lisacaron

Beautiful! Congratulations!!! @@Suzyfit If you are going to only breast feed your new little love, you are going to want and need to wait on fills until you are ready to transition. You and most especially your little one will need all the nutrition you can get in during this time and it's pertinent that you eat and drink and keep your strength up. There is always time for weight loss later down the road. Take this time to heal and recover, as your body has been through something it doesn't' do every day even if it is a totally natural process, and most of all take the time to enjoy and love your little one!!! Check in with your surgeon, and let them know your breast feeding and how long you plan to continue and their office and your nutritionist if you have one, (if you don't the hospital would be able to advise you for breast feeding nutrition) they will be the best resource for you as you go forward. Don't worry if your hungry, that's normal. Try to make good nutritious choices and you won't go wrong

Yes one of my favorite sayings "I am ME"

I agree I would give your doctor a call and let them know that you were vomiting just to be sure that everything is indeed OK. When we vomit the usual spasm that makes food go down reverses and makes food go up and when the muscle reverses it can cause swelling in and around the stoma from the pressure of bringing something up against the force of gravity which naturally propels things downward. That swelling can be temporary or it can force the band out of place if it's extreme. Sometimes rest and liquids is what the Dr. prescribes but only the Dr.can tell you if everything is OK. So for peace of mind I would give them a call. Let them know what your symptoms are and ask for some advice on the next few days. If they ask you to go to the office, go you will sleep better at night knowing rather then second guessing. Feel better and let us know how your doing!!

Hi Cinderoo, I would think that if you are vomiting enough to cause head bleeds that there has to be some significant damage or even slippage to the band. I would also as the Neuro to run some more tests to see if it could be something that is genetic in nature. like Arteriovenous malformations. This is a congenital disorder, the individual is born with it. It is a disorder of blood vessels in the spinal cord, brainstem or brain. Having this type of disorder could make something as simple as getting stuck on food or sick from the flu give you a bleed. If you feel that the band needs to come due to your condition keep pressing your doctors and medicare, don't give up on your health and your needs because of paper work. If your neuro finds it's causing you to have more episodes or adding to them, then he can argue a case for it's removal. Having a diagnosis for your condition is one step in the right direction, keep on pushing forward and don't take no for an answer! Best of luck to you, let us know how your doing.

You know I did get something stuck last night ! That's could be what's causing it Now you hit the nail on the head! That happens to me when I get stuck on something, and what has helped me in the past is Papya enzymes. I have one or two of them and it clears it all up for me and the hiccups totally stop. Give it a try you can get them at Walgreens or GNC they are chewable.

@@Tanya Strayhorn Hi Tanya, OK so you've had a rough road of it, and your feeling a little discouraged. I understand that, I think you will find that there are quite a few people here who will understand where you are coming from. Let me start by saying that since you are a banded person you are no longer able to eat like everyone else so give yourself a break and stop trying to. Start eating like a banded person again. It's a simple reset to get back to the beginning when you first were banded. Go back to simple eating and eating for yourself and not the family or friends. When I find myself all twisted up and trust me I get there too, I hit the reset button in my head and take my mind back to why I had this surgery and what were the first steps I took. That always helps me get back on track again. I'll go back to band basics for a few days and work my way into a groove. Preparing my meals and cooking healthy dinners etc. As for your band, right now I personally think you might be too tight. When the band is tight it's hard to know what's going since your always getting stuck your always working around it your struggling to eat and keep foods down and fighting the Gerd and heartburn etc. It's more difficult to recognize and feel the I'm satisfied signals our body sends us. Consider meeting with the Dr. and taking out even 1cc of Fluid and seeing how that feels for a couple of weeks, as you being to get your mindset back on the band again. As for exercise, that is not an easy one when you have debilitating arthritis and you are so far from any where warm and safe to walk or swim to tell you to get up and walk. I know my husband is facing hip replacement surgery later this month, due to such arthritic condition and his mobility is pretty compromised as well and let me tell you mine is NOT but in sympathy for him I think I don't move as much as I should I almost feel guilty going out for walks or going to the gym or even losing more weight since he's not able to keep up. (I have to work on those issues with myself) I read recently and have started working with my hubby on these youtube videos someone else posted about on here. Give it a try they are pretty cool and I do some of them at my desk while I am at work Paul Eugene chair aerobics, if you google that you will find his youtube videos.

