Would It Kill Me....

[*susan* 1,709]

WasA, Steph and Faith, thank you so much for your support. Faith, thank you especially for your wonderful post explaining in detail what happens with digestion and why the liquid diet is so important. I am truly hoping that will help our newer bandsters understand why we are so adamant that they follow their doctors advice.

I know many of our fellow bandsters on here are nurses. I also realize that every surgeon does not have the same post-op dietary guidelines. However, just because they don't and someone is a nurse, that doesn't make it ok to say sure, you can choose to go against what your doctor says because my doctor says something different and I am just fine, even though I have only been banded for a month. Because lets face it, you do not have that bandsters medical records in front of you, you do not know their medical, psychological and nutritional history. So, how can you comfortably say, "I was ok, so you should be too"? And, you may be ok, right now, but how about long term effects?

I think the bottom line is we, as moderators and, like the other posters have said, older bandsters who have been on LBT for a long time and seen the heartache people who have slipped and/or eroded bands care about the newer bandsters. We want to see you succeed. And, the best way to do that is to follow your doctors orders. We are all happy to share our experiences with one another. But, for the health of yourself and your band, if you are considering doing something that specifically goes against what your surgeon has prescribed, please, PLEASE just call them and discuss it with them. They truly do know what is best for you.

Edited April 8, 2008 by susan4794

[sharona 2]

I guess I'm not understanding the reason for this blog. When asked a question it appears to me that we are all obligated to say what we are doing. As I stated before, my surgeon had a different approach than others so I did go with what my surgeon had advised. We were asked what others were doing.....obviously no one is validating people to go against medical advice...but it obvious that all physicians do have a different approach. So don't make us out to be the bad guys when we are asked our opinions and then give them. I wouldn't "advise" anyone to do anything. I certainly don't have a problem telling people what my surgeon advised me to do who has been doing this for a long time also.

Its great to get information from those who have been there done that and can alert us to reasons behind that information. As stated before we all have different health issues, different weights to lose and different approaches. Stating what our "program plan" has been is not a validation that someone else should change their "program plan". Lots of input here.....all good

sharon:)

[faithmd 14]

...obviously no one is validating people to go against medical advice...but it obvious that all physicians do have a different approach. So don't make us out to be the bad guys when we are asked our opinions and then give them. I wouldn't "advise" anyone to do anything. sharon:)

Wait, but you did advise the OP they'd be "just fine"-see below:

yes I started eating creamed Soups, cottage cheese and yogurt without a problem. and 4 weeks our I am eating rice/ chicken/ tuna I've stayed away from breads, I do eat scrambled eggs too. I get my first fill on the 16th. Good luck to you you'll be just fine

And others also said the OP would be fine to not follow their doc's advice, this one below specifically did it because they read it here that it was okay for others, so they decided it was okay for them! :

I started mushys early and I am fine. Just once a day. I just need a little extra. I decided to because I read other banders starting mushy's after one week. I made a chicken Soup where I pureed all the veggies and broth. It made a nice thick Soup that hits the spot. Of course I am only 12 days post op so I am not an expert.

Another who said "didn't kill me" and advised "portion size" and to "chew" :

I started 'real' foods early myself - didn't kill me. Just remember portion size (VERY Important) and chew, chew, chew!

----------

...All doctors have their own script of what they want you to do....and all of those patients lived just fine...

Do you know that for sure, that they all "lived just fine"? How many have slipped or eroded? Do we really know? Absolutely follow your OWN docs advice, but as we have said many times before, people come here to try to get someone to validate bad behavior so they feel "okay" about going against their doc's orders.

I am starting to get worried hearing about all these people on liquids for so long. I was only instructed to do liquids for the day after surgery. The day after that I started pureed foods. I am supposed to do that for 2 weeks and then introduce "soft foods" for the next two weeks. I was banded on March 25 and, thank God, have had no ill effects to date. I was eating yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna, and scrambled eggs the first week!

