jalomum

Some folks believe that the tighter you have your band then the faster you loose the weight. This is not necessarily true as it stops you swallowing healthy food and makes you turn to junk food, high cal choc. shakes, ice cream etc. You need to find the balance where you can still eat small healthy meals but are not hungry most of the time. Please notice I use the words 'not hungry' rather than 'full' or 'satisfied'. In my opinion too many folks want to feel full all of the time rather than just not hungry and there is a big difference. I think there are more people that fail their bands than there are bands that've failed their people!!! Good luck on your journey.

How seasoned? I am 13 months out and I have no regrets. Not an easy journey but any means but definitely rewarding if you put in the thought and effort. It is the means to an end rather than a permanent surgical change.

I see you are now on the sharp bit of the learning curve... everytime you bring something back up it will cause some swelling so you need to be aware that if something did not go down the first time then it probably won't after either. If you wait until you feel full before you stop eating then you are probably eating too much. Stop when you no longer feel hungry. The pressure building is because the food you ate, after you should have stopped, is backed up and cannot get through into the main part of your stomach. Food is not meant to sit in your oesophagus and it is not designed to handle it. Try to eat just enough to fill your pouch but not to the point where there is a queue of food waiting to get in!! That queue of food brings pain and will also stretch your pouch.

A bit like an over-flow pipe dripping?? :thumbup:

Love every bit of your post Elcee. Couldn't have put it better myself :thumbup:

Hve you had any fills? Do you pb or does the food go down on it's own...never to return? Any sliming?

you need carbs. Good quality un-refined, low gi carbs. Ketosis is good for short periods but I believe the fact that it burns so much fat means it releases lots of toxins into your blood that your kidneys will struggle with.

You only believe most of these things to be really yummy because your taste buds are screwed. You pump yourself full of processed carbohydrates choc full with artificial additives and think there heavenly. If you stop eating this crap for 6 months you will realise how awful most of it really tastes. Good chocolate cake is very yummy I agree but not all the time and there are heaps of other yummy food flavours and textures out there if you take the time to taste while you eat instead of bolting it in order to head for the dessert trolley and soda bar. Put the effort in to re-align your taste buds and you will become like a reformed smoker...unable to tolerate the things you once believed you were unable to live happily without. Good luck with your journey and choices but I suspect from your attitude that you may be doomed:frown:.

I was 138kg and now I am 92kg, that is a loss of 33.33% does that mean I am dead or that my body has shut down?? She's a stupid woman who does not know what she is on about. Maybe if you weren't over weight at all and then you lost 20% then you body would start shutting down, essential organs, functions etc...but not if you are heavily overweight to start with....tell her to go back and read the whole sentence and try to take it in context this time!! Just my opinion of course:tongue_smilie:

Did she tell you the one about Goldilocks and the 3 bears too??? Hehehehe

Everyone is different but here is what I would try first...pb'ing gets you all swollen up so everytime you bring something back it aggravates it and the swelling won't go down. I'd be drinking clear liquids for a few days, watering my shakes down to a thin consistency. I wouldn't try anything thick or mushy for a few days and see if it improved at all. If it didn't then I would be off to have an unfill. If it did improve at all then I would take it very slow to get back up to real food and next time I had a pb attack I would go on thin liquids straight away to limit the damage....besides, life for me is bearable as long as I can drink tea :-) Can you remember what it was that got stuck in the first place? Best of luck

Type 1 or 2?

Sounds like you made the right decision. Fills CAN cause temporary swelling, pbing CAN cause temporary swelling, being stuck will cause swelling and I've always found that the best course of action is to go on liquids for a couple of days and then avoid making the same mistake again.... Walking, stretching and generally moving around seems to help move stuck things. Also pineapple juice and Papaya Extract tablets seem to help it to move too. Good luck with your journey :-)

I think it is quite common to not share that piece of info. Some that have done so quite readily have regreted it :-( I am just over 12 months out and have only told hubby, 2 kids, one acquaintance and a couple of members of staff at my local pharmacy and doctors surgery. Now I have lost over 100lbs it is getting to be a pain when people say 'wow you've lