Search the Community

I am on day 3 of a 10 day liquid diet (carnation, etc) and I have a raging headache. I NEVER get headaches. Has anyone else had this and what to do to relieve the pain? I don't want to take too much Tylenol but if thats all I can do. HELP!!! ANY suggestions appreciated!

So you've lost 29 lbs with NO fill ?!?! That's really great !! When do u get ur 1st fill.? Why would u be thinking about bypass when u haven't really adjusted to the band.? I think u should celebrate ur 29 lb victory ! If ur weight loss has stopped try going for the fill.I'm sure u will continue to lose.I'm losing about a pound a week at this point ( 10 weeks) and I'm good with it

Hi everyone. I am 9 days post-op, had the band placed on 11/16/10. Overall doing fairly well meeting Protein requirements, but I think I have been drinking my Protein drinks too fast. I feel full and have really bad chest pains. I actually went to the ER a few days ago because I thought something was wrong. Several hours and multiple tests later to rule out blood clots, the Dr said it was probably gas. I have taken pain meds, used a heating pad and tried walking. Any other suggestions to relieve the pain? [

My Dr. and many others in the whole program says that you have to take 20-30mins to eat. Now, I never have been a fast eater, nor do I ever inhale my food. Even when I put my fork down and chew my foods 15-20 times each bite and my bites are small, it still doesn't take me 20mins to eat. It takes maybe 10-15 mins for the small amount of food that my dietitian says that I need to eat. Now I haven't even had the lap band yet and it makes me wonder with how lil' I eat now and its takes 10-15 mins to eat, its not going to take me 30 mins to eat even less no matter how well I chew my food?! So I am wondering, for the peeps that have had the lap band, whether you are on solid foods or not, how long does it take you to eat?:thumbup:

According to Albany Med website he does require 10%. Since I am borderline with my bmi (38-39) and weight at 216 at my pcp appointment. I was unsure if I lose weight that puts my bmi lower if I would be turned down. Maybe I'll call them today and ask. Since I would have to lose about 20 lbs, it would give me more time to lose that amount before the surgeon appointment. thanks Deb

I'm on solid foods. I have excellent restriction right now. It takes me 20-30 minutes, and I push more towards 30 mins. I also limit the food on my plate to 1/2 cup'ish, depending on what it is. It takes me about 10 mins to eat an egg in the morning. The reason is that it takes about 20 mins for your stomach (and your Lapband pouch) to tell your brain that it is full. The couple of times that I wasn't paying attention and didn't chew as much as I should have caused me a great deal of pain. Once you reach restriction, you will know the reason why it takes more time to eat. Too fast can be very painful. My advice, go slow and know your limits. Good luck! Cherlita banded 11.27.07 Wgt loss: 44 lbs

My doctor said no gum for one year post surgery due to the fact that you could swallow it and the fact when you chew gum it gets the juices going in your stomach. I too had trouble with protein shakes, just had my surgery 10/14/09. Someone suggested adding some peanut butter especially with the vanilla powder, just blend and it was pretty tasty. They also sell protein shots: Profect, there are 25 g of protein in each shot. You can drink it straight or add to water and crystal light. They are a little expensive about $2.50 a piece but you get a good amount of protein.They sell them at GNC and some Walmart's.

Hi LisaS73- I actually gained weight during my supervised WL appointments. I was told to start off with 1 shake then work my way up to 2 so I could prepare my body for the pre-op diet which is 3 shakes for 14 days (once it is approved by my insurance). It was very frustrating because on my last appointment, the doctor did not submit until I lost some weight. I was really upset because I thought I was doing everything right. It turns out that I wasn't eating enough calories. I was working out hard by doing cardio and strength training 6 days a week and the calories that I was taking in wasn't enough to burn fat. I was taking in 800 calories then I jumped to 1100 and that seemed to work for me. One thing that I have realized is everyone's body is so different. What works for one, may not necessarily work for others. I talked to the doctor and the Nutritionist and they gave me some helpful hints. The doctor gave me 2 weeks to show some sort of progress and when I went to weigh in I lost 10 pounds. So... He submitted my info. I know it can be frustrating, but keep trying and don't give up. Make sure you get your NUT and doc involved if you need new ideas. Counting calories and staying hydrated is important as well. Keep your eye on the prize. Good luck????

