travelinsnorkel

I feel your pain! My first fill went off without a hitch. The second fill and then unfill were not so pleasant. For the fill he had to keep inserting the needle and it took him a long time to find the port. Then, a week later I needed a slight unfill. WELL, he inserted the needle what felt like a million times and then gave up. He said that he kept hitting the plastic around the rubber center. He thinks that there is some scar tissue over the rubber part. When I asked him if my port was flipped he said no, but I'm still worried. I think for the next fill I'm going to ask for fluoro. I hope everything works out for you...not fun!

Hey there...congrats on making a great decision! I had my surgery on October 13. Things have been going well. Already feeling a lot better and my blood pressure is now normal and my blood sugar has gone down a lot. I feel good about my decision and I can't wait to keep losing! Good luck with your process!

Thanks for the kind words. I think that it is definitely the coffee. Didn't have any today and I felt fine! I'm going to have to see if my surgeon agrees, but until them I'm not going to drink any!

If it doesn't get any better, I guess I'm going to have to get him to do an unfill under xray. I have to go to the hospital he works with for that and it won't be free like regular fills, but will be worth it if I keep throwing up. I barely made it through my work out because I was so tired.

To make a long story short, I got my second fill and couldn't keep much down. So, went for an unfill Friday, but he couldn't access the port so told me to do another week on liquids. Over the weekend the restriction lessened until yesterday there wasn't much left. I also hadn't had any coffee since Friday, but had been drinking grande skinny lattes most days up until then. So, today, I was tired and decided to get a latte and it went down fine, but went to eat a carb control yogurt as the first part of my lunch and I started gurgling and burping, then in 3 spurts it all came up! So, I'm wondering if it was the coffee...I know that coffee can irritate the stomach, but can it make you get stuck more easily? Just a thought...

I don't think I can take Joelle another week! Darn them for not voting her off!

My doc said that I can take NSAIDS, no restriction. As with everything, it seems each doctor has different opionions so I would check with your surgeon.

I saw my doc Friday and his answer was lets give it a week and see if you lose weight and it gets looser. It is getting a little looser, but I am still scared that there is something wrong with my port. I guess I'll just have to have him take a look with the xray. I think he is trying to save me money because I'm self pay, but I don't mind paying if it will put me at ease! I think I might call him tomorrow to see if I can get the xray done to make sure nothing is wrong.

My Mom was really worried about all of the risks of the surgery and everything, but I told her I would rather risk it than losing 10 years of my life because I'm hypertensive and diabetic. My doctor didn't give me any restrictions about flying. You will definitely be feeling fine by then, but you might want to check if your doc has restrictions.

My doc wants me to work on making the changes that I need to in my life post-op and down the road can look into using other drugs to help with the weight loss down the road.

Some of you may have read my thread about going to get unfilled and how the doc wasn't able to access the port. He said it wasn't flipped, but has some scarring over the rubber part and might have been a little bruised from my fill the week before. He basically sent me on my way still on a mostly liquid diet. I asked, what if I really need an unfill and you can't find it again? He said that worse comes to worse he will do it at the hospital under xray. I am fine with that. Heck, I will pay the extra to avoid feeling like a pin cushion! What I'm more worried about is him not being able to find the port by hand. Is there something wrong with it? Is it in the process of flipping? I work out a lot, have I done something? I guess that I like concrete answers and the doc didn't really give me a reason why he couldn't find the port that was definitely the answer so I'm kind of freaking out. I walked out of the office bawling. I'm a worrier by nature so I'm thinking, port revision, band slippage because I'm too tight and can't keep downanything but liquids and some mushies. I just feel like things are out of control. I behaved myself, but when I went to the grocery store I really wanted to buy some ice cream and other goodies that I could get past the band and that would actually taste like something! I didn't do it though. I am so sick of liquids and mushies a week out from my overfill and now I have to do this another week! I feel really tired when I work out and I am losing my ambition. I guess if I don't feel relief by the end of the week, I will have to go back and try to get it unfilled again and see if I need the xray. Has anyone else had it happen where their doc can't find their port?

My doc told me I could only walk and bike until 6 weeks after surgery. After that I could do whatever I wanted.

Hi there, I went through the same thing the week before my surgery. I think electing to do a surgery is somehow scarier than having one that you are told to do. Only you know what the right decision is for you, but I will say that I too am diabetic and have high BP. I'm already off of my BP meds and my blood sugar is a ton better and that is only 3 months out of surgery. I think that you are going to feel a lot better. In terms of the post-op, I was in a good deal of pain the first 4 days, mostly when I was getting up and down. Then, I turned a corner and felt a ton better. You don't really notice the port at all unless you feel around for it. As for the actual band, you aren't aware of it until you get full or get stuck. Each person's experience with the band is different, so it is hard to prepare for everything, but I wish you the best and think that you have made a great decision!

I buy mine at Trader Joes...the Worldwide band. They have 35grams of protein so good right now when I am mostly on liquids because I am too tight.

It sounds like you are doing everything right. Although I haven't done this myself yet as I'm only three months out, a lot of people have suggested actually upping your calories to break plateaus. If you are working out a lot and very active, your body might need more calories to not go into starvation mode. The only other thing I can see is to try eating more protein and veggies and less of the carbs. Good luck!

I stopped taking my birth control a month before surgery and haven't needed to restart it. However, my period has been really heavy and I am thinking about going back on it. Has been on the pill affected your weight loss at all? I know it can sometimes cause weight gain.

Not to state what might be obvious, but are your shoes too tight? I used to wear shoes that weren't wide enough and that kept happening to me!

Try doing the downward dog yoga move...same principal as Cleo's Mom posted, but often helps me...

He did have a harder time last week than the first time. I had no pain the first time and he found it fairly quickly. From what he said, it sounds like there is more scar tissue or something. Although he assured me that the port didn't flip, the thought is in the back of my mind. I am just going to work on working out and trying to lose weight so I won't be as tight! Thanks for the kind words!

I went to the surgeon's today as I was too tight from my second fill last week. I was only able to keep liquids down all week. So, he sticks the needle in and no go, then, does it again. He kept doing this for a while, but kept getting the rim of the port. He thinks that there is hard scar tissue and possible bruising from the last fill above the port. We tried it with a pillow under my back, he switched to a new needle, still no go! So, basically, he said to wait another week and hopefully I will lose weight and the band will get looser. I said, well, what happens if it doesn't get better or I the port needs to be accessed for another fill. He said it should calm down by then and he will be able to find the port again and that it isn't flipped. Or, he will use an X-ray, but that is very expensive. I don't mind spending the money to avoid this! My stomach hurts from the needle and I'm still too tight! Very frustrated at this point.

Thank you for all of your suggestions! I think that just a tiny unfill is the way to go. If I have to drink another protein shake I might die! haha. I just don't feel I am able to get in balanced meals right now. So, off to the doc later today!

Yeah, I have done liquids for 7 days now with just a few tastes of mushies at night whe I am looser. I'm thinking an unfill might be in order...

I got my second fill last Friday. I was unable to keep mushies down after 24 hours of liquids, so I went to see my surgeon on Monday. His options were to do liquids all week and then see if I can handle mushies or to get a slight unfill. I opted to try the liquids and see how it goes. I am fine with the liquid part, but am still not able to keep mushies down very well. I had three bites of cottage cheese at lunch yesterday and threw up twice. I am able to have very runny oatmeal for breakfast, but have only done soup, instant potatoes, pudding, and tiny tastes of things here and there. At night I can have maybe two bites of egg salad before I get the slimes. I made an appointment to get a slight unfill tomorrow as I feel like I am not making any progress here and it is making me too tired to get good work outs. Any thoughts or suggestions on the unfill? Wondering if I should give it a little more time....

They didn't put steri strips on the incisions, did they? I had the same problem from the steri strips. I took them off and had rashes around every incision and they itched sooooooooo bad! I just used Benadryl cream and that helped a lot!

The only restriction that I had was for a few weeks after the surgery due to the swelling. You might want to check if they put any saline in your band to see if you have any restriction. From reading on here it seems like most docs don't expect you to have much restriction until the first few fills. It is all a fine tuning process.