Humming Bird

Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to offend. What bothers me is that you said , "NEWS FLASH....!!!!! It doesn't work that way... you have to still watch EVERY THING you eat (even more now), you still have to get up off your rear end and exercise..... LB surgery is not a SURE THING.... You have to work at it, and it takes time." and..........um, yes it does work that way for some of us! I DO NOT watch everything I eat. Surgery was a sure thing for me. I do not exercise. I do not "work at it". So, the "news flash people!" thing is sort of offending in general. I don't think 100 pounds in one year is slow.

I love your pics. You're very pretty. Yes ...... the weightloss makes me look older. It sucks, but not as much as being at my highest weight sucked, so I'll take it. ps, I'm 46 (soon to be 47) and some days feel like I look much older, but I feel so much better!

Wow, it's a true shame he didn't give you a fill. Getting to my green zone is the thing that kept me on track. Of course my diet and portions were not proper before my band was properly adjusted. That's how and why I was morbidly obese! Being in the green zone is how I dropped 100 pounds in a year. I didn't have to do all that old fashoned dieting stuff that got me were I was like a big yo-yo.

I guess it's all in how you look at it. In my case I think it is the easy way (I must be one of those morons...lol). It's the easiest 100+ pounds I've ever taken off. It's the easiest weightloss plan/diet I have ever been on (I've done them all). It's the easiest weightloss I've ever maintained for any length of time. I have not worked hard at this weightloss since the day I was banded. I don't lie about how I dropped over 100 pounds. I don't tell people I go to the gym or workout or watch what I eat because I don't do those things and those things only work long-term for 5% of people. I am thrilled it has been so easy. Why would I want to do it the hard way? I think the hardest part of my journey was the hit to my bank account as I was self-pay, but I have it all paid off now and feel it was money well spent and worth every dollar.

It really bothers me when people are so high and mighty that they post "news flash" and think they know it all. I could post the same thing with the way the band has worked for me, but it wouldn't make me more right than you are. The band works different for everyone. In my case, my post would be : "News Flash! The band works like magic if you have proper restriction! Quit whining people! It isn't hard work at all! You are only making it harder than it has to be! See what I mean .........

I agree with Peach ...... it just doesn't sound right. If the opening were the size of a pencil, you could not eat hamburgers and fries. You would not be able to drink with meals. You have never had restriction and, from my experience, this is why you have not reached goal.

I agree with what Jacqui said. They should have told you about the foods that may give you trouble, but we are all so different. You won't know the things that give you trouble (if any) until you are banded. Even after you are banded things may change a bit over time. In my case there are foods that I'm sure I will never be able to eat again and some that I had trouble with the first year, but eat now.

I'm not so sure the best way to discourage minors reading this type of stuff is to put SEX in the topic line.....lol

If its like a ball of foamy spit it's "slime". It's not indigestion or bacterial. It's simply mechanical and how the body works. It was explained to me (I think here at LBT by a doc) that the esophagus works like a switch. If there is food in the esophagus, it will first try the down swich ...... if there is no room in the pouch, it will try the up swich ....... The body's normal digestion process starts with saliva production. This production is increased greatly when there is food too high up in the pipes or when it feels something stuck in the pipeline. As we produce more saliva we swallow more air with it in the process. It makes the event worse, and then the nausea sets in. It is something most bandsters experience. It is part of the learning process of figuring out how to work this crude tool called the lapband. I got so grossed out by this process that I learned fast how to avoid the situation again. I make sure I chew every bite well. I don't chew the food to a liquid state or so much I get grossed out, I just make sure everything is well chewed. I listen to my full signal and stop even if there is only one or 2 bites left on my plate. When I get that full signal, those last 2 bites go in the trash. I also learned very quickly there are some foods I may never be able to eat again and I don't miss them. I'll give you 2 examples: I will never eat eggs again ........ I tried them 3 different times in the first 18 months. The first time was in the mushy stage when they say eggs are ok .... NOT! a couple bites and I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die. The second time I had been on solid food for months. I slowly ate a hard boiled egg ....... threw it up shortly after I ate it. The 3rd time I tried some scrambled eggs at 18 months post-op....... The result was a ball of egg yolk colored slime!!! ewww!!! I no longer crave eggs. I have had a very hard time with dense meats since day one. I was trying every type of protein I could think of. .........the results of one of these tests was a ball of spam colored foam floating in the toilet after I had to throw it up ..................ewww! Don't even ask why I tried spam.....

As for the original post ....... I think I agree with whoever said it has improved my situation ......... no anatomy details from me My port is centered about 1 1/2 " below my sternum and has not been in a bad spot for anything including sex.

