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I'm freaking out....it's setting in....I'm afraid...nervous...very anxious....bitchy. I'm still going to do this....i know it's the best thing just scared as hell for many reason. Can anyone who has had bypass in lighten me at all?? How u felt when out of surgery? The pain from 1-10 with 10 the worst. What was the hardest thing for u the first 2 weeks? Such as ....drinking ...moving around...going potty...any info good or bad could u plz share. Also...can u wear a bra during surgery??

Hi I just got my frist fill on 01-07-10 at 2pm and they gave me 1 cc and i had lost 9 more lbs from the last vist to the doc on 12-14-09 they say to do liquids for 24 hrs and then go to solids but i am going to do this 1 day liquids 1 day mushies 1 day semi solids then back to solids just so i can get use to the band i did talk to the doc about this he said that would be good if any problems to call the office ASAP:thumbup:

Wow chica keep me updated! I get mine in 19 well now 18 days lol Prayer for all of us to stay strong!

Hi all! I was banded 10/21/09 in Kansas. It has been a pretty easy process so far aside from the awful gas pains I had that first week. I'm excited about getting healthy and thin (well maybe not thin, but at least out of the obese categories). I turn 30 tomorrow, yikes! I'll treat myself by going to the gym :wink2: What else? Hummm... I started down this road in August when I made the very difficult decision to have weight loss surgery. It snowballed from there. I went to a meeting at my surgeon's office. A few weeks later I met with the surgeon. My insurance approval came a few weeks after that! Yeah, surprised me too. I got in my visits with the psychologist. Then it was time for the longest two weeks of my life doing the pre-op diet. It was tough but I did loose 20 pounds! Surgery day came and went without any problems. Now I'm just waiting for December 3rd when I should get my first fill. I guess I am in bandster hell right now. I try to only eat 1 or 1.5 cups at each meal but I get hungry about an hour or two before it's time to eat again. I'm getting through it though, just gotta bide my time until I get fills and get some restriction going on. Good luck to everyone here, I'll be hanging out from time to time!

Congrats! Mine was on June 19, so exactly 30 days before you. The next couple of weeks will fly by! Good luck!

Got my band Aug 20 it took 2 fills b4 I felt anything and I think i need a bit more soon. i had 4 cc in a 10 cc band and then had 2cc added I am down 18 lbs in 7 wks i am happy. line dancer

Well Guys!! I made it. I was banded last week, 10/19. The day after the surgery I though to myself what the Hell did I do to myself!! That thought soon passed after having lost 11 lbs. since last Wednesday. I fell good for the most part, still a bit sore, the Doc says that its mainly from the Hiatal Hernia. I still have another 10 days to go on the liquid diet, that's getting kind of old. If anyone has any suggestions for liquids, I'd love to hear it. I get my 1st fill November 22nd. Just in time for Thanksgiving!! The only issue I seem to be still having is a lot of belching and gas. Is anyone experiencing that too? Good luck to all

Good morning! I am getting close to my surgery day (1 week away) and I'm starting to get very nervous. I've received numerous helpful hints from people on various sites, however, now that I'm down to the wire, I wish I would have written them down. By chance does anyone have any tips for the following? 1. What to bring to the hospital with me... 2. What to buy before surgery so I don't have to deal with it when I come home... I know I need Protein drinks, but what type and where do you get them? Any help you can provide would be GREATLY appreciated!!! Melissa G. Banding on 4/19/04 Dr. Hamn

It’s normal. You may be sucking in too much air when eating. Also, They put a lot of air in you during surgery. You should be burping and passing gas. Then, You’ll become more comfortable as gas travels out. Try coughing 10 times every hour too. It helps so much!

Where are you having the sugery at; Memorial Hospital and Hamilton medical? Either place both the sugery will be an outpatient procedure, unless you have complications. Good Luck. Just wear something comfortable, becuase once you get there, they will have you undress completely and wear only hospital gown and some orange air flow socks. I had my surgery at Memorial hospital. I had to be there at 10:30am and was being cut at 11:44am and was done by 1:10pm and went home at 4:30pm.

I have bypass surgery in February 2019 and have been wondering the exact same thing! My family and close friends know what I'm doing, but my issue is work colleagues. I have told my supervisor that I will need two weeks off for surgery. She didn't ask for details, but I have no doubt colleagues will once I get back--and I do not want to share it with them.

There was very little pain for me. The nurse who administers pain medicine would come in every now and then and ask me my pain level. I told her 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. She would leave very upset. After surgery I walked every 2 hours. The nurse came to me after a while and said that I should reduce the number of laps that I was walking. Walking really helps with the recovery.

only suggestion i can say is in the morning try to get up and do some light excerise i use to be tired and weak all the time even before the banding and now since i have been excerising i have been feeling good throughout the day and i actually wake up early in the morning and trust me i dont usually wake up before 10 and here i am i can get up at 7 in the morning or earlier to start my day.

These past few weeks have been tough as the all so sought after 199 has been so elusive..On 09/28/12 I weighted 203.4 and so was pretty confident I could hit 199 by the following week. My confidence was only heightened when on Wednesday, 10/03/12 I was 201.2..I just knew by the 10/05/12 I could shake off another 1.5lbs to finally join the 100 club...Well, I jump on the scale all excited and low and behold what pops up...199 even...Oh yeah oh yeah...So you know us scale obsessed folk, we have to double check, triple check, quadruple check...Well 199 never came back up...It kept reading 202...I was crushed...I told myself well you clearly are way close for 199 to even pop up because there was a time you were so far away from 199, the scale never gave a false read of 199..No doubt I am happy about my progess...31lbs and 21 inches and 4 sizes (and counting) all in 7 weeks..I just am panting for my first goal of 199..I will admit I was not as diligent about logging my food these past couple of weeks as I was previously so it is likely my carb intake got the best of me...So this is one thing I will commit to doing as it will be key to my success as well... But no sense of whining about that...Instead, I am focusing on things I can change...and that is increasing my cardio and strength...So this past week I started Insanity, again...I did it about two months prior to surgery and while it is still hard now, it was so much harder then...30lbs make a difference...My stretches are better...My form is better and I have an even greater motivation knowing I am helping Pedro (my sleeve) do some of the heavy lifting...I am remixing Insanity a bit...Instead of doing it 6 days a week, I am doing it 5 days a week, skipping the recovery day and instead running on the day of recovery...Still getting my heart rate up and helping out my running game...I would love to do a half marathon in April or May of 2013...And speaking of running my running game has gotten so much better...When I first started exercising after surgery, it was taking me 60 minutes to walk 3 miles...Now I am doing 3 miles in 43 minutes...As I cut down on the 5 minutes of walking at the beginning and interchange 1.5 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking, it will only get better...Currently, I walk the 1st five minutes (3.5mph)...run a minute (5.5-6.0mph) and walk for minute and half (3.5)..My goal is to get it to 30 minutes... Over the past couple of weeks, I have had increasing comments about how good I look...The folk that know about the surgery talk about how well I look losing the weight and that they can tell I am working out in the process as I am looking toned...A close friend of mine says you no longer look big...(oh the honesty) you just kinda blend in...Not big...not small..just about the size where no one notices your weight either way...Oh the honesty of a guy but I will still take it...lol...And a couple church friends talked about my saggy pants...Such a good feeling...I am slipping in pants I bought, two years ago and never could wear...Shirts I had given up on wearing because my belly fat/rolls showed too much...I havent worn my spanx (fool them to look thinner underarmour piece) but once (with a form fitting dress)in the past month...The muffin tops and the back fat is slowing fading away...It is such a good feeling. HW 232 & SW 227 (VSG 08/17/12 & 5'8) LW 203.4 (Week 6) CW 201.2 GW 155

lab-band shopping list heating pad flexible ice pack liquid tylenol (they make adult strength) chewable or liquid gas-x a few books or movies comfy clothes (loose waisted shorts or jumpers) squishy pillow for car ride (guard against seatbelt) a sports bra (doc said no underwire for a few days) protien shakes flavored water make sure you have a good blender I bought a drink mixer for the protien mix (cost $10 at walmart) broth or stuff to make broth sugarfree popsicles and jello sugar free gum (ask your doctor) sugar free breathmints (ask your doctor) *Ask at your pre-op for the pain med prescription so you can have it all ready to go when you get home, our walgreens has to order liquid pain meds and it takes 3 days to get them.

