Cocoabean

Not all of us are ordered onto low carb diets. I am not.

Your best bet is to find a surgeon who does both surgeries and speak with him/her about your medical conditions to help you make an informed decision. Some surgeons prefer bypass for someone with a BMI as high as yours, but there are bandsters here who were around that BMI and have done well. Most surgeons offer an information seminar. That is a great place to start. Mine offers side-by-side comparisons of the procedures to help you determine which is best. Every person here has their own reasons for choosing to be banded. But I made the decision I did with the help of my surgeon based on my medical needs. There is no one size fits all for which procedure is right.

My surgeon commented on his website that he doesn't understand the soda prohibition. The GI Tract is an open system. Gas escapes from either end, so it won't cause damage. But as you experienced it can be uncomfortable. Diet soda has chemicals that can stimulate appetite, that was enough to swear me off. I've sipped on my hubby's regular sodas from time to time. I just get the hiccups from it. I do OK with beer though. Just have to take the calories into account. Go figure.

I never thought to ask those questions either! Once you are at proper restriction you need fewer and fewer fills. You may have been gaining for a couple of reasons. You started eating higher caloric foods or larger amounts of foods. The reason for larger amounts of foods with the same fill can be that as you lose weight, you lose it everywhere, including the fat around your stomach beneath your band. When that happens, your band feels looser. Like what happens to a belt as you lose weight. When your band feels looser you get hungrier. For me hungrier means I eat more, eating more means weight gain. I seem to just get a teensie tune up fill yearly. About 0.25cc. It's good though, because I see my surgeon this way, and he checks everything out. He does an upper GI each time to check placement is still good. I had my last top-off in September. According to my surgeon the older bands seemed to have a bit of Fluid that seeps through the bladder of the bands over time. Not so much in the newer bands. He said my AP Standard 10cc band is one of the newer ones. For me, I've reached a fill level where what I eat is appropriate to maintain my weight. At this point, I could not take any more fill in my band. I am far from the capacity of it. I have a 10cc band, I have less than 7cc in it, not sure of the total. My surgeon has the total in his notes, it doesn't really matter to me, what matters to me is that I can eat and maintain my weight.

It depends on the size of your band, also. The larger bands can take more fills to reach the green zone. A note on 30 lbs in 9 months. It is slower than the 1-2 pound average that the Lap Band Company says we should lose, but it is an average of .83. Not too far off from 1 lb per week. Frustratingly slow while in the fight, yes. But downward. Plateaus suck. I went through many on my way to a normal BMI. I hope this helps...when all was said and done, my average weight loss 0.75 lb per week. It took me 2 years to lose a little over 70 lbs. I'd have liked it to happen quicker. But time passes no matter what. I decided I'd take a 3/4 lb loss any day over gaining like I was doing before my band. Once I got to my green zone (fill 4, by the way in my 10 cc band), it was easy. I did not have to diet. It was still slow, but I could live with my new eating habits forever. Maintenance has been a dream for me. Keep working with your surgeon to find your green zone. If you have a larger band, that can take some time.

My surgeon given "goal" was one oz per 15 minutes. You won't stretch your pouch on liquids. It actually takes quite a bit of work to do so. Liquids go right through and provide no resistance within the pouch. You cannot overfill the pouch on liquids, really, they just drain right through. A dilated pouch happens over a long time of overeating (generally). The upper stomach is a pretty strong muscle. Liquids are not much of a foe to force it open and stretch it out.

What everyone else said. Be sure to keep yourself hydrated. Do thinned out Protein shakes to keep some nutrition going in. If you get to the point that liquids don't go down, call you surgeon's office even though it's a weekend. Tell then you cannot get liquids down and ask for instructions. Dehydration doesn't take long to set in, and man, do you feel horrible. So, please stay on top of it. I was overfilled once. I could not get yogurt or mashed potatoes down. Put up with it for a week hoping it would get better. I'd had 1cc put in. Had 1/2cc taken out...instant relief. A month later, things had calmed down....I went back and had another 1cc put in. Don't be miserable, it sucks.

Kimmym, how are you feeling now? Better, I hope. I seemed to be loosening up after my stuck iron tablet the other night. Ugh.

The black stuff could be bile. It could also be blood. Nothing to mess with.

If it were me, I'd place a call to my surgeon about it. Only 5 weeks out? I'd want to touch base.

Hello and welcome. The port can be put in several locations. Mine is to the left of my bellybutton sewn to my abdominal muscles. Each surgeon has a preference of where to put it. If location concerns you, you'll have to ask where it will be located. I didn't even think about it. For other questions... read here... most surgeons do information seminars, attend one or two, then ask away! this is a great place for info.

Is your port red, hot to the touch, inflamed? If so call your surgeon. My port is in a location that gets rubbed on by the waist bands of pants. Some styles are more comfy than others. I generally choose a lower waisted style that won't rub the port area.

Banded folk make lots of noises. Burgles and gurgles we call it. That part of it is perfectly normal. Sort of like when you put a new 5 gallon water bottle on a cooler. You get all those bubbles as the water slowly drains out of the bottle. Chug, chug, glug, glug.

