Search the Community

I am from NC.I had my surgery on 3/25/2011. I have lost 21lbs. My doctor is Dr. Enochs.I am really doing good. I am on pureed foods this week and next week. Dr. Enochs also performed the newest procedure to go with my lap band and it is called Gastric Plication. Is there anyone else that have had this additional procedure to go with their lap band? Anyway, I am 3 weeks out and I am not having any problems, except one thing and I saw it mentioned on here and that is constipation. I am having plenty of water and such, but still having problems. Right after my surgery I had the diarrhea, but not now. I have gone from one extreme to the other. I know that is TMI, but I know this is not the first that you all have heard of anyone having this problem, because I saw it discussed in another area. I figured it is something that as I get to more solid foods that it will work itself out and I will be back to the way I use to be. Anyway, HELLO everyone and I am glad to be here!

I am home...got home yesterday. The gas is moving sorry for the TMI...my mom is here taking care of me. God bless tea and this heating pad. Each day does get better but i cant wait to be walking normal again...but i am thankful for how things have gone so far!

So I am 5 weeks out now and had the sleeve. Have done great and getting better everyday, until when I got up today, I didn't know if I was hungry or if I just needed to take a zantac. My tummy wasn't feeling normal. I took the zantac and later had 1/4 of pb and jelly. I actually was feeling hungry or something all day which isn't normal for me now. I haven't been hungry for like 3 weeks. I made supper and told my husband I didn't know if my belly was upset or if I'm just hungry. So I ate a little because I hadn't eaten anything except the pb and j all day. I immediately started feeling all of this pressure in my lower ab area. Pressure like I had to pee or ... real bad. And my back is hurting too, between my shoulder blades and it hurt to even walk around. I laid down for a bit, but that was uncomfortable so I sat on the toilet for like an hour and tried to go but nothing. It started hurting so bad I was crying some. I called the surgeon on call and he thought since it hurt to put pressure on my lower belly that I should go to the hospital and have a scan. Now for the "bad me" part. I listened to the surgeon and my husband took me to the emergency room. None of them had heard of my type of surgery, and they didn't understand when I said that the only pain meds I could have was tylenol because everything else was either not allowed or makes me sick. They questioned this. So they tell me I may have appendicitis (sp) which isn't at all where I feel the pain, it is more in my bladder and lower belly, not to the right or left. They wanted to hook me up to an iv and have me drink 300 cc of the contrast in a half an hour, then wait another couple hours befroe the scan. The doctor told me everything was going to take like 6 hours. I just thgouht OMG, no way possible could I get anywhere near that amount of Fluid down that quick and I can't possibly stay in this ER room for that long without going crazy. So then they tried to do the iv and let me tell ya, I have BEAUTIFUL veins. No one has ever had problems with my veins. This nurse stuck one in a place I've never had one, like right in the side of my arm, and after 15 minutes of trying and me getting so dizzy and nauseas like I was going to pass out, she decided to try someplace else. I stopped her there. I was so discouraged at this point that I said to my husband, maybe I should just sleep on it, take some stuff for constipation and see if that helps. He got furious and asked if I was serious. I wasn't comfortable with the lady doing the iv, I was so dizzy from her doing it, they had never heard of my surgery and I admit I was scared they were going to hurt me because if they hadn't heard of my surgery, how could they possibly know how to treat me properly. I asked my husband if I could leave and he left it up to me and I did. He is so mad at me, and I know I should have stayed but I just couldn't. So I went to cvs and got some Milk of Magnesia to try incase I'm constipated. I haven't ever been constipated so I don't know what it feels like and I had a normal, but small bm yesterday. I know tmi..... sorry. I also don't know what a bladder or urinary track infection feels like. Could anyone enlighten me. Has anyone ever had this type of pressure and pain? I'm hoping it is a simple fix and that I am just constipated or something. I'm hoping to get better without going back to our local hospital. I would just die if I have to go back there.

TMI ALLERT!!! I posted somewhere else...my butt has a double chin! The fat is almost gone and the skin is still working at tightening up (I hope) and has made a (not) lovely little double chin hanging at the 'bottom'. I do glut exercises, and will continue to do so... but its not enough yet....))

