xavier

You will have to let everything heal and then start over with a very careful fill schedule...I'm sorry this happened to you. Dont ever let three weeks pass where you cant keep hydrated and get proper protein!

I would say either talk to the facillitator or find even one person in there who is like you and see if together you can seek out others. GB patients just arent in the same boat as us!

It is calories in and calories out and since you are eating ok eventually you will lose....BUT...thats not why any of us got the band! Get a fill and get another fill! Once you have the right level of restriction this is actually pretty easy! And yes I am a nearly two decades obese (formerly) failed dieter! I am at perfect restriction but I have 8cc in a 10cc band! It took a long time to get here and was sometimes a miserable struggle! I eat 1/2 to 3/4 cup of any food and I am totally full and if I eat more I am in trouble! I can eat any food and I dont ever eat any low cal low fat or diet anything! I wear a size 6. Hang in there and dont beat yourself up until you are filled to green zone restriction!

Getting stuck with the needle hurts like when they stick you for a flu shot...but a flu shot hurts bad when they put in the stuff and with your fill you dont feel it at all. Some docs numb you up first with a shot of lidocaine but it hurts the same as the fill shot so my doc doesnt bother.

I think it makes sense. I wanted to tell you that when I plateaued at 155 pounds and really wanted to get to normal BMI which would be 145, I went for a fill and got 0.3cc which I thought was ridiculously tiny! Anyway, over the next 6 weeks I got to 145 easily and over the next 6 weeks it went to 139 and now I am just leveled off there and very happy. My point is, hopefully your small fill will do it!

I just wanted to add that I had pretty bad knee and low back arthritis and that now that I am at normal weight my knees are totally normal and pain free but my back still hurts...weird! Maybe the knees are a lot more affected by the weight on them! (I was almost needing a cane for my knees before getting banded)

The needle is likely too small to do any real damage...for you, this needs to be done by a real doctor with the ultrasound machine.

Well I had my surgery five hours from here which was fine but ended up having to find a closer fill doc and that has cost me $500 per fill! I would stay close to home if possible. You are talking about a lot of money so its a hard choice...my self pay was 15K and then free fills for one year and $100 per fill after that year. The thing is if I had known how well this would work in terms of getting to a normal BMI and staying there with relative ease...I guess I would still do the same...hard to feel comfortable outlaying that much money when you are never sure how it will all work out!

I had to self pay for my band and it was totally worth it but of course I will also have to pay if I want some skin tightened up. I feel for her as we have worked hard and still feel bad about how we look. There are basically three options, one, live with it as is, two, get a job to make some extra cash, three, use credit...they all kind of suck but that is the reality! I cant decide what to do and for now I am just living with it.

I always felt my fills within a day or two.

These are normal fluid shifts in the body making your band tighter or looser. Mine is very tight in the morning just as my wedding ring is and very loose in the evening just like my ring. It is also tighter when I am sick even just with a cold and many have said it is tighter when they are retaining fluid usually just before their period.

Its in the health area of walmart or a grocery store...usually by the power bars. I drink a Premier Protein drink from Costco every morning. 130 cals and 30 grams of protein. I like it although its quite sweet...I didnt like the muscle mild...it tastes vitaminey or mediciney to me.

Waste your time? What else is more important than finding out what you need to do to get healthy?

Reward yourself...you deserve it!

Just keep doing what you are doing. This is a lifestyle change and it will take time. Stay off the scale for a while. These first few months are terrible...stay the course!

I dont think you are even supposed to take a bath that soon because of the incisions...

I think you are fine and just have to be careful like the rest of us. Your band will loosen up a little any way as you lose weight and as long as you are doing ok nutrition and fluid wise, you are fine.

You are definitely still healing!

If Tums helps it sounds like heartburn (gastro esophageal reflux disease) and you probably need to be on a daily pill for it...I take Protonix.

Two different things. For me restriction is I can only eat about a half or 3/4 cup of any food at one time and I feel very full and if I take one or two more bites I am in pain. Sometimes I stilll get stuck but it is from not chewing or eating too fast if I am distracted.

Banded may of 09 no problems at all. I threw up quite a bit at first (I was a slow learner) but my doc stitches his bands in place so you cant get a slip. I never got why your friend had it removed instead of corrected???

B-52 knows what he is talking about...you are in bandster hell meaning no help from the band and you are just on another (failing) diet!!! Be nicer to yourself...you will need a few fills before your band is stronger than your kids or your boredom! I always tell people to read the blog of band_groupie, especially the part about bandster hell!

Weight loss is supposed to be good for gout but dehydration will increase it. Also, if you really do have gout, you cant eat meat on a daily basis or you are making it worse. Gout meds are just a bandage for the symptoms instead of reducing the purines in the diet and staying well-hydrated.

If you have to wait 15 minutes, you are probably not hungry anymore and should just stop.

What is your level of restriction? I was a low BMIer so I had to self pay. For me restriction is I am full and satisfied on 1/2 to 3/4 cup of any food and if I eat two more bites I am miserable...I have 8cc in a 10cc band and have been in maintenance for a couple of months. When I was losing I lost about 6 pounds a month when I had good restriction. Yes, it goes slower if you start off less obese.