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I'm also hypothryoid. My energy level returned in less than a week post op!

I am being banded on Friday July 29!!! I can't believe that the day is almost here! I am EXCITED, ANXIOUS, & NERVOUS all wrapped up in 1!! I am so TIRED of this liquid diet! LOL I know I will have another 2 weeks post op but, I just want to be there already! I am sooooo looking forward to puree- can't believe I just said that! lol I am doing some cleaning around the house, that's the last thing I want to do post-op! Besides, I can only have CLEAR liquids after 4 pm tomorrow! I will have no energy for chores! lol Just rest & relaxation! I have to be at the hospital 5:45 am! lol Does it get any better?? lol But I am glad its early= less time for the butterflies to start! That = an early bedtime like 7:30! With me luck! & good luck to all of u2!

Hi Kim, I have never been to a psychiatrist and the only psycholgist I have seen was a couple of weeks ago for my psy eval, but my first thought when I read your thread was that perhaps Dr. Phil's book, Ultimate Weight Solution, may offer some help. I have the book and still have not read it. Maybe I'm afraid to face the reasons I eat emotionally. :rolleyes Check it out if your a reader. I do have experience with Effexor XR for depression and with my level of knowledge, which is small, that most antidepressants need to build up and stay in your system to be effective. The Effexor doesn't and hasn't had any effect on my eating habits. I just had a discussion about 10 min ago with my husband about birth control b/c I am about to start and a bit crabby. I was on Seasonale for about 2 years and recently went back to monthly birth control. With the Seasonale you only have your period ONCE every three mos. which makes life much better for all of us. I think I will go back on it since I am getting the band and won't be having more children anytime soon. I highly recommend it if it's something your OB would approve. Best of luck in finding your solution!!

I am a very intuitive person I feel, and I am really having some trouble with a growing up issue. With no longer having 15 friends around to party all the time and being married and living with a boy that I love dearly. I am having compulsive eating problems and can't get back on track with my eating. I know people say that Psychiatrist or even Psycholgist have helped them with the head hunger thing. I have that issue and I am really off kilter once a month due to the hormones from birth control. During this time I would swear I am bi-polar. It only last during that PMS week so I know it is hormones and don't want to be on pills daily just to control that one week of craziness a month. I feel like I will go in for a talk session and they will not be able to tell me anything I don't know already. Which I hope doesn't sound like I'm a know it all, but if I know it all about anything I would think it would be my own self. I am struggling with the idea of seeing a counselor whan I am en route at college to be a high school counselor myself. I guess my questions is does counseling help even when I have never had any major issues in life and had the most generally relative happy childhood (Other that growing up fat)? Can you take paxil and meds like that just one week out of the month to curb your PMS? Any other input would be helpful, especially if there are any great docs in the Eastern Dallas, Texas area??

I went to my Dr. about 2 weeks ago and he told me that it look like my band had slipped and also have a hiatal hernia. I have no fill in my band but food still get stucks in my esophagus somtimes and my stomach feels like it is on fire sometimes, I drank lemonade today and it almost killed my stomach so do you guys think i might have a stomach ulcer along with all the other, i am worried that there may be erosion or something worse, am i just paranoid or what? Please i need advice. Thanks wkhodges banded august 2002 :help: :help:

I'm going on 3 months out and it gets better:) I had the same feeling. I would take a drink and I would feel a "glug" of air come back up. My surgeon said it is normal. There is so little room in your tummy that the air comes back up. But each day, week gets better. Keep drinking, your tummy will get used to it. I can now drink water pretty fast (that's the only liquid I can drink fast). Experiment with the liquids you drink. For example, some don't tolerate water well or don't tolerate it cold. So they try crystal light, powerade zero, etc. I loved those things before surgery, but after I hated them. Only water for me - and I like it ice cold!

Hi...my name is Veronica and I had my lap-band surgery on the 17th of February. It has been almost 3 weeks now and I am feeling alot better now. Doing the creamy soups, etc. When I went in for my follow-up a week later I had lost 7lbs:clap2:. I will be going in for my first fill in a couple of weeks and kinda excited about it but scared at the same time. I hear that they do not numb the area before doing the fill. I guess I will just have to wait and see. Wondering if there is anyone out there that has also just had their band and if so, how are things going with you. Also, for those of you that have had the band for awhile now....I would love to have some suggestions and/or information on how things started off with you. Is there anything else I can do to speed up the process:confused:?

His plan is pretty quick - Water, Jello, popsicles days 1 - 4, then add in Protein drinks, thinned-down cream Soups, and yogurt days 4 - 6. Weeks 2 & 3 are mushies. I'm not too sure about beyond then, I only studied 2 weeks out. This water thing is killing me. There's already a 30ish pound difference in the scale, and I truly beliee at least 80% of that is dehydration. I'm accustomed to 120+ oz water a day, and I've been lucky to get about 30. I've started getting yuck mouth.

Congrats on getting the approval! The pain when I initially woke up wasn't bad. But I woke up moaning... I always seem to do this after surgery, it's just how I wake up from anethesia! I had some pain for about 2 weeks after surgery. There was one spot in particular that was very sore and tender. If it weren't for that one spot, I would have said that I had almost no pain. Don't worry, they will hook you up with the approriate pain meds. Just be honest about how you are feeling. The pain shoud be managable. You can't really predict how you will feel when you wake up. Hopefully you'll be groggy but feel just fine - a lot of us do! If not, well... speak up! You'll be in a hospital and they have fantastic pain meds nowadays!

Oh yes - my Thanksgiving was wonderful! It allowed me time to be thankful for my many great blessings that God has provided to me and it also allowed me to eat my favorite foods... and try a few new ones that I plan on converting to a healthier recipe for my recipe book (see recipe section if you have a recipe to share for the book... everyone will get a free copy who contributes)... Anyways - I had yummy broccoli cheese casserole... mmmm.... and sweet potatoe casserole... oh yeah baby!!! and cranberry sauce (that stuff should be a sin) and a new favorite of mine... green bean casserole.. yummy... and a little potatoe salad and cabbage salad... then I even had a piece of the best cheesecake ever!! It was a crem bruele cheesecake (purchased from Sams Club by sis in law) and it was the ABSOLUTE BEST DESSERT EVER!! (And yes, I have had a ton of Desserts in my day... so that holds some serious weight.. no pun intended). And something called a cherry, pineapple crunch thing.. that was AWESOME - (making it healthy, will post recipe when I get it right)... Anyways - all that great food carried over to today for left overs (oh, I should mention, I didn't eat turkey or ham... everyone else did but they both were soooooo dry, that I didn't want any) so today was round two of yesterday - tomorrow will be round three and continue on until it is all gone... But... that is besides the point.. I got on the scale this morning KNOWING it was going to go up.. and it did.. 3.5lbs.... Yep... When I said good bye to the 300's ... they decided they wanted to pay another last visit before leaving for good... So i welcomed them into my home and told them to stay for a couple days because I wanted their company but after Monday they would have to leave and never come back. They, of course, agreed that it would be best for both of us (me and my fat cells) and decided they would leave shortly after Monday. They said that they couldn't leave immediately because it generally takes a few days to get all their junk out of my trunk.. I agreed and promised them I would work very hard to help them get rid of the junk... I will miss them.. but I will replace my sadness with a new friend for life - Saline. Saline and I will be the best of friends... Because I get to meet Saline on Monday at my first fill that I am sure we will hit it off immediately! I know Saline will never leave me alone or make me feel empty inside. I know Saline will help me fill the hole in my stomach that my 300 lb friend used to hold.. so dear to my heart. So I just wanted to share my little story with you and see how much everyone else gained back or lost over the Thanksgiving holiday and to hear about the yummy food you were able to explore... Have a blessed day! Amy

Hey everyone im 5 week post op and started hitting the gym this week. Lots of energy! Not sure what foods to eat after work out? I useally workout after 5pm. Thanks

Just like Jack, I started to feel hunger at around 6 weeks...which was great because 2 days later I was scheduled for my first fill (which was yesterday)....After my fill yesterday I was very hunger and since I was on clear liquids and couldn't eat....well, I went SHOPPING instead!!! Today is full liquids so I don't have an excuse to shop today, but might go shopping anyway!!! Also, like Jack said, when hunger hits you will know it....good luck....

