DELETE THIS ACCOUNT!

It's very interesting, but I'm curious how you can test the validity of the answers? Nowhere does it ask any identifiable information. How do you know people aren't just giving bogus answers?

Just curious.

I do know Bactrim is known for not only a loss of appetite but nausea as well.

Be VERY careful of your INR. As you know, 4.5 is really high. Bactrim is notorious for making your INR skyrocket. If I were in your shoes, I'd talk to your doctor about cutting your Coumadin in half while on the Bactrim.

(btw, I just finished 6 months of Coumadin so that's why I'm familiar with the INR issues)

Hang in there and feel better soon.

Beautiful and touching post. Thank you so much for sharing it.

grammy _oe and richards 022.JPG grammy _oe and richards 022.JPGMy kids wanted pictures of us this Christmas.. probably been at least 25 years since I had any pictures done of me.. but we did it and I am so pleased that I look "normal"... gotta go today and get frames for them... Another NSV cause without my band I would not have had pictures taken...

You look wonderful- and very happy! This is such a great picture!!

You look stunning! Congratulations!!

For the most part, body shapers only have about a 6 month shelf life. They slowly stretch out then you have to buy a new one.

I've used Spanx and really liked them. Plus, they offer different levels of support rather than one-for-all.

Right now they have 10% off + free shipping: http://www.spanx.com/

I track every single calorie I eat and never eat more a cup of food per meal. For me, this has been crucial to successfully losing weight with the band.

If it were me, I wouldn't get the fill. You sound like you're already in the Green Zone.

Remember, just because you can eat more than a cup of food doesn't mean you need a fill. It means you need to stick to band sized portions and be aware of when you're satisfied. The band isn't meant to physically stop you from eating anything. The saying around here is "just because you can eat more doesn't mean you should".

The band will tell you that you've had enough by means of no longer being hungry. Some people even have soft stops. But if you want to eat more than a cup, you can and will, regardless of Green Zone. Many people end up too tight by making this mistake and end up with complications and slips because of it.

hey all, thanks again for all the comments and kind words and prayers, prayers are always welcome.

Missy, how is your daughter? So far the Plaquenil is ok with me, a few times I've gotten nauseated and taken a Dramamine but all in all I guess it is ok. Tonight I'm in a lot of pain all over and didn't take a pain pill cause I have to get up in the morning and didn't want to be hung over. Luckily I still have percocets left from my lapband surgery last year and gallbladder surgery too cause my Rheumy nor my reg doc won't give me anything for pain, I hate it.

She's doing well on it, but we were warned it can take 4-8 weeks for it to take full effect. In the meantime, she's taking Flexeril and Ibuprofen. Pretty much toughing it out. She's not had any adverse reactions whatsover so far, so that is a huge relief.

They won't give her pain meds either. I've actually given her half of my Vicodin before because she was in so much pain.

Hang in there Donna, you can do this

First, it's really important to realize your ability to eat fast or even how much you can eat have nothing to do with proper restriction or the Green Zone. There is a really common saying around here "just because you can eat something doesn't mean you should". The band isn't meant to physically stop you from eating anything.

Whether or not you're at the proper filled is determined by satiety, not fullness and not the amount you're eating. Are you satisfied on a cup or less of food for at least 4 hours? If yes, you're probably right where you should be. If no, you might need more Fluid. Keep in mind if you're eating until full you're likely eating to much. This is one of the reasons it's very important to stick to band sized portions.

If you think the nurse leaked some of the Fluid, I would go back and insist your surgeon checks the fluid level, not the nurse or anyone else.

Here's a link that will help too: http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html

hair loss is really common after any surgery and it usually doesn't even start until 3-4 months post operation.

It will stop on it's own. Make sure you get enough Protein and lots of Water, too.

Hang in there.

I see people who i know have gotten the band and they look wonderful. And, i'm still struggling after 2 years.

So? What do you eat on a regular day?

It's not so much what we specifically eat but rather making healthy food choices. For most of us, it's also about staying within our daily calorie allowance, too.

I would make an appointment with your nutritionist.

Call your surgeon, tell him about the pain and spitting up food, and let him decide.

Pain is never normal.

Best wishes.

Unfortunately, there is no way we can answer your question. We're not doctors.

If I were you, I'd find a surgeon who does both bariatric surgery and general surgery and ask him. Only he/she could answer your question.

You'll get a very wide array of answers on this.

The old way of thinking was that drinking during meals or too soon after meals would wash the food through the band too quickly. Studies now show this isn't true because food shouldn't sit above the band for more than a minute. In fact, food that does sit above the band puts you at risk for erosion.

Now, in light of recent studies, a lot doctors are saying sipping between bites is ok so long as you wait a minute so the food fully passes before pouring down Water. And, sipping, not gulping.

As always, it's best to do what your own surgeon recommends (if they recommend anything at all).

I had over 12 pounds of skin removed yet the scale crept up immediately after surgery.

It wasn't weight gain though, it was serious Fluid retention. When they do a Tummy Tuck, they cut the lymphatic channels between your upper and lower torso/legs. This can cause some pretty serious Fluid retention. What you're experiencing isn't uncommon at all.

Give it a couple more weeks. In the meantime, stay away from salt and if you see the scale still creeping up, see if maybe your doctor will give you something for the Water weight.

Btw, if you see your legs increasing in size dramatically and have leg pain? Insist you're checked for blood clots. I ended up with life threatening blood clots in both legs which landed me in the ICU for 8 days. It was pure hell.

Best wishes and hang in there.

Oh I wish I could do that! My 13 year old daughter is in a cookie making trip for the holidays! Ugh! And I also have a 7 year old! I have cut back drastically but can't eliminate everything! I know you are right and I need to get it out ... Guess it's time for us all to eat better!

I have kids and a live-in boyfriend. All three are skinny as rails and never had a weight problem in their lives. So, they still indulge in treats daily.

My trick is to only buy them stuff that I won't be tempted to graze or binge on. For instance, I can live without Little Debbie brownies and oatmeal cremes. But, I cannot resist the nutty bars. So, I will buy the others but not the nutty bars. Same with chips- I can live without potato chips but I can't resist Doritos. So again, I buy them their chips but I don't buy the Doritos.

Remember, there is absolutely nothing wrong for taking a stand for yourself and telling them you're not buying....whatever...because it's too hard for you to deal with. You don't have to eliminate everything, just the select foods you know you can't resist.

I am going to make an appointment. I was glad my band looked good but still worry they missed something.

Don't make the common mistake of assuming every stomach pain you have is band related. More often than not, it's not related to the band at all and as a result people miss some pretty serious medical issues because of it.

I'm glad you're going to see your doctor. Good luck!

I've been banded almost 2 years and still struggle with this.

For me, I find it an ongoing process. First, I had to clean my house out of all "trigger foods". The grazing you do? I do it too. I find if I get all the foods that are going to make me want to graze and leave only healthy foods, then I don't eat nearly as much and when I do at least it's a good choice. The second part of this is, if I am going to indulge on a cookie or ice cream, it's then a conscious decision requiring me to go to the store for whatever treat it is I'm going to have. 90% of the time this alone makes me not indulge because the time I get ready to go out, I realize it's not worth the calories (or money) and decide against it anyway.

Bottom line- if you want to put the Cookies and chips down, get them out of your house entirely so you can't pick them up to begin with. It will help you a lot.

Best wishes.

I have been having pain near my port and in my stomach for the last week. I have not thrown up or been stuck but I just hurt. I even went to the ER and had a barium swallow ct done to check for a slip because i hurt so bad. The doc said that it looked perfect, no sign of prolapse and my band is right at the bottom of my esophagus like it should be. Has anyone else ever had this?

There could be a lot of reasons for this. Have you been checked for a hernia? And had your gallbladder checked? If I were you, I'd follow up with your family doctor ASAP and have him help you figure out what's going on.

