Search the Community

Bananas, breads, and sugar alcohols anything over 3g will give me what my Dr calls mini dumping I get light headed, heart racing, and shakes found this out 4 days after surgeru with certain popsicles

So I spent like 13K on my lap band surgery and have been struggling to drop my pathetic 8lbs this last month. No alcohol, no bread, no Pasta, no soda, only sugar free sweets, no fun. And walking my tail off on the treadmill. My husband cut back to diet Jack and Coke and stopped eating quite as many Cookies in the evening and has already dropped like 15lbs in 2 weeks. Yes, this is why we hate men.

I tried my first drink 6 mo out... Vanilla rum in flavored crystal light. Was so yummy. Got a little buzzed with no issues... Until the next day. I was on the potty all day. I don't "dump" until the next day when I eat something I'm not suppose to... And this did it for me too. Evidentially I can't handle the alcohol sugar.

Thanks for all the great tips, my post op appt is tomorrow so I will definitely ask about the remover:-D, but if I can't stand it I will try the oil or alcohol tonight!

Rubbing alcohol works really well to get that crap off! Drench a paper towel and then rub over areas. It will either rub off or loosen the spots enough to pick off easily. Have fun!

Here’s how our messages went... I got a text this week from a former client who moved out of the state a while back. This woman, who I will call Mattie, had weight loss surgery four years ago. She lost the majority of her excess weight and has maintained that weight loss. She’s even had a baby and continues to maintain her weight loss! Mattie asked me a few questions. We exchanged a few texts before I told her I would send her an email with some thoughts. I was actually on the treadmill at the time and haven’t quite mastered accurate texting while hustling on the treadmill (and watching my guilty pleasure, The Young and The Restless) while I walk! Here’s how our messages went: Mattie: “I want your professional opinion… Orthorexia nervosa and body dysmorphia… real or not real?” I honestly had never heard of orthorexia nervosa, so, while contemplating whether or not I like the new actor playing Billy Abbot, I looked up orthorexia nervosa. Here’s the definition from the National Eating Disorders Association (https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa): “Those who have an “unhealthy obsession” with otherwise healthy eating may be suffering from “orthorexia nervosa,” a term which literally means “fixation on righteous eating.” Orthorexia starts out as an innocent attempt to eat more healthfully, but orthorexics become fixated on food quality and purity. They become consumed with what and how much to eat, and how to deal with “slip-ups.” An iron-clad will is needed to maintain this rigid eating style. Every day is a chance to eat right, be “good,” rise above others in dietary prowess, and self-punish if temptation wins (usually through stricter eating, fasts and exercise). Self-esteem becomes wrapped up in the purity of orthorexics’ diet and they sometimes feel superior to others, especially in regard to food intake. Body dysmorphia, just to get the formal definitions over with, is a clinical diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM V), the guidebook used by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other health care professionals. People who have Body Dysmorphic Disorder are: “preoccupied with one or more nonexistent or slight defects or flaws in their physical appearance.” Keep in mind that the emphasis is on nonexistent or slight defects, not something that is clearly visible. “‘Preoccupation’ is usually operationalized as thinking about the perceived defects for at least an hour a day… The preoccupation must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.” “At some point, the individual must perform repetitive, compulsive behaviors in response to the appearance concerns. These compulsions can be behavioral and thus observed by others – for example, mirror checking, excessive grooming, skin picking, reassurance seeking, or clothes changing. Other BDD compulsions are mental acts – such as comparing one’s appearance with that of other people.” Now that you know what we’re talking about, I’ll continue with our text conversation. In response to Mattie’s question about whether or not orthorexia nervosa and body dysmorphia are real, I responded: “Yes, real.” Mattie: “Thank you.” Me: J J J J Mattie: “I’ve been doing a lot of research on eating disorders and the psychological issues that come with them when I came across these. Me: Do you think you have those issues? Mattie: I don’t know. I think I may but I feel crazy saying that. I need to do some more research to know for sure but from everything I’m reading it describes me pretty well. I seem to have gone to the opposite extreme from where I was three years ago. Me: That means you haven’t dealt with the issues but are acting them out on the other end of the spectrum. Mattie: That’s what I’m scared of. Me: Yeah, but you would not be exploring it if you weren’t willing to work on things. Mattie: Very true. I just feel like it’s all in my head but then again, not. It’s deeper than just my thoughts. It’s almost like these other little voices outside of myself telling me what to think and how to act. Me: What are the voices saying and whose voices are you hearing? Mattie: They are mine and the voices of lots of other people I have known throughout my whole life. Most of the time they are just telling me whatever I do isn’t good enough and that I have to do more. No matter what, don’t mess up because it’s impossible to undo. All my flaws are being pointed out along with the mistakes I