g25

They took out 1.5 cc so I'm at 5.5 now not bad for my second fill.

I am a Mexico "graduate" I would do it again in a heartbeat I didn't have insurance, I didn't weigh enough, etc etc.. I'd yo yoed up and down all my life. I was so depressed I was sure I was going to be the fat girl forever. I tipped the scale at 197... .for the 10th time.. I'd just lost and gained the same 50 pounds....Id just done the HCG diet..I was so sure I'd lost if for good this time and gave away all my fat clothes.. a year later.. I Jlooking at 200 again.. What was wrong with me????
Go back with me to January, 2012.... miserable, depressed, out of control eating. No motivation to diet, just regained 50 pounds...knee joints aching, can't fit into anything. Dumped by the boyfriend...Beginning to think, thats it life's over for me...I should throw in the towel and accept it all...
And then I glanced at the pictures of my two wonderful sons....and thought of how their lives were just beginning.. both in school... one studying law, the other premed...was I really going to let them down.. and just dissolve into this depressed mess of a person... or was I going to fight????
I was going to fight....
and I did fight...
I decided to fight with a vengence.... and Mexico played a huge part in this determination.
I got off my butt... I searched the internet..
I didn't have insurance to cover lap band surgery. I didn't even have the money.. I did however have a line of credit on my house.. and I did make the decision to use it!!!
January 24th I made the phone call. Feb 9th I was banded
I didn't have to go through 6 months of psychological counselling and reams of insurance issues.
I took my $5,000, wrote a deposit check and a bank note for the balance.
I got into my car... I drove to a border crossing
A van picked me up (if I'd flown they would have gotten me at the airport)
I was driven to a surgery center.. I was preoped, I was banded and recovered the same day
I stayed in a wonderful hotel overnight with some great people I met who also had surgery that day
I drank soup, I ate popsicles, I went home the next day
I drove myself 90 miles to my home...I recovered in a week and went back to work
So began my journey...
It is 6 months later.. I have had 2 fills and a slight unfill....I have lost 59 pounds. i went from 197 to 138, from a size 18 to a size 8
I would do this again in a heart beat...
I believed going to Mexico to the surgeon I went to, saved my life...it gave me back my life.. and if it had not been for this affordable alternative, I am sure I would be completely miserable right now... instead I am healthy, happy, and going to zumba 6 times a weeks. What can I say? Viva La Mexico!

You won't get restriction until you get fills. In fact took me 6 months! Also the band is really meant to work with solid foods. At four weeks are you on solids yet?

If you haven't had a fill, you won't feel any restriction. Even after a few fills you may not. You most likely felt some restriction for the first week or two post-op because of swelling.
Plateaus are completely normal (I have to keep reminding myself this!!) especially after such a durastic adjustment in your diet. Your body goes into conservation mode and also can adapt to your new eating style and exercise routine.
From what I hear, if you have a band slippage you KNOW it. There is pain, and an intolerance to food and liquids.

My best advice is stick to your eating plan, measure and weigh everything you eat, and log all of your food. Stick to the plan, and eventually your body will realize it can start letting go of some of the weight. The first month or so is all about healing not losing (which is frustrating since you are so excited for your new band and want the weight to just fall off!! That was my hope anyways...)
If you're really concerned about your band, it never hurts to call your surgeons office. Better safe than sorry.