Wow, today was hard. I usually don't snack or eat alot at work....but knowing you can't WOW !~ Now Im home, and it doesn't bother me. I HATE the vanilla shakes....any suggestions to make them better. Someone mentioned an orange powder you can put in them ? Please pray I make it though this week...easier sailing after that. Sitting here concerned if my husband went out to eat or is going to come in expecting me to cook...which I will but it will make it that much harder. What types of sf drinks/shakes got you through this? Day 1 of 14 day diet. Bought the planned diet from my doctor.

Hi, I lost weight prior to surgery, not one pound since. I am on my Fitnesspal.com which was an easy way to track calories. I am supposed t be eating 1200 calories a day and seem to be consistently under that. I have no interest in eating any more than I am. And this includes a McDonalds low fat cone whenever I want one. I can't have ice cream in the house. Its a trigger food and I know it. I go to the gym 4x a week for an hour. I'm hoping the pa will have some suggestions to help. This is not easy. Its like a puzzle I can't quite figure out. Good luck, Keep the faith

I wasn't allowed to have tomato soup because of exactly what you said, it is too acidic. They said it might bother the tummy. My favorite soup for my 2 weeks post-op full liquid phase was cream of celery. I ate that for the entire 2 weeks at lunch and dinner... it takes me a long time to get tired of eating certain foods, I'm weird. You could also do cream of chicken, cream of mushroom. Just remember that if you do any soups with pieces of veggies or other things in them that you need to strain it before you eat it. Congratulations on your surgery!

I am being sleeved next Monday. I had an ultrasound of my thyroid 2 weeks ago. I was diagnosed with thyroid disease (Hashimotos) last year. My nodules have shrunk (taking Synthroid) however my lymph nodes around my thyroid and neck are enlarged. I am scheduled for an MRI of my neck tomorrow then off to see a neck surgeon Wednesday. My Endo says it makes most sense to have the lymph node biopsy during sleeve surgery. I will see my stomach surgeon tomorrow to discuss further. I was thinking he can do the neck biopsy rather than bring in the neck surgeon. Anyway I'm nervous this week to begin with and now I have to worry about a neck biopsy/result pre and post surgery. I was wondering if anyone else experienced something similar? Thank you so much!

I may be facing a similar situation, but my flight will be 2 hrs. I haven't talked with surgeon yet as I still have about 3 weeks or so to get to that point. Hopefully I will be able to fly afterward.

Malvord...believe me when I say all those thoughts were in most of our minds. But remember why you took this path in the first place. Two weeks is one thing but, the rest of your life is another. i for one did well on new diets for about 3 weeks. Then I'd hit a plateau and go another week. If that scale didn't move I'd immediately quick and eat my way back to where I started and then some sometimes. I went the lapband route the first time around because I was afraid to cut into organs. It was a great tool but, in the end I had trouble with it and it had to come out...so after yet again gaining weight back I knew this is what I needed to do for myself, my health and my life. Believe me I had doubts a few weeks before, then again 3 days before...scared, worried but, at the same time excited. It's natural! Only you can decide if it's right for you though. Write the pros and cons of the surgery, do more research and search deep within you about whether this is for you. Good luck and thinking of you.

I am 5 days away from surgery and have waited so long for this...but now i am second guessing myself. If i can do this two week pre op why cant i do this any time? Do i really want to give up all my favorite foods? Some of which i may never be able to eat again?

I go through the same thing. During my pre-op diet program, my weight loss was linear -- 3 pounds per week like clockwork. Post-op, my weight loss is more of a step function. I lose 10 pounds in 10 days and then I stall for 10 days. It has been like this most of the last 7 months. It can be frustrating, but I have learned that it just works that way, so the further out I get, the less mentally-taxing it is...

I looked through the info I had received from my dietician, but I can't find where it tells me how many calories I should be getting each day for optimal weight loss. Can someone please tell me what their dietician has told them. I would like to know the calories, the limit of carbs, etc. I am 3 weeks post op. Thanks in advance for any info you can give.....

Hey Lorin, so how did it go today? Not as well as I had hoped. It looks like I likely won't qualify for insurance to pay for the surgery. I am a little taller than I thought, so my BMI is below 40 and I do not have any comorbidities (I did have back surgery for a herniated disc due to being overweight and have hypothyroidism so when we submit to insurance we will try including those). If we are going to try the insurance route I need to do a medically supervised diet for 6 months. The nurse practitioner and bariatric coordinator both said to not lose much weight though during the 6 months since my BMI is already below 40. The self-pay cost would be $18,025. I think I am going to check with one more surgeon in town to see what his self-pay prices would be (he is also at a closer hospital to my house). I will probably go with the surgeon with the cheaper self-pay price, so that if insurance does deny after the 6 months of dieting I can move forward with a loan. Awe, I'm so sorry. I'm kind of surprised they knew already that insurance wouldn't cover it. I think I'd call them myself. I know it sounds like a 'hell no' idea, but I've read so many people going to a specific place in Mexico and having it done. An all inclusive place, one week stay, for 4k. At first I was thinking they're crazy but thousands of patients go there with rave reviews. But if I was self pay and could afford it, of course I'd go with a qualified doctor state side. All I can say is don't give up. Do you have sleep apnea by chance? Have you ever had a sleep study? My three things that will qualify me with my insurance is my bmi, hypothyroidism, and sleep apnea. I don't have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes-->knock on wood. But I too had something thrown at me today that I sort of thought was a possibility, but hoping it wouldn't be the case. My doctor wants me to have the ds done and I just don't know how I feel about that. It would be broken up into two surgeries, sleeve first, then in 6-12 months the ds part. I just don't know. That is the mac daddy of weight loss procedures. I'm not sure why he and his nurse practitioner was so persistent to get me on board. Yes, I want the sleeve but I am trying to have an open mind because he really does know what he's talking about and has seen the outcomes thousands of times. But it's not like they're doing the ds at my first surgery anyway, so not sure why the pressure to get me to jump on board quite so soon before we give the sleeve a try, unless of course, it's to bill insurance even if the first surgery is the sleeve. I don't know why he doesn't say 'ok, sleeve first and if the results stop coming in, let's go ahead and do the ds.' That sounds reasonable.

Hello. I'm 6.5 months post VGS and in a major stall. I'm beginning to think have gone as far as I can go at 35 lbs overall. the bright spot is that I am not gaining, but have be within the same 1.5 to 2 lbs since December 2016. I'm looking for sleevers over 65 who may be having the same issues as I am. I have lost slowly from the beginning with stalls every few weeks. And Oh yes, I'm diabetic. Regular insulin and one heart/BP med were stopped immediately post-op and I have not needed to resume them. But I am still on long acting insulin and BP meds. I am tracking what I eat I work out with a physical trainer twice a week and try to keep up my steps the remainder of the week. I have tried using the protein shakes again, liquids only for 2 days at a time without much change. My surgeon tells me not to worry about how much I lost, but to concentrate on following the plan, as this is a marathon not a sprint. But that still leaves me having gone through this surgery for such a small loss. Anyone else overcome this?

I just got moved up to soft foods on Monday and it's been great so far. I can finally get enough calories in to sustain some exercise, so I've been doing my 60-90 minutes of "brisk walking" and it's not nearly as tiring as last week. So far I haven't found any specific foods that disagree with me, just eating too much or too fast causes me discomfort and burping.

Hi everyone! I'm a 35 year old female new to this site, and I was wondering if it's possible to lose too much weight before insurance approval. My first appointment was on Sept 22, and at the time I was 355. I was told my insurance required 3 mos on a medically supervised weight loss plan before consideration. They instructed me to lose 20 lbs, eat 1200 cals/day, take in 70-90g of Protein, and start working in some exercise. It took about a week to work down to 1200 cals, but I got there and have worked up to walking my dogs 3x/day. Now my 3 month follow-up is on Monday (Dec 21- this is when they'll be submitting to insurance) and I'm down 66 lbs (289). I'm getting worried I'm going to be told that I'm perfectly capable of losing weight on my own and turned away. The GP who referred me outright told me last week to forget the surgery and keep doing what I'm doing. The thing is, I've always been able to lose weight when I get in the right mindset. That's not the problem. The problem is that there are usually YEARS between 'right mindsets', and the mindset is easily broken when I get sick (which of course always happens eventually). Like I told my husband, I'm only doing so well because I'm not TRYING to swim to shore this time - I'm just trying to get to the life raft over there that's going to help me the rest of the way. What do you guys think? Is there cause for concern ?