kacee

I also worried about that....but for SOME reason, "things change" after the band. I know my determination will never let me fail. My incentive of being a self-pay is a good kick in the butt too. I too have hidden in food....for MANY years. I've hidden from my old friends for the last 25 years, too embarassed to watch them aging gracefully as I was bloating up into a balloon. They probably thought I had kicked the bucket or something. Now I find that I am not hiding. I am seeking people out. I feel GOOD going out. I WANT to go out (not to parties or bars, but OUT into the world!) I don't mind being seen. I am more extroverted and flirty. I shop for clothes and ADMIRE myself in them, instead of grabbing five of the 2x shirts and running out of the fat lady store without making eye contact or looking in a mirror. You'd be surprised how much of this takes up the time you sat around and felt sorry for yourself and mpoed and ate.....there is a whole WORLD out there!

HAHAHAHA!!!! Get used to the Growlies. They are here to stay. Though the HUGE growlies (you can hear across the room) will subside after about a week or two, you will from now on be feeling growling when your stomach is (GASP!:omg:) empty. What a new concept! Sometimes I feed my growlies to shut them up, and sometimes I just let them rumble out. The needing to burp feeling, the tightness in the chest, that is all very normal and it will pass within about two weeks.

I would also suggest that when you try something....try it at different times of the day. Many people seem to be more able to eat later in the day. Problematic foods may go down easier then....or not. I've had my 4th fill and I COULD eat bread...IF I chewed it to a pulp first and took miniscule bites. However, it still tends to sit like a bowling ball afterwards, so it really isn't worth it. The only food I have NOT tried since surgery is steak (which I love). I just haven't had the guts to go try to get some somewhere. I think I would opt for a filet mignon though because that would be the smallest cut I could get. I avoided sandwiches for months and then tried a panini....wound up removing the bread and eating the insides out. I was just more comfortable doing that. If I am going to get only about 4-5 bites, I want them to be quality bites. I'd rather have the insides of the sandwich than the bread wrapping around it.

I liken both Sliming and PBing to a toilet backing up. You flush and say "Go down please!" and then you look and you see the water level rising slowly towards the rim. Oh oh. I have also learned a lesson that when something gets stuck, do NOT try to flush it through with a drink of something. That's just adding content to the backup....unfortunately, a sip of something doesn't have the same effect as draino....if you do try to "wash" it down, take only the SMALLEST sip. The drain physics of the lapband are NOT the same as the drain physics of the normal esophagus. Remember that!

It will be a little less each day. It will be a combination of you getting used to it and it subsiding through the week. I don't remember when it finally went away....I think it was subtle....probably within the first week to two weeks it was gone. Remember, this is the result of surgery. You're going to do some bigtime healing the first two weeks.

I think everyone has an innate fear that they are going to have to make a major sacrifice after the band. Not so, I have found. I can eat about 90% of what I did before. I can even eat bread...but it tends to sit like a bowling ball afterwards so I have to think about whether it is worth it or not. There is nothing that I have felt deprived of, except the ability to eat like a HOG, and that certainly passes. If I want a cheeseburger and fries I can have it....as much as I can eat....which is about 3-4 bites...2-3 fries, and that's it. The taste is there....it's just called moderation. And the blessing of the band is that you don't feel deprived. Before the band, if I had tried to eat 4 bites of a burger and 3 fries and sit and look and push away from what remained I would have SCREAMED.

Channel that energy to get ready for surgery, stock up on the liquids and mushies for after and get your little nests ready for when you come home. I was so gung ho with energy I stocked my refrigerator so packed after five months I STILL can hardly get anything out of it! (I could single handedly supply someone for the first two weeks I think! HAHA)

You and I are thinking along the same lines, kiddo. I thought about that too, and asked around and people mainly said they doubted that once the deal was done you could recoup your losses. After all the angst that people have gone through to get their insurance to approve and sometimes over a year or more in which to do it....at 55 I said SCREW THIS. I don't have the time to lolly-gag around for some paper pusher to inform me of how the rest of my life is going to go. I am GLAD I self-paid. All the grief and aggravation was completely off me and all I had to do was concentrate on the surgery and recovery and getting on track. If I hadn't, I'd still be messing around with some medical program and praying that when I went back to Cigna in December that they'd give me a green light (NOT).

The first 30 days after surgery is the healing phase. You are on liquids and mushies for a MEDICAL reason, having NOTHING to do with you losing weight from that. You have to let the band settle into the stomach. So it's not just about starting to get the weight off immediately after surgery (though that will be a bonus, providing you follow your doctor's orders). I figure what's 30 days out of my lifetime? And why screw up a lifetime by indulging myself for 30 days? Not worth it. Concentrate on the proper consistency of the foods you eat and not on the amount or calorie quality. It's good to START training yourself, however, and begin thinking about behavioral changes that are going to come shortly. Like anything....if you practice at the game beforehand you will be better at it and have a head start rather than if you walked into the world series having never played ball before.

