Amisha

My weakness was Pepsi. Before being banded (admittedly only a little over a week ago) I loved a tall glass of Pepsi with ice more than I loved rainbows, kittens and possibly the baby Jesus. I have never liked coffee so soda was my coffee. I would drink it before work in the morning and all through work and in the evening, right up till bedtime. It was the worst kind of addiction for me. It made me feel nasty and gain weight and have headaches and just generally be miserable, but I kept drinking it anyway. When I made the decision to be banded I asked about this in detail, because I couldn't see myself living without it. My surgeon explained that it would be painful to drink, due to the carbonation and could cause stretching of the pouch and slippage, among other problems. The nurse, who was also banded, confirmed that she had tried soda after surgery and it caused her to go down on her knees. The pain was so intense. They assured me I could drink iced tea though, which is the only beverage I love more than Pepsi, so I gladly gave it up. A little more than a week in I'm not really missing it that much. I don't think about it really. I know it's not available. It will be painful. It will defeat the purpose of going through what I did. Today at lunch with my son I watched a guy drink his Pepsi from across the room. He probably thought I was bonkers or something because I couldn't take my eyes off his glass. That's really the only time I thought about it since surgery. I think he thought I was checking out his bojangos or something. I just keep telling myself it's battery acid in disguise and that helps me. Good luck to all of you who are struggling to let it go though. I know if I didn't have tea to fall back on they would have to wheel me away in one of those nice, white jackets I keep hearing so much about. (Mostly from my mother.)(Cause, you know, she's crazy so she should know.)(Long story.)(I'm shutting up now.)

Hi Kelly, Hello from Seattle! My sister lives in Sacramento. I was just there at the first of the month. It's hooooottttt there. I suffer with PCOS as well. "Suffer" being the operative word there. It's a bear, isn't it? I was just banded on June 11th, so I'm a relative newbie myself. I can tell you I was scared half to death to do this, but more scared NOT to do this. I knew I had to get a handle on my health before it was too late. The surgery was so quick I couldn't even believe it when I woke up and they said it was done. I won't lie to you, the first couple days were tough. liquid diet. Abdominal pain. Nausea. I was pretty miserable. However, it didn't last long, it was bearable and it was pretty much a cakewalk compared to some of my cycles when my ovaries are staging a mutiny against the rest of my body. Now that it's done, I feel great. I've already lost ten lbs and I feel so much better. Some of that is just mental - I'm relieved at having hope after having none for so long - but some of it is genuine physical improvement as I've been walking literally every day since being banded and food is no longer the only thing I think about all day, every day. It's a very personal decision though. Each person is different and what may be right for some, might not be right for others. I'm sure you'll find your own way, what works best for you. If I can help by answering any questions you might have about the procedure, let me know. You can PM me if you'd rather. I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Good luck!

Hi Copper, I beat you by one day, the 11th. It was a rough couple days just after, huh? Felt like someone killed me and I forgot to lay down and die. Doing great now, though. Glad you're doing well too. Congrats!

God, I would have died this past week without it. The nausea was so bad I thought I was going to throw up my intestines and spleen if I didn't do something. A toke or two set me straight and helped me avoid the dreaded prayers to the porcelain god. It didn't increase my appetite, it just helped me keep down the food I managed to eat. My doc asked me prior to surgery if I used recreational drugs. I was honest and said, "Yes. Did - did you want me to get you some?" She laughed about it and was a good sport. It has caused no problems for me, but I'm only a week out. I don't get munchies much with it and if I do, I look for healthy "free" Snacks that I won't regret in the morning. It does not diminish my ambition or make me a bum. It never has. I understand it might for some people, but I believe people are predisposed to certain behaviors whether they get help from foreign substances or not. You are who you are and you do what you do. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't, find something else. Nirvana is so relative. Some people are christians (coughjustinsmomcough) and they get high on God. Well, if you believe in the Bible, God killed waaaay more people than pot ever could. So stick that in your pipe and toke it. :biggrin:

:::waves::: Hi Patricia! It's SO nice to hear from another NWWLSer! I love the staff there! I'm only a week into being banded, but I already know this is going to be great. Good luck to you, I hope to run into you again.

