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Mkay I suppose this is a good place to track my experiences and maybe look back on them at some point? I am one week post op and I am feeling better than expected. I have a lot of gassy stomach discomfort, but continue to follow the liquid diet as instructed. I get to have full liquids tomorrow which I am quite excited about! (yay) Surprisingly I am not starving like I thought I would be, but it may be because I am so bloated. I am constantly drinking something and I have this "Belly Gas." So far this week alone I have lost 9.3 lbs! I do realize that is because I am not eating any real food, but I will take the victory anyway. I still have some discomfort and continue to take my pain medication - though stretching out the times I take it. I also use a heating pad on my stomach which is very soothing. I am excited to move on with this journey and hope I keep the strength and determination to do what I am supposed to do. I would love to be at a comfortable place (weight-wise) by October when I go on a cruise. Haha! I know it is one day at a time, but it is still a nice thought Will try to remember to update this blog next week... to update on my weekly progress/thoughts.

Hi, I am 5 weeks post surgery and I am starting to worry that I made a mistake getting banded. I have lost 18.5 pounds only because of the liquid diet post surgery and being on liquids three days after my first fill. I am not scheduled for another fill for another three weeks. I have been watching my carbs and cannot seem to lose anything. In fact I have gained a pound and a half in the last week. I have been on low carb diets and had some success at losing some weight. I am doing what I used to do with no results. Until I get to a sweet spot on my band I guess I will have to diet just to stay where I am. I do not feel any restriction yet so I wonder if I should walk in and ask for a fill or am I being too anxious. I also understand banding is not a magic cure so I am not expecting miracles but so far I am disappointed. Any advice??? Thanks for letting me vent.

Hello there, I was just sleeved on 5/25 I found the pain to be very minimal, still a bit sore on my stomach area but I was off pain killers after four days and back to work in a week. Just make sure you arm yourself with some good anti.acid medicine...BURRRRRRRNNNNNING like I've never felt before.

You will be fine! Yes it will probably hurt, you may have nausea, gas, and you may be sore. My mom said my first waking word was "it hurts" and my nausea was terrible. I maxed out on zophran and phenergan, plus i had the patch behind my ear. My dr wanted me up walking within 2 hours of being in my room. I did NOT want to! But I was coaxed out of bed to walk. Held the railing with one hand and the nurse had my arm on the other side. I continuously fell asleep trying to walk. Mom would pat me in the face and say wake up and walk. My mom had total hip replacement 5 weeks prior to my surgery and she will tell you I took care of her for the 4 weeks she was unable to get up and down etc. and stayed in the hospital with her for the 5 days post op. She says I told her while she was patting my face waking me up that I said "I wasn't this mean to you!" It is uncomfortable, and sometimes pure misery. I am now 6 weeks out and sometimes feel like a baby trying to learn how to eat, but would I do it over again if I had known how miserable it would be? Absulutly 150%!!! I feel like I have my life back! I feel better than I have in years!!!!

I just had labs done with my PCP about a month or so ago for something unrelated. It was kind if spur of the moment, so I wasn't fasting so blood sugar was a little high and hormones were a little out if whack but otherwise they were good. I wasn't experiencing the frequency of dizziness so I didn't even bring it up to her. Although I think I had "white coat syndrome" in the doctors office causing a higher blood pressure reading, I checked it in a grocery store a couple weeks ago and it was very low....so I'm thinking that could be it. @@bikrchk I will take your advice and try the Gatorade and see how that works! Otherwise it's back to the doctor for me!

Hello, I want to introduce myself, this is my first post, but I've been reading this site for over 2 months and have learned a lot of things. I got sleeved on July 19th, so I'm almost 3 weeks out. I've lost 28lbs so far, but I've notice this week that I've only lost 1lb. Everyday is getting a little easier as far as energy goes, but I still can't seem to figure out my new tummy. I am on mushy/soft food stage but it seems that everytime after I finish eating, i have a uncomfortable feeling on the top of my esophagus, like the food is just sitting there. It takes about 30-45 mins to go away. I don't think I'm over eating but now I think maybe I am. It doesn't hurt if I take like 3 bites, but I've tried that only thing is that I feel hungry within an hour, so I try to get in more, It takes me about 30 mins to get in like 8 bites. Anyone else experience this? what do you recommend? That's the only complaint I have other than that everything is going good. Well I'm looking forward for the months to and years to come so all this weight could come off and I can enjoy life again, and be of some help to other new sleevers. Thanks Hilsia

