Reaching out to Bandsters with more experience...

[sherilynn 1]

Hi,

I'm just 8 days out. I know it was surgery, but nothing like a bypass would have been. I am very uncomfortable; still can't get a right position in the night to sleep through, without an Ambien. I feel like I'm getting some headaches, that can be due to the cold I've seemed to have caught right after surgery.

My major complaint is that I don't feel 'normal', or 'good'. There are so many new feelings I'm dealing with - and I think for the most part I'm afraid they're going to stay with me. For instance, the way I burp is different, it's held back, and followed by a pain that feels like 'pricks'. In my stomach, I feel like it's pins and needles of sorts.

I kind of expected to have the band, eat until full then empty - and feel hunger again. I haven't felt any hunger in over a week. HEHE - funny I should be complaining about that!

Could this be the 'normal' that I will now be facing? Will I always have this 'pins and needles' feeling in my tummy? I'd kill to let out a good strong belch. I'm confusing gas with nausea.

Heck, I think it's time I might have to get to the shrink...:faint:

[pelhamlisa 0]

Sherilynn,

I was banded November 13 so I am not very experienced but I do know what you are talking about with the burping. It was a couple of weeks before I could actually burp. But boy, when I did! It was great. I have noticed that after my fills I could not burp for a few days afterwards.

I have not experienced the pins and needles sensation you are describing. So I do not know what to tell you on that one!

To this day I do not get "hungry" like I did before being banded. I do experience being hungry but it is not the same as before. I just know I should eat. My stomach will growl, very loudly. It is still hard not to eat like I did before the band, also. I am still battling eating fast. BIG MISTAKE, eating to fast. And not chewing food well enough and taking small bites. The nurse at my doctor's office told me to east like a 3-year-old. It is still extremely hard to do that. Old habits are hard to break.

Each day is a new adventure and I would not change having the surgery. I still mourn food. It was like my best friend!!! But hey, I am down 30 pounds and under 200 pounds for the first time in forever!!!! It has been worth my normal being changed!

Good luck on your journey!!!

[Kat817 19]

I would say you are still dealing with a large amount of swelling. While it is not as drastic of a surgery as bypass, the stomach is still totally ticked off at the unjustices done to it. It had a belt (band?) wrapped around it tightly, and then stitches placed into it to hold the band in place. It reacts by swelling. Due to the swelling, of not just you stomach but the abdominal cavity, burping is different right now. Today 9+ months out, I feel nothing like I did the first 2-3 weeks after being banded. I have zero residual soreness at all. I have to search and poke to even locate my port. The only way I even know I have a band in there, is I can only eat a small amount. I can sleep in any postition, including on my now much smaller belly! I have keloid factor, so my scars, have not totally disappeared, but are lessening more than I had anticipated them doing, they have done remarkably well!

As for the not being hungry, it too is likely caused by the swelling. As the swelling goes down you will likely find yourself hungry and unable yet to eat, and that too will lead to uncertain feelings, like you are having now. Just as Lisa said, you are in a state of mourning, and it is a normal stage, as is anger. We end up angry at the band for changing our lives, and angry at ourselves for letting it get to the point we did. But soon all those feelings pass, and you get a renewed surge of excitement as the weight begins to drop quite quickly---and your new body begins to emerge. Once the fill process starts, you regain some control of how you choose to eat, and live your life. Some bandsters follow a strict diet, counting every bite for calories, Protein etc. Others, take a more casual approach, and while they may lose slower, it fits their life better. You will find the path that best fits your needs.

There is a small chance you will not feel hungry again like you used to. The nerves signalling hunger are at the top of the stomach. Which is why we used to have to eat so much to feel full. Now the band allows food to reach those nerves quickly, and we cannot eat any more, nor do we feel hungry once they are reached. There are some people who actually end up with the band placed in a way that it hits the nerve, and they do not feel hunger. My Dr. said it is rare, but happens.

Eating when you are not hungry, is a whole new sense of freedom! You can make wise choices, and choices based on taste alone, not by the quantity of food you think you need any longer. I used to look at a menu, for instance, and make my choice based not only on what sounded good, but also, whether I thought it would be "enough". Now it is ALWAYS enough!! So I can go for something healthy and tasty!

If you have given up caffeine since surgery it too could be part of your headache, or just general fatigue, after affects of anesthesia, muscle and nerve reaction to being unable to get comfy at night, or sleep properly. I would bet within a couple of weeks, you feel like a totally different person! You will be able to sleep well again, and will be on your way.

((((big hugs)))) I know it is hard, but it is SOOOOOO worth it! Hang in there---come and talk, and question, and complain when you need to, we are all here, because we have all been there!

Kat

[Wheetsin 714]

I'm alomst a year out and have only truly felt hunger a handful of times. II say it all the time but it's true - I lost my appetite 2 days before surgery and it never came back.

