Grayorm

Lots of questions in the same vein and no real answers here.

I am 4 months post op. The band has done little as yet. My weight has not changed from the initial loss on the liquid diet. The company I have used, say that I can only fill at the rate of 1 mil per fill, every 4-6 weeks. I am upto 6 mill now and they also say that it won't work properly until 7 mill is in there. (It's a 14 mill band...I am a 6' male). Until I had the 6 mill fill I could eat a meal almost as normal, occasionally getting the 'something stuck' feeling if I ate too fast. Since the 6 mill fill I get a 'something stuck' feeling after only 2 mouthfulls of anything other than sloppy food. I have now discovered what I will have particular trouble with, chicken and bread, these seem to stick more than anything. Because of this I give up eating the meal and am hungry again within an hour or two. Before the 6 mill fill I would get this feeling occasionally and after it had cleared (2 minutes) it would not come back during that particular meal. My query is this: Am I waiting for food to pass through the band therefore causing a back-up and the 'something stuck' feeling? If so when that feeling clears the food must have passed through the band.....surely that's not the idea? Is my band set too high????

Hi Jodylu, I do chew chew chew but still it happens. I started out on the shakes, but the dietician said that they will just run through the band and you will stay hungry. She told me to eat dry foods with no drink until an hour later, and to take tiny bites and chew them to nothing. You are right it's a steep learing curve. I expected to eat a small prtion of dinner and be full until the next meal, it's nothing like that. If this is how its supposed to work I will be going back for answers.

I was a coffee addict until 6 months ago. I was on about 10+ cups per day. I switched to de-caf to help with sleep problems. I had also reduced my intake. I was banded on 12th Feb and have had maybe 2 cups per day and have not been able to finish any. By half way it tastes bitter. Tea is just the same. Anyone else with this problem?

A great outlook, well done. A good example to us all. I have only been banded a week but I can understand the thinking that such a major jolt to your senses, and change to everything is an opportunity to start with a clean page. Just got ot kick the addiction to pain killers now!:thumbup: Juuuuuuuuuust kidding:lol:

Robyn, my pre op diet was simple. For 7 days prior I was on: 7am coffee made with milk 9am 200mls of milk 12pm Yoghurt less than 60cals 3pm Another Yoghurt 5pm Beef stock drink 7pm Milky coffee In-fill with Water or low sugar squash or milk up to 2 and a half pints maximum per day. It wasnt easy and I lost 12lbs. but it was only for a week. I was done a week ago and all went well. Good luck.

I was banded 12th feb. I am on "anything that will go through a straw" for 2 weeks. Then pureed food for 2 weeks then carefully try solids. So many different ideas from different docs. I contacted the 24hr nurse about going onto pureed food early as I am having no trouble with thick Soup (no lumps or bits). She said no because if it makes me sick at this early stage damage could be done to the band location. I am coping well with the diet itself, but not with the lack of calories and am weak and dizzy. I said this to the nurse and from the very beginning of the process she was the first to say dont worry about callories at this stage just concentrate on recovering and healing. I have upped my intake to 1100 per day and feel much better. I was on 800 just because I can do it now but it was not enough to keep me upright. (6' male).

OK OK, I stand corrected!:wub::biggrin2:

Just testing my new signature

I can't for the life of me understand why people will do this after going through the pain and trauma of having a band fitted. I read so many that are not losing....why not? I think the answer is obvious. I have the weakest will-power, but I have lost 23lbs in the 2 weeks since I started my pre-op diet, simply because of the commitment I feel I have made.

No I can't stand them, just half a spoon of sugar.

I have been banded 4 days and am excited and happy with the weight loss so far. Including pre-op diet 21lbs to this morning. I already have loose clothing, how could I have any regrets. I have had pain, gas, and spent a lot of money, I don't regret any of it.

It's a piece of cake! I was banded on 12th Feb. I have been on slimfast shakes (220cals each) 3 per day and 2 Soups ('cream of' type but low cal). My doc told me that I could have anything that would go through a straw. After the Soup (200ml) I feel like I just had a Sunday dinner. I am having 1000cals per day (6' male). I know for a fact that this will make fat melt off and I think its about the right compromise. I get hunger pangs, I mean real hunger, but a drink of Water makes it go away. Come on ladies, its in the mind. You can do it!! PS, I cant beleive how much rubbish there is on TV!

I run a business. My work day is 40% sedentary, 30% manual and 30% driving. I have managed on 1500 cals per day before and lost weight easily. I was banded on 12th Feb and when back to normal I intend to have between 1000 and 1200 per day. At the moment (3 days in) I have no hunger at all but feel weak and sometimes dizzy. I know that I won't be able to do my job if I am like this. I am currently on 800 per day. Feedback please.

Lol I thought it was some Americanism for an eating style :thumbup:

Thanks, I didn't realise the 'dizzy out of it' feelings were possibly dehydration. I will watch that. Graham.

Thanks, I feel better every day and will be back at work mid-next week I think, I was just worried about the long term energy thing. What is 'lifing' ? Graham.

