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I'm 7.5 years out. I have gained back about 25 pounds and just started the 10 day pouch reset diet. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Surgery set for 11/29 & 11/30. First dr. visits in Sept., took about 10 days for insurance approval. I agree with Corrigan; about 2 months.

I'm tomorrow and I have the same ugh. No joke, I've shed 10 more pounds tonight because of it lol. One step at a time...

The first 48 hours are tough BUT each day has been much easier and those first days are "fuzzy" already. It's not easy but it's also not as bad as I worried about. The drugs work well. I'm down 10 pounds since surgery. The hard part is balancing hydration and feeling full which happens in an instant! But it's all worth it. Just take one min at a time. Hang in there!

Thanks for posting! Good to have a timeline for information for the newbies. We often get questions like "How is the lapband 10-20 years out?)....well, this just shows that because the procedure is still fairly "new", there probably aren't a LOT of studies available, and you will most likely not find anyone who has had the band for that extended period. The "oldest" band I have met is the girl who works with my surgeon. She has had hers for 7 years and was one of the first to get it when it was released in the U.S.

I am still waiting to see if I am approved or not by insurance. After 6 months, waiting 10 to 30 days should be a breeze but my anxiety is getting the best of me. I qualify....I have met all the requirements. Everything was submitted last Thursday....I have been trying to keep busy and not think too much about it. How long did it take for others to get approved?\ Rachael

I haven't been banded yet...(June 1), but my daughter has, Feb 2008. I'm going to try to follow in her footsteps on the numbers. She absolutely never ever gets on the scale. For her it's not about the numbers, it's all about how her clothes fit. The only time she knows how much she's lost is when she goes to the doctor. She started at 265-275 approx and a size 20-22. She just recently went to doc and she weighs 180 (she's 5-10), but she's wearing a size 10, close to an 8 (having plastic surgery in three weeks). So don't get hung up on the numbers. Are you seeing in difference in your body and how your clothes fit? And we all probably also know that eating the same things every day and not varying calories and variety is not always the best. My daughter eats a wide variety of foods (no steak), just very little of anything. So throw the scale away or put it in the garage away from where you can check very often. Good luck. I'm a horrible weight checker and my scale is going in my storage shed as soon as I have the surgery. Trisha

I just had the sleeve 10 day ago. I do not have a thyroid. I will be on pills for the rest of my life. But as far as weight loss goes I have lost 25 lbs since pre-op so I guess it doesn't matter. If you don't have an endocrinologist, may I suggest that you go to one. They know more then the primary care.

Hello all - was just sleeved on the 27th and am one week out tomorrow. I've only just come home from Mexico and am on my last pain pill (which is little - 10 mg of Supradol). It does not make me groggy or loopy at all, just take the edge off a little bit of post-op discomfort, which usually feels like an uncomfortable internal tugging sensation when I've been up and around too long. I think a regular dose of Tylenol would do the same trick, so I'm just wondering if that's okay to take after 1 week? Should it be children's Tylenol? Is there anything I should NOT take? Second question - do Syntax nectars and hot chocolate mixes (the Protein ones from Bariatric Pantry) count as full liquids, Clear Liquids or what? My nutritionist keeps referring to full liquids as ones with "residue." Anyone? Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, I literally just came in from the airport and had no Internet all week! Just questions I know I'll be asking myself in the morning...

Lately I've been feeling pain when eating or swallowing anything. I was sleeved 09/19, had my gallbladder removed 10/08 and then caught a nasty bug. I have been through the ringer! At first I thought it was something I ate because I was able to transition to normal foods just fine. It just seemed to change overnight. I started vomiting everything I ate or drank. I assumed I just got swollen from the retching so I went to liquids. Well, I can't really tolerate that either. This sucks. I feel ok in every other aspect. My incisions are fine and I've lost a decent amount of weight. My Dr. wants me to have the upper Endoscopy to look for ulcers or anything wrong. I am wondering if I should have a contrast as well. Any ideas on this?

