I'm concerned and need some feedback

[Graffy2 0]

I had my surgery on 1/11. To be honest I feel physically great. My problem is trying follow the post surgery diet plan. I'm getting extremely hungry and am going off the recommended menu. I'm able to tolerate "regular" foods and not just "mushies". The Protein Drinks were a big challenge because of the taste but I'm dealing witht hat. I think I'm gonna try that Protein Water that I've heard about.

Am I the only person out there who is "pushing the envelope" by eating food that is not recommended for at least another week? I'm doing fine. No gas, no vomiting, drinking plenty of fluids.

Can someone out there let me know if I'm being a complete fool or am I just progressing a little quicker? I just don't want reality to slap me in the face when I receive my first fill, if that makes sense. I'm nervous and wondering now if I am going to go back to my old habits and make the band ineffective.

[TulipStar 2]

Do not push it by eating foods you shouldn't! You can do some serious damage to your band. There is a reason they put you on a post-op diet and it is to help the band make a groove in your stomach and heal. You risk serious complications by trying to eat real food.

I know how you feel, it is the time known as "bandster hell" where you have little restrction and you want to eat everything. At this point you are going to have to use your willpower. Really, that's it. Also, you have to deal with the fact that you might not have much restriction until you are on your 3rd fill or more. This means that you really have to focus on eating right and not falling back in your old ways.

I know that if we had willpower to begin with, we wouldn't be where we were when we got the band. But, that's all that is going to help you. Think of the reasons "WHY" you got the band and this will help you put it in perspective why you want this to work, why you must use some willpower to make it work. It's truly not easy, it's something you must work at.

[travelgirl 3]

This may not be what you want to hear, but you really need to follow your surgeon's instructions. They don't give us those diets to torture us, it's to ensure that your band heals in place. If that doesn't happen properly, you are at a greater risk of a slip, and losing your band.

And before anyone comes on here and blasts me with the fact that their surgeon doesn't even require a post op diet, and all surgeon's orders are different, that IS true, but before you decide to not follow your surgeon's instructions, maybe you need to have a conversation with YOUR surgeon about WHY you've been given this particular set of instructions before you decide to go against his/her instructions.

Here's to your health, and the health of your band....

[restricted 0]

I had my surgery on 1/11. To be honest I feel physically great. My problem is trying follow the post surgery diet plan. I'm getting extremely hungry and am going off the recommended menu. I'm able to tolerate "regular" foods and not just "mushies". The Protein drinks were a big challenge because of the taste but I'm dealing witht hat. I think I'm gonna try that Protein Water that I've heard about.

Am I the only person out there who is "pushing the envelope" by eating food that is not recommended for at least another week? I'm doing fine. No gas, no vomiting, drinking plenty of fluids.

Can someone out there let me know if I'm being a complete fool or am I just progressing a little quicker? I just don't want reality to slap me in the face when I receive my first fill, if that makes sense. I'm nervous and wondering now if I am going to go back to my old habits and make the band ineffective.

Like the others have said, it isn't that you can't eat stuff you shouldn't. It is that you shouldn't be eating that stuff. The diet is to protect you and the band, not to punish you. I found the 2x protein Carnation Breakfast flavored as rich milk chocolate to be the most palatable of the drinks for me.

[MamaJava 1]

I have a really hard time believing that any real damage would be done. I mean if you look at the drastic difference in post-surgical "healing" diets, they are all so drastically different. I read all the time where folks are told to begin soft foods 1 week post-op. There are others who are on Clear Liquids for 2 weeks post-op. Others are on full liquids for 2 weeks post-op (like me) then move to puree for 2 weeks, then soft foods for 1 week. If some patients are allowed to begin soft & regular foods only 1 or 2 weeks out, then why are they not destroying their bands? If the healing diets are different for everybody, then whose bands are gonna be destroyed? Whose docs are right? Whose docs are wrong? Obviously those who are allowed to begin soft foods only 1 week post-op are fine and they haven't destroyed anything...so I'm not so sure these super-long "healing" diets are really even necessary. In fact, I think they are a joke.

HOWEVER...with that being said...I'm too afraid to break my docs rules. I don't think the healing diet I'm on is really necessary...not when I hear of other lap patients eating normally 2 weeks out and having no ill effects from it whatsoever. But, I'm not a doctor and just because I think this diet is a big joke, doesn't mean I'm gonna go against it either. I'm not sure why it varies so much from doctor to doctor, but it does. I guess just stick with what you've been told and don't push it. I highly doubt you'd do any damage, but that's just my medical background. I'm not your doctor.

