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Had a bad stuck episode/pb-ing on Saturday, followed by bad reflux at night, and every night since. I also have had trouble keeping down any solid or mushy foods. liquids go down, but I definitely feel resistance. Worried, I went to my doctors office today and the PA did an unfill, taking out 2 of my 5ccs. The last time I had a fill was in May, so I know I wasn't suddenly overfilled. She suggested that I irritated my pouch/esophagus and that the unfill, followed by two days of liquids only, then soft foods, and finally solids on Sunday. I am also getting an Upper GI swallow test done and coming back in 3 weeks. What's bothering me now is that although I'm feeling immediate relief from the difficulty swallowing I was experiencing before, I'm worried that this much of an unfill will lead to some weight gain over the next three weeks, and it's really causing me anxiety! Anyone have a similar experience? Any advice?

I need an unfill due to dilation and I'm worried about weight gain. It took me 6 months to get to the green zone at first. I know I could gain a lot of weight in another 6 months. I'm thinking a prescription appetite suppressant like Adipex or some the new ones (Qsymia and Belviq) may help me as I get back to the green zone. The problem is I'm at my goal weight and they aren't supposed to be used in people with a normal BMI. Has anyone had any experience with this? Thoughts?

Anyone notice if you eat too late in the day - like get most of your calories 2-3hrs before bed- are slower losing? I know there’s two camps: calories are calories no matter what time of the day vs . Calories before bed cause weight gain Just want to add even though I’m not losing weight as fast as I wish (driving me bat shit crazy) I am definitely losing inches . I calculated my burn rate and it’s roughly 2500- 2600 cals so after food like 2300-2400 cals burn in 24hrs (includes workout) so should be around a lb every other dayish if my body would cooperate haha hopefully I’m just retaining water and will have the “whoosh” hahaha

I find it facinating that the stats are just like alcoholism only 5% percent of us (I am one) stay sober for the long haul I think it is frustrating tht Star won't talk but Hey! whatever... I, sadly- am an open book.. I don't tell everyone my stuff but enough. I have given up etoh 10 yrs then nicotine 5 years and now my final and most daunting addiction FOOD. There are other ways to keep it off other than mechanical but for me its about my addiction and anything I can do to help I'm up for it. I went to AA for ETOH I did the patch for nicotine and now I did the band after years of rebound weight gain. I am okay with that but when I was heavier I had to give myself some self esteem and believe I was beautiful INSIDE just so I would not go insane. Right now I have been banded since Oct and have only lost 17 # mostly in first 2 mth. The scale has not budged I am down one --2 sizes but ouch. I see Star and think DAMN I am work ing hard at least I think I am had 2 fills exercising 4-5 days a week.. ARGGG anyway I don't think Star is as pretty now I think maybe a little more weight like a 12 or 14 and she'd be hot. I still want to be full and huggable I don't wan to be fragile Shoot I wan to be able to see my private parts and tie my shoes wear a nice dress and show my arms. Thanks guys I love reading you you make it bearable Elda

is weight gain part of band slippage

the way I was taught, weight gain is part of over eating

It does sound like a thyroid issue. I have hypothyroidism, dry skin-yup. itchy - yup. lethargic - yup. HAIR LOSS - BIG TIME YUP!!!!! (I know you didn't mention hair loss, but it is a big symptom). Synthroid has solved my issues, no problem with the once in the a.m. tiny pill. Oh, and weight gain was another BIG YUP. I've HAD IT SINCE 1995. Just get checked, most people who have it don't know it because the symptoms creep up so quietly. And a lot of people have it. Good luck and feel better soon!

sorry to hear about your reflux and esophagus - but good to hear that I am not the only one going through this I never had reflux until 3 months ago as of now I have a full unfill because my esophagus was stretched I am trying to keep positive with all this weight gain since I hope this is only temporary

Do you know when to stop eating? To learn the when, you must pay attention to your “stop eating” signals. How do you know when to stop eating? Do you eat until you're full? No, you don't. You should never again try to eat until you feel full, not just because that’s how you became obese enough to qualify for bariatric surgery but because if you’re like me, your stomach (or soul) is an endless void that no amount of food will ever fill. You’re going to have to figure out a new stopping point. As mentioned in Satiated vs Stuffed, satiety is not quite the same as being full. Full means your upper stomach has reached its maximum capacity: that you have overeaten again – an old habit that made you obese enough to qualify for weight loss surgery. Satiety happens on your way to being full. With a properly adjusted band, you will be comfortable if you stop eating when you're satiated, but you’ll experience discomfort if you eat until you're full. This third article in the Satiety 101 series discusses the signals your body gives to tell you you’re satiated, but that’s only half the battle. The other half involves heeding instead of ignoring those signals. That subject could fill a book (which that I might write some day). Today we’ll focus on recognizing your own unique Stop Eating Signals. Because of its anatomical position (near your diaphragm, and pressing on the vagus nerve at the top of your stomach), the band’s presence (but not your band itself – which we must remember is an inert piece of plastic without any magic at all inside) can give you quick feedback about your eating behavior. The feedback is written in a language issued and understood by your brain, with assistance from your endocrine and digestive systems. Even if you were lousy in your high school French class, you will have to learn how to get directions in that language, so you won’t end up on Weight Gain Road instead op Weight Loss Avenue. Those directions come in the form of what I call Soft Stop and Hard Stop signals. To understand those directions, you’ll need to slow down and pay attention while you eat. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for satiety signals to reach your brain and to be broadcast to the rest of you. If you usually eat with a crowd (family, friends, coworkers), you might need to try eating by yourself for a few meals so you won't be distracted. Stop signals can be subtle and they can come from unexpected parts of your body. It's better to heed a gentle reminder than wait for a hammer to hit you on the head. SOFT STOPS are your early warning system, gentle reminders from your body that it's time to stop eating. Because they don't hurt much, they're easy to ignore. They include: · Mild queasiness (an icky, but not about-to-vomit, feeling) · Fullness or pressure in the back of the throat · Pressure in the chest or just below the breastbone · Throat clearing · Some difficulty swallowing · Burping (or the urge to burp) · Taking a deep breath · Mild coughing · A sigh · Hiccups · Watering eyes · Runny nose · Left shoulder pain · A sneeze · More saliva in the mouth than usual · A sudden distaste for the food you were enjoying a moment before As soon as you notice one of these signs, stop eating! I don't care if your stubborn mind is insisting that it's okay to continue (because it thinks you have room for just one more bite, or the food tastes good, or you haven't cleaned your plate, or you deserve the food, or whatever's going on in there). If you go on eating past this point, you won't be changing your eating behavior and you're likely to get into trouble…that is, a hard stop. HARD STOPS are the equivalent of running into a brick wall. They can happen without any apparent warning, but usually you have sped heedlessly past a soft stop before you hit the wall. Hard stops are the painful and sometimes embarrassing reminders that you have eaten too much, too fast, in bites that were too big, without chewing enough. They include: · Chest pain and/or painful pressure or tightness in the chest · Feeling like you have a rock in the back of your throat · A burning sensation in the throat · A “stuck” feeling, as if the food you’ve eaten has nowhere to go · Productive burps (PB's) – regurgitation of food, kind of like the way a baby erps up milk · Sliming (excess saliva and mucus that's so profuse, you have to spit it out) When you experience a hard stop, STOP EATING! It's not at all a good idea to keep eating after you experience a hard stop, even if the discomfort goes away and your plate of food still looks appealing. You may feel fine and may in fact be able to eat some more, but you should not eat more. The hard stop has irritated your upper gastrointestinal system. Continuing to eat will just perpetuate the problem, getting you into a never-ending cycle of eat-hard stop-pain-eat-hard stop-pain. Cycles like that tend to turn into complications like band slips and esophageal and stomach dilation. That’s the reason for my next piece of advice: follow a liquid diet for 24 hours after a hard stop episode, then transition carefully back to pureed then soft then solid food. If you’re like me, you did not have WLS in order to live on liquids for the rest of your life. That’s yet another reason to learn how to prevent hard stops in the first place, so that you can eat and enjoy real food at every meal. Now here’s one last chunk of information before the bell rings and today’s class ends. You may not experience any or all of these stop signals any or all of the time. At breakfast you might get one signal and at lunch, an entirely different one. At dinner, you may notice no stop signal at all. As time goes on and you lose weight and the amount of saline in your band changes, your stop signals may change as well. All that can be frustrating, but it will force you to go on eating slowly and carefully for the rest of your life, and that’s actually a good practice for anyone, banded or not. That plate of food before you is a blessing that some people in this world can only dream of. Those small portions may look puny to you, but would be a feast to someone else. So treat your food, and your body, with the care they deserve. Learning to recognize satiety over and over again is an ongoing process because our bodies are not statues made of marble. We are all marvelous, unique, and complex creatures who change by the minute, every day of our lives. Click here to read about how those changes can affect soft and hard stop signals. http://www.bariatricpal.com/page/articles.html/_/support/post-op-support/restriction-riddles-r93 This is the third and final article in the Satiety 101 series of articles.