The post-op diet is clearly an individual thing with an approach that varies from doctor to doctor and from patient to patient. Like everyone else is saying, ask your doctor first, but in the end, you should have a program that you will be able to do comfortably. Good luck.

You know what, I'm not at all comfortable with eating the day after surgery, but again, I'm not a band surgeon. So I cannot comment officially one way or the other. I can only say it doesn't hurt to go longer on liquids or mushies.

re: "you should have a program you will be able to do comfortably" sorry, but I gotta say that's a load of hooie. This is HARD, it is NOT EASY, and we should not give up safety and proper healing for our own "comfort." If we wanted the "easy" way out, I think we would have gotten the DS or RNY (though that's not a cakewalk, either).

I agree.....I'm a nurse and I can tell you every physician appears to be different for the same surgery...my surgeon two weeks out I was on chicken salad, tuna salad etc. Moderators need to keep things in focus.....all physicians' have their own "thing" but remember we all had the same surgery.

sharon;)

Actually we all didn't have the same surgery. We may have all had some sort of adjustable gastric band placed, but we all didn't have the same surgery, there are more factors here than merely a surgeon's preference for diet. It may be different patient to patient based on factors like what kind of band was placed, scar tissue s/he had to go through to get in, hiatal hernias that had to be repaired, etc...

I really am not trying to start a fight with you, I (we) have seen this too many times and it is getting more and more frequent where folks are trying to validate their poor post-op compliance. It is not as simple as saying, "here's what I did and why, but do it your doc's way" because people like StarbuxQueen above will still take others' experiences and use them to make it acceptable to break their own doc's orders.

Often I think surgeon's do not explain WHY we need to follow a certain diet, they just say to do it and expect us to follow blindly. I personally need reasoning behind it and so I explain it to others thinking it may help them, too.

I just feel the need to impress upon all of us that it is important to remember we are all different and we do have to be very careful of how we respond when folks seem to want to "break the rules" in their post-op diets. We cannot say anything that will validate them, or we risk them misunderstanding us and not following their surgeon's advice.

And that is the reason for this post.

Edited April 8, 2008 by faithmd

[emb5126 0]

wow.. everyones directions ARE alot different. i'm from springfield, ma and my doctor's instructions are: one day of Water only, 7 days of Clear Liquids and Protein drinks, 7 days of one mushy item a day and Protein Drinks and then progressively move up to real foods.

after seeing this, i would DEFINATELY call your doctors office. it doesn't hurt to ask.

[Susanbee 0]

I was banded 4/4...my dr sent me home on a liquid diet...i can have any liquids, including creamed Soup, milk,yogurt, Jello

[losingjusme 12]

ok, so im stealing some of faith's wisdom from another post.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/675012-post7.html

That is a popular question:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/how-ma...mushies-30582/ (How many days before Mushies...)

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/how-s...hy-foods-1187/ (how soon for mushy foods?)

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/why-d...post-op-44909/

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/how-l...hy-food-27508/ (How long before you were eating mushy-food?)

Does it matter? It seems we are trying to either trying to validate our cheating on OUR doc's post-op diet ("See, someone else can have mushy food in three days, I was okay to eat those mashed potatoes, etc...") or it is to see if others have cheated with us, or it is find other to commiserate with ("My doc is sooo strict, yours is too? Thank goodness someone else understands.").

Really, does it matter? You should be STICKING like GLUE to what YOUR DOCTOR (or nutritionist) told you to do. I wasn't allowed mushies until after three weeks. I could do pureed after two weeks. I think. I don't honestly remember and it's only been six months. See how it fades? It seems awful right now (and it was, that part I DO remember), but this is your life and your BAND. Stick to the diet, please. PLEASE do not get jealous of what someone else can do and think it's okay for you to do it, too.

And please please please do not fall into the trap of "I chewed it really well, it went down fine, I feel fine, so it is okay." It's NOT okay. See Wendell's thread in the FAQ section about how the band really works for a good description of why eating early is bad. A year or two down the line someone may have a slip (they rarely know what causes slips), then I wonder if they think back to when they had that piece of pizza "chewed really well" and wonder if that contributed to it.

