Cocoabean

3 hours between eating is not bad. That's about how far I go. My surgeon says snacking is brainless eating. If I need to eat between meals due to hunger, then a planned bit of nutritious food is not snacking.

Yes, mashed potatoes NEVER tasted so good!

Thanks for the technical and concise explanation of what I was trying to say!

@Success, Gotcha, that sounds like it was a very rough time. Congrats on your losses so far! Way to go! I hear that a hernia repair can make post-op a bigger challenege. I am glad to hear you are getting it all figured out.

I am 4 years out. I go in about once a year for a tiny fill. My surgeon says a little bit of the Fluid dissipates somehow. So I get about 0.25cc added. He also does an upper GI and esophogram to be sure everything is doing well. He can see if the pouch has stretched during that test. He had me eat a bit of sandwich and then we could see my restriction, and watch it go down. Very interesting! If you are eating more, or feeling more hunger, go get a fill! That is why we have bands, to help us feel less hunger. At least check in with your surgeon to be sure all is well with your band.

Gastric bypass patients get stuck, also. So don't let that be a deciding factor for you! Go to the info seminar and listen. Talk it over with your surgeon. Pick a surgeon who does all three procedures. Hear what he or she recommends and why. Read on all the forums around about the different types of WLS. I chose the band because I mainly needed portion control, and it seemed far less drastic than gastric bypass. Although the qualifications for both were the same, bypass just seemed too extreme for someone in my medical condition. I was a lower BMI, I was not yet diabetic, but heading that way. I just didn't think the risk of Vitamin deficiencies/malabsorption/malnutrition was worth the benefits I'd get from bypass. I can't speak intellectually about the sleeve other than to say that most of the risk of it is immediately pre-op. The risk of a leak on the staple line is significant, but it seems that if you come through that period, then further complications are very rare. Best wishes on your decision!

If your band is too tight, you generally stop losing weight because you tend to gravitate toward slider foods because they are easier to eat. Most slider foods have more calories and don't keep you satisfied as long. For example, 1/2 cup of tomato Soup has 90 calories, and 1 skinless chicken thigh has 109 calories. Which one will hold you longer? If you have the soup, you will be looking for food sooner. So, you have more soup, because you cannot get the chicken to go down. Now you've consumed 180 calories, but you aren't satisfied. So, you grab a milkshake, or some chips, or Cookies. At least they have some substance to them, and they taste oh, so good. And chips and cookies and anything highly processed goes down so easily, and is generally so much higher in calories than fresh foods. But even cookies and chips don't keep you satisfied as long as solid Proteins like chicken, beef, and fish. And a tighter band can lead to erosion (where the band goes through your stomach wall to the inside of your stomach). We are far better off with our bands at a reasonable restriction level where we can eat solid proteins without vomiting often (which can put us at risk of a slip), and have the solid foods hold us between meals without the need to graze.

Many people have left shoulder pain. Often it is remainders of the gas from the surgery. Walking helps to dissipate it. For others it can be a signal that they have reached full. For you, at only a few days post-op, it is most likely the gas, a few more days ought to do the trick. A heating pad can help with the pain, and walk, walk, walk. Many report gas-x strips help also, how it helps that pain, I'll never understand, but it does. Hope you feel better soon!

Get all your prescriptions filled in advance. Have them set up by wherever you will land at home. When you wake up from your first nap, you will need the pain meds. I found that out the hard way. Very glad DH was there to help me sit up! Have a heating pad nearby. It felt great on the tummy. Be sure to wear easy on, easy off clothes to the hospital. Along with slip on shoes or slippers.

I had surgery in Feb and didn't start losing weight until the end of June. My surgeon doesn't have patients diet during bandster hell. So, no one who didn't know what kind of surgery I had would make a connection between it and my weight loss. And yeah, thyroid surgery leaves a scar at the base of your throat. Radio-iodine treatment of the thyroid requires you to be away from people for a while, and leaves no scars. But you might research the laws, your boss might get himself into trouble if he broadcasts what medical treatments you are undergoing.

Lap Band's literature says we can only expect 1-2 pounds per week. This is a restrictive only procedure. It is NOT a rapid weight loss procedure. An average of 1.9 lbs per week is fantastic. During my weight loss phase I lost 0.75 per week on average. And it was not steady. I'd go up and down, but it was mostly down. Sometimes I'd stay the same for a few weeks. Being banded is about creating habits that will stay with you for life.

Vomiting should not be a normal part of your routine. If you cannot eat dense protein foods, then your band is too tight. Are you certain you are not over 1200 calories? I used to estimate mine, and when I started journaling was shocked to see I was actually eating around 1700 a day.

