2muchfun

Small pill, OK. Large pills that don't disintegrate, not so much. I have to break them in half.

Beach, no, not in your head. Our bands seem to have their own fickle personalities. Weather, TOM, illness, stress, altitude, sodium can all affect our stomach lining thickness which makes the stoma smaller or bigger.

I think what she's saying is exactly the opposite... What I understand is that she CAN eat that 16oz "steak", for example, and not feel miserable like you would. Same with me, I can eat more than 1cup before I get that satiety signal, which in my case is a sigh; although, I try most of the time to stay within the 1cup recommendation. But when I DO, I'm usually hungry before the 4 hours. I'm not sure if I'm "there" or I need another (conservative) fill. What do you all think? If you can make it 3-4 hours that's as close as some of us ever get. I still have a low fat/cal snack about 3 hours out. An apple, cheese stick or some beef Jerky help me to get to the next meal.

The band may not stop you from eating more food. I could eat a 16 oz steak if I wanted but I'd be miserable and it wouldn't taste good after the first 6 ozs. The flavor and appetite dwindle rapidly after the first cup of food.

I have to disagree with the analogy of falling off a cliff. It's more like a roller coaster with several spots where you just cruise along a plateau for what seems long periods of time. Except, during and at the end of the roller coaster ride, you find new things about yourself you never knew. Good things. And the rewards along the way are more exciting than any Chinese buffet I've ever been to(gawd I loved Chinese buffets). The pain is like having a badly sprained ankle.But the memory goes away quickly as the thrill of wearing new non fat clothes overwhelms those memories. tmf

BTW- some satiety tips are runny nose, hiccups, burping. And, if you did measurements on your body before surgery, you may be losing inches and adding muscle. This makes it appear you're losing less but you are losing more fat and replacing it with muscle. That's a good thing.

It took me 6 fills and 7 months to get to the green zone. Others hit it right after surgery. Some have taken over a year. Much depends on your doctor and how aggressive he/she is with fills? Losing 4-6 lbs a month is quite average and many bandster's would welcome those results. But, if you want to know when you have hit the green zone, it's really a mental state more than a physical state. Being one with the band or being in touch with your body physiology is so important with the band. Sometimes the most subtle signals slip right by a Bandster and many of them go on to not succeed as much as they had planned. Here's how it works for me(and every one will be different): I fill my plate with as much as I should be eating but really I put too much on it usually. As I eat, I get to a state where I'm not really hungry any longer. I can stop now, and sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. When I do, it's because the taste no longer satisfies me or my appetite has suddenly gone away or has been diminished. When I don't, it's old habits kicking in or the food is so stinking awesome I crave more. Obviously, I'm not paying attention now and I'm not in touch with my body or band. So, it's a mind thing and paying attention to the signals my body is sending. It's not a big signal, so pay very close attention. How big your band is or how much saline is in it is irrelevant. tmf

Only a doctor could know. Sorry, but you may have to face the bad doctor one more time?

99% chance you experienced a severe stuck episode. Your pouch and/or esophagus probably stretched a little bit so let them recover by sticking to liquids and soups(no meat) for a day or so?

Slip? No. Not from what you've told us. There are many more serious symptoms to a slip. If you can drink liquids and feel them emptying into your lower stomach, you're no longer stuck. If not, you're still stuck. Red meat can take 4-6 hours to digest in your pouch.

It sounds like you had a stuck episode. These can sometimes cause a little inflammation at the stoma(band site). This can be a little uncomfortable for a few hours. Best thing to do is to drink some cold liquids to reduce the swelling. Maybe chew on some ice chips or a slushy would help too. Then follow this up with some warm fluids like tea about 30 minutes later. Stay away from solid food for 24 hours to allow the swelling to subside. Call your doctor if the pain continues. tmf

There are a few different types of throwing up. Are you throwing up food from your stomach, your pouch or esophagus? The stomach type is true hurling and should be avoided at all costs as it can cause your band to slip. The pouch and esophagus types are usually a PB(productive burp). Which type are you experiencing? And, are you drinking while eating or is the Fluid rejection happening all the time? tmf

I'm not near you but bariatric docs make their income off the surgery and accepting patients with existing issues/conditions is rarely done most anywhere. There are some who will, but you have to call them all. If you have a PC, go to the top of this page and click on surgeons and search for surgeons in your area.

First, I would recommend you visit your bariatric doc if you still have one and if you don't, find one, make an appointment and get the scoop from an expert. Visiting with a nutritionist might help too. It sounds like you're band has too much saline in it? You might want to have it all taken out and start the post op phase all over? There's a site that might help you narrow down your options. Check this out: http://5daypouchtest.com/ You might want to look at the sleeve if these benign attempts don't work? tmf

Great research Alex!!!

You should start your own thread/topic. There are only 8 people following this thread and if you start a new topic, you'll expose yourself to hundreds of eyes instead of just 8X2. This is a hard time of the year to lose weight. How long have you been plateaued? According to your profile you may have lost 80 lbs? That's a lot and you should be proud of yourself. tmf

So, you may be banded by February 15thish? Read as much as you can here. I've been hanging around here for years but didn't really pay attention till I got banded 11/28/11. There were some normal issues that came up such as "Bandster Hell, stuck episodes, and not losing till I had several fills. These are issues commented on here every day but for some reason I figured I'd be the lucky one who immediately dropped 50 lbs. HA!

Click on this link and then click on patients. http://www.bariatricpal.com/surgeons/1239-richard-benavides/

Show off Yeah, no pain meds for me either. They spell doom for my GI system.

Me too. Distraction can be our worst enemy. The TV, talking and eating, hurrying to go to work and trying to cram down an omelet, waiting too long to eat and being very hungry can cause us to fail to chew and swallow too soon. I PB about 3 times a week. My band seems to be very fickle and definitely now during the Holidays she's misbehaving. I'd say PB'ing isn't as bad as a full hurling session but it's also not good. PB'ing means your stoma is clogged and food is backing up. This can cause the pouch or your esophagus to dilate. jmo

Warning: Graphic explanation ahead. I know we were all told this was minimally invasive, but I beg to differ: So I'm sorry to be too graphic here but remember, someone filled your body cavity full of gas, they pumped fluids, medications, antibiotics and anesthesia into your body. They punched 5 holes in your abdomen, moved all your inner body parts around, shoved a tube down your throat, took an electric scalpel and burned away excess fat and tissue wrapped around your upper stomach, then wrapped a plastic strap around your stomach just below the lower esophogeal sphincter, stitched it in place with 5-6 sutures bringing your lower stomach up and over the band and then snaked a tube out of your body and then sewed another plastic piece to the muscle tissue on your rib cage. Took me about 8 days to feel somewhat normal but the incisions were still itchy and oozed, and I still had an anesthesia hangover. tmf

OK sleevethefat, let's try to have a sincere debate? I agree Allergan sold the lapband product. Someone else bought it so apparently the new company(Apollo Endosurgery) believed it was a good investment? We may never know why Allergan sold the product. The product was out of their mainstream product line and only represented 3% of their sales. They claim they wanted to focus on higher profit products for the future. To state otherwise would be speculation so let's just agree the product was sold and is still a viable medical product? BTW-Mercedes Benz sold off their shares of Chrysler several years ago speaking of companies selling divisions or interests. I looked over the mayo clinic site but couldn't find anything stating the band is no longer offered. I did find that they are using the lap band less frequently and prefer the sleeve. http://www.mayoclinic.org/medicalprofs/bariatric-surgery-eov7n1.html I think there are enough studies out there to illustrate that the band has more revisions and patients lose less fat with this type of procedure. But, a reasonable person may come to the conclusion that this type of surgery works best for them and their place in life. Sleevethefat, FYI, should my band ever fail me, my first choice would be to look hard at the sleeve procedure. I find it to be a logical progression for me. But, to denigrate thousands of people on these forums as idiots is wrong and I hope you know it? If you can shed more light as to why you believe so strongly that the band is so idiotic, I'm all ears. But, you've not convinced me with your two samples? My apologies to all sleevers, I don't want to interfere with your forum but she came over to our forum and made some inaccurate statements. I'm not stalking her, I'm trying to understand and maybe educate her how we all try to work together here on the forums. tmf

Am I missing something? Why are you bummed? Buy a scale? Read the posts above, they address issues in the first 20 days. One more thing. You hijacked this thread. Don't take it like it sounds. Only 6 people follow this thread so you won't get much response. You have to start your own topic if you want more exposure? Hundreds of people follow the topics but there are only 6 of us following this thread.

Thanks for the reasoned responses. Sleeved the fat needs to be reminded this is a forum for support and not obesity helps or other forums that tolerate misinformation. We bandster's welcome reasoned responses with accurate information. But to Celebrate on this forum her own early success and to insinuate others choices are idiotic is very tasteless. Show some class ms sleevethefat. You are so new to this you might be eating your words later on. I hope not and wish you all the success in the world. The decision to have WLS is individual and must be made by each of us.

Let me introduce you to debate 101. I don't have to disprove a negative. You're the one who is making the assertions without any proof. And when it comes to business, you might want to stay out of it because businesses sell profitable divisions and products all the time. Again, you make wild A$$ assertions with no knowledge and no proof. And to come to the lapband forum and make another assertion "The chances of it working for her long term are slim" is quite a leap for someone who had surgery just days ago. I guess that makes you an expert? Not hardly! There are many people on this site who have had the band for many years. Get off your high horse sweety, you've got a lot to learn. And the first should be to stay on your own side of the fence if you have nothing accurate to add. We welcome reasoned debate and comments! tmf