You haven't read these studies. I'm not sure you understand how to interpret results of intervention and outcomes. Quite simply: given regression to the mean, overwhelmingly the majority of folks who are banded are not successful.

The only thing I'm stipulating is that the goal of the band is to be a tool in a patient reaching weight loss goals. It is not assisting more than 20% or so of people in doing that. If you read any of these studies you'll see that for many (40-50% average) have to have the band removed due to complications.

It's pretty remarkable you all would attack someone on these boards who is struggling. Good health and good luck to everyone. God knows we all need positive support in our lives. And I mean EVERYONE. Good tidings.

I never attacked anyone. You came onto this thread spreading complete scare tactic BS. What's worse, you clearly don't understand what you're reading at all. I came on here to offer the OP advice and try to help- which is a heck of a lot more than you did.

We need A LOT more details:

-when did you have surgery?

-how much is in your band?

-what size band do you have?

-did they do a barium swallow?

Hi. I was banded in Sept 2011. Started out at 224 lbs and am now 210. That's right, i havent lost much weight in the 2+ yrs that i've had the band. I have an 11 cc band and already have 10.2 cc filled.

I don't think i need to be filled anymore because i do feel restriction after a small amount of food but it doesn't last long and i am able to eat more within 5-10 minutes of feeling the restriction.

I admit i havent been making such great food choices all the time but it seems easier to get down the foods that are not so good for me, than the foods i'm supposed to be eating. I have no problems with bread, Bagels, Pasta, etc but i do have to eat slowly.

I've kind of given up here......

I'm no doctor, but it seems to me like the problem is you're expecting the band to do things it's not supposed to do. It's not supposed to physically stop you from eating nor is it going to force you to make good food choices.

Please read this link for a much better understanding of the band and realistic expectations of it: http://drsimpson.net/fills/Lap-band-eating/lap-band-not-restriction/lap-band-and-restriction.html

The study is complete. You are talking about sampling bias and that occurs with any and all procedures. Want more information on the failure of the band? I'm glad it worked for you - but people should have full information before committing themselves to something.

I actually didn't fail on my band - the complications of malnutrition caused severe, severe anemia and I had to have mine out so I never had a full run of it. The study you cite states that 1:20 had to have the band removed. THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE THESE PEOPLE in their statistics...THAT is what we call sampling bias.

Here's what the National Institutes of Health have to say: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1421324/

DeMaria, E. J., Sugerman, H. J., Meador, J. G., Doty, J. M., Kellum, J. M., Wolfe, L., ... & Turner, M. A. (2001). High failure rate after laparoscopic adjustable silicone gastric banding for treatment of morbid obesity. Annals of surgery, 233(6), 809.

V Giusti MD, P. D. (2006). A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric banding for morbid obesity: high long-term complication and failure rates.Obesity surgery, 16(7), 829-835.

Goitein, D., Feigin, A., Segal-Lieberman, G., Goitein, O., Papa, M. Z., & Zippel, D. (2011). Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy as a revisional option after gastric band failure. Surgical endoscopy, 25(8), 2626-2630.

Once again, you're citing incomplete studies that don't take patient compliance into consideration. You can't fault the band for patient error and carelessness.

The fact is, as stated in the study I posted, when the patient does what they're supposed to do there is only a 5% failure rate.

Not your fault. A recent study suggests that the band isn't terribly effective (fails 44% of the time). Hang in there!

Here's the link and citation if you are interested: http://www.soard.org/article/S1550-7289(13)00392-4/abstract

Kindel, T., Martin, E., Hungness, E., & Nagle, A. (2013). High failure rate of the laparoscopic-adjustable gastric band as a primary bariatric procedure. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.

Actually, that study is incomplete because it doesn't take patient failure/non-compliance into consideration.

When a patient is compliant with their surgeon and the band rules, the band is just as effective as other WLS and failure rate is only 5%. http://www.futurity.org/weight-stays-off-long-after-lap-band-surgery/