POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A

Hey all, I was banded May 20, 2009. While I've lost 76 pounds so far, I credit that all to my willpower. I was just wondering if there is anyone out there who has regretted getting banded? I would really be curious to talk to someone who maybe is going through or has gone through what I'm going through. I won't post my whole story on here and bore everyone. But if you are someone who has regrets, please reply, I'd love to know I'm not alone. thanks so much.

I think it is celery, but don't know for sure. SF jello is low obviously. Any other ideas. I know everyone has different tolerance levels as to what they can eat, but I was wondering regarding the caloric factor.

I am having a hysterectomy Feb 16th. Does anyone know if I can have a tummy tuck at the same time?

I have gained about 4-5 lbs in these last few weeks. I've stopped going to the gym because I haven't paid, but that's just another excuse for me....IM BEING SUPER LAZY AND BACKSLIDING!!!! Im done with it. It may only be 4-5 lbs, but I can really feel it. :thumbup: I've lost the energy I had when I did go to the gym and was eating better and I feel super bloated, maybe its all in my "mind", but its getting to me! So today, Im done with the excuses and getting back up on this dang wagon. I need this for me!!! WHO'S WITH ME?????? I know that I have a somewhat good restriction, I just eat horribly, and more than I should, to the point that it hurts my port, seriou…

I descended into the first circle of hell this morning. My father-in-law died the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving. So, we're trying to do things with my mother-in-law to lessen the loneliness as she adjusts to being single for the first time in 62 years. I went with her to her aerobics class where, as usual, she made everyone else look like slackers. It's sad when an 80 year old woman can put the 20 year old's to shame. She said she really enjoyed my company and hopes I'll come with her on Thursday. Kill me now. :thumbup: . .

I was banded in August and I'm down a total of 20 pounds. I had my second and last fill on Oct 27. I've not lost but maybe 2 pounds since then. I am hungery. I don't tolerate any form of bread well at all, I feel as if I'm choking to death. Am I too tight already. . . or do I need a fill. I've got a total of 3.5cc:confused:

I got my second fill last Thursday and started back on solids yesterday. I ate my 1/2 cup portions and felt hungry in about 15 minutes. Luckily my surgeon will give you fills as often as necessary. Should I go ahead and schedule another fill or should I wait a bit. I don't know if I should wait to see if it kicks in or would it have done it already? Also. I don't have to pay for any of my fills between now and the end of the year. Greg

Looking for someone who had surgery in April 09. I had mine on April 03 and have lost 58 lbs. I have been at a stand still with my weight. I had a loss of 1 lb in Oct and 1 lb in November. I did not have a fill in Sept and received 1cc on Oct 22. When I went back Nov 30 the doctor didn't think I needed a fill. This has been very depressing for me lately. I really wanted to haVE SOME RESTRICTION FOR THE HOLIDAYS. I think I have 5-6 cc in a 10 cc band. I'm intrested in seeing how much weight that others have lost that had their surgery in April. I started out at 283 and lost 20 of the 58-2 weeks before surgery.

I will get a burning sensation in my stomach. It actually makes me cring for a sec. If I eat something that coats my stomach, it usually goes away. I dont know if it's hunger that is being fed or if it's acid and when I eat something it calms it. I've felt it since about 3 days post-op. Is the burning normal? Also, I'm finding that although I can't eat much at a time, I seem to be hungry often. Not head hunger but actual burning, stomach growling hunger. I feel like I'm eating at least a little something every couple hours. Just want to make sure something isn't wrong.

BEFORE I WAS BANDED I LIKED MY PROTEIN SHAKES NOW IM 1 DAY SHY OF A WEEK POST OP I GAG OF THE THOUGHT OF THEM BUT SO FAR IM HOLDING THEM DOWN...TIRED OF CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, NO MORE SHAKES PLZZZ AM GONNA TRY IOSLATE FRUIT DRINK TOMMOROW BUT ITS IMPORTANT I KNOW WE NEED EM FOR OUR POST OP RECOVERY ANY SUGGESTIONS PLZZZZZ?????

Since my VSG, I have completely lost my desire to drink water! In order for me to get in enough fluid daily I drink Vitamin water, I seemed to have lost my taste for all but one flavor at that! I can not believe this, even apple juice which was all that appealed to me while in the hospital and for the first 2 weeks at home, no longer is tolerable. Has anyone else experienced a repulsion for plain water and if so did desire to drink water ever resume? Even after a workout and good sweat I still practically gag when I put water in my mouth.

I'm 11 days out and my doctor nor my nutritionist said nothing about coffee. Can I drink it now or do I need to wait?

My surgeon (you know the one who had me pumped up with Reglan round the clock), has told me that I can take anyone of the antacids "as needed", meaning it's not required that I take it daily. I was taking prilosec every day and my tongue and mouth would dry out completely during my sleep. I decided to not take any antacid med unless I experience acid reflux. Am I putting myself at risk for stomach ulcers? It seems that many of you are required to take an antacid med at least once a day and few others don't take any. Please if you have any medical knowledge on this subject let me know. Thanks in advance.

I have one suture site that won't heal up. I thought I had caused it because of wearing an underwire bra. It was all pussy and I would drain clean it with alcohol each morning and night. then I got to going around braless~not pretty at this stage~ anyway, got the infection cleared up and in cleaning the site yesterday it is still open! 5 weeks post op. Well, looking in I think I see a blue thread. I tried to get it up to the surface with tweesers, but no luck. I guess I will go to the Dr. on Monday? Has anyone else had this happen? What did you do? Of course I had to discover this on the weekend. Is there anything that will disolve the stitch? All my other wounds are heal…

Hey Guys, I haven't been able to be online much. So busy... I'm 6 weeks post op. I've lost 30lbs. Seems like It's been slow at times, but I'm believing it's going to come off. Been kind of confused on some things. I'm living in Nicaragua. I went to see my surgeon yesterday. I told him that I was using Protein shakes for Breakfast that I had someone bring me from the states. He told me he didn't want me drinking Protein Shakes... He said that they are too many calories in liquid form and won't fill me up or hold me as long and it is better to eat food and eat protein instead... QUESTIONS: 1. HELP! I know most of you use protein shakes. Also I really wasn't told…

I could use some help. I had surgery in Nov 26th in Mexico. I came home with antibiotics which is the Docs standard post op care. Unfortunately, I have an infection at the largest incision and my post op doc had to open the suture and begin drainage. This is VERY painful - pressing down on a tender belly to make lots of pus and blood clear out. At home, hubby has to do the same twice a day. I am also on and off having low grade fevers - as high as 101. Has anyone else experiened this - should I go to ER. MY doc in US was very standoff about dealing with me - the usual - didnt want to deal with a nut who went to mexico - so i doubt i am going to get anything there. Im scar…

Hello! I began my "new" life exactly six months ago today. I was banded on 6/8/09 by Dr. Curry in Cincinnati, OH. As of this morning, I have lost a total of 70lbs and 44 inches. I was stunned when I looked down at the scale and saw that I had lost so much weight! I had to double-check the accuracy of my scale, so I weighed an unopened 5lb bag of flour. My scale was "right on the money." I have gone from a snug size 28 to a loose size 22 in pants and a XXXL to an XL in tops. I have gone from a 44D to a 40DD (strange, I know to go UP a bra size). Even my shoes are fitting looser! I want to thank my very supportive hubby, my wonderful parents, my best friend (had her s…

well i had my sleeve done yesterday morning and everything went very well. i had to stay a few more hours at the hospital today due to vomiting every time i sipped water tho, an still am not able to drink enough to quench my thirst! i typically drink a lot of fluids, just naturally dry mouth i guess. is this just a limited time thing? or will i never be able to drink enough? at this point i haven't eaten anything due to not wanting to throw up again.... that hurts! and i have hiccups that are killing me right now! any advice on these things would be greatly appreciated!

Have been banded for 7 weeks now and had 1 fill. Still not getting that fullness i hoped. Going for another fill next week. He also wants to test the band has not slipped. Will be really upset if it has. Am eating small meals compared to what i used to eat and feel ok til about 2 hours later and feel hungry again. Hope this next fill works, any comments on the above would be appreciated, thanks

Hey all, tonight on the local Denver news on NBC (which is shown either at 9pm or 10pm in your area) my surgeon Dr. Michael Snyder from the Denver Center for Bariatric Surgery at Rose Medical Center is supposed to be on talking about surgery. Not sure of the specifics but I have been waiting to see what this is about because the day of surgery I was asked to sign a waiver become 9News was doing a story. I was told that perhaps my abdomen would be on TV (haha) but absolutely no identifiable info would be shown. I'll be interested to see what is shown and if I can tell if I am any part of it. :-O

:thumbup: Only hours ago I read a whole slew of warnings about not vomiting post-op. Danger Averted. THIS TIME! but I can't figure out why i was going to. I am 4 days post-op, on the full liquids diet. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink the entire day except water before this incident. I sipped, slowly, because it was very hot 1 cup of chicken broth. I didn't feel any fullness or anything in my pouch, so there was no stuck feeling. If anything I was still hungry. 15 minutes after sipping my mouth started to do the pre-vomit watering. In the past lemon juice has helped me get past this, fortunately I was able to get to a packet of True Lemon which worked. …

Hi Everyone, I was banded last November 2008. It's been an experience! Right now I am in search for Breakfast ideas that will jump start my metabolism for the day and not be too fattening or gummy. I'm tired of Cereals and just yogurt. I don't do breads well. If anyone has some ideas I'm be extremely grateful. If you want you can email me at kimandsam2002@yahoo.com Thanks, Kimmie:thumbup:

I was banded the 11th of Nov. I recovered pretty quickly was hungry, did fine with liquids and mushies and didn't notice any restriction. I still felt roughly the same amount of hunger as before the band. My Dr. gave me the go ahead for solids, as long as I was careful, so that when they did my first fill they would know what things got hung up and such. I didn't think I had any restriction until I started eating solids and now I get stuck a lot. Not horribly stuck, but briefly stuck. I'm not sure if I'm still getting used to chewing chewing chewing or if it's something else. The second part of it is that I'm still really hungry most of the time. So getting stuck…

Can LapBand patients experience this? Is is from eating too much too fast??? Just curious..

I may have to either make a 2 hour drive (well, ride from Chattanooga - Atlanta) or a flight from C to A the day after my surgery. Can you tell me how you felt the day after surgery?

I see this in messages a lot. What exactly is this? Thank you!!

Ok I had my first fill last month on the 16th then another one yesterday the 7th. I am now hungry I had a ww egg mcmuffin for breakfast for lunch a chicken breast with a half can of spinach and after my lunch my stomach was still growling. So I ate a few bites of my friends rice then later drank some water im still hungry why why why. I had 3cc's at my first fill and yesterday 1.5cc's. What are you guys eating do I need more to eat? I thought were to eat only a half cup.

i'll be banded soon and just wondering what other vegetarians out there are eating post-op. are you having a lot of Protein shakes or ??

Every morning when we wake up we have two choices. We can take control and actively choose to deal with events in a positive manner...or we can choose to just passively react to them. We can whine and moan about gaining a pound or not losing as much as we thought we should have or how hungry we are...or we can look at the loss or gain and make a mental assessment as to how well we've been doing with our calorie intake. Then take into account our age and activity level and get right with the fact that the scales reflect exactly what we've been doing. Deal with each day as it comes. Forget about your screwups from yesterday...don't worry about how you'll get through…

When post op can I have this? Water, plain water, is very hard for me to drink...if I can make a mild tea and get my water that way??? Should I ask the doc this first? Blessings, Michelle

Today I got my first fill after 5 weeks post-op (going on vacation next week) I have Realize band, which holds 11 ccs. Nurse put 4cc's in. Well, haven't noticed much of any restraint, im doing the liquids til tomorrow. Should I still be feeling like its not even filled? Im still hungry after my 4 oz's?? Was thinking and hoping it wud kick in right away. I could be rushing it a bit I spose. :thumbup: Thanks!

but most things on this site seem to be! I just had my 2nd fill and am feeling kinda crummy. I was hungry when I got home from the dr (rumbly in my tumbly kinda hungry) so I attempted a few swallows of tomato soup. Now, on top of the shoulder pain I've been having since the fill, I'm foaming, slimming, and even vomited what little bit of soup I'd swallowed. Now I'm trying to determine if a) this is a common reaction to the minor swelling that accompany's a fill, or :thumbup: if they filled me too much. Ugh. I appreciate any insight. I've pretty much decided that if it's not better by tomorrow then I'm going to go back and have them unfill some. Thanks!!

I know my surgeon is going to tell me not to use a straw for any drinking after surgery. What I can't remember is why? Tracy

Yesterday I posted about my "good Breakfast, too good?'. I was very excited that I had what I thought was a decent meal for breakfast. Then I got some replies about the poor choices and quantity. I really felt I was doing a good thing with that breakfast. I also went back and checked calories. it was about 350. If we eat about 1000 cals a day and I have 3 meals only that is about right. I take in stride the salt comments. But if I am spreading out my food groups over the course of a day, is that really wrong? I can't eat peppers and such just yet. Waiting for them so I can add some crunch and flavor, but not yet. I spent a good part of yesterday feeling bad a…

I had my band 4 weeks ago tommorrow. I have been in for my check-up and got my first fill of 2 cc's. Everything has been going great until I woke up this morning. It probably is nothing, but at my incision where my port is I have a little corner of the incision that is oosing. It is where the doc said I popped a knot. It was not red when I had my follow up which was about a week ago. Should I worry?

Got my 1st fill this past Thursday (1.5cc) and tried to eat salmon the 1st night. Well, what went down before is no more! I had 2-3 small bites and chewed WELL. I then had this burning in my stomach (not heartburn) and coughed. Well, when I coughed the food came up. I tried a forkful of meatloaf the next night and same thing. I can't cough when I eat or it will all come up. I have great restriction and it appears I will have to experiment all over again to see what food I can eat. Turkey and chicken are my food of choice even though I can only eat about 5 bites at a time. I still have this burning sensation in my stomach (pouch) with most food. Anyone else exper…

]These pictures were taken exactly 1 year apart and I am 6 months post op now. Holiday Parade 2008 Holiday Parade 2009

Is this dangerous to do? Will I stretch out my pouch? I just sort of force air out of my stomach after I eat or drink. It relieves so much pressure. I was banded 1 week and 3 days ago. What do you all think? Sounds gross I know but it really helps me..haha. What do you all think?:

Just banded 1 week ago, and I see people referencing their first PB. Is it when your food comes back up? What does PB stand for? :thumbup:

If you were building a house and had a hammer in your toolbox, but someone locked it away and wouldn't let you use it...would you passively accept it and continue to try to build that house without the hammer, knowing you were eventually doomed to failure and, worse, blaming yourself because "if you just tried harder" you could've built that house without the hammer? I doubt it. Then why do so many people here passively accept that their doctors 'lock away' the very tool they obviously needed to lose this weight and keep it off instead of demanding that the doctor 'unlock' that tool? It is obvious from the numerous postings on this board and others regarding the prac…

May I ask if anyone is using the Realize board? My doc requires us to log our food and I am having a hard time navigating around the thing.

when i eat i get sick than i go back and take smaller bites i dont feel full i just stop after i do stop i foam does any one have this problem?

No matter what I do I can't seem to lose the weight. I was banded on June 30, 2009, I started out at 252 lbs and I am currently 229 lbs which means almost 6 months later I am only 23 lbs down, its just so frustrating. I am currently at 8cc and I have an appointment next week for another fill. I have the Realize Band which means I can go up to 11cc so I'm pretty close to filling it. My doctor says not to worry I'm doing well and it will pick up soon but I honestly don't think 23lbs in 6 months is good. The worst part of all of this is I live in New York and my family lives in California, I'm going to go visit them in 3 weeks for Christmas, which means I know to expec…

Hi everyone, I had surgery 12/1(tuesday) and thought I was lucky the first couple days...no gas pain, I could sleep on my side...thought it was great!! Now today and yesterday have been a nightmare!!! I haven't been able to drink much, feel nausea/hunger/full/pressure, not much of an appetite even thou i'm hungry. I've been eating pureed foods as i'm allowed and drinking a protein shake daily. Yesterday I couldn't even drink my shake, had mashed potatoes and pudding. Today was yogurt and pureed chili. I haven't been able to drink a liter today!!! I haven't taken any pain meds for 3 days or so..i'm just still a little sore at the sites. So of couse today, being dehydr…

I had my surgery on OCt 1. i lost about 12 lbs following my docs liquid post surgical diet, and about another 12 lbs since my 1st fill ( 5cc) which made me feel no difference whatsoever, I lost it mainly becuase I wanted to, not becuase my stomache was telling me not to. I can eat anyting I want noww, including bread, rice, Pasta - I feeel like I have no restriction whatsover. I was hoping evefything I put in my mouth since I hjad my first fill Nov th, would make me sick - that I would truly stay away from again. I have a 2nd fill on Dec 16, and I'm wondering if this too is just a promise of restriction when it's reallly not. I know the magic may not happen till the 3…

what does that mean? what is it, is it just a saying or phrase?

Hi, I just met with my doctor today and I am hoping to have my surgery in Jan. I was a little worried when he said for the rest of my life I have to eat 4 oz at each meal and drink 2 hours later.... I totally know that this will change my life (my dad had gastric bypass 7 yrs ago)... but he isn't restricted to 4 oz, he can eat a little more then that. I guess I am just getting a little anxious by thinking, "Am I doing the right thing" ... etc. etc. I am sure you all have felt like that at one time. I just want to be able to go out to eat once in awhile and feel somewhat normal around people when eating. Do you feel like this now? What do you eat? Are there any go…

Hello all! I have just moved into the wonderfull world of mushies and am wondering what you all are eating for your mushies....will you share with me please?!

Hi all! I was banded on October 19th and so far Im about 25down! But recently I am finding that I am able to eat more food! Also I am more hungrier! Is this normal?? Im hoping this will change when I get my first fill tuesday!!! My weight lost is at a stand still! Maybe because Im eating more!!! Someone help!!!! Hungry Kellee

I am 18 days out from surgery, mainly i cannot complain, i have had no nausea, i stopped my pain meds the day after surgery, and everything has been going great. But, the last two days my appetite has returned like a lion. I am eating exactly what i am supposed to, getting good protein, and my cals for far have risen to about 900. all the vitamins, writing everything down meticulously. Tonight i made ground turkey with taco flavoring and refried beans, in itself it is not a bad meal, i pureed it, but i ate fast and alot, like a cup and a half, i felt like i was binging. on the 15th i am supposed to have a fill, is this "bandster hell?", i feel like i am starving all of t…