I'm afraid not. I call B.S. as well. I was just banded last Wednesday at the very same clinic Snoho claims to have been banded and let me tell you, a claim of no support from the doctors there is soooo much hogwash. I am also self pay and the pre-surgical visits alone totaled five. I met with their psychiatrist, two different consulting nurses, a nutritionist and the surgeon prior to my surgery. I was given business cards by each one of them with an offer to "call anytime I had questions or concerns". My surgeon gave me an entire handful of business cards, just in case I should lose one. I was given so much literature I couldn't even fit it all in my little file box of important documents on my desk. I was referred to multiple websites that offer education and support. I was invited to attend their support groups, before and after surgery. During surgery I was surrounded by multiple people who were there just to work with me and me alone, until I was discharged. I received a phone call from a nurse the following day to "check in with me" after surgery. I just had my post-op appt yesterday and the same pattern existed. I've lost ten lbs since being banded. Ten lbs in one week. Granted, everyone's different, but still. I was given more literature at my post op and saw both a nurse and my surgeon. I was given more than ample time to ask questions, air concerns. When I was making my appointment for my first fill (hoooray!), after my visit with the surgeon, the nurse who did my consultation came by the reception desk. She recognized me by sight and told me I was looking good. I said, "I"ve lost ten lbs already!" She was so happy for me, she gave me a "Go girl!" and the reception staff all echoed her sentiments with a round of "All right!" and "Good for you!" I felt supported. I felt uplifted. I felt encouraged. I felt like they were all genuinely on my side. Don't, for one minute, try to tell me you've had no support from your doctor. I've got the same doctor and they rock my face off. If you're not getting support it's because you're not asking for support. If you're not losing weight, it's because of something *you're* doing or not doing. There may be a problem with the band, but if you're not asking for support, guess what? You won't get it and it's on you to take control and make it happen. It's been said over and over again that the band is not a miracle fix. That was the very first thing OUR surgeon told me. You have to work with it and you have to be responsible about it. It's your body and if you would remove the bullseye from your back and stop being a victim about it, you might find yourself empowered to make it work for you, instead of against. Otherwise, I'm sorry, but you deserve just what you get. In the meantime, don't dare to presume to tell others it won't work for them. They may be dedicated and committed to actually doing the work and making it a success for them. Yes, yes, you're entitled to your opinion and so am I. My opinion: The band isn't the problem, you are.

Thanks for the wonderful, uplifting and positive post! I was just banded one week ago today and I went through some serious emotional ups and downs over the last two weeks. Although I wanted to be positive and remain optimistic, this past week as been difficult with the healing and the liquid diet and nausea and things of this naytcha. I was mourning the loss of so many of my bad habits, even before they were no longer allowed. I thought for sure there was a possibility that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. And an expensive one too, since I was self pay. Your post has brightened my day and given me hope. I believe that four months down the road I won't miss any of those things that were holding me back and I'll be more than thrilled with the decision I made. Your post helped me to believe that even more. Good luck and Godspeed to you and thanks again for the uplift, from someone who was way down.

and very wordy. I should get that out from the get-go because I don't want anyone to see the length of this post and swallow their tongue. I decided if I was going to do this I should just stop being namby pamby about it and get on with it. All through my psych eval when the headshrink was trying to impress upon me the importance of support and all through the surgeon's multiple lectures and on through the nurses, my doctor, my counselor, the anesthesiologist, the janitor and the UPS guy, I nodded my head to each one of them and said, "Oh yes, of course! I am all about the support." Suckers. I was secretly thinking about how "support" was a bunch of new-age mumbo-jumbo and I needed none of that, thank you. I got this way on my own and by gosh I was going to get out of it on my own. I didn't need to hold hands in a circle and sing Kum Bah Ya with a bunch of other sad sacks with too much free time and no self respect. I am strong. I am courageous. I am indefeatable. Whoo, boy, what a fool am I? This is how crazy I get. I get out there a ways. I was banded on the 11th of June. It all happened so fast my mind is still reeling. I decided I wanted to do it in May and looked into insurance. It was dead in the Water. It kills me, kills me that they are more than willing to pay for the countless medications and hospitalizations and doctor visits and endless tests that come with being overweight, but they won't pay for something that could make all that go away. Or, at the very least, greatly reduce the price tag of such issues. I don't suffer fools lightly, so I didn't waste much time going up that road. Instead, I figured out financing and took care of business. The next thing I know I'm laying in my bed, writhing in pain, thinking about how this was the biggest mistake of my life and I am sooooo screwed. Of course I did lots of research first. I'm a fool, but not that big a fool. I had read about the band extensively prior to deciding it was for me. I interviewed people who had been banded at length to get a feel for the "real" deal. Literature is great for the mechanics. I could watch video presentations and talk to doctors until I was blue in the face, but I also wanted to know what it was really, really like down in the trenches. I did my homework. To the point of obsession. Knowledge is power and I wanted me some power going into this. Still, nothing could prepare me for actually going through it. Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it was - is - bad enough. The past few days have been rough. I admit it. I need help. I need support. I'll even sing Kum Bah Ya if it will help. For all my blustering and protesting, I admit, I was wrong. I have questions that didn't occur to me before. I need to hear that other people have lived through it. I need to hear that it gets better and it'll all be worth it in the end. Dammit, I think I might need to hold hands with someone and sing Kum Bah Ya! What has happened to me? Whatever it is, I'm going to put it out there to the universe and enjoy the ride. I'm willing. I know I'm able. I understand now that accepting help doesn't make me weak. It makes me smart. I should use the tools available to me to make this thing work. Otherwise, I should have just stayed home from the dance. And, beside the fact that it's too late to go home now, now that I'm here, I intend to dance. So, here I go. I'll share this journey with you guys and learn how to do this thing right. I'll accept help, if you're willing to give it, and be grateful for the lessons along the way. I'll be honest no matter how hard it is for me to admit the mistakes I've made in my life that brought me to this place. I'll own what's mine and dedicate myself to righting those wrongs. But I won't really sing Kum Bah Ya, I was kidding about that. Trust me, that's more for your benefit than mine. You don't want to hear that. To the point: (finally!) I have been overweight my entire life. I've done the yo-yo diets, the fads, the pills, the programs. I've gone to extremes. Steadily, every year, my weight has increased. To the point that, now, at the tender, young age of 35, I am at my heaviest weight, 280 lbs. Well, I was at 280. I've already lost eight lbs since being banded last Wednesday. I can't believe I just typed that. That's a big step for me. I've never admitted my weight to anyone but my doctors before. Not even close family and friends. It's always been this way. I would lose the weight and gain it back. Plus some. Then I would justify. Deny. Make excuses. I'm sure this song has been sung before, so I won't belabor that point. It's been an uphill battle is all I'm saying. All uphill and very little coasting down on easy street in between. And I didn't help. I sabotaged myself over and over again. I was silly and naive. I have PCOS, insulin resistance, plantar fasciitis, back pain, a history of blood clots, and a lousy self image. I have decided that now is the time to take back my life and ensure a long, healthy future with my two teenage boys. I want to watch them graduate. Get married. Give me grandbabies. I want to watch those grandbabies grow up. graduate. Get married. This is why I decided to get banded and now, five days into it, I'm not sorry I did. Though it's been painful and confusing, I'm still glad and I still believe this will work. My boyfriend is wonderfully supportive and helpful, but as he's never been through this and never had a weight problem, he's limited in what help he can provide. It's invaluable, important help, but it's just a different kind of help. So, finally, this is where you come in. I've got some questions, as I said, and in asking them I'm hoping I'll find some peace with this thing. #1 - I'm on a full liquid diet for a week and I'm wondering if I'll go mad before this week is out. I'm finding it hard to have an appetite for much of anything, but when I don't eat I feel pretty sick, light-headed and tired. Even the sight of chicken broth makes me retch. Has anyone else experienced this and found a suitable way to deal with it? #2 - How long before this stomach pain stops? The port site is the worst. I'm having trouble bending over. It's a lot better than it was the day of and after surgery, but it's still painful. The nurses and, well, basically everyone I talked to prior to the surgery told me it would be sore for at most three days afterwards. Were they just forgetting because that's what the body does, it forgets difficult pain like this for self preservation, or did I misunderstand? Is five days a little long to still be in this much pain? I have a post-op appointment day after tomorrow and I'll discuss it with my surgeon, but I'm just wondering what the rest of you have experienced. #3 - About when can I expect to have sex again? Forgive my bluntness, but my boyfriend and I, we have a healthy sex life and the way I feel right now, I can't ever imagine having sex again. If that's so then just pull the plug now. With that, I can't hang. #4 - And exercise? About when did you guys start exercising with comfort? I like to work out and I'm anxious to get on the elliptical again. But again, that day seems so, so far away. #5 - Anyone experience chronic headaches? I've had a headache a day now since the surgery. Perhaps that's due to a lack of proper nutrition? If so, that goes back to #1. What do I do about it if I can't bring myself to eat without yakking? #6 - Speaking of yakking, that's my greatest fear right now. I've been feeling so nauseous it's amazing I haven't prayed to the porcelain god yet. Does that hurt like angry kittens doused in honey and fireants or what? The way my stomach feels right now, I'm worried that vomiting will just set me over the edge - painwise. I think that's all for now, though I'm sure there will probably be more. Maybe I'm being impatient and I'm expecting too much too soon. I'd just like to get a bigger consensus on this thing so I'll know what I'm dealing with here. Thanks for hanging with me this long, if you've made it here. Thanks for any help you can give and thanks for letting me get this all off my chest, if nothing else.

