Frederic

The single drink a night actually seemed to help my weight loss and diabetes consistently but the general concern is the calories (there is some bio-chemistry research which makes that concern seem dubious to me but that research is hardly a consensus)

I've been honest with anyone who asks but that also means I go into detail. So I said I was getting a Laproscopic band procedure to address my high blood pressure and diabetes since my metabolism is slowing down as I age.

As for tips and tricks the most consistent factor in being successful with the band appears to be adopting the needed behavioral changes. I would encourage you to look at the post op diets available on line and practice following those guidelines before the surgery. Find effective ways to slow your eating, practice not drinking during meals, practice ordering smaller portions and leaving food on your plate, make sure you are in the habit of exercising regularly, and of course practice eating only when you're hungry and recognizing when you're full. I would also encourage you to start tracking your food for calories and nutrition any of us use MyFitnessPal.com and would be happy to friend you which allows you to see what we eat.

It's normal for alcohol tolerance to drop with weightloss. My understanding is also that the problem with alcohol is that it's liquid calories so it will generally slow weightloss and in excess it can affect our ability to at attention to what we eat and could lead to vomiting which is especially bad for bandsters. Once you're on normal food having a single drink of hard liquor or wine a night should be fine and there is research to show it is healthier than having both none or 2+.

Try GAS-x strips. In my case they worked like magic. For some reason when our abdomen builds up gas it triggers pain receptors in our backs and shoulders.

We all heal differently but the key is to find your limit and stay at it (don't push past). If you're too inactive it will slow healing if you're too active you'll slow healing. Ideally those sharp pains will be increasingly replaced with dull throbs in just a few days but still expect the sharp pain to return if you do something like sneeze, cough, or laugh. The pain should go away quickly but it may be intense for a few seconds.

I'm day 5 post op and l'm not feeling tired or weak. I'm getting 40 to 64o z. of Clear liquids in a day but only about 300 calories (and that requires a lot of effort but I'm trying to get the protien). I can perform normal activities pretty easily but my incisions start to ache when i breathe after 7 minutes of walking so I've been walking 7 minutes 5 times a day and plan to increase that amount each week until I can try running again at week 6. I assume the difference is in how easily our bodies are Abe to break down our fat stores for the calories we need since I was relatively active before surgery but still have over a hundred and fifty lbs of excess weight it appears my body is fully prepared to tap those fat reserves now that the food intake is reduced and my satiation response is still being triggered.

I was going to say your hypoglycemia symptoms matched my own symptoms for hypotension which is why I was wondering about the blood sugar. You definitely have a complex set of circumstance.

Do you have an endocrinologist? I've never heard of anyone having a hypoglycemic reaction at 130. In fact my understanding is 130 is pretty normal and hypoglycemia kicks in around 75 or less. The following article is representative of what my research has generally found. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/DiabetesScreening/story?id=3812946 I'd be concerned your blood sugar may be another symptom of something else which is giving you those symptoms. How frequently does your physician do bloodwork?

So do you feel hypolycemic or does your bloodsugar reading show you you're hypoglycemic?i had a friend who often felt hypoglycemic but once he started testing at those times they found out the symptoms he felt had nothing to do with his blood sugar it was actually his blood pressure causing the symptoms. Eating something worked to alleviate the symptoms but so would simply changing what he was doing. I only ask because you aren't on very many meds which usually means your A1c is relatively stable so the diet shouldn't be a big problem.

So have any of the suggestions helped?

Under the "community" tab on the Myfitnesspal website click on "find members" Feel free to add me. The more the merrier.

I still believe we bear some responsibility for the stigma when we don't take the time to explain the Band is not an "easy way out" which also makes us at least in part responsible for people who fail because they weren't prepared for the hard work. Whether you tell people you have lap band or not is going to be a personal decision but I think it's important when making that decision to remember no social stigma ever went away because people denied being part of it.

You can also try massaging your lower abdomen. Just gently apply pressure below your belly button don't push or squeeze though. Hopefully it will help get your digestive tract going.

I understand why people don't admit to having Lapband and I won't criticize that choice but if asked for my opinion I think it is more than us our own business. I know I would have appreciated knowing I wasn't so alone earlier and feel obligated to let others know it's okay to seek medical help and they shouldn't feel guilty but they should be prepared.

I'm just saying when we don't tell other people we did use the band I believe we're just propagating those myths that we took the easy way out as if we were just too lazy to stick to a diet. In other words when someone else is trying to decide if they should consider WLS if we all acted like all we had to do was watch what we ate and exercise more; then aren't we part of the problem and stigma they're going to feel?

I really believe as long as you pretend the band isn't part of your success you're going to harbor guilt about it. This is just my opinion and possibly it's even an altered emotional state since my surgery was so recent but I really do believe that by not acknowledging the band your not acknowledging all of the hard work you've done to use it. Main stream society is going to keep thinking we've taken some sort of easy way out unless we start speaking up and saying how much work it is, that it isn't some magic pill or as easy as a trip to the dentist. Just my opinion.

I tell people if they ask directly. I decided the lifestyle changes will be easier if I'm not having to lie or even decieve other people about why I'm eating differently. I also won't lie about how hard it is and whenever someone says "you're so lucky" or "I wish I could have that done" I tell them about the pre-op diet, the post-op diet, and how easily wls surgery can be worthless if mishandled. I got the Lap Band so I can live longer and be more active with fewer medications only after exhausting every other non medical option for years.

Humans are really bad at assessing their own progress toward goals and it's even worse when our self image is involved. I strongly recommend using graphs to chart your progress both for weight loss and measurements your brain can more easily accept visual information in that format and most people will feel a stronger sense of reinforcement as they see the downward slope even if it isn't a dramatic drop.

Had my first post op bowel movement today which was a bit of a surprise since I've been only drinking clear fluids the last three days but I figure that means I'm probably breaking down some fat tissue. On one hand I'm glad I can start some food with substance today but I'm not hungry yet so I'm holding off on breakfast for now. I do not recall ever looking forward to some hot cereal this much before.

Whether things come back up or not will be different for every person based on things like stomach chemistry, gag reflex, esophageal strength, and certain brain functions. You shouldn't depend on that reaction as your trigger that you're full. It's completely possible for some people to simply ignore the band and expand their pouch to the point they effectively have 2 stomachs stacked on top of each other. The pouch above the band will expand naturally but we don't want to hurry that process along since while the pouch is small it will help us feel full sooner.

It sounds like your overfilling to me, or more specifically taking in fluids faster than they can drain through the hole created by the band. Try drinking more slowly I spent a lot of time pre-op practicing drinking more slowly. You may need to take some specific steps to retrain yourself to adjust to smaller portions. You might try drinking all of your liquids like Soup. Pour them into a bowl and use a small spoon to drink them. This may also help trick your lower brain functions into thinking your eating more. Also when you eat try using chopsticks and a baby spoon. It will slow you down, limit your bites, and if your not proficient with chopsticks the mental focus should help distract you from the hunger and help you recognize when your full faster.

If you really feel you need the calories the safe way to get them is in liquid protein most people drink protein shakes made with skim or soy milk and flavored protein powder. The protein will help you feel fuller and help your stomach heal. But I agree you should talk to your surgeon or nutritionist about adjusting your diet rather than going rogue again.

Eventually the band and your stomach become more fully integrated and can handle more fluctuation but early on things like carbonation and rapid eating are more likely to cause the band to move and during the first few weeks after post op there is actual risk of harm due to the stomach still healing from the stress of surgery.