make and how much I still need to do. Last week I had a full-blown panic attack because I ate some rice with my meal and felt like I could feel it going through my system and turning into fatter things and a big old stomach. After I finally calmed down I ended up at the gym doing cardio for 2 ½ hours. Stuff like that happens more than I care to admit. Sometimes when I think about it I freak out so much I actually get sick. All of this makes me wonder if the surgery wasn’t the result of my brain saying ‘you should do this because it will make you prettier and healthier.’” Me: I’ll email you… too much to say and I’m on the treadmill. I also didn’t want to miss finding out if Billy was in cahoots with Phyllis or if he was backing out of their deal… The more I thought about all I wanted to say to Mattie, the more I decided others would benefit from the information. I’m certain she’s not the only one struggling with many of the issues she brought up. To begin with, a great many people who have weight loss surgery find themselves engaging in behaviors that are unhealthy two to three years later. I’ve worked with patients who start drinking excessively, shopping themselves into financial distress, sleeping with people they don’t even want to be sleeping with, abusing/becoming dependent on pain medication, returning to unhealthy eating behaviors and starting to regain weight, spending too many hours exercising, behaving in other forms of bulimic behavior, engaging in anorexic behavior, and, I now learn from Mattie, orthorexia nervosa. It’s fairly predictable. For the first year to 18 months, people are thrilled because they are losing the weight they struggled to shed for so long. It’s exhilarating to see the results they so longed for. It is an exciting time and the body is doing what it is supposed to do following the surgery. As the body heals and weight stabilizes, sometimes people begin to engage in behaviors they may not even understand themselves. So what is the explanation for a return to eating unhealthy food in spite of knowing the misery of having been morbidly obese and experiencing significant health issues as a result? What sense does it make to become anorexic or orthorexic or alcoholic or a shopaholic or to engage in any sort of behavior to the point it creates problems in your life? To mental health professionals, it makes perfect sense. We understand that for many people who struggle with weight issues, there is emotional baggage beneath the surface. Weight loss surgery doesn’t treat “head issues.” When people have weight loss surgery, they lose the option (at least for a time) to use food as a coping mechanism, an attempt to avoid dealing with things that are under the surface. Mattie was quick to point out what is at the heart of the real problems, the issues underlying one’s weight and focus on food… it’s the voices of various people from your past who have told you things similar to what Mattie continues to hear in her head: You could have done better. You could have done more. You got all A’s but one B… why wasn’t that an A? Why can’t you be more like your sister? If you keep gaining weight, no one will marry you. You’ll never amount to anything. It’ll just never be ‘good enough.’ Mattie made it clear that it’s not just the voices of others she hears, but also her own. There’s a simple reason for this: Children learn what they live…and then they live what they learned. The negative messages you heard about yourself from others as you were growing up are what you learned as you grew up. Every time you repeat those messages to yourself in the present, you are living what you learned. As an adult, you’re reinforcing to yourself the negative things you initially heard from others about you. The solution? Simple – yet very difficult! You have to make a commitment to yourself to no longer talk to yourself about yourself in negative terms. Even if you don’t believe yourself at first. And you have to put a lot of effort into changing and restating the negative messages you repeat about yourself so they are at least neutral: · You could have done better. o When you hear this message, change it to, “Maybe I could have done better, and yet I can’t change the outcome of this situation. I’ll think about what more I might be able to do the next time this situation arises.” · You could have done more. o When you hear this message, change it to, “There’s probably always more that could be done in a given situation. That’s as much effort as I was willing to put into this situation at this time.” · You got all A’s but one B… why wasn’t that an A? o When you hear this message, change it to, “Perfection doesn’t exist, nor did I want to put forth the effort for that particular endeavor. I’m pleased with the results.” · Why can’t you be more like your sister? o When you hear this message, change it to, “I can’t be more like her because we are different people and I’m learning to like myself just fine.” · If you keep gaining weight, no one will marry you. o When you hear this message, change it to, “I’m learning to accept myself the way I am and I don’t want to marry or have close relationships with anyone who doesn’t accept me as I am.” · You’ll never amount to anything. o When you hear this message, change it to, “Never amount to anything according to whom? I’m becoming more and more comfortable with who I am and what I want in life. That’s what matters.” · It’ll just never be ‘good enough.’ o When you hear this message, change it to, “I’ve come to terms that I am, indeed, ‘good enough,’ and I like myself this way.” What makes this different is that people say, “I tried, but it doesn’t work.” Well, keep trying. The reality is you are battling years of negative messages and your brain has literally developed neural pathways so you slip back into those well-worn paths quite easily. In order to develop new neural pathways that are more optimistic toward self, it will also take thousands of repetitions. If you were learning to speak a completely foreign language, it would take days and weeks and months of repetition before the new language would come easily. It’s the same thing with positive self-talk. The good news is, you can benefit from positive changes as soon as you start talking better about yourself. Remember, no one is putting you down at this point in your life except you. (If there are others degrading you, then you need to learn healthy boundaries and tell those people to stop and/or get them out of your life.) The negative self-talk is part of the deal and changing that is a huge part of the solution. But, WAIT – there’s MORE! Of course there is! There’s actually a lot more, but this is supposed to be a short article, which it already isn’t. Therefore, I will only address one more essential issue related to weight regain and/or the transfer to another unhealthy behavior after weight loss surgery. In Mattie’s case, the transfer has been to a rigid attitude about eating healthy foods, feeling tremendously guilty if she eats anything but healthy foods, followed up by a form of bulimia known as exercise bulimia, as evidenced by her working out for 2 ½ hours after eating some rice. Regardless of what unhealthy behavior a person switches to following weight loss surgery, what needs to be addressed is the purpose the behavior serves. This points, also, to looking at what purpose food and/or obesity served prior to weight loss surgery. Simply stated, an almost obsessive focus on food, whether that is thinking about what one is going to eat next, pouring over recipes, relentless counting of calories and grams, watching every show on the Food Network, exercising excessively, obsessing about healthy foods, is a coping skill. In the adult world, people are capable of learning and understanding that these eating and food-related behaviors are unhealthy in that they negatively affect health and relationships. The reasons people remain engaged in these negative behaviors, in spite of knowing they are detrimental to their physical, emotional and relational health include the possibilities that: 1) they have addictions (to food, or other substances/behaviors), and weight loss surgery does NOT treat food addiction, 2) they are tremendously afraid of feeling their own feelings and are terrified of dealing with past emotional issues; what’s more, people often deny having any past issues they need to deal with in the first place. Trust me… we all do. Every human being has had some painful experiences in their lives. People are terrified of what I call cleaning out their emotional closets because they literally fear experiencing feelings. Here’s why: when people experience feelings from past losses and hurts, they feel it with the same intensity at which they felt it at the age they were when it happened. That frightens adults and they avoid dealing with their past at all costs. And these costs can be high; anyone who has had weight loss surgery understands the physical and emotional costs that being obese bears. Here’s the deal: if people don’t dig into whatever they are avoiding emotionally, or address any addictions head on, and if they don’t learn healthy adult coping skills, communication skills, and how to set healthy boundaries, then they WILL switch to another unhealthy behavior to use a coping skill (another name for avoiding reality and feelings). In Mattie’s case, she swung to the opposite end of the eating continuum. Either end of an issue often means the person is just acting out the same unhealthy coping skill in the opposite way. You often hear of people who are not at all religious becoming overly immersed in a religion. Same problems… just acting them out in opposite ways. Hence, my response to Mattie as she described “having gone to the opposite extreme” with her eating behavior, when I said, “That means you haven’t dealt with the issues but are acting them out on the other end of the spectrum.” My suggestion to Mattie and to anyone else who is engaging in any disordered eating behaviors, anyone who has regained weight, and anyone who has begun engaging in other addictive or unhealthy behaviors following weight loss surgery: Get into individual and/or group therapy with a therapist who understands “family systems” counseling and/or addiction counseling. Talk about issues underlying your addiction to food (your emotional dependency on food), any losses you experienced throughout your life that you haven’t dealt with, and any trauma/abuse you have experienced at any time in your life. Work with a therapist to learn and develop healthy coping skills to implement into your adult life, how to implement healthy boundaries in your adult life, with yourself and with others, and learn healthy communication skills. Read about these same topics, and add to the reading list the topic of “re-parenting the self.” Orthorexia nervosa and body dysmorphia are real, as are bulimia and food addiction and transfer addiction. Weight loss surgery can inadvertently open the door for these problematic behaviors. Do what I always tell people to do: Get Help and Get Happier! Thank you, Mattie for bringing these topics up to me. I hope this has helped you and many others! Oh – and by the way, I’ve decided I like the new Billy Abbot… so far! Connie Stapleton, Ph.D. www.connie@conniestapletonphd.com FB: https://www.facebook.com/connie.stapleton.923 Twitter: @cstapletonphd LinkedIn: Connie Stapleton, PhD YouTube: Connie Stapleton

What I read is that rapid weight loss puts a lot of strain on your liver, and alcohol strains it even further, so the combination is just not a great idea. There's also the fast inebriation effect you mentioned, and the possibility of a transfer addiction. I think all three factors combined is why so many surgeons advise against alcohol, at least for awhile. Personally, I've just never given a hoot about drinking, so the extra empty calories and carbs for something I don't miss aren't worth it. I'd much rather have a mini Reeses pb cup! To each her own.....

Wine has lots of sugar alcohol so it can certainly cause you to dump.

I was told no sodas because it can cause erosion of the band. I just had a fill yesterday, now I am at 6cc in a 10cc band. So far so good, but then again I am only aloud liquiquids, so it's kinda hard to tell if the fill is working yet I guess. But I would def, stop the sodas and I was told alcohol can irritate the band for some people to. I am a wine drinker myself, but haven't had the nerve yet to have a glass since my surgery. Good luck to ya.

Hello! If you band had slipped then more than likely you would be in some serious pain! I have had to play a lot with my fills (Take 1cc out, add 1cc etc.) as of lately and it's just something that comes with the band. In the morning, you should try drinking a warm/hot beverage like green tea. It helps to relax the smooth muscle (your esophagus) and open you up a bit. I usually have about 2 in the morning and I find that it helps me. As far as the alcohol and carbonated beverages go, I already have Acid Reflux problems and both aggravate it. My suggestion would be to cut down on both. If that doesn't help, you band may just be too tight and you might have to have 1cc or 1/2cc taken out to fix the problem... hope this helped!

@@KM16 I cut out sugar, soda, alcohol, and was fairly decent at low carbing (I had portion control issues) and I still wasn't losing weight. I did this for 3 years before surgery. That told me that surgery was my only option since I had cut out all the things people said to stop doing and I still wasn't losing. I think if you aren't a miserable fat person, you don't really change a lot. The people that hated themselves and were really miserable fat with low self esteem and low self worth. They change a lot and not always for the best. Many seem to over correct and swing the other way too hard. I'm basically the same and at one year out my life is not really that different. I enjoy food. I enjoy eating out. I eat proper portion sizes. I enjoy the quality and presentation of food, not just having massive amounts of it. I was always a picky eater and now I am even pickier. When you eat small amounts it better be delicious. If you have a good handle on yourself pre-op, you will have an easier time post-op.

Guilty ! Lol that's me, just trying to get as much information as possible as I think of things. It's really not that big of a deal for me, I'm 99% of the time the DD and prefer to drink water because of the high calorie content of alcohol and it always puts me up a couple of pounds. The only time I would actually miss it would be on a vacation.

Great insights. May I also add that we don't realise how much sugar is in our diets pre surgery and our bodies are really used to using this as energy. Take this away and oh boy the body slump is real. The symptoms can be extreme like the withdrawal from alcohol. Shakes, headaches, tiredness, skin irritation. I was allowed coffee and tea, I would have been a mess with out it. I just toned down the strength of it post op so that it was a little kinder to my new stomach. Doing the pre op diet can be as hard as pre op. Be kind to yourself

I'm keeping my gastric bypass on the down low with coworkers. I seem to be getting unwanted attention about how little I'm eating and not drinking alcohol. Anybody have similar issues and have tips for diffusing comments.

That's how I received mine too. Well except the syringes were in those bubble packs like when they put individual pills on a sheet with a bubble around each. Never would have occurred to me that they should provide the alcohol wipes or whatever. I figured that was my job to provide. Theirs is just to provide the medicine.

Happy Friday! Today is my 4 Month Surgiversary. I have lost a total of 56 pounds, weighing in at 196, down from 252 pounds. I had no complications from surgery, and my recovery was ridiculously easy. I haven't gotten sick once, and have yet to eat something that my sleeve of steel doesn't tolerate. My doc had said that my sleeve was small, and was meant to hold 3 ounces. I can usually take in 4 or 5 ounces, which she says is fine and which I don't really understand, but I am trusting her on that). I run 2-3 miles, 4 times a week, try to follow a low-carb diet (not too strictly;I essentially just keep myself under 50g per day) of 1000 calories per day. I have a glass of red wine almost every night. I include this in my calorie count. If alcohol is considered a "cheat," then it is the only cheat I'm currently enjoying. I was required to quit a 30-year smoking habit several months before surgery and, to be honest, the pre and post op diets were an absolute cakewalk compared to giving up the cigarettes. But I'm nearly 8 months smoke free, and I'm thrilled to have gotten through the process unscathed. Although I've lost 56 pounds, I've been wearing the same pant size for the last 3 months; the waist on my size 18s still fit, but the legs, butt, hips are extremely saggy. I'm looking forward to getting into some more fitted size 16s, as I'm looking pretty sloppy at present. I feel great, and I look pretty darn great, too. I'm delighted I made the decision to have VSG. The results thus far have been wonderful!

I got that from my coworkers and in the beginning they all said they'd support me. One coworker even tempted me with chocolate. I asked her if I was an alcoholic would she tempt me with booze. Same concept in my book. Another coworker told me since I'm losing weight for surgery why spend all that money when "you can do it on your own" my thought was, hello dumbass, if I could do it on my own,why am I not doing it already. SMH. I have yet to tell my dad or my twin sister who by the way if half my size or smaller. Some days I can't win to lose. Some people are just dumb. Keep your head up.

A real friend would care about you and be considerate of your feelings. She would do whatever they could to help you on your way to good health, even if it meant finding new things to do for a while. Perhaps she may be having issues of her own you are unaware of? If you want to give your friendship a chance you could try being patient with her. Continue to invite her to do non-alcohol and food activities with you but don't give in and put yourself in a situation you don't want to be in. She may come around. Or maybe not. It's not the end of the world if you move on without her. Friendships evolve and change. People in our lives who we call friend come and go as we or they change, or as our circumstances and life experiences change. Friendships happen when we have a lot in common with another person. You are changing. Your life no longer revolves around food. Perhaps it's time to move on to new experiences with new people who share your new interests. Best of luck to you as you deal with this distressing aspect of your new life.

I trashed my pre-op diet 5 days prior to surgery due to a long standing business arrangement. I resisted all alcohol but I did enjoy a small fillet steak with spinach and grilled tomato on the side followed by good blue cheese and two crackers. 1400 calories by my best estimate. After my surgery 2 days ago my consultant commented on how well my pre-op had prepared my liver and so I smiled and agreed. Your mileage may vary...

My opinion is that mother is an idiot. She feels that all of the pre-testing is unnecessary, just put the band on her 12 year old daughter? IDIOT! She even said her daughter is a compulsive eater, yet she didn't want her to have a psyc evaluation because it was just more money to pay. WTF? It wouldn't surprise me if this young girl is unsuccessful with her band. I saw something the other day with people who had lost a lot of weight but didn't deal with the underlying emotional problems had turned to alcohol and/or drugs to replace the food addiction.

I really hope you'll make an appt with your Dr. The empty calories are bad for your nutrition and the alcohol is bad for your liver. Perhaps your Dr. could do an LFT test by bloodwork. It's a liver function test.

Obviously, there are lots of different answers for this according to the doctor. My doctor is OK with caffeine and carbonation as long as you are OK with it! He does recommends limiting sodas, alcohol, and other things with carbonation mainly because they're not usually the most healthy things to drink, but doesn't forbid them. I drink coffee just about every day, but don't drink sodas nearly as much as I used to--I often go weeks without as I don't have much of a taste for them anymore. If I do have one, I sip it--gulping can be a bit of a problem. Most of the alcoholic drinks I like don't have much or any carbonation, so that's not usually a problem.

Maybe you didn't intend for it to come off this way, but if that truly is how you feel then that's something to be concerned with. In all honesty you'll end up feeling the same way if you go and have a bypass done. You have to come to terms with what real hunger is versus head hunger. For years my routine was to get home, sit for a few minutes to rest from the work day, and get something to eat. Even now it doesn't matter if I eat right before I leave work and feel full. By the time I get home I feel hungry. Why? Because it's habit and my brain saying you need to eat. It's no different than old nicotine cravings I would get when I was a smoker. Habit was to always have a smoke right after a meal. Didn't matter if I smoked right before dinner. I obviously had my nicotine fix. But because the habit was to always have one as soon as a meal was finished I thought I was having nicotine cravings. This is a tool. It's not a cure. The mental side to having WLS is just as important as the physical changes from surgery. It's like the old saying/joke of trying not to think about something. If you tell yourself don't think about sex what do you do? Immediately start thinking about sex. If you find yourself constantly dwelling on thoughts of food then there are some addiction issues you need to come to terms with. I fight head hunger all the time as well. It's annoying, so I get it. The more I think about "okay I have to go 3 more hours until lunch so I can eat again" all I end up doing is thinking about the clock and how much longer I have until I can eat. I don't have an easy answer for you. Food me after surgery I tried to look at food as being something I just need to survive and not letting it control my life. I'm perfectly fine having chicken salad and regular salads for 80% of my meals in a week. We food addicts are like alcoholics. It's a battle we're always going to have. Just because you stop going to a bar doesn't mean it's suddenly easier to deal with alcohol dependency. It’s no different than food. Addiction is a b***h no matter what the addiction is.

I've come to realize almost every doctor and nutritionist has different guidelines. The main thing mine drove home was to get in at least 6 cups of water and 60-80 grams of protein a day, both are hard to do in the beginning. I was also encouraged to watch the amount of sugar or sugar alcohol in everything and make sure the grams of protein are about twice that amount. If in doubt, call your NUT, it's their job to help guide you through this.