Congratulations! I wondered about that Zipp Fizz stuff. I've seen it at Costco. I was afraid that it would be like soda though, with the carbonation, so I would be afraid to try it. Good for you for standing your ground. People get it in their heads sometimes that they know what's better for us. As if we're incapable of taking care of ourselves. Be strong! Anyway, just wanted to say hey and good luck!

So I bit the bullet last night and posted an introduction in the uh, Introduction forum. Of course that's where I posted it. Where else would I post it? I have a terrible habit of arguing with myself in public. Now I'm having second thoughts about posting this. Now I'm getting all paranoid and weirded out. Okay. I get a little nuts. I better get back on track before the men in white coats show up. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I'm glad I did it. The people who replied were so helpful and encouraging. I felt better today. There was a lot less pain and I only had trouble until about 1:00 or so with nausea. Heather's advice about the Nauseaz was a life saver. It helped push it back long enough for me to get some protein in, which, in turn I think helped with my headache and general achiness. It's all so interrelated! God has such a sense of humor. Wait - is achiness even a word? Anyway, I can't help but think that maybe I was just feeling a little down and isolated since the surgery and I really needed to vent to someone. To share. To chat. Connect, I guess. I crawl inside my head sometimes and that's no place to be. It's lonely in there. Dark. Musty. I'm pretty sure there's spiders. Best to stay away. So it was good to crawl outside my head, as well as my own ass, and embrace some daylight. Meh, I don't know. I'm sure it was a combination of all those things - protein, sleep, no headache, appetite returning, encouragement, connecting - but whatever. I'm just happy to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel again. Cheers!

So I bit the bullet last night and posted an introduction in the uh, Introduction forum. Of course that's where I posted it. Where else would I post it? I have a terrible habit of arguing with myself in public. Now I'm having second thoughts about posting this. Now I'm getting all paranoid and weirded out. Okay. I get a little nuts. I better get back on track before the men in white coats show up. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I'm glad I did it. The people who replied were so helpful and encouraging. I felt better today. There was a lot less pain and I only had trouble until about 1:00 or so with nausea. Heather's advice about the Nauseaz was a life saver. It helped push it back long enough for me to get some protein in, which, in turn I think helped with my headache and general achiness. It's all so interrelated! God has such a sense of humor. Wait - is achiness even a word? Anyway, I can't help but think that maybe I was just feeling a little down and isolated since the surgery and I really needed to vent to someone. To share. To chat. Connect, I guess. I crawl inside my head sometimes and that's no place to be. It's lonely in there. Dark. Musty. I'm pretty sure there's spiders. Best to stay away. So it was good to crawl outside my head, as well as my own ass, and embrace some daylight. Meh, I don't know. I'm sure it was a combination of all those things - protein, sleep, no headache, appetite returning, encouragement, connecting - but whatever. I'm just happy to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel again. Cheers!

