Help!

[gimamazin 0]

Hi I had my surgery 2 weeks ago and the dietitian quit the doctors office. :cursing:

I have so many questions and didn't know where to go. I just can't call the doctor for every little thing, although he answers all my questions, it's not the same.

I first went to an obesity surgery forum and they seemed to all be bypass surgeries. They don't seem to think too much of the lap-band.

I chose the lap-band because it looked like the right way to go for me. I don't regret it. Everyone I know who had the bypass couldn't eat certain foods because of dumping and other problems. They took a month to recover and I was back to work in 3 days.

I have lost about 10 pounds since the surgery and have not had my first adjustment yet. I'm very happy and don't really want the adjustment. I'm not very hungry and I haven't had any adverse effects. Well I did have a case of indigestion. I ate too large a piece of chicken and it felt like a rock in my stomach. Eventually it went down.

I was on pureed foods for the first week and soft foods this week. The brochure that they gave me from the manufacturer said that I was supposed to stay on pureed foods longer. What did you all do? Were you able to have regular coffee this soon? Does it have a bad effect? Are nuts not good to eat? Will aspirin harm my stomach? Are there any foods that I can't eat?

What happens next? Are adjustments hard to deal with?

I just don't know what to expect. I would appreciate any feedback you can give me.

I have been browsing the site and picked up so much info. I'm really glad to have found it.

Edited October 20, 2009 by gimamazin

[Apples2 19]

I would say to make that call to your doc's office. You are in the early stages and every doctor has his/her own set of rules for their patients. Insist on getting an appt. so that you can actually sit down and visit with your doc or his nurse...you have so many unanswered questions and should really get the answers from his office.

I hope by telling you to go back to your doc for answers will not deter you from coming back to LBT for support. Lapband Talk is a great place to come for support and interaction with other banders and I hope you will feel comfortable coming back time after time.

Wishing you a great LB journey!

[plain 12]

gim, this is not what you want to hear, but you REALLY need to ask your doctor most of these questions. If the doc's office gets tired of your questions (they shouldn't, because it's kind of their responsibility to field these questions), then they should at least be able to refer you to somebody that can answer your questions.

Having said that, here are some generalized answers:

The reason for the restricted diet is because your band is still healing. When you eat real food, it makes your stomach move. This movement can be bad for the healing process.....thus, the restricted diet. A lot of doctors have different specific schedules on when the diet can be advanced, so you should ask your doc what he wants you to do. You may not feel like you need an adjustment yet due to your stomach still being swolen, or you might feel some restriction just from having the band placed (I know a few folks in that situation).

Regarding foods that can be tolerated, everybody is different. It will take some time to learn which <nutritious> foods your band seems to like best. Regarding the aspirin, that really needs to be adressed by your doc.

[gimamazin 0]

Thanks for the speedy responses.

I have an appointment with my Dr. tomorrow and will ask him my questions.

I know that I'm not always going to hear what I want, but I'm here to hear what I need. (That's a lot of hears here, lol) Thank you for taking the time to give me an answer.

I'm totally focused on this journey and I want it to be successful. I guess that I'm afraid of doing something wrong and messing it up. I'm so tired of being fat. I've lost so much weight through the tears, only to put it back on and then some. I hope this is the key to keeping it off. I realize that I have a lot of work ahead. So many people think that this is an easy way out and don't understand the amount of dedication it takes to get to goal. I will not accept defeat. I want to be healthy and fit.