Jean McMillan

They're probably going to put an antibiotic in your IV anyway. Antibiotics shouldn't affect internal bleeding. It's things like aspirin that increase bleeding.

I think the #1 issue will be whether or not your breathing is affected by this cold or whatever it is. They won't want to anesthetize you if it is. I wouldn't want to have my surgery postponed either but it's really for the best. Good luck, and keep us posted!

Good to see you here, Kate! It'll take a while to learn your way around the site, but I hope you find these forums more congenial than our other WLS "home"!

Are you pre-op or post-op? If pre-op, your body's probably complaining about the drastic change in your food intake. And depending on what liquids you're consuming, it could be reacting to the ingredients, especially artificial sweeteners. If you're post-op, the above comments still apply, and on top of that, the anesthetic is still working its way out of your system. I don't understand why you're not allowed to take an OTC pain reliever, though, so if I were you I'd call your surgeon's office and ask if it's OK to take some liquid Tylenol.

I didn't have to do a pre-op medically supervised weight loss diet for my insurance so I can't speak to that. I did have to do a minimum of 4 weeks of a liver shrinkage diet before my surgeon would operate on me. My nutritionist said the average weight lost during that diet was 25 pounds. I "only" lost 19.5, but I was still able to have surgery. My feeling is that you do need to get your rear in gear pretty soon because pre-op weight loss is a good thing. It gives you a head start on weight loss, it improves the size and texture of your liver, and it also makes your surgery safer.

I hope you enjoy Bandwagon!

Taking an anti-acid pill to make it possible to take vitamins, minerals, or medications seems silly to me, but if your surgeon tells you to do it, do it. The main thing about taking pills and capsules is that if they're too big, they can get stuck in your stoma. Not only is that uncomfortable, but depending on the contents of the pill, it can corrode and inflame the surrounding tissues. I don't think there's one hard-and-fast rule that applies to everyone, because we're all different and even in the same bandster, the ability to swallow foods and meds varies depending on restriction, time of day, time of month, illness, stress, etc.

Swallowing pills and capsules can be tricky, especially as you get more fill in your band. Some pills and capsules should not be cut up or opened (ask your doc if that applies to any of yours). I use chewable calcium by Bariatric Advantage (you can also try Viactiv, from any drugstore) and chewable adult multivitamins (Centrum Silver for me).

I've had sciatica for almost 40 years and my weight (up or down) has never made a difference in the symptoms. Most of the doctors I've seen about it basically told me "learn to live with it." One doc told me to use capsicum cream (found with OTC pain relief products in most pharmacies) but I couldn't stand the burning sensation. I've tried prednisone to reduce the inflammation in the nerve but it didn't seem to touch it. I've tried physical therapy; it didn't help but the therapist explained that the sciatic nerve is located in 2 possible places, and if your sciatic nerve is in the "wrong" place, it's likely to be impinged upon by the surrounding muscles. In other words, I was just born with the potential for sciatica. Lucky me. The most helpful things I do for it are exercise (yoga, pilates, stretching), avoiding sitting (sitting always makes it worse), massage, and Biofreeze spray (available from chiropractors, amazon, or you can get a generic version at Walgreens named Icy Hot spray.

I'd love to see that but I can't find it. Would you please post a link to that video? Thanks!

Three other good books about the band: Laparascopic Adjustable Gastric Banding, by Jessie H. Ahroni (she's a bandster and a family nurse practitioner, so she knows both sides of living with the band Weight Loss Surgery with the Adjustable Gastric Band, by Robert Sewell, MD & Linda Rorhrbough (he's a surgeon & she's a bandster & writer - the book is excellent & very thorough) Bandwagon, Strategies for Success with the Adjustable Gastric Band, by Jean McMillann (me!) (it's the giant encyclopedia of band advice!)

I'm pretty sure I go on burning calories indefinitely after a workout. Maybe not at the same peak as immediately afterward, but as long as I'm alive and breathing, I'm burning calories, even when I'm sleeping.

I thought it would be a big hurdle for me, too, but it hasn't bothered me. I drink (usually cold water) generously up until about 5 minutes before I eat, and that way I'm not as thirsty while I eat unless I'm eating something salty (which I shouldn't eat anyway because the sodium pushes my blood pressure up). And if I eat something too spicy, drinking doesn't help it anyway, whereas eating something bland does help to neutralize the spice.

