ParrotheadCathy

To me it's pretty straight forward. If you are getting stuck and then PBing frequently, have frequent heartburn, acid reflux or can't take in adequate protein, then you need an unfill. It might not be that you need much of one, but an unfill would make all the difference in the world. I recently got a .2cc unfill because I was getting stuck at every meal...and I mean EVERY meal. My weight loss had been slow, a bit less than a pound a week and, of course, I didn't want to slow down further but I knew I had to do it. And, I feel 100% better AND I've started losing again. Make that phone call and get in to the doc's office! Good luck

Emerald, my questions are as follow: 1. What size band? 2. How much fill in that band? 3. When was your last fill? It could be that you need a fill. If you haven't had one in a while or if you stopped at a point where you thought you had good restriction, that restriction may not have held for the long term. Beyond that, what are you eating? I eat 3 oz of Protein (about the size of a deck of cards) -- grilled, broiled, roasted, baked -- vegetables and sometimes a serving of whole grain carbs. Are you getting 60 or more grams of protein per day? Protein makes you feel full longer which can curb the desire to snack. Are you drinking at least 64 oz of Water a day? Hydration is crucial. JOURNAL your food. I suggest you write down what you eat and what time .... you may see that you are really eating too many calories per day but you may also see a pattern to your eating. By that, I mean that you may find you are eating too much at a particular meal or are snacking at a particular time of day and that can help you change your habits. If you find yourself snacking while you are preparing dinner, then perhaps you need to eat a bit of low fat cheese when you get home so that you are a little protein in your tummy and then are not feeling so hungry and therefore tempted to eat/graze as you cook. I've been quite successful with this this but from mid-June until last week, I was losing about a pound a week. I have had to work hard to keep eating right (and I've slipped some) but it is starting to pick up again. It should for you as well.

It is quite good! Has a taste of its own. Remember, though, it is quite lean and since dry meats are often a sticking problem for bandsters, try to cook it in a way that preserves moisture.

What I use is not manufactured for sale in the US. Bayer Australia manufactures "Berocca Performance" for sale in Australia and Canada. You can buy them from Canadian pharmacies. They are tablets that effervesce just like an Alka Seltzer tablet but you don't drink them when they fizz. They come in three flavors, but be warned that the flavor isn't enough to hide the vitamin-y taste. The solution is simple...buy Crystal Light packets in the same flavor. I use the original citrus (orangey) flavor and add Crystal Light Natural Citrus Splash. Stir in a little Benefiber and you've got a great start to your day. I drink mine in the car while I drive to work. It is not a complete multi-vitamin but has all the B vitamins, C, D, E, magnesium, zinc, biotin, and a few others. There's no iron, but I eat enough red meat that I really don't worry about iron.

Sarah, I will say that many of us had no hair loss issues. Usually, if you eat at least 60 or more grams of Protein per day you'll be fine. Many take a Biotin supplement as a safeguard. I never took any biotin intentionally but there is some in the performance Vitamin that I use as my daily supplement. But one way or the other, I've not have any hair loss. My hair is baby fine, but there is plenty of it and it grows like weeds (more than 1/4 inch a week, consistently). It's natural to fear that you would be the one the band wouldn't work for. After all, just about everybody who has the band, or thinks about it, has lost and gained weight numerous times!

It's not a true plateau until it lasts at least six weeks. Just keep doing what you're supposed to do and the scale will move!

Don't know what kind of "horror" you're looking for. Most band problems are limited to slippage and erosion, and even that is a somewhat small statistic. There was one guy on here who actually had to have his band removed because he was allergic to a component of the device. Many docs actually stitch the band into place to precent slippage and if it does slip, often a return to a liquid diet can move it back into place and that is the first treatment for slippage. There are people who have their band removed for a variety of reasons but you can read some about those choices here on this website. For almost all of us, the surgery is a simple, short out-patient procedure; for some it's an overnight stay. The worst side effect I experienced was gas in my abdominatl cavity following surgery (they pump carbon dioxide into you to make a little more working apce) and that has to be absorbed by your blood stream and filtered out.

Care Credit lets you apply online and gives you instant response. I applied for $10,000 and got instant approval. My credit's not horrible but it's not perfect either. And when I say instant, I mean instant. You put in the whole cost of your surgery and it approves you for up to a specific limit.