Hmm.. now that is interesting. I used to get the hiccups all the time before I was banded and when I was newly banded I had them the first couple weeks of recovery. Now they will only start up occasionally when I eat too fast or too much. Have you eating anything that got stuck at all recently? I would give the Dr. a call and just let them know you have this going on, I know the diaphragm is close to the banded area and when that is swollen it can cause hiccups like that, which is why I say give the Dr. a call, they will have much more insight into it. Let us know what they say.

When I was first banded my husband and I would go out to eat as we often did pre-band. We would get some looks from the owners of the restaurants and our wait staff. I tried to tell him it would be better to just order one meal and we could just share it but in the early stages your eyes are literally bigger then your tummy so he would order a meal and I would order something and we would not be able to finish it. Are you OK is everything OK all kinds of questions! Even if we didn't want to take left overs home when we would check out they would give us dessert to go home with?! Really? Of course we would have to say NO no no no no no...and eventually they all got it. We weren't trying to slight them or their food, we just didn't need to be eating like we did before.

You know I have to say that if the leak is caused by the Dr. or his staff they should have to pay to repair it. If someone hit my car, or hurt me they would be paying for it and the same should be said of medical devices. I would really check into that and press the issue. If the device itself is at fault the same should hold true, and I'm sure there is some legal precedence you might be able to research and use in your favor. That said even a small amount of saline could change the restriction level, I am affected by .5cc, but like others said just because you can eat it doesn't mean you should do it. Of course that is easier to say then do as we all know too well. Perhaps they took more then 1cc and it's worth checking on for your peace of mind either way. Good luck to you and let us know how your doing.

Yup that's me! I tend to undo all the good I do all week on the weekends! You would think it would be easier when at home, but for me it really isn't. I have to "plan" and the hubby doesn't always like to go with my plan and thus we deviate and sometimes it makes me mad which makes me want to eat even though I know it is the wrong thing to do. We haven't worked this out quite yet...and I think I"m going to join a program on Saturday's whether it be dance or Karate or something where I am on task and he can join or not and it won't derail me so easily!!

@@ccjll As I stated in my post, if your good with it give it a go. I have done those programs pre-band and sadly they didn't work for me I never lost any weight. It has worked for you in the past and it might be a great way to give it a go now as it's all pre-measured and packaged for you and as long as it's in your calorie range and nutrition range again I say go for it. For me, it was easier to just shop and cook for my husband and I as we are both banded and definitely more cost effective. As for scolding...just as I thought you were being harsh, some people just come across that way an their intentions are spot on. You may/may not be the only one doing the JC so do let us know how it goes. I know there are some WW peeps on here, not sure about the other systems like JC and Nutrisystem but there are so many people I'm sure there are some out there who have given it a go.

Thanks @@Alex Brecher these are some great tips for Spring!

I too have this issue. It was easier for me to get rid of some of the bins I had stored in my attic, since I don't wear those clothes much. They were too big I donated them no problem. Now though, I find myself out of clothes to wear to work. I have a bunch of dress pants and suits that just no longer fit. I tried cinching them in with a belt but I look a bit like bozo the clown as they balloon around me all over the place. I spend the whole day uncomfortable and not feeling good about myself in them at all. I'm still losing and I don't want to run out and buy new ones. I am back into a few smaller pants I had worn about 9 years ago when I lost about 50 pounds (of course over time I gained that and more back) now that it's gone again I can at least use them for this spring. It's emotional and overwhelming and exciting and all those things. I have some really good clothes I hate to let go of but once they are in the bag, it's like tearing off a bandaid. I have to tackle the main closet this weekend, and before I store the "winter" coats again I'll have to get rid of a few really awesome favorites. They are huge on me now, and even with a sweater or sweatshirt under...they are just too darn big..and that makes me a happy sad sorta crazy

@ccjll your post was a bit harsh to people who are trying to support you in your question on this board. If you like facts, and only facts. Ask your doctor because the fact is that he/she is the only person who's advice you should be taking on your band and your health.

