AngelaAnn

A question for you--every time she has a fill do they pull out all of the saline before the give her more? Is all of the previous fills saline still there? If it's not, then she might have a port leak which probably wasn't on the xray the showed the doctor. Did your daughter actually drink the barium and see how fast/slow the liquid was going down? Showing an xray doesn't seem the same as actually seeing the barium swallow in process which is more like a "video." Also, to make you feel better, I still have a problem with the "head hunger" and sugar so, I've only lost 35 pounds since I had the band put in--in August of 2008.

Hi, I'm no expert and these are just my opinions/suggestions and I had my band done in Mexico and it only holds 4.0 cc's and have 3.0cc's (after 3 fills since Oct.08) in it now and some days I have restriction and others I don't but I would definitely get your daughter's next fill done under flouroscopy as they can not only visualize the band and port, but also see if she stretched her pouch out. If the pouch is stretched, it is only fixable with more surgery. She also might have a leak somewhere in the port area. Anyway you do it, flouroscopy is the way to go--if nothing else to make sure everything is okay. The reason the fill doctor haven't been agressive with fills I think is because when fills are done blind, they can't visualize how fast or slow the liquid/food is going through the stoma and so err on the side of caution with small fills.

Even though this forum is through the OCC not everyone on here was banded by them and other doctors have different post-op diets that include mushy food, etc. and from the seven months I've been on here, people that are banded other places sometimes are not clear on their post-op diets or other things and end up coming here for information and help.

Hi Dana, I think you are doing great!!--I, too cannot eat solids until the 3 or 4 pm. I'm over the Atkins shakes right now, are the muscle milk ones any good for pre-made (I see them at Costco)? So, since the protein powder you recommend is 198 calories--are you just drinking one of those a day plus two muscle milks? How are you splitting that up? Also, I cannot afford a trainer right now--but can you give me an example of your weekly workouts? I've been going the gym 4x a week doing 1/2 hour of cardio and alternating between upper and lower body, but I think I've been at a plateau-- probably because I also still have a problem with sugar and if this protein powder tastes like a milkshake, then I'm all for it! I would like to lose another 30 lbs. before my year mark in August.

Trav- You're awesome. That is all.

Good Luck! The OCC rocks! By the way, can I just mention how impressed I am with your pre-op weight loss? That is amazing--

Angela! You've only been banded 12 days! You are still healing and let me tell you that the liquid stage is the hardest part. If you can make it through this--then you can make it through anything! Your family is not very supportive and that's a damn shame, but this was YOUR decision and it's natural to feel hungry on liquids! Please, please just get through the next nine days of liquids and your band will be healed into place, then you can start solids. This is a learning process and trust me, I've been banded for six months and it is still hard to get around the "head hunger", but I'm taking it one day at a time and you should too. Good luck and please protect your $8000 investment in your future by staying on the liquids--you can always come to this forum for support. That's what we are here for--except for the few harsh people, most people are very helpful. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

Hello, After about 3 months the gassy-ness recedes, to a "normal" point. At least it did for me. The first three months I was gas crazy and 90% of it was all from the south.

Are you sure that it doesn't say 10CM on your card? That means that you have a band that HOLDS 4cc's of saline but it's 10cm in diameter. If you had the 10CC band, then it would say VG Band on your card and I believe it's 13-14CM in diameter. Most places will give you 1.5-2.0 on your first fill. Don't expect too much, most people don't get any restriction until their second fill. I had 2.0 on my first fill and felt absolutely nothing then on my second fill they added .8 and voila! I knew what restriction was. If it's not under flouroscopy, then they will probably start with a smaller fill since they can't visualize how fast or slow things past through your band.

Hello, I don't know if I can do the gym 6 days a week at this point--right now, 4 is about where it's at for me. So, would I go one day and just do cardio and then the next cardio/upper body? If I'm not going 4 days straight, wouldn't my muscles get a rest anyway? So every time I go I would do strength training with my cardio?

Although I do not think that I want the impressive muscles you're sporting in your photo, I do want to get rid of my fatty arms and "tone" up my ass and legs-- I've been going to the gym 4 days a week and been doing 1/2 hour of cardio and then alternating between upper and lower body strength training. My cardio is all on the elliptical 'cause the treadmill hurts my knees. So, this is bad?? Should I do all of my strength training on two days and then double my cardio without strength training on the other days? Thank you

Bwahahahahaha!! Awesome! I loves it!

You may just have a very, very tight fill. When my second fill was super tight in the beginning I would have pain sometimes--but I don't think this is supposed to happen. You might be too tight.

Thank you so much for this Sabrina! I really thought that I was the only one struggling and even though I've been going to the gym 4x a week...I still HATE it! You've put my thoughts down into writing prefectly and I thank you for it.

I lost a friend (probably my "best" friend if I really wanted to admit it) of 11+ years after being banded because she didn't "approve" of me having the procedure and since then, I've tried contacting her numerous times, but she doesn't return my calls so, my New Year's resolution was to just give up-- and if we re-connect in the future, then so be it. Good luck...I know this is hard because I truly didn't think it would happen to me.

You're still a good looking guy at any weight in my opinion, but let me tell you that turtlenecks make me cringe. They are just so unflattering...on everyone!!

Jennifer, When I read this a second time it did sound like a very cleverly worded advertisement, but hey I could be wrong...

I appreciate the offer of help but I'm confused. Did you already have the surgery or are you going to have it at 145lbs?!?! And what's BP'ing? I know that I PB sometimes...

I hate to be so blunt, but that's the way it generally works before you're first and sometimes second fill--I gained 5 pounds before mine and now that you're body has got the food so to speak, it wants to hang on to the weight. You might need to make sure you're getting 1200 calories in 'cause it doesn't even look like you are getting in 1000 (maybe another protein shake?). When it is proclaimed that everyone is totally different with this band...it's true. The funny thing is that you'd think that by eating so few calories, our bodies would just dump the weight. I was disappointed that this is not the case. Anyway, let me tell you exercising does help with the NSV's so, if you get a chance start your cardio and make sure you don't do any ab work for three months!

Renee told me that sex was fine one week after surgery but that it had to be missionary--he told me I couldn't "be on top" for two weeks to let the port heal up some. That was a question I asked before surgery.

This fill has not only helped with my hunger, but either I'm finally learning after 6 months or it's also helping with the "head" hunger, too. I've lost 2 pounds in 10 days and frankly, Carrie I'm one of those ones that isn't really seeing the numbers move. I started at 247 before the band and as of this morning I'm at 218. I have gone from a size 20W to a size 14W and my body fat has gone from 49.9% to 35.2% as of Saturday so, I am seeing changes in other ways, but damn! I would really like to be under 200 lbs. I feel like I'm working my ass off at the gym 4-5 days a week. I wish you good luck and can I just say that I think you are really pretty? Very striking. Have a good Monday!

Hi Carrie, I have 3.0 in a 4cc band. I only had .2 put in between my second and third fills. I specifically asked for a small one because I am afraid of being too tight. The Dr. at OCC said he would have put up to 3.3cc's but I would rather go slow since I have the majority filled up. I got the third fill because I was getting super hungry between meals--like 1.5 hours after I ate. Now, it's much better, I'm back to 4-5 hours between meals without hunger. So that's good.