Loooou

Dear Lara I am really happy for you in every way!! I call us lap band survivors! I still face your issues, Not seeing a difference sometimes although it is obvious! and sometimes I am in denial, with every pound lost I have (lapband) flashbacks! and think to myself yeah I will gain it tomorrow! and the sleeve still fascinates me! when I dont. thirty pound is just a huge number and special one coming from someone starting at a light weight like urs and a band experience. Doctors always told me that virgin WLS are most likely to be the slowest losers on earth. Kinda of discouraging but look at everyone on here with revision "WE ARE AMAZING" and living proof that virgin or no virgin we pushed through. Congratulations and best on luck on reaching your goal! I still cant tolerate sugary stuff just like you and end up with dumping syndrome every time so I think its so common but so worth it! I can have dark chocolate every now and then, some milk with splenda may be but really tiny tiny portions. Sometimes I think to myself how much I miss my favorite chillis paradise pie, and my famous love to ice cream but I thank God everyday I dont consume them anymore! It makes all the difference, and still I have my alternative when I crave sugar. (dark chocolate withs some nuts and Splenda) thanks for posting this update.. keep them coming XO

You said it, THE MEDIA! It is always reflecting the news from their own vision, the revolution ended and the mini protests that are taking place every now and then are barely recognizable. Security is back and strong. Ofcourse it is always ur decision and what u are feeling about it. The only bad thing that didnt take off the curfew which starts from 2 am till 5 am lol.. so on the weekends we cant stay longer out as we used to. Thats whats happening in Egypt right now:) Best of luck with your decision but from what I can suggest is you either do it in the US or abroad better than the Gulf area, Not that I dont have faith in doctors there but I know that many arab patient prefer to come down to Egyptians doctors or going abroad for their surgeries rather than having it there. I will have my appointment with my doctor in ten days, I can ask him if he recommend someone in the UAE for you too:)

In Egypt here. My doctor's name is Ahmed Hatem Al said. He is considered one of the first ppl to perform VSG in Egypt. I think his price ranges between 40,000 LE (Egyptian pounds) to 45,000 LE.

I think Julia said the most important word here along with everyone's great advice DESIRE it truly fades away, you wont feel the need of having all. you will be amazed at the constant conversation you will have with urself about can I order that? OH NO! I am full! I dont really need it, u may just feel like you are having a lot of free time, which u used to occuppy with happy eating ( OR SO CALLED) time. Thats what U will be battling with! thoughts.. about how much time food use to consume out of ur life. But the biggest urge to eat wont be there cause u are truly not missing on any food, u can eat whatever u want just in a reasonable amounts. Dont worry!

