La_madam

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery, it is great that you will have your son to go through this journey with you. Flying home , you should be OK, I would take along some Gas X and liquid Tylenol Adult strenght, in the event you have some uncomfortablness on the flight home. I have several friends who fly to Mexico for fills and they have to fly home with plane changes, it just makes for a long day but they all make it home safe, just tired Good Luck on Monday

Vines, this is great! Thanks for posting it, it is thing we all ready know but to have it in plain black and white is going to help me..I am going to print it and post it on my fridge, and a few other places in my house and give a copy to a few of my new bandster friends

My surgery was April 2005, my first fill of 1.1 cc's was June 7th 2004, my 2nd fill of .9cc's was August 17th and my third fill was Jan 2005 of .5 ccc's for a total of 2.5 cc's I was unfilled in APril of 2005, and just got a fill on June 20 of 1 cc, at fisrt I saw no difference but now a week and a half later it is tighter, my fills take a week or so to kick in. Iti s advised to stop eating after 20 minutes or otherwise thepouch is emptying and you will keep eating. When you say you are still hungry is it mental hunger or true hunger? I ask becasue when I eat, I really focus on getting nutritional sustainment instead of food sustainment, I know I could eat more then I do but I stop becasue I know I have had enough food to survive on. It is also true that the first fill may not be enough and you will need a 2ndd fill sooner. SOmetimes your fill takes a few days to kick in..give it atelast a week or two. Like I said to day I really noticed a difference in my restriction and my fill was 10 day ago, I was planning on going back to Tj July 11th for more fill but now I am not going to

Some foods are not restricted by the band, rice krispie treat are one of those foods, they basically dissolve. Harder proteins restrict the band. Junk food doesnt. I can eat junk food all day long with no restrition but give me a peice of chicken breast and I can barely eat half and Iam only filled to 1cc

http://atkins.com/ Or the Atkins diet Or the slim fast plan http://www.slim-fast.com/index.asp?bhcp=1 Or the South Beach Diet http://www.southbeachdiet.com/landing/index_sbd5.asp?promo=7BA99B16-34DE-438F-8F0D-D9B4A75063DB&gcid=S14058x001&keyword=south%20beach%20diet

Lisa, try it with some Vodka, it is almost like a sea breeze

I really started upping my does after my bowel obstruction surgery, prior to that I only took 4 oz a day In my opinion, I beleive it has helped me with my weight loss as well below is a link of testimonial, I personaaly like the one aboutthe child who had leukemia, which is what my son had http://www.naturalhealthland.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=623

I drink 6 oz a day, 3 oz in the morning and 3 oz at night, a bottle doesnt go far with 3 of us taking it two times a day ..it does work there is no doubt about it, both hubby and son have immune system problems, I just take it to feel good and keep my innmune system strong. Lisa there are other versions of Mangosteen juice that is much cheaper, Below is a couple other versions, lot less money http://www.mangosteen-juice.info http://www.naturalhealthland.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=623

I take Xango everyday..have been for almost a year now, I started taking it soon after I was banded. I have a friend who makes alot of money selling it,he is my distributor my husband and my son who had cancer both take it as well, I have noticed my son does not get sick as often so it has helped his immune system. Honestly I have not been sick with anything like cold or flu since I have been taking it also. It is much better ice cold

Teresa , my next door neighboor has a dog withan attitude too, they have tried everything, i kept telling them theyd better be careful before the dogs bites some one else, well guess waht, this past weekend the dog attacked their neighboor while hwas over for a BBQ, the man was rushed to the ER where he recieved 147 stitches in his leg, needless to say the dog is now quarantineed by law from the hospital,they had toreport it to animal control, they are going tp put the dog down. they do not want it to bite anyone else especially one of their children pr their friends. It is a hard thingto do, i love my dogs but if any of them showed aggressive tendencies towards my kids or friends I would have to make a very hard decision..good luck on your decision

Sensy, even though you think you may be eating less, it may be in what you are eating...proteins first? 60 grams of protein a day? Both of those are important for bandsters. Also eating a salad in a day is not enough calories, if that is allyou are eating it is no wonder you are not losing. eat more calories, try to eat 1200-1800 calories a day see if that helps. Hang in there

Have you been checked for Diverticulitis? Yesterday my brother was diagnosed with it, he was experiencing the exact same pain on his lower left side, he is now on aan antibiotic..it is worth going to your PCP to bechecked out ..Dont you think? http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/hw251743/aa41288 Or does it feel more like a side ache like when we were kids and ran too fast?

I'm so happy to hear that both of you Legallyblonde and Kansascitygirl are taking action. Please keep us posted we are all here for you with support and encouragement

My band is the best thing I have ever done for myself..my entire family reaps the benefits of my success

You are not a failure, the reason you may not feel restriction is the band doesnt restrict junk food. Try going back to basics, start tomorrow with your Protein, purge all of that crap from your system drink lots of Water and focus on protein. When you eat carbs and sugar all that does is crave more carbs and sugar. I have been there trust me..I had to go back to basics too for the same reason a few months back, I was on a sugar binge. You can do this..get out of bed tomorrow with a fresh start, possitive attitude and protein..NO JUNK FOOD>>NO JUNK FOOD I bet if you ate a chicken breast or some other hard protein in the morning you will have restriction, do a test, take a bite of junk food and then a bite of hard protein and see which one gives you more restriction, restriction does not just come from fills but it also comes from the foods you choose. It is easy to eat around the band and blame it on NOT having resatriction. Junk food goes through way to easily..I could eat a bag of cheetos no problem but give me a piece of chicken and I got restriction.

I have had 4 fills total and one unfill and just got 1'cc put back in. I was at my best when I was at 2-2.5 cc's. I have been banded for almost 5 months..so 1 fill every 3.5 months if I average it out.

Happy Birthday Greg, Hope tou have a great day!

There is a member here, her teenage daughter just had the surgery 5 weeks ago. Her name is KarenB I know if you send her a PM she will glady reply and get the two to connect.

Here is a great piece of info directly from the Inamed Handbook I got from surgery that may help you Kansascitygal Page 7 Q- How would I know if my band is"too tight or "overfilled" A- If the adjustment results in too tiht of a stomach opening, you could have a hard time eating most foods. Sometimes this causes people to avoid solid food. They may drink liquid meals. This may result in weight gain especially if the liquid used is high in calories. A band that is too tight can cause reflux symptoms particularly at night.It can aslo cause frequent vomiting. The opening to the stomach can become completely blocked. This would result in not being able to keep any food or liquids down. Should you develop these symptoms, please notify your surgeon at once. I hope today you have called your Dr. for the sake of your health and the longevity of your band

Tell your surgeon to go and read the Inamed Handbook Page 3 where it clearly states and I quote " solid food is more important then liquidfood. The Lap Band system will have little or no effect if you only eat liquid foods Liquid food passes through the stomach outlet very quickly anddoes not make you feel full"

Hi Karin & Welcome to LBT..Pick away We will all help you in any way we can ...glad you found us

More protein in your diet will help curb hunger... check the lean cuisine for carbs, Carbs crave more carbs and sugar craves more sugar so if your carb intake & sugar intake is high it will make you hungry quicker and more often I start each day with stirctly protein and that stays with me most of the day, I eat breakfast at 7 since Iam at work at 5 up at 3:30 but do not eat again until about 1 or 2 but if I eat a single carb in the morning like toast or oatmeal.. forget it, Iam starving all day long and have a bad food day.

Warm liquids will help open me up and cold liquids tighten me up

Hi Jim & Welcome to LBT, Best of Luck to yu on your upcoming surgery I wish you lots of success with your band