The funny thing is, DH and I were just discussing this earlier. Even though I still have roughly 60 lbs to lose, my butt is bony. It's still nice and round, (TMI I know..) but them butt bones hurt... LOL

This may sound ridiculous, but are you constipated?? I have had that issue and then it "resolved" itself and I find that the scale has moved..... GROSS...YES.....TMI.....Maybe....Losing Weight.....PRICELESS

I am juicing right now for a few days............loving it. Saw this movie Sick, tired and nearly dead. It is coming out in June. But it was a movie on juicing and detoxing your system for health reasons. I was impressed so we got a juicer and have been having a blast. I know it is a slider all this juice but I feel so good. It is a detox in a way I guess. I didn't buy it until I realized how good I felt the first day. Keeps you full and is good (well as long as you don't add spenich-blech) . Carrots, apples, strawberries, kiwis, pears, oranges, madarines. cucembers, pineapples. It is suppose to be a short term thing to get rid of sugar cravings and to clean out your system. You can do up to 60 days if your realy overweight. But they say for most people 10 is a great number than switch to healthy eating after. I am doing ten days but I am so likeing it and for sure am detoxing. So I might do it longer once I get to 10 days. Right now I am on day 3 and found out my Vitamin Water zero is to sweet for me now. To weird I don't usually believe fads or weird eating plans. But so far I really like it........I am gonna see how I feel about in a few days. I am not doing this to lose weight but you can lose alot of weight this. I am doing it to see if I can stop taking my anxiety medications and also because I keep getting hives and rashes all the time and this is suppose to help get rid of symptoms. I also get mirgrqines and thi is suppose to help with that. So if it works I will feel better. If not we still had fun with all the combonations. Made a killer naturaly strawberry lemonade today. A bit sour but it cleaned me right out. TMI I know!! :-P Oh yea exercise is suppose to go along with it.........:-)

I am on a diet that consists of A Protein shake for Breakfast and lunch in 8oz milk 2 servings of fruit Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones for dinner Unlimited sugar/sodium free clears My question is, had anyone done a diet similar to this and if so, did the high protein cause you to be gassy or constipated. Big TMI... It's hard to tell if I am constipated because I had a bowel movement on Wednesday so I don't know. And my calorie consumption is only around 900 so I'm sure I don't have as much waste anyway. This is the first day I've had some discomfort. It's not terrible and I just took some Gas-Ex to see if it helps. Any input would be great...just curious to see what everyone else has experienced! Thanks!!!! Jordan

I have a funny NSV, or it may be TMI but I'll share it anyway. When I sit in the toilet, my belly no longer blocks my view into it. LOL I was also banded in March. I have some of the same as you all: 1. No longer drink diet coke like it's Water. Replaced with water & ice tea. 2. My clothes that I could barely fasten and that left me with a gigantic muffin top, now are loose and comfy. 3. Bought a couple new workout pants and had to go down to a size "L" instead of the "XL" i've been wearing for as long as I can remember. 4. I have a ton of energy and go on multiple playdates and outings a day with my two small children (1yrs & 3yrs). 5. When I went back to the gym for the first time since surgery, I was able to type my weight into the elliptical program and it began with a "1..". I'm sure there's more. I'm just a really much happier person in general! Congratulations to all of you on your NSV's as well!!

Maybe TMI... I used to sweat so bad sleeping that the salts would stain my pillows a gross yellowish brown... Now I rarely sweat at all even while exercising it's such a great feeling and I am not as self conscience any more I know there were times when I was the stinky guy though few people ever said anything.

All I can say is I'm 11 days away from surgery and scared too. I was so freaked out, I sat down and told my husband what my medical wishes are in case I have complications and am unable to make my own decisions. I'm not so worried about hair loss, but I am scared to death of failure. I am young, so no one in my family understands why I want this now. But I can't chase my son at the park. I can't stand on my feet for a full 12 hour shift, like I need to. Probly TMI, but I am so turned off by my own body at this point, that my marriage is suffering. I also know that after this surgery all of these things will change. I will be able to go on hikes with my spouse without feeling like I'm going to die going up a hill. I can keep up with my son. I will be able to stand on my feet without having them swell up at the end of the day. I know that this surgery could potentially lengthen my life, but I am still scared. And I think as rational human beings, this is normal. Because we have researched this enough to know what could go wrong. But we know that this is still our best option for a better future. PS. I also projectile vomit with barium, but there has to be something else they can give us right?