And other things you need to know about WLS but are afraid to ask...
I wonder sometimes if bariatric professionals forget to emphasize the importance of good band eating skills because they they've never had to live with a gastric band. Of course, a few bariatric professionals are also bariatric patients, and thank goodness for that.
I also wonder if bandsters are unaware of the importance of good band eating skills because their brains slipped into neutral during that part of their pre-op education. You'll have a hard time convincing me that's never happened to you, because I am the Queen of Lists and Note Taking. In high school and college, classmates would pay me for copies of my class notes. (Not only were they thorough, they were neatly penned in my prize-winning handwriting and decorated with cunning cartoons depicting my teachers and professors in embarrassing situations.) I take a notebook and a list of questions to every medical appointment, I ask questions, I re-read my notes, but despite all of that, my brain tends to shift gears when I see or hear something that strikes me as unimportant or irrelevant. And aside from being The World's Greatest Living Expert on Everything, what exactly qualifies me to make the unimportant or irrelevant judgment? Nothing. Nada. Nichts. Niente.
During my pre- and post-op patient education, which was tailored exclusively to bandsters and administered by well-prepared bariatric dietitians, nurses, physician's assistants, and so on, I must have heard the eating skills lecture a dozen times. I was told that if I didn't eat carefully, I would end up in pain or with my meal in my lap. I nodded my understanding each time I heard that and could repeat the lecture verbatim, but it wasn't until I took a huge bite of a grilled cheese sandwich 24 hours after my first fill that I truly understood what all those folks had been telling me. And that’s not an experience I’m likely to forget.
Take Tiny Bites
I talk about good eating skills a lot. Why do I go on and on about that? Is it because I like the sound of my own (editorial) voice? Well, sure - that's no secret. But for what reason besides that?
Important information bears repeating, and repetition is one of the ways that we acquire new information and learn new habits. If you doubt that, pay attention to how many times the Geico lizard appears on your television screen each day. Good band eating skills must become a habit if you're going to succeed with your band and avoid side effects and complications. Those eating skills must be your habit every hour of every day, not just as a new post-op or after each fill, but every day for the rest of your life.
That sounds like a pretty tall order, doesn't it? Don't panic, though. A well-ingrained habit doesn't take as much conscious thought as a brand-new one. Your own behavior has already proven that if you've ever found yourself with a half-finished Twinkie or a cigarette or a beer in your hand and couldn't remember how it got there. It works the other way too. Your healthy new habits will eventually dig themselves into your life and using them will get easier as you go along.
When you forget your band eating skills, your band will give you a loud reminder in the form of side effects like PB's, sliming, or stuck episodes, but I beg you not to rely on your band's built-in warning system on a regular basis, because doing so will send your bandwagon skittering down the road to complications like esophageal dilation, stomach dilation, band slips and even band erosion.
One of the problems with the band's alarm system is that the truly destructive behaviors it reacts to may trigger relatively mild warnings so long before the damage is done that it's easy to shrug them off. For example, let's say that you often take big bites, don't chew very well, eat quickly, and/or eat beyond your soft stops (soft stops are gentle stop-eating signals, like hiccups). Each time you do those things, you experience mild discomfort. Nothing horrific. It happens, you think, "Oops," and you go back to whatever you were doing before the discomfort happened. Eventually this mild discomfort becomes just a part of your post-op life - the same as the way you sneeze when you pet a cat, pass gas when you eat beans, or get a headache when you don't wear your eyeglasses. Hey, that's just the way it is, right?
But one bad day after dozens of ordinary days you can't even swallow your own saliva. You rush to the doctor, who does an upper GI x-ray and tells you your band has slipped. "How can that be?" you cry, "Everything's been fine until now!"
In fact, everything has not been fine, because your careless eating has been pushing, pushing, pushing at your band's limits, until finally it pushed your band up your esophagus or down your stomach. I don't like finger-pointing any better than you do, but whose responsibility is that band slip? Is it your surgeon's, for not stitching it on there well enough? Is it the band manufacturer's, for not making your band slip-proof? Or is it yours?
There can be a happy ending to your story, though. Even if the band slip is clearly your fault, you won't get sent to prison to sip brackish water and gnaw on stale bread for the rest of your days. Your surgeon can unfill your band (or, less likely, re-operate to reposition your band), and you can revamp your eating skills, lose weight, and live happily ever after. Or better yet, you can avoid the pain, inconvenience, financial and emotional costs, and pay attention to your eating from now on.
I ain't gonna lie to you...acquiring and practicing this new habit won't be easy, but I can think of a lot of things that could be worse. A lot worse.
The official Bandwagon® Eating Skills are:
1. Don't drink while you eat or for 30 to 60 minutes afterwards.
2. Take tiny bites.
3. Chew, chew chew.
4. Eat slowly.
5. Eat the protein first.
6. Learn your stop signals.
7. Pay attention to problem foods.
8. Eat only when you're hungry.
9. Avoid liquid calories and slider foods.
10. Use a small plate.
11. Plan your food in advance.
12. Don't watch TV or read while you eat.
13. Don't put serving dishes on the dining table.
14. Eat sitting down at the dining table.
15. Follow the HALT rule (don't eat when you're too hungry, angry, lonely or tired).
You’ll find full explanations of each skill in Chapter 12 of Bandwagon, Strategies for Success with the Adjustable Gastric Band, by yours truly.

hello! my name is krystina, i am 24yo and i was banded this morning! since i have a nine month old at home, i spent a little extra time in the hospital napping! the surgery went very well and there were no complications! i'm feeling quite uncomfortable from the gas pains but other than that no real pain at all! discomfot getting up from a lying position, but that was expected! i am happy to be starting my journey and excited to start a new chapter of my life! a much happier, healthier one at that! i look forward to speaking/sharing with you all!!! -krystina

Hi everyone! Just did my first walk through the hospital. Doing great!the pain is easily controlled by drip. I was in recovery for seversl hours though high bp& severe nausea despite meds. But what am improvement exactly 12 hoirs since surgery! I am getting excited:) they said barium swalllow 2 mrw and released around dinner time if all is well . To all who havent had surgery its not bad at all- my c-sections were 10x worse! Thanks for listening

I beleive it has helped my hunger tremendously. I am not so hungry and when I eat I dont feel like I am in a panic. I eat slower and easily turn the rest away. This has never happened for me. It does take 3 - 5 fills to get to that point so the beginning is difficult and requires patiences.
I dont have to think about dieting as much and the daily obsession and thoughts are gone. I use to wake up telling myself today I would eat good. Then I would be hunry and eat a Breakfast taco at 9ish and feel like I was failing so then I would eat a big lunch and by the end of the day I had totally messed up. Now I eat less and at the end of the day, if I think about my meals, I am suprised how little I ate. The first 6 weeks I logged everything I ate but now that I am in the green zone, I havent logged as much b/c my meals are where they need to be and I am not snacking.
I love my band so much. I am scared of future complications with the band. But I hope it just doesnt happen. Most complications are induced by patient non-complaince with the rules. Other surgeries dont require such dedication to rules and the fill process is not needed. However, they alter you anatomy forever. I am happy that all of my body parts function just as they did before. I just eat less, am hungry less, and I eat slower.
Hope that helps.

Hi all! New guy from Plano, TX here! I am 4 days post-op. I feel like someone stabbed me, but I am not regretting this for a second! Glad to be on here and am hoping some of you have some good advice for me. At almost 400 lbs at 31 yrs old, I knew I had to do something about my weight but didn't know what to do!
I had zero energy, was too depressed to even shower most mornings, and didn't have insurance to pay for any surgery. And most insurance companies wouldn't insure me because I am so overweight!!
Well, my parents sat me down... told me that they wanted to do anything they could to help me, because they loved me and wanted to see me happy and healthy. My dad offered me a huge chunk of his savings (they're teachers and far from rich) about $5000. Said that I should take it and have surgery that would change my health for the better. They said it would make them happier than any money ever could. So I was about 4k short of being able to pay for it myself.
THE NEXT DAY, I sat down to lunch with my boss and asked him what he thought about the lap band procedure... his response? "Oh wow!! I was JUST about to talk to you about that! I wanted to know if you were interested in the procedure, and I wanted to know I would be willing to sponsor your surgery in the amount of $4000!"
You have to be kidding me right? God has a funny sense of humor sometimes, but sometimes he makes things so clear. I am grateful for such an amazing group of people around me and I CANNOT fail them or myself. I want to live, be married, and raise kids of my own. I can't do this and be this fat! I want to live so I got banded. And now I'm here hoping to get some good advice and support. Thanks all!

I am going to Mexico to be banded by Dr. Ortiz in Tijuana in October. I've been researching for about a year, and he seems like the best choice. My insurance covers $5000 of lap band surgery, if I have it done by their doctor on their terms, giving them my diet history, having psych evals, and going on a 3 month medicially supervised (by them) diet. The doctor they use is not as experienced, does not seem as professional, and I do not trust him as much as I do Dr Ortiz, due to what I have heard about him. The portion of my surgery I would be responsible for would be $11000. Dr Ortiz is charging $6000 including free fills and aftercare for life (I am lucky to live in Vegas, which is only a few hours from his facility in TJ).
To get to the point here, I contacted my insurance company and specifically asked them this: "If I get lap band surgery in Mexico and have an emergency for which I cannot take the time to go back to the hospital in Mexico to have fixed, would insurance cover this?" The answer was that they legally have to cover life threatening emergencies. So, if you go to the ER with band slippage, erosion, or whatever, they legally have to cover it. Even if they do not cover it, the ER cannot legally turn away ANYONE with a life threatening emergency. If they bill you later, so be it, at least you will have your health.
That being said, if you get your band in Mexico, or anywhere besides where you live, you can go to fill centers USA, which is a company specifically for people who got their bands either out of the country, state, or anywhere else, and cannot find a surgeon to do fills/after care. They are not cheap ($250 for the first fill, about $4-500 total for the first fill and membership, fills are less after the first) but at least you know there is SOMEONE there who can help. They are in almost every major city. The only problem with them is that they don't always use fluro for the fills, which in my opinion, is dangerous and stupid. But, again, at least you know they are there if you need help. For me living in Vegas, I will go back to Dr. Ortiz for my fills and aftercare, but if I can't, I know that there is a Fill Centers USA dr. here in Vegas, one about 200 miles away which uses fluro in CA, and Dr Ortiz a couple hundred miles from there.

I was banded in January 2012, and within months of me, two of my real life friends had Gastric Bypass. One had it in October 2011 and the other February 2012. We all started out with over 200 pounds to lose. I was originally scheduled for Gastric Bypass, too. But, I canceled the surgery because I simply couldn't justify permanently rerouting my internal organs without trying something far less drastic first. So, I got the Lap-Band instead.
Like so many others on here, I heard endlessly how I was a fool for choosing the Lap-Band over Gastric Bypass. "Oh you'll be lucky to lose 50 pounds with Lap-Band"... "You should have Gastric Bypass, you'll dump a ton of weight much faster"... "why don't you stick with the sure thing, Gastric Bypass, rather than waste your time with Lap-Band?". Believe me, I heard it all, so much so I even began to doubt myself and my decision. What if they were right?
But I researched not only the Lap-Band but the Gastric Sleeve and Gastric Bypass thoroughly. I knew the pros and cons of each, I knew what the surgeries entailed, and I knew that regardless of which one I chose the work would be mine to do and I'd have to make diet changes for a lifetime. I knew Lap-Band was right for me, so despite the naysayers, I went through with it.
Fast forward to now, July 2012...

My friend who had Gastric Bypass in October 2011 has lost 64 pounds. She lost all that in the first 3 months and hasn't lost anything in the last 6 months. She never really changed her eating habits because she figured she didn't need to with the Gastric Bypass. She did cut back on portions in the beginning, but currently she admits that aside from vomiting occasionally from eating fatty foods or sweets, she eats pretty much like she did before surgery.
My friend who had Gastric Bypass in February 2012 has lost 14 pounds. She hasn't changed a single thing about her eating habits and is vomiting multiple times daily from trying to overeat.
I, who had Lap-Band in January 2012, have lost 121 pounds. I am far from perfect, I struggle with head hunger almost daily, and I definitely have times I eat unhealthy foods. But the majority of the time I eat very healthy and follow the portion and nutritional guidelines my nutritionist gave me.