Glad you are feeling a bit better! I'd say after what you have been through you will have some major swelling, take it very easy. I'd advise against the aspirin, unless your surgeon allows the use of NSAIDs. Most do not. meat tenderizer will help to break down food. I believe it has papaya enzyme and some other stuff in it, like lots of salt. But hey, any port in a storm. I haven't tried it yet.

It sounds like reflux from a possibly too tight band. Not a doc here, just going by what I've read about bands and people's experiences over the years. Call your surgeon's office line and tell the answering service what is going on. They'll get a message to your surgeon or one who is on call. Don't mess around with these symptoms.

Sometimes I stay swollen for a couple of days but I don't have that gut wrenching stuck pain that whole time. Just an irritated tightness. If food is stuck and you need medical care, they can go down your esophagus to grab the food, rather than unfill. Unfill is the first defense for badly stuck bandsters. But bypass folk get stuck too...they get the food fished out. I am 4+ years out, I just used paypaya enzymes for the first time this week when I got stuck on some salad. It seemed to work very well. Coincidence? Maybe. Deserving of another try? Definitely. pineapple juice did nothing for me. One thing I have tried when well and truly stuck is to suck down a few ounces of Water. It will bring on a wave of nausea and come right back up, but it usually brings the offending item with it. But there are those times when the item is just plain stuck... Glad to hear you can get fluids down, that is a great sign!!

I understand the concern. If you aren't in pain, or feeling stuck, I would watch and wait. If it is not comfortable for you, then call and get .5cc taken out. We have to be able to tolerate our fill level.

Practicing is a good thing, but you really cannot prepare yourself. Once you experience getting stuck a few times you WILL take smaller bites. For me, it depends on the food. I can take bigger bites of softer foods. meats like steak or pork need to be about the size of a pencil eraser. It starts to come naturally with time.

6 weeks, but I chose to wait an extra month due to a scheduled cruise. Not to eat, but in case I had trouble with the fill. I only gained 1 lb on the cruise.

Do what your surgeon tells you to do. If 600 calories isn't enough, ask what you can add, or schedule a fill. I will say I'd never have done well on 600 calories a day, but I wasn't given limits. As to dairy, most surgeons agree that liquid calories aren't the best choice. They just aren't as filling as solid Proteins. You will not lose weight daily. You may even go weeks without dropping. It is just the nature of weight loss.

Right there with Marci. 5 lbs in my first 5 months as a bandster. Big whoop. After my 3rd fill, then the weight loss started as my restriction kept my food levels down. Bands don't cause weight loss. Lower food intake and exercise do. And sometimes not even then, frustrating as it may be. If you were eating 3000 calories a day before, when you needed 1500 to maintain, and now you are eating 2000 a day and exercising 500 worth, you will maintain or lose very slowly. Walking a mile burns about 100 calories per mile. Woot..not a lot. So we think we are tearing it up, but really? It's great for us, but calorie burn? ah well. When you can get your calories down to 1000-1200 you'll start to see more losses. When you reach the green zone of restriction that will be easier to do. I lost on average 0.75 pounds per week during actively losing. Not alot, but enough to get over 70 lbs off and keep them gone. Happy? Oh yeah!

If your stomach is in good enough shape at the time of removal (if your insurance will pay for removal and your surgeon is willing), you might be able to do it all in one surgery and have the band removed and change to another procedure with only paying your surgeon for the revision to the other procedure. The insurance company pays for the OR and band removal part, you pay for the sleeve or RNY. I've heard of it being done in the past. Might be worth asking the question, if you are interested in another procedure. My PCP also told me that depending on the way they write it up you can sometimes get switched to a new procedure even if the insurance company says one per customer. They are taking the band out due to complications, not due to you not following the rules. There is a difference. Medical need, all that. But we know how much insurance companies love to say no.

Fill level has nothing to do with sliders for me. I have to be almost occluded to not be able to eat slider foods, and that is just not a happy place for me. chips, Cookies, ice cream..they all go down quite easily for me. The only time they didn't is when I was overfilled and could not even get yogurt or mashed potatoes with lots of milk in them down. Even now, while I am in the green zone but considering a slight unfil, I can eat silders with no problem. It is the good for me foods that are a challenge. I have to choose not to eat the sliders. It is way easier to grab some chips than to sit and slowly eat a salad that may or may not go down. And the chips taste soooo much better. It's a shame they cannot band the brain along with the stomach.

Add more water and thin it down. It is what I just did with a chocolate shake. My band is a bit tight after getting stuck on a pill last night. I didn't want the thinkness of a shake.

Some surgeons will allow the use of NSAIDs in banded patients, some won't. As the previous poster said, speak with yours. Mine allows for occasional use. But I did have to come off of daily usage of prescription strength as well. You might be able to take a small dose on days when you are going to walk. Approved by your surgeon, of course. I agree with Honk about Water exercise, great for arthritic joints.