[gkeyt 0]

I don't think it's helpful to think of the post op diet as a "joke". Surgeons disagree on how long it should last and how quickly it should progress, but the research on slips shows that any diet that prevents the stomach from doing the kind of maneuvers that it does when it is "grinding" real food for about 4 weeks helps to allow the stomach to heal adequately. The band is seated into a groove by then, the sutures heal completely, and then the stomach is ready to do some actual work of grinding with decreased risk of slips later. Most slips seem to happen more than a year out of surgery, not soon post op. So you can't really tell early on if your post op diet is helping or not. Yes, there is a lot of difference among the surgeons. Some surgeons don't believe the research about diet being related to slips, hence their willingness to progress to real food quickly post op, but most seem to and do some variation of this diet to optimize the stomach's healing.

That is my understanding of the rationale behind the post op diet that we all refer to as "bandster hell". It's not hell, but it is hard to stick to. You will do your body the best service by sticking to it and giving yourself the best chance at healing.

[HeatherA 1]

I had my surgery on 1/11. To be honest I feel physically great. My problem is trying follow the post surgery diet plan. I'm getting extremely hungry and am going off the recommended menu. I'm able to tolerate "regular" foods and not just "mushies". The Protein drinks were a big challenge because of the taste but I'm dealing witht hat. I think I'm gonna try that Protein Water that I've heard about.

It is for your safety and the success of your band that these rules are put into place. Please be careful. I know it's hard not to be tempted, but you must be strong.

Good luck to you!

[snowbird 2]

You're certainly not the only one, but why in the world would you risk later complications and band failure??? It's not that long, just follow the program. I would guess that almost all of us FELT like we could eat anything. this isn't something you can gauge by how you feel. You don't want to make the stomach move around by digesting solid foods while it just had something stitched into the side of it!

You already had a health care professional and lapband expert tell you what to do--your doctor. Why are you asking a bunch of people you don't know to validate what you are doing??

Yes, I'm being harsh on purpose. As I said to someone else, fear is good when it stops you from doing something stupid or dangerous.

[MamaJava 1]

I don't think it's helpful to think of the post op diet as a "joke". Surgeons disagree on how long it should last and how quickly it should progress, but the research on slips shows that any diet that prevents the stomach from doing the kind of maneuvers that it does when it is "grinding" real food for about 4 weeks helps to allow the stomach to heal adequately. The band is seated into a groove by then, the sutures heal completely, and then the stomach is ready to do some actual work of grinding with decreased risk of slips later. Most slips seem to happen more than a year out of surgery, not soon post op. So you can't really tell early on if your post op diet is helping or not. Yes, there is a lot of difference among the surgeons. Some surgeons don't believe the research about diet being related to slips, hence their willingness to progress to real food quickly post op, but most seem to and do some variation of this diet to optimize the stomach's healing.

That is my understanding of the rationale behind the post op diet that we all refer to as "bandster hell". It's not hell, but it is hard to stick to. You will do your body the best service by sticking to it and giving yourself the best chance at healing.

I wasn't trying to be helpful when I called it a joke. We all view things differently, and yes I do think 3 weeks of liquids is pretty extreme when some docs don't feel it is necessary at all. Is it hell? Eh. Not really hell. There is much worse that could be going on in our lives. It sucks pretty bad, and it's tough, but again I'm the type of gal who's just too afraid to venture away from what my doc tells me to do. Hopefully the OP will fall back into that mentality and get back on track and stick to the rules.

Best of luck to ya, OP. It's only a brief moment in time when you look at the grand scope of life. You'll survive it, as most band patients do.

[cinward2001 0]

Inconsistencies from one doctor to another are NOT good reasons to "push the envelope." Some doctors who perform LapBand procedures give their patients bypass instructions. Some doctors who perform LapBand procedures don't give their patients ANY instructions. Heck, there are just some doctors out there who shouldn't be doing any surgeries.

The consensus is that you should give your stomach 4-6 weeks to heal after surgery. If that's being overly cautious, it sure won't *cause* problems. But being overly optimistic (as in, I can eat anything right now!) *could* cause problems.

There will always be situations in which someone does something they shouldn't do and yet they don't suffer any negative consequences (such as drinking carbonated drinks). But getting banded isn't about continuing negative behaviors...it's about losing weight and getting healthy.

Cindy

[Anyalee 0]

I feel your pain. I also pushed my diet and hope everything will be okay. I didn't push it too far, and I never had any issues. I guess only time will tell if I did any harm to myself.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

It can take a couple years or 3 years for a band to slip. You will never know if you band slipped because it didn't heal right on your stomach from eating too soon. At least if you follow the post op diet, and you eventually slip, you will know you did everything right and it's not your fault that the band slipped. My doctor had me on 4 solid weeks of a liquid diet, and 2 weeks of mushies after that.