My burps remain different, but they don't hurt. They just feel as though they're coming from my "bottom stomach". BTW - the idea of a bottom and top stomach is how I described what I felt to my husband. My stomach would be growling like crazy, but at the same time I didn't feel hungry. He couldn't understand this. So I told him that it feels like I have two stomachs, and the bottom one is hungry, but the top one is full.

Again, almost a year out, I still have some aches pains every now and then. It seems like every few weeks the area right around my band will be sore for a few days, almost like pulled muscle sore. And every now and then if I move just right (or is it wrong?) I swear I can feel my port pulling or shifting.

[piercedqt78 658]

I think the swelling idea is right on. I wasn't hugry for weeks after banding, then one day, I wanted food. I still don't feel ravinous or go into I'm starving mode anymore. I am much easier to live with now. I have to be careful to make sure my 5 year old daughter eats, she is on meds that kill the appetite and since I am never really hungry, we have gone hours and hours without eating. I have a reminder on my cell phone that alarms 3 times a day to remind me to eat....it actually says "Eat something.." I think the pins and needles feelings you are experiencing is nerves healing, at least that is what I was told when I asked about that feeling. Mine went away in about 3 weeks. I always tell new bandsters, that is does get better, it just takes time. ~Mandy

[sherilynn 1]

Thanks all. This is really helping me to feel like I'm not the odd man out. It's mental also, now eating for 'strength' and not for the sake of eating.

Hopefully these aches will go away sooner than later, especially the gas pains.

[barbara465 2]

Ditto what the others have said. I was a little different in that I was hungry from the get go. The first weeks I wanted to eat, but really couldn't. I didn't sleep in my bed for about 4 nights. I slept in the recliner. Each day got better, but I felt pretty good from the beginning. I wasn't really in pain and was able to work home the first few days.

I did experience swelling and wore loose clothes at first. I never burbed before surgery so what I do now is something new to me. So is all this gas. I just wasn't used to either one of these new events in my life.

I still feel twinges on the skin of my stomach. It's like I have a rash, but no rash. It's just like my skin is sensitive, but I wouldn't call it pain.

Now down the road 7 months I have had more issues with fills. I seem to swell 6-10 days after a fill. Then I definitely feel restriction. Other than that, I don't feel restriction like others describe it. I can definitely eat less and feel content, but I must exercise some self control as well.

Bottom Line: each of us is different and may or may not experience the same things. There are probably some common things we all experience to some degree, but each react in their own way. You will find what your new "norm" is all about, but keep in mind it may change with each fill.

Good luck and happy journey. I love my band and would do this again in a heartbeat. Just wish it had been available to me 30 years ago.

[piercedqt78 658]

Thanks all. This is really helping me to feel like I'm not the odd man out. It's mental also, now eating for 'strength' and not for the sake of eating.

Hopefully these aches will go away sooner than later, especially the gas pains.

Are you taking anything for the gas? I was allowed chewable gas-x and it really helped. ~Mandy

[sherilynn 1]

Good lord, yes I'm taking the GasX strips. Tonight, I'm so uncomfortable, I'll do anything. Maybe a percocet to just knock me out.

I've got to get rid of this gas. Seems to me that they're tinier bubbles now, more 'piercing' in the center of my belly. Actually feels like little pins and needles.

Uhhhh. Only me. :faint:

[Kat817 19]

I didn't have gas issues with the banding, but I did with my hysterectomy...it seemed to help if I changed positions frequently. It seemed like the gas worked it's way up...and my chest and shoulders would hurt.

I know it sounds silly, but many swear by this....stand next to the bed, lay your head, shoulders, and torso on the bed, keeping your bum in the air.....they say it helps work the gas to a less painful position. Can't hurt to try it!

Hang in there!!!

Kat

[piercedqt78 658]

This might sound totally crazy, but my hubby would pat my back, starting at my lower back and working his way to my shoulders. Like burping a baby. It helped the gas to rise and come out. Also a heating pad, on your back, between the shoulders works wonders. Hot peppermint tea will make it better too. I know that there are tons of suggestions being thrown your way, but some of them will help some people and some won't. The tea didn't do much for me with my band but worked wonders after my gallbladder. Hope something helps, and quick! ~Mandy

[beversman 0]

best way to work the gas out is walk.

the gas you have is not like the gas you get from eating the wrong kind of food.

They inflated your stomach for surgery... the gas is in your peritneal cavity. (the cavity that surrounds your organs) You cant pass the gas through your intestinal track (unless small amounts are absorbed into it) as the gas is not in your digestive system.

The gas is around it.

So, you have to work it out through absorption and release. Which means if you walk, walk, walk, walk.... it will make the process go a 100% faster

Good luck. and keep drinking your Water and move as much as possible.