You know, I was just thinking today that I should go see my PCP and talk about trying Wellbutrin again, for several reasons: I'm peri-menopausal, and while I'm not having wild mood swings or anything, I generally feel irritated a lot of the time, I get mad easier, and I also have absolutely NO sex drive. I enjoy it once we get into it, but have no desire at all to get things started, ever. I had my gyno start me on it a few years ago, partly because I was under a ton of stress at the time and it was starting to affect me, but mostly because I also heard it was great for weight loss (it's also used to help people stop smoking). I was only on it for 3 weeks because after 2 weeks, I started getting really itchy spots all over my ankles, which at first I thought were bug bites.. until one day when I got really hot at the zoo and broke out in hives all over the place. A little online research showed that to be one of the side-effects. Damn! Because I can say that YES, definitely in those three weeks I noticed an increase in drive. Also, hopefully this is not way TMI, but I was able to hit The Big O during regular intercourse, which is very rare these days (God love the 40s, wheee). So yeah, like you I think I may see about trying it again before the weather gets warm, and see if I still have the same reaction (with the hives--I can hope that it still affects me the other way too! )

I went in with my period. No one cared. They didn't even mention it. But more tmi my surgery was on feb 11 had my tom them and have had it 3 times since. And it's only match.

Hi I am six months out I think I might have vomited 4-5 times and the last time was about 3 months ago. This is probably TMI but it wasn't so much as vomiting it was more like how a baby spits up. I think it tends to happen the first few months.

I really thought I had this timed perfectly when I set my surgery date. I'm usually like a swiss watch but I have heavy periods and it was the last thing I wanted to be thinking about when I flew to Mexico. So usually it shows up a couple days after the full moon, the 20th or 21st. Perfect: surgery date on the 29th. All over, no problems and no dealing with that right after surgery. Except it's not coming. Dammit I have even been* talking* to my uterus all day yesterday and today -- " Come ON already...Please. For once do what I expect you to. " But alas. I did just quit smoking and caffeine and SUGAR and I am deeply freaked out about getting on that plane on Monday so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. Sigh. So I was wondering who all took Aunt Flo into surgery with them and if it was a problem.

Hey everyone, I'm new here. I'm getting sleeved on 3/29 and I was wondering if any women shaved "down there" before surgery? I was thinking that with a catheter being put in I might want to, but didn't know if I could or should. Anyone deal with this? Thanks!

I woke up feeling a bit saucy this morning at 4:30am... so I woke my fiance up and started this day right! TMI? sorry but this is just one of the amazing (ahem: awesome!) changes that I'm experiencing since surgery! B: Nonfat Misto and 3oz chicken L: 2oz steak and 1/4 roasted fennel bulb S: Steamed broccoli D: Scallops and shirataki noodles (tofu noodle substitute) S: Pistachio muffin; cottage cheese vites- done! water- working it... exercise - elliptical planned for after work

I am so trying not to get wound up like an eight day clock, but I'm having a hard time. Tiff, you are right. I know you are! Especially about the in and out. TMI...Struggled this morning with constipation (1st poo since surgery). Finally accomplished, then an hour or so later I was at the other end of the spectrum!! What's up with that? Anyway, this just has to work for me (surgery)! What else is left?? FAILURE!! I would almost rather be nauseous for the rest of my life then ever feel hunger again. Ok, breathing in and out. Sorry for the drama guys...it's just been a long and hard 6 days.