Our pouches do grind some. We differ from gastric bypass that way. Their pouches do not grind at all. They depend on gravity to move the food out of the pouch. Our pouches can sometimes eventually work a stuck item through. For me, if I feel the first inkling of being stuck and I stop eating, I might just have some pain for a bit and it will go down. If I pile more food on top, then it gets truly lodged, the pain becomes intense and I start to slime. Once I start sliming, it generally means the food is coming up, not going down. The sooner that occurs, the less trauma in my opinion. I'd rather urp quickly than have my pouch grinding for hours trying to get something to go down. Of course, the book answer is to chew, chew, chew and not get stuck. And if you do get stuck to seek medical attention. Uh huh. My worst stuckage was on loose cooked hamburger. It was shortly after I was banded. It went on for about 5 hours. Pain and buckets of slime. I had NO idea the body could manufacture that amount of saliva and goo. So, the onions or pita might have had a hard time going down and now you are irritated. Go way easy until you feel back to normal. There are speed bumps along the banded road, that is for certain.

You actually had something stuck for a month and a half? Or did you just get into a cycle of irritation/swelling/stuck? I sometimes go through cycles where if I have a bad stuck episode I get some swelling. Then I don't lay off long enough, so I get stuck again, more swelling...so on, so on, so forth. So now after a bad stuck episode, I tend to do liquids for at least a day afterwards. Grider, I hope you are feeling better!

Usually a slip involves lots of vomiting and reflux with inability to get foods down. A mild slip can often be fixed by a complete unfill then a liquid diet for a period of time. Best bet, if you are not well after the weekend, see your doctor for an unfill.

Many people have, yes. You are not alone. It is one possible complication of being banded. Are they trying conservative approach before reoperation? Such as an unfill and see if it goes back into place? I hope you feel better soon!!

I love it! Well done!

Wow, interesting theory. Have you gone without? Quel horror! To see if it makes a difference? I know many waist bands bother my port on the surface and underneat.

I think you double posted this. You need a slight unfill. If you can stay hydrated it can wait through the weekend. If not call your surgeon's office # to speak with his service. Being a long weekend (if your surgeon observes Presidents' Day) is a long time to wait if you are not getting liquids down. By this time, you should be able to eat solid Proteins. Since you can't, do thin Protein shakes and all liquids until you can be seen so that you can stay hydrated. I'd always rather see my surgeon than go to an ER for an unfill. But if you can't get liquids down, you might not have a choice, but always call your surgeon's office first for instruction.

By this time you should be able to eat solids. What is a big fill? Did they remove all the fill to check the level then put it back in? That can cause more swelling. Getting a slight unfill is not admitting defeat. I've been overfilled, it sucks. If you cannot eat solid Protein, call your surgeon for an unfill. If you are getting liquids down and are hydrated, it can wait through the weekend. If not, call his office # and talk to the service. There should be someone on call.

Feelings are what they are. Personally, I don't care if you don't like that on my surgery day I weighed in at 202 lbs. I was obese. Based on my height a normal BMI is around 150 lbs. I just hope you don't let your feelings stop you from being successful!

I can understand an insurance company that does not cover bariatrics not wanting to cover fills. But I hear your frustration. The need for life-long aftercare with a band is a consideration. Personally, I think all insurance companies should have to cover the same stuff. Being able to pick and choose what the cover is a bunch of hooey!

Weight loss is one of those slippery slopes where people ask questions we might not be comfortable answering. But in our society fat is bad, thin is good. If we are moving toward thin, it is a topic that is not off limits. I once asked someone if he was losing weight. Turned out he had terminal lung cancer and was on chemo. He was keeping it quiet for professional reasons. His answer to me was "yes, I am." He was not overweight to begin with. Boy did I feel like a heel when he passed away. On the flip side, the person I complimented on her weight loss, whom I asked how she did it then she told me about the gastric bypass she had. I will be forever grateful to her. I though you had to be much heavier than I was to qualify for WLS. She gave me great information. You do not have to disclose any medical treatment you are undergoing. There should be no guilt or feeling that you are lying by leaving personal medical treatment out of any conversation.

If you could not get your insurance to pay for removal of the band, a revision would be full cost of band removal and the bypass or sleeve surgery. Guessing somehwere in the $15k range...? Don't quote me on that. If insurance will pay for removal of the band due to complications, then you'd pay for just the revision part, if it could be done at the same time as removal. I read somewhere a couple of years ago that one surgeon charged about $1500.00 for the revision part of a band removal and revision surgery. But you say all tests have shown that your band is fine. I really feel for you, it must be a horrible place to be. I hope you can find the answers.

Sleeve was not around when I was banded, but my fear of it is how new it is. There just isn't much long term data available. Not that there is much for the band either. The good thing with both of these, they can both be converted to gastric bypass if they fail. I believe the biggest risk with a sleeve is leaks during the immediate post-op phase. I can't answer the stuck question. Best wishes to you in your continued journey!