It is with much regret that I announce that I have been a very bad boy. Over the last 8 or so days I have, what is commonly known here in the UK, been on a bender. That is not to say that I urinated on someone of a less than heterosexual persuasion, but I have overdone it on the booze. Every day I have frequented my old stomping ground, Froggies, and have drank myself to a stupor. The itch of needing to drink heavily came back with a vengeance and I scratched that itch very hard indeed. I now feel very bad and in need of a good hard slap. My excuses will be common place to those who have listened to the wretched before: I am unable to operate life alone; I need to drink in order to talk to people; I prefer looking at life through a bottom of a glass; I'm not drunk, I'm just sleepy - it must be my medication; pish offff...i'mmm fiiine...I ludge you soooo mush! I have always been a big drinker throughout my entire adult life (and some of my less than adult life) and it has always been part of my persona. People know me as either someone to avoid of a Friday evening or someone who to call when they want to entertain themselves with outlandish human behaviour from a stumbling silver back gorilla. Those that have remained friends with me to date all know it is me. What concerns me is that I thought that this behaviour would stop when I was banded. How very stupid of me. The last time I ventured forth, my concerns (and dare I say the concerns of some of my closer friends) turned into fear. I abused the band! As I stumbled from the dark and dingy pub behind Winchester railway station, named...The Railway, I felt a small pang of hunger. As I marched in my zig-zagging pattern through town my course veered sharply into the local kebab shop. All memories of my band were clearly washed with spirit laced fruit juiced away from my mind. I needed a kebab...because it was habitual. What a fool was I! I said goodbye to the friends I met in the take away with my usual mix of affection and bad breath and headed out into the night and my 40 minute coiling walk home. This usually takes 25 minutes in a straight line. Oh the kebab was going to be a treat - I mean it looked so horrible. I wasn't hungry. But it was a habit that needed satisfying. I managed to wipe out half of it before the feeling most lap banders have experienced in the early days of their new life. The iron fist. My eagerness to completely ignore my lack of hunger and need to fulfil the habit made me swallow each of the few mouthfuls pretty much whole. And they all got stuck. It's not a nice feeling to walk through a cathedral city as lovely as Winchester, clutching onto your chest and trailing a slight vomit path behind you - especially when it is caused by eating like a moron after a major procedure like the gastric band. If I was seen by anyone, they would have caused an ambulance or the police. I was pretty sober after 5 minutes of retching as adrenaline watered down all alcohol in my system and a lovely feeling of drunkenness was replace with terror that I was breaking the band with foolishness. For those who have yet to experience the fist of fury and its associated side effect of clenched regurgitation, I will briefly expand on it - stop reading if you feel this isn't your kind of thing. The feeling is almost indescribable - not because of the pain, but because I had never felt it before the operation. It is quite uncomfortable, but I would say it is very far from pain. All I can imagine it is like is the sensation of swallowing a large unchewed bit of tough steak and having it get stuck. Usually (unless you are very unlucky) this stuck feeling disappears quite rapidly to unbanded "users" of food as your stomach and esophagus muscles do their stuff and pull it down or help you cough it up. However, with the band, it's not so straight forward. The peristaltic waves that would have carried the food up or down are pretty much useless in the area where the blockage is. Your band slows natures effectiveness dramatically. As you do start to "flush" (the body is such an amazing piece of work in danger situations) things happen slightly differently than you have been used to also. Whereas the body was once able to rapidly expel all danger in a few swift waves of disgustig material, you are now only able to expel unacidic spittle and recently eaten food. As an experience, it is far more time consuming and very much more uncomfortable - but infinitely more tasty! No bile whatsoever. So, swings and roundabouts there I guess. So - I woke up in the morning with a huge feel of embarrassment and stupidity. I was able to feel the band was doing its job and that my fears of internal rupture had been unfounded, but I was also left very aware that the risk of damaging the placement and reducing its effectiveness are far too high for me to risk doing that again. Having done so well to date, I am really quite unsure as to why I when on my drinking binge. Perhaps it was the confidence issues I spoke about last time. Perhaps I am finding that with an obese man's confidence, being chatted to as an almost normal sized man needs a hell of a lot more Dutch courage. Realistically, I think I was feeling very low and went for the easiest "happy maker". Whatever the reason is, it must stop - I can't afford to do that again. The lap band has been a god send to my will power with food, but it is only that. An aid to beat an addiction with the munchies. It does not cure your hang ups, it does not rid you of any other kind of substance abuse and it certainly does not give you any more common sense than you had before the operation. I'm putting this one down to a learning experience and hope that the lessons taken away from it are taken heed of by my over-complicated mind. Needless to say - weight loss for that week was a non-starter. Originally posted at: Lap Band Blog