kiz

I'm thrilled to hear everything went so well, and that you're home. The first thing I asked my doctor when he came to check on me, under my groggy hazy state was how my liver looked. I was really worried about an organ I never gave a thought about before. lol Hopefully, the Citrucel will help with the constipation. I have to keep an eye on my Fiber intake since we eat such small amounts. I think walking, even if just around the house, helped me the first few days. I'm glad you have it arranged to home school over the next couple of weeks. Climbing lots of stairs, carrying heavy books, and especially having to sit at a desk for several hours would be hard on you for the first few days. Keep us up to date on how you're recovering as you have time, and get a good night's rest.

Congratulations!! That's one heck of a milestone. It must seem surreal to hit that 100 lb mark in less than a year. Here's to your continued success. :scared2:

Welcome to LBT, nadsltd. It's pretty natural to be nervous about surgery and the adjustments to your lifestyle that you're undertaking, but it'll be absolutely worth it. I feel better now, than I've felt for years. I have so much more stamina, I feel so much better in my clothes, and I'm wearing sizes I haven't seen for years to name just few things. However, all that is second to all the health benefits of taking this weight off, and the confidence that this time, for once, it's going to stay off. Good luck with your surgery!

That's very good news, Effielin. I was worried many times that my band had a leak because I didn't feel the kind of restriction other people were talking about. My doctor kept assuring me that I didn't have a leak, and he'd get me to where I needed to be, but I still worried (lol). I have a 9cc band, and I had to end up getting more than 9cc of saline to finally get me to my sweet spot.

Sometimes, it's hard (understatement) to stay motivated when the scale is not cooperating. I was wondering, though, since you said you're relying a lot on willpower, if you're keeping up with your fills. If you're not losing, you're feeling hungry, and you find your portions are getting bigger, you might need a little adjustment. Other than that, I know the head hunger kicks in for me big time, when I'm in a battle with the scale. If the willpower is to fight head hunger, that's a bigger battle. When the scale isn't moving, the head hunger is just that much more tempting. The one thing that helps me defeat head hunger is drinking something unusual during those times. A skinny vanilla latte, for instance. I try to treat myself that way, and that seems to help.

A-WENZ...Great motivational thread. I love hearing about the small and not so small victories everyone is sharing. I just found an old favorite belt in my closet that I hadn't worn in ages. It matched what I was going to wear beautifully, so knowing that I'd lost a fair amount of weight since I last wore it, I hoped it would finally fit again. Much to my surprise, I had to put in the last hole, except this time, rather than in the last hole to make it bigger, it was the last hole to make it smaller, and at that, it was still loose. Was I ever happily surprised.

Welcome to LBT, aminorharmony and anewbear. :scared2: It's great that your doctor explained the reason behind the liquid diet, anb. Knowing that it serves a very important purpose to our long term health, and that it's not just a devilish diet plan to torture the newly banded, helps a bunch. amh, I think a call back to your doctor's office is in order. You should have exact instructions on how much you should be drinking daily. If after a week on Clear liquids, you feel like you are starving, you could also ask if would let you move on to thicker liquids. They might not, but it's worth asking. I don't know why only three incisions. I think five is the norm, but I've heard as high as seven, and as few as one. Hunger during post-op is no indication that this won't work for you. It's perfectly normal, and chances are you just don't have as much swelling as some, so the liquid isn't staying in your pouch very long. You may feel so hungry you could gnaw on the sole of your shoe, but not having too much swelling is a good thing.

You had some very aggressive fills very fast, that's for sure. If you're able to get all your liquids down, you could try seeing how it goes, but you shouldn't be moving on to soft foods when you can barely get down a drink. Some banders have problems with eggs too, so that might not be your best bet for a soft food at the moment. When you feel comfortable moving on to a soft food, something like yogurt might be a better bet. Mimilou brought up a good point, with this being Friday, if you're still having trouble with liquids, you should call the office this morning. Better to go in when they can get you in and out quickly, rather than the weekend when it might be an emergency call to the doctor.

It's a simple couple minute procedure to pull saline out. I went from just okay restriction to perfect restriction with a .5cc saline fill, and this was after numerous fills (I lost count). Your doctor isn't going to want you to harm your band and yourself. Since you're eating carefully, yet are still sliming and in pain after 1/2 cup of food, you need to have a little backed out. I think my doctor told us that if we're having issues like that for a week after a fill to come back into his office to have some fill removed. That was never my problem though, mine was the opposite.