Hey Victoria, I am a UK sleever too... in Wales. I had my surgery here in Wales and it certainly was the best thing that I have done. The previous posters are right, the first couple of weeks are the hardest. Follow your surgeon's recommendations to the T and you will be fine. As far as weight loss goes... I have lost 74 lb, 5 stone 4lbs and that is 10lb away from my surgeon's goal so way about the 70%. My ultimate goal is to be below 10 stone which means a loss of 100 lbs and that means I am at 74%, which isn't too shabby...lol I am 18mths out now and on the final stretch to goal where I am back to basics; 1000 cals, high Protein, low carb and plenty of exercise... I would love to get to my goal by the summer where I see my surgeon for my 2yr and final check up. I say this in all honestly, the sleeve has given me my life back.... goal or not! It is simply the best thing that I have ever done for myself and my family and I too, wish I could have had it done years ago! If you want any advise... give us a shout!

I don't think you are snarky. I do not eat bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, cake etc....almost anything that contains flour. I don't tolerate gluten well. I basically eat meat and veggies and occasionally fruit. I do eat candy occasionally. I do not eat alot of slider foods, I guess potato chips would be my one downfall. Those won't be in the house after I have surgery! I wish I knew why I have gained to this weight...wouldn't we all! hahaha When I was a child I was chubby and by the time I graduated HS I weighed 205. I lost alot of weight with a Weight Watcher's type plan at age 19 and stayed in the 103-135 range for years. I had gained up to 230 and now weigh about 215 after cutting out the gluten foods. I have sleep apnea, and take 3 blood pressure meds. After my youngest son was born I gradually started to gain. When I started driving a school bus it increased. I'm sitting ALOT and I think that's part of the problem. I watch almost every new driver start puttin on the pounds after driving a while. It's a stressful tiring job, so in the evenings I'm too tired to exercise...thus the weight gain...which causes me to be more tired....etc, etc, etc. Three drivers had the DS surgery and about 5 have had RNY. I'm 58 years old and that is part of it too, I'm sure. My surgeon told me that he thinks the sleeve will work great for me and had (unknown to me) set my goal at 140....after my last appointment he changed it to 130. When I told him I was worried about not being a volume eater, he kind of snickered and smiled and looked at my husband and said, "she IS a worrier"! He said he was sure I would do fine as the volume I could consume after surgery would be very small. He did say that the surgery can be ruined by stretching the sleeve and with no malabsorbtion to fall back on, those who stretch the sleeve will probably not be successful.

I am in a similar situation. I had VSG done in May 2017. Lost 40 lbs, but have gained 10 back- I’m 208 & 5’4” before surgery I was 240. I would love to be under 150. Looking into mini bypass.

I know the feeling... When I am out of routine it is so hard to get with the exercising! I find if I start out really slowly with the exercise I'm more likely to start. I tell myself "I'll just go on the treadmill for 10 minutes, at any speed.. that's it".. I find if I do that, I can get on the treadmill.. and I always go LONGER than 10 minutes... But it makes it easier to get on the treadmill in the first place- does that make sense? Start out doing anything - five minutes, ten minutes.. whatever gets you moving! I always tell myself "the hardest part is putting on my exercise shoes" - in that the decision to exercise is always harder than the task itself! If you can do just a little and work your way up, exercise isn't as scary. Goodluck!! Now I need to go follow my own advice :whoo:

I feel ridiculous for even asking this here because I got my band 3 years ago and other than the 4 to 5 fills I had in the 1st year I have been bouncing along happy as can be. The last 6 months I have noticed I am hungry more often as the full feeling just doesnt last as long. So I made an appointment to get a fill after gaining more than 10 lbs. I once heard someone at a support group say they go in once a year for a fill. Is there truth to this or what have those of you who've been banded a while found to be necessary? Ive kind of just taken the same approach all along, wait and see if I need it do it.

I was given the OK to drink faster at my 10 day followup. For the first few days it would take about 30 mins to drink a 20oz bottle. Slowly it got netter, 2.5 months out I can chug a 20oz bottle in just a minute. We're all different. Sent from my mobile productivity killer.