Now that made me smile ....... I had a friend that used to talk like that and it always made my day! "I won't be able to stand myself...." love it

The foam is what we bandsters call "slime". It happens when you get food stuck in the stoma or when you have eaten too much. Your body produces extra saliva in an attempt to move the food along in the digestive system. Make sure you chew every bite well and stop eating when you feel your soft sign/full signal. This can have a delayed reaction....like when you are in class or in the car on the way home from eating out.

Pain would not have been a problem for me at that point, but the fatigue would have made me back out of the bridal shower at the last minute. A simple shower was kicking my ass at that stage.

I agree with you. The Drs. I have talked to and the info that can be found online state the capacity of the pouch is about 1/2 cup. From my own experience, 2cups of food at a meal would mean I have no restriction and the food is going right through the stoma and to the lower part of my stomach. I would not have had the success (100 lbs in 1 year) if I had kept my band that loose.

I don't know enough about the woman or the surgeon to comment on her death. It is a shame, but at this point it could have been some other medical condition that caused her death. I find it interesting they commented about the weight that was listed on her driver's license. Of course we all keep our exact true weight updated with the DMV! NOT! Geez ........ my license says I weigh 180. It said that when I weighed 264 and it still says it now when I stay below 160.

Mine is centered about 1-1 1/2 inches below my sternum. It's been a perfect placement for me. It's well below my bra. I am a stomach sleeper and have had zero discomfort with it.

The capacity of the pouch is NOT 1-2 cups.

Of course I'm not a Dr., but here's my 2 cents worth: OMG! At that rate it will take forever to get to the green zone so your band will work properly. In my case, the doc put in 2.7cc during surgery and by my 2nd fill I was at 5.3cc and found my green zone there. I didn't need another fill again for 10 months. I believe that alone was the key to my success. Because I hit the green zone so early in the process I saw success with very little effort on my part. I dropped 100 pounds in the first year. I am one of the few who believe it is all about restriction (proper restriction). I really frrl my success has been 90% band with proper restriction and 10% food choices on my part. The proof is in the pudding. If your doc refuses to bring you to proper restriction, I would seek out a new doc.

I guess I'm on the fence with this one. I do feel the way stateofzen feels when she talks about boob jobs vs. WLS. Morbid Obesity has the word morbid in it for a reason. It's a serious condition. That being said, I don't think it's even close to organ transplant when it comes to needing help with funding. I paid cash for my surgery. I have no health insurance, so I financed it and made payments. This surgery is much less than people pay for a car nowdays. It bothers me sometimes when people want assistance with things, but drive an expansive car and manage to spend money on things like fake fingernails and pedicures on a regular basis. I guess that is why I'm on the fence about the fundraising thing. I would have to know details about the person before I would donate for WLS.

A healthier diet can improve your pocket readings, but Rx meds cause all sorts of problems with the tissues in your mouth as well. If you are taking vits. you could see improvement too. I'm glad to hear your gums are better this time. (I'm a RDH) ps, floss daily

After over 2 years with the band, I have forgotten what it feels like to have the old "full" feeling. I have not eaten a full plate of food in 26 months. I am now able to know when to stop eating without really giving it any thought. I do get hungry when it's time to eat. I eat more than 3 times a day, but very tiny amounts. I think it was very helpful in the beginning, and as I got restriction with fills, to listen to my soft signs. My doc. told me that many bandsters have one hiccup or a sigh when they are getting full. For me, if I wait for the hiccup it's too late and I have taken a couple bites too much. I have several soft signs. One that happens the most is a runny nose or sneeze. It's a learning process, but I now know how to stop eating just before my signal. If I take one or 2 bites too much I have a sneezing fit and have to blow my nose. There are several threads here at LBT where people talk about their soft signs. In my case, during the first few weeks of good restriction, if I ate past the soft sign the food would be in my esophagus. I'm very sensitive to this and it would cause the food to come back up. A couple episodes of throwing up cured me of eating that last bite that would put me over my full line.

I'm sure you will be fine. At this stage you don't have restriction so I don't think you have done damage. Just get back with the program.

sorry.... Back to the OP........ In my first year of being banded I reached my sweet spot on my 2nd fill. My fills were large amounts to start and I had a 2.7cc fill during surgery. My starting BMI was 41.3. I have a 10cc band and my sweet spot was at 5.3cc. If I had it any tighter at that point, I would have not been able to eat anything but fluids. I stayed at that restriction level for a very long time (10 months or so). Today, I'm 26 months post-op and am at 5.7cc. I have great restriction and the band is doing it's job. I really don't think BMI has anything to do with it. It's the size and thickness of the stomach it's self. Maybe a 10cc band would have worked better for you. It is my understanding that the large 14cc band is used on large men and such.... I think if I were in your shoes, I would go get another fill, and another until I reached restriction.

lol....too funny, the same site was the first one that came up for me earlier today when I searched it.