I honestly believe that a)surgeons are sick to death of hearing us food addicts (I'm including myself here, otherwise I wouldn't be fat) whine and cry and piss and moan about how we can't possibly go a week or two or three on liquids so rather than have us cheat and eat something like fried chicken or pizza or steak they relented and went for the lesser of the evils and gave us the "mushy" phase a litle early. b)the other thought is the surgical technique has improved over the years and the sutures are a bit better and the new AP band and the Swedish band (Realize in the US) and the Midband are wider bands and thus should stay in place better and have less of a tendency to slip. But do we know that for sure yet? Hoe long term are the studies (and are there any large studies that demonstrate that shorter liquid and mushy phases do NOT contirbute to band complications?).

I think it NEVER hurts to go a bit longer on each of the stages, especially the liquids stage. It gives your stomach a chance to heal and from scar tissue around the band to hold it in place (they can only suture on the front of the stomach, not the back, scars must form to hold the back in place) and to allow a "groove" to form for the band to settle in. The more you eat of food with more substance (yes even if you chew it really well) the more churning your stomach does to produce acids and enzymes to break that food down. Think about it. You walk into a bakery, you smell something wonderful, your mouth starts watering. You've started that digestive process. It's your body reacting to preparing for food. If you eat something you have to chew and chew, the body is producing lots of enzymes to break down that food. Producing those acids and enzymes causes (to a degree) some movement of the stomach muscle. Now I'm not saying it's in there running a race, but keeping the movements of the stomach to a minimum in the early days after banding is never a bad thing.

[Southern Missy 1]

Moderators and especially FaithMD...

I have been following this post as I hope to be having surgery in the next few months. I wanted to thank each of you for your thoughts, opinions, statements. This is definitely one of those cases where the love of food has to take a backseat to our well-being because it is not only for now but in the future. Each of you gave an insight which is priceless to me. I intend to be successful with the band and without information such as this I'm not sure I could be.

I liken it somewhat to disciplining my children. Yeah, I could let them do what they want to do day in and day out because it is so much easier for me but what happens next year and the next? As they get older, the things they want to do changes tremendously and, quite honestly, their respect for someone who doesn't set boundaries diminishes as well.

I'm not saying it is going to be easy but I know how desperately I have wanted to lose weight and 3-4 weeks in the whole scheme of things just doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice.

Thanks again, ladies, you are all JEWELS in my opinion and I appreciate your candor!! :thumbs_up:

Edited April 8, 2008 by Southern Missy

[StarbuxQueen 0]

Ok, I think this is getting out of hand. The last posting really hurt my feelings. I am struggling to get out of this post op phase. I am emotional and we were just trying to discuss and get through it together. A few of us at the same point in our lap band journey. NONE of us would ever wish to harm wickman2617. We just stated what we did. None of us suggested wickman2617 go out and get some steak we just stated what we did. I agree Dr. should be contacted. I know I just stated that I made a pureed veggie Soup and had it once a day at day 10. I certainly hope I caused no damage. And frankly, I wasn't as anxious and stressed until this thread. I have contacted my dr. and he said I am fine, but I do need to calm down.

[faithmd 14]

Ok, I think this is getting out of hand. The last posting really hurt my feelings. I am struggling to get out of this post op phase. I am emotional and we were just trying to discuss and get through it together. A few of us at the same point in our lap band journey. NONE of us would ever wish to harm wickman2617. We just stated what we did. None of us suggested wickman2617 go out and get some steak we just stated what we did. I agree Dr. should be contacted. I know I just stated that I made a pureed veggie Soup and had it once a day at day 10. I certainly hope I caused no damage. And frankly, I wasn't as anxious and stressed until this thread. I have contacted my dr. and he said I am fine, but I do need to calm down.