Hey October 2014 sleevers! I was sleeved in June 2013 and I have a whopping 60 sample packs of Protein that I never used... would anybody like to have them? I quickly realized after purchasing them that I have an intolerance to sucralose, acesulfame-k, AND stevia, so I had to switch to a different brand without any artificial sweeteners. And now I'm about to move in a week, so I'm just trying to get rid of these SOON and I want them to go to a good home. I spent around $120 on all these, but I really don't care about money. I'm just asking for $20 for the whole lot in order to cover shipping costs (that might seem like a lot, but this is a pretty hefty box, haha.) I'm attaching a really crappy picture of them already in the box because I just finished packing it all up neatly prior to thinking about taking a picture, oh well. They are all unopened individual serving packs, and all 60 of em are crammed in this box. If you'd like this box, please feel free to post in this thread but also private message me! Here is the inventory of what will be in the box: unjury: Unflavored: 10 chicken Soup: 10 chocolate Splendor: 2 strawberry Sorbet: 1 Vanilla: 1 Celebrate ENS: (these ones count as your daily Vitamins too!) vanilla Cake Batter: 7 Chocolate Milk: 7 Syntrax: nectar Sweets: Double Stuffed Cookie: 2 Vanilla Bean Torte: 2 Strawberry Mousse: 1 Chocolate Truffle: 1 Cappuccino: 1 Twisted Cherry: 1 Roadside Lemonade: 1 Lemon Tea: 1 Pink Grapefruit: 1 Strawberry Kiwi: 1 Fuzzy Navel: 1 Matrix: Perfect Chocolate: 1 Milk Chocolate: 1 Mint Cookie: 1 Cookies & Cream: 1 Simply Vanilla: 1 Strawberry Cream: 1 Orange Cream: 1 Bananas & Cream: 1 Jay Robb whey Protein Vanilla: 1

Today I am 2 months and 5 days post op, I was sleeved on June 10th, I posted to my friends on FB last night that I have officially lost 10 waist sizes, and 85lbs since January, I couldn't go to the gym today because my wife needed help with the minions while she worked on her finals, so I had to go change the oil in my car this Morning, I pulled out a pair of camo cargos that I had purchased 7 yrs ago on my last diet, they are size 50w, I was a 60w, by next month I hope to be posting some pics since I can finally get some new scrubs for work, I was still proud of how far I have come so far, except for the 6x shirt I had to wear, I'm probably a 3x now, but it's all good, just canna stay focused and keep meeting my milestones.......

It's not nerves for me - if it'is thought I will be a size 00 as my surgery isn't till August I'm combining it with a 10 day trip to San Deigo and then 6 days in Tijuana for surgery as I've never been to the states before I thought I was going crazy but I'm literally not hungry at all which is so so unlike me

It sucks to be 49 ½, especially when you’re obese. So today I thought I’d recant my fall physical…as that sums it up. I remember my yearly physicals up until about 10 years ago I never had ANYTHING to complain about. After that my strategy soon became; pick the two most important issues and focus on them with the PCP. This year Mr.SA insisted I make a list…how sad is that, I have a LIST!:biggrin: Mr.SA gave me the lecture about how YOU don’t know what is related…give THEM all the info. and let THEM decide what’s important (can you tell his dad is a Dr?). This wasn’t my style…I’m not a complainer (I know, I get it all out here) but I typed up my list (I’m a little OCD) of about 6 or 7 things and off I went. I should mention here that this was the visit this fall that I also decided to ask about the Lap Band for the first time. I was a little nervous about my “list” as I sat waiting on the beloved crinkly paper on the exam table…I SWEAR they make it extra noisy just to make you more nervous. In walks a kid who could have been my son. OK, NOT my usual Dr.! He explains he’s an intern and would be doing my initial exam and then the Dr. would be in. Poor kid, this was NOT to be his day. I started into my list…and he’d ask me a few questions as I went along…then I forgot where I was, so I paused to actually go get out my type written list…BIG MISTAKE…his face got more flushed than mine:blushing: (and I think I need to add rosacea to my list) and I SWEAR his teenage acne was breaking out as I spoke. I tried to add a little humor saying my DH made me make a list because I was falling apart and needed a tune up:laugh:…no smile, no laughter…just looked more frightened:eek:…OK then:huh2:…on we went. I made it through to the end with a few raised eyebrows…I’m pretty sure my face was actually on fire at this point.:thumbup: So right about now I’m feeling like he must think I’m a hypochondriac or worse yet…what’s that thing people have when they want medical attention…munchausens? The LAST think I want is attention about all my health problems. Dear God,:biggrin: now he’s trying to recap my list and I suddenly realize he hasn’t taken down a single note. He’s about on number 4 on my list when his memory fails:out:…I toyed with the idea of just handing him my list, but then I remember he’s not a writer…do I dare suggest he write it down…I think not, he’s flustered enough. It’s like watching one of my kids practicing for speech class at school…I want to yell “Where are your index cards?” He tries reciting my list about 3 more times unsuccessfully (I'm starting to get a almost 50 year old hot flash and may go nuclear any minute) when I we hear a knock at the door. It’s my regular Dr. “Are you about done it there?”…Panic forms on the poor interns face. He’s frozen in fear, he opens his mouth but nothing comes out.:wub: I shout… “Oh, sorry Dr. ____, I’m keeping him tied up with my big list of problems…ha, ha…we’re almost done!” Relief flows back into the intern’s face. Loooong pause, then he finds new strength and says “What issues are the biggest problems that you would like us to focus on today?” OK, good boy, you may make a good Dr. yet…now we’re getting somewhere…I picked my “big 2” as always and recited back the details…off he went to get the Dr. In they came and he recited my “big 2” perfectly…I did eventually get in the rest of my “list” as if I’d just remembered them…my intern looked on gratefully. It went smoothly…I even got a phone number of a lap band surgeon from them even though I’m “…not that heavy and you’re not a metabolic nightmare, but you can look into it if you want”. Did I not just spend the last hour giving you my “list” of reasons why I need this? All is well…I had my surgeon’s phone number and my intern may not drop out of medical school, just yet. I think schools need to issue pens with all those medical books. Just wait until he sees my list at my 50 yr. old physical...next time I'll bring a copy!:eek:

