To Tell or not To Tell my surgeon what went on tonight at support meeting-please advise

[donna12 742]

OMG you guys are not going to believe it! I have to vent. First off our support meetings are once a month with our nutritionist. Let me begin with, she's very young and straight out of college, no biggie right? Well, after what was discussed tonight I'm confused more than ever!!! It was the nutritionist, myself, 2 one week post op ladies (one had her hubby with her) and 2 other new ladies that were just inquiring about surgery at this point. One of the 1 week post op ladies asked if she could eat chips and dip, I was like NO, hello, why did you have surgery. The nutritionist said, well, I don't want you to instead of saying no. The newbies to the group said I drink Coke everyday, I piped up and said well you better stop while you are ahead and get off of them now because you can't have carbonation after the band and the nutritionist interrupted and said yes you can, you can have pop, I was like WHAT, I was told no, it can cause band slippage, she then tells this woman that it causes severe gas pains in the shoulder and that is all and its empty calories well yes that is true, so yes I'm confused, and no I'm not gona start drinking my Sprites again not that I was addicted to them but I do miss the occassional one. Then she said to everyone, you can eat whatever you ate before band, I want you eating at least 1200-1400 calories a day, now on to Protein, she said to eat only one serving of meat a day, I was like What again. I'm more confused than ever. It's nothing for me to eat an egg for Breakfast (protein), chicken salad for lunch with ff mayo and then bake me a chicken breast for dinner, is that wrong? I don't eat like that everyday or I might have a chicken breast at my lunch and then cottage cheese for dinner, double protein. She was stressing that the one serving of meat meets the protein grams for the day. OMG. I go for a fill day after tomorrow, should I tell my surgeon this since she is new and so young and has never worked with bariatric patients before? I feel he needs to know but then again I don't want his nurse going back to her spilling the Beans saying I said something, is it rude for me to ask his nurse to step out that I'd like to speak to him in private? Oh and another thing, 1 week post op lady asked can we eat spaghetti (a plate of) and the nutritionist said yes of course) I was told no Pasta, no rice, and no bread so I've not eaten those things since being banded 8 mos ago. OMG what do I do. I'm so confused on how to eat after this.

[mrsluckyvega 21]

Omg yes of course mention this matter, bc it can cause serious health issues right?...plus a NUT is a key element in a successful outcome right? Well in her case she is a "NUT" haha all the best!...it like going t Goodyear and the guy put oil in your gas tank are you going to say something?, all the best keep us posted.

[donna12 742]

OMG thank you. I was torn, I hate friction and hate tattling but I feel in my heart he needs to know, you know? I just didn't get anything out of tonights mtg and I feel that there needs to be someone there that is experienced in bariatric surgeries and patients.

[mrsluckyvega 21]

OMG thank you. I was torn' date=' I hate friction and hate tattling but I feel in my heart he needs to know, you know? I just didn't get anything out of tonights mtg and I feel that there needs to be someone there that is experienced in bariatric surgeries and patients.[/quote']

Yes you are doing the right thing in my opinion this "NUT" is not ensuring success to the patient and if we could all eat whatever we wanted a lab band would not exists this is a sacrifice also the health risk with the food choices she green lighted. Kray Kray!.

[donna12 742]

is it strange for me to ask to speak to him privately without his nurse present after my fill?

[mrsluckyvega 21]

Girl just say it. Nurse or no Nurse. .

[Maddysgram 6,159]

I think I would say something like, I know how important support meeting are for success, but I can not sit through another meeting being told you can drink soda and eat whatever you want. What kind of support is that.

Why yes, we can eat anything we want, but not everything we want to eat is good for us. I think I would have piped up and said "what kind of nutrition is someone getting from soda?" Even if our band did allow it, what is it good for.

I think that Nut ( no pun intended) needs to go for a refresher course.

[Maddysgram 6,159]

I agree, nurse or no nurse, just say whats on your mind. Thats part of recovery, not holding things in.

[donna12 742]

OH my I don't want to get her fired, she's employed by my surgeon and by the hospital but you guys are right I do need to say something to him. I mean, I'm not sure whether it was Jean's book or on here or my surgeon can't remember, sorry, but the no no's were no bread, no Pasta, no rice and no soda. I did crave chinese fried rice one day early on and tried it, got stuck, paid the price, don't do rice anymore, now I know why. Then one of the 1 week ladies turned to me and asked if I ate pizza, I was floored, I responded, I have had it twice since surgery last June, thin crust and 1 slice is all I can eat, she was like, bummer. I'm like, why in the world did you even have surgery and how in the world did you pass psych eval. I wish you guys could have been there, it was a circus. It took all I had to keep my mouth shut.

[Maddysgram 6,159]

My last support group meeting was a bummer too. About 30 gasrtic bypass parients and 2 LBers and all I heard all night is how you'll succeed with GB and fail with LB, b/c its easier to cheat. I finally couldn't take it anymore and said to the Nut " isn't it true that you can fail with any WLS, if you do not change your eating habits", that shut them up.lol

I get more support here, so not to concerned with other support meetings.

[cheryl2586 3,053]

I would definitely say something to your doctor. If she is fresh out of school she is apparently not used to working with wls patients let alone lapband patients. I would speak with your doctor about what she is telling them. But you continue doing what you were doing from the beginning. Maybe your doctor needed someone in a hurry but she shouldnt be giving that advice. Maybe she was pissed because you were stealing her spot lol

[♥LovetheNewMe♥ 1,216]

Yes tell the physician, they need to know the type of support that is being offered at the sessions. I stopped using our support groups after a few sessions because of all the whining a crap that goes on, I had this surgery to be successful not try and figure out what I could still eat and that seemed to be all the meetings were about. the leader would try and refocus the group but i always seemed to walk away frustrated, I uchose to use this site for my support and it has worked.

[KAATNS 1,473]

Maybe just ask him for clarification since you're getting conflicting information. I'll be interested to hear what he says.

[kll724 3,055]

Definitely tell your surgeon! If he has hired her, he needs to know that she had wrong thinking and could lead these new bandsters down a bad route!

[elcee 3,341]

You see this is where there is an issue. The fact that there is such varying info out there. Most of what she said actually agrees with what I have been told and is the way that most banded patients in Australia eat.

There is no rule that say's you can't eat bread, pasta,rice. I eat most of these things regularly but in small quantities. Some of these may cause discomfort but everyone is different.

There are as many Dr's that say that carbonation is fine so long as you can tolerate it. I regularly use my sodastream to make soda Water and add a dash of lime to that.

I have never been told to only eat meat/protein once a day but also here we do not focus on low carb the way that Dr's in the USA do.

Yes I do eat the same way as I did before being banded but not as much. Maybe that is because my meals have always been fairly healthy. I don't eat much fast food, rarely eat pizza, have never been into fried foods etc etc.

So have a chat with your Dr but you may be surprised by his answer.