dawns

Hi Robyn, I also have gastritis and have had it for many years after my daughter was born. Mine was ibuprofen induced. I have controlled mine by taking Prilosec OTC. Mine tends to come and go with stress, certain foods and drinks such as orange juice or pop, acidic foods and drinks basically. I cannot take any medications that are called NSAIDS - ibuprofen, aspirin, Aleeve, Advil. It has gotten much better since being banding and I stopped drinking pop when I was banded. Once you get past the first initial acute phase it will get better. It can be quite painful so I feel for you. Hope you get to feeling better soon. Take care, Dawn

Hi Revy, I couldn't get it to work either. Disappointed!

Have you thought about calling the OCC and talking to Dr. So or Dr. Acosta? Since you were banded there they could certainly be very helpful as to what may be going on.

I was told that the 4cc band can actually hold more than 4cc. Maybe you should call the OCC and get their opinion. dawn

Hi Kimmizing, Wow sounds like you have had quite a ride with your band. Sorry you are having so much trouble. First I would like to say that I absolutely do think you should call the OCC and talk to Dr. So or Dr. Acosta and explain to them the whole situation, money issue and all. And I would suggest writing it down on paper before you call in the order of what has taken place so that you are able to give the whole picture. They may say that they want you to come back but I also know that they will give you other things that they will want you to try to help alleviate what might be going on. They are very patient and helpful. Every time I have called I have felt so relieved and have asked myself why didn't I call sooner. Secondly, whether whatever is going on with your band is "normal" or not, if it were me and I was thinking something isn't right, I would sure want to get it figured out sooner than before it might be too late. We spent a lot of money for our bands and on ourselves to not take care of the band and ourselves. I hope that you get some relief and please keep us posted on what you find out. In the meantime you might want to just stick to liquids until you are able to get through to the doctor. Good luck, dawn

Hi Zoey, I would agree with Lisa on seeing Dr. Ortiz, if you have the funds to make that happen. If not maybe it is time to see a different doctor here in the states such as an infection control or wound management doctor. Something is not right. Have you ever been tested for latex allergy? Please keep us posted on what becomes of your situation. Take care, Dawn

Hi Zoey, I am a nurse and I am wondering if your doctor has talked about sending you to a infection control doc? If not you might think about seeing what your doctors opinion is on seeing one. Is the doctor taking care of you your surgeon who did the lapband surgery or is him or her your primary care doctor that you see for any type of illness? Also where did you have your band placed, in the USA or out of the country? Also you said your doctor cultured the site, I am assuming they cultured for staph? I am just curious. Hope you find some relief, dawn

Hi Pina, Were you banded at the OCC? If it were me I would probably call and talk to the fill doc there (usually that it Dr. So). If you weren't banded there I would call your doctor where you were banded. Probably all is normal and your body is trying to adjust to what has happened to it. You can do some heat to your port site to help with discomfort in your stomach and port area. Are you drinking lots of juice to help get your liquids in? If so then you probably might want to back off of that since juice can give you diarrhea. Gas is usually an issue for most people also which moving and walking will help with that. Everything is still swollen in there so it is not uncommon to have that tightening feeling in your stomach area. Hope you feel better soon. dawn

Sabrina, Is the hotel on the San Diego side of the border? And they provided free shuttle to the clinic? thanks dawn

Jenya, Hi and welcome. Your questions are great but unfortunately everyone is different so it would be a little difficult to give you all the answers. I would suggest that you just read as much as you can on the forum and you will start to see some patterns of what most people go through with the band. I will answer that I have not ever once regretted getting my band placed. I would not be 54 pounds less without it. There are however frustrating times with the band but the positives far out weigh the frustrating times. I remember wanting to know all the unknowns that were out there before I was banded also, but until you go through it and truly experience everything that goes with it will you get your answers. I am a year out and I am still learning this bandster process! Good luck to you and congratulations on making the decision to have a happier healthier life. dawn

Sending good thoughts your way. I am sure that you will get all your questions answered when you talk to Dr. So on Monday. I find him to be so helpful. dawn

Hi Babe, I just recently had a check up at the OCC. I am one year and 2 months since being banded. While I was at the OCC I had the opportunity to weigh on Dr. Mirandas scale. I have lost 54 since being banded. I talked to both her and Dr. So about how much I have lost and if I am on track. They both said that in the first year of being banded most people lose 50% of the weight, after that they can expect to lose 25% give or take, of the last 50% and then the last of the weight in the 3rd year. They also said that this pattern is more the norm than the exception. It made me feel much better about my 54 pounds lost because I was also feeling like I was losing way too slow. After having that conversation with them I am feeling more like I have been pretty successful so far and know that I will just keep plugging along to take the rest off. The biggest thing I have learned from this is this is not a race and it is very easy to read posts on here and think everyone else is doing "better" than you are. NOT TRUE. Everyone is so different and their bodies react and lose differently. There will be people on here that will lose very quickly and that is great for them, but there are more people on here that lose at a slower pace and are still as equally successful. Keep your chin up and keep plugging away. dawn

Sabrina, I 100% agree with your post. You are so very right. I was at 3.2 and not losing anything. Now I am 1.85 and losing again, slowly, but I haven't been the best at my choices the last week. You look great and congrats on being so close to goal. dawn

If you go to the OCC website and pull down the tab of "complications" and or "aftercare" it will tell you in there that only being able to eat a very small amount and not losing is a sign of being too tight. I was too tight for 3 - 4 months, only able to eat 3 bites at a time and needing to spit immediately after and only lost 2 pounds during that time. Had to have an unfill after becoming very swollen and having pain. After I had my unfill and finally got the swelling down I was able to eat 1/3 of what I would normally eat before being banded, I have started losing weight again. I just got back from going to the OCC to have everything checked out since it is 1 month past my one year anniversary of having my band. Dr. So confirmed that a person is too tight if you can only eat 2 -3 bites of food. Please don't put your band in jeopardy. Call the OCC and talk to the doctors - they are so very helpful. Good luck and keep us posted. dawn

About a 2 months ago I realized that I was too tight after a long journey of about 4 months of not losing anything. I never PB'd but I would slime with everything I ate and would only be able to eat 2 -3 bites of food every meal. When I started having trouble with liquids I knew I needed an unfill. I called Dr. So and spoke with him on the phone and he confirmed my thinking and stated that I needed to get in for an unfill. He also highly encouraged having it done under fluoro. I went to the surgeon office that has done my fills and the PA took out 1.5 and refused to do the fluoro. I also tried to get her to take most of the fluid out just to be on the safe side knowing that I was going to try and go back to the OCC soon, but she refused and left 1.85 in. I left being worried that I was still too tight but thought I would go back if needed. I knew that I was very swollen and bloated so did 6-7 days of liquids and then mushies. Did great with that and thought that I was on my way to getting better. Was able to eat solid foods fine for about a week. Then I got a stomach virus - did not throw up but was very nauseated, bad headache and one bout of diarrhea. (My daughter had the same thing I had about 2 days after me so I know for sure it was a virus and not a symptom of being too tight). The nausea lingered with that virus for about 4 days. I went back on liquids and mushie food just to make sure I would hopefully avoid swelling again. Started feeling much better but started noticing a weird "pain/irritation" near and around my port site, but it didn't feel port related, it felt intestine related, if that makes sense. I called Dr. So and he thought that I was having some residual issues from the stomach virus so back on liquids. I did the liquids and again started feeling much better but the "irritation/pain" was less frequent but never went completely away with a pattern of coming and going never any worse or better -- just there. Sometimes I notice it when I eat and sometimes it happens even when I haven't eaten anything. It lasts for about 5-10 seconds, sometimes longer and then it quits. I thought it might be gas but now I am not so sure because now it is happening more frequently and lasts a little bit longer. I am pretty sure that I am not swollen because I don't feel that awful bloating that I felt when I was swollen and I can eat solid foods now just fine. I can even eat solid food for breakfast which I haven't done for 4 months, it was always a protein shake. And I have enough restriction that I have started to finally lose again. I have been stuck between 211 and 213 for the longest time. Today I am 207. In the meantime I got my passport and bought a plane ticket to go back to OCC just to have everything checked out. I leave tomorrow and have my appt. on Thursday. I am very nervous that during that approx. 3-4 months of being too tight something has happened to harm something. The weird thing about the being too tight is that for me it was a gradual thing, it was never anything where I would get a fill and the next day know for sure that I was way too tight. It was a slow and gradual process, so I don't really know for sure how long I was actually too tight. So as maybe you can imagine my mind is in overdrive. What if I have erosion or a partial slip or whatever but I am pretty worried, which is not helping anything with my band. Today I feel much tighter than I have for the last 3-4 weeks. I am hoping that it is stress related. I don't like to fly and always get stressed with flying. I hate leaving my kids and animals (single mom) even though I know they will be fine. And when I get back it will be announced at my work that I will be taking over a new job that is supervising more people and being in charge of a busy clinic. (lots of stress). I really don't want to have a complete unfill but I am starting to think that is where I am headed. And if that is the worst that happens from this then it is what it is. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that maybe I will come out of this with a clean bill of health but I don't know. That pain/irritation is really starting to worry me. I would really appreciate some words of support and encouragement. And I know this is a big long book but thanks for bearing with me. I really have no one else to say all of this too who would understand anything that I said. I will keep you all updated after I see Dr. So or Dr. Acosta on Thursday.