I am 2 months post op. I have lost 30 pounds. I eat what ever I want only in very small quantities. I log every bite I eat into myfittnesspal.com. I usually don't eat more than 700 calories a day. I usually walk at least one mile a day. I have no pains and no problems. Most everyday I eat three small meals, eat a very small snack and drink a Protein drink. I don't think I am losing as fast as most people but I am losing. My surgeon is amazing!! I didn't have a catheter, I didn't have drains of any kind no problems. I highly suggest not eating anything for 10 days preop, only drinks and Protein shakes. It makes your recovery so much easier. If you have questions I would love to help. T

I'm not at the point were I can eat whatever I want just yet, I'm only in phase four surgery was 2/19. But I do wish I would've had a bigger food funeral. I would look at my children eat things like salad and wish I could eat that too. But today I just started phase 4 and this is the phase were soft veggies and dark green lettuce are introduced. Can you believe I'm really never hungry I only want to eat when I see others eat. So no one is in the office but me so I had to force myself to eat the salad I brought to work today and I didn't really eat that lettuce I wanted oh so bad, I just pretty much ate the protine (crab meat, eggs and cheese) out of it. But yeah there are some foods that I "think" I miss and right now it's pickles.

Almost there! Say it with me...Countdown...5! 4! 3!... Countdown To BG's Banding!!!

I just read your story. I had my surgery on 3/30/10 and had a very similar experience. I kept telling the nurse my chest hurt and I felt like I couldn't breathe. She kept telling me that my O2 level was fine. I remember telling them that I felt like I was having a heart attack and that there was crushing pressure on my chest and pain in my left shoulder. That started a flurry of activity--anyway after they did an EKG to make sure it wasn't my heart, they told me it was the gas pressure from the abdomen being inflated and gave me enough pain medication that I was in recovery for about 6 hours. After that, it was all pretty manageable. Hope you are doing well now!

I will be getting lapband after 8 long months of waiting (insurance approval required it) I am scheduled for surgery this Friday (10/21/11) and I am excited and worried. I am excited as I know that this is a start of my new life to a better and healther me, but am worried that it is not going to work that I will slip back into my old ways. I try to keep this negative thought out but past experence has taught me that the weight always comes back. I am trying to be pro active, I have joined the YMCA in my area and even cleaned out all the "bad" food from the house but still I am scared. Anyone else have this problem? Also any advice?

Hello all, I had my lap band placed back in march of 2007 when it was all the rage and no proven long term research. I went to surgery at 283, and managed to drop to an all time low of 220 within 10 months. I spent the next 9 years battling with this lapband and all the CRAP that came with it. I remember feeling like I had hit rock bottom when I couldnt even swallow my own saliva, but was slowly seeing the scale creep up. Today I am right back to 274, which is NOT my highest post surgery weight. (I would have never guessed that 9 years ago) Any how about a year ago, June 2015, I decided something had to give and started seeing a new Dr. about my options. I honestly hadnt see one in years. I had just learned to live with the GERD, upset stomach, inability to eat healthy foods, sleeping sitting up, etc.. I have seen this Dr and his team monthly since June of last year. I have been doing all of the things required by my insurance to meet the criteria for a revision. When I went to see my surgeon 3 weeks ago, he said we need to go ahead and get the band out asap, since it has been causing me problems. I said GREAT to that and we scheduled my removal date for 7/29/16. woo hoo!! So then I ask him what about the bypass surgery. He says that will be treated as a completely separate case, and that I was technically on visit #5 of my bcbs required 6 month diet. (the office didn't start to count the visits as diet visits till Jan 2016) not sure why, but okay. His attitude seems to be "Lets get the band out first, and fight with the insurance company later about the revision to rny" Has anyone else had this type of experience? Im wondering if hes hoping to find something during the surgery, that would lean in favor of the insurance company approving me for a revision. It just seems a little round about... Thanks everyone for your input