An interesting summary of the 'state of research'. I normally post a link, but that does not work. So here is the full thread. Full disclosure, I drink coffee, and my program does NOT like that. I really DO follow my program in most things, but coffee is the ONLY drug I've got left... _____ Dear Ontherighttrack, You’ve asked a great question. What is the effect of caffeine on sleeve gastrectomy? To answer your question, I did a search of the medical literature on PubMed, the index for the National Medical Library. I couldn’t find any articles that address your question directly. Incidentally, there were no articles that addressed the effect of caffeine on gastric bypass either. Next I searched for both sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass and coffee. Again the medical library search engine did not return any articles. Thus, so far there have been no studies performed on sleeve gastrectomy patients or gastric bypass patients that would permit or discourage caffeine or coffee use. Most surgeons recommend that gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy patients avoid caffeine or coffee. These recommendations stem from research work that has been done on non-weight loss surgery patients. Before looking into this further let’s distinguish between caffeine and coffee. Caffeine is an alkaloid chemical that has stimulant effects on the central nervous system as well as other parts of the body. Caffeine is a moderate stimulant of gastric acid production. In some studies it has been shown to decrease lower esophageal sphincter pressure and thus potentially promote reflux. In other studies, the effect on sphincter pressure is not so clear. Coffee is brewed from the coffea plant. Coffee contains numerous biologically active chemicals including caffeine. The degree to which these compounds are present in a given cup of coffee depends on the specific species of coffee plant as well as the roasting and processing methods used to bring the coffee to market (see article by Van Deventer below). Even the type of filter used in a coffee maker will change the types of plant oils that remain in the brew. Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD or GORD) is reflux of stomach juices into the esophagus. GERD can cause heartburn. There are several full medical articles attached at the bottom of this reply. Please download these for further information. Coffee/caffeine and gastric acid stimulation There is general agreement that caffeine and coffee are two factors that stimulate stomach acid production. According to Cohen and Booth (1975) “Decaffeinated coffee gave a maximal acid response of 16.5 per hour (mean)which was similar to that of regular coffee, 20.9 mEq per hour, both values being higher than that of caffeine, 8.4, on a cup-equivalent basis.” Thus there are chemicals in coffee aside from caffeine that have potent acid stimulatory effects. In this study, decaffeination did not reduce acid stimulation. Further information about decaffeinated coffee was put forth by Feldmen et. Al (1981): “At equal concentrations, decaffeinated coffee was a more potent stimulant of acid secretion and of gastrin [an acid stimulating gut hormone] release than peptone [a Protein meal acid stimulus]. The ingredient(s) of decaffeinated coffee that accounts for its high potency in stimulating acid secretion and gastrin release has not been identified.” Coffee, caffeine, and esophageal reflux There is considerable controversy in the medical literature as to the effects of coffee and caffeine on esophageal reflux. Here are the conclusions to three articles on the subject. The full article summaries are added below. Wendl (1994) writes, “Coffee, in contrast to tea, increases gastro-oesophageal reflux, an effect that is less pronounced after decaffeination. Caffeine does not seem to be responsible for gastro-oesophageal reflux which must be attributed to other components of coffee.” Boekema (1999) and associates came to an opposite conclusion: “Coffee has no important effect on gastro-oesophageal acid reflux in GORD [GERD] patients, and no effect at all in healthy subjects.” Zheng (2007) conludes, “In conclusion, this large monozygotic co-twin study provides evidence that BMI, tobacco smoking and physical activity at work facilitate the development of GER, while physical activity at leisure time appears to be a protective factor. The association between BMI and frequent GER symptoms among men may be attenuated by genetic factors. In addition, heavy coffee intake may be a protective factor of GER in men and lower education may be a potential risk factor in women.” CONCLUSIONS Caffeine, and more so, coffee and decaf coffee stimulate gastric acid production. Caffeine and coffee may promote gastroesophageal