Alexandra

That's the way I've always figured it.

Hi Leslie, Here's another very satisfied Abkin patient. My surgery was so long ago I really no longer remember the details, but I've been very happy with the aftercare. Come to the support group meetings!! You'll find a great resource of other bandsters, nutritionists, and the nurse practitioner. It's a perfect place to ask questions and share experiences in an informal setting. Good luck!!

Actually, I don't think there is a difference. Puree is what you do to food to MAKE it mushy. Mushy/soft food is anything you can eat without chewing. Pureeing can indeed make anything into that consistency.

Lins, I don't think that even the most vivid description of what someone else feels like when they're "just right" is going to be helpful when it comes to you. And objective measurements of food aren't really helpful either, since we all feel different than one another and even from ourselves at other times. What YOU feel like is the only really important thing. Whatever you did before you had the pain last week was probably too much, for you and at that stage of the game. "Too tight" usually means real difficulty eating or even drinking. There is another version of "too tight" that seems to occur later on, when the restriction doesn't cause difficulty in eating but does cause persistent reflux. If you can manage your heartburn/reflux with behavior changes and occasional medication, and can eat and drink a sufficient amount without difficulty, then you're probably not "too tight." Helpful, huh?

Hi Happy NJ girl! Welcome to LBT from another Garden-Stater. Everything you describe is perfectly normal. Weird internal noises are not unusual, and will dissipate in time. And the pain is indeed from the gas they used to inflate your abdomen during surgery; it too will lessen in a few days. Diarrhea is normal too, and may persist until you start on more substantial drinks like Protein drinks. Take it easy, rest up, you're still healing. Congratulations, you're a bandster!!

Doctors have different posop protocols. There is no ONE post-op diet, but essentially the rule is to start out with Clear liquids, progress to full liquids, mushies, and then solid foods. MOST doctors don't introduce really solid foods until the fourth week, but before that there's lots of differences in interpretation regarding what's "liquid" and what's "mushy." Mandy's menu could be considered "mushy" which is not that surprising for the middle of her second week out. Broiled fish, if it's soft enough, can also be considered mushy. Anything one can eat without chewing is a mushy food, and that list is surprisingly long. As far as normal eating once we're out of the postop phase, you'll find that it too changes over time and with increasing restriction. It's completely unrealistic to say "only 4 oz at a meal" if you have no restriction--this is not enough to satisfy a normal person and amounts to a starvation diet. No one I know does this for any length of time. But with good restriction, it is indeed possible that such a small amount will be enough for a meal. This won't happen until proper adjustment is reached, whenever that is. In the meantime, just concentrate on eating Protein first and then vegetables in whatever amounts you find satisfying. It's an important habit to cultivate because when restriction is reached, unless we really eat the protein first it can be very hard to get the right nutrition. Two french fries can ruin a meal, just because there's no room for anything else after that. To answer the question about fruits and vegetables, I'll tell you that it's very hard for me to get any meaningful produce in my diet. My normal lunch is the insides of a deli sandwich--that is, meat and cheese, garnished with lettuce and tomato. That lettuce and tomato is often the only produce I get all day. And it's not much. Sometimes I'll have salad for dinner but only if I know I've had protein at the other two meals and have gotten enough that day. Yesterday I had a plum in mid-morning, and though it was delicious it kept me full way past lunchtime. So I didn't really eat lunch, and then at the movies in mid-afternoon I had popcorn. That kept me too full to eat a decent dinner and poof, my day was blown with regard to getting enough protein. I once asked a nutritionist about whether we can measure our nutrients weekly rather than daily--the way parents are told to with our toddlers' diets--hoping this would let me have an all-fruit day. She said no, not really, because protein is an ongoing, constant need. There are certain kinds of fruits I can eat, like watermelon, and those I just cannot, like pineapple. Vegetables can be cooked until they're soft, but then they're unappetizing. Them's the breaks. I take a Multivitamin plus a B-complex every day, and use Benefiber to help get enough Fiber in. If I'm feeling like a cold is coming on, I'll take additional Vitamin C. Fruits and vegetables are definitely not a staple of my diet anymore.