They call it "tough love". Tell him that you've initiated marital counseling three times before, that you still believe that route has merit but if he wants to work on this, then he has to pick a counselor and make the appointment. Reassure him that you will go, that you will work on this but that he has to prove his commitment to that by doing this first. If he doesn't, then you may truly have come to the end of the line. But talk to him, tell him what you are willing to do, invest (if you prefer looking at it that way) in the relationship, and tell him that you need to see the same commitment from him.

Leftover, I'm so sorry that this has happened. I do agree with Mrsyellis ..... perhaps this person was not the friend that you thought. How do you tell a friend from an acquaintance....the friend's shoulder is wet from your tears. The true friends have been there through good and bad times and supported your choices and respected your decisions. They might have said "are you sure" and listened to your reasoning, but the true friend would not have done what this person has done. This person is one who doesn't know enough about lap banding to understand that you are not "cheating", that you will still have to work as hard as she has making the right food choices and exercising. But have you made the right choice? I believe so. Why? Because only about 5% of the people who lose weight through diet and exercise actually keep off the weight the lose. The other 95% do what we've done.... lose and regain, often multiple times. I hope your former friend is in that 5% but the odds are against her. One day, she may realize what an ass she was to you, but I would never, ever consider that person a close friend regardless of any apologies or whatever.

It's normal to be scared or nervous before surgery...especially if you've never had surgery or anesthesia before! The operating room staff and pre-op nurses deal with this all the time and all you have to do it let them know you're nervous and they will help you through it!

Mary, two years ago I had surgery for a ruptured achilles tendon and got an infection in the insicion area. The hospital in Key West (I was out of town, on vacation) was running basic blood work to prep me for emergency surgery to clean out the infection and discovered my iron level was a big 6 (needed to about about 13). They gave me a transfusion to raise my levels and did the surgery, but when I got back home, I had to go to GI doc to find out why my iron level was so low. They did the edoscopy thing and found digested blood in my stomach and a bleeding ulcer. Medication took care of if (I took Aciphex for a year, but at the follow up endoscopy, it was already healed up). Be sure to tell the GI doc that you are trying to get cleared for lap band surgery and hopefully he can take care of that for you along with the examination for a possible GI bleed.

Restaurants do serve outrageous portions....many have anough meat in a dinner to more than meet your Protein needs for an entire day, and we won't talk about the fat, salt and carbs! Read restaurant reviews...and I'd say that more than half comment on the size of the portions, usually to praise the 'hearty' portions. I always read the appetizer selections first. Many, many times, there is enough in an appetizer to make a meal, or if I order a vegetable to go with it, I'm in business. Restaurants have contributed to obesity in America in their own way, by helping (enabling) people to think that a portion like that is "normal". That's a hard thing to overcome. Often when I order a true dinner portion, I immediately cut my entree in half and push half the sides over with that and then get a "go box" .... and I have lunch or another dinner.

I would hazard the guess that EVERYBODY who has a lap band tried dieting more than once. I know I did. I lost more than 100 pounds twice and 75 pounds once and numerous attempts knocked off 30 or so each time. All those pounds lost add up to well more than what I weighed when I got the surgery. Yeah, like Restless Monkey said, there are about 5 in 100 who really do lose weight and keep it off without something like WLS. Was I going to be one of those? No, and I proved it more than once. That makes me sad but at least there was this wonderful HELP that the lap band gives me. At last, I can lose weight, which I was reasonably good at AND keep it off, which I was abysmally bad at doing. It's a big step when you're working toward it....and when it's in the rearview mirror, you realize it was a giant step that started a wonderful journey.

Nana, every doctor is different about what they allow. I'd hate to tell you yes, you can have a smoothie and have you find out that your doc says no. My doc did allow them. "Regular" liquids included soups (if it had any chunky stuff in it, I just ran it through the blender, which makes it look weird but it taste the same), SF pudding, SF jello, SF popsicles, juice, protein shakes, skim milk, broths (though I wouldn't drink that stuff that comes in cans and boxes; I made my own stocks)....

Discuss the amount of unfill with your doctor. At the previous level of fill, you didn't have this problem, correct? Then I would not ask to be unfilled to less than level and probably not all the way back to that level. A very small unfill, even .2cc can make all the difference in the world!