This is something I taught myself to do when I was a kid. It occured to me that it may be relevant on here. If the hiccups have just started and are real angry it wont work and you have to let them clam down a little. You have to focus on the hiccup sensation and shut out everyone and everything around you. Stare at a point on the wall or shut your eyes. Now concentrate on that little tug sensation you get in your throat with every hiccup. Imagine it is there and imagine what it feels like. Keep holding that thought over and over for a minute or so and the hiccups will go. You don't have to imagine it gone or tell yourself it will go, just imagine what the feeling feels like and concentrate on that thought. If it doesnt work, try again, then try again. By the third time if you have focussed properly it will work, I promise. Now the fun part. When one of your kids gets hiccups, take them to a quiet corner and talk to them in a quiet voice, keep telling them over and over to imagine that sensation in their throat, just keep saying the same words over and over. Make them look you in the eye while you do it and with no distraction it will work every time. It takes about a minute. You can then tell them how to do it themselves. All 4 of my kids are self hiccup curer's.

Hi I am 4 days post op and feel like I have been kicked by a horse. It gets better each day and the pain meds are good. I am in a very active job and expected to be able to go back after a week, there is no way I will be able to do this and have had to change arrangements. The pain did not start until 12 hours after the surgery for some reason. It doesn't feel like a 'there is something wrong' type pain. More like a 'been knocked about and healing' type pain if you understand me. Bargain for 2 weeks of rest, especially if you will be lifting and busy. I don't know how far in you are, but my doc gave me sheets of information about the different diets pre and post op. I was on a yoghurt and milk diet for a week pre op to shrink the liver. I was told if my liver was too big he couldn't do the op and I would lose my money. I lost 15lbs over that week before the op. It was not easy but I stuck with it. This is for YOU not them. My wife was the only person who knew. We have decided to tell a couple of very close family members and no-one else. Not even life long friends, simply because it is such a personal thing for me. I have had incredible support from my wife without whom I couldn't have got through it. I am 48 and have struggled with a weight issue since I was about 20. I became about 140lbs over by the time I was 37, got divorced and lost it all 'the old fashioned way'. Re-married and over the last 8 years it has gone back on. Thats how I know that I must do this. I climbed Everest and lost it all and still put it back. You sound like you know that you must do it too. When I was 23 Had I been able to forsee the years to come, of struggling with diets and yo-yoing up and down, I would have done it too. Do it and ask them to help you through it. You will need support. This forum is an excellent source for support. Ask your doctor where you can find a support group if you want face to face help. I am on here most days at the moment and there are hundreds of others around as well. Good luck, Graham.:crying:

Good luck, all will go well and a new life will begin for you.

I promise it works 100% of the time. Sometimes not straight away, but don't dismiss it if you can't do it immediately keep trying once you get the knack its easy. I am surprised that there are so many people who have discovered it.

Hi folks, my experience at the hospital. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> I went in to the hospital at 07.15 and was last on the list so went down to theatre at 11.30, so plenty of time to get wound up. (I was back to my room by 1.30pm). By the time I went to theatre I was having major second thoughts. I was surprised to find that I had to walk through the corridors to theatre and for some reason imagined I would go on a trolley. I laid down on the bed in the anaesthetist’s room and started to panic. <o:p></o:p> 3 minute thought process whilst lying there being prepared. <o:p></o:p> I don’t need this I can do it without it <o:p></o:p> This is wrong. <o:p></o:p> This isn’t me, I am making a huge mistake. <o:p></o:p> What would it look like if I told them to stop right now? <o:p></o:p> I shouldn’t care what it would look like if I have doubts I shouldn’t do it. <o:p></o:p> If I don’t do it I know I will never get the weight off. <o:p></o:p> I am a wuss, stay quiet and it will soon be all over. <o:p></o:p> I all but jumped up off the trolley and shouted stop! <o:p></o:p> Next thing I am coming round in the recovery room. As soon as I woke up I almost smiled and was soooo grateful and relieved that I had gone through with it. I hadn’t realised before what a huge emotional thing this is. It is a release from the prison that I have felt that I have been in all these years. I struggled with breathing for 10 minutes or so, they took the tube out after I had come round because it is apparently better in bigger people to do it that way. I had an excellent nurse who never left my side and kept telling me that my sats were at 98% (oxygen in the blood) and there was nothing to worry about and to try and be calm. She was superb and got me through what was for me the toughest bit. I was wheeled back to my room and was sleepy and had a sore throat from the tube but no other pain at all which I thought odd. The pain started at about 11pm when I assume some sort of local anaesthetic wore off. On a scale of one to ten It is only a 2. So nothing too bad. I have shoulder pain when I stand up right on the top of myshoulders, again only a 2 on the scale. I had sips of Water at first and a couple of cups of tea through the day, and was well looked after. I was released back into the community at mid-day the day following the surgery, (today) and feel fine other than a little sore at the incision where the port is. I have no pain at all from the 4 other incisions. <o:p></o:p> I am happy and excited at what the future now holds. I lost 15lbs in the 10 days prior to surgery on the milk/yoghurt diet. I intend to get down to my target weight very quickly, (I need to lose another 120lbs) no cheating, just a wonderful new life. I have no doubts whatsoever that I should have done this. Best regards to all, and thanks for the advice and support gleaned from this excellent forum. Graham (UK) I hope this helps prospective banders.

Surely some effort needs to be put in here. Why even consider what is obviously going to risk compromising your band?

I am totally happy with what I have done. I am having quite a lot of pain from the op itself, (not wind). It feels like I have done 2000 too many sit-ups, or been kicked by a mule. It's deffinitely muscular pain. I have not heard anyone else on here have this problem. It has eased today. Once I am through this I will be well on my way to a happier life. There is more healing to be done than I expected. Good luck with yours, From what I have read we are not alone in having last minute panics.

That's exactly it. I often wonder if you can do the same with pain.