March Bandsters: MASTER THREAD

hopeinapril · December 22, 2008

Howdy!

NAME *******START WEIGHT *******CURRENT WEIGHT *******GOAL *******LBS. Lost

aJoneen............212............212............XXX............0

Fenton.............XXX............XXX............XXX............0

HarleyGirl.........XXX............XXX............XXX............0

Hopeinapril .......236............241............XXX............0

Hungry4help........XXX............XXX............XXX............0

Lynn1215...........174.5..........174.5..........XXX............0

NurseNiki..........229.8..........229.8..........190............0

Nycm00.............220............219............XXX...........-1

Potatie............229............229.....................

scrappy_friend.....170............170............150............0

SpecialK...........274............274............165............0

Sugarbean..........200............200............XXX............0

Tess415............294............294............289............0

WestCoastMom.......155............153.5..........140..........1.5

nycm00 · December 23, 2008

I REALLY am having a hard time understanding something....I know, another complaining post from Chirstine....sorry... I am stressed out right now which seems to really tighten my band. If this is how my stomach reacts now, why did it not do this pre-band?

If my body's reaction to stress is to cause inflammation in my stomach, thus causing the band to seem tighter, why was I not one of those people who lost weight when stressed rather than the one who gained with stress? I just don't understand.

I am really starting to believe maybe the band will not work out for me. It is helping me to lose weight, but I am miserable. There are days I cannot really eat much of anything then there are others where I can eat everything. The days I can't eat much are OK...I look at them as days to lose weight and that's ultimatly a good thing, but I'm not sure that's so great for the rest of my life.

Will it change? Will it ever get better? Yesterday morning I had two bites of egg at 8:30 and then was uncomfortable until about 2:00. I then had 2 bites of (very mild...not so tasty, so as not to irritate my tummy) chilli and was uncomfortable again until 7:00 when I had a 1/4 cup serving of rattatuoi.

So is this it? Is this how your day goes? I have 4.5cc in my band right now. I had 7cc in at one point and was having no problem for 2 months, then BAM tighter, tighter, tighter until I could not even swallow Water and needed an unfill. I am just frustarted and feel a bit alone in this. I know I should just suck it up and appreciate those days of eating nothing and think of the weight I will lose, but in the past 2 months I have lost 1 pound!! While feeling like poop!

OK, complaint finished.

Christine

SugarBean · December 23, 2008

Christine - I sort of feel like you. My last fill was a disaster. I got to the point that I could not eat anything, just liquids. I got an unfill. I am doing much better, but I might as well not think about eating anything before noon. Some days I am much tighter than others and it is frustrating. I want that full feeling not that stuck feeling!!!!

I guess it is aggravating that this might be how it is for the rest of my life. Although, I have had wonderful results, I am just tired of being stuck. I never had anything stuck until my 3rd fill. I guess I was thinking the whole thing would be a breeze.

BTW - eggs are out for me anytime of the day. They must be a dense food or something. They get stuck on me all the time. And I love eggs any way you can cook them - good source of Protein too.

HarleyGirl · December 23, 2008

((((Christine)))))

That doesn't sound completely normal to me.....I do know my band is a little fickle and more restriction some times than others.....and there are days I have stomach pain...but not to the extent that you do....you poor thing! I have far more good days than bad days.

I know you've been doctoring a lot....what does your surgeon say about it?

Sending you good thoughts for a successful resolution~!

lynnt1215 · December 23, 2008

STRESS - my band reacts to my stress... I can not get anything in, even liquid if I am super stressed...and other times, just being a little upset will cause a small reaction

westcoastmom · December 23, 2008

Christine - I am sorry you are having a difficult time. I can't offer you any advice or explanations, but I do send you good thoughts. I guess fear of this is one of the reasons I have kept Fluid out of my band - you are braver than me to give it your all and have really worked hard.

The only small thing I might offer is a bit of my experience. Although I don't have the restriction and sense of fullness that many of you have, I have tried to change many of my habits. I have found that as I have lost weight, my body's responses have changed as well. So even though I might not be eating the very small amounts or very small calories, I am still either losing slowly or at least maintaining weight loss. I have found that if I limit too much, it does not make me lose any more weight. With a bit more food, I have more energy and actually lose more.

I wonder if your body and band might need to function with just a bit less Fluid in than most? I remember reading some success stories from people who did not have much fluid in at all. Maybe at the very least, have a bit less in would give you and your body a bit of a respite to feel better. I wonder if being able to get a bit more food would give you more energy and even enable you to be able to lose weigh more easily?

I wish you well - I know this must be hard. WCM

lynnt1215 · December 23, 2008

Christine - I am sorry you are having a difficult time. I can't offer you any advice or explanations, but I do send you good thoughts. I guess fear of this is one of the reasons I have kept Fluid out of my band - you are braver than me to give it your all and have really worked hard.
The only small thing I might offer is a bit of my experience. Although I don't have the restriction and sense of fullness that many of you have, I have tried to change many of my habits. I have found that as I have lost weight, my body's responses have changed as well. So even though I might not be eating the very small amounts or very small calories, I am still either losing slowly or at least maintaining weight loss. I have found that if I limit too much, it does not make me lose any more weight. With a bit more food, I have more energy and actually lose more.