Dymatize Elite has only 2.5 Carbs.

Keep plenty of liquids coming in and get the protein you can. That will keep you from feeling nauseus, weak, etc. When you don't get the liquids and the proteins you will feel really crappy really quick. Check out some clear protein drinks by Isopure. 40 grams per bottle, 160 calories, gets both the liquid and protein down and does not taste bad!!! index

I started my journal in mid-April and started reading everything on this forum I could, doing all kinds of web research, talking to people who had WLS and getting their experiences. I was a self-pay so it was pretty quick. I was banded 5-23. I never had ANY misgivings or hesitation from day one...it was pure adrenalin and excitement and it still is after 5 months. I went into surgery with an incredible amount of information and I had ZERO surprises afterwards.

Here's my experience. With my third and fourth fillsl I felt like I was almost perfect. However, then you become a little unpredictable. I am tight in the morning and loose in the afternoon. It also seems that almost no matter what time I eat, I wound up having an incident with the first three bites of food, that ultimately wind up coming back up or a major slime session. Then for some reason everything seems to loosen up and I can finish my meal just fine (slllooowwwly). It's like my esophagus freaks out when food first comes in and then relaxes somewhat. I am getting to where I can sense the feeling of it and I will stop for a while and let the first bites sit and then go through (providing I haven't gone past the point of no return). A lot of people also have a "delayed reaction" to their fill....in other words...it really kicks into gear a few weeks AFTER they get it....hence that feeling of getting tighter and tighter. It's a science and and art....you have to really focus on your body and what it is saying to you. Some people learn to listen and adjust and work with it and go with the flow, and some folks opt for a slight unfill. I am very happy with my restriction now. Hunger is almost non-existant and occasionally if I have a rabid craving for something I will get it....because I know I am only going to be able to get a few bites in anyway. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to "cheat" occasionally (and by this I do NOT mean eating around the band....like milk shakes, etc.) without the guilt afterwards.

It's a non-issue, even though most people start to agonize before their first fill. You'll go in and one of the nurses (I assume you'll go to Spivak's office) will sit you in the chair and lean you back. She'll check to see where the port is sitting, and then she will give your tummy an alcohol wipe and insert a needle. Just a little sting initially, and then it goes into the port (that isn't something you feel). As it is your first fill, they may just put some in and not flouroscope you at the same time....or they might. If they do, they'll have you get up (she may tape the needle down or sometimes I just fest my arm against it for support) and walk across the hall to the flouro room. You'll stand in front of the machine (this is really cool to watch) and she'll give you a little dixie cup of barium (chalky liquid). You will swallow a little and you'll all watch the screen and see how quickly it shoots down the "pipe" and past the band. When you start to get restriction, you will see the barium hesitate slightly before going through the band area. That's what they ultimately want....they want it to stop for a "nano-second" and then go through. Then she'll have you drink water and ask you to gulp it down and see how that feels. You will get pretty good quickly as sensing when stuff goes through, hesitates, gets plugged, etc. Watching the screen, she will take the syringe and adjust in or out the amount of saline or omnipaque in your band until she is comfortable with the reaction as liquids go down. That's it. You're done. Eat mushies for about two days until you get the swing of what works and what doesn't and then off you go.

Wear slip on shoes so you don't have to lean down to tie. Take a small travel pillow with you (and into the hospital to leave in your room). This is good to hold against your tummy on the ride home (and cushion the seatbelt) and gives you a little feeling of security. If you can, get your pain meds filled before surgery. That may not be possible, but make sure whoever picks you up goes directly to the pharmacy on the way home and gets that filled for you pronto. Wear loose clothing, elastic topped (loose!) pants, easy to get in and out of. No jewelry, no makeup (this is not a time for vanity...this is a time to get down to business and be as comfortable as you can possibly physically be under the circumstances). Make sure you have plenty of Gas-X at home, along with a heating pad for gas pains. You're ready to go...good luck and see you on the other side!

Don't sweat it! You are still in BANDSTER HELL.....that period between surgery and when you get a fill that starts to WORK. Do the best you can and do NOT eat foods that aggravate the band. Even though you feel you can eat a house, you can still overdo and get yourself into trouble without thinking. You may be able to eat bread, but be VERY careful with it. All it takes is a small glob to get you all plugged up. Stear clear from any sodas. Do not get back in that habit. Eat when you are hungry but try to eat healthy filling things. You are still going to fill quicker than before your band, but it's going to seem like you are eating way too much....and you are....for the band. But you have a whole lifetime for this thing to get working for you. When your fills start, that's when you get down to business. Now, that being said, don't hang your hat completely on that first fill. I would venture to state that MOST people don't notice much of a change after the first fill. I noticed absolutely nothing. The second fill was only a little better. The third fill was magic and the fourth was perfect. Everyone is different though. Anyway, don't beat yourself up, but also don't declare open season on food. Go somewhere in the middle and practice restraint and selective choices. This too shall pass.