reflux. Caffeine and coffee are just two of many factors that promote gastric acid production and gastroesophageal reflux. Clinical Implications: For sleeve patients who suffer from gastroesophageal reflux, it is best to avoid caffeine and coffee. For sleeve patients who do not have reflux, I do not see any reason not to enjoy coffee or use caffeine products in moderation. For gastric bypass patients, most surgeons recommend against caffeine and coffee because the acid stimulation that occurs may contribute to the development of anastomotic ulcers. Since there are many other factors involved in the development of these ulcers (alcohol, cigarette smoking and nicotine, and NSAID drugs), it is impossible to know how important the role of coffee and caffeine is. Most surgeons are thus saying avoid coffee and be “better safe than sorry.” REFERENCES Good Water, sports drink, and sports drink with caffeine. drinks for gastric pH and reflux during the preexercise, the cycling, and the postexercise episode, respectively. Gastric emptying, orocecal transit time, and intestinal permeability showed no significant differences between the three trials. However, glucose absorption was significantly increased in the CES + caffeine trial compared with the CES trial (P = 0.017). No significant differences in gastroesophageal reflux, gastric pH, or gastrointestinal transit could be observed between the CES, the CES + caffeine, and the water trials. However, intestinal glucose uptake was increased in the CES + caffeine trial. ___________________________________________________________________ lunch, 1 h after dinner and after an overnight fast Reflux and oesophageal motility parameters were assessed for the first hour after each coffee or water intake. RESULTS: Coffee had no effect on postprandial acid reflux time or number of reflux episodes, either in GORD patients or in healthy subjects. Coffee increased the percentage acid reflux time only when ingested in the fasting period in the GORD patients (median 2.6, range 0-19.3 versus median 0, range 0-8.3; P = 0.028), but not in the healthy subjects. No effect of coffee on postprandial lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (LOSP), patterns of LOSP associated with reflux episodes or oesophageal contractions was found. CONCLUSION: Coffee has no important effect on gastro-oesophageal acid reflux in GORD patients, and no effect at all in healthy subjects. _______________________________________________________________________ beverages and of their major component, caffeine, have not been quantified. The aim of this study was to evaluate gastro-oesophageal reflux induced by coffee and tea before and after a decaffeination process, and to compare it with water and water-containing caffeine. METHODS: Three-hour ambulatory pH-metry was performed on 16 healthy volunteers, who received 300 ml of (i) regular coffee, decaffeinated coffee or tap water (n = 16), (ii) normal tea, decaffeinated tea, tap water, or coffee adapted to normal tea in caffeine concentration (n = 6), and (iii) caffeine-free and caffeine-containing water (n = 8) together with a standardized breakfast. RESULTS: Regular coffee induced a significant (P < 0.05) gastro-oesophageal reflux compared with tap water and normal tea, which were not different from each other. Decaffeination of coffee significantly (P < 0.05) diminished gastro-oesophageal reflux, whereas decaffeination of tea or addition of caffeine to water had no effect. Coffee adapted to normal tea in caffeine concentration significantly (P < 0.05) increased gastro-oesophageal reflux. CONCLUSIONS: Coffee, in contrast to tea, increases gastro-oesophageal reflux, an effect that is less pronounced after decaffeination. Caffeine does not seem to be responsible for gastro-oesophageal reflux which must be attributed to other components of coffee. Angeles, California. Abstract This study tested the hypothesis that differences in the processing of raw coffee Beans can account for some of the variability in gastric effects of coffee drinking. Coffees were selected to represent several ways that green coffee beans are treated, ie, processing variables. These included instant and ground coffee processing, decaffeination method (ethyl acetate or methylene chloride extraction), instant coffee processing temperature (112 degrees F or 300 degrees F), and steam treatment. Lower esophageal sphincter pressure, acid secretion, and blood gastrin was measured in eight human subjects after they consumed each of the different coffees. Consumption of coffee was followed by a sustained decrease in lower esophageal sphincter pressure (P less than 0.05) except for three of the four coffees treated with ethyl acetate regardless of whether or not they contained caffeine. Caffeinated