Thanks guys! I had a good today and I'm feeling so much better about all this. I love to write and I'm glad you enjoyed my first post. I was really nervous posting it because I thought it was mighty presumptuous of me to write a post as long as a book, expect strangers to read it and on top of that, offer me support, answers and encouragement. But you came through. Thanks so much for the tips and advice. I am visiting my doctor tomorrow for my post-op and I feel much better going in now. I was dreading going in there to dump all this on her like a sissified baby. Uh...should we, uh, you know, hold han-- okay, okay. That's too much! You're right. Forget I said that.

What a difference a day makes! It's probably partly just another day under my belt. More healing. More progress. But I also think posting here last night helped me to shift focus from the negative Nellie, poor me attitude to a more positive, motivated one. I woke up with a little less pain in my abdomen and a little less nauseous, although I'm still a little afraid to eat (drink) much. Thanks so much for the encouragement and great info! TDR: I think you're right. I've never gone through any kind of detox so I've never experienced any of this, though I'm sure my body has been begging for it over the years and I've just shut it out. This major overhaul is probably sending things into a tailspin of confusion. But it's good. I'll embrace it. Two weeks is okay for me. I can wait until two weeks after for sex. If it's any longer than that though, I'm afraid I might climb on the roof of a 7-11 and start taking people out with an AR-15. I needs my man! NW Nance: It was very liberating! I've hid my weight my whole life, as if people couldn't just see it, without me telling them. The mind is a wonky thing, isn't it? As long as we don't say it out loud, it's not happening. I always thought saying it would destroy me and I would run and hide in shame, but it turns out that once I typed it and put it out there, I actually felt as if 100 of those lbs melted away. I think discussing it here will help me get it out there with my family, friends and boyfriend as well. And might I add? You have a lovely humming voice! Heather: I have the same problem with Tylenol! It's like taking a placebo to me. I can't take ibuprofen because I have a terrible time with stomach ulcers and I'm not that much of a masochist. My surgeon gave me Lortab, which is basically just liquid vicodin and acetaminophen but it did nothing for me. It made my headache worse! It was like adding a hangover to the already existing pain. I gave up on it after the first day. I'll give the Isopure a shot and hope the boost of Protein will help. I'm also going right out after this for that Nausene you mentioned. Thanks so much for the tips! Couple more questions, if you don't mind me making a pest of myself: When you did get back into exercising, did the abdominal pain come back or worsen? Or was it more just like the regular aches and pains/exhaustion that comes with getting back into the habit? Were you all told no caffeine at all? My doc told me no more soda, ever, but she didn't say I couldn't have tea. My impression was that the carbonation was the culprit, not the caffeine. Am I correct in that? I think maybe besides upping the protein, if I have some tea it might help these headaches. I'm just concerned there's another reason for avoiding caffeine and I'll be setting myself up for more misery. Thanks again for all the wonderful support and answers! I'm feeling so much more encouraged about all this now.

Oh thanks, Ladies. I was so afraid I was going to scare everybody off with that long diatribe. MissWilde, this is awesome. I hope you keep posting here because it will be great to go through this with someone who is on the same timeline as I. Fanny, thanks for the great info. I meant Clear Liquids, not full, you're right. And I guess it is more sore than actually painful. It has improved a great deal and it's certainly manageable. I think perhaps I had high (and unrealistic) expectations of going into surgery on Wednesday and being pain free and 96 lbs lighter by Friday. If it's worth having, it's worth fighting for, right? And I think you're right about the caffeine. I didn't think about that. I was a pretty heavy tea drinker prior to surgery as well as a fairly regular soda drinker. I quit drinking the week prior to surgery because I was really trying to lose 10 lbs pre-op. So it's been a good while since I've had any caffeine. I wonder how long that goes on and if I can get a workaround?

Same here. The surgeon and initial consulting nurse told me that it was just a new kid on the block and there really wasn't much difference between the two. The Realize band would have been a hundred dollars more and since I'm self pay, I needed to save every penny I could on the procedure. For this reason, I chose to go with the original band. If price isn't a deciding factor for you then I can see how it would be a difficult decision. The main thing Realize brings, according to my studies before banding, is competition to the market. I read on a website once that likened it to the difference between a Chevy and a Ford pickup truck. They both do the same job, both get you there. They just have small differences that don't really impact the outcome. I'm no expert though, so I could be wrong. I did find this discussion here with some good information though. As well as this one. Hope that helps and good luck!