carasue, If you don't lose any weight for at least a 2 week period and if you feel like you can still eat too much, then you probably need another fill. Please try to not drink while eating, I think you'll notice a huge change if you can do that. You're just flushing the food through your band if you drink while you eat. You'll notice your restriction level will be better if you can hold off on drinking for an hour after you eat. If you have tried not drinking with meals, how is it going?

Carasue, Every doctor has different ways that they do their adjustments/fills. I only got a fill if I stopped losing weight for more than 2 weeks and I felt that I could eat more. That more than likely is an indication that as I lost weight, my stomach also shrunk a little therefore making the band lose around my stomach. I wasn't on a set schedule. I only got a fill when I needed one. I haven't had a fill in over 2 years now. It sounds like your doctor may be fairly conservative with your fill amounts if you're getting one every 6 weeks. Do you feel like you have adequate restriction?

I went for my one week postop visit today. I am acting exactly like a sleeve patient being miserable the first week or so. He wasn't happy at how weak I was and told me to drink fruit juice or yogurt smoothie to get sugar into me. He was surprised I was able to drink a protein drink. He said I looked a lot better compared to the hospital. The reason for not being able to take deep breaths is because he had to cut the muscle a little bit deeper where the port was to get the band out, very little scar tissue and bruised like you know what! He said I could start blended food for a week then try soft foods and see how it goes. I really liked him. I gave him hell and he laughed. Plus another week off of work! Good. I've had a hard time with this. Ask me anything.

I've never heard of anyone passing out, but I guess it could be as much anxiety as anything and maybe you vagaled. As for why you can't eat is because with a fill you usually have a little swelling around the band and you don't want to stress the band site. You do liquids to rest the band. alot of times people say they don't feel the fill for a few weeks. How long are you staying full after you eat and are you sure its hunger and not head hunger. I'm a grazer and have to pay very close attention to this as usually, its not really hunger though it presents itself that way. Also, the idea isn't to feel full but to feel satisified. We train ourselves all of our lives to fill up as much as we can and most of the times we miss the signals that our body sends to say we've had enough.

There was a girl in my group who was in the same boat. They postponed her and made her redo the nutritional part of the program before continuing. The doctors are all different, I would recommend doing your best to get the weight off, an extra exercise a week and a steady date. Also, unless the surgeon specifically told you to stop taking re medication I would go back on it.

Last Fill I had was 2cc and I actually had them take out 1cc because of how tight I felt. That was 4 weeks ago. I was doing just fine and then on July 4th I couldn't keep solids down. I was on liquids for several days. I started to feel better but then all this started. This week has been the hardest week since I originally had surgery in May of 2010. Why now I have no clue? My second Surg was in April and I had a lot of swelling and inflamation. I'm more concerned with how much it hurts when I swollow

I too was having low blood pressure readings (90 / 55 or 95 / 60). After several days of this and feeling like something the cat drug in, I went to my doc. She pulled me off an additonal 25% of my pre surgery BP meds (she had already cut my dosage in half)- I am now on 1 tiny BP pill a day. This week, I notice my BP is getting lower again when I take my readings. I am looking forward to being BP medication free. All of the comments about increasing fluids, increasing your salt intake slightly and being careful when you change positions quickly are good to follow. Your BP and your heart rate will drop as your fitness levels increase. I knew an Olympic athlete who's resting heart rate was 40 something. Sounds like you are not only rocking your sleeve - but becoming a buff gym rat! Way to go!

I sometimes have acid reflux problems when I am either a) too tight or eating too much junk food. My mom is a GI nurse, so she gave me some good advice. Stay away from spicy foods, fried and fatty foods, chocolate (Chocolate is the DEVIL for me and many people with acid reflux!). Stop eating at least 2 hours before you go to bed. Take an over the counter med like Prilosec or Prevacid and see if that helps (it usually does the job for me when I have a flare up, and I only have to take it for a week or so). And her number one recommendation is to elevate the head of your bead. You can get blocks at Wal-mart that will raise your bed 6 inches. It feels weird for a few days, but it makes a HUGE difference! When you sleep, liquids tend to back up and will cause more reflux. When the head of your bed is raised gravity takes its course and keeps the acid from coming back up. This will help with your choking problem too (which I also get sometimes, mostly when I drink liquids too close to bed time). I know it sounds really silly, but trust me...raising the head of your bed is the FIRST thing you should do, and the first thing my mom tells all her patients to do. It will save you a lot of agony and money!

So I hit 1 year post op last month. Here is my story. Right before my 30th birthday I decided that enough was enough. I had been on the waiting list with my ex-husbands insurance for gastric bypass, then we divorced and I lost my spot anyway. I had lost aprox. 60 pounds on my own after the divorce through lifestyle changes, mainly cutting soda (a huge addiction to me at the time) and being more active, these small changes helped a lot because of the extreme sedentary life I lived during my stint as a house wife (with no kids). After losing the 60 pounds I got down to about 215 but jumped back up to 235 pretty quick. My ideal weight -I thought- was about 200 maybe 195 and I knew that I couldn't drop any more weight on my own, after all the 60 was tough, and I gained half of it back. I knew that I had to figure out how to get surgery. The reason I was on a waiting list to begin with is because I am young, with no health problems other than my weight and the insurance I had only approved 40+bmi with no comorbidities. I was always around 38 or 39 bmi. So I had it! I started looking and found surgery options in Mexico for around $4500-$6000. Mind you I was a 29 year old college student with a $12/hour job, newly divorced, living with my mother because I had nothing to my name. So November 2012 I decided I would save the money and do it! I got my income tax for around $2000 and worked 50 hours a week at my regular job and got a part time graveyard $8/hour security job in a bad neighborhood in a shopping center (I guarded a parking lot in the dark!). It was all worth it! I finally found a Dr. (Juan Garcia) and a US company to book everything through (Ready4AChange) and booked my trip! The total cost of everything including my airfare was almost exactly $5000. April 15th. I made it to Mexico. Flew into San Diego and the driver picked me up from the airport (even took me to walmart) then took me across the border to Tijuana and to the Marriott. It was a very nice hotel. I met 3 other people who were with the same company having surgery with me the next day (there were 5 or 6 of us total).We bonded ate dinner that night together and all rode together to the hospital in the morning. Even though there were a few of us, we all got wonderful treatment like we were the only patients. Only the 5 of us were in the wing our rooms were on and we all knew what rooms we were in incase we felt up to talking after surgery. We were in the hospital for 3 days and I don't really remember much except the last day. They keep you very nicely doped up so the pain is totally manageable and give you everything you need right away so you can just doze all day! Day 3 in the hospital we were all up and walking and I bugged the nurses enough that they let us take out IVs outside to the patio and get some sunshine We went back to the hotel on Day 4, I think. Stayed in the hotel with room service bringing all the broth and popsicles we wanted. The Dr came the next day to the hotel and tended our dressings and answered any last questions we had before leaving. After 5 days we got driven back to the airport at the time we needed to get to our flights and went home. It all happened with out a hitch, for the most part. The surgery was wonderful. I wasn't nervous or hesitant at all. The Drs and nurses were amazed I was alone, after all I was a 20-something woman all alone in another country about to have life changing surgery! My support group was intact at home, but I wanted to do it alone. So now its been 1 year. I still throw up 2-3 times a week because I don't know when to stop eating, and I get chest pains almost every meal. I am glad that I have these bad side effects because I eat too much and need to learn!! If I am good then they don't happen, so they are my fault totally. I have lost 87 pounds since surgery and a total of 130 pounds from my heaviest weight. I wear a size 5 pants now and work out a few times a week (could be more, but I am working on that). My eating habits are SO GOOD now compared to what they were and I love to cook now. I try to eat fish three times a week, tuna for lunch one day, salmon for dinner, and another fish for dinner. I also try to have one night of chicken for dinner every week. I try to eat out only 1-2 times per week. I am getting scared because I think for the first time I have gained weight since surgery, I think I have gained a couple pounds while I was sick for the last couple months (hurt leg then broken tooth ouch!) and didn't work out. I can eat a lot more now that I think I should and I think after finals are over next week I will go on a liquid diet for a few days to try to shrink my tummy back down. I can eat more of certain things and then when I eat dense, protein rich foods (like chicken and tuna) I get full really fast! Last night I ate a whole bagel with cream cheese, then about an hour (maybe 1.5 hours) later I ate ANOTHER ONE! I had micro vomits after and even threw up in my sleep (still trying to control the acid reflux). So my only issues one year out is that I feel like my stomach is stretching, I have severe acid reflux (that can be controlled if I remembered to take a darn pill), and I very badly need a tummy tuck! I would do this all over again in a heart beat. I feel so much more alive and vital and HAPPY since my surgery, and I was not depressed nor did I have low self esteem or problems having fun before, but this is like more than I can describe a million times better way to live than how I was before. I feel so bad for people who think they cant afford it, or are too scared to try the surgery. Living 100 lighter makes life easier! Everything is cheaper, clothes, groceries, eating out. Everything is easier, taking the stairs in a parking garage or at the library is done with out a thought (except that I don't want to wait for the slow elevator), I don't worry about things I sit or stand on will break, I want to go on roller coasters at parks. I want everyone who ever lived a day as "morbidly obese" to live one day in my shoes and realize that for $5000 (I have seen less these days too!) your life can be so different. I was in a size 24, now I am in a size 5. If I got a tummy tuck I could probably be in a 3, and I could wear a bikini (I have lots of skin on my lower abdomen that keeps me from wearing one now). The money might seem like a big hurdle, it took me almost 6 months to save and I got almost half in income tax. But it was worth the extra work, every day. Its worth it to do anything you can to save that money! BTW, it took me almost 9 months after the surgery to get out of debt that the surgery put me in....but again...TOTALLY WORTH ALL OF IT!! I think that is my total story, sorry for the long winded-ness. I have never told it all on a forum and thought that maybe I should add to the information out there, after all I met one of my dearest and best friends on a bariatric surgery site, found out about my surgeon, and found all my confidence and information on a site like this one

I'm 6 weeks post op and have just started eating some soft meats. This is making me very sick and I've even experienced the dumping syndrome. Has anyone had this problem with meats? Any suggestions?

I have only told my husband and one friend about my surgery. I am now 2 weeks post op and someone from work has invited me out to lunch. How do you handle this? What do you say?

I had the band a week ago, and so far I've lost 41 pounds in a month including the pre op diet. On this site, I'm seeing all these horror stories of people who need revisions, and that most people don't get the band anymore. My doctors talked me out of the other surgeries, because I'm very young (24) and am realtime lay healthy, which by their admission is extremely rare in someone my size. (praise be to G-d!) I would like to know if anyone here has had the band for a long time and hasn't had a horror story. I'd like to be reassured. Thanks!!

I'm sort of in the middle, I was a normal/little overweight up until 25, i'm 32 now, and morbidly obese, (i'm pre op but only one week to go!) So while it's only been 7 years for me i don't remember what it was like to be 'normal sized at all'. Mentally I've been fat all my life, i remember being self conscious at age 5 about how fat my legs were, so to myself I've always been fat, i'm a self fulfilling prophecy I guess. I look back at pics from my early twenties and think ugh! there was nothing wrong with you you looked great! - yet i didn't see it at the time. So I have no memory of being normal sized only photographs that I can look back on and realise what i didn't see then.

First off take a deep breath and realize on the internet you can't always believe everything you read. Part of the issue with message boards and internet sites is many of the people who report are those with complications. I understand fear and regret, I had some myself but this is literally the best choice I've ever made. I've been overweight since I was 12, morbidly obese most my adult life and now for the first time in years I have my freedom back. I had the sleeve 12/30/16. I've had no issues with my surgery and my recovery was smooth and as easy as to be expected after major surgery. My physical pain lasted about 2 weeks with minor aches lasting about a month. I returned to work at the 2 week mark and other than being tired, I had no issues going back to work. The worst part for me was the gas pain, which you can help minimize with gas meds and walking as well as pain where my drain was but that was removed on Day 2 post op. I also has nausea on Day 1 but that is a side effect of anesthesia for me and had it after every surgery I've had. I was allowed to begin sipping about 24 hours after surgery and had no issues taking small sips. I had no swallowing issues, no pain with swallowing and have yet to have an issue eating or drinking as I move through the stages. I did have some minor heartburn early on and was prescribed Protonix once a day for 3 months. I no longer have had any issues in terms of heartburn. It's was a minor issue for me and taking a pill once a day didn't effect my life negatively or set me back. To this day, I've been able to eat almost everything I did pre surgery (though I chose to avoid unhealthy foods). I've also been able to tolerate straws, caffeine and carbonation with no issues. I also enjoy going out to eat on a regular basis with my friends and family. I've lost 101 pounds so far and wouldn't change a single thing. I had no co-morbidities but it would have only been a manner of time as I was at the highest weight of my life. My lab work (blood sugar on the climb, cholesterol was high, thyroid was off) was not great the last time I had a physical and my body ached. Now I'm in perfect health, just had my yearly physical and I was 100 pounds down since last year, my lab work was perfect and I feel 10 years younger. As for sleeve effectiveness, I have not heard that it's not recommended for weightloss. In fact at my clinic it's replaced all over forms of weightloss surgery in popularity. I have people in my local support group who are 3-5 years out and have success still.

Oh, and who cares if you have to take an antacid pill each morning?? That ain't no thang!! And you WILL be eating in restaurants again - Where are you being told you can't????? Yes, you are physically only able to ingest about 1/4 of a cup to 1/2 of a cup, but it's amazing how quickly each of us figures out our routines at the restaurants. It's not going to be easy, there are all sorts of accommodations that you will make, but then it will all just become routine and your new normal and it won't be hard or difficult at all. It's just going to be new at first. Yes, there will be weeks where life sucks right after the surgery, there will be tears and there will be fears. How old are you? I was on no medications, no "co-morbidities" up until I was 41. Then I woke-up in ICU. My gallbladder went bad due to my years of high fat diet. That then threw a gall stone into my pancreas duct which caused my pancreas to back up, start digesting itself, ruining the cells the produce insulin, putting me into a six month acute pancreatitis and now I'm diabetic, have no gall bladder and get to have tests every 6 months. There are horror stories from either side. I really hope that you are able to find peace today in whatever decision you make. This is your life and this is one means to take control over our weight, but there are other ways. You could do the liquid fasting for a year or two, you could spend the next couple of years restricting yourself and basically following the bariatric diet without the surgery and exercise. It's all possible. Whatever you decide is the path you were meant to take. I know it's terrifying, I'm sending you a massive hug!!

I travel a lot as well. It is much easier when you have a rental car and can go get things or if you are staying in one city for the week. I was doing multiple cities in a week without a car and it was brutal. I was dehydrated, couldn't find decent protein shakes anywhere, etc. I pack some protein with me at all times and if I'm going to run out of bars I will ship them to the location I'm headed to. It can be difficult though. My nurses said to wait a month before flying but my doctor said two weeks was fine. Do get up and walk around to prevent blood clots.

I travel quite a bit for work as well, and had the same worries. The biggest challenge for me is to stay hydrated. I buy a Water inside airport security so I have some in case I don't get the upgrade to 1st Class. At check in to the hotel, I always ask for extra water. If I have a rental car on the trip, I stop and buy some Protein shakes and water when I get to the destination, otherwise I make sure I pack a shaker and some Protein powder. Meals are no big deal as I can eat shashimi, Soups, chili, seafood now. I did have to fly at week 3, was a little rough....make sure you check a bag, no lifting over you head to get it into the overhead bin!!!! You will love how much easier you fit into the airplane seat and the fact that you have a TON of slack in the seatbelt. I actually was eating dinner last week with a client who was overweight and had one bite of the dessert I ordered and the waitress laughed when she took it away and asked if that was how I stayed so skinny.....I was trying to figure out who she was talking about until I realized it was me! Happy travels.