My band has been more trouble than it's worth from the very beginning. Right now I have unfilled as much as possible and will await insurance so I can get it removed all together. I've been diagnosed with PCOS, a condition which prohibits weight loss and actually involves weight gain for no apparent reason. Thank goodness I discovered the Atkins low carb plan of eating which is the only thing that has resulted in significant weight loss and it's easy to do and after the first two days there's no hunger involved. I've heard reknowned doctors talk about sugar as being as toxic as tobacco and I now believe it. For anyone who wants to jump start their metabolism, I suggest buying the Atkins New Diet Revolution book and trying this plan. It works for me.

I have been on Cymbalta (90 mg.)for about 1 1/2 years and I have struggled with weight gain, but also take trazadone at night too. This did't help my weight!

I know this was addressed under the "Lapband Strugglers" thread, but I wanted to start a discussion about anyone's experience wih their past/present psych meds. How do you feel your experience with weight loss (before or after the lapband) has tied in? How to you deal with the side effects (if you have them)? I've taken a few different medications with different results. Paxil and Trazadone worked for a time but I gained about a pound a month while I was on that combo. The doctors warned me about that. That was especially frustrating because I purposefully increased my activity level to compensate, and the emotional blunting with Paxil was dramatic. Prozac didn't have the gaining side effect, but not the mood elevating side effect either! Finally, Wellbutrin, which I took for 3 years, was my most successful med. I was in an emotional place where I was motivated to be more active and, at the same time, it allowed me to at least maintain my weight. How's everyone else doing with theirs? Finding the right med can be such a harrowing journey, I wanted to put forth a place in this forum to reach out for help and validation. Also, please note that I am not purporting that psych meds that cause weight gain are some kind of blanket excuse for struggling with weight loss. I regret I have to make that explicit. Psych meds are one factor that can make it tougher for some than others, and this is a place to discuss those experiences.

I have my preop on Tuesday and I have gained 5 lbs from the last time I was in, I wanted to get some last minute bad choices in before I get it done and now I’m paying for it, are they going to give me a hard time about it? Anyone else gain just before too? I get it done a week from now, the 22nd of January. I have t been told to go on a liquid diet yet though, will they most likely put me on one for the last week?

plus no weight gain or other side affects that go along with other birth control

Apparently I suck. I'm beating myself up and I know that I made poor choices over the long weekend but I figured it would be ok since my calories are still so low. I had some potato chips and 3 clamato and vodka over the long weekend of camping. I was just celebrating getting into the 100's and now I'm back up to 201. I know didn't drink nearly enough Water and I know that this is temporary weight gain but it still blows. I know its not real fat weight gain because I'm still only eating 500-600 calories a day but it sucks to see the scale give you a great big middle finger when you stray at all. Back to high Protein, low carb which I know works. I will change my ticker back to 201 when I get home to keep myself accountable. I'm bummed at this tiny setback, self-inflicted or not.

I guys, any thoughts on Lapband removal and going to sleeve? I was banded April 2008 and have many complications over the last few years from GI issues to slippage causing weight gain. Spoke to my doctor today originally thinking of going to gastric bypass, but after much discussion of how I am dedicated to working out, counting calories and portion control, that he feels the sleeve would be a better option for me to lose the weight Ive gained and help me obtain my goal weight with out dealing with the complications of re routing intestines and malobsobtion. Any thoughts?

I am six lbs heavier this morning than I was Tuesday morning! Please tell me it's just all the fluids going in you through the IV?

I'm going thru the same thing. My surgeon told me he wanted me to lose 10-15 pounds before he would do my surgery. I initially lost about 12 pounds but now I am stuck in a bad spot. I have jumped up to only having a loss of 6 pounds. I am worried that when I see him on the 15th he will be angry and postpone my surgery date. I hope he won't, I have switched medications and I am on my period both of which can cause weight gain. I'm hoping for you. Like someone else said drink lots of Water and try not to stress. I have heard stressing can stall weight loss. Good Luck I'm sending good thoughts your way.

Sorry this is so long. :-( I'm just starting my journey but wanted to just get this out. My BMI was 40.3 at my initial consultation. I want this, but I'm stressing about the thought of my BMI dropping below 40 and being denied by my insurance. I have to have a 40 BMI, do 3 months weight management, a nutritionist visit, 2 year weight history and. Psychologist appointment for my insurance qualifications. So the earliest my case will be submitted to insurance is October. I have health issues but none that qualify according to their list of co-morbidities. One member of the staff at the surgeons office said don't gain anything or you may have an issue with your insurance. Another member of the staff said my insurance won't cancel for a little weight gain. So I'm stressing and have a few months to continue stressing! Anyone been through a similar situation. Sent from my XT1585 using the BariatricPal App

I found this article on another WLS site. It's old but makes sense: By: Cynthia Buffington, Ph.D Did you drink carbonated soft drinks prior to your Bariatric surgery? Do you still consume carbonated soft drinks? Were you advised by your surgeon or his/her nutritional staff NOT to drink carbonated drinks after surgery? Do you understand why drinking carbonated beverages, even if sugar-free, could jeopardize your weight loss success and, perhaps even your health? A carbonated beverage is an effervescent drink that releases carbon dioxide under conditions of normal atmospheric pressure. Carbonated drinks include most soft drinks, champagne, beer, and seltzer water. If you consume a soft drink or other carbonated beverage while eating, the carbonation forces food through he stomach pouch, reducing the time food remains in the pouch. The less time food remains in your stomach pouch, the less satiety (feelings of fullness) you experience, enabling you to eat more with increased risk for weight gain. The gas released from a carbonated beverage mat "stretch" your stomach pouch. Food forced through the pouch by the carbonation could also significantly enlarge the size of your stoma (the opening between the stomach pouch and intestines of patients who have had a gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion). An enlarged pouch or stoma would allow you to eat larger amounts of food at any one setting. In this way, consuming carbonated beverages, even if the drinks are diet or calorie free, may cause weight gain or interfere with maximal weight loss success. Soft drinks may also cause weight gain by reducing the absorption of dietary calcium. Dietary calcium helps to stimulate fat breakdown and reduce its uptake into adipose tissue. Epidemiological and clinical studies have found a close association between obesity and low dietary calcium intake. Recent studies have found that maintaining sufficient amounts of dietary calcium helps to induce weight loss or prevent weight gain following diet. The high caffeine in carbonated sodas is one way that drinking carbonated soft drinks may reduce the absorption of calcium into the body. Studies have found that caffeine increases urinary calcium content, meaning that high caffeine may interfere with the uptake of dietary calcium into the body. Keep in mind that one 12 oz. can of Mountain Dew has 50 mg of caffeine, and Pepsi and Coke (diet or those with sugar) contain 37 mg of caffeine each. Colas, such as Pepsi and Coke (diet or with sugar), may also cause calcium deficiencies from the high amounts of phosphoric acid that they contain. Phosphate binds to calcium and the bound calcium cannot be absorbed into the body. Both animal and human studies have found that phosphoric acid is associated with altered calcium homeostasis and low calcium. Drinking carbonated beverages may also reduce dietary calcium because these beverages replace milk and other nutrient-containing drinks or foods in the diet. Several studies report inverse (negative) relationships between carbonated beverage usage and the amount of milk (particularly children) consume. Carbonated beverages, then, may reduce dietary calcium because of their high caffeine or phosphoric acid content or because drinking such beverages tends to reduce the consumption of calcium-containing foods and beverages. Such deficiencies in dietary calcium intake may be even more pronounced in Bariatric surgical patients. Calcium deficiencies with Bariatric surgery have been reported following gastric restrictive and/or malabsorptive procedures. The reduced amounts of calcium with bariatric surgery may occur as a result of low nutrient intake, low levels of vitamin D, or, for patients who have had gastric bypass pr the biliopancreatic diversion (with or without the duodenal switch), from bypass of the portion of the gut where active absorption of calcium normally occurs. Drinking carbonated beverages may further increase the risk for dietary calcium deficiencies and, in this way, hinder maximal weight loss success. For all the reasons described above, including calcium deficits, reduced satiety, enlargement of pouch or stoma, drinking carbonated beverages, even those that are sugar-free, could lead to weight gain. Carbonated beverages that contain sugar, however, pose a substantially greater threat to the Bariatric patient in terms of weight loss and weight loss maintenance with surgery. Sugar-containing soft drinks have a relatively high glycemic index, meaning that blood sugar levels readily increase with their consumption. The rapid rise in blood sugar, in turn, increases the production of the hormone, insulin. , that acts to drive sugar into tissues where it is metabolized or processed for storage. High insulin levels, however, also contribute to fat accumulation, driving fat into the fat storage depots and inhibiting the breakdown of fat. Soft drinks with sugar are also high in calories. An average 12 oz. soft drink contains 10 teaspoons of refined sugar (40g). The typical 12-oz. can of soda contains 150 calories (Coke = 140 calories; Pepsi = 150; Dr. Pepper = 160; orange soda = 180; 7-up = 140; etc.). Soft drinks are the fifth largest source of calories for adults, accounting for 5.6% of all calories that Americans consume. Among adolescents, soft drinks provide 8%- to 9% of calories. An extra 150 calories per day from a soft drink over the course of a year, is equivalent to nearly 16 pounds and that weight gain multiplied by a few years could equate to “morbid obesity”. In addition to the adverse effects that carbonated drinks have on weight loss or weight loss maintenance, carbonated beverages may also have adverse effects on health. Soda beverages and other carbonated drinks are acidic with a pH of 3.0 or less. Drinking these acidic beverages on an empty stomach in the absence of food, as Bariatric patients are required to do, can upset the fragile acid-alkaline balance of the gastric pouch and intestines and increase the risk for ulcers or even the risk for gastrointestinal adenomas (cancer). Soft drink usage has also been found to be associated with various other health problems. These include an increased risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney stones, bone fractures and reduced bone density, allergies, cancer, acid-peptic disease, dental carries, gingivitis, and more. Soft drinks may, in addition, increase the risk for oxidative stress. This condition is believed to contribute significantly to aging and to diseases associated with aging and obesity, i.e. diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, reduced immune function, hypertension, and more. From the above discussion, do you now have a little better understanding of why your Bariatric surgeon or Bariatric nutritionist advised you NOT to consume carbonated sodas after surgery? Your Bariatric surgeon and his/her staff want to see you achieve the best results possible from your surgery – both in terms of weight loss and health status – and so do YOU. Consider the consequences of drinking such beverages now that you understand more clearly why such drinks are “Bariatric taboo”.

I don't drink carbonated drinks at all. Nor do I drink beverages that contain artificial sweeteners as they lead to weight gain (based on results from many scientific studies) and the chemicals have no nutritional value.

Hi Justathing, I've just (re)joined bariatricpal to get some support myself. I am 9 years out. I got all the way down to 132 (120 lb loss). Than I started to gain, slowly but surely and am now sitting at 165. I am pretty certain I have a leak going on. Anyway, I too contribute excess stress to my weight gain (divorce, career change, ft work, blah blah). Certainly nothing compared to losing a child, which I am terribly sorry to hear about your loss. The reason I wanted to reach out to you is because you mentioned "forgetting" the basics. I suffer from the same problem. It's been so long that my life pre band seems like another lifetime and I'm not hyperfocused on the band/rules. After all the stressful times I went through, my brain thought stress before band issues. How bizarre is that? After spending years focusing on the band and being in the green, I'm now needing to relearn these basics and practicing them. I also need to get back to green (which may mean a placement of a 2nd band to get me restarted). I think this is a common phenomenon for us 'old banders' and its one of the primary reasons Im back on the site. I need to think, breath, and be the band again so I can stay accountable and get better management of my weight again.

I am bipolar. I have to take 7 different medications. Not taking my medications is not an option for me. My medications do have the side-effect of weight gain. What the medication does is it turns off the brain's signal to tell me when I am full. That is where the band comes in. I have accepted that my medication has an effect on how fast I lose the weight. But I am still losing!!! So I rock!

Ditto to much of what you guys said except I don' have diabetes. Weight gain after 40. I had 2 hip resurfacings and wouldn't know they were not my hips but I didn't want to outlive them so decided on WLS. Wanted the lap band but my Dr's explained why there wasn't a high success rate on them. Also when I went through the pre classes there were quite a few band revisions to sleeve. My loss is slow but sure. 30 lbs down and I feel so much better. Arthritis pain is way down, BP normal, people compliment me on looking good and psychologically and emotionally I feel great. I did this for ME and it's the best decision I could of made for my health. I'm 1/2 way to my goal of size 10. I'm down to a 14 and loving it. The saying I'm not getting older I'm getting better is so true for me now. Good luck you'll do fine as long as you put your mind to it.

I have a friend who is banded like me and like me she is also struggling with weight gain / inadequate loss and what to do. She has booked to attend a seminar, in Melbourne Australia, with Dr Vuong. Wondering what they are about and what the goal is. Does this Dr promote a certain type of surgery, does he have answers that other Drs don’t? Why is he travelling the world like a rockstar, is he drumming up business for some surgical group?