Clynn

Just think of how much more efficient you'll be with all that extra energy once you start dropping the pounds.

Clynn,

Can we borrow your response whenever someone says this?? It was the greatest thing I've read in a long time!

Denise

It's all yours.

Yes banding is the easy way out, just like AA is the easy way out of alcoholism, chemo is the easy way out of cancer, and therapy is the easy way out of crazy. This isn't a poker game, this is my life! There is no cheating to get healthy.

thanks everyone. I am still interested in your comments, what do you think about this? Today, I got a slim fast down with no pbing and I have just eaten a piece of baked fish 3-4 oz. I am tight, but don't feel like pbing. My wonderful husband thought it could have been something I ate a few days ago or a combination of no, no's that may have been stuck at my opening. You know like chicken fetticini and garlic bread. Chicken has been very sticky the last few weeks anyway, but I know I need the protein. I am feeling a little better today. I have to keep postive, I really don't won't an unfill. My Dr. is 3 hours away and I can't get there for days. And going to TJ is out of the question from ALA.

Please keep me in your prayers that this will get better soon.

I still want to know what everyone thinks about this.

It is possible that you irritated something which caused your stomach to swell and close off. The swelling could also have been caused by hormonal changes or an illness. If you can get liquids down again I would stick to those for a few days so as not to make things worse. Just be honest with yourself about where you are. If you let yourself be influenced by denial you'll end up in a world of hurt. Drink as much as you can to get your fluids back up and if you find yourself unable to do liquids again, get yourself fixed right away either at your fill doctor or at the ER.

If you can't get fluids down then you've got yourself an emergency situation. Not only are you depriving yourself of fluids and sending yourself to dehydration but you could also be causing damage to your stomach. Having a band that's too tight can be cutting off blood flow to your stomach, or constantly vomiting can cause a slip. Get an unfill as quickly as you can.

Try cutting down your carbs. Toast and eggroll wrapper are empty carbs and don't have much nutrition value. Try adding a protein shake in the morning if you cannot get solids down. Protein is important. I'll say it again - PROTEIN is IMPORTANT. I dropped three pounds in a week when I started having a protein bar for breakfast instead of nothing. I like EAS AdvantEdge Carb Control products as they don't have much sugar (3 net carbs and 17 grams of protein). They come in shake and bar form. My favorite is the chocolate chip brownie bar.

How many calories per day are you consuming? If it's under 1000 your body has probably gone into starvation mode and won't let you lose anything. Are you eating breakfast? Breakfast really is the most important meal as not eating within an hour or two after waking will also send your body into starvation mode. You can always try keeping a food journal to answer these questions and get in touch with Dr Miranda for suggestions.

For many banded patients, hiccups are what's referred to as a soft stop. It's your body's way of telling you to stop eating before it really tells you to stop eating (pb). Different people have different soft stops. Some people experience an ache in their lower back on shoulder but it all means the same thing. Of course, you can still get hiccups the normal ways.

Hiccuping isn't nearly as violent as a vomit session. A hiccup is caused by a spasm in the diaghram which is below and completely separate from the stomach whereas vomiting is a violent process involving the entire stomach. I've yet to hear of anyone causing a slip through hiccuping or belching.

The best way I've found to get rid of the soft stop hiccups is to take as much of a deep breath as I can, then lean backwards as far as I can and stretch out my stomach. The best results happen when I'm leaning backwards over my balance ball.

Ah yes one of those people. Unless she's your boss, you can just walk away when she start into you. Getting a response like what you described is probably what she's after. After all, if the people around her are miserable, then her life doesn't look so bad by comparison.

If you want to really tick her off, be happy regardless.

OMG I'm so sad....today I drove 4 1/2 hrs to Arlington to get my fill, I woke up at 5 AM to get myself and my two kids ready I sent them off to school and my friend and I headed off to Arlington we did a little shopping on our way stopping by a few outlets, my apt was at 3:15 so we had a few hrs to hang out well I showed up to my apt about 30min early just to make sure we found the place I went up to the counter and said I had an apt and the lady was so rude it made me so mad she said I'm sorry they are not here and I cant help you and I was like okay that's fine I'm 30 min early I will just walk around and wait......well about 45 min later they still weren't their so I called them and Lisa said omg please dont tell me your in the office you didn't get my MSG...........I was like no she said I called you this morning and left you a MSG we are unable to do you fill cause her husband is in the hospital and she canceled all her apt I could not believe we drove all the way down their for nothing is all I could think about she said I could rescheduale, at first I was like yeah right no way I'm coming back. Then I calmed down a thought this is no ones fault her husband is sick and I'm just being selfish So I called lisa back and said I would call her tomorrow to set up another apt. I feel so bad I hope everything comes out good with her husband. Plus my friend and I had a good little road trip lol. So when I got home about an hr ago I seen she called around 9:15 am we were already an hr away from home so yeah thats my story I hope my next apt will go through =)

Sadly, Kitty's husband has cancer and is pretty sick. They've had to cancel a few appointments and events on short notice because of it. Though they do the best they can to get in touch with people when this happens it doesn't always work, so anyone who's going to be driving a long ways should call ahead to confirm their appointment or make sure they have their cell phones available.

Glad to hear you're taking this all in stride. The Arlington ladies are very sweet, but then again I'm a tad biased.

You need to ask yourself if you can't eat properly when your health is on the line immediately after surgery, and honestly I can't think of a worse thing you could do than eat pizza after surgery, how are you going to be able to eat properly once the threat of an er visit is taken off the table? The band is not magic and if you are unwilling to do the work then you've just wasted your time and money.

The people on this forum are, for the most part, patients and not qualified to answer questions about medication and what it safe with surgery. You should talk to your doctor or Dr Ortiz about those issues.

If you were banded at OCC then you can try getting in touch with Dr Miranda. If not, then ask your doctor for a referral to a nutritionist. They can customize something for your lifestyle and based on what foods you like, as well as give you lots of other information.

As a side note, it always irritates me when I hear doctors give the advice they gave you without doing any follow up or providing any other information that's actually helpful. "You mean I need to LOSE weight? Really? I never knew that"

It's completely normal and lovingly referred to as bandster hell. Think about all the stress you've put your body under these last few weeks. If you did the pre-op diet there was a huge and sudden crash in the number of calories and nutrients you were ingesting, then the surgery, then another huge crash for the post op diet. Is it any wonder your body is holding onto whatever it can? It's the very reason why crash diets don't work, but the purpose of the pre and post op diets is not to get you to lose weight but to prepare for and recover from the surgery. Don't worry too much about your weight loss until after your first or maybe even second fill. Just eat right and let your body heal, there will be plenty of time later to stress out over the scale.

Best advice I can give is to make sure you're getting enough calories and proteins. You can feel pretty severely icky if you skimp in those two areas. Also, walk walk walk. It will get the blood flowing and help with healing as well as help work the gas out of your system.

Your stomach gets inflated during surgery to make it easier to work with. They take out as much of the gas as they can afterward but they can't get it all. The nerve which triggers the shoulder pain people are talking about is next to the affected area and thus cause the shoulder pain. It's more of an ache. Walking and anti-gas strips will go a long way towards helping but you can expect it off and on for about two weeks after surgery.

If your nose is running that can cause you to feel more restriction. It drips down your throat and into your stomach which causes irritation. I get the same thing from my allergies. Just take it easy while you're sick and don't push yourself. Pb'ing can cause more irritation and more restriction.

You'd best call OCC and get some clarification on this. Doing ab work too early can cause a slip.

Relax. It's VERY common.

Don't forget your protein. I wasn't getting enough protein at one point and felt like I was coming down with the flu. At first I thought I wasn't getting enough sleep, then I thought I wasn't getting enough vitamins, then I thought I was coming down with something. Finally I started upping my protein intake by having a protein bar for breakfast and BINGO. I perked right up and immediately lost 3 lbs after having leveled off for a few weeks.

I once lost 7 lbs in a week and boy did I feel sick. 3 lbs in a week is the amount I'm most comfortable with.

<------Female

Sounds like you are too tight. Get a slight unfill and, trust me on this, you'll feel better immediately.

Sounds like that was a blind fill where they don't use floro to decide what amount of fill you should get. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it but because it is less precise that using floro it can be hit or miss. I also really don't recommend it for a first fill as you don't have much of an idea what the proper amount is at that point and how it will affect you, and also because it is a good idea to take a peek inside the first time out to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be.

There is no schedule for fills and each person will experience the need for a fill differently. I've had success with several fills. My boyfriend has lost around 140 pounds and has never had a fill. Your first fill is recommended 6-8 weeks after surgery but after that, my philosophy has been to schedule a fill when I feel I need one and not worry about it otherwise.

Banded patients used to be encouraged to stay away from NSAIDs such as Aspirin, but the theory that they do harm or cause erosions has fallen out of favor of late.