I was banded on March 4th... very, very, very sore and swollen for about 5 days after surgery. I experienced very little gas (unlike a lot of posts that I have read) but I also lived on Gas-X chewables because I was afraid I would have horrible gas pains. Really my only bad experience post-op was that I developed a stomach virus and it was HORRIBLE!! I know this is TMI BUT my stools were so soft/watery that I was not able to hold them... ugh!!! I felt like I was going to die from embarassment. I called the dr's office and he was able to call in a prescription... 5 days later I was good as gold . I had my first post-op appt with my dr. 4 days after surgery. I was still soooo swollen that I could hardly sit in the car, let alone wear 'normal' clothes but my dr seemed satisfied. He explained to me that I could move on to mushy foods within the next day or so (which I thought was a little early) and he then said that I could start on 'normal' foods whenever I got to the point that I was eatting buckets and buckets of mashed potatoes and still feeling hungry... I remember thinking to myself... Oh Boy... I can eat buckets and buckets of something I love... well, after about 2 days of eatting potatoes I thought I was going to puke... just the thought of eatting another potato made me want to scream. Needless to say I progressed onto other foods quickly. I am now eatting pretty much whatever I like (just not the quantities I would have pre-banding) and have lost 26 pounds thus far. I go for my first real fill on the 28th (they put in 3.5 cc's during surgery) and am feeling a bit nervous about it... mainly because I am going to have to start watching what I eat a little more cautiously and I am afraid with pollen season right around the corner that I might have some issues... with all that said I am also looking forward to a little fill because I am getting to the point that I am getting hungry more often. The main thing post-op is to listen to your body, take your pain meds, and walk (that helps with the gas)... I was up and making laps around the interior of my house within an hour of coming home after surgery. Good luck on your surgery!!!!!!!

Ok i have a weird question for all of you shape wear users! Has anyone ever gotten a yeast infection in the belly button from wearing shape wear everyday? I ask this because it happened to me, and I cannot figure out what it is from. I wear a take under my clothes everyday, 1 to keep the muffin top in check and 2 to keep warm. I noticed a weird smell (TMI?) the other day when i took it off, and looked it had some discharge on it near where the bellybutton would be, low and behold, my BB was all red and itchy and oozing!!! YUCK!!!!! I'm grossed out just telling you all, but need to know if i should seek medical help, or just use OTC cream!! thanks, patti

Hmm...maybe you need a little cleansing of the pipes...just throwing it out there. I have back pain at times that seems to coincide with a # 2 (sorry for the TMI).

Hi Everyone!! I had my 2 and a halfish post op yesterday, n i was surprised to see 23 pounds were gone . The doctor was pleased on how well I am doing, but im not!! Im so sick of the protein shakes they make me want to barf!! sorry for the tmi.. i know that i can come here and some of you probably feel the same way. I have been eating tuna, yogurt( which i hate) cheese, turkey and cottage cheese. I also tired eggs but i hate those too. So now back to the protein intake i need to find something that i like. I curently have Isopure vanilla flavored, EAS chocolate flavored and Optisourse this is a caramel flavor....but the taste is horrible now i have tried it with fruit as a smoothie and this morning it almost came back up what do you guys think about something else that is more like water flavored or clear n not horrible. I was thinking about those Special K protein water drinks...also i try and get in 3 bottles of water the 16 oz ones those kinda go down good. I feel like im not doing good enough and its frustrating me so much. I feel like crap in the mornings i wake up not hungry at all and just to think that i have to get the protein down yuck!! i don't even feel like getting back up. This is so sad i know i have worked so hard to give up now. Since i have lost so much weight last year i was 350!! now im 267. I hate this and the only thing im looking forward is being able to have more food and less protein drinks. The doctor told me yesterday that next week i can try grilled fish, chicken, turkey so i am!! and he wants me to drink 2 protein drinks...but they are getting expensive

Krista, thank you so much for posting your experience. My surgery date is next Tuesday and this helps me know what to expect. Good luck and I look forward to your future postings. Marti Hello all, I got through my surgery and 2 weeks of recovery just fine. I thought I would post a detailed description of how it went because I know how apprehensive I was about the whole thing, and I really wanted to know exactly what to expect. February 23 was the date of my surgery. I was having the gastric sleeve procedure, a hernia repair, and my gall bladder removed. I had these procedures done in Downers Grove, IL by Dr. Rosen. I had to arrive at the hospital at 5:00 am. They weighed me and put me in a room where I was asked to put on the hospital gown and get in the hospital bed. They then put an IV in my hand and put the compression stockings on my legs. I was given a couple of shots (I'm not entirely sure what they were for). Every time a nurse stopped in I had to repeat my name and date of birth and they had to check my wrist band. All this happened over the course of 2 hours. I was allowed to have one person in the room with me and we pretty much just chatted in the in between times of the nurses visits. At about 6:45 am the surgeon stopped by to review the procedures we were doing. I also met with the anesteologist. My surgery was scheduled for 7:00 am, and at about 7:05 am they started to wheel me to the operating room. I did make them stop at the bathroom because I was nervous and really felt the need to go one last time. Up until this point, I had been very calm and at peace with my decision. My heart rate had been right around 65 the whole time. But now I was extremely nervous. They wheeled the bed through what felt like 20 different corridors. We arrived in the operating room. It was COLD and smelled funny. They had me move to the bed they would be doing the surgery on. I lay there and looked up at these 3 huge lights (reminded me of old movies where the police were interrogating you and they had that big bright light in your face) and I started to really freak out. I kept thinking that this was going to be the last place I would ever see (I was so nervous about the idea of dying that the night before I wrote goodbye letters to all my friends and family). I started to cry and the nurses and doctors tried to comfort me, but I can't say it really worked. I would say that they knocked me out within about 2 minutes of when I started crying. The next thing I remember is waking up in a considerable amount of pain. I believe it was around 10:30 am. The nurse wanted to know my level of pain on a scale of 1-10. I told her 6-7. I also told her I had to go to the bathroom. It was horrifically painful to have them lift my hips to put the bedpan under me, and in the end, I couldn't go anyway. I stayed in the recovery area for 3 hours because they didn't have any regular rooms ready. For the most of the time I slept and the pain medication kicked in, so I didn't feel so crappy. Finally, at about 1:00 pm, I was taken to my room. I again pretty much slept and i would say that with the morphine, my pain was about a 2. I didn't feel bloated from gas. My biggest problem was a constant need to pee... major inflamation due to the catheter. In fact, the need to pee was so overwhelming that by 4:00 pm, I forced myself to get out of bed and try to go to the bathroom again. Getting out of the bed was incredibly painful. As long as I was not moving in bed, I felt fine, but getting out of bed hurt! I became incredibly nauseous when I sat up and I told them I needed a bucket in case I puked while on the toilet. I dry heaved a couple of times (that hurt like a mother!). They put something in my IV to get rid of the nausea, and I never experienced it again. I still wasn't able to go to the bathroom, but as long as I was up, they had me walk a lap. I pretty much had to get up every hour from that point on to try and use the bathroom. Most of the time, I would also walk a lap. I should add, that they put some blue dye in the ice chips so that when I was able to pee, it was bright green. The blue dye helps them make sure you have no leaks. If there is a leak, the blood in the drain would turn purple. If there is no leak, then your pee will be green. Around 5:30 pm, I went to radiology where they made me drink something that really left me feeling like I might hurl. After I got that down, I had to do the barrium drink. That wasn't as gross. The cool thing was that I could see the screen so I could watch the Fluid move down my throat and into my stomach. I was down there for about 10 minutes and then it was back up to my room. At 10 pm the nurse came in to tell me I had to give myself my first heprin shot (my dr. requires all patients to give themselves 3 shots of heprin a day for 2 weeks following surgery). The idea of injecting myself with something really freaked me out, but I knew I had to do it or they wouldn't release me from the hospital. I had to give myself the shot in either my thigh or my stomach. I did the thigh. It took me a while to work up the nerve to put the needle in my leg, but I did it. It wasn't really painful and I would say that by day 3 after surgery, it was no big deal to do anymore. They also checked by blood sugar level which was 159! This completely freaked me out because one of the big reasons I wanted this surgery was to prevent diabetes, which runs heavily in my family. Because the blood sugar level was so high, I had to get a insulin shot. They had to check the sugar level every 6 hours after that. The next time they checked it was 139 and the time after that it was 88. They told me that sometimes surgery causes your blood sugar levels to spike, but it will usually drop back down to where it should be by the next day. That night I had to sleep with some tubing below my nose because the sleep study showed I have low oxygenation in my blood when I sleep. This thing was to monitor that. A buzzer would sound if the oxygen level dropped below 90. So, every single time I would fall asleep or start to drift off, this annoying buzzer would start ringing and I would have to call the nurse to get it turned off. At 3 am I finally asked what the purpose of this was, other than making sure I didn't sleep a wink the entire night. I was even more irritated about the whole thing when she told me the buzzer didn't sound out at the nurses station. The only place it rang was in my room. I made enough of a stink about the whole thing that they changed the tubing so it was putting out oxygen and would keep the stupid alarm from ringing the second I started to sleep. I don't think I slept after that because I was awake every time a nurse came in to check a vital or give me a shot. I will say, expect to be woken up at least every 2-3 hours. The next day, they took me off the morphine and gave me a form of vicodin as a pain killer. I continued walking every hour (and going to the bathroom). The surgeon stopped by around 8:00am to check on me. He said that since I had been up moving around so much and I was doing quite well, that he was going to have them release me around 2pm (provided I could drink 4 oz of Water every hour with no problem). I had no problem with this and was ready to go, but my nurse was so ditzy that it was after 4:30 by the time I was finally released. Before I could go, they had to remove the drain, which I was really nervous about. She assured me it wouldn't hurt, but would be more uncomfortable feeling than anything. I was still braced for serious pain because friends had told me it hurt a lot. However, when she pulled it out, it really wasn't painful. It was more of a bizzare feeling because you can feel that tubing snaking around your internal organs. I think because it was only in there for a day, the skin hadn't grown around it so there was no pain. I went home. The next 4 days, I was stiff and sore. I continued taking the liquid vicodin type medicine and my pain levels were around a 2. sleeping was difficult. I slept on the couch with my back propped way up so I could be in an almost sitting position. By day 5, I stopped taking the pain medication except for at night. By day 7, I quit the pain medication all together and was able to resume driving. If I had had to, I probably could have resumed working, but I was still very easily exhausted. I took a full 2 weeks off of work because I didn't want to have to give myself injections at work. Overall, I felt like the surgery was far easier than I had expected. The only hard part was getting in & out of bed & moving position, but the more you force yourself to do it, the easier it gets. I haven't had any problems with throwing up or anything like that. Relearning how to eat has been a struggle and is my biggest focus right now. I hope this long and detailed (and in some cases TMI) story is helpful to those of you with this surgery in your future. Krista

