Madeline's mom

I also have the vangard band and have lost 45 pounds since March 15th. Since being banded I have abandoned all breads, all rice all pasta and sodas. For me not being able to eat these things has caused me to loose more weight than limiting the amount of food I can eat. Some days I can eat way more that a cupful other days just a cupful. Currently I am filled to 6.5cc and I feel like I am perfectly restricted.

I can still eat crackers (sometimes) but loaf bread and buns cause instant PB. I tried eating one of those round subway tuna sandwiches with the top half taken off. Man oh man I PB'd for 15 minutes. Now hummus no problem I eat mine with wheat thins and they are delicious. I have not tried pita bread and probably won't I figure the less bread I eat the better off I will be.

Three cheers for you! It is nice to know that there are people who are getting approval for banding despite all the 3rd party red tape.

Wow Heather you have lost 40 pounds in 2 and 1/2 months that is fantastic. Keep up the good work and you will be at your goal weight in no time. By the way my port usually hurts when I eat to much!

Jaime and Trish it is obvious that you to had a blast together. Thanks for posting the great pix for us all to see!

Joe please let your decision be based on what YOU want and not what your insurance wants. There are so many bariatric surgeons out there why not get a second opinion just to see if they are both on the same page. Whatever your decision I wish you luck and please don't be a stranger.

Congratulations! You are absolutely right about children being gifts from God! I will pray that you have a full term pregnancy. Please keep us posted on your condition.

Thanks Karen! I never thought to run a search on it through Google- good idea! Well I guess that we are stuck with what we already have!

I would love to know if anyone has found it to be beneficial. It's not fair to give men all the tools and none for us!

Yes, you must be talking about Jessica O. I have been thinking about her and praying for her. That is such a sad story!

Stephanie, That is exactly what I needed to know thansks for sharing your experience with me. Sorry to hear about your weight gain BUT at least you still have your band. That is what I fear most having an ulcer which will lead to an erosion. I just got my band and I want to keep it. Was your ulcer located on your stoma or somewhere else in your stomach? And how long were you on the ulcer meds?

The food will either go down or back up. I guess there is a possibility it could stay stuck for a long time. My food usually comes up after "sliming" for 3 - 4 minutes. After you vomit or PB the food up you should stay on liquids for 24 hours.

I was going to go ahead and have the endoscopy and then give a copy of the pictures to my band surgeon to look at. I could not get an appointment with my band surgeon until July 29th and I did not want to wait that long to have the procedure. Lisa, have you had an endoscopy? if so did they have to give you an unfill before the endoscopy?

I need someone that has had an endoscopy tell me if there will be problem for the endoscopy procedure to be performed with 6.5cc of saline in my 9cc band. I am going to ask my PCP to perform one because I have been having stomach pains for about 2 weeks. I have had an ulcer before and it feels like it might be another ulcer. I need to know if I need an unfill BEFORE the endoscopy procedure or not.

I have experienced this on several occasions. I usually am eating out and very relaxed not worried about cooking/cleaning etc. I usually get it when I eat buttered bread or when I have desert. Although I have gotten it from eating plain chocolate. I can honestly say that food had become my few sources of pleasure before my surgery. Now loosing weight is replacing that- Thank goodness. Having a food high is NOT a good thing it leads to over eating and food obsession.

Just start fresh once you get your fill Tuesday! Often times once we get a fill we have the mental fortitude to get back on track! So enjoy your holiday (within reason) and know that you too will eventually get an adequate level of restriction that facilitates weight loss.

I have to chew chew and not put too many in my mouth at one time. Since my last fill it almost feels like they scrape my stoma when they go through. I still love them though!

Sue I did not know you had this problem with your band. I am so sorry but I think it is great that you have not decided to give up. "If at first you dont succeed- try try again". My hats off to you for all your efforts. Please keep us posted!

Mine have lightened up since I started using vitamin E oil. I have those scar sheets too but have not used them yet! It is easier for me to rub some oil instead of cutting out silicone sheets.

Glad you are doing so good with that walking! Keep sipping on that gatorade and water. Hope the incision pressure/pain subsides. Thanks for posting during your recovery!

Thanks for your support and keep checking in with us!

Sometimes crushing the medicine can destroy the protective coating. Some Nsaids are designed to dissolve in the small intestine where they have less likelihood of causing direct injury to the stomachs mucosal layer. So crushing them is not always a good idea. Arthrotec is a combination of diclofenac (nsaid) and misoprostol (cytoprotective agent). The misoprostol agent is added to reduce the incidence of GI induced ulcers. I would not crush this specific formulation. However, I would consider taking a PPI like prilosec OTC while you are taking the Arthrotec. Short term use of a NSAID probably will not cause any stomach injury. I would try to take it for the minimum amount of time and try using tylenol as well to help. I would recommend still getting your surgeons opinion because if anything went wrong you could say you consulted him concerning the matter. Also cyctotec is not supposed to be prescribed to women in child bearing age due to risk of spontaneus abortions.

This link was very informative about several different kinds of insurance and what the requirements were for each. Hope it helps! http://www.stvincents.org/healthservices/bariatrics/informationinsurance.cfm

Kathy, I used to go to a diet clinic and they prescribed Phentermine (Adipex or Ionamin ). I will take one every once in a while if I feel my eating is getting out of hand. It does help. There are several other kinds also all falling in the same class. Phendimetrazine, diethypropion and mazindol.

Sally, I went to Belgium for my band surgery. My surgeon ONLY uses the Vangard band due to its design and he believes it has less risk of erosion. Anyway, I asked him if he would be putting any saline in the band during surgery and he said yes. I usually put 2 cc in. After the surgery he told me he put in 3 cc of saline. I stayed restricted for about 21/2 weeks then my ravenous appetite came back. I went for my first fill and was given 2 more cc. I had very little restriction after that fill. On my 3rd fill I was given another 1.5 cc making my current fill level 6.5 cc. I have had excellent restriction since that fill. So with the larger band it does take time to get adequate restriction. I would guess that it would take a minimum of 3 fills to get good restriction. So you are not alone!