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Thank you MissyMS you def made me feel better...Problem is I havnt seen my doctor since the surgery and i called a few weeks ago with a question and he never answered.My next appt is the 17th of this month.:cursing:

I know. I eat chili several times a week. The no dairy thing might be a deal breaker. I might lean more toward primal.

you should lose more weight as long as you're sticking to the plan. I had a two-week stall within the first month after surgery. Actually, I know someone who had a 3.5 week stall early out - so maybe you'll be OK. Just remember to keep following your plan...

Glad you are doing well. I am one week post op an feel great! Safe travels!

Hello All, I have decided that I want to have the surgery. My issues are I do not know where to begin. I still have a lot of unanswered questions and was hoping this site would help with that. I want to know how does this process start? I am going to my primary doctor next month and wish for her to recommend me getting this surgery with hopes that United Healthcare will cover it. My issue is do I wait or do I contact a surgeon. I think I found a good surgeon but I wonder about how long is the time span between the time you have your first appointment to how soon the surgery takes place after? I guess I am wondering will I be waiting a few days, weeks , months or years help......

The first few weeks are the absolute hardest so hang in there. Is pepcid a PPI (proton-pump inhibitor)? If not, you may have to ask your doctor for a prescription for one. It stops the stomach from producing acid and it is very common for sleeve patients to have to go on one.

I am 2 1/2 weeks post op....I would like know what is the true reason for "not drinking with or before your meal" No one has really been able to answer this question....and to be honest when I see my dr. I have so many other questions that I forget about this one important question. I hear the rules are 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after. Can someone offer me some consise info on the importance of this rule....

Diane, Your port area is going to be tender for 5 weeks. Scar tissue is building. See if you can hold that area in when you cough if you can catch it in time. Josephine

I put a package of splenda in my isopure and that helped some. Of course, I'm a bit of a splenda junkie, so it may have been that too. The first 3 weeks were REALLY hard for me. I had horrible pain in my left side, and it was days before I could even get up off of the bed on my own. I went back to my surgeon on day 4 to have my drain removed and barely made it from the parking garage to the elevator! My boyfriend thought he was going to have to carry me back out of the building! But, I'm 6 weeks post op now, and amazed!!!! I've lost 55 pounds (18 were pre op) and am down from a size 24/26 to an 18/20. I can't believe it happened so fast. I've not been sick at all, and my left side pain finally went away by the end of my 3rd week. Everyone has said it get's better, and it really does! Wishing you the best of luck!

Hi today I received my approval from cigna it took two weeks, next wednesday is my pre op and I am getting banded nov 6!! Good luck to all of us getting banded in november, a little scared but firm in my life change

1. Day 5 was hard for me. I had a total breakdown and cried most of the day. I didn't regret the surgery, but I missed not being able to eat. I wasn't even hungry - but I just WANTED to eat. I wanted chips, a burger, or anything that wasn't just liquid. 2. I really thought things would taste a lot different. I am almost 3 weeks post op and so far everything I've tried tastes exactly the same. I thought I was going to constantly be sick and I've not even thrown up once. Also, I guess I kind of expected to wake up a new person, but I didn't. I'm still me. I just eat a lot less. 3. I researched for years before actually having the surgery. I knew what I was getting into. I do wish I'd had better coping skills for head hunger, but that's pretty much went away at this point. The first week was the hardest, the second week I only experienced head hunger a couple of times, and now I just don't do it. I honestly think that has a lot to do with exercise. Exercising keeps me focused on something else and I'm getting to the point that I feel better when I exercise, so I guess my brain is just distracted.

I'm going through this right now. I posted on another forum and have copied and edited it a bit below and hope I can help anyone in preventing this. As far as your question, yes you can get the pouch back to normal but you and you only can make that happen. It's difficult, but, it can be done. If the pouch is really stretched badly they will un-fill you and place you on liquids for a period of time. My doctor told me 6 weeks of liquids. Holy smokes!!! Here is my post from another thread: Under floroscopy my doctor told me that my pouch was bigger than it should be. She told me that I would get a warning this time, but if next checkup showed the same, she will un-fill me and I will go on liquids for 6 weeks. For now I have been instructed to measure my portions. I did get a slight fill, so, I'm thinking that I'm not that bad yet. I keep a loose band because my allergies and drainage cause the dreaded lapband cement on the pouch that is only dissolved by drinking lots of hot liquids and is very unpleasant, thus I have to be a bit more careful with my portions. I have decent restriction and my portions have been at least 1 cup of food and sometimes 1.5 cups, however, I got into the habit of not chewing well and eating too fast. I rarely got stuck because of my loose band. In my opinion, not chewing well and eating too fast is what caused the dialation. I was also doing way too much exercise and was feeling more hunger and I would eat way to fast and not chew well with the hunger I felt at times. Someone asked about symptoms. First of all my weight loss stopped for months. My weight would go up and down by 6 lbs. and went on like this for at least 8 months. I tried increasing calories, longer work outs etc. etc. and nothing! My biggest symptom was more hunger in between meals and was getting hungry every 2-3 hours. The most obvious symptom that I should have never ignored was feeling satisfied (full) and would get that uncomfortable feeling of "no more" at meal time then all of sudden I would feel a thump in my pouch, due to food going thru quickly, then I could eat another meal if I chose to and honestly sometimes I would. I thought this was because I needed a fill, however, this was not the case and Doc said that a enlarged pouch of course holds more food and will push everything down quickly. Since being warned I have gone on liquids 2 times consisting of 4 days of Protein drinks and 1 can of Soup a day. In addition, I have modified my drinking and wait 1/2 hour before a meal and 1/2 hour after a meal. I now feel a huge amount of restriction and can only handle the 1/2 cup of food at mealtime. So, yes you can reverse the stretched pouch. I will continue to do the liquid thing at least every other week for a while just to be on the safe side. Since doing this I have lost 10 lbs. Lesson learned? If something doesn't feel right get it checked. I knew something was wrong, but, I was embarrassed to see the doctor because I had not reached goal. I think the biggest disappointment is first myself and second, being banded is high maintenance, but, we are the culprit to our own complications in most cases. I still love my band though! Hope this helps anyone who may be experiencing some of my symptoms and have ignored them. jake