@@SlowJourney I think it's great that you are spending weekends with your daughter and granddaughter and I'm sad to hear that you aren't looking forward to them as much these days. I know the weekends are rough for me as well. There are days I want to throw caution to the wind and make it a free for all. Those days I am so grateful for my band! There are days during the week here at work I am also grateful for my band because there can be so many foods that I love here, and these days I have no interest in them most of the time! When I am going out to an event, I know there will be all my favorite foods. Most of the time I am in control and I don't go overboard and if it's something I have to have I have a small bit and I'm good. There are some times that I am just out of control and say I don't care I'm going to eat this and enjoy it! So I do and the band stops me from over doing it, but it was getting harder and harder and I was saying I don't care way too much! So now when I know I am going to be going out and there is always that chance that the I don't care mode will turn on and that spells calories for me. I will make sure that I eat something first. I will have a Protein bar and come nice coffee so it feels like I had a treat, or I'll make a Protein shake frozen smoothie. When I get to the event I'm not so hungry now, and those favorite foods are less desirable and I remember why I am there. To be with my loved ones or to do business and I can focus on that and not on trying to control myself around the food. If I feel that I must must must have a bite of something I do, and if it's playing a siren song in my head that begs me to eat more, I order a FF Cappuccino and enjoy sipping on that. I hope this helps you a little bit. Throw a Protein Bar in your bag to munch before going to lunch and you won't want to share your daughters appetizers and you'll eat your lunch and be satisfied.

I have read where there were those who had fills that missed their port, so it is possible. I have had the PA in my office just miss my port as well and have to try again. They always check to ensure they are in the port by pulling back to pull some Fluid out ensuring the needle is in the port before pressing forward. It can happen where they hit the side of the port as well and they need to position it again. I have had that happen as well. I didn't get a bruise or any markings from the miss, just a little needle pinch. If capillary were punctured during the fill I could see where you might have a bruise. Sometimes when hubby gets his fill he will have a little black and blue at the port site it's not from the muscle but from the dermis.

@@ccjll I understand what you are trying to accomplish with JC. There are some bandsters here who go back to weight watchers for the same reason. It's what they know. However what @@cheryl2586 said is true. It didn't work for you before and while it seems that it "could" work now and you could maintain the loss now, why would you want to do that and eat as you said out of a box when you can be eating fresh which is that much more nutritious and healthy for you? I know it's not easy to suddenly change your life style. I am a working mother of 5. I have a full time job and a 2 hour commute each day when I get home from work at the end of the day the last thing I want to think about is making dinner or preparing my lunch for the next day! When I was first banded I didn't do any of that. We didn't change our habits much we were still eating out and I was still grabbing on the go. I thought hey it's chicken and salad I'm eating the Protein first and salad is good for you! Yeah well, when I looked into it the salad was 500 calories adding the chicken made it 700 and that was with NO dressing! So it was time to modify some behaviors, now I go home and I cook dinner, I make enough of what ever healthy 15 min or less meal that I can pack a lunch for the next day as I'm plating out the food. My Breakfast I always keep simple it's usually a Protein Bar or shake as mornings are a little tighter for me and I'm not so hungry. Trust me there are sooo many meals you can make really quickly that are healthy for you. Even my kids will eat with us. If you feel that JC is going to help you it's not a bad thing for you to try, but I think you could do it much better, fresh and more nutritious on your own. Just my 2cents.

Your doing really well, and you got some pretty good advice here. It's not easy to change our lives over night. It took us a life time to get where we were, and it's going to take some time to unlearn all those things and ingrain some new life style habits and choices. Being banded you now have a tool to help you do just that. Head hunger is a very real thing, and it takes time to understand where those "I'm Hungry!!!" signals are coming from. Sometimes we are bored, so we turn to food, sometimes we are angry, frustrated, happy, sad, or a myriad of other emotions and we may have used food in the past to help medicate those feelings and often times we were not aware of it as we are now that we have had WLS. I like to have a little conversation with myself when I want to eat outside of my meal times. I do a kind of mental assessment of where I am and how I'm feeling. I don't talk out loud when I do this, at least not all the time I will ask myself, are you really hungry? Where is that hunger coming from? Is it a body need a below the neck I need to put fuel in the tank or is it coming from something else? Am I bored, or having some other emotion I'm looking to satisfy? Am I thirsty? My answer to thirsty is usually always no, so I drink some Water anyway before I turn to food. I have had a few friends tell me, well my belly is rumbling I must be hungry. I have learned that being banded a rumbly tummy is not always a sign of hunger at all. Sometimes it's just digestion or gas, it's rarely because I am hungry. You never want to be "full" when I am "full" it's too much and I feel sick. Now I won't lie there are times I have eaten past my signal because that food was just sooo good. I couldn't leave it on my plate! I always regretted that sick stuffed like it was Thanksgiving overload feeling. Not because I feel guilty about it but because I literally feel sick. So I watch for a sign that says enough, the band is now in action. Sometimes it's a hiccup, sometimes my nose runs or sniffles, or sometimes it's a sigh. The sign is subtle and if you miss it you can eat a bite or two but by three..I'm at the border of I'm gonna be sick ville. My best advice is to eat when your truly hungry, and if all questions answered are yes then eat something it's not wrong make it a good choice and eat something. If the answers are no, to any of your questions, wait a bit and have a beverage or a warm coffee or tea and then come back to it. Often times you move on and your good till the next meal. Eating is not your enemy, learning to make better choices, monitoring your volume of food, intake vs output and learning a new way of living is where the work comes in. You have a great tool to use, and we are all always learning. Your doing great!