It is not uncommon for there to be a "delayed reaction" with a fill about 2-3 weeks out. That's one reason why doctors like to space them probably no closer than a month apart.

I too am Cigna. Their main requirement is 6 months of monitored doctor weight program. I didn't have that and wasn't going to mess with it for another half year, only to have them make some excuse to deny me anyway (BMI was 38 with co-morbidities). I self-paid once they said they would not waive the 6 months program. I paid $12,900. My first year fills are free. If I reach 50% of my weight loss within the first year (I have surpassed that only 5 months out) I get the second year free. This was money WELL SPENT and I don't think a THING about it.

Actually, I'm not too sure what happened to his sister was THAT uncommon. She had had a fill something like 3 weeks before and everything had been fine. Then all of a sudden she couldn't even drink water. Everything got stuck. It is not uncommon for there to be a "delayed" reaction after a fill....about 2 weeks or more into it. That's one reason why they space them apart about a month or so. After watching that show, I made a decision to get my 4th fill (which was only a "top off" to the sweet spot) a little earlier because I was going out of town on vacation for a week to the west coast and wanted to have the fill "settled" before or by the time I left, just in case there was any delayed reaction. The nurse at my doctor's office also commented that some people have delayed reactions with their fills. I would doubt that all of them get to the point that Garth's sister's did. Hers closed completely up....but some people can notice a change in the restriction several weeks after their fill.

The BIG KAHUNA RUMBLINGS lasted about a month (the kid that the people in the next room can hear). The rumblings will continue, but they will be a lot quieter (now people don't look around when they sit next to me and it lets loose!). Since I am about 5 months into this and the rumblings are still going, I think this is something I will be experiencing from now on. Also because I am not feeding my fat little face every five minutes, my stomach actually has a chance to EMPTY out and START growling, which is something it has never done in my life before.

Starved after the band? OF COURSE!!!! I was chewing my leg off by week three. If you didn't swell like most other people, then you healed faster and will get hungry faster. Bless your heart, you are in the throes of BANDSTER HELL right now. Just a word of caution...don't hang your hat on that first fill. With a majority of people it does nothing, so expect that and anything good that comes from it will be serendipitous. I didn't notice a distinct change until my 3rd fill. However, I was doing well retraining myself and had "shrunk" my stomach during the liquid mushie stage and was able to cowboy up and crawl through until I got some decent restriction. This too shall pass.

You are preaching to the choir here... we've all been through this. Keep the pain meds going. Take them on time...not when you are in agony. WALKING can NOT be stressed enough for the gas pains. Gas-X, heating pad for those shoulder back and neck pains. You actually should be doing pretty well as far as local discomfort in the incision areas by now. Mine were a complete non-issue by about day three. Maybe you have a low pain tolerance. Once again, take the pain meds according to time, rather than agony. You are on the edge....this too shall pass. You will start feeling a lot better all of a sudden and THEN the hunger will hit you and you're gona go "WHHHHHAAATTTT??????!!!!!!!!" Just expect it and roll with it and don't get disheartened.

First fill was ZIP. Second fill was "HO HUM". Third fill was 2.8...."Uh, wait a minute....let's think about this for a second. Is it...could it be? Could THIS be what it is supposed to be like? I feel so CLOSE!" and 4th fill was "Thanks Doc, just a light top off please....we're right THERE!" and it has been heaven ever since. I have a 4cc band and I think I am around 2.9 or something. Everyone is totally different. I am envious of those folks who have had their bands for a long time and NEVER needed ANY fill....wow, what a bonus! My biggest fear was that I'd get filled right up to 4 and nothing would happen. HA! Not so! When you start to get close to your sweet spot, it takes just a SKOSH to get a perfect constriction.

I've been in a restaurant several times with my Mom and after the first three bites I feel a PB coming on...I would just excuse myself and go quickly to the restroom. She was so concerned the first time and saying "Do we need to go? Are you okay?" and I just looked at her and smiled and said "Never better...now that it's out of the way I can eat my meal!" After that, she just took it in stride if I had one of those start of the meal incidents. She knows when I get back from the restroom I'll be just FINE.

I think I have this whole PB thing down pretty good now. I am at my sweet spot so I have to be particularly vigilant of what goes in, what time of day, etc. I tend to be tight in the morning and loosen up in the evening. I have found that often (especially eating out) my first two to three bites will get stuck and have to come back up and then everything if FINE after that. I think I have perfected the art of the non-barf PB....there is very little discomfort because I am very easy on myself and just let it kindof roll out as opposed to stomach contractions and "heaving". There is definitely a science to it.