My point isn't to gloat, or to say "See, Lap-Band is better!" My point is the fact that it doesn't matter which WLS you choose, you MUST DO THE WORK YOURSELF. I don't care if it's Gastric Bypass, the Sleeve, or Lap-Band. The surgeries are tools not magic pills. If you don't change your eating habits to healthy ones for a lifetime you simply will not get the results you desire. Period, no exceptions. I hear people say all the time "Oh I got the band because I don't want to diet". Of course, we all did, but guess what? You do have to eat healthy, not just for awhile like a diet, but for a lifetime.
Ultimately, no matter which WLS surgery you choose, your success or failure depends on you not the surgery itself.

Katie... I am glad you felt comfortable enough to come here and ask. But like you said... you knew it was wrong. What is done is done. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just jump back on those liquids!!
My surgeons discharge orders were really lenient. I actually just wrote a post about it on my blog. I am not sure if it was because my band was just repositioned vs newly banded... but I decided I wanted to give my band the absolute best start I could. I want to make sure it is healed, and strong, and the sutures and scar tissue are secure. So I adjusted my post-op diet and am restricting myself much longer than he requested.
I am on liquids right now. I am lucky that my hunger has stayed away since surgery 7/9... and only just today has started to ebb back. Drink Protein shakes! They will fill you up. Drink Fluid as often as possible. This period is HARD. But you will be so glad when you make it out on the other end. Make yourself proud! This is your new beginning!!!

You have received much excellent information on your original post...and I sincerely hope that you will really read what others have written.

The band is a tool, it's not going to work for you unless you use it properly. It's very self empowering, because ultimately you will be the one who determines the degree of success you will have on your weight loss journey. And that level of success will be determined by your diet compliance.

This is a journey, and not an event. I believe that just about every member of this forum has had to cope with hunger. You learn how to manage it, or you will fail with your band. If your surgeon advises you to follow a liquid diet for 2 weeks, you do it, or you communicate to their office how you are feeling and ask for additional instructions.

It's dangerous to one's health and well being to compare yourself to others, especially the differences in medical instructions. Different physicians will have their specific protocol for their practice. You don't have to like it, but accept that there are valid medical reasons for their instructions. Until you become a physician, I would avoid making your medical decisions as they relate to your band. Your health and weight loss success depend on it. I do advocate that everyone become proactive in having a voice in their medical care, but that means to be an informed consumer and ask questions.

Understand that you will need to depend on sheer willpower and determination to manage your hunger until you have some restriction with fills. You can eat around the band, but just because you can does not mean that you should. If you are not loosing weight, yes, your surgeon will be asking you questions about your diet compliance. And, yes, the surgeon will know if you have not been compliant with the diet.

This journey is not supposed to be punitive, and I hope that you do not get into a situation of shame and guilt feelings about what you have already done. Just become informed and compliant, and do your best every day to remain that way.

Good luck...

Thank you very much, i appriciate a real answer! I swear I remember nothing in all of the pre-surgery apts about the post surgery diet, and how hard it can be. I wish i would have been more prepared. This was defenatly not something i was prepared for. I was under the impression until recently that this phase of the process was too help you with weight loss, because of the numerous times i was told this is called the "mass loss" phase. I have no eaten meat, i have just tried some soft foods, i guess in my chubby little head eating mac and cheese and chewing it up like crazy, is putting it at the same consistancy as the apple sauce i am able to eat. I know it is all mind over matter, but i have to admit... it has been very, very hard. Thanks again.

One more thing Katie? I think a lot of us, including me, believed the post-op diet was required to lose weight. It's far from that. It's what I posted earlier. It's given to you so that you can heal and prepares you for the next phase of this journey. I think that quite often the seminars, nutritional counseling and even doctors glaze over this stage of the experience. I know I hardly remember anyone giving me instructions for post surgery but I'm sure they did.
By the time we get to this stage we're so overwhelmed with information and so excited to get this damn weight loss project underway, we simply can't absorb more information. You'll do fine, just fill up on liquids as much as you can. I doubt you've done any damage but do not, I mean it, do not eat anything solid like meat. K?
tmf

I was banded on July 9th and am so lucky I I haven't been hungry but emitially it has been really hard my whole family eats like there's no tomorrow and is so hard not to eat right along with them like all of them...