Jean McMillan

I think most of us were very hungry and very sick of liquids after a very short time on the post-op liquid diet. It's no fun, is it? I think the only humans who enjoy a liquid diet are newborn infants. But this journey isn't all about fun. It's about your health, and that's worth everything (to me, anyway). Hang in there!

Yes, it is bad to eat regular food before your surgeon or dietitian gives you the go-ahead. In order to digest regular food, your stomach has to expand and contract to mechanically break down the food into particles small enough to be handled by your intestines. That muscle movement can displace the band, which is still in the process of seating itself against your stomach. Also, your stomach is still healing at the places where it was sutured. Pop a suture, and you're in trouble.

You need a new surgeon. It's not normal to regurgitate on a regular basis. Doing that can lead to serious complications. You're not the only person with those symptoms, but most patients who talk to their surgeon about the symptoms get an unfill, not a fill.

2 more thoughts: The fact that you're asking a question about cheating tells me that you know it's not right, or not good, to cheat. And this super best friend of yours. A greasy Texas meal is nice for auld lang syne, but does he not love you enough to forego it for the sake of your health?

Hi, I'm Jean, the founder of GJTL (Genuine Jean Tuff Luv), and I'm here to do my duty as the official LBT wet blanket. Frankly, I'm surprised your surgeon's office told you it was OK to cheat on your pre-op diet, even once, and especially with the kind of food you describe. Like CarolinaGirl, I didn't cheat because my surgeon told me he'd bail out of the surgery if he didn't like the looks of my liver. Also, I just don't understand why cheating at anything is OK. When it involves your health, you're cheating yourself, and the last laugh will be on you. I discussed this issue at some length in this article: http://www.lapbandta...the-post-op-r78 Finally, despite all the arguments for and against drinking while eating, I must say that the most persuasive argument for me was the discovery that if I drink while eating, the Water comes right back up, usually in an extremely unattractive fashion. I guess that's OK if you're eating in solitary confinement, but doesn't work out well for my lifestyle.

What if it doesn't work for you? Hmmm. If the band and the surgery are free, it's not a huge risk, is it? Do you also get free patient education and lifetime aftercare and support services? Did you have to sign a waiver promising not to hold the program responsible if you have complications?

Mike, you can't post another thing here until you tell us the name of that darling puppy.

It's common for restriction to vary that way - tighter feeling in the morning, looser feeling in the evening. Have you asked your surgeon for suggestions for how to deal with that? What does he/she say? It's his/her JOB to help you lose weight!

Diet and exercise are crucial for weight loss by any means, surgical or not. After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, I finally decided I needed to get out the big guns. I was sick of dieting to lose weight, only to gain it back again plus more, over and over and over. My band worked very well for me because it made portion control so much easier. So the weight loss was easier, and the weight loss made the exercise easier. I had planned on having my band for the rest of my life but sadly, it didn't turn out that way, so I'm revising to the sleeve because almost 5 years into my weight loss surgery journey, I have learned one thing for absolute certain sure: I need a long-term tool for long-term weight maintenance. Bariatric surgery is the tool for me.

Yes, I think that a lot of surgeons are anti-band because the patient education, aftercare, and support is time-consuming and expensive. That's partly because surgeons are trained to approach surgery as a one-time fix-it thing. But bariatric surgery doesn't work that way. I would not have a band put in by a doctor who hates the band. I don't think you'd get the patient education, aftercare, and support you need from him (see above) to succeed. I hate that you've gotten this far and only now have discovered his true feelings about the band. If he or someone in his practice speaks at pre-op educational seminars, they need to make that position clear then so other people don't waste their time as you have. On the other hand, the sleeve is not as terrible as you might think. While it's scary to think of losing a big part of your stomach, people have been surviving gastrectomies for decades. Years ago I had a coworker who had lost most of her stomach because of ulcers and she was healthy and happy. And slim.

It usually takes more than one fill to achieve optimal restriction. And there's nothing about a fill that will magically make you lose weight. You lose weight by eating fewer calories than you consume. A good fill level will help you eat less by reducing your physical hunger and by causing early and prolonged satiety when you eat a small amount of food.

According to your profile, you've lost 28 lbs, so what arithmetic did you use to arrive at the 1 pound loss? Have you regained weight, or what? And once again, what does your surgeon have to say about it?

This has been going on for 3 years? What does your surgeon have to say about it?

According to your signature, you've got a dietitian appointment coming up soon. Tell the dietitian about your past & current eating, find out what eating guidelines your surgeon's program uses, and then work with the dietitian to come up with food choices that will work for you while still supporting your weight loss. In theory, no food should be completely off-limits to a bandster, but in practice, some foods may be difficult to eat from time to time. Deep-fried anything will probably cause you so much discomfort that it will quickly lose its appeal. I've never been a picky eater (just the opposite - I'm a true omnivore) so this may sound unsympathetic, but I think you need to ask yourself what's more important, your food preferences or your health. You're going to have to change your eating behavior (we all do) and at least some of your food choices to succeed with weight loss after any kind of bariatric surgery. If you can't pledge to do that now, maybe you're not ready for surgery. Finally, a small dose of sympathy: I too was a high-volume eater, and I think that's one of the reasons that the band worked so well for me. I hope it will work the same for you.

I'm not sure what you're asking/saying. What is sx? Surgery? Or what? Why are you afraid of your first appt? Are you expecting to have a fill already? if you feel full all the time, don't have a fill. How are you pushing it? What diet phase are you in? Were you not supposed to eat turkey breast? Why are you eating things you shouldn't if you feel full all the time? Did you know that failure to follow the post-op diet progression is the most common cause of band slips? As for the constipation - that's a problem when you're not eating much and especially when you're not eating fruits, veggies, and whole grains. You might want to use Benefiber or a similar Fiber supplement. And also ask your surgeon for a recommendation. Are you saying that your surgery gave you a UTI? That can happen if you're catheterized during/after surgery. Are you taking an antibiotic for it? Drinking plenty of Water?

My hunch is that the food didn't stay down because you were dehydrated from exercising outdoors in the heat. I have to drink Water frequently when I'm exercising.

I have a very strong hunch about why your weight loss has stalled. It's the poor quality of your food intake.I'm going to assume you ate the following quantities of the foods you mentioned in your post. Protein shake (8 oz) - 250mg sodium Turkey hotdog (1) - 300mg Turkey bologna (1 thin slice) - 302mg Potato chips (4 oz) - 674mg Fiber One bar (1) - 150mg That's a total of 1676mg of sodium, or 276mg over the daily recommended maximum intake for adult women. And if you also decided to munch a few more Chicken McNuggets, just 3 of them would give you 300mg, or 21% of the recommended maximum sodium intake. Aside from the irritating aspect of making you retain fluid (thereby slowing or stopping weight loss), excessive sodium intake does a number on your blood pressure. Keep it up, and you're on your way to a stroke. Now, before you conclude that I'm being mean to you, consider that I have high blood pressure, I struggle to keep my sodium intake down, and I'm terrified of having a stroke and TIA's like my mom did. So what I'm giving you isn't harrassment, it's a dose of genuine Jean Tuff Luv™. In my opinion, a mommy of 4 needs to do whatever she can to improve her health so she can watch those 4 kids grow up.

Be patient? Oh, no, that's not how it works. We're gonna make you drop and give us 100 push ups every time you ask a silly question. Just kidding! Everyone here was a newbie once, and we'll do our best to support you and answer your questions (even the silly ones).

You're not alone. Everybody in my family used to make loving fun of my great aunt Gladys, who was the slowest eater I've ever encountered. Thanksgiving dinner took her about 90 minutes to eat....she was still working on the turkey when the rest of us were groaning over the last bite of pie. When I was banded, I began to wish I was more like Aunt Gladys. It took just one stuck episode to teach me how important it is to eat carefully with the band. What helped me the most was putting my eating utensils down between every single bite. Other things you can try: cut your food into tiny (pencil eraser size) pieces, eat with baby utensils, use an egg timer between each bite. Stuck episodes feel different for different people. Mine usually caused severe chest pain and could last from a few minutes to a few hours.

I had to see a dr on Saturday morning and actually managed to NOT mention my band because it was pretty obvious to even me that a head cold that had led to an ear infection was in no way related to my lapband. LOL!

Welcome, Bibi. Losing 15 lbs is fabulous - please don't torture yourself about losing more. If it happens, that's good, but if it doesn't, that's OK. The main point of the pre-op diet is to improve the size and texture of your liver so it's easier for your surgeon to handle (thus making surgery safer for you).

As a new bandster, it's natural to wonder if every little (and big) thing that happens to you now is somehow connected to your band. Every hiccup, every twinge, makes you ask, “Is something wrong with my band?” How do you make sense of all these new experiences without making yourself crazy (or in my case, crazier)? ADJUSTING TO BANDED LIFE Having weight loss surgery is a huge project. You spent months, even years, in research, education, preparation, recovery and adjustment. No wonder you're obsessed with it. But it is not the only thing going on in your body and your life. It is not the cause of every adverse - or favorable - event. When I buy a new car, I go through phases similar to the ones I experienced as a new bandster. I look around, do research, study and compare before I buy. With all of that foremost in my limited-capacity brain, I cherish my new possession, and suddenly I see that same vehicle everywhere. Like magic, the same make, model, and even color is on every road, in every parking lot. It’s as if the 2011 Toyota Camry has become my world. Gradually the novelty wears off, things shift back into position, and the Camry becomes transportation again – at least until it suffers its first scratch or dent. Adjusting to life with a new band can be a lot like life with a new car, or even more so, because an adjustable gastric band isn’t something (I hope) you’re going to tire of and trade in one day. It’s a lifetime commitment, and even if your insurance pays for all or part of it, a band is a huge investment in terms of time and energy. It’s not surprising that everything that happens to you as a new post-op gets filtered through the AGB lens. We suddenly tune in to every little whisper of AGB stories, especially scary ones. As we move forward in the shiny new vehicle that we hope will take us far from the land of obesity, we listen carefully for any suspicious creaks, squeaks or whines, while cringing at every little bump in the road. After months of preparation and anticipation, we’re now in a hyper-vigilant mode that rings an alarm bell every time something even mildly unfamiliar happens in our bodies. We’re so alert that even a sore toe could be a sign of something insidious happening to our bands. We analyze every sneeze, every burp, asking, “Is this normal? Is something wrong with me or my band?” The answer to that is almost always, “Completely normal, and nothing wrong.” Although there's a tendency to interpret every post-op experience (especially physical ones) as band-related, chances are that the pain in your big toe has nothing to do with your band. It's easy to "awfulize" things when you have a pain, symptom or experience you didn't expect and can't explain. You're sure that's something's wrong. You haven't lost weight in three days, or you found hair clogging your shower drain, or you puked up your spaghetti dinner. You’ve probably had more practice at dealing with this kind of worry than you give yourself credit for, because it applies to many other aspects of your life. It's extremely difficult to make a good decision when you're in a panic. Your vomiting might be band-related, but it could also be the result of a garden-variety intestinal bug. Your teenaged daughter's failure to return your phone call could be because she was in a terrible accident, or it could be because her cell-phone battery died. WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG First, take a deep breath. Panic will not solve the problem, and it might make it worse. First, have a look at any discharge instructions or other written post-op information you were given before or after your surgery (if your surgeon or the hospital doesn’t give you anything like that, ask for it!). Then ask yourself: Is this an emergency? Is it life-threatening, disabling, or just inconvenient? What will happen if I don't do something about it right now? Can I deal with this myself, or do I need help? What kind of help (medical, emotional, spiritual, financial)? Who can help me (my surgeon, therapist, best friend, minister)? Be careful how you choose your helper(s). I know you love your sister, who might tell you that everyone in her family has been sick with a bug since you saw them (and their germs) on Sunday, but she cannot tell you whether or not your band slipped. So please don’t ask her, me, your hairdresser, neighbor, personal trainer, or a casual Internet acquaintance for medical advice. We may be well qualified to sympathize, but we’re not qualified to give you medical treatment, so call your surgeon instead. But first, make a list. I like list-making because it gives me the illusion of control and because it helps jog my memory when I finally get a doctor, nurse or dietitian on the line. If nothing serious (a temperature over 101°F, you can’t drink clear liquids, you can’t stop vomiting) or life-threatening (you can’t breathe, can’t move, can’t speak, are bleeding profusely, etc.) is on the list, consider waiting to call your surgeon for an hour or two, or until you have a list of at least three questions. Use that time to think of the answers to some basic questions your surgeon is sure to ask: how long the problem has been going on, whether it’s constant or intermittent, and whether it seems related to a particular behavior, time of day, or other event. If your list includes something life-threatening (see above), leave a brief message like “This is Jane Doe. I’m on my way to the ER at Hometown Hospital because I’m having severe chest pain” and don’t wait for your surgeon to call you back. Call 911 or have someone take you to the emergency room. But once you’re there, remember that you can’t expect the average ER doctor to know how to treat a problem related to bariatric surgery. The ER will rule out and treat things like cardiac arrest, infection, pneumonia, stroke, and the like, and will give you palliative care to make you more comfortable until your surgeon arrives or tells them what to do next. While it’s always okay to ask your surgeon or his/her staff about your worries, it’s important to remember that you are not the only patient under their care. If you don’t get a return call within a few hours of leaving a message, it may be because they’re overwhelmed with other patients’ problems and/or because they didn't understand the nature of your problem. Leave a clear, simple, but specific message. If you’re running a temperature and have a bad headache, say, “This is Jane Doe. I’ve had a temperature of 103°F and a bad headache for 5 hours. Please call me back as soon as possible at 123-456-7890.” NOT EVERYTHING IS RELATED TO YOUR BAND Now that you’re at least somewhat prepared to deal with medical emergencies that might arise, you need to hear this: not everything is related to your band. While it’s appropriate to be concerned and alert after any surgery and in adjusting to life with an implanted medical device like a band, don't let fear cloud your thinking. You will wear yourself to a frazzle if every event becomes a crisis, and you don’t want to neglect other important things in your life (like family, job, etc.) because your band has somehow taken over every waking thought.. I may sound unsympathetic, but I'm really not. I can whine with the best of 'em. I’m not saying that your confusion and struggles as a new bandster aren't important. They are. But it will be easier for you to handle them if you do it with a clear mind and a calm heart. I know from personal experience that worry and self-pity are deadly traps because they tend to paralyze you. So while it's good to keep your little buddy in the back of your mind when trying to figure out what's going on, remember that you are still vulnerable to the bacteria, viruses, accidents, exhaustion, bad habits, and dumb luck that ambushed you before your band surgery. Try not to let a three-inch ring of plastic hold you hostage. Your post-op life includes much, much more than just your band, eating, and weight loss efforts!

Mis73 gave you good advice. I just want to add this. If you feel that your surgeon is too conservative with fills, why not just talk with him/her about it? If he/she won't work with you on that, you could consider changing surgeons if you can find one to accept another surgeon's patient (you might have to pay a non-reimbursable program or patient transfer fee, though).

So, how many people have you personally met who've been banded for 8-10-12 years with or without complications? Five, ten, twenty, fifty? I'm not sure what the current numbers are and it's too late in the day for me to call my Allergan rep, but as of 2009, about 62,500 Lap-Bands were placed each year. So if you personally know 50 people who lost their band to complications, that works out to a failure rate of .08%. Of course, since the Realize band hit the market in US late 2007 (after having been used successfully outside the USA since the mid 1980's), we ought to factor in its failure rate as well, but perhaps the Realize band doesn't qualify for your personal study because it's been used in the USA for less than 8 years? I do personally know a woman who's been banded since December 2003 and still loves her band after almost 9 years. Since I personally know only one person who's been banded over 8 years, my own study yields a 100% satisfaction rate. But wait! I do know another person who's been banded over 8 years. His name is Alex Brecher, and he's the founder of LBT. He was banded in July of 2003 and guess what, he still loves his band, too! The consent papers I signed when I had band surgery way back in 2007 made it clear that band surgery (like any surgery) has a number of risks, and neither Allergan nor my surgeon offered me any guarantee of weight loss or of no complications or of the permanence of my band. My surgeon did tell me I should consider it a lifetime companion, and I don't see anything wrong with that. He just wanted me to understand that this was a major, long term undertaking, and he was absolutely right even though I ended up losing my band. It would be foolish of me to undergo surgery thinking, "Well, I'll give this a try, and if it doesn't work out the way I like in a year or two, I'll have it removed and try something else." According to the bariatric surgeons I interviewed when writing Bandwagon, bariatric surgery (whichever procedure you choose) is the ONLY long term treatment for obesity available today. If there were a permanent treatment for obesity, you could call it a cure, and that would be a wonderful thing,wouldn't it? But obesity is a chronic, incurable disease, and that fact is one of the reasons that bariatric surgery sometimes fails. Anyway, back to you...Have you personally had band surgery? Did your surgeon guarantee a permanent cure and no complications? If so, would you share his or her name and location, because that information would be useful to so many people on this forum and I personally would love to chat with him or her as part of my continuing education. Oh, one more thing. One reason you so rarely encounter a 8-10-12 year bandster, especially online, is that those people lost their weight and went on to other perfectly worthwhile things, like new jobs and new babies and new hobbies. Bariatric surgery faded into the background of their lives. Of course, some of them did have problems. I know a few bandsters who lost their bariatric focus because they were diagnosed with cancer (NOT, I hasten to add, caused by their band) or their spouse or child died in an accident or they lost their job and basic survival became more of an issue than actively promoting the band.

Here's my typical experience of a PB or productive burp (which is regurgitation, not vomiting). I'm eating something, anything, and suddenly I get the uneasy feeling that it's going to come back up. Sometimes there's an uncomfortable (not painful) fullness in that back of my throat, but sometimes the PB happens too fast for that. As soon as I have a suspicion that a PB is about to happen, I find a bathroom (or at least a sink) ASAP. And up comes the food I just ate, maybe with some slime (thick and sometimes foamy saliva). Then it's over. Except for times when my band was just too tight, or when my band slipped, most of my PB's were due to user error: eating too fast, taking bites that were too big, not chewing very well. Some of them happened when I was eating a food that wasn't cooked in a band friendly fashion, especially dry meat. So that's your answer to the how to avoid it question. PB's aren't an inevitable feature of a bandster's life. I know a very successful and happy bandster, 4 yrs post-op, who has never PB'd even once. On the other hand, if you do PB, it's not the end of the world...it's just a signal that you need to eat more carefully.