Wheetsin

Moved, you will likely get more views/responses here than in Rants n' Raves. :cool:

Hey guys - I'm posting this in the board questions area, but we'll see where it ends up. There's a known issue (I ran into it and thought I must have done something really weird) with posts posting to the wrong place, and even with the wrong forum opening when you click on one to open it. I've already sent several examples/screenshots to Alex & the other mods, so trust that we're aware of the problem. Until this is resolved, any posts you make will probably post to the wrong area... to completely unrelated threads in unrelated forums. (E.g. I posted something in the pre/post-op forum, that actually posted into the food forum). In fact, even though I opened the board questions forum to post this, I can see at the top of my screen that it's going to post into January 08. So January 08 guys, help me spread the word. :smile:

Twice this morning I posted replies, only to end up having posted in the completely wrong part of the forum. What the heck? So I assumed I had been doing something wrong, until it happened a third time. The images below are screenies I grabbed while recreating this. The first picture shows the search results from the username search I did, trying to locate the post after deleting my response. The first thread in the results is the one I had meant to post to. The second picture shows the post tool-tip, showing the RIGHT preview for the RIGHT thread - all looks well at this point. The third picture shows the page it indicates it's loading, which is the RIGHT post. All still looks well. The fourth picture is what actually loads - not only a totally different post, but a post in a totally different forum. The fifth picture shows what appears when I would then go to search to try and find the RIGHT post. Figured I'd post this here rather than board questions to save the ensuing panic. :smile:

Ginger, I don't know when you were banded, but it took me -- I'm going to guess 12 - 14 months to really "learn" the band. I thought I knew what I was doing, I was even giving others advice, but I will still having problems more frequently than I wanted to. Not PBing too often, but lots of discomfort. Lots more trouble eating than I should have had to worry about. So I did this "back to basics" kind of thing. I allowed only small bites, and made myself wait 5 mins between each bite. And if I felt the slightest pressure, no more eating until it had passed completely. This was key, I think. I would get a slight pressure, and think - I just need to burp, or I would confuse it for the same (harmless) sensation of just feeling food in the pouch. Then I started to get this realization that (this will sound corny) I wasn't really listening to what my body was saying. I was assuming I knew what things meant, when I think I had been way off base. Life has gotten much easier since I've really started "listening." :smile: For me, if there's food in my pouch, I can feel it. It's just a little pressure. Tiny. Like if you fill your hand with Water, the water puts pressure on your skin. If my food is passing through, I don't feel anything. Everyr are now and then I really can't tell, and have to work to monitor it since I have no soft stop. If that's the case, I will take a very small sip of very cold water and wait and see what it does. If it's just sitting there, I won't feel the cold rush down into my stomach. If it goes through, I will feel the wave of cold.

Internal changes with fluid levels, imperceived differences in eating behavior, etc. If you're starving after tea & coffee, maybe eat something? If you can't eat in the morning, maybe try a protein drink, and if it does ok add in some bulk like fiber cereal. Proteins keep you full faster than any other category of food, so focus on them whenever possible if hunger is an issue for you. Tea and coffee have the consistency of water. Neither will keep you full for long.

I slept in a recliner the first 2 nights, then made it into bed with a LOT of extra pillows. So, if you're trying with just the standard number of hotel pillows, tell room service to bring you 4+ extras. Basically turn the bed into a big soft recliner. I'm a side sleeper and I found that around night 5 I could sleep on my side if I supported my stomach with a pillow underneath it. Moving would wake me up, but it beat the heck out of having to stay on my back. Where is it hurting, and what does it feel like? If your shoulder is hurting, that's a much different scenario than your port incision. I also had my gallbladder removed a few months ago, and my port incision was re-opened for that procedure. I slept in bed starting the second night, again using the many pillows technique. I probably could have done the bed the first night, but my reopened port incision was a bleeder, and I felt it best not to risk any position other than on my back, with limited movement.

Missed the 2nd part of your question. For vitamins I use Centrum chewables. I also take Folic Acid and Potassium, both of which I just chew and swallow, they don't have any taste (to me).

I cannot take pills unless I crush them, yuck. I had to take a round of Prednisone and Flexerall for an attack of sciatica, and it was pure hell. I've tried just cutting. I tried cutting a pill the size of a Tylenol into 4 pieces, so we're talking fairly small, and it resulted in one of my worst PBs.

