kiz

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Here's a good place to start: Cooking, Baking and recipes - LAP-BAND

The biggest mistake people make, I think, is the last meal syndrome. One "last meal" isn't going to make a whole lot of difference weight wise, but having multiple last meals will add up. Generally, most people have little restriction for the first few months and are able to tolerate most foods. I'm at my ideal restriction, and I can still eat just about any type of food. That is a little unusual, but not unheard of. You won't be able to eat large meals again though. The main change I made pre-band was limiting my soda's (carbonation) since I knew I wasn't supposed to drink them full fizz and regularly after banding. If you're not in the habit of exercising, getting into a routine as you're able would be helpful. I was already walking a few days a week pre-band, and it was nice to already have that habit formed. Walking is a known gateway exercise..lol All in all, knowing what I was getting into was the biggest help to me. I read, read, and read some more. Best of luck to you!

It's very typical for the band to loosen up fairly quickly during your first fills, although not everyone experiences that. You're losing fat around your stomach, and some of the initial restriction after a fill is from swelling. As you get closer to your "sweet spot", restriction lasts much longer, and often, you only need a tiny tweak with any additional adjustments after that.

John, I have to respectively disagree. As a junk food grazer myself (I never ate big meals. My path to obesity was littered with chocolate wrappers and cookie crumbs..lol), the lap band has been a life saver for me. I grazed on sweets and such because I felt hungry all the time, and rather than picking nutritious healthy foods to snack on, I picked junk. I don't know why I got into that cycle, but it was taking over my life. With the band, once I starting getting good restriction, I had no problem sticking to the 1/2 cup meal plan my doctor prescribed. Heck, I was probably eating no more than 1 1/2 cups per meal in the first place. However, now, I don't have those junk food cravings. With the help of my band, I'm not hungry between meals, which gives me the willpower and motivation to nix the junk. I'm a true believer that there's something in those foods that brings on cravings. I don't know if it's the white carbs, starches, and/or fat, but whatever it is, once my between meals' hunger faded and I stopped eating those foods, my cravings faded too. I'm certainly not staring temptation in the face. I keep my trigger foods out of the house. I still have an occasional treat with a one of those foods, but only under controlled circumstances. I'm not made of stone, but I'm sure I'm not the only grazer that found a "cure" with the band. I do believe you have to do an introspection before you get the band. I was confident that if the band gave me the kind of hunger control that I expected, that I could and would do my part. I sort of feel like a quasi alcoholic in recovery, except that I must face food daily, and keep mindful of the foods that led me to being overweight.

If you're pretty flexible, ask if they can put you on call for last minute cancellations.

I'm terribly sorry you're going through this, and to make matters worse, you're out of the country (that's one of my biggest fears too). Unfortunately, you are showing some symptoms of a slipped band, but that doesn't necessarily make it so. First think I would do is to call your doctor to get his advice. For one thing, you could end up having a severe slip that needs immediate medical attention, and you need to know the symptoms (I've heard that that can be very painful). In the meantime, make sure to stay on liquids only and sip slowly as not to aggravate the band anymore than it already is. I wouldn't try solid food again until you can drink liquids easily, and then I'd only try mushies until you get back home. Best wishes to you, and I hope you're feeling better soon.

I don't have any info on anyone other than my surgeon in VA, but which hospital/doctor special are you asking about. There's several specials advertised on the site. Also, when you get the name, you can plug it into a search to see if others on LBT have used that practice. (find the button below the pictures on the top of the page).

I get port pain occasionally. Thanksgiving, for instance, after cooking all day, I had some pain that flared. Also, sitting for several hours on bleachers at my son's sporting events gets me from time to time. Thankfully, it's rare because it's uncomfortable. I don't notice any swelling though.

Papaya enzyme tabs (mine are papaya pineapple chewables from Trader Joe's approx $2.99/bottle). I've only had to use them a few times (used them when I had tightness with meat), and they worked like a charm for me. Hoping you never have to try it, but if the vinegar works, let us know. I'm imagining using baking powder followed by vinegar like I use to clean my kitchen sink drain. :w00t: :lol:

I have almost 11 cc in my 9 cc Realize band. I remember that you were worried that you had a leak, and I'm glad to hear that you don't. I had the same problem, but thankfully, no leaks either.

If you literally only had two drinks, I'd say either you got a bout of food poisoning or you got the stomach flu, and it just happened to coincidence that you had alcohol last night. I can't imagine why you'd get that sick otherwise. I'd call your doctor though. He may want you to come in and get an unfill if you can't hold down liquids and you're vomiting. You don't want to get dehydrated or mess up your band. I hope you're feeling better soon.

Wow, that was a big ol' fill. I've never heard of anyone getting that much. How do you feel, and what size band do you have? Chances are, the doctor didn't hit the tubing, but it does happen on occasion. I would think with 8 cc you would feel restriction. Sometimes people don't feel anything with their first few adjustments depending on how aggressive their doctor is with fills and how their body responds, but with 8 cc, if you don't feel anything, I'd be surprised.

I think I'm a little unusual that I'm so band tolerant. However, what stops me from overeating is that when I eat 1/2 cup solid meals, I'm fully satisfied for 4+ hours. Believe me, it's nothing like dieting, because I'm not constantly starving. I'm really very happy that my band doesn't give me the kind of restriction some others have. I don't have a list of foods I can't eat, I don't have the occasional (some say as often as once a week) PB or sliming incidents, etc. Also, another thing I love about the band is that it's a flexible device. If I had a bit more fill, I would be in the more restrictive camp. So, the things that keep me measuring (not always with a measuring cup, but by eyeballing, using rules of thumb, and eating foods that I'm already very familiar with) rather than having the band give me a stop are: I must have a iron gut (lol), also, while my band is overfilled, my internal anatomy is smaller than average, so I needed a lot of fill to reach good restriction, and finally, even if you have those two factors, the band is adjustable, so you just would need more fill to get a stronger full signal, I just don't want that because this is what is working for me. I think I've read some of your other posts, and really, I think you might be letting yourself get too worried. I know I did when I was afraid I wasn't going to get good restriction, even when my doctor assured me he would make sure I got it. He was right, I was wrong, and as usual, I worried for nothing. I absolutely LOVE my band. I can't express strongly enough what a change it's made in my life.

I needed a lot of adjustments before I finally got good restriction. Once the fills got to be enough to start making a marked difference, when I swallowed water to test the fill level, the doctor or NP would want me to feel it in my chest just for a second before going down. Once, during that water check, I could feel that it was stuck and I let out a tiny burp..sort of embarrasing..lol. The NP backed out a little saline, and it went down fine, but I felt a slight hesitation first. Even now, I don't have a lot of sensation with my band restriction, so I routinely measure my food. If I ate until I felt a full signal, I would be overeating.

I want to make sure I got your post straight...You had 8 cc and after 6 weeks, when you went in for another fill, the doctor checked, and you still had 8 cc. Then, he added more saline, 2 or 3 cc, but could only pull out 7 cc? If that's correct, it sounds like he either mis-measured, somehow didn't get all the Fluid back in, or punctured the tubing at the last fill, especially since you said he had trouble finding the port. You didn't have a leak when you walked into the office. I hope it's just a mis-measurement. I have the 9 cc Realize Band, and my doctor & NP were never able to pull out as much saline when they checked as was put in. I was getting very worried, but when they checked my band under fluoro, my band was showing that I had restriction, and my doctor was sure I didn't have a leak. My restriction levels always began to disappear after two to four weeks. I think my initial restriction was due to swelling, and then later on, as the fat around my stomach dissolved, my band naturally loosened up. I evidently have a small stomach (who knew? lol), and had to have an overfill to eventually reach longterm restriction. The NP said that there's a chance that I could need a tiny adjustment after I lose a little more weight, but so far, my last fill that I had several months ago has giving me restriction that's still going strong. Good luck Friday, and I hope you get good news!

There's really no way to answer your questions because it depends on a lot of things. For example, some doctors give a more aggressive fill than others, some people tend to swell more and for a longer period of time, the size of our stomachs and the amount of fat around the stomach plays a role in how snug the band can be tightened at each fill, the amount of weight you need to lose overall sometimes affects the speed of loss, etc. Congratulations on your terrific weight loss to date, and good luck with your fill this morning. Just stick to the guidelines your doctors gives you for your after fill diet, and I'm sure you'll continue to do beautifully.

:sad:

I have a 9cc Realize Band, and I had to have filled past the point of 9cc to get good restriction. I was a grazer, not an emotional eater, and I am able to distinguish between head hunger and actual hunger pretty well. Not saying that I don't have head hunger, but I recognize it for what it is. I'm not sure how often it happens with the Lap Band, but there are several Realize Band patients that need more than the 9cc to get good restriction, so I wouldn't necessarily chalk up your hunger to head hunger (or emotional eating) so fast. My doctor does a pressure fill measurement to Realize Band patients who are having trouble finding good restriction, rather than only relying on the saline measurement. Once I had good restriction, I was able to eliminate the grazing, because I was no longer hungry between meals. I eat 1/2 cup solid meals three times/day, one healthy snack, a Protein shake in the early a.m. on the morning I'm heading to the gym before the sun comes up, and lots of liquids in between meals. My weight is coming off at a snail's pace now that I'm getting close to goal, but my clothes are still getting loser and I'm able to move my belts down a notch ever so often, so I know I'm still losing fat. If you're still able to eat good healthy meals, and aren't pb'ing, having reflux, or other signs of being too filled, I'd go in for more adjustments before contemplating revision surgery.

It could be that Jack made a test post to your thread (possibly by accident) and then deleted his post. Since you have your account set up with email notifications, you would have gotten the notice that he had posted.

I had one year of fills included in my self-pay contract, but now they're on me. Thankfully, I reached my "sweet spot" just before my year was up, and I don't anticipate many more fills except the occasional top off. However, a surgery or band issue could start me over again..yikes. Anyway, my doctor does allow for a "free" unfill if you return within two weeks of a fill. I don't know if that's typical, but if you do find yourself with a slight overfill, you may want to know what your doctor's fees are for an adjustment correction.

I'm glad you gave eating w/o drinking a shot and found that it made a big difference in your level of satiety. It's a shame that some offices don't prepare their patients better for living successfully with a lap band. I quietly cringe when a pre-band patient is happy that their doctor requires little or no pre-op education. Don't hesitate to ask anything you're unsure of about the band. Also, lots of useful information can be found using the search function. If your surgeon's office offers a support group, try to go to the meetings too.

Try to make yourself not drink during your meals because it really and truly makes all the difference in the world for length of satiety (at least it does for me, and I'm sure there are some who don't feel a difference, because one thing you'll find with a band, there's a lot of individual differences). Once you start to feel "full" longer, the positive reinforcement does a world of good to help you break the habit of drinking with your meals. Also, as you get more adjustments, you might find that liquids push food into your stoma, and you'll get stuck, and feel the negative reinforcement. That happened to me the one time I put milk on my Khashi Cereal. Another huge help for me is to stay very well hydrated between meals. By the time it's time to eat, I've drank enough, that I'm just not thirsty. If I'm out to eat, or if I'm eating something particularly spicey, I might take a few sips, but really no more than maybe 1/4 cup altogether. On some occasions, I have had wine with dinner, but I really do hate to drink calories, so it had better be very good wine. My band is super filled, I have great restriction, and I can eat just about anything. I don't eat celery stalks because of the stringyness, and I don't eat the membranes on citrus fruit. I can definitely live with those restrictions. You may find that as you get more fills, that there are foods you just can't tolerate, but like I mentioned before, our bands don't treat us all the same.

Just prepare to feel some extra restriction, but don't count on it. Prepare by not eating solid food two hours prior to takeoff, but stay very well hydrated pre-flight, during your flight, and post flight. And as daqui suggested, wait an hour after your flight to eat, start with a soft food, then go to regular food if you don't feel any discomfort. With all that being said, I have flown several times since being banded without experiencing any extra restriction from my band. I can't tell any difference whatsoever.

Richmond Surgical Group, St. Mary's Hospital, $13,500 (Fall 2008). Includes on year fills/checkups. After first year in-office fills are +/- $150 and fills under fluoro are +/- $700. (I don't have exact figures, but I think those are pretty close).