Oh thanks Laura...I took your advice about the liquid Lortab and it worked. I just awoke and have an incredible gas bubble in my tummy from hell. I've been making laps around my house trying to relieve it. Then all the sudden the vomit alarm went off! Fortunately, after one dry heave it passed (sorry for the TMI). I haven't been worried about the protein as I do good to get sips of water down. I pray today is a better day.

I want to give hope to the others of you about to go in for surgery. I had a rough time with nausea the day after my surgery but then it started to subside on Thurs morning and today I have had none. I walked for 45 mins twice, once outside and once on the treadmill. I also walked the dogs with my hubby for another 25 mins. I went shopping at Target and to the park with my son. I also did light cleaning and took two showers. I am not dragging around and am on the full liquid stage and the liquids are going down pretty good...just sipping them all slowly. I met my protein and fluid goal for the day and am very pleased with my progress. The pain is very little, only some at the largest incision on my left side. I expect that tomorrow I will feel even better and plan to go to the gym and to a birthday party in the afternoon. I had a bowel movement this morning after my first protein shake and it was completely liquid and came in spurts...I know TMI but lots of you worry about when to expect this. I am not weighing until I see the surgeon two weeks from now b/c don't want to know if the IV fluids put weight on me. Overall I would say I am a success story already and I hope other people have experiences similar to mine. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have. Also...have to mention a wonder drug I was given for nausea called Emend...it is awesome. It is usually given to chemotherapy patients for severe nausea and my surgeon ordered it for me preop and postop...its the bomb!