!!!! (19 pre-surgery, 31 after). I am so excited, I have officially lost more than my 4 year old weighs. My kids and I tried imaging me walking around with my little one strapped to me! 6 more pounds until I am in the onederland club!! Another 50 pounds till I hit my goal!!!

My surgeon told me research shows only 5% of patients make it to goal weight. And to remember the surgery is only a tool. The sleeve will help you loose 60-80% of your excess weight. He also told me to set small goals(ie. 10 lbs or 15 lbs a month) and do not think this is the "cure all". I wouldn't stress over lbs and time limits, you don't want to become discouraged.