ground coffee stimulated more acid secretion that did decaf ground coffees (P less than 0.05), but not more than a steam-treated caffeinated coffee. Instant coffees did not differ in acid-stimulating ability. Ground caffeinated coffee resulted in higher blood gastrin levels than other ground coffees (P less than 0.05). Freeze-dried instant coffee also tended toward higher gastrin stimulation. It is concluded that some of the observed variability in gastric response to coffee consumption can be traced to differences in how green coffee beans are processed. __________________________________________________________________________________ JAMA. 1981 Jul 17;246(3):248-50. Gastric acid and gastrin response to decaffeinated coffee and a peptone meal. Feldman EJ, Isenberg JI, Grossman MI. Abstract We compared five graded doses of decaffeinated coffee and a widely used protein test meal (Bacto-peptone) as stimulants of acid secretion (intragastric titration) and gastrin release (radioimmunoassay) in eight healthy men. In each subject, for both acid and gastrin, the sums of the responses to all five doses were greater to decaffeinated coffee than to peptone. The mean +/- SE peak acid output in millimoles per hour was 18.5 +/- 2.9 to decaffeinated coffee and 14.7 +/- 2.7 to peptone, representing 70% and 55%, respectively, of the peak acid output to pentagastrin. The mean +/- SEM peak increment over basal rate in serum gastrin in picograms per milliliter was 84.8 +/- 4.4 to decaffeinated coffee and 44.8 +/- 2.1 to peptone. At equal concentrations, decaffeinated coffee was a more potent stimulant of acid secretion and of gastrin release than peptone. The ingredient(s) of decaffeinated coffee that accounts for its high potency in stimulating acid secretion and gastrin release has not been identified. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Dis Esophagus. 2006;19(3):183-8. Effect of caffeine on lower esophageal sphincter pressure in Thai healthy volunteers. Lohsiriwat S, Puengna N, Leelakusolvong S. Source Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. sislr@mahidol.ac.th Abstract Caffeine affects many aspects of body function including the gastrointestinal system. A single-blinded experimental study was performed to evaluate the effect of caffeine on lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and esophageal peristaltic contractions in healthy Thai adults. The volunteers were six men and six women aged 19-31 years. Subjects drank 100 mL of water. Five wet swallows were performed 30 min after the drink. The basal LES pressure was continuously measured using esophageal manometric technique. They then consumed another 100 mL of water containing caffeine at the dose of 3.5 mg/kg body weight. The swallows and basal LES pressure monitoring were repeated. The results showed no change in basal LES pressure after a water drink while caffeine consumption significantly lowered the pressure at 10, 15, 20 and 25 min. The mean amplitude of contractions and peristaltic velocity were decreased at the distal esophagus at 3 and 8 cm above LES. The mean duration of contraction was decreased at the distal part but increased at the more proximal esophagus. The heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures were increased significantly at 10-20 min after caffeine ingestion. This study indicated that caffeine 3.5 mg/kg affected esophageal function, resulting in a decrease in basal LES pressure and distal esophageal contraction, which is known to promote the reflux of gastric contents up into the esophagus. N Engl J Med. 1975 Oct 30;293(18):897-9. Gastric acid secretion and lower-esophageal-sphincter pressure in response to coffee and caffeine. Cohen S, Booth GH Jr. Abstract Caffeine stimulates gastric acid secretion and reduces the competence of the lower esophageal sphincter in man. These effects of caffeine have been used as evidence that regular coffee should not be used by patients with peptic-ulcer disease or gastroesophageal reflux. We compared the dose-response relations of caffeine, regular coffee and decaffeinated coffee for gastric acid secretion and sphincter pressure in normal subjects. Decaffeinated coffee gave a maximal acid response of 16.5 +/- 2.6 mEq per hour (mean +/- S.E.M.), which was similar to that of regular coffee, 20.9 +/- 3.6 mEq per hour, both values being higher than that of caffeine, 8.4 +/- 1.3, on a cup-equivalent basis. Sphincter pressure showed minimal changes in response to caffeine, but was significantly increased by both regular and decaffeinated coffee (P less than 0.05). These data suggest that clinical recommendations based upon the known gastrointestinal effects of caffeine may bear little relation to the actual observed actions of coffee or decaffeinated coffee.