I had mine out 9 years ago. Once it was gone I was amazed at how much better I felt. I had a pretty quick recovery time and was good to go. You will do fine. dawn

Gallstones are pretty common and can be associated with rapid weight loss. CottonwoodAZ is correct, your doctor may do an ultasound of your upper abdominal area. It doesn't hurt and you will see pretty quickly if you have a lot of gallstones sitting in there. Good luck and let us know how it goes. dawn

Great post Shelby! I think you said it wonderfully. dawn

Chocolate! Have to have one or two mini pieces every day. I also make a chocolate peanut butter smoothie every morning. Love it. 1 cup skim milk 1 tbsp peanut butter 1 scoop vanilla protein powder 1 tbsp benefiber 2 tsps of Nestle Quick chocolate powder 4 ice cubes Mix in blender. Tastes like a chocolate peanut butter milk shake. I will have to try the pudding shake. dawn

=D> Welcome! and Congrats

Hi Sabrina, I actually had that surgery done along with a total hysterectomy after being banded. I was banded on Sept. 1, 08, and had the other Nov 24, 08. Like Shelby said just make sure that you are not already too tight before having the surgery as you will need protein and good nutrition to heal. I didn't focus so much on losing during my recovery, I focused more on good nutrition for healing. It took six weeks for full recovery with the hysterectomy. You should recover much much quicker if they are only doing the TVT. They gave me percocet and I didn't have any trouble getting it down. Just make sure you have some food with it. You also will have to make sure and get in a lot of liquids as they will want you to go to the bathroom every two hours to keep your bladder going. Good luck and let us know how you do. If have some other questions feel free to PM me, I would be more than happy to help. Dawn

Hope you are feeling better! I agree, if you haven't already called, call the OCC. They have been so very helpful every time I have called. Please let us know how you are doing. dawn

Stormy, I am glad everything turned out ok for you. How scary! dawn

Hi Tadpoles, I had my surgery OCC also, but I go to Dr. Malley of Malley Surgical Weight Loss Center for my fills. He is in Mission. I like him but I still would not have had my surgery any place else but OCC. Good luck and sorry to hear that you had such a horrible experience with the Doc at KUMED. Take care and keep up posted, dawn

Red, You should not be having pain with liquids. I would call the OCC docs and tell them everything you described on your post and see what they say. If you are having pain you could be swollen and each time you try to add anything to it, it could be making it worse. Keep us updated on what you find. dawn