I have been reading a lot and making sure that this procedure is the right one for me. I also want to write down as many questions as I can come up with for my surgeon consultation next week. I am worried that there is very little documented after 3 to 5 years after surgery since this is so new. However, this is just part of what they do when they perform a duodenal switch and that procedure has been successful since the 70's. Right? Will I wake up one day and say "What have I done?!!!" Will I need that portion of my stomach at any point in my life? Is this going to cause issues later on? I understand that most moribly obese people die from something related to that so I might as well take a jump into a healthy life.....I am just worried. What convinced you that this was the right thing for you? What questions did you ask your surgeon that you think I might want to? Am I CRAZY?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated:)

Thanks for your reply Restless Monkey! You bought up some great points. I actually did call the doctor and am scheduled to go in. I am doing a lot better today. They suggested adding more Protein to my diet. I never gave up caffeine. Thank God, one vice at a time! The headaches are new, I am not diabetic or prediabetic, and as far as everything else, I guess I will find out more next week. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and sentiments :thumbdown:

I have so many How do you know questions. I was banded 1-11-11. I lost 11 lbs in 4 days manly because I was to tight. I couldn't get much down without pain. Went to the doctor and had all fluid taken out of band. I had my first fill on 2-23-2011 4cc in a 10cc band. At first I could eat anything and no problem now a few weeks out I've had quite a few episodes with food getting stuck and have thrown up 2 times. MOST times I can eat alot more than 1/2 a cup.. Do I need a FILL?? How do you know if you have the right restrictions? When food gets hung? I'm still hungry after most meals but get uncomfortable while eating at times. When you get the hiccups is that a sign of full even though I'm not? I'm down about 19 lbs in less than 2 months which I think is good BUT most of that was the first 4 days.. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

4 cc is alot for a first fill. I only got 1/2 cc for my first fill. I have a 10 cc band as well. It is best to take it slow. If you overfill, you will have problems it seems. I am hoping to get another fill in a week. It has been a month waiting for it though. I guess it will be 1 cc this time. Not sure, but my surgeon seems to be very conservative. Good luck.

Don't be discouraged......stalls do happen. Put "stall" in the search engine and read other folks' stories about their stalls. Everyone's journey is different so never compare your weight loss to others! You may not be dropping pounds.....but you may be dropping inches

i am still pre op but please seach 3 week stall on here. it will give you really good insight as to whats happening and what to expect. good luck to you and keep your head up! congrats on the weight loss so far!!!

Are you making sure the meat isn't too dry? I was having the same issue and I had to get my band loosen yesterday and I feel better today so far. But time will tell because when I got my 2nd fill I was doing ok then 3 weeks later I was feeling tight. Like you, I chewed my food and timed myself. You maybe too tight....How long ago was your fill?

I live in Wausau, WI. I am meeting with Dr. Calvin Selwyn on April 22, 2008 for my first consult. Hoping to be banded before the end of summer. I am a RN and used to work for Ministry Health, heard many great things about Dr. Calvin Selwyn, my girlfriend just got banded from Dr Selwyn 6 week ago, and had her first fill last week. It is good to see other people on here from Wisconsin. I will keep everyone posted to how the journey is going. Just saw the shrink last week :thumbup:Any Packer FANs:thumbup:

I was banded on 10/2/07 but I got sick a couple of weeks ago and as a result my band slipped. My doctor gave me the option of waiting to see if it went back on its own so for the last two weeks I have been waiting with no fluid in the band. Well I got something stuck and ended up in the ER on 3/17 where my doctor said I would need emergency surgery. He said he might be able to fix it but if there was too much damage to my stomache he may have to take it out. He said if the damage was minimal he was going to take the band out and put in another one, the Realize band, that he felt had much less cases of slippage because it was wider. I had surgery, they put another band in, the Realize band and I am still on my full liquid diet with my follow appt. on Wednesday. I feel great and I am so relieved that I did not loose the band completely. I feel like I am recovering much faster this time around.

After my last NUT appointment was done, it took 2 weeks to get approved, and I was able to get a surgery date just 20 days after that.............My doctor's office said usually they book 4 weeks out....guess I caught a little break...good luck! Those 6 months will be up before you know it. Good luck!

I want to know what I'm doing wrong I'm five months post op two weeks ago I drank a 12 oz protein shake in about 20 mins it hurt like hell and in short order came right back up was first time since surgery I had ever thrown up I was trying to finish it before it got warm and yucky I won't do that again anytime soon

Talked to my nut today and she told me since I've been doing good on what I've been trying I can venture out and try some solids to see how I do before next week since I turn 6 weeks post op day before thanksgiving. Anyways I'm needing help on what I should try out. It's hard trying not to run back to bread cuz I basically ate that with everything before surgery but I'm not trying to hurt myself. PLEASE HELP ME Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using the BariatricPal App

I feel like every time I have eaten something this week its like I am saying good bye forever to it...lol. I know thats not true but I guess the closer to date I get the crazier my thoughts become. Sent from my SM-G935T using the BariatricPal App