Well, I wanna talk about SO Much!I wish I won't forget one thing!, The reason I am writing this long post is I feel like I wanna give back to this awesome community. I have been learning so much fromthis forums, people will just come and post something and it makes me feel likewow, that just happened to me! Thank Godness I am not alone! What a relief..you know that feeling? So here is what been going on.. umight or might not relate.. But just remember everyone is different and I amnot a saint by any means! *PLEASE NOTICE MY ENGLISH IS MYSECOND LANGUAGE! So forgive any grammatical/phrasing mistakes. I have been sleeved on April16/2011. I am a band to sleeve revision. I wont talk about my band anymore Ihave already discussed it before a lot on the sleeve to band revision section. I wont bore u with my hospital stay! And what went there but all I can say my doctor and his team has been gentle and SOSWEET! SO lets see what u might expect onur 30 days Journey! EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL, GOOD AND BAD! Day 1: The good: you are done! You had thesurgery! You are alive! The bad: If u are just like me, I wasstanding strong by my decision, not having buyer remorse not even questioning what have I done to myself… but u might! So don’t freak out! .. but the truebad things that happened to me, was the stomach spasms, that felt I wanna throwup although am NOT nauseous or near that. I had a tube entering my nose passing through my throat to my stomach, connected to a bag full of blue Fluid. I was informed later that it was just to keep sure there are noo leaks. Thank god mydoctor came at night and had it removed. Day 2: I was allowed to sip and itdidn’t feel anything more than something heavy in my stomach. The good: finally u are drinking * I was NPOthe first night. The bad: GAS PAIN in my right shoulder that made me scream, cry and wanna die! Pain meds are also not that good.. they make u dizzy and not in a good way. Day 3: WOW U ARE FINALLY HOME!That’s the only good thing! My comfort zone, my bed.. That I couldn’t feel comfortable on! I still can't sleep on my sides. The bad: u are just confused, should I drinkthat? Will it makes me sick? , after a sip of any clear fluid u will startquestioning if u just had caused a leak?! Will my life be terrible forever!?Then u come on the board to let ppl know u are fine, and u just want to nap!But actually u are not in the mood to talk u just want to lurk and see if thereis anyone have had ur crazy symptoms! Day 4: ALL BAD FOR ME! I was finewith Soups then baamm.. I smelled one sea food Soup and I went sick all day! NOFOOD NO Water NO ANYTHING! My parents were worried I looked so pale and was nearly dehydrated. Also I had my period one week before my surgery and I wokeup on day 4 with blood in my panty.. I was like WHAT THE HELL! Am I leaking!?!I called my surgeon and he confirmed that hormones are just playing up .. Hetold me ur bodyjust went into a tornado few days ago.. let it settle on its own. Don’t worrytoo much. It was too late and I just decidedI need something other than CLEAR damned soup and drinks so I went to creamsoup! ( felt so better afterwards but felt damn guilty and the fear of leak juststarted harassing me) I came back on board that day, announcing I amhaving the worse time of my life. I received amazing personal conversations.One of them (without mentioning names, in case they wont like it, just let meknow that going on cream soups and even MUSHIES on the 4th day istotally okay for some surgeons and that I shouldn’t do it but its okay! It wasso comforting, so I continued having cream soups since then. The one thingbeside water that wasn’t making me sick anymore. DAY 5: The bad: DON’T WEIGHT URSELF!! I gained 9 pounds! WHAT THE HELL?! Yeah you have heard it before onOH and here, fluids and IV gives u extra illusional pounds on the scale rightafter the surgery and they will go away BUT when they happen to u!! IT ISFORBIDEN! And NO it is just u and urfat luck! U are always stay FAT! .. ppl will swear to u that u will pee themand No u will not believe them. Although u will just thank them. DAY 6: The bad: Starting regrettingur descisio, ..was it really worth it?! Am I such a spoil human being who cant take control over her life?! Did I do a big mistake losing my band (In revision cases) .. Iwill never lose weight in my life.. Is the rest of my stomach will ever forgiveme? The good: I woke up so late atnight feeling like I CANT hold my pee!! Wondering Did they reduce the capacityof that place too? I kept visiting the restroom for several hours that nightand peed my life away. DAY 7: I AM DOWN ALL WHAT I HAVE GAINED in my first week POST OP DAY 8: I AM DOWN 2 MORE POUNDS I kept losing 1 to 2 pounds fromday 8 to day 13. It was the first time in my lifeto weight 99.8 !! KILOS! I have always weighted more than 100! The rest of the second week, you will just go crazy with this liquid diet. I relied on my good friend (GNCWhey protein) It tasted so good. I blended it with some yogurt and milk. Creamsoup weren’t appealing anymore to me. My second visit to the surgeon was in fewdays and I know he will ask me to do one more week of liquids and I was intending a murder on that day! I was going to fight for me food! Day 15 : the day before mydoctor's visit I started not losing weight .. I have heard about stalls but Inever excepted it to happen to me! Why you! Why it is always you and some smallpercentage of other ppl? .. well truly I didn’t think so, cause I was startingto love my new me, the one who is not suffering while drinking water, the onewho can take a pill normally.. and the one who is gonna eat a hershy kiss thatnight!! YES ! I had it in my mouth and I kept chewing the hell out of it. It isokay you are not an angel, but still don’t do it!! Day 16: My doctor was awesome! He gaveme the okay to start soft food. He wasn’t against solid either but he told mewhy would u make urself suffer that soon?.. just try practicing eating. Irolled my eyes thinking .. I have been practicing that with my band for a whole7 yrs .. no problemJ My guidelines were simple.. EATWHATEVER U WANT! Nothing is off limits! U are on a long experiment with foodnow. The one thing that he stressed on is WATER! FLUIDS.. DRINK DRINK! The good: U will eat! The bad: there