I wonder if your body and band might need to function with just a bit less Fluid in than most? I remember reading some success stories from people who did not have much fluid in at all. Maybe at the very least, have a bit less in would give you and your body a bit of a respite to feel better. I wonder if being able to get a bit more food would give you more energy and even enable you to be able to lose weigh more easily?

I wish you well - I know this must be hard. WCM

I do not have much fill in my 14cc band, so guess I have lots of room to go if I ever need more fill. At this point I am just about right. Go to the DR next Tuesday and will most likely not get any additional fill..

ajoneen · December 23, 2008

No that does not sound good. It sounds like you might have some kind of irritation at the top of your stomach that is being inflamed because the band is there to keep food at the top of the stomach. I don't want to freak you out but perhaps the band is eroding and causing the inflammation. (you haven't had any blood in the stool or coughed up blood, right? I don't know how they would check if it was eroding from the outside in)

No one thing works the same in everyone. Maybe the band isn't for you and that sucks big time. I don't think you should be suffering so much. Given you've had ALOT of stuff to stress about lately, but still....

I think staying off the dairy for a while is a good idea. That might do the trick(lets all pray hard). Folks do become allergic to stuff later in life.

You're not nuts, something is going on. It might take time to figure it out but Im sure you'll get a handle on it soon. ((HUGS)) to you.

Fenton · December 23, 2008

Christine, it's clearly not working as it should be. The combination of pain and inadequate food intake isn't what you signed up for. What does Dr. Ren say? Maybe you need a significant unfill and a month or so to get over the inflammation.

The other thing is this: your food intake generally has to have been better than it was in your sad example of the little bites of egg and chili killing you, otherwise I think you would have HAD to have lost more than a couple of pounds in this time. Are you prioritizing your Proteins, getting in your Vitamins? I'm worried that poor nourishment might affect your healing.

Really, though, it's not right, it's not working how it should. You've got to see the team, and demand that they fix it.

nycm00 · December 23, 2008

I have an appointment scheduled for next month for an esophogram and another meeting with my surgeon. She has me cutting out the dairy until I see her. It's really hard to do. All the whey Protein products are milk Protein based and that's all I have been using when I get too tight. eggs seem to be out...no yogurt or cheese. So on the days I am really tight I don't get much protein at all. I am going to buy some soy milk and make some smoothies from that because today I have only had a cup of Soup so far. It's the stress and it will jump start my weight loss again, but it does not make for a happy Christine.

It's so bizarre because on Friday when I saw my surgeon I was about to beg for a small fill. She did not want to do one because she still did not like what I was telling her about my occasional pain and discomfort level. She's really concerned that I may have an ulcer and need a stronger medicine than what I am on now. If the esophogram is negative she will have me go for an endoscopy.

The Holidays are almost over and my DH has been home for 3 days (driving me nuts) He leaves for Hong Kong on Friday. He'll be gone for 3 weeks which is good in many ways but bad in others (3 kids on my own, a job, a house) Anyway...stress does not end...I have to learn to deal with it better apparently. I just have to keep on being happy for the loss of appetite for however long it lasts and find some alternative sources of protein for those tight days.

Thank you all for your well wishes and support.

Christine

Tess415 · December 24, 2008

Just a thought... may be you need your gall bladder checked out. The very act of eating could trigger an attack each time you eat.

Sorry to hear your miserable. It sounds like more than just a tight band.

lynnt1215 · December 24, 2008

Christine - sorry to hear you are having such issues. I think considering the Gall Bladder may be a good idea. as well as the esophogram that is set up.

Good luck and hope you feel better.

Don't you wish you were alson going to Hong Kong with your hubby?

HarleyGirl · December 24, 2008

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas!

We're spending the evening with friends and then doing the standard Christmas run about/feeding frenzy tomorrow!

It will be interesting to see if my MIL makes a comment about the weight loss. Christmas has been her favorite time to remind me that I've gained weight in the past.....we shall see!

It's most definitely a White Christmas here, we had a ton of snow yesterday and prediction of more today.....it's pretty, but I'm sure glad I don't have to drive very far!

Much love and success to all of you!

thin2bme · December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas to everyone!! I've been reading but just not been posting lately, but even with the holidays the past month, I've managed to lose 6 pounds. I thought I'd jump on the weekly weigh-in thing you guys put together. I usually weigh in on Monday but will start weighing in on Fridays starting this week. For now, I'll post my weight from Monday :thumbup: I'm hoping this will help keep me accountable.

I had my last fill (# 5) about 5 weeks ago and I'm starting to get hungry a lot and think I'm eating more than I should be, so I'm contemplating setting up an appt for fill #6.

We are having our family celebration this afternoon and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.

Happy Holidays everybody!!

Here's my starting weight for the log. :sad: