Brighton Belle

Just thought this might be a good thread to do. I am now 23 days post op and have lost about 12 lbs and now I can COMFORTABLY CROSS MY LEGS!

Hi Guys, I had a further fill of 1ml and am at my sweet spot at last! I have lost weight since the fill, I am generally not hungry at all, full after a small amount of food and have occasionally got stuck if I have not chewed properly. Also one morning at 4am with a splitting headache I got up to take some fizzy painkillers and when I was taking a drink of Water afterwards I realised I had actually got stuck on water! I am still between sizes- I have trousers that are way too loose and falling down but I am not quite into the next size down. But I feel positive I will get there. I was talking it over with my husband and when I was stuck on a weight loss plateau and each fill seemed to make no difference both he and I separately had this horrible suspicion that there was a hole in the lap-band and the Fluid was leaking out and that is why it was not working-after spending all this money, too! I am posting this to encourage all those who may still be in that inbetween state known as bandster hell.

I know I am at my sweet spot because a lot of the time I forget about food and am not particularly hungry, particularly if busy or occupied with something. On a work day I have a cup of tea in the morning, then a cup of coffee an hour and a half or so later when I get to work, then one mid morning. If I get busy or occupied with odds and ends before lunch I often forget to eat till 1.30 or even 2pm. I might have a weight-watchers yoghurt or creamed rice in the afternoon, then dinner at 7pm usually. I have it in a small bowl-a Cereal bowl-rather than on a dinner big plate. I try not to eat anything else later. If I do, though, I try and eat low carb-maybe a bit of cheese or more weight watchers yoghurt or a clementine, or an apple and some cheese. I really have to try not to drink Water with my meals or I want to eat more. Also I have learnt to chew slowly and stop if I get ANY discomfort or fullness. It was tempting in the early days to continue but then I got really uncomfortable-had to walk away from the table, lots of salivating and it would take about 10 minutes to go away. On a non-work day I get hungry around 11-12 and today I had one poached egg on a thin bit of toast and a cup of coffee. I felt as if at the time I could have eaten more but after about 5 minutes the urge had gone and I did not think about food until about 4pm when I had some hummous on melba toast and a cup of coffee. Then had dinner about 7. Before I was at my sweet spot I was always wandering into the kitchen and if I was making a coffee I would be poking in the fridge and finding something to eat and generally thinking about food quite often. We had lots of biscuits around at Christmas and if I could see them I would eat them with my coffee. I asked my daughter to hide them and not eat them in front of me and that really helped. Out of sight out of mind. That would NOT have worked for me before my sweet spot. Also I can have a bite of something really nice-eg a bit of home made bread-and now just a little taste is enough whereas before I could eat several slices and still want more. The best bit is that I am slowly but steadily losing weight, a total of 24lbs since before the pre-op diet.

I am now in the process of organising my second fill. I had my lapband on 9.9.09 and for quite a while I felt the satiation and satiety expected with the band. I assumed that although there was probably only a little saline in it, there was obviously swelling of the stomach. Most of the time I did not think about food, I could generally lose track of time and not think about eating, and when I did eat I was easily satisfied with only a small amount. It was great not thinking about food! I lost weight on the pre-op diet and also after the lap band. However as I approached my first fill these effects were wearing off and the weight loss was slowing, if not stopping. I had lost a total of 12lbs from the start of the pre-op diet to the date of the first fill and it showed. I was delighted with the weight loss and the way I was feeling about food. The first fill was on 12.10.09 under X ray guidance. The anaesthetist was a little concerned to fill it too much because of the distance involved if I was too restricted. Four hours after the fill we went out with my daughter for a Chinese meal that night. I was surprised to find that I was really hungry. I had some clear soup, still felt really hungry and did not feel any ill effects from the fill apart from some very slight discomfort late that night. I have left it 2 weeks post-fill to see what would happen. I had put on a pound before the fill and the three days of liquids post-fill saw that go again. However my weight is now stationary and has been for the past two weeks but my trousers are getting tighter again-another sign that things are not as good. I am trying to be sensible with what I eat - completely avoiding biscuits, chocolate etc and sticking to low carb low calorie choices. However I finding that I am gradually increasing the amount I am eating at meals, otherwise I am not satisfied. I am still hungry a lot of the time, and thinking about food again, Although I do sometimes experience some restriction (a tight feeling or discomfort in the chest) it is generally only if I have eaten something fast and not chewed it well enough. The “half a glass of food” is not enough anymore. I am snacking at times but on healthy foods. My husband has also noticed my eating is gradually changing back. I remember well how I felt after the banding and I am concerned because I feel that is the state I should be in and I am definitely not in that state anymore. I emailed the above to my consultant and got a lovely email back in which he says I am describing "pretty much a standard course" and that I might not be too far away from having a pretty good level of restriction. So I am organising another band fill as soon as I can.

My "Bible" is The LAP-BAND Solution: A Partnership for Weight Loss by Paul O'Brien. He is from Melbourne and they have vast experience with the Lap Band there. Every question I have so far, I have found an answer in the book. It is also very readable. I come back to it over and over again.

I am a little confused. I had my lap band on 9.9.09 and have had the first fill under fluoroscopy and then two more fills of 1ml each. Currently I have some restriction, in that if I eat to fast or don't chew properly I get this feeling of something being stuck, and if I were to eat more it would be painful with lots of salivating, until drinking Water "flushes it through". If I stop at the feeling of something being stuck, I do get this sensation of wind coming up and a short time later I can eat more. The problem is I am still hungry and wanting to eat more all the time despite the discomfort. Immediately after the lap band was put in, I had satiety and satiation. I could only eat a little soft stuff-scrambled egg for example, or yoghurts, but a little satisfied me for ages and I did not think of eating very much. Am I near to my sweet spot???? Getting a bit disheartened by the whole thing at the moment and it is hard to be positive. My weight has been stationary since I lost about 10lbs around the time of the op.

I don't know how much was put in at my first fill but have had 2ml added at my second and 1ml at my third. Initially no real difference but we were away this weekend so staying in a b&b and eating out. I did notice a difference this weekend. I ate Pasta in the evening with sauce, no starter or pudding, and felt quite satisfied. For Breakfast I had smoked salmon and scrambled egg but the second day I could not manage it all-did not really want it and realised I was full. At lunch the first day I realised I was not hungry and had coffee and a small amount of fruit slice which was soft. The next day we were in a coffee shop for lunch and I had some of my husband's toasted pannini and it got stuck for about 5 mins which was uncomfortable-lots of salivating and the feeling of it all stuck in my chest- I drank Water and then walked to the loo but by the time I got there it had suddenly gone through so I did not eat any more! I will see how it goes. I may just need another 0.5ml to get to the green zone but I feel I am nearer than ever and it is a real difference. I do realise I have to be careful to chew carefully- no chatting away and taking big bites when hungry and swallowing food in big gulps that is not properly chewed! I must have been doing this for years!!

I realised my second fill was not enough as I was still hungry-I did not have satiation and satiety. Had another 1ml in yesterday and initially did not feel any different but today I think there is a difference. Here's hoping this is getting me into the green zone...

I have had my second fill by a combination of serendipitous circumstances. It was really easy, went like a dream, in went 2mls, no problem. I feel that I have good restriction back again. I have managed soup easily, but more solid food has to be chewed carefully. I am not as hungry as I was before but at work we have been really busy so not much time to think, the real test will be when I am at home but I am pretty hopeful that I am at my sweet spot.

I had my first fill on Monday, at 4pm and got home yesterday and was at work all day today so now is my first chance to post. We had a five hour drive to the hospital and I went in at 4pm. I had just managed to get a real coffee inside me an hour previously when we arrived at our hotel, so that was good and just in time! First I had to take off my top and put on a paper gown, and lie on the X ray table. The radiologist was really friendly and we were chatting away while he cleaned the skin over my port. He stuck in a white needle which was really not painful. Not anything as painful as having a blood sample from your arm. The needle connected to a three way tap and a syringe containing the saline. Then the entire table was tipped slowly so I was almost upright with the needle still in my port. Then they got the Xray focusing on my abdomen and I took a small swallow of the radio-opaque liquid. That was really fun to watch, as it slid down into my oesophagus and stayed there for a short time, and then a wave of contraction squirted it into the stomach as the sphincter relaxed at the same time. Only the first time it did not work and they had to get me completely vertical – then it went down. The radiologist sucked out the saline in the band, to see how much was in there, then put it back and added a bit more, I swallowed some more stuff and we watched it go down. You could see the band quite clearly and the stuff going through the opening. I swallowed some more radio-opaque liquid and we watched each time I swallowed and some more saline was added and eventually when we reached the goal diameter of 3-4mm, I had a drink of Water and everything felt fine so that was it. Needle removed and a tiny plaster stuck on and off I went. I felt absolutely no different to start with. That evening we went out to a Chinese meal with my daughters and that was really hard! I asked for chicken Soup with no chicken and no noodles and ended up with a bowl of clear chicken broth and I WAS HUNGRY!!! I was really tempted by all the lovely food and in the end I was reduced to spooning up some of the sauce! I was seriously thinking about buying some low-fat yoghurt from a convenience store on the way home. However as we walked home I started to have a slight discomfort in the chest, just like after the op and I stopped feeling hungry. The next morning I had a glass of orange juice, some yoghurt and a little fruit compote and coffee for Breakfast in the hotel, and I was not remotely tempted by my husband's fruit salad or yummy pastries or toast. We met my daughters out shopping and went for lunch. I had some soup and found myself saying to myself, no-not a bowl, a cup will do, and a small cup of coffee will be plenty instead of a large one. So I am back to how I was post-op, not being that interested in food. Today at work I had taken a can of soup and did not get round to heating it up till after 2, which just shows how other things take precedence over eating which is just such a big change. Long may it last!!!

Interestingly several patients have said quite none-specific things like "you look great" or "you're looking really well" . One old lady has said I should not loose any weight because then I would not be cuddly (groan - I do NOT want to be cuddly any more!). She was the only one who specifically mentioned my weight, although I have only lost about 12 lbs so far. I take your point about clothes fitting. I think I was wearing clothes that were actually a wee bit tight and now fit better. I still have several pairs of work trousers in two smaller sizes that I may get into in due course. Sorry, make that WILL get into... It is tempting not to buy clothes as you think you will waste money but, hell, it does make you feel good to wear something new, smart, that fits and makes you look good.

How is your "beast"???? You must be banded by now and hopefully your beast is mortally wounded at least!

I am really looking forward to my fill because although I did get just below the magic 14stone, my weight is starting to creep up because I am hungry and eating more. After the banding I was really not interested in food that much and always had more interesting things to do...now I am cruising down to the kitchen, poking about in the fridge, trying to eat healthy but I AM HUNGRY!!!!! So I think the stomach must be pretty well healed. My fluoroscopic fill is on Monday and I will be well and truly ready for it. However, I have always regarded this as a long term thing and was not surprised that the weight loss slowed, stopped and is probably in reverse! It was such a great thing to really not be bothered about food. It will be great to get back to that state, hopefully straightaway post-fill. We are going out to eat (!) that evening as I am having my fill in the same town as my daughter who is at Uni. My husband is coming too, so we are all going to a Chinese restaurant where the vegetarians will be happy, the meateaters will be happy, and the dimsum eaters will be happy too. I am planning just to have some soup!