I would be inclined to keep things on the lower end of your range. I did fine at 1100 avg. but that fit my metabolism well. I started about 50 lb lower than you are now, so I only had about 100lb to lose, and was near done at six months (was actually trying to slow things down at that point, and stretch out that last 10 lb loss to avoid excessive overshoot.) Our loss rate tends to decline as we lose, simply because there is less of us to move around all day long - it takes fewer calories to move 300 lb than it does 400 lb, etc.) So, while your loss rate is pretty good now, you still have another 100-150 lb (?) to go, and it is easy to let the intake increase over time as we get used to things (you can likely eat more at a sitting now than three months ago, and that will continue slowly over time) I currently maintain at in the 2000-2200 calorie range. As you have a similar loss rate to what I had, this implies that currently you would likewise maintain in the same range; however, with further loss, your maintenance level will likely be lower, , maybe 500 calories or so lower - all very rough estimates here. But this indicates that you probably shouldn't go any higher than your current 1100 if you want to get down to a normal-ish weight range, and preferably cut it back a bit and go closer to the 800 end of your range. Good luck in your continued success....

Hi All, I will be one week post op tomorrow and my shoulders are Killing me!!! I have been drinking water, using hot packs but nothing os working.... any tips??? TIA! ????

Try sublingual B12. That will help. And enhanced electrolyte water with minerals. I had low energy for about a month and still occasionally do...I'm 10 wks out. Good luck. It will get better.

i am 19 and had it 3 weeks ago i was 71kgs and my height was 4'8 so its much considering my weight im down to 63kgs!! 3 more to be in the 50s finally!

Had my surgery Dec 4th and I'm only down 10 lbs and I don't know guess I'm just having one of the days where I am second guessing myself ! My husband is off on vacation and in the past we would go eat and do things and now everything has changed ! I feel like I practically eat the same things day in day out and well you get the point ..... Please tell me it gets better !!!

big drops, when they occur, are usually just the first month. You're lucky you had one - drops of 30+ lbs the first month happen, but they're not all that common. Most people seem to lose in the 15-25 lb range the first month. After that, 10-12 lbs a month is pretty normal. You're not going to see another 30+ lb drop. But just stick with it. I lost 16 lbs my first month and 10-12 lbs a month for the next six months or so (and it dropped off even more at about the 6-7 month mark), but I still lost over 200 lbs. Just stick to your program, and it will come off.

Favorite, first three months they didn't really fill it at all because they thought that it was a small band and I had the large and so being my only experience it was a bit confusing to me. Then I got a fill from the surgeon and it seemed fairly tight and I got to know what it was like to eat the Protein and vomit if it wasn't chewed enough or if I didn't eat slow enough. Then went back for another fill because I was still gaining weight and then two weeks later got another fill and was mistaken given more than they had thought and was vomiting my own saliva for 10 hours until I met a surgeon on call to get two cc's removed. Now I'm at 4 ccs and can feel full and will walk on the treadmill but am still not losing weight and it's been 8 months and I don't know how many more adjustments I need or months I need to wait to get it right. I may never get it right but I still haven't given up completely yet but would still like to know my options, thanks brandyII.

Hmmm.. Let's see.. Friday night ritual used to be.. Come home from work and have a beer or 3 or 4.. Go down the street to the pizza joint where we'd order apps and a main.. I'd eat a few fried raviolis, couple jalapeno poppers, 5 or 6 wings and if the main were pizza, would eat 3 or 4 slices or regular crust stuff. Let's not forget the bucket of beers at dinner (4 miller lites for me, 2 blue moon for the wife).. Then I'd come home and have 8 or 10 more beers before strapping on the leftover feedbag before hitting the sack.

I am so happy that everything went well! Congratulations on the band! I will be joining ya in 19 days!

Well I am shooting for 135-140, don't know if that is realistic, but I can try and if I don't make it then, that is fine too. I just want to fit nicely in a size 9/10, I'm wearing 12 right now and weighing 159, so just maybe I can get to my goal.. My tt is scheduled for end of June and I'm also getting liposuction on my upper and lower back, inner and outer thighs and arms, so my goal is pretty realistic for me now. If I can weigh 150 by end of June, then maybe, the tt and lipo can get me to goal. So cheer me on....

Hi, all.. I've had several inquiries and got lazy about answering them, so I hope you don't mind my making a lengthy Sue-Post. (Okay, not lazy, loaded, Vicodin...just let me say that you NEVER want to hear the phrases "urethral stenosis" and "urethral dilation" coming out of your urologist's mouth.) For the innocent...My band surgery was October 15th, 2002, in Monterrey, Mexico, with Roberto Rumbaut Diaz, a band pioneer surgeon and a band patient and a really nice, down-to-earth guy. Prior to banding, I went from my all time high of a BMI 52+ to about a BMI of 48 on the day of surgery. For the first several months, I did okay. I recall that for my mom's 80th birthday, I finally hit a BMI of under 40...I was not morbidly obese! But shortly thereafter, I started dealing with reflux. I had to sleep sitting up. I took various drugs, but they merely lessened the problem. One day, I was having Breakfast with my cousin (an RN) and her husband (an MD) and was able to eat only about two tablespoons of oatmeal at 10:30 a.m. and realized that THEY were looking at someone with a bizarre eating program...maybe an eating disorder. I hopped on a train (I just happened to get to the station seven minutes before departure) and went to Tijuana and had Dr. Kuri unfill me. My reflux immediately resolved. And my weight loss began to resolve. So I eventually went in for mini-adjustments. I had unfills for my panniculectomy surgery and for my breast reduction surgery. In between, I had small re-fills. In two or so years, I had a dozen adjustments. But then I started to feel like my food was bouncing around in my esophagus. It would happen once in a while, and then more often. Not every time, and not just after I had eaten too much. Sometimes, I'd be having a cup of coffee before dinner and the coffee would bounce around. Other times, it would be Water. One day, I could eat a considerable amount of foods. The next day, one stupid bite of oven baked fish, and that was all I could eat. Well...after you do that for a while, you tend to get a little nuts. Especially when well-meaning people start telling you you just have to "work your tool." And when a doctor who doesn't have a band wants you to go to a support group meeting so that you can hear other successful banded people telling you they ALL go through that, with every meal. (Yeah, right.) I finally got to the point that most of what I was eating was Soup and ice cream. Because it would usually go down. I decided that, since I was within ten pounds of my pre-op weight, I wanted to consider the DS. I had an upper GI done. My esophagus is widened. In doctor talk, it's "esophageal dilatation." I went to Dr. Ara Keshshian in Delano, California and told him my story. He said, "Are you expecting me to look surprised? This is NOT the first time I've heard this story." He told me that I needed to have my band emptied...but that he didn't have the needles because he didn't DO bands. So I went to Tijuana and saw dr. verboonen, as he was available right away. He, his partner, the lab tech and my husband watched as I drank the barium and it just sat there in my esophagus. Didn't move. When stuff that isn't blocked just sits, the additional diagnosis is "esophageal dysmotility," in other words, the esophagus is NOT moving the food toward the stomach. (Ignore doctors who tell you that EVERYONE does this.) So, I'm scheduled for an endoscopy, to make sure that I'm not dealing with erosion as well. If that checks out, I'll be having the band removed and DS surgery within the next month or two. So...wisdom? I learned when checking with European surgeons that band removal is a booming business there. One surgeon said that 20% of his practice is revising bands to Rny or DS. (Remember, bands have been there longer, so more people have had more time to encounter problems.) That doesn't mean I think they are a bad thing. I just think that the band is good for whomever it's good for...but that certainly is not everyone. In fact, my insurance began covering the band after I self-paid, but is no longer covering it for people with BMI's in excess of 49...because they lose the same percentage of excess weight which leaves them still MO. And older people have more problems. I was 55. Esophageal dysmotility or "dysperistalsis" is more frequent in older people. Adding the band may just make the problem appear sooner and with more vigor. Not here, but at another site where it is mostly newer people, the band-enthusiasm is not tempered by experience or reason. Here, there are old timers who have been through problems. For many, the band is the answer. For many others, it is not. I am one of the latter. Thanks for your time, Sue

Hi. First of all -good luck to you. I do not travel as much as you do, but I did have two back to back business trips about 10 days post-op. I tried to have as much soup as possible (technically, I was supposed to be on mushies during my first trip). I was not a fish eater pre-op, but I am now! I tried to order fish whenever possible. For sides, mashed or baked potato (no skin). I did just fine. I also found a small portable battery operated drink mixer. I packed it in my suitcase along with Opti-fast powder and Unjury single serve packets. I transfer the shakes to a throw away water bottle and sipped during the day. If anyone asked, I just said it was a protein shake. Very few questions. Hope this helps.

I went to TJ to Dr. Ortiz and they were great. I went alone. Yes, it was great. However, I did have a bit of a problem. I woke up with hiccups and my band slipped due to this unfortunate event. I could not swallow much liquid at a time. I mean, no more than about a half cup per hour of liquid or it would come up. So, I had to stay and get a second surgery...........and they took great care of me. They charged me nothing for another surgery another two days and nights in the hospital then, another night in the hotel and did not charge me an extra dime!!!!! Tell me a U.S. doctor that would do that. Dr. Martinez came out the night before my second surgery to check on me around 10:00 at night. I can not imagine being in better hands. God bless you all...........Wild.

The day of my surgery the only thing that was a hassle (esp for my family waiting at the hospital) was that my doctor called to move up my surgery by an hour. Something must have happened in an earlier surgery because my surgery was about 4 hour late. I was told I would be given a relaxation shot prior to surgery. Only problem was they would not give me the shot until I met with the surgeon. So I lay in the preop area for 4 hours stressing out with my mother sitting there. By that point I was now pretty hungry since I had'nt eaten since the day before. Post surgery I did really well. My doctor does not do catheters so I was up every 30 minutes going to the bathroom. If at all possible I would try to exit the hospital bed from the side opposite of where your port is located. I was on pain meds only overnight and the next morning it was hurting to get up to use the bathroom. But I would say even on no med/tylenol it was about a 3 on a scale of 1-10. I had no pain sitting or once laying down; and no pain after standing. I also had no gas pain. My first couple nights after the surgery I was up several times in the night to use the bathroom. I was after all on a liquid diet. Friday - First day home took naps on the couch. Saturday- Rested in morning, afternoon went to several stores short walks (my mother drove) Sunday Drove with my mother to her house for the day (1.5 hours each way) Rested Went outside visited with family Mon.- Back to the gym! Treadmill about 40 minutes no incline. There are a lot of stories of people who had pain so that was stressing me out. I am allergic to morphine, codein, etc so I am unable to take commonly used perscription pain killers. I don't know if I was just lucky or have a high pain tolerance but the surgery pain was really not bad. I have a back problem that when it goes out is 100 times more painful than my incisions were.

Jessica, it all depends on your doctor. Mine has me on a 10 liquid diet, where I can only have protein drinks like premier, broth, water. Yours has you on a three day so I don't know. Who is your Doctor?

* Weigh & measure all meals eaten at home (3oz Protein, 1/2 cup veggies). * wait 20 minutes after eating.. if still hungry, I can have another serving veggies.. provided no sauce, cheese, etc. * Only 3 meals a day...unless awake an extended period of time, then may have a 4th meal. * High protein, low cal Snacks only if truly hungry between meals. Drink Water first to see if thirst is masquerading as hunger. * drink 20 oz of water immediately before meals, and nothing during or after meals.. at least for 30 min., preferably for an hour. * exercise 5 or 6 days a week, minimum of 90 minutes. (when I started it was only walking..as I get more in shape, I increase the intensity of the exercise). * As little processed foods as possible. * no rice, no bread, no Pasta, no potatoes, very little corn. * Lean meats (I strive for 90/10.. 85/15 is the highest fat I will buy). Not all ground turkey is lean.. surprise! * Avoid HFCS like the plague (high fructose corn syrup).. read labels, it's in everything! * No fried foods. Oven fried is allowed though. * minimum of 64 oz of water a day. Most days I'm at 80 or above. *journal my food intake *attend support group (online or in person or both) *try to keep trigger foods out of the house, or at least out of sight (have a cabinet for my DS's and DH's treats). There might be more, but this is all I can think of right now.

Hi, I writing on behalf of my 19 year old daughter. She is too embarrassed to get on these forums.:thumbup: She was banded in April 2008 and has only lost like 19 pounds. She is struggling all the way around. After all this time we are wondering again if she could need a fill. She said she feels like she has no restriction. I think she's at 8.5 cc now. She dropped the 19 within the first couple months but then its been up and down, fills and unfills. She's started on this crazy stuff again like she did before surgery of buying diet pills and even started ordering Nutrisystem. I told her to stop. Are there any girls around that age of here that would be interested in chatting with her etc via email?:laugh: