RestlessMonkey

nice to know...just like the many differences in NURSE...LPN/LVN, or even for "RN's"...some are baccalaureate prepared, others have an associates, others just go to a school ... I meant it more as a person who works with the x-ray machine daily, not really addressing the skill level. However, I'll make sure I'm clear when I post. I keep forgetting people can NOT read my mind. And as x-rays go, I'm neither of the techs! -ician, nor -ologist.

I already answered this same question you posed on another thread: Yes. When the pouch is full, you feel satisfied. Please understand that the physiology of gastric bypass and lap band are different so what applies to one doesn't apply to the other. The band is placed around the top of the stomach. The little pouch gets full, the stomach things OK I'M FULL because it's filled "to the top". (but it really isn't....just the pouch is). Then the food trickles on through and you stay full for a long time. Digestion doesn't really occur (or is severely limited) until the food moves through the stoma (hole created by the band) into the lower part of your stomach. For example i can eat a few ounces of a well done rib eye steak and literally be "full" for 6 hours. Although "full" is a misnomer...it's more hungry/not hungry. And yes you can cheat with the band AND with gastric bypass. Both take a committment, both take work, both are just tools. Let me add this to that other post: CCK which is an intestinally-mediated chemical that signals "full" is only ONE way the body knows whether or not it's hungry. So your info isn't so much wrong as just incomplete. Of course the band works. And no, we successful bandsters didn't get the band, find we starve and suffer just like on a "diet", and keep it on the QT so others will get the band. LOL I can see why you'd think that but your premise is wrong. If you want, ask that doctor how he thinks the band functions, then, since food has to hit your small intestine to trigger "full". I'm sure he'll elaborate and you'll realize he only gave you part of the picture.

Sure! Hopefully his advice will do the trick and it will go away! :thumbup:

Follow the directions given to you by your surgeon. The diets are different for a reason. The post op diet is to allow you to heal and surgeons are different...different "touch" if that makes sense. If your doc is an idiot, you shouldn't have let him do your surgery. If he (or she) knows what he's talking about, trust him on this one, too. Think of it as a prescription. Do it.

I bought a couple from amazon just before I got the band last year, and just donated them to Good Will the other day. I can eat anything unbanded people eat, and don't really need "special" recipes. Thank God!

GlenSand...I'm so glad! I'll have to tell my surgeon his good advice is helping others too. I know most of us don't think to ask these things when we're IN the doc's office and don't want to call. Since I just graduated nursing school (and am often in "student" mode) he's used to me hitting him with a barrage of questions. So glad this helped you too! :thumbup: That makes my day!

I hear you. I was mostly just poking at you because I know you can take it! :thumbup: You could always add this disclaimer: "Except Donna2153 and Restless Monkey who are RNs who know their boundaries and will most likely tell you to check with your surgeon anyway!" LOL :laugh:

Of course I just saw your line "RNs are not doctors..." True but most RN's know their boundaries. Since I am "just" an RN and not a doc, nor an X-Ray tech, you may want to ask your doc to confirm this. There are many questions we RNs can answer, and many questions "people" can answer drawing from their knowledge base. BUT...you check with your surgeon about the radioactivity in an x-ray to make sure.

Of course, if the doc's hair sticks straight out, he has a mad gleam in his eye, and he starts to cackle, run for it. :thumbup:

If you can't stay properly hydrated you are TOO TIGHT and risk a trip to your emergency room for liquids infused via IV. Call your doc, get just a LITTLE taken out (like .25 cc) and you will most likely be good. Don't wait; it could hurt you.

The radiation in an x-ray is very minimal. And you won't have fills every 4-6 weeks forever, either. However the doc does them OVER AND OVER...as does the x-ray tech. It adds up more quickly for them. So no, you're not in danger. But if you were an x-ray technician, using the equipment many times every day, well even drops can add up to a bucketfull eventually.

Yes. When the pouch is full, you feel satisfied. Please understand that the physiology of gastric bypass and lap band are different so what applies to one doesn't apply to the other. The band is placed around the top of the stomach. The little pouch gets full, the stomach things OK I'M FULL because it's filled "to the top". (but it really isn't....just the pouch is). Then the food trickles on through and you stay full for a long time. Digestion doesn't really occur (or is severely limited) until the food moves through the stoma (hole created by the band) into the lower part of your stomach. For example i can eat a few ounces of a well done rib eye steak and literally be "full" for 6 hours. Although "full" is a misnomer...it's more hungry/not hungry. And yes you can cheat with the band AND with gastric bypass. Both take a committment, both take work, both are just tools.

Gas feels odd like that, especially when you are feeling it in a place where you don't usually, if that makes sense? Did you describe it to your doc as you just did to me? May I suggest you try what he says, at least over the weekend (as long as it isn't getting worse). If it's not better by Monday, call him back, tell him you've been doing what he wants and it's still happening. You are very newly post op and things are still healing. You may have some adhesions that are tugging a little. Just live normally, take the meds he described, see how you feel on Monday. If it isn't really painful (and doesn 't get that way) it's most likely your body just fussing a little at what you "did".

What do you think it is? if not gas?

Another great example of how very different our docs, our diet, our experiences are....my doc wants us to be able to eat anything and in fact hamburger is listed as a mushie. :thumbup: So follow your docs orders, ask questions if you are in doubt or if a restriction or direction seems odd (like no meat for 1 year! LOL or the "no caffeine" directive I got) and hang in there!

Ask your pharmacist. He'll tell you where they have it. :thumbup:

Well, I don't know if you're crazy, I'd need more data....:thumbup: But as to the pain; I'd guess you're just "sensitive". (when I say sensitive, I mean your "innards" are easily agitated, I don't mean you are being a baby. Not at all!) Your fill might have irritated your stomach which got your diaphragm riled up and it pressed on your phrenic nerve which got your shoulder to hurting and then across your upper back and your abs got into the mix. If you still feel in pain today, call your doc. If not, just tell him about it before your next fill and plan on it happening to you. Maybe he can advise a pain med to take before hand to help out...?

I am 54. I had my surgery at 53, with a BMI of over 60, no hx of blood clots and no filter. If they left it to you and you didn't want it, don't fret. People DO get blood clots but if you do the lovenox, if you walk frequently, you'll most likely be fine. (thin people with no hx of clots can get them, you know. It's an odds thing, not a sure bet, just FYI) People who go home and languish in bed or are immobile are most likely to have clots. So if you need it, take your pain med, and walk. I don't mean a marathon...just get up and move some every hour. :thumbup: I wouldn't have wanted a filter either; they aren't uncommon though.

It may not until you've had several fills...that depends on many factors including you, your stomach, your surgeon and how aggressive s/he is will fills, how big your band is now, how much is IN there now, how "reactive" your stomach is (some swell, I don't seem to) etc etc. AND what foods linger seems to vary by person too. Some find things like thick warm "cereal type" foods (cream of wheat, oatmeal) stay. I personally feel full longest on about 3 ounces of grilled steak, or some chicken breast. You'll find what works for you as you get more restriction.

If you're worried, call your surgeon, tell him/her what you ate, how much, WHEN post op, and let him/her tell you if you're probably ok or need testing. I think it's "kind of" like having unprotected sex. It's a crap shoot. You may be ok, you may get an STD, you may get a baby and an STD, etc. You get the drift...and I don't mean to compare the lap band to a baby etc.....just that it kind of depends on many factors. Just because one person "gets away with it" doesn't mean you will, or vice versa. Call your surgeon as you would with other "medical" concerns and ask. :thumbup:

Experience is vital, 3000 surgeries is a bit high, but anything over 1000 I'd think! :thumbup:

Here's a little more info. I lifted this from a post I made on 7/12 in answer to the same question: A PB is a bandster term for "productive burp" which happens thusly: Usually once you have good restriction, but possible any time, if you eat too large a bite, don't chew well enough, or are overfull, the bite of food can't fit through your stoma (hole formed by the band between your "pouch" or upper stomach and your lower stomach) and it has to go somewhere, so it comes back up. The esophagus isn't built to have things just sit there, it's a conveyor belt that likes to move things along. So it will spasm...and if the food doesn't go on through, the body produces a lot of mucous (called slime here) which lubricates the esophagus and offending bolus of food and helps move it up and out. it is different from vomiting in that there are usually no stomach spasms involved, and there is no stomach bile/acid expelled. It can be dangerous if you PB too strongly or too much at first, before your band is healed, and later on even if healed, if you PB a lot (some do it daily as a way of life) it is very hard on your innards and can cause the band to slip. An occasional misstep/PB, however, especially if it happens after you've healed from surgery, isn't really a cause for concern but it should be a lesson to be learned. They are almost always caused by "operator error"...not chewing well, bite too big, or overeating. Occasionally, though, a PB is caused by being too tight (too much fill) and if that's the case, you need to get a little saline removed quickly or risk poor weight loss/weight gain, problems with your band, etc.

IF you think your doc will just "make up an answer", why on earth did you trust him with your life on the operating table, I wonder? I am not being nasty, either....if you don't trust him, FIND ANOTHER DOC! This is something that may need to be addressed.

grit your teeth and hang in there. Call your doc tomorrow and ask if you can advance, but don't eat anything not approved until/unless you get the "all clear". Many of us are starved during the first few weeks of the post op diets; you're not alone, you're not odd, and you can make it.

It's a problem with how you're eating. Odds are the violent spasming that causes you to PB the slime also helps move the offending bolus of food on through. Kind of like "shaking it up" to get it to pass on into your lower stomach. It's not a good thing and to be avoided....