is no place for allthe things u want! My first food ever was Sashimi and sushi.. I removed the rice after the scary things I have heard about rice onboards.. I didn’t have a bite or two.. I had many small tiny bites.. chewed thehell of them, and they are so mellow already. My first meal lasted 12 mins and then I said to myself that’s it! Lets ot push it. I had 2 pieces after all thechewing from the whole 8 piece roll.. without the rice and without the seaweed. Day 17 till day 20 I had the samething over and over again, shushi, water, GNC in the morning and sometimessushi with it too.. My order stayed in the fridge for 3 days that I had tothrow it away! Day 21: my 3rd visit! NOpounds lost! No energy, but lots of love to life! My doctor advice was to stayaway from the scale! He knows me since the band, I weight morning and evening. He told me that the weight will come off slowly cause am not the same heavier person. He advised me to start having more physical activities so my energywill come back. Also I was suffering from continuous black outs when I stand upor get up too fast, he told me to start squeezing my legs muscles before it andafter I stand up and it is really working. The good: I am no longer scaredfrom leaks.. Definitely healed from that obsession. The bad: I had my first ice cream!And It isn’t my favorite anymore! I started feeling dizzy, nauseous, sweatingcold sweat, then having hot flashes, then running to the restroom for diarrhea.I had this before, It sounds like dumping syndrome but I am also hypoglycemic since my band! But it was definitely the worst episode I had of my life! Day 22: I am down 3 POUNDS!! Lookslike the ice cream is working! It broke my stall! Lol can you believe that?! I was ecstatic that day nothing bad can ruin that day EXCEPT if I chose to have more ice cream and suffer.. butI didn’tJ I had eggs with cheese in the morning followed by my Vitamins then Asnack of GNC shake, then a piece of lindit chocolate, then Sushi, then a snackof nuts! And I thought wow that is too much! Day 23: I am down half a pound! WOW eating more definitely help ALTHOUGH I am actually not eating more, I am havingmore verities and quality food. It is just in very small quantities! I startedwalking so much more since the start of this week The bad: I am not my usual self, Iam still tired after a walk in the mall which is not me. My back hurts! It neverhurt that much since I was over 300 pounds! I now knew from my doc that this is the weight coming off and shifting in my body! I Am late! NO PERIOD andreally unhappy about it! The good: I am not hungry.. mylife is not about planning my next meal! It is about feeding my body when ittruly needs it! And stopping when it had enough! Day 24: MY FIRST laughable dinningout! The good: THANK GOD FOR BOXES! No vomiting, no scenes, no food stuck in urthroat that u cant have a nice social talk with ppl with u (Band problems) The bad: I was a regular at thisrestaurants and they kept apologizing if the food wasn’t good cause it wasbarely touched! I kept assuring them that I had intensive surgeries and I just don’ttolerate food that much now. Day 25: My first visit to my beloved gym.. It was all chatting with ppl there cause they really missed me! Aww!. The bad: I couldn’t walk more than25 mins on the treadmill. It wasn’t anything more than I was just tired! And reallydisgusted that am walking not running. And really walking at a very slow-pace. The few remaining days, I had noproblems except that I over ate once, I didn’t puke or anything I just kept feeling nauseous for a while then it passed. I gave sugar another try, which was cake and it was confirmed no more of these stuff. May be later? I have a dark piece of chocolateeveryday! And It is my heaven. I am not concerned about CARBS! AsI don’t have a real place for them and I am not freaking out about the grams ofcarbs in everything I eat, life is going good now, why should I restrict myself now when I can do it later when it is really needed. DAY 30! -I bought my first SKINNY jeans ever! And man did they look good on me! -I had my first Mexican food! And the refried Beans really give me the goto a real restroom visit! (EW sorry) I noticed the EPMANADA went down fine, butall I had was half of it and the other half at dinner when I went home. -I am down 18 pounds! That leaves me away from wonder land by 17 pounds! - I am a happier person! I cant describe it but U gotta be sleeved to feelit. I am mentally thinking that everyone should be sleeved now lol cause it isa very good way of living -I started writing this LONG post on that day! Day 31: The bad: still no period, still low energy but not the same levels as before, I wasn’t tired driving to some friends but I was tired sitting for too long there chatting. The good: I finally finished thatpost which I seem to forget a lot of things I wanna talk about it here no matter how long it seems! Lol My advice: -Don’t stress about ur weight, Don’t stress about ur weight!! IT WILL Happen! No possible way it wont! . .-Don’t freak about ur food, try DIFFERENT things! Sticking to the same pattern isn’t good for u emotionally or evenweight loss wise, when I stick to the same menu on a week I didn’t lose. - Have a one day of fun each week, shock ur body with a new ingredient. - FATS! Are important in urdiet! And there are plenty of good source of fat. - CARBS are made to be eaten not freaking about, chose urcarbs wisely and see how ur body reacts, ur brain will love it! Andif it is a slider for u, try another source of carb. Refried beans are good! Remember?There are some other stuff like it just search it with ur body. - Water is the only thing that can stop u from losing weight! DRINK! The more u drink the more fresh u will be. - Live like a normal person! When u are a month out stop freaking outabout the little things.. u are living to try not to be the same old patterned person. Sometimes as my doctor told me u will forget u are sleeved. Sometimes Ido! ( not talking quantity wise) I mean leading life. - Have faith and push urself to new limits, Walk faster the next time u hit the road. Congrats on your sleeve! And for anyone considering it, I strongly advice you start posting and asking as many question as u want! See you in a another window;) my awesome new family!