Especially, since you're having problems this early on, I wouldn't hesitate to ask for a little unfill. I really think it's better to be a little looser, and you have plenty of time to get additional fills if you find you need them.

My doctor leaves a 4 oz pouch, so his goal is for his patients to eat 1/2 cup meals with proper restriction. Are you able to eat up to 1/2 cup of food without getting sick? Is it when you eat more than 1/2 cup that you start having the sliming episodes? Did your doctor let you know how big of meal he expected you to eat comfortably? If you're not able to get 1/2 cup meals down without feeling sick, you probably need a tiny unfill, imo. Oh, I just noticed this was your first post. Welcome to LBT! :mad:

From everything I've read, I have no firsthand knowledge thankfully, the main symptoms of a slip are the onset of reflux, nausea and vomiting because more stomach is being squeezed by the band which causes an obstruction. Your symptoms sound very unusual, and maybe they're not related to your band at all.

You might be losing fat off your stomach, or maybe you had residual swelling from the surgery and subsequent stuck episodes, it's really hard to tell why you feel less restriction now than you did previously. Maybe your body is just adjusting to the band. It never hurts to call your doctor, but I know some people have reported not getting the full effect of their fill until two weeks have passed. I did have one or two fills at two week intervals when I was feeling very little restriction.

"And no matter what product you buy, someones making money off it." That's true, but if the person recommending a product is also the person making money from the sell of the product, I want to know up front.

The big glass bottles aren't all that travel friendly, and I only drink 1/2 bottle on days I need a protein boost, so the new packaging will be great for me. I'll check back a CVS at a later date. Thanks again.

What's the difference between Isopure and Isopure Plus? The store I buy my Isopure doesn't carry the Plus. Your web site says CVS carries it, but I when I was at CVS today, it turns out they don't. Thanks. I hope you find that Isopure Plus does work for you, oni.

That's wonderful news, nizee!!! Congratulations, and best wishes to you and your growing family. I don't have advice to give as my "baby" wears size 10 men's shoes, at least that's what he needed at the start of the school year, but who knows now. You might want to ask your question in the pregnancy forum, if you haven't yet. I'm sure you'll get lots of help from the "band moms". Here's a link to that forum: Pregnancy with the LAP-BAND®

I agree with Melly, if you're doctor is going to arbitrarily stop giving your fills without getting you to your sweet spot, I'd look for a new surgeon. That defeats the purpose of having the band.

awww, Big Ed, you sound like a sweetheart of a husband. Good luck on your band! P.S. My husband has the good skinny genes (thank goodness our kids inherited them as well), but I'm even starting to tax his weight control. I push my extra food onto his plate when we're eating out, when I know we can't have a to-go bag or something hi-cal comes with the order. The other day, I even had a dream he was going in for band surgery..lol

Hi, shi, and welcome to LBT. Congratulations on your weight loss! You're doing great. This forum should give you lots of good ideas: Cooking, Baking and recipes - LAP-BAND® I clicked on "Search this Forum" at the top right hand corner of the Cooking, Baking and Recipes thread and ran a search first for chicken and then fish and selected "show posts": Chicken - LAP-BAND® Fish - LAP-BAND®

It sounds like you're on top of your research, and that's the best way to get started. Good luck on finding the right surgeon, and I hope you find tonight's seminar very informative.

I take Centrum chewables (or a generic), calcium and liquid vitamin B12. I take vitamin D drops that you add to your drink in the winter when I'm not getting as much sun.

A couple months after my band surgery, I started feeling very run down. I started taking liquid B12 in addition to my multivitamin and calcium, and I was back to normal in just a few days.

Well, darn, about the Isopure. Shows what I know. Sorry. I have a feeling the people who had problems with olestra were either more sensitive than my family to the product or ate a whole lot of chips (I only had olestra with Lays). We never had any problems with it, but I personally liked the baked variety of Lays much better. I thought olestra was oily and had left an off flavor. I'm pretty sure that they're still on the market, but just grab the baked Lays when we want chips, so I haven't paid attention.

I'm so glad to hear that, ghetto. I was really worried about you. Of course it's better not to cheat pre-op, but it doesn't sound like you went crazy with it, so I'm sure all will be fine. Now, post-op ... follow your doctor's instructions. It's very important that you let the stitches that are holding your band in place to heal, so that you have a strong bond, which will lesson the likelihood that you have a future band slip. Good luck tomorrow, and I'll be thinking of you.