Surgery 2/20/09. As of today, down 79 pounds. I've just come through several weeks where I was lucky if I lost a pound a week, but now this week, I've lost almost 5 pounds. Go figure! But 79 pounds is just over 7 months makes me deliriously happy since that averages out to around 10 pounds a month. Yeah, I was pretty unhappy when the scale seemed like it just wasn't moving but when that does happen, you have to remind yourself that IT'S NOT GOING UP....something we're all familiar with.

You're 2 days post-op. While I felt pretty much completely normal almost immediately (the next day after surgery), that is defininately not the most common experience. You have to give it a few more days. Anesthesia needs to get out of your system completely, you need to re-hydrate fully, rest as much as you need to, move around as much as you feel up to it (to help get rid of gas) and you really should be bouncing back in another couple of days.

I'm with Restless Monkey .... don't hope for improvement. Call your doctor now and tell them your problems....the discomfort, the pain, the pain meds not effective. You may still be swollen and that could be causing some of your discomfort but no doctor wants his patient to suffer! Call now and tell them you need relief...

My guess is that the chicken was a bit on the dry side and got stuck and, for whatever reason, you didn't PB it and it had to move on its own. Now it's moved on but your esophagus got a bit irritated. Take it easy on what you eat today....keep it on the mushy side and the irritation should go away pretty quickly.

I would wait for the results of the endoscopy before I think it's totally in my head. But realize that as obese people we've all got food issues and even if we lose the weight we don't necessarily lose the food issues. Consider counseling with a doc who specializes in food/eating. I'm sure your surgeon can recommend a couple you can choose from.

I'll probably take some flak for saying this BUT losing weight will not directly make you happy. Living your life well will make you happy. If you chose to sit in the house until you're at goal weight, you're not going to be happy; you're going to be miserable. And then you'll suddenly be faced with learning to live your life. It's much better to work on LIVING RIGHT NOW. Start walking every day, building up how far you can comfortably walk at one time and then how much more quickly you can walk that distance. Then take that and do something you've never done. I go on a cruise every year. Just over a month after surgery, on a cruise, I went on a 16 drop zip line through the jungle in Roatan, Honduras. It was something I would never have contemplated "before". Even if you don't buy new clothes right away, after you've lost say 25 pounds, go try on everything you think will fit. See how much better you look. Don't get on the scale every day. You'll only be setting youself up for some mad mornings when the numbers don't cooperate. Better to pick a day of the week and say "on _____day I will weigh myself" and stick to that. I use Monday because I feel like that holds my feet to the fire a bit over the weekend to keep me strong. Go out with friends, learn to eat out and enjoy the company more than the meal. Take up a new, more active hobby like gardening (which if you really get into it can take up hours of your Saturdays and Sundays and have you moving around so much). If you have young children, become an active soccer mom or baseball mom. Be the mom who is at every game, volunteer to be a team mom (bringing the Snacks and drinks to each game). My daughter did that for a couple of years and is now [gasp] a soccer COACH. Think of all you'll miss if you stay at home waiting for your band to make you happy......

I gained and lost the same couple of pounds at least twice but never got on the doc's scale with a gain. But it was VERY frustrating to have the band and not see pounds falling away steadily.

Why WLS? You actually answered your own question when you said "all of my efforts to lose significant weight have either failed or yo-yo'ed". The band is a tool to help you avoid that outcome. I've read about the restrictions after lap band, and some of them are simply the restrictions that any diet should have: avoid sweets, avoid white, bready foods, chew slowly, stop when you're full, control portion size, exercise lots, and so on. Additionally, there are some WLS-specific restrictions: NO (?) carbonated beverages (there goes my love of Diet Coke), NO alcohol (I'm not a lush, but I love a summer beer or vodka cocktail), NO (?) caffeine (so I can't even have coffee?), plus a lot of scary things about how for instance taking a whole pill can lead to chain vomiting. A lot of docs actually allow carbonated beverages after a period of time with the band. But each doc is different. But soda is bad for you, period, so if you do without it for a period of time, you may not feel compelled to drink it again. I was NEVER told that I could not have alcohol or caffeine. I drink (damn, I'm a PARROT HEAD! Do you think I'd go to a Jimmy Buffett concert and party in the parking lot without a good rum drink?????) and I have caffeine (I love a big steamy mug of hot tea in the morning). I have 5.8ccs in a 10cc band and I can take two Tylenol at once with no problems. All those other meds I was taking for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are all things of the past -- which is why I did this in the first place. I have NEVER vomited, post-banding. I've PB'd but it was my fault for eating too fast every single time. Second question, what are the real limitations? I have read so much, conflicting stuff. I know you can't shouldn't eat, for instance, Snickers' bars (and why would I want to sabotage myself that way), but what about coffee? Carbonated beverages? Alcohol? Do I have to give up all of life's little pleasurable vices for this goal? See my comments above. Getting a band is NOT going to prison. You are still able and supposed to enjoy life. The only beer I really like, I can't buy in the States (Belikin, which is brewed in Belize) so no beer is not a question I've ever really had to address except when I was in Belize just over a month after surgery. Yeah, I had one but I had to drink it slowly. I've eaten birthday, a few M&Ms, I don't like coffee but I LOVE hot tea and I drink it. I don't miss Diet Coke. I stopped cold turkey and never looked back -- except that I mix it with rum, which pretty much takes the fizz right out of it. But, I reiterate, it is ALL THINGS IN MODERATION. If you pig out on anything, your band will stop you from going too far. If nothing else, no more food can get into the pouch and you will feel very uncomfortably stuffed and will have to stop. Believe me, you only have to experience that too-full feeling once and you'll remember you want to avoid it. It's like you ate 3 plates of food at Thanksgiving dinner and one of every dessert. Ugghhhhh. I've read a lot about things getting "stuck" in the stomach pouch if you eat to fast, or if you swallow a large pill, or something. What does this mean? Vomiting? Discomfort? A stomach pump? Along with being obese (BMI of 41) and having sleep apnea (a comorbidity; if insurance companies weren't so difficult, I'd be a shoo-in for the surgery), I'm a hypochondriac. What are the real RISKS post lap-band, versus just discomforts. Discomforts I can live with (assuming, of course, the benefit is worth it -- see my first question). Stuck is exactly that...it sits in one place and you wish it would move. Occasionally, you will cough the stuck bite back up (productive burp or "PB") and when that happens, if's actually a relief. But it IS NOT VOMITING. It is regurgitation of that stuck bite or two. Vomiting is when your stomach muscles force all the contents of your stomach back out. Two very different things. Lose the weight and all your aches and pains will disappear and you won't want to be a hypchondriac any more...you'll be too busy enjoying life. The risks are somewhat minimal. Slippage can occur, though not often, and many, many docs actually stitch the band into place to prevent that (mine did). If your band gets too much fill, you can develop a night cough and acid reflux, all of which is easily remedied by you admitting you have the problem and getting a slight unfill of even as little as .2 cc. I remember some posts from a man who turned out to be allergic to one of the components of his band and had to have hit removed. That was one person. Risks of anesthesia and surgery itself are separate things and your docs should advise you of those risks, but they are pretty small percentage risks. Finally, some health-related stuff. I know most/all here aren't doctors, but I have a fatty liver (diagnosed w/ultrasound) and quite possibly a duodenal (not gastric, that's important) ulcer. Am I disqualified from the surgery on medical grounds? Fatty liver ... the pre-op diet is designed to reduce your fatty liver. Stick to the pre-op diet and you'll be fine. A duodenal ulcer needs to be treated but shouldn't keep you from surgery unless it's not responsive to treatment. I will say unequivocally that getting the band has not compromised my quality of life in any way or amount. On the contrary, it has improved my life immeasurably. I think most people here would agree with me. Go to a seminar and ask the presenters your questions, too. (Many seminars have a patient or two there you can talk to as well. i've done this for my surgeon.)

I've lost 75 pounds since my surgery (2/10/09). Horror story? No way! This has been the best thing I ever did for myself. I no longer take any medications for ANYTHING, I have boundless energy and feel better than I can remember. Is this the easy way out? NONONONONO. You still have to make the right choices about food and you have to change how you eat...that is, smaller bites, well chewed, no drinking during your meals. It is possible to ignore how you should eat and not be successful, so remember that the responsibility lies with you; the band only helps you Without my band, I know for a fact I would have falled off the wagon and started regaining long ago. That's the difference, Unaided, your old habits can and likely will resurfaced. With the help of the band, you have a sort of built-in stop signal.