Hi all of you September Bandits, I am going for my band on 090909 which seems a lucky date. I am not telling many people at all about this so will probably be using this forum for support and hope to do the same for others on here. I am 50 and am paying privately to get my lap banding done. I am a health professional and know how hard it is to get it done on the NHS in the UK. I am keeping it a secret from my patients because I feel rather awkward about it. My colleagues at work know about it and are supportive and in fact very interested. We already have one patient who went privately to have it done and I know of one other person in my area who is having a balloon then a bypass. I am keeping to the low carb, low fat, low just about everything glycogen-reducing diet till the op and the op is my big incentive. I read the book "The Lap-Band Solution" by Paul O'Brien and it was really enlightening. I have also got a recipe book for eating after weightloss surgery, that seems quite good. My inspiration for considering lapbanding was Fern Britton. Once I started reading about it, for me it seemed the perfect answer... :sneaky:

Soco 9/01/09 Amandakrangel 9/1/09 Coloradomom (Gen) 9/1/09 ms_Hart37 9/1/09 mosean6278 09/01/09 katklaws 09/01/09 SmilinShel (Michelle) 09/01/09 Comet321 (Chris) 9/1/09 ivy76 9/02/09 Jenno 9/02/09 $occer mom 9/3/09 Jmtmb (JoLynne ) 9/4/09 JLDChester(Jamie)9/4/09 Cortney75 (Cortney) 9/4/09 Nailpro00 (Diana) 9/4/09 tzn (Karena) 9/8/09 mrsyellis (yohontas)9/08/09 Jules 09/09/09 Soldiersgem(ginna) 9/9/09 pr8453(Pam) 9/9/09 bradybrat 09/09/09 Ready4a2ndchance 9/09/09 travel (Anita) 09/09/09 Brighton Belle 09/09/09 kittkat2009 09/10/09 Hmarko (helen) 9/11/09 stardustic 9/11/09 Dana36 9/14/09 BrentinLA 9/14/09 Queen Bee 9/14/09 amwash23 9/14/09 romain123 9/14/09 Nawlinzlady (Dee) 9/15/09 Anni80 (annie) 9/15/09 Lula 9/15/09 kimr 9/15/09 smallerj (jes) 9/16/09 Boo Cakes 9/16/09 Hardygostlin (Jody) 9/17/09 Loveslady(Tawonda) 9/17/09 Gatorgirl1024 (Shelley) 9/17/09 MishiB (Michelle) 9/17/09 Bendy H (Brenda) 9/18/09 MLeigh (Morgan) 9/21/09 Sharie3 9/21/09 Italia2020 (Mia) 09/21/09 Ariane (Ariane) 09/21/09 Jenna1979 (Jennifer) 09/22/09 BrokeGranny (Jan) 9/22/09 Pookiemp 9/23/2009 leigna 09/24/09 Celestial 9/24/09 Chickychoo (Jill) 09/28/09 Kinzie 09/28/09 QMOM 9/28/09 Soexcited 9/30/09 ShrinkingV (Vickie) 9/30/09 Waynes6 (Jodi) 9/30/09 __________________

Well, I am telling you, I have not had any regrets about having it done at all. Somehow I feel better than I have for some months... I felt very strongly that I had to do something serious about my weight as I was generally not feeling good in a non-specific way apart from all the specific problems with self-esteem, snoring, joints etc. I know it is early days still but I am starting to feel hungry again. I have lost about 10lbs with the pre-op diet and now I am 10 days post-op, feeling pretty good and going back to work on Monday. But it is not long to my first band fill and I am trying to hold on to the feeling I had at the beginning where I could take food or leave it... So try not to be nervous. It is a big change but one for the better. You may feel a bit sore for a few days. I purposely did very little, pottered about the house, watched DVDs and read books and really let myself recover. For all sorts of post-op queries, you can be sure that someone, somewhere, sometime had it already and posted about it on here. I found it really reassuring to look stuff up using the search feature on here. Good luck!

Day 7 and Day 8 for me have seen a huge improvement. That funny heavy uncomfortable feeling in my chest has gone and I am pretty much feeling back to normal. I have not been lifting up anything heavy and have been resting quite a bit as I am on leave, but I do feel ready for work next Monday. food wise I am doing fine. We had spare ribs last night so I ripped the meat off the bones, put in some sauce and some of the noodles and blitzed it all in the magimix. Had to add quite a bit of Water to get it too the sloppy-enough-to-fall-off-a-spoon state. Also I realise I could eat more than I really need so I think the trick is to eat slowly, put the spoon down between mouthfuls as well. I am afraid of eating too much at this stage as I don't want to stretch the pouch. Tonight I am making the roasted butternut squash soup and will freeze some as well.