I agree with the comments everyone else has made. You should not drink while you eat for many reasons, the ugliest of which is that when your stoma and stomach pouch are busy with solid food, the beverage has nowhere to go but back up out your mouth - put on your raincoat and duck! Also, I want to mention that at a bariatric conference last year, at least 3 bariatric professionals stated in their talks/workshops that one of the #1 causes of disappointing weight loss after any kind of bariatric surgery procedure is drinking while eating. Doing that flushes the food through your digestive system too quickly and prevents the food from triggering your satiety signals.

Restriction varies a lot due to ordinary stuff like time of day, time of month, stress, weather, allergies, illness, medication, etc, but a sudden and extreme change of restriction would worry me. You say you've been off the wagon for a few months - have you been overeating a lot during that time? Was the 2 pieces of chicken parmesan even more than you'd been eating in the past few months? Or what? If I were you, I'd mention this when you go for your fill and ask the doc to check your fill level before adding anything more, to make sure you don't have a leak. And please remember that just because you can overeat doesn't mean it's OK to do. Consistent overeating can stretch your esophagus and/or pouch and contribute to a band slip. Also, it's not a good idea to go on eating after you've PB'd or puked. Doing that irritates an already irritated esophagus, so you can get into an endless cycle of eat-puke-eat-puke.

Don't be discouraged when you learn that lap band patients "only lose 40-60% of their excess weight" because there is plenty of evidence here that shows otherwise! According to my surgeon, that "only lose 40-60%" business has been widely misunderstood. What docs mean when they quote the 40-60% is that if the patient loses "only" 40-60% of their excess weight, their WLS is considered successful. It doesn't mean that the most you'll lose is 40-60%. Anyway, I lost 100% of my excess weight.

Please don't call yourself a failure. With no fill in it, your band isn't even working yet. All you can do until you get optimal restriction is to keep on keeping on and do the best you can in the circumstances.

I hope it wasn't me you were calling "a little judgy." I was just giving the OP some important information about eating with the band that can help her avoid complications. My eating history is just as full of poor choices and bad habits as everyone else on this forum!

Before my banding I would eat like it was my job. LOL! Me too! And I was very, very good at my job!

I know soooo many people whose joint pain (especially knees) has improved with weight loss, so I hope it's the same for you and that your joints haven't been permanently damaged.

Congratulations! I'll be straight with you: the band doesn't work for everyone, but when it does work, it's wonderful. I love mine - it's the best decision I ever made for my health & well-being. Succeeding with the band (or really, with any WLS procedure) is a lot of work, but you sound highly motivated, and the fact that your husband is supportive is a big plus. I know exactly what you mean about wanting to avoid disappointment. The problem with that is that it tends to lock a lot of good stuff out of your awareness. If you're always expecting disappointment, that's what you'll find. If you open your heart and mind to the possibility of success, your chances of succeeding are much greater. Good luck, Jean

Most of my fills have felt like a quick mosquito bite stick. Once I asked my surgeon, "So, how much fill are you going to put in?" and he laughed and said, "I'm finished! I just put in 1 cc." I've had lidocaine shots before fills, and the lidocaine shot usually hurts more than the fill shot.

Just because you're not having negative symptoms doesn't mean it's OK to go on eating that much. And please, please don't call yourself a failure. It's way too soon for that! The first pounds aren't necessariy the easiest to lose, and one of the things about the band that a lot of people don't realize is that weight loss is not necessarily immediate. Hang in there! Jean

If you look at the labels of adult versus children's chewable vitamins, it soon becomes apparent that 2 children's do not equal one adult Multivitamin. Adult vitamins contain some things that children's vitamins do not contain, and the amounts of each vitamin/mineral are different. I use Centrum Silver (because I'm almost a senior citizen) chewable vitamins, one a day. Jean

Pre-op tests & evaluations will depend on your insurance policy's requirements, your surgeon's requirements, and your existing health conditions. Their purpose is to evaluate your need for surgery as well as your ability to survive surgery; additional tests are usually required of any surgery patient by the hospital or surgery center, about one week before surgery. My pre-op tests & evaluations went on for 11 weeks, so it would be great if you could get a jump on at least some of them if the surgeon's office could give you some guidelines. Also, attending a WLS seminar and/or support group meeting would give you a chance to hear what other patients have done, My own pre-op stuff included: educational seminar, surgical consult, nutritionist consult, psych evaluation, metabolism test, helicobacter pylori test, sleep study, blood tests, urinalysis, heart stress test, pulmonary evaluation,pre-op diet class (liver shrinkage diet), upper endoscopy (EGD), chest x-ray, EKG, and a vena cava filter placement (and later, removal). Jean