For all of our negative and positive interpretations of this message...I wonder did any one think that perhaps this person was writing this letter to her/him self? I often times see people here and in life who put themselves down, beat themselves up for their perceived lack of success or in fear of failure. I'm sure you have looked in a mirror once or twice and thought some pretty negative things about the person you saw staring back at you. Perhaps the conversation in your mind started off negative as you tore that image in the mirror down, only to look deeper and realize that you had the power to change it and just as easily build yourself up. Picking up your head, facing your fear looking it in the eye and saying YOU ROCK! YOU GOT THIS!!

I have not even gotten close to this point yet, but I think about it all the time and I can totally understand your nervous feelings about it. I'll tell you a little story though and hopefully that will make you feel a bit better. I have a cousin who at a very young age was extremely overweight and borderline morbidly obese. She was about 12 years old when she sat on a glass coffee table and it shattered with her stuck in the frame. They had to call and ambulance and have her removed and taken to the hospital to remove the glass from a sensitive area. This was enough to wake her and my cousin (her mother) up. When she was all healed up she started taking weight loss seriously, she changed her life style and started eating right and working out. Over the years she lost all that excess weight she did not have WLS, but once all the weight was gone she had a full body lift. I was in major shock seeing this girl with all the stitches and drains etc. after the surgery, but in a couple of days the swelling went down and finally all the drains were out and today she is amazing, and I am so happy for her! When I think about it being my turn some day I think about that little girl and how she braved that at such a young age and it makes me feel better and confidant that I can do it too. I hope it gives the same confidence to you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I think KJ's question needs to be answered by some who are sleeved, but I agree with Cheryl's statement that no matter how much you throw up you are not throwing it all back up. Some of it has been broken down and absorbed just by chewing and swallowing. I think it's probably impossible to know what the calorie content is for that, but I would keep track and then note that you threw up after so you can let your doctor know what's been going on. There is an issue with this from a nutritional standpoint. I understand where the sleeve is much different then the band, but if your throwing back up anything at all the same way you are not getting all the calories you are also not getting all the nutrition and being sleeved on top of that you are already getting less nutrition from the items you eat since the surgery starts off as malabsorptive by removing part of the stomach. This is something to have grave concern over as it can cause some serious health issues. Give your doc a call and I hope things become a bit easier for you as you move forward. Best of luck.

This is an excellent topic! It's one that my husband and I tackle every day. When I am at work or at home I have so many things around me that I just don't even desire. At work I enjoy watching others come by eating girl scout Cookies and sneaking candy out of the candy bowl I keep on the file cabinets well out of reach but openly inviting for others. The department just threw me a big birthday breakfast full of all kinds of things that my boss told them, "Lisa is not even going to eat any of that", and he is right. Bagels, donuts, danish, muffins, croissants, no longer my thing. I enjoyed the fresh brewed coffee and some fresh sliced fruit along with my daily Protein bar and I was happy to watch everyone enjoy the rest. I feel good about myself knowing that the food is right there and I am not afraid to have it there because I don't even want to eat it. It helps keep me in check. I don't avoid the foods I just make better choices for myself and my banded lifestyle.

Try brushing your teeth. I don't know why bit for some reason that helps a whole lot.

Congrats! Take it easy and rest when your feeling the need.

Your in the home stretch now, Friday will be here before you know it!! If you really must have something go for a tasty Soup. Your gonna do great! Stay strong your almost there!!!