maestrita

I just called to try to make an apt with Dr Spitz for the fourth time. I am about to give up and move on. I was so hopeful that I could have my care done here, but it looks like it isn't going to work out. ;(

Plain, Where I agree with your statement about the shape and dimensions of one's upper airway, I don't think your assumptions about the prognosis for patients with apneas necessarily follows. There is evidence that significant and sustained weight loss results in the complete resolution of apneas in approximately 80% of the patients tested, when the patients achieved and maintained a healthy BMI. Even with the super-morbidly obese (SMO), as defined medically, a significant reduction in RDI, somewhere near 60% fewer disturbances has been documented. Furthermore, in the SMO, a 55% improvement in blood oxygen saturation was shown, though few of the patients in that range were able to stop the CPAP treatment altogether. I don't have the articles accessible at this moment, but if I get a chance I will come back and add the references so you can take a look. If you're like me, you probably love studying about your subject. Harold, Uvuloplasty alone does not provide resolution of apnea/hypopnea for a significant number of patients. However, it can provide some relief from snoring. Most apnea patients suffer from airway restriction further down the throat than the uvulectomy is able to correct. I am glad your surgery worked for you, and I wish it were indicated for me, as well. In reading the responses to these posts, I am somewhat concerned about some of the folks who responded. I mean this in the most sensitive way, but... I would think that going through this much work, it would follow that folks would want to be healthy. Why go through all of the trouble for a band if being healthy isn't the end result? I don't get that...For me, this is what it's all about. When I step on a scale, see the number that qualifies me as morbidly obese, I can't avoid the realization that being so puts me at risk for disease. That's what morbid means. I don't see why it has been so hard for me to come to grips with the fact that I might not actually be at risk, but, in fact, be sick already. Don't get me wrong, I hate my CPAP. Hate it, but I hate being dead even more.

OMG, I am so petrified. My kid has the stomach flu, and I was just banded on the 11th. I am so scared that I might get it. I did call my doc's office, and the little gal there said I should keep the anti-nausea medicine handy. I just wonder, how strong is this medicine? Will it be enough? I am just petrified that I am going to get this, and my husband doesn't understand the importance of him being the one to sanitize the areas where there's been vomit. I am staying on liquids until I am sure the danger has passed, but I am so scared....

Fiber and fruits didn't work for me, and I had a horrible experience. I would not wait if I were you. I ended up using Senna and glycerin suppositories because I was in horrible pain and needed to go right then. I should have really been more proactive, but I couldn't have anticipated it would be that bad. I thought the fiber would be enough. It was not.

I don't want to create the effect that we are dog-piling you, but I totally agree with Holabbie. It sounds like you were hoping to find some justification in something you know is unhealthy. Aside from going into surgery oxygen deprived and possibly putting yourself at serious risk, there are serious long term health risks with untreated apnea. There is a mountain of research data clearly delineating the relationship between apnea, diabetes, and heart disease. My sleep specialist explained to me that I would learn to wear the CPAP, or I would develop debilitating illnesses what could end up killing me eventually. He assured me that I would not live as long as my peers. I, too, suspect that I had apnea before I gained the weight because of some of the symptoms I experienced, and because of some of the comments of house guests who heard me snoring. I didn't think it through, and just kind of laughed it off. Over the next few years, my weight ballooned, and I began to suffer crippling fatigue. Here's the thing. If your body is fighting to stay alive at night, you will gain weight due to increases in certain hormones. If you continue to crank out those hormones, you can suffer chronic problems with the glands that make those hormones because your body can't keep doing that forever. Sadly, I do have those chronic problems, and I suffer from hypersomnolence as a result. I tell you this, my friend, only to help you to see where you could go, and I pray you choose not to. I know you will make the best decision for your situation, but I implore you to consider your doctor's advice once again. Good luck to you.

I am so glad to hear from you. I'm glad it is something positive, and it sounds like you are doing great!

This Namir Katkhouda may be good, but I think it is generally held that Doctor Gerald Kirshenbaum is the best.

Well, I do hope it's not the esophageal problem, and you should do your best to avoid any overeating whatsoever. That can result in some permanent health issues later on. However, I wonder, too about some of the other options. Perhaps you've adjusted to a new amount of food, and you thought life would be much more restrictive than it is ending up?? Could there be a defect in the band?? Puncture?? Slippage?? I wouldn't get too upset until you know what the trouble is for sure. My friend always says, worrying is like a rocking chair. It won't get you nowhere. Likely, the doc has means to assess the situation, but you'll probably need to be assertive about the matter. Do let us know how it turns out, and I wish you the best of luck.

Monster-truck burps?? They come growling up from your bottom tummy, to the top tummy, and up the throat?? I have those at times. If I were a little more thin-skinned, I'd probably be mortified, but really it is just super funny to me. I hope that's all it is for you, too.

I love what you said, Bandpal. It's true that we choose what to let in and even how to interpret what others are putting out there. I like to try to believe that people are mostly good in their intentions, but some have unrealized/subconscious motivations that can be harmful to us. Good food for thought...yuk, yuk...Oh, the pun was so unintended... Oh, and Shanya, you're awesome. I have a feeling that this is going to be the best summer ever for March banders!

That is so funny. I posted on this same topic, too. My doc said and then reconfirmed at the post op apt that I am to crush all pills. He said that he rarely sees people get into medical trouble with the band, but when he does, it is from pills getting stuck. I have really been bumbling around with the crushing of the pills, and I have almost vomited from the bitter taste or the thickness of the jam. I just can't seem to get in the groove with this matter, but another fellow recommended tomato juice. I am going to give that a try.

There's a small device that is sold at our pharmacies, that is called a pill crusher. It's like a mortar set, but it is smaller and it screws together to crush the pill. It cost me about $4 US, so a couple Euros, right? Tomato juice is very good idea. That might just be the way I try it in the morning. Good luck with the surgery! It has gone just fine for me, and I don't regret it at all.

Thanks, Shanya! It is not the pain meds, but thank you, too, crzytchr :crying: I will call the pharmacy to see if the other meds can be liquified.

Grey's does show nerves going to the stomach. Good to know.

OK, I can't seem to get the hang of this, and I am really afraid it is going to make me throw up if I have to gag down some more jelly pepper with bitter pill fragments. I keep dumping half the pill on the counter.... Does anyone have recommendations that might help...?

Jodi, Your explanation is very good, and I think you explained what I was trying to get at. You don't feel it just sitting there around your stomach, but you do feel it in surrounding tissues. I do wonder, though. Why can you feel an ulcer if there aren't any nerves in the stomach? I am kind of fascinated by this. I think I am going to look it up in Grey's.

Thanks, Terry. I kind of get what I am not supposed to eat. I was hoping to find some ideas about what to eat. I have kind of exhausted the V-8 and canned veggies, and I will be happy to move into the next phase of mushies. I know I saw a thread or article like this, but I can't find it now ;(

This site is so massive. I have spent almost two hours trying to find the thread, article or blog or whatever it was about adding your first veggies that I saw before. I remember it being something like a list of ideas or recipes with veggies when you first are able to add them back in to your diet. Does anyone happen to know where that might be found? Thanks!

I was just banded last week, and I can feel my band and my port. It may be that after the surgery ick wears off you can't feel anything, but I can feel it now. It's hard to explain, but you don't feel it in the way I think you are asking. I imagined that I would feel it sitting there, and I don't. It's like you feel only where your stomach used to go is strangely not available and there is just a firm barrier there. It gets cold when you drink icy stuff, and you can feel it being cold longer than the tissues around it. I am realizing that it sounds grosser than it actually feels. The port is different, though. I can actually touch my stomach and feel the port and what may be a small section of tubing, or may be a band of inflamed tissue, and it stings every once in a while when I am moving around, mostly if I bend over forward. If I am gentle, I can slide the tissue over the port some, and it like when you slide the skin around over your elbow and the bone doesn't move. I think that will likely subside with time. It is swollen quite a bit around the port, and if it doesn't begin to lie down eventually, I will talk to Doc to see if it needs to be moved. Right now, it looks like a marble halfway embedded in my ab wall. I will never get my six back with a lumpy port in the way!

Hang in there, Rabbit! I wouldn't speed toward a fill until you need one. I have read a couple of posts about folks who didn't need one for quite some time, and from one gal who never did. It will likely be clear to you when you are ready to move to the next step, don't you think?

For real, Nanook. I pay in excess of 15,000. a year for my insurance for my family, and it did not cover my surgery. I would hardly call insurance free. If it were, millions of my countrymen wouldn't be without it at this very moment. It's my opinion that coming here to vent about the other people who are reaching out for support is inappropriate, and it is hurtful. Haven't we, as patients suffering from obesity, suffered enough criticism already? There are lots of physiological, gender/hormone-related, psychological, genetic, cultural, and lifestyle factors that contribute to obesity. To simplify obesity and weight loss issues would be ignorant and uneducated on my part. Having paid both for the insurance and the surgery, I am really motivated to educate myself on these issues. I wouldn't want to be a hypocrite. Yeah, I know, this is a lot more than two cents from me, but just one final thought....If one has not ever plateaued in his/her weight loss efforts, I'd say that person is speaking prematurely and has yet to struggle at all with losing weight. If it's that easy, why would a person even need the band?

OK, let me be clear. Apple juice is not going to cut it. I have been at the AJ and benefiber consistently. I had also been drinking a mild senna tea every couple of days. If I'd known, I'd have taken the stimulant laxatives each day to avoid this. I, too, thought it might be like when I had my children. No, man. This is a whole new level. God I am glad to have this forum because I feel like I needed to post to warn folks, but I also kind of feel like I needed some debriefing after such a traumatic experience! I am laughing now, but only because it is over. Ooooh, Lordy.

I was banded a week ago today, and I had the most horrible experience today. I have to tell folks, even though it is gross, because when the doctor told me, I couldn't have imagined exactly what he was talking about until it happened. Excuse the description, but I just don't want this to happen to ANYONE unnecessarily. At mid-day today, I found myself stuck in a public bathroom, late returning from my lunch break with constipation so bad I thought I might have to go to ER. I am not joking. I am not being dramatic. It was so bad I chewed a laxative pill in desperation. I had a conversation with God because I wasn't sure I was going to make it. As sweat rolled down my face from the pain, I wondered how I was going to explain this to the school secretary. Now, my good doctor had warned me about this, but I thought it'd be similar to what I'd experienced with other minor surgical interventions. My Friends, it was not. Clearly, in an attempt to remain professional, Doc couldn't grab me by the shirt collar and slap me around a couple of times in order to impress upon me how bad the problem might become, but it would have helped if he had. I would much rather have been slapped than to experience what I did today. So here it is--I am sending you a virtual slap to get your attention. :ohmy:Take the laxatives! Eventually, with a number of OTC remedies, I was OK. I did return to work in time to teach my last class, and after warning my freshman that I was in no mood, they were very kind to me as we finished out the day. OK, I'll be done now, but if you find yourself in this situation, don't say I didn't try to warn ya.

Thanks Jack. I needed to hear that. I don't have the hunger, but I am bubbly, and it feels just odd. I needed to hear that it is going to feel better at some point. I feel bad for folks who can't be on full liquids to start. I've been lucky in that Doc said anything that'll go through a straw since Day 1. I think I did about 2.5 days clears, and I am on day 3 of full liquids. I think I'll be in this stage for another week or so before I move on to mushies. Thanks for telling us it gets better.

OK, I was banded last Wed, and my stomach still feels strange. It's not painful, but it's like I can feel the different organs and such. It is an ODD feeling. Occasionally, there is a pinch or a touch of gas, but mostly it just feels weird, both to the touch and the experience of it just being there. I was wondering when it is just going to feel like a belly again. Like I am hyper aware of my port and what I think is my band. Does that die down a bit after awhile, or am I always going to feel like I am altered? I imagine it must be something I either get used to, or something that subsides after the swelling is gone, right?