There are several people here who started with BMIs under 35, so you woudn't be alone in making that decision. Only you know whether it's worth going under the knife in a foreign country at your own expense, with possibly limited access to followup care in the U.S., to achieve what you want to achieve. Bear in mind, though, that the less one has to lose to begin with the slower it is likely to come off. And if you fall within the bell curve of most bandsters and lose "only" 50-60% of your excess body weight, how much would that be? 30 lbs? It would seem like surgery to lose 30 lbs is not a risk worth taking. That said, there may be good reasons to get banded and only you and a doctor can decide that. If you believe the behavior modifications the band helps us make are modifications you can't make consistently on your own, then it may be a good fit for you. Do you eat too much? Or just consistently eat the wrong things? The band does not help us eat the right things; that we have to do on our own. What it does to is help us eat LESS of everything, so if that's what you need and think it's worth the risk and expense, you're on the right track.

You said both of these things: Sorry, that doesn't jibe for me. If my friends told me this I'd be wondering what kind of friends they were to say something like that. Unless it was said with TOTAL good cheer and laughter, and even then I'd be suspect. I had a cousin-in-law who actually said "if you get skinny I'll hate you" and she said it with a huge smile. Charming. She didn't mean well at all, even though she wished me the best in so many words. Of course you know their attitudes say A LOT about them and nothing at all about you. You are taking a major step toward controlling your weight and getting and STAYING healthy, while they're just on yet another diet. The two have nothing in common. I'm not suggesting you get angry or anything, sorry if it sounds that way. But comments like that just make me think much less of anyone who says it, like a little window into their personality revealing a little more unpleasantness than before. Phooey.

Lins, I'm sorry for your troubles. The only pearl I have to offer is that sometimes the medication for the reflux is what's causing the problem. For a while I was taking Zantac about an hour before going to bed, just because I'd heard someone else recommend it. But whatever is IN Zantac caused my throat to be irritated in the morning, along with a horrible taste. Now if I have any reason to think I might have reflux overnight, I take a Pepcid AC before bed instead of Zantac, and even if I do have a little Fluid come up in the nighttime it's not irritating or bad-tasting. If all you're having is a sore throat, maybe you're actually sick? Not every bad symptom is band-related. Are you sleeping flat? If you can, I'd venture to say it's not reflux that's bothering you. Or try elevating your bed or sleeping on several pillows so gravity will help keep things down. Good luck!!

Well it's back. About six months ago I mentioned to my doctor that I was feeling dizzy on occasion, especially when I stood up quickly but sometimes just for no reason. That's when she sent me for an echocardiogram which showed there was nothing wrong. Now it's happening again. Any ideas? I can't imagine my blood pressure is low, and I think I'm well-hydrated, so I'm ready to try any old wives' remedies. It's scary, and I'm terrified it will happen while I'm driving!

DeLarla, I'm just a little dizzy. What you're describing sounds a bit more, um, dramatic. That said, we do have a cold front moving through this evening, and maybe I'm feeling that changing air pressure. Donali, I love your theory!! We're all tuned in to the cosmos, man.

Melissa, I won't the only one to say CALL YOUR DOCTOR!! Sometimes I get sensitive times that resolve in a day or so with babying and with Pepcid Complete, but if you're reduced to eating soft foods for more than a brief time there may be something wrong. I hope it's only as minor as your being a little too tight, but you won't know unless you contact your doc. Perhaps an unfill is in order. Good luck!!

I just had a total blood workup done in advance of my two-year checkup on the 17th of this month. So they'll know if I'm anemic or low on any particular nutrient at that point. In the meantime, I'm chalking it up to allergies, hormones, or the weather.

Hmmmm, maybe it is inner-ear related. My younger daughter just got over a virus, so maybe I've caught it and it's messing with my sinuses. Time for the allergy meds!!

Now why didn't I think of that? Well, because it's NEVER been low. I've always tended to the high side. It'll be a shock if that has changed; even with all the weight loss it's still borderline high. (Well, 120/80 which used to be called "normal.") Well, I'm reassured that the tests show nothing, for you and me both. Maybe it's something about being 43? Donali? How are you feeling? Seriously, you think it's hormonal?