Day 6 yesterday and a bit tired. Got a bit of brainwork done so that was good. We did lamb in the slow cooker with fennel, potatoes and onions and when I had carved for everyone else I put some in the Magimix for me...which was fine until I chucked in some peas which did not really improve the appearance. Still it tasted good. I blitzed the remains of the meat and veg later in the evening and froze it in small amounts to take to work next week. I got a bit worried and fed up with this pain/ache thing in my chest when I take deep breaths, stretch or just get it out of the blue. Not that bad but annoying. Went on the post-op forum here and typed "chest pain" into the search field and read about a million posts describing exactly what I feel and that was really reassuring, to know that everyone else that has had it got better with time. These forums are really a fantastic resource!

I have got mine! October 12th. As I live a long way away from the hospital, I am having my first fill under X ray so as to try and get into the sweet zone with as few goes as possible.

In the UK we don't have advertising on TV for things like lap banding but I think most of the publicity comes from celebrities who had had it done, notably Fern Britton. I must say I do like the fact that food can wait, there are more interesting things to do in life, in fact I am probably not even drinking enough... Good luck. I have not regretted it yet although still only on day 7

Was not too bad at all. Got up and took dog for a walk. Realised I am not that great with my morning tea - it has got cold the last couple of mornings and I have found a small glass of smoothie much more refreshing. Watched a film, managed to do a few bits and pieces of computer stuff...played Farmsville on Facebook which is great fun if you have time for idling. Decided to make some Butternut Squash soup. Cut it in half, brushed with oil, set the timer and put in oven for 45 mins... came back 45 mins later to find oven cold and butternut squash cold. I had not actually turned on the heat! Said to myself "this sort of thing is why you planned to take two weeks off work!" I made the soup in the end and it was lovely. My daughter had a tooth out so she had some later on and I had some for lunch today and froze a tiny portion for another day. I am still getting this odd achey uncomfortable feeling in my chest when I take deep breaths and at other odd times but I think it is the band settling in. Oh, yes, I peeled off the shiny plastic skin over my incisions and had a lovely bath, in which quite a lot of my superglue came off, too. The wounds feel much better without all that on. And I confess to picking off some of the superglue that seemed a bit superfluous. The rest seems to have fallen of in bed!

Day 4 and today I am feeling pretty good compared to the first three days. Day 1 was not too bad but we were travelling home in the car for 5 hours and I slept a lot. Day 2 I was soooo stiff from the suxamethonium. Day 3 the stiffness was slightly better. But TODAY the stiffness is a whole lot better. Today I got up after a lie in, took the dog for a gentle walk and felt much more normal. Still have a slight indigestion feeling at times if I take a deep breath, and I have still had a few left collar bone twinges but nothing to what it was. I still have some pretty spectacular bruising round the scars and I still have the thin shiny plastic dressing on but can take it off tomorrow. They used superglue on the cuts-how cool is that! food wise, I had a cup of tea in the morning, then a yogurt mid morning. Possible another one somewhere in the day. Some coffee in the afternoon. Tonight I was feeling a bit hungry and wanted something savoury so I had half a small tin of oxtail soup, as my surgeon said no more than five tablespoons of food at a time and it has to be sloppy enough to be able to slip off the spoon. Everyone else was having pizza but I was not tempted by the smell or the look. I ate my soup slowly and had rests inbetween mouthfuls and it was fine. Tomorrow I might actually cook up something like some butternut squash soup and Magimix it and then freeze it in small batches. Also thinking of doing lamb in the slow cooker and I can puree some of that with the veggies and potato...

I had a glass of red wine on post op day 3...it was lovely. I took a long time drinking it and really enjoyed it and one glass was enough.