Me too, TrueBlue. Had my first sliming episode today, was stuck and PB'd, but instead of coughing "it" out, it went back down. Thank goodness it only lasted for about 10 minutes, but it hurt! I have restriction with my first fill which was on Monday. I will never make that mistake again, eating too fast, too big bites and not chewing enough. OUCH!

Hi my name is Shell and I was banded on 02/19/09. My story is similar to yours I've tried everything in the world to lose weight and nothing worked. I'm hoping this will be my year to finally lose the weight. I wish you all the luck in the world!!!

Hi BeBopp. If you aren't SURE, you probably should keep thinking about this. The band is wonderful, fabulous and incredible - however, it will only work if you are committed to working with it. For instance - the band keeps me from wolfing my food - but so far it hasn't stopped me from eating any particular food. Some folks can't eat bread, or french fries - but I can still eat it all. Can I eat a LOT of anything? You know, if I eat slowly enough and really concentrate, I CAN actually eat a pretty good amount of food. But notice that I have to concentrate and work at eating too much. Who the heck does that? Plus - after over 10 mos of eating much less - my idea of what A LOT means has changed significantly. A LOT of pizza used to mean 4-5 slices of pan/deep dish pie. Now, A LOT of pizza means 2 slices of thin crust. When I am good, the band helps me be VERY VERY good. When I am bad, the band keeps me from being Horrid. I live a pretty normal life, and eat pretty normal foods. When I do that, I don't lose much and I don't lose fast... but I do actually keep losing. When I focus on eating better, when I drag myself into the gym, I lose faster. So, I get to live a VERY normal life. I don't have to obsess every moment of every day to lose the weight. (Been there, done that!) I don't have to eat only parsley & pine nuts for 3 meals a day. I don't have to buy tasteless pre-packaged foods that I hate. I don't have to go to meetings everyweek and get harrangued if I haven't lost weight. All I have to do is eat Protein first, then veggies, then carbs if there is room... Drink as much Water as I can stand... and chew my food REALLY well. That's it. Nobody even notices that I am on any particular plan. I get to join in on company lunches and parties. If I want a cookie - I CAN have one without dire physical consequences. And still, I lose a few pounds a month. More if I am eating right and exercising. What more could anyone ask? As to Why you need to be SURE - The band won't stop chocolate. I have to consciously choose not to bathe in the stuff every day. Cause then I really wouldn't lose any weight. The band cannot stop Starbucks. God, I love those Carmel Macchiatos - but 400-500 calories at a whack does NOT help the weightloss process. I still have to choose when and if I will eat real ice cream, pudding or candy. I know that if I eat those things all the time, I will be right back where I was before. So, I choose to work with my band every time I eat lean chicken instead of chips and Queso. Be SURE before you get this done. It is surgery, there is healing involved and the pre-op and post-op liquid diet stuff sucks. If you can handle all of the above - if you are really ready to lose the weight and keep it off - then I think the band can work for you... or for anybody. Good luck in your deliberating.

I'm having a hard time believing the holidays are actually here. I think it might be tough for me this year, as I just moved away from my family for the first time really (I didn't live with my mom, but always within about 10 miles of her, and now I'm out of state). I'm going to my In Law's for Thanksgiving, and to mom's for Christmas, but still. Thanksgiving is going to be rather crazy. My husband has 9 older siblings, of which 7 will be at his parents' house. Among them they have something just less than 30 kids, most of which will be going. It's very different than my family. When we all get together at mom's house, at most there's like 12 of us, lol. I am just hoping that the kids wont be too rowdy because my MIL was just told that her cancer is NOT gone and she will have to do another round of chemo.