As for reporting problems, the current way is to post a question... here. :smile: That provides a way to ask questions, without overflowing our PM inboxes - which we greatly appreciate! As for your issues, I personally have no idea if your user options are set up correctly. Perhaps Alex will see this and be able to help.

There is lots of information out there on these topics. Here are a few for starters. Flying with a lapband About to fly and freaking out....HELP<!-- google_ad_section_end --> Scuba diving banded? Scuba Dive? Tight after Flying LapBand and Scuba Diving Pre-Op question-Scuba<!-- google_ad_section_end --> Etc. If those, and similar search results, can't provide the information you're looking for, you are welcomed to post a poll. It would be very difficult for someone to do it for you, vs. doing it yourself, because we would have no idea how many variables you want, what options, anonymity options, etc. etc.

Unfortunately (I wish more doctors understood this) there are no real rules with the band, there are only guidelines. My experience will be totalyl different from yours, and yours from hers, and hers from his, etc. Tonight I slimed over some thick Soup. So there goes the 7 bites idea. :eek: One bite can easily do me in, if it's at the wrong time of month. Etc.

I order Water and 99% of the time and let it just sit there. I got tired of answering, "Yes, I'm sure." I used to pay $2 for a glass of tea that would just sit there, until I realized how stupid that was. :eek: Hmm, if you get an insistent waitress, maybe just say that you don't drink with your meals. I know bandsters who will pour salt over their food to keep from taking that one last bite, perhaps you could do the salt thing with your water, as another technique for insistent wait staff.

That's good to hear. I hate hearing about people who want the band, yet have their surgeons try to talk them out of it.

It got better over time for me, but was almost constant for at least 8 months... and got louder when I ate. Now I really only gurgle when I'm stuck or really full.

If you're PBing the very last thing you swallow, there's a good chance that you're eating or drinking one swallow too many. I don't have a "soft stop" (body's way of saying stop or else)and I had a really hard time with this in the beginning... actually for the first year or so. Another highly likely scenario is that you've downed a bad bite early on, but are eating a little too quickly and don't feel it until your last bite. Especially if your last bite is your last because you start to feel uncomfortable, vs. it being your last because it's the last bite in your plate. Sometimes a bad swallow (for lack of a better phrase) can take a while to register. During the "learning phase" it's a good practice to wait a good 3 - 5 minutes between each and every bite, to see how your body reacts to the swallow outside of what you can tell immediately. Let's say it takes 45 seconds for a bad bite to feel bad. You take a bit, immediately feel OK, take another bite, feel ok, take another bite... and then the bad feeling from bite 1 registers, and now you have 2+ bites sitting on top of it. Another possibility that kind of builds on what I've mentioned above is that an earlier bite is stuck, but when you PB the item that was actually stuck passes through, and what was on top of it comes up. This happens to me a lot. I'll often PB just saliva, because the stick moves through. I assume it has something to do with the churning/pumping. Kind of like a stuck drain. The "stuck" usually moves down. The only time I would let frequency of PBs have anything to do with a fill is for UNFILL. I would never gauge whether I need a fill by, "Do I PB a lot?" PBs are gonna happen, but they shouldn't. Feelign the food move through/down is fairly normal. I can feel it, especially when the food is particularly hot or cold. When I would try to determine if I needed a fill, I would look at these things: Is it taking more food that it used to for me to be satisfied? Am I eating more frequently than I used to? Can I easily eat foods that normally are more of a challenge? Do I feel restriction when I eat? Can I drink more than a tiny sip during/immediately after a meal? Sometimes you will hear ppl say that if you aren't losing 2 - 3 lbs/week, you need a fill. I'd kill myself if I followed that little rule. On a normal day, I can barely get down soymilk in the morning, but by evening can have a small meal. I've hit a phase of maintenance. I have more weight to lose, I just need to get off my ass and make it happen. Am I losing 2 lbs a week? Nope! Do I need a fill? Nope! :eek:

CoolCrystal, how tall are you? DH and I are trying to get pregnant. Before we started, I spoke with my doctor about the pregnancy vs. age vs. weight triangle. She told me my weight wasn't such that it would be a reason to postpone trying to get pregnant, and that especially considering my age, if I want to have a baby, I need to get started. (She wrote me a rx for prenatals that day). I'm 31, between 5'10 - 5'11, and 230 - 240. And I've had the same experience as you. When I'm bypassed is when I look bad - or poor perhaps. hair thrown up, baggy pants, hoodie, crocs... basically my "I'm way too tired to be here" look. :eek: When I'm dressed normally, I get "normal" attention.

Some air travel makes me extra ordinarily tight. About 10% of the time I'm uneffected, but normally I get very tight. It happens mid-flight, and will get to the point that in-flight liquids take a very long time to pass. I am a scuba diver, no problems, but I've also not gone below 60. Your husband's theory is correct. Going up alleviates atmospheric pressure so things get bigger. Going underwater increases atmospheric pressure, so things get smaller. A moderately filled balloon pops if it goes too far, but looks empty at 50 ft underwater. I talked several times with Inamed about this before banding, and they assured me no problems, and that the silicone the band is fabricated from is rigid enough to maintain its integrity. I'd imagine any changes are with the saline inside the band (should adjust to normal state as soon as pressure returns to normal), or more likely - the reaction to our soft tissues and their Fluid retention.

Sounds like normal adjustments. For a very long time I "gurgled" virtually non-stop. Sometimes it got very loud. Once or twice the people next to me at work thought I had burped, but nope, I was just making noises.

Go out and eat. There are usually mushy items on the menu. Soups, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, or baked sweet potatoes that can be mashed, refried beans, soupy beans, polenta, etc. You can also request most items be sent through the blender. Just tell them you've recently had surgery and have to have a soft diet. I've had them whiz up clam choweder to get rid of the rubbery chunks. :eek:

Yes. What you've heard is pretty much the opposite of the "going" talk. People who are morbidly or super morbidly obese are generally steered toward the RnY or other malabsorptive procedure, while those with lower BMIs are generally steered toward restrictive procedures.

I haven't had a fill in at least 8 months, and I'm tighter now than I was back when I got the fill. Thing that effect my restriction include barometric pressure/humidity changes, water retention, what my sinuses are doing (this may just be competition for the stoma's attention!), etc.

I told anyone with whom it came up. most of my family, most of my co-workers. The family that doesn't know, either I haven't seen them since banding (I'm not good at keeping communication up with family unless it's in person) or it just hasn't come up... several have seen the weightloss who maybe don't know I'm banded. Maybe someone told them, but it wasn't me... because we were at a wedding and when they commented on my loss, it wasn't an appropriate time to tell them. But if it comes up or they ask how I did it, I will tell them in a heartbeat. Wow, that's really random - sorry it's hard to follow. Basically I tell anyone who asks, anyone with whom it would come up as part of conversation, etc. No secrets here.

You don't need to give up alcohol with the band. Some opt to, because of the calories, but if you tolerated it pre-op you're probably going to be able to tolerate it post-op. Just keep in mind that after meal drinks may be a little more potent, since you'll have a lot less food in your stomach. :eek: negative/positive experiences -- just be careful not to drink too soon after eating, and be careful what/how you eat. And try to know where the bathrooms are, just in case.

I have unintentionally created many no-lidocaine converts and followers. :eek: (My surgeon now only uses it if you request it, and he doesn't tell the new patients it's an option).

Confusion one: food is supposed to stay in the upper pouch and slowly release down to the lower stomach. How should this feel? Do you feel the food resting up top?? Or do you feel it more like a regular swallow? I don't feel anything stay up top, and if it does, it's a PB for sure. I either feel nothing other than getting full very quickly, or I feel a bit of pressure. Not discomfort, but I can tell something is there. If I'm going to PB, it may start off like this feeling, but will get much, much worse whereas if it's just the food sitting there, it clears over time or sometimes suddenly (almost always with a hiccup, then a burp). Confusion two: If food sits up top like it's supposed to, why the PB? Food fills the pouch, nothing is supposed to slide through quickly, so how exactly does a PB happen? I thought something is stuck, and the body needs to get rid of it. But how can something get stuck at the top of the pouch if you've got food below it? "Sticks" happen at the stoma, not at the top of the pouch. If you PB and notice it's whatever you swallowed last, that's because it never made its way through, not because *it* was what was stuck. Just because your first 3 bites made it through the stoma doesn't mean bite 4 will. Perhaps the earlier bites were chewed better, or the food happened through at an agreeable angle. or maybe it's just being fickle. Does that answer what you're asking?