I am keeping my band a secret from most people around me and after reading this thread from start to finish I am sure it is the right decision for me. I am a health professional and am also self-paying as this is not an NHS option in the UK unless one has a really high BMI etc. My BMI was only 37 and was going up but I thought-why wait? My feet hurt now, my self-esteem is going down as I get fatter, I am snoring worse now ... The only people that know are close family and three people at work that needed to know and they were very supportive. Being in a position where I sometimes give advice about weight-loss there could be issues about this - but what the hell, it is my life and I think I am entitled to some privacy. This thread has been brilliant. One bit that really struck home was a post from earlier on about the idea that we are cheating from Cathy in Georgia. She said "But if anybody ever says you're cheating consider telling them this: If I had a heart condition and a mechanical device or a valve transplant would help my heart keep working you wouldn't say I cheated. If I lost a leg and wore a prosthetic, you wouldn't say I cheated. How can doing something that HELPS me to not suffer be cheating? Remember that I still have the responsibility for what goes into my mouth .... bad choices or good ones. I still have to decide whether or not to get out of the bed at 5:00 AM to walk/run/skip 4 miles before I get ready for work. Explain to me how that is cheating. " This has been a brilliant thread with lots of food for thought.

Well, I am now banded and feeling ok at last! I went in on Wednesday at about 11 o’ clock in the morning and had been nil by mouth since 10 am. The Nuffield in Glasgow is quite a friendly hospital. I spent a lot of time reading and listening to my mp3 player and also met the dietician for a chat. Mr Galloway came in to see me and I signed the consent form. Also met the anaesthetist. Got weighed and I had lost three pounds on the week of low carb, low cal food. At about 3pm I got into my gown and paper knickers and put on my anti-thrombo-embolic stockings and they came and got me about 3.30. There was a bit of trouble putting in the venflon-he had to have several goes as my veins were playing up but then in went the stuff…felt very woozy…next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. I was in quite a bit of pain and it was shoulder pain from the CO2 they put in the abdomen, so I think I got some more morphine. Then I got wheeled back up to my room and was very woozy. My husband had come back to see me but he soon went because I was pretty out of it. The shoulder, upper chest and upper back pain were the worst because of the CO2 but during the night that eased off, but every time I went to the loo it came back as I moved around and I needed more painkillers in the night. Early next morning I felt absolutely shattered and had a splitting headache but gradually I perked up, had some yoghurt and some coffee, then had a shower and got dressed. They had put local in the wounds (of which I have four) so the wounds were not sore. I felt pretty good considering! We set off for home - a 5 hour drive. We stopped for a meal and I had some spoonfuls of broccoli soup which was fine. The local anaesthetic wore off on the way home and I was pretty sore in the tum. By the time we got home at 5ish I was really stiff all over as if I had run a marathon. That got steadily worse and in the night it was agony to turn over-all my abdominal muscles seized up. I reckoned this was due to a reaction to the suxamethonium which is the muscle relaxant they use. I checked the next day with the hospital and sure enough, that was what it was. It is now gradually wearing off. I suffered more with this than the pain from the wound and really had absolutely no problems with the band at all. Except for some gently hiccupping in the car, but that was not painful although took about half an hour to settle. Food wise, well I am not really hungry. Today I had a weight-watchers yogurt mid-morning and one later in the afternoon and about 5 spoonfuls of home-made parsnip soup at dinner with a glass of wine (which I sipped v e r y s l o w l y). Also had some coffee and cups of tea. Have to watch myself as sometimes you just knock back the final bit of a cup of tea and I have to remind myself not to do that but take it slowly and steadily. The family all had sausages, pasta and tomato sauce and it smelt delicious and I fleetingly thought – I’d like some of that! But it was a thought that was really more a memory of how I used to feel, kind of one step removed, and I said to myself-I’m really not that bothered. Which is weird but it is rather nice not to be at the mercy of this strong instinct to eat that was never easily satisfied.