True enough. I hope the weather does change. I mean I live in Kansas and you know they always say if you don't like the weather in Kansas, just wait 5 minutes...it'll change! Fingers and toes crossed. My plane isn't scheduled to leave until 11:10, so surely they will have things cleared and running then. Just another thing...but it's ok...I'm gonna get thru it!

Warning: long post ahead! Well, if you haven't already, focus on eating lean Protein, green veggies, and healthy fats. These foods will help keep you satisfied longer and avoiding high-carb foods will help curb your hunger. And the other thing to do is to learn to be okay with being hungry. Hunger is not an emergency. Starvation is an emergency, but you are not in danger of starvation. Hunger is just unpleasant. There are good CBT techniques to learn that can help you deal with hunger in ways other than eating. Here are a couple that I have found helpful: --plan everything you are going to eat each day, either at the beginning of the day, or the evening of the night before. When you get hungry, say to yourself, "it's not fun being hungry, but I can wait to have my beef Jerky snack at 2:30" (or whatever your next planned snack/meal is). --log everything you eat -- calories, carbs, protein. When you see those amounts going into your log, you'll find yourself less hungry. --plan three healthy meals and allow yourself unlimited Snacks in between -- but only if your snacks consist of nothing but one specified type of lean protein and one green veggie. You can use whatever spices you want, but no oils, no cheese, no sauce, etc. So your "unlimited snack" foods for the day might be chicken breast and asparagus. You get to eat as much as you want as long as it is chicken breast and asparagus. Again, you may find yourself not as "hungry" as you thought you were -- you may be experiencing head hunger or carb cravings, not true hunger. And if you are really hungry, well, you can't do much damage with chicken breast and asparagus. --practice fasting a couple of days a week. Have a small Breakfast, then no eating (or drinking anything with calories) until dinner. Before you start fasting, write a list of the most physically and emotionally painful experiences you have ever been through ("my mother died" "I gave birth" "I had a root canal" "I lost my job" etc.). Then, every two hours on your fast days, write a brief journal entry. Describe your levels of hunger. Rate your discomfort associated with hunger on a scale of 1-10 and compare that with the worst physical and emotional experiences in your life. Write down a coping strategy ("I will go for a walk" "I will remind myself that I can eat a nice dinner at 5 PM and I'm not in danger of starving" etc.) Make sure that you only eat sitting down at a table. No, you can't even taste or sample anything standing up. And being in your car does not count as sitting down at a table! Keep your phone turned off and do not look at any lighted screens (tv, computer, tablet, handheld gaming device) while you are eating. I am aware that this all sounds like a lot of effort and not much fun. Both of those things are absolutely true. I don't have a magic wand solution for you. But these things really have worked for me when I put the work in. Good luck to you!

Name: Amy How far along: 9 weeks Due Date: 24th December '08 Boy/Girl/Surprise: Rants: None Raves: None Anything else: Big surprise, and big gap between siblings - 13 and 10 years, but they won't know about this new addition for another 3 weeks - just in case... I can't wait to see the looks on their faces though, they are going to be thrilled.