Pammy S Lewis

hi all i am only about 50 or 60 lbs overweight but with the new fda approval for people in my weight range, i decided to do the surgery. had it on 3/15/11 [edited date] and am just having a lot of chest pain (not worried it's heart problems). after hearing so many horror stories about lap bands (and an equal number of positive stories) i feel like it's just a crapshoot. you do the surgery and just hope and pray that you won't have any problems. the other thing is that my insurance wouldn't cover it so i had to pay $16k cash for this. losing the weight is worth that much to me. i wasn't able to lose it because i took antidepressants for a long time which caused the weight gain to begin with but i believe altered my metabolism. i just have so much anxiety today about the chest pain. i called the dr's office and spoke to a nurse who said it's gas, because it comes and goes. but i'm not so sure. i'm just worried that it might be posisitoned wrong. i don't think i could go through another surgery. it was tough. ugh, i just feel like a made a mistake by doing this. would love to hear from some people who maybe had some problems or concerns early and things passed. appreciate it. pam

just had surgery last week and spent way too much money trying different ones. slimfast and muscle milk both have a ton of carbs. the pure protein bottled drinks in vanilla are great but too expensive. i bought the powder but it doesn't dissolve in Water very well. Isopure is pretty good but my favorite out of all the ones i tried is EAS. it tastes good and it totally dissolves in water with just a spoon, so no need to use a blender. i bought it at target. also, when you find one you like, i recommend buying it in both chocolate and vanilla because you sick of just one really fast.

hi i am a 45 yo female in los Angeles who just had lap band surgery a couple of days ago. i am one of the newbies with the new fda standards with 50-60 lbs to lose. i think i had a lot of fear doing this since i wasn't in a situation where i was experiencing extreme health problems because of my weight, etc. i did it because diabetes runs heavily in my family and i have been 50-60 lbs overweight for a decade because of use of antidepressants and couldn't lose it. i just felt like i wasn't living my life because of the weight. just wondering if there's anyone else out there in a similar situation who is either near my stage or way ahead of me willing to provide some mentorship. appreciate it! thanks, pam

i just started reading a book today called "breaking free from emotional overeating" because i just got banded and i'm afraid that i will keep eating even when i'm not hungry. hopefully it's a good book because i need to figure this out!

i just got banded last week because of excessive weight gain from 15 years on antidepressants (zoloft and abilify and tried adderall to combat it, didn't work). i did a couple of long stints in therapy though and got to the root of my personal issues. it took about 2 years but it was so worth it because i can say that for the first time in 30 years of unremitting depression, i have been free of it. huge deal for me. i have been able to get off the abilify and i just take 50 mg of zoloft. hoping to someday get off completely but i'm happy with this for now. so i'm hoping that the lap band CAN help with this. i think though that if i ever up my dose again, i am at great risk of just gaining it all back because of the appetite increase and slow down of metabolism. and given that i paid $16k out of pocket for it (!) i don't want that to happen. so i'm just going to try to keep doing my therapy and feeling better so i can get off of them. they are of great use, but the weight gain traumatized me! good luck!

hi beth: i'm on about day 5 and feeling really good. i too felt like i wasn't drinking enough on the first couple days. i just didn't feel well and it was hard. and then on the 3rd day, i started taking in too much Protein shake at one time and got chest/band pains. realized i was drinking too much at once and cut it down to about 4 oz and pain went away. it's one of those things you just need to experiment with, but do it SLOWLY. be gentle with yourself. hope you're feeling better now! pam

i had mine done on 3/15 and finally today i'm feeling pretty good and almost like normal. had bad neck pain. everyone kept saying that the more you move and do a little deep breathing if possible, that that's the best thing to resolve gas pain. i made sure that i got up and walked around a bit at least every 2 hours. hope that helps!

hi guys: i just had mine done in la (dr korman in miracle mile, he also has an office in marina del rey) last week and am 4 days post op. i just found this forum today and wish i had found it earlier because i could have used the support and information! i am finally feeling almost feeling normal today. the first 2 days seemed the hardest and you'll need to be good to yourself. make sure you have all your supplies ready at home beforehand. i realized i was missing some things and had to drive to the store on day 3, not fun! i'm a little bit ahead of you guys but will check in here again. pam

also, based on a post here, i realized that i was taking in WAY too much liquid at once and that's what was causing the chest pain! i cut it down to like 4 oz at a time and sipped it very slowly and took breaks and no more chest pain today! yay!

thanks! i just kept worrying all day that i made a really bad decision to do this. i just felt off track and anxious, but spent some time meditating and focusing on positive thoughts and i got grounded and feel a ton better. everyone's comments here really helped too. thanks!