First and foremost, I want to apologize if I inadvertantly hurt your feelings. I did not bash you, I merely provided your post and highlighted what you said to show how destructive we can all be to ourselves (I'm including myself in this). I beg to differ that this is getting out of hand, this is what many people need to hear and read. See the post above yours. I know when someone esle wrote things similar to what we are writing, it helped me stay on my post-op diet. It helps to know why and sometimes it helps to have the point driven home time and time again. This is serious business, it could be your band.

I know no one would EVER wish harm to another person here. And we who have been there do not wish harm to any of you, either. That is why we take the time (and believe me, it takes a lot of time for me to type what I do-I'm not that fast, nor am I very accurate) to write these things and point out the things that are said to you.

We all want you to be successful. I want ME to be successful, I'm not right now and I could use a swift kick in the pants re: my simple carb intake but that's for another thread I'm sure I'll start soon.

It is soooo easy to fall into the trap of complacency we were all in that made us fat. Simply put we didn't have to work at it. It was easy. We sat on our butts for the most part and we ate what we should not have (there are rare cases where it is something endocrine, but that is VERY infrequent). Lets face it, it is HARD to lose weight, even with this band. It is ESPECIALLY hard to be in Bandster Hell. Everyone of us who is posting about why you shouldn't ramp up your post-op diet has been there.

We DO know what it feels like, we know what it's like to be all emotional and wonky and depressed. I know that it was very hard, I cried some days because I couldn't figure out why I wanted this band that I worked so hard to get, out of me. I was desperate to chew, I wanted something of substance, I am addicted to food. I am an addict. But I had to control that addiction for a few weeks to allow this tool that I now have to heal so that it can help me overcome this addiction. Like alcoholics or drug abusers, we will always have this addiction, we need to learn how to overcome it and use the tools we have to get a handle on it.

One of those tools is the band and we all want new bandsters to keep theirs for as long as possible. That is why we will always speak out on threads like this.

I know no one is saying to the OP to eat steak or taffy (thanks, Wasa), but a lot less can be just as destructive.

Edited April 8, 2008 by faithmd

[faithmd 14]

ok, so im stealing some of faith's wisdom from another post.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/675012-post7.html

I had almost forgotten about that post. It was one of my better rants, wasn't it?

Thanks for your support, C!

[sharona 2]

Ok everyone needs to take a deep breath....we are here to support each other. I think this topic has been discussed enough. We need to move on now. I get the point and they are very good points.....mia culpa mia culpa mia culpa.....

sharon:

[coltonwade 27]

I believe people are asking us our opinions of what we may have done. This isn't advice to anyone to do it. The reason for the board is to get that honesty. Should people follow their physicians' advice? Of course but obviously it is clear that all physicians' have different approaches to the same surgery. That is the point...

sharon:)

NO Honestly people are asking for PERMISSION !!! They are asking for permission to screw things up !! Not all but some newbies , all they have to hear is " SURE i did it you will be fine " And that is ALL The need to hear. So people coming on here saying that is DANGEROUS !

I dont get people paying money for surgery from a DOCTOR Then coming on a message board and asking MEDICAL ADVICE ??

CALL YOUR DOCTOR !!!! That's what we pay them for !!!

Mindy

[SHARONCRIST1955 0]

I went to to dr. today. I diced up chicken and told my dr. he told me that the band could slip. I will be back on puree. I am also taking Protein Drinks. puree veggies. Only 2 more weeks to go then I will be to go to chicken, turkey, To me it is not worth the band slipping. Paid alot to have this surgery. Dont want it to goof it up.

[steph_co 9]

I knew there was a reason I liked you, FaithMD. :thumbup:

[trystelle 3]

IMHO=This whole Lapband adventure is about taking care of ourselves in the best way we can. We have already burdened our bodies with years of excess weight and associated comorbidities. It is time to make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle. An important component of this is regular medical care and heeding your physician's advice. I know that I plan to do as much as I can to make my lapband journey the best it can be. It's not about self-denial, but about self love. :thumbup: