Jodi_620

Yes, it is quite necessary to be able to find the port for fills. It was hard for me to feel it at first because it was deep in the fat. I would lie on my back and lift my feet in the air which helped the ab muscles to push it forward so the doc could find it and give me a fill. Now that I have lost most of the fat from my stomach, I can feel it and almost see it. It seems to be higher now too. But the band itself is behind your liver you can't feel it with your fingers nor can you feel it with your stomach.

There is some pain but I have had two surgeries now and it is never as bad as what we build it up to be in our heads. The first 2-3 days is the hardest and it gets better every day from there. You do not feel the band in place, that area of your stomach has no nerves. You will have pain where the port is but with medication it is completely managable.

Nah, it just looks like it has been pretty slow around here this week...guess everyone is out enjoying some Spring weather.

Good points. Identifying hunger is hard for a lot of us at first because let's face it, those of us who are overweight rarely allowed ourselves to experience true hunger because we grazed all throughout the day. In my journey I have been able to group it into three types of eating triggers. Learning how to identify them goes a long way to contributing to your sucess. 1.) True hunger. Tummy rumbling-need food hunger which seems simple enough but is still hard to identify for some who mistake digestive gas or noisy digestion (that we all have a lot of after surgery) with stomach growling. It does get easier to identify though. You should only eat when you are truly hungry. A good way to identify it is to eat only three meals per day and keep track of how long it has been since you last meal. 2.) Head hunger. Caused by seeing, smelling or hearing about food. Or cravings which can be triggered by emotions, hormones or irratic blood sugar levels. The more you feed this hunger the bigger it (and you) wil get. 3.) Dehydration hunger. This is that empty feeling in the stomach that we often feel and for most of us, the first instinct is to fill it with food. But this empty feeling usually means that we are dehydrated. Just understanding what we are truly needing goes a long way to help deal with it. Drink a good amount of Water or other sugar free non-caffeinated low cal beverage and you will probably be satisfied.

Only you know for sure if this is for you and if you are ready. I ate for comfort too, I ate when I was sad, mad, happy or bored. I grazed all day long. I took my time and had this surgery when I was ready and the band has helped me to be a normal eater. The band does not do it all for you though. You have to be ready and strong enough to do you part to make it work. There are plenty of posts on this site about people who went into this thinking it was some magic wand that would wisk the fat away and they either failed or had to step up and do their part to make it work. Although the surgery itself is pretty safe there are some that have had complications afterward and you can find those stories here too. As well as many stories of people who continued to struggle with bad eating habits. Last minute fears are also very common. I wanted to run out of the hospital too. All-in-all, I would say that you just were not ready yet. Do some more research and read about the possible complications. Go here: Lap-Band Complications - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum. And fully understand that the band will help you to feel full but you will need to find the strength to make good food choices and deal with emotional eating. And if and when you are ready then go for it.

You may be on to something with the stress. I can not take the least bit of stress anytime near mealtime. Also I don't even want my DH to talk to me while I am eating because I always have issues if I am distracted. For me, things like stress, distraction, being in a hurry or being overly hungry cause me to slime much more frequently than my eating methods do.

Oh yes!!! It took about a month for me to feel better in the port area. You have swelling from the surgery and stitches in the nerves and the muscles that you use regularly. The sensations I felt varied through the healing process. I had swelling, pain, burning, numbness, tightness and the sensation of something shifting inside me. It is all normal and will take the longest to heal.

I am not a couch potato but was never much of an exerciser, so joining Curves was a good first step for me. There are many great points to going to Curves. It is a good workout for new-timers. It is a comfortable all women environment It is a total body workout It only takes 30 minutes Mine is in a very convenient location and has excellent staff It is a simple, structured workout. I have been going since January and have lost 2" from by chest, 4" from my waist, 1" from my arms, 3" from my hips and 2" from each thigh. I can feel muscles that I didn't have four months ago. The workout is easy and I am surprised at the results I have seen already. I am not sure that I would go this route after my first year. I may tire of this routine by then and want to try something different. But for now it is a very good plan for me.

Congratulations on being banded!!! I had both surgeries done at the same time too. Yes breathing issues are normal. A hiatal hernia is when there is a tear in your diaphragm at the location where your esophagus passes through it. To repair it, they put a couple of stitches in. Your diaphragm is the muscle you use to talk, breath, cough etc. so issues with such things are quite normal after hernia repair. I actually was pretty tight and couldn't talk or move around much without getting winded. I had insurance and did not stay overnight. Once I was awake and could pee on my own, I went home. I was given liquid Vicodin, a nausea medication (disolving pills) and antacid pills. I went back to my surgeon for follow-up 1 week later. I was glued so there were no staples to remove.

Not exactly. Although research does show that artificial sweeteners can cause us to mentally crave more goodies, the artificial sweeteners do not affect the blood sugar like regular sugar does. When we have blood sugar spikes from eating sugar and starches we get a physiological "need" for more sugar and starches, not just a mental "want". I am insulin resistant and am prone to the affects of sugar and starches as are many of us. I wouldn't recommend too much of either (sugar or sugar-free). They don't have much nutritional value and are empty calories alone or within the products. But when I do crave something sweet I choose something that will have less of an effect on my blood sugar.

You have to watch the calorie and fat content too. Many of those sugar free goodies are quite high in both. I do not indulge in goodies on a regular basis. I need to leave room in my pouch for good nutritious food and as long as I am still in the losing stage I want to watch the in-between meal snacking. But when I do get a sweet tooth I eat 1/2 a South Beach Cereal bar or a SF Fudgecicle or Popsicle. South Beach also makes an oatmeal cookie snack that is pretty good if you watch how much you eat. BTW, sugar alcohol will give you gas and possibly diarrhea so you may want to keep that in mind. But it does not affect your blood sugar.

I was not to eat, drink or smoke after midnight before surgery. I had to be at the hospital at 6AM so I had my last cigarette at 9PM and went to bed. I had hiatal hernia repair along with the surgery and my diaphragm was very weak for several days after surgery. I would get winded just walking across the room or talking in full sentences. It was not like the congested lung type of breathing issue, it felt more like if you could imagine, someone sitting on your stomach and you try to draw in air but can't. I just didn't have the strength it takes to draw in the smoke. But for the first 2-3 days I was zonked out from pain meds and didn't even think about it anyway. The third or fourth day I suddenly realized it had been days since I smoked but knew that I was still too weak to draw in smoke. I knew that it takes approx. five days to get the nicotene out of your system. I had reached the five day mark and I realized that I would have been a fool to turn back at that point. I still wanted a cigarette but I did not "need" one. In my 20 plus years of smoking and trying to quit I had never made it that long. All I had to do at that point was to combat the physical addiction which takes about 4-6 weeks and I would be smoke free. No, it is not easy but each day got a little easier and a little over a month later I was rarely even thinking about it anymore. I have been smoke free for 10 months and two weeks now!

Hope you had a Happy Easter too. There is no magic number, how much we need in our band is very individual. If you are eating less not hungry and losing weight then you have just the right amount...if that is more or less than someone else it doesn't matter. If you get stuck occasionally then that means that every once in a while, you eat too fast, forget to chew well or eat too much-getting stuck is not an indicator on restriction.

It is probably your esophagus that is hurting. From my experience we can get stuck in two different areas, above the band or at the band. 1.) When we don't chew enough or swallow something that is too big to pass through the band opening it usually results in sliming. You will be uncomfortable, gaggy and sliming until the food dislodges itself. 2.) When we don't eat the right way (too fast, not chewing, too much...) the food gets stuck trying to pass into the pouch. The food backs up into the esophagus and you can get chest pain. You may also cough or burp the food up. You probably have some swelling from your stuck episode and should take it easy for a while and use this as a lesson to take small bites, chew and eat slowly.

I am with Dr. Pinnar too...I second what everyone else has said about him and his staff.

Not sure about the weight control but I can say for sure that the Quaker High Fiber is definitely more filling than the regular oatmeal. As a matter of fact I figured that out this week. I had been eating the High Fiber for two weeks and it was keeping me very satisfied until lunchtime. Yesterday I found one package of regular oatmeal in a box in my desk so I decided to use that one up--I was hungry two hours later. :sad:

I don't measure, I eat until I am satisfied and I would estimate that amount to be 3/4 to 1 cup per meal. I eat three meals per day and strive for no in-between meal snacking. After five fills and being at my sweet spot for a few months, I can say that I was never satisfied on 1/4 cup nor would I ever want to be so restricted. At the volume I am eating now, I am still able to sit down and enjoy a sensible meal and have lost weight consistently. I measured out 1/4 cup once just to see...In my opinion that was little more than a sample, certainly not a meal!

I would give it a couple days to see if the problem is due to swelling. I know that for the last couple fills it took around 4-5 days for swelling to go down. I always get a little "acidy" just after a fill. If you are unable to get water or food down then definitely go back right away and if you don't feel better in a few more days then a slight unfill may be needed.

It is not just about getting hooked on it again. The carbonation can cause some serious gas pains and some believe it can stretch the pouch...I agree with hairnv, keep that habit in the past.

Not sure why you are agreeing with me, that is not what I had in mind at all. In my opinion, if you have to have pudding then make it yourself from fresh ingredients and then you know that it doesn't have all the preservitives and chemicals that the pre-packaged stuff has.

Nothing wrong with putting her in her place and blowing off some steam. But what will really get under her skin is to use her criticism as motivation. In my opinon, for some reason (because she's a bitch?) she seems to want to see you fail. Just wait a few months when the weight loss really starts to show...I'll bet your sucess will really eat her up!

Yes, it is possible to realign the band by simply unfilling it--depending on the the type and severity of slippage. There is no way to tell for sure whether it will slip again, only time will tell but it is possible that it will not. To try and avoid another slippage you should take fills slowly and not allow yourself to get too tight and of course be sure to follow all the bandster rules carefully.

For mine: I was weighed-in and the surgeon discussed the surgery in more detail. He asked questions about my medical history. He wrote out all the necessary orders for pre-op tests (bloodwork, EKG, surgery release letter, upper GI). He explained pre-op and post-op diet and care. He explained the required visits with the psych and with the nutritionist. I scheduled my visit with the psych. He answered all my questions. At the time I did not know if my insurance would cover it, so while I was with the surgeon the insurance coordinator was on the phone with the insurance company.

I don't have the same insurance but that is what my doc charges my insurance company ($295). I am at 10 months and I have had 5 fills and 1 unfill, I have not had a fill in three or four months and I don't see the need for one in the near future.

Sounds like she is either too tight or she still has some swelling from the fill. She should call her doctor.