Help...did I ruin my chances?

sarellano · December 14, 2003

I've only been banded 1 week & 1 day, but almost the whole time I've been eating solids, puddings & yogurts. The doctor told me to only be on liquids the 1st week, but didn't tell me "why". I thought since I was so hungry & my stomach could handle it, it would be ok. I since learned that I could have stretched the stitches and that later my band could have slippage or erode. Do any of you think I have already ruined my chances? The 1st week was probably the most important for healing, right? What are the chances I've already messed myself up?

Alexandra · December 14, 2003

First, it's not too late to start following your doctor's orders. Cool it with the solid food!! Take it slow and easy and stick to mushies for at least another week.

For what it's worth, I think if you'd done any damage you would probably know it already. Who knows what may happen later on down the road? Just take it really easy and remember that you need to give your body time to really adjust to this new part. Let it heal firmly in place before making it work too hard.

GeezerSue · December 14, 2003

Originally posted by Alexandra
For what it's worth, I think if you'd done any damage you would probably know it already.

I don't mean to be diagreeable, but I do disagree with this part. From what I understand, one of the main reasons for no solids is to keep the band healing where it's supposed to be, so that it can take the wear and tear it's going to get later on and doesn't end up moving to where it will be a problem. There is no way to know whether it has already moved from that location or not. HOWEVER, it isn't too late for sarellano to give the band a little more time to heal into place, and to hope for the best.

Sarellano, I didn't mean to scare you...and doctors certainly hand out plenty of erroneous info. But I suggest asking "why?" And if the doctor won't tell you, go online and look for the answer in the literature or with patients. Then you'll know which rules are "written in stone" and which are arbitrary. For example, the very most experienced doctors have almost no pre-op diet and some of the least experienced doctors have a pre-op diet of a month on yogurt and Water. See, that rule seems pretty negotiable to me. But the post-op diets--no matter how they vary--all (except for the MIDband) seem to want us on no solids for at least two weeks. After that, they vary in how rapidly we move to solid foods. So, you almost made the two-week rule, so keep it liquid or pureed.

About the hunger...get Protein in. That will help. Do you live anywhere near a Jamba juice or someplace that sells yummy drinks with high Protein content?

quakergirl · December 15, 2003

Eating solids too early MAY put you at greater risk of problems, but that doesn't mean you DEFINITELY will have problems.

So, no, you didn't ruin your chances. Even if you do have the bad luck of experiencing a band slippage later on down the road, it's possible to fix such a problem without removing the band.

So, your chances of losing weight are still good!

What's done is done, so don't worry about it. Just try to take it easy for a few more weeks, and the odds are everything will be fine.