Gayle sweety, I have been having these syptoms for over a week now.. and everytime I run to the restroom I find nothing:( It is trully irritating at sometimes. I dont mind the physical pain .. but my periods are so emotional, they have always been that way. So I find myself lately getting annoyed at weird stuff, I just had an incident with the lady who does my nail when she asked me to cancel the appointment and I went mad telling her "Its over I dont want to do anything with you again" and she had to keep my appointment to not upset me, but I was really pushy and selfish for doing that. She just needed to go home early that day for some reason. The period needs to flush out of my system or I will just turn into a cold hearted monster lol. Thanks a lot for ur cheering! and I am sure ur long way to onderland will be shorter in no time! XO

Thanks a lot AutumnLily!! I am glad to know that 3 mons out I will be feeling more energy! I am not complaining I swear, but it is just so mixed up with energy levels, period fading and my sleep pattern is just so bad. I would take all that and much more to feel what I feel today. This surgery gave me HOPE! not for weigh loss only but for living like a normal person not obsessing about how bad my food intake was or obsessing about how can I ever satisfy my inner monster. Thanks a lot for your post and everyone's down here and I am always grateful for this place. For newbies I still stress that you keep in touch with this a support system like this board.. Especially if you chose to have to this surgery as a private matter. Even if you told people they aren't in the same place that we are all in, they wont understand and they might give you some misinformation due to lack of experience so please reply on a good informative support system. Have a great Journey!!

Swizzly, It is sooooo amazing u sound like my mom speech today! when I woke up and told her about my last night suffering she said ur same exact words, it s anesthetic hangover. It makes so much sense!! I hope it really gets better soon for all of us who is suffering with it.

I am glad to help in anyway ! and please forgive my spacing issue in my post, I wrote it on a word doc and paste it! Ybnormal, I DID ! freak out the excitement wear off hours before the surgery and U will find common posts about the same issue!! " I am freaking out - I am scared - is it normal to be afraid" and u will find the most reliefing thoughts in respond to it! But as soon as u are in the hospital all of this will just flush out of ur system and u will get caught up in the preparation and soon u will be opening ur eyes and knowing u have done it! u went through it and all ur fears were just normal person fearing of their precious life. I can say that you will be saving ur life when u go through it, and dont mind the first 1 weeks, they are just gonna be memories and u will be so proud of how amazingly u survive them... u will brag about them later at least with urself! Here is my post about freaking out before the surgery .. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/16240-i-am-not-changing-my-mind/page__p__137290__fromsearch__1#entry137290 Sarsar and Ybnormal, Best of luck to you! I know how great you will feel afterwards and we will always be here to ease ur pain X