i'm 4 days post op too! i find that if i manage my feeding schedule (ha!) very carefully i'm not hungry. here's what i've been doing this week: - 4 oz of Isopure shake every 4 or 5 hours - 4 oz of skim milk 2x a day - 3 or 4oz of beef broth once a day - a few sips per day of watered down white grape juice, which is heavenly! - 2 sugar free popscicles a day - a tiny bit of sugar free Jello once a day - sipping Water constantly throughout the day (was told not to drink ice cold water because it can make the pouch spasm, which is different than what someone else said?) doing all of that seems to be keeping my stomach from growling or feeling hungry. but man, i'm really craving FOOD! healthy food though, not bad food. so i guess that's good. my sister had gastric bypass and said that she had the same experience -- craving healthy food for once.

good news re coffee and showers. thanks guys!

also, one more newbie question that i haven't been able to get an answer to. will i ever be able to drink coffee again? i used to drink it first thing out of bed and i'm having such a hard time getting up without it. i love coffee and really miss it. obviously, while i'm in this early phase i should stay away from it, but later when i'm at the food stage can i add coffee back in?

ah bummer, i was told that i couldn't get them wet so i can't shower until they come off. which isn't an easy thing to deal with. esp for the people around me! :-)

i am 4 days post op and feeling pretty good today. waking up, you feel groggy and uncomfortable from the anesthesia mainly, not a lot of pain because the pain meds work well! was home before noon and took my liquid pain meds every 4 hours, which knocked me out. i went through cycles of sleeping and then i'd get up and walk around my apt a bit. felt the worst actually on the 2nd day because the surgery pain meds wore off and had to take the codeine which made me feel crappy. had some gas pains that day, but nothing terrible. also had a rough, dry throat. sugar free popsicles really helped with that. felt dramatically better by day 3 and walked down the block with my dog. day 4 feeling pretty good, 5 lbs down :-) my only real issues have been lower chest pain where the band is and i finally realized that i was drinking way too much liquid too fast. read on here 1 oz every minute or so and doing that really helped. it's not a walk in the park but it's not horrible either. it's totally doable, especially with support. i had to be alone in my apt and it made me anxious and feel like i needed support. make sure you have family or friends who can be there for you, run to the store, just talk, etc. you'll do great. good luck!

kneena: i totally hear you. i'm 5'4" 175 but very small boned, so it's a lot of weight on me. i have high cholesterol but it wasn't enough to get anthem to pay for it so i paid for it myself. had the surgery last week and it's only been 4 days. i've never had other surgeries, the past few days have been a little tough for me (people who have had c sections, for example said band surgery was a piece of cake!) but mainly because i've been home alone having to take care of myself. if you had someone to care for you, big difference i suspect. i decided to do it because i couldn't get rid of this 50lbs because of taking antidepressants and because everyone in my family has type 2 diabetes, so hopefully i can stave it off. anyway, keep researching and thinking about it. go to the dr and get tests done to see how your blood sugar, cholesterol and bp are. your regular dr may try to talk you out of doing the surgery, so take it with a grain of salt and do your research. find a good lap band dr in your area and go talk to them. if your insurance won't cover it, you can finance it! good luck.

i live in miracle mile, near the grove. if anyone is going to meet again in culver city or anywhere nearby, let me know! i just had surgery last week so i'm not up to organizing one quite yet :-)

and thanks for that advice re 1 oz of liquid every 5 minutes. i realized that i've been downing a Protein shake in a few minutes and it's too fast. i bet that's what's causing the pain! i thought i was going slow but i think it's not slow enough. thanks!

thanks so much for the comments, everyone. really helps a lot to know that there are other people going through the same thing and who understand. appreciate it. glad i found this forum. :-)

doh!! ha, i meant 3/15, which is just last week. so it's only been 4 days. i didn't have any shoulder pain from the gas. maybe this chest pain is just gas. it does come and go, which is good. would be more worried if it were constant. i think i'm just anxious about all of this. i am single and did my surgery alone because i didn't want to make anyone take a day off from work and then i wished i had asked my sister to be there. was just tough taking care of myself at home over the past few days. i'm just so fiercely independent though! my dog and friends have been great though. i have been getting out and walking my dog around the block a couple times a day. just bummed because it's supposed to rain all weekend. maybe i'll have to dance in the living room haha.

that's good to hear. i just had my surgery last week and was still on the fence about how i felt about him. he's been great but it's hard to trust someone with your health and safety!