CindyLou

I want the same thing for my birthday! I am going to the OCC for a fill on Saturday and I have a feeling I might be able to make the same goal by March 22!!

Well, surprise, surprise...I chewed better from the first bit going in the last few meals and I had not problems................WHICH MEANS....I DO NEED A FILL!! So, OCC here I come, hopefully next weekend!

Ok I will try my best to describe what I am feeling/doing and want some advice on whether I need another fill. I have only lost 3 lbs since my last fill in January. I thought I had restriction, but let me tell you what happens and you can give me your opinions. Every time I start eating I feel like whatever I'm eating is stuck (not up in the espophogus, but down where the band is...) So I eat a few bites, stop, get up and walk around and I can literally feel it go down, a little burp comes up and then I am able to continue eating. This repeats itself about 2-3 times (with sliming included), then after that I am able to eat like normal (chewing througoughly of course) for the rest of the meal. I fell like once the rough beginning is over I am able to eat more than 1/3 of what I was eating preop. I do finally get the full feeling,but after eating more than I think I should. It almost like the first few bites have to be forced through......its rough.... So I am trying to figure out if I need a fill, but then I am concern that the stuck feeling with sliming will get worse if I am filled. But then on the other hand, I am eating more than one third of preop and not losing weight. My meals tend to "last" in the way that I don't get starving between meals, but I do snack occasionally. Anyone else have same experience, or anyone have any advice???

Nope nothing for me either. They didn't even ask me for a credit card when I checked into the hotel. Oh, yea,....do bring money to tip the drivers!

I cannot feel mine at all.....its deep. I can, however feel a hard lump of scar tissue right under my big incision...but that's it.

Ok, that's great news. I will just enjoy the big meals I ate and get back on track! Hopefully the restriction returns soon or will need to entertain another fill.

The weirdest thing happened. All of the sudden this weekend, I lost all of my soft stop warning signs. I usually get a slight tightness in my throat, then a little sliming....so I know when I'm full. This weekend, I seemd to eat eat eat with no warning signs and no feeling of fullness. I would AMAZED at the amount of food that went down. And I wasn't even having to chew very good. What could be up? I wonder if it will tighten back up or do I need another fill? What are the signs of a stretched pouch? I wonder if I've been eating too much and it stretched it out to the point where now there is not restriction. BTW, I enjoyed the food I ate tremendously! I know I know, that's not good, but it was very nice to be able to eat normally again. Any advice or has this happened to anyone else? Cindy

Hi, The shoulder pain from a Hiatal Hernia repair would be due to aggravation of the Phrenic nerve which refers pain to the shoulder region. Some of the pain could also be trapped gas from the sugery itself. You can try the gas x, but it will only help is a) the pain is related to gas, and the gas is inside your GI tract... It will not help with trapped gas or aggravation of the phrenic nerve or the diaphram. Time and activity will help. I also found some relief with Liquid tylenol. I hope you feel better.

Hi... Fat burners are typically meant to increase the metabolism and contain mainly chromium and caffiene along with other herbs. These are harmless to both the bandster and non-bandster if and only if you can tolerate the effects of the caffiene. The one that makes you poop in public (and believe me, I know first hand) are Xenical (Orlisat)...these work by encapsulating the fat and excreting in the bowel movement, thus the "poopage" These do not affect the metabolism. Hope this helps sort out the difference. As far the time released.....just be sure its a capsule...and you only open it, don't crush it. If its a tablet and you crush it you destroy the time release function and could absorb it all at once. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I feel so much different this week and have a much better attitude. I guess we will all have our peaks and valleys, but its the support that we have here that makes the difference, IMO. Thanks everyone!!

Update: After reading everyone's advice and having a pity party for myself I decided to really rethink my eating. I think I am so fearful of eating too much that I I think I have not been getting enough calories and I have been too hungry in the morning until my band loosened up which was making me miserable. I had been such a hard nose about not consuming liquid calories as I was tyring to follow Dr. Ortiz's advice, but then I started thinking, "what the heck, can't hurt to try." So I added 8oz of 2% milk with a teaspoon of Ovultene in the morning on the way to work and also at night before I got to bed. I don't care for protein shakes very much. At my husband's suggestion I ditched the Atkins idea, as we are both miserable when I am "on a diet" and can only eat certain things. And GUESS WHAT? My should pain in the morning has lessened a great deal and I LOST 2.2 LBS THIS WEEK! So I guess for me, 1400-1600 calories is better an 1200-1400. I feel much better this week. Thank you all again for your support!!!!

Thanks Dawn for your response. Its funny because I have had such a positive attitude until just the last few days. I guess being in such pain all the time (shoulder pain) and being hungry most of the time has gotten the best of me and worn me down. Maybe I'm just confused and frustrated. Being too tight in the morning and not tight enough in the evening is very confusing to me. Eating is very frustrating to me now and I can't even enjoy a meal for one of two reasons. 1. I am hurting because its too tight and everything is getting stuck (morning) or 2. I am too worried I am eating too much because I'm not feeling anything (evening). So I guess if it wasn't that I'm miserable I wouldn't be so upset about losing so slowly the last two months. But I guess I feel for all the suffering I am going through I should be losing some weight!! Ok, I need to snap out of it and get my positive attitude back. What you said about not gaining is true. My whole life I've either been on a gaining streak or a losing streak (literally). So, staying at the same weight for a while is really something to celebrate. I guess I'm a little impatient, as the reason I had the surgery in the first place is to lose weight before I get pregnant. In other words, I am not going to get pregnant until I've lost weight. I'm about to be 38 and I'd really like to get this show on the road.

thank you guys for all your support. I'm just gonna put it out there and say this: Before the band if I would have exercised, written down everything I was eating and stuck to a good diet plan, I would have lost weight!!!!! I could do that before. I didn't think I was going to have to "work so hard" at it and felt it might be 50/50 with me and the band. But it feels like its 99/1 with me having to do 99% of the work and the band just sits there and makes my shoulder hurt and gives me gas. I have a bad attitude right now, I know, but I really thought I was going to get more "work" from my band. I will just have to get passed this. Maybe I should just forget I have the band (which is really hard to do every month when I make the payment) and start dieting and exercising like I was doing before when I was miserable. Uggggghhhhh. Thanks for listening. I cannot share this with my husband. He is already becoming a non supporter of the band and thinks I wasted my money because I'm not losing. I am also getting tired of people at work saying, "so How much have you lost now?" I was thinking of telling them, "I dont' know I'm only weighing myself once a month." I am definitely doing Atkins starting tomorrow. I'm headed to costco today to load up on high protien/low carb stuff. Hopefully I"ll get over this hump and forgive my band for its shortcomings. Thanks again for the support, Cindy

Glad to hear that everything is ok!

I'm eating approx 1/3 of what I was before.....around 1200-1400 cal per day. I KNOW I was eating close to 3000 before. I am making good choices, of course not perfect, but who is. I am going back on Atkins monday, but I am really frustrated because I could lose weight BEFORE the lapband on Atkins. I thought I was done with diets but I guess I was wrong. I've lost 25 lbs, of which 8 was preop and the rest was before my first fill. I have only lost 1 or 2 lbs since having two fills. I have restriction that is WAY too tight in the morning and I am starving but can't eat. I have tried the warm liquids, cold liquids, you name it and nothing helps. Any time I am hungry I have sever shoulder pain, which means my shoulder hurts every day until I can eat. So I usually eat lunch around 12-1 and it hurts in my chest, no matter how small I take my bites and how long I chew. Then as the afternoon goes along the restriction goes away to the point that when I eat dinner at 7pm (which is the time I get home) I could really eat as much as I want. .. Then after dinner I've got the munchies until I go to bed. I resist eating and do pretty well, but wake up in the middle of the night starving with my shoulder hurting. I haven't been on in a while because I've kinda been in denial over the fact that this band and I aren't getting along right now. I'm not sorry I did it and would do it over, but I would like to think that this frustrating time will pass. I also don't exercise and I know I should, but the simple math of the # of calories I have decreased should result in lost weight, even if its just a few lbs a month.

My dad is big....both tall and wide And when he and my mom travel they usually buy three seats instead of two. Would you believe they have had airline employees be rude when he wouldn't give up a seat becuase they had overbooked the flight?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

The symptoms you describe are considered a medical emergency and are the classic symptoms of a slip. I am not saying this to scare you, but you could have serious damage if you do not act quickly. You should call your doctor or go to the nearest emergency room. I hope you feel better. Cindy

I agree. Just try and see. Remember, try everthing SLOWLY....

People talk about it "kicking in" but I can tell you that I didn't feel much of anyting after my first fill and it never kicked in. Then with my second fill, I felt great restriction immediately. In your case I would do two things. Call the OCC and verify your band size. The chances of mislabeling are slim because the card they give you is from inside the implant package. They take it out when they open it up for the surgery, but I would double check to make sure. Secondly, I would verify with your fill doctor that you got 3cc and not .3 cc or 1.3cc, etc. Something isn't adding up here. 3cc is a very agressive fill for a 4cc band and I can't imagine you wouldn't be filling major restriction. The other thing to consider is if your fill doctor could have missed your port and the fill didn't even go in???? Or possibly the saline came out when he withdrew the syringe? I"m going to bet you are going to find a really good explanation for this and you will get another fill that will be satisfactory! Keep us posted, Cindy

Since my second fill, and now that I have great restriction, sometimes I find myself ANGRY and FRUSTRATED that I can't eat more. I'm glad the band is doing its job, but I'm also sad that I can't eat more. Maybe I'm weird, but that's how I feel. Would I change anything? NOPE! I just need to work through my issues with food and this tool is helping me do that~

Its supposed to more of a slow "leak" in to the bottom portion of the stomach. When something gets stuck, at least for me, it feels like the opening to the bottom portion is completely blocked. Because the stomach is contracting the entire time you are eating, if nothing is able to go down, the only way for it be contracted is up. So if you eat too much and something gets "stuck" the peristalis (contracting of the muscles) being to hurt and push the food the wrong way.

Your band is probably 10CM (which is the length) which holds 4CC (which is the volumn)--this is the most common. I think the 10CC band is like 13CM long or something...... All you need to do is look on the card they gave you. This is VERY important. If your fill Dr. thinks you have a 10CC band and tries to put more than 4CC there could be damage to the band. I'm very surprised that your Dr. filled you without seeing proof of what you have.

I have an occasional glass of wine and haven't had any issues. Maybe your experience was just coincidence to the drinking. Try again soon and see what happens. One glass of wine should hurt anything.

Don't get frustrated. I feel your pain, though. I didn't lose anything between my first and second fill (well, maybe one lb). I kept remembering what Dr. Ortiz told me the day of my surgery: The real weight loss journey doesn't begin until I find my sweet spot with the fills. He stressed the importance of listening to my body and having timely fills if I am not eating 1/3 of what I used to and I am not losing. You will start losing once you get that right fill. I am keeping the faith. I am 4 days our from my second fill and really feeing the restriction and that has helped me keep a positive attitude.

Just a thought, but I'm wondering if mabye its not the pills itself getting stuck, but instead the amount of liquid and how fast you are ingesting the pill and liquid together. Try acting like you are taking a pill without actually swalling a pill (just throw back the liquid) and see what happens. Again, just an idea.