My whole day shifted 2 weeks after surgery, It started good then everyday I just stay wide awake for a longer hour than the day before until I ended just like u! It is 9 am here now and I cant sleep either. I use to take muscle relaxer before but not for too long just a month or 2 it was for my aching side of the port which I thought then i was having hernia in my left side... then later I used it to downsize my anxiety before surgery. Now I am either wide awake for nothing, or I just keep having terrible thoughts( Not surgery related at all) but when I wake up, I am out of energy no matter how many hours I sleep, and then I start getting active or slightly much awake at midnight! I wish we can know if this is surgery related or are we just alone on this. If it is I will take it too!

Hip, I wish u the best of luck and I know ur body will start responding soon! It is just trying to tell u something and u need to figure it out:) it is after all Urs!.. keep us posted please, we all learn from each others experiences.. someday I will be where u are or someone will be there and these kind of posts keep us from just freaking out and knowing we are not alone. MissDiva! thanks hon! I also didnt see him mentioning the holly WATER! I wish Hip is pushing Water as much as he can! and may be more. Speaking to exbandster like urself and Hip makes me so much relieved u have no idea!! but u are the one who seeded faith in me when I first came to this boards! I know it will happen to him cause it happened to u! I think there is no exception with the sleeve except for complications which are rare and thankfully solvable! Best of luck to all of u and yes there are different sources of fats! we just need to search and see whats really compatible with our new self!

Congrats on ur journey so far! all your posts were so good! I keep re reading them for the fun and the knowledge! Sometimes I feel like I can eat more too, it doesnt freak me out when later I discover it was so soft food and yes it can pass that quick and allow me for more.. I think US eating more is in no way comparable to us eating more preOP! keep ur posts coming and I Wish u all the happiness in ur life:)

AGAIN! Speaking from MY PERSONAL experience so far.. I cant judge your calorie intake AT ALL! ur body is not mine, your weight is not like mine. When I asked my doctor about the calorie intake he insisted that I shouldnt even bother about counting them not AS FAR AS I dont drink them! and even that " I cant even come closer to drinking my carloies as I did with the band" So you can tell me u eat 1500 calories a day ( healthy balanced meals) I wont care much and sorry if I am sounding offensive to anyone here who consumes far less than that. I DONT COUNT CALORIES! I know someday I will need to when I am so closer to my goal, but now all I care about is being logical and balanced about what I put in my mouth. IF I had a fried (PIECE OF Whatever) in my lunch I wont cry all day about it cause it was just a tiny piece.. and most probably its in my favorite food ( fish/sushi) which is nothing more than 40 calories - if we are speaking calorie wise- but before WE COULD CONSUME a whole bunch of fried stuff fried fires.. and even fried banana in one sitting with a total of 2000 calories and more. I hope my post is making sense to you, and since it might not, I just dont want to be so direct with it so some ppl will feel they can go crazy about unhealthy stuff. With that said. I honestly feel, U are missing FAT from ur diet! Yes there are some kind of fat in ur chicken thigh but may be few in ur one time cheese or deli turkey but u are lacking a good kind of good fat... SO I WILL SUGGEST, NUTS! .. cashew, peanut any other good source of nuts.. replace ur fruit intake with some of those. I was so much concerned about my body's ability to process ( weight loss) again after I was struggling with my band and nearly starving myself.. but I find it is still responding .. slow respond but u are not the same person who had the band years ago. you are a much lighter one now. So I would try snacking more often, changing my food ... instead of the hardboiled eggs, try some white cheese in the moring with some shredded deli meat or what ever man, just change ur menu. GO FISH for somedays instead of chicken. Lay low with the fruits, I never lost with fruits .. although they are the healthy and good. If u cant give up fruit for sometime, try new fruits.. I remember u love watermelon? right?.. I know it makes me retain so much Water. Finally, DRINK MORE WATER! the more nuts or salty stuff u will consume u will be more able to drink more, u will visit the restroom more often, u will flush more often! which is a good thing. I know u have read all what I just wrote a lot before, but I believe that having small meals every 4 hours has helped me. best of luck!

Hip, I am sorry i am in a much hurry writing this as I have to go down right now but WILL U PLEASE! write down ur exact typical day food intake! I BET u are either undereating or missing something!! .. I found that when I increased my food intake not at one meal but at different meal I see half a kilo here and some grams there dropping. please give me an insight of ur daily ( with time) eating. thanks ,.. we are all stuck in the same boat and we can definitely learn from each others experience. Thanks!

wow.. Happy post!! I love these kind of posts!! Keep them coming, Congrats on your success so far and on ur new happier life:)

I have been just like u dear... also I have also been suffering from ow blood pressure occasionaly before my surgery. my tips are: 1- raise ur salt intake ( not only by adding salt to ur food) but by consuming something which is naturally salted .. nuts, salted cheese.. etc 2- when u feel that black out or the light headed feeling when u stand up .. squeeze ur legs muscel, the blood will automatically leave this place and runs back upward. 3- start walking a lot and strengths ur legs muscles. hope this helps. and wish u feel better soon.

Well, I asked about that for some reason, I found out that I can no longer tolerate ice cream! ( which I used to eat a lot during my band no problem) Also chocolate cake is a no no for me after a long day of diarrhea .. ALSO When I overeat! ( yes I had my moments where I ate above my allowance) So, this might help u to know if u are on the wrong path on not.. I find that if I exceeded my limit one day and I didnt even feel restriction, my bowel movement speaks louder. Same thing goes if I under-eat, my bowel movement vanish for some day which I totally hate. I am sorry if I am disgusting anyone, but finding restriction after the band is totally messing up our brains.We were always stuck with it but the sleeve is so different, at least we can have normal breakfast now! yes I do eat more breakfast now than before with my band. so may be u are just Over estimating and seeing that u are eating more than others while u are actually doing all the right things for ur stomach. I think ur intake is just fine when it comes to eggs. My doctor told me to stop comparing with others about food intake and kinds.. cause everyone is different.. some can tolerate X a lot and other feels full after one bite of X. Also the timing is important, when skipping meals some can eat X of food a lot and others feel more stuck and cant have a proper next meal. Men and Women are also different , Some ppl on OH board ( females) said that they feel no restriction around that time of month while others do. So the moral of my long boring story is that if U feel like you are eating more than others dont worry there are some ppl that are just like u! a bite of an (ex bandster) differs a lot from a bite of a virgin WLS patient. Keep ur trials as long as they are in the healthy range and if u are like me ( have a bite of two of bad stuff) just keep urself accountable of these.. best of luck

Hip, I have a question for u.. it is out of manners but I have to ask it. How is your stool regularity? are you having diarrhea ? or are u not visiting the restroom that much?

Hip, I can add something to what is said above.. Yesterday I could eat more. Usually I eat 3 small pieces of salmon Sashimi and a 1 piece of a nigiri, no rice. yesterday I was able at one sitting to eat 5 pieces of sashimi and 1 nigiri piece and 1 sushi piece.. I wasnt stuffed completely but I felt somehow full as before I just try to eat small bites and never reach the fullness feeling. I think tht u are healing just too well that u can eat more that early at one sitting with time frame and without water. For me I Felt like the sleeve allowed me so yesterday cause I skipped lunch ( not intentionally ) and I was really (my body) needing food. While having this meal I felt that feeling with the band of food in my throat then 1 min later It was gone and the food passed. and I can eat more. That is my experience so far trying to answer ur question.

oh sweety!! sending you lots and lots and lots of HUGS!! I hope they all are delivered as they come from an overseas sleeve sis to another!! and in some weeks u are gonna read this post and actually have an inner laugh about how u felt!! just a phase, and u will be feeling awesome soon!! XOXOXO

I am having the same issue too, I thought it was because it that time around my period, but that one is messed up too.. I am late and not pregnant for sure lol.. I guess all our hormones are changing.. I am seeing a skin doc this Wednesday too.. finger cross she will help

What;s your typical day food and water intake? please!! the more info the better suggestions.