Hi Sherri, There are four moderators whose job it is to maintain some semblance of order here, and from time to time that means closing/locking/moving/deleting threads or posts. In the FAQs section we have moved some of the perennial "reference" threads that are evergreen in value, but that don't really need to be continually "bumped" with new posts. Those threads are locked to new posts, but the information in them is still valuable. Anyone is always welcome to start a thread at any time. That's sometimes preferable to putting a new post on an old thread, because it can confuse people who don't pay close attention to the dates.

Your doctor can count as the "qualified professional" if she's been following your activities and progress at Curves. Presumably you've been seeing her regularly for weight checks, and she's also been recording your other vital signs. She could write up something about the specific effect your Curves regimen has been having. If she could drop the phrase "pulmonary reserve" in somewhere that would help. Unfortunately, you won't know if this will really satisfy them until you try. But from my experience, I think it will.

I had the same situation, Billy, and was prepared to wait 10 months to change insurance carriers at my firm's open enrollment. I used the time to get all the medical testing done (which Aetna did pay for, since it wasn't necessarily surgery related) and then submitted a request for precert just for the heck of it. I was immediately denied, so I appealed. Then again. And then I took it to third-party review and WON!! My surgery was way earlier than it would have been if I had just waited to change carriers. None of this cost anything but time, and I was absolutely thrilled to beat Aetna. Why not use the months in the interim to try?

My doctor's office, which does both bypass and the band, says that more and more people are getting banded as they learn about it and the experience data grows. They were part of the FDA trials back in 2000 and are pretty plugged in to current surgical news. They don't seem to have any concerns that the band is in any danger of being recalled.

Jodie, one thing someone said earlier has stuck in my mind. If you eat very little now, why do you think getting banded will help you lose weight? Getting banded just makes people eat...very little. It's not necessarily effective in people who have other issues contributing to their weight besides overeating. Plus, it's a slow and labor-intensive way to lose that will not show results overnight. You seem to think it's going to solve all your problems, where the only problem it really can solve is limiting one's caloric intake. But you say you already do that, so what will being banded do for you? You've got all your eggs in this one basket, and that's never a good idea. As much as I'm not a supporter of the RNY there are some people for whom it makes a lot of sense: those people who are suffering from health conditions that rapid weight loss will improve. Maybe you are one of those people? I'm only suggesting this because many insurance carriers who won't pay for the band will pay for bypass. If getting thin is your ONLY concern, that might be something to consider.

Diva, a lot depends on genetics. I have less loose skin than I expected, I guess; it's only now that I'm starting to really notice it. Age, genetics, time spent obese, and time after surgery are the only things that I've heard have any real effect on your skin. At 43 my experience will be different than someone who had the surgery at 23 or at 53. All you can really do is wait and see. Exercise is wonderful on many, many counts, but skin has no muscles so it won't do anything about that.

Protein first.

This is an old thread, and Paula's test was months ago. Paula, can you give us an update? Lots of things can be attributed to "reflux" which may or may not be "acid reflux." The word reflux just means things are going in the wrong direction--up instead of down. I've seen that happen in my esophagus with barium during a fluoro test. I think that's what makes the gurgling, froggy sounds in the hour after a meal, but as far as I can make out it's not harmful, just weird. When it happens at night, I think stomach acid is more likely to be involved. Pain in the throat or difficulty taking a deep breath in the morning are consequences of this and medical help is needed. This is the situation that shouldn't be allowed to continue. Personally I've found behavior modification to help immensely, but there are situations that indicate an unfill. Paula, how are you doing now?

That sounds really fabulous, actually! I hope they're good. If I see them around I'll definitely give them a try. Are they soy-based?

It really is a tragedy. It's my impression that when things go wrong with RNY they can snowball, because on top of whatever is wrong the patient is debilitated by the malnutrition that's going on. supplements just can't replace all the nutrients in real food, and the patients are weakened from the outset. So conquering problems is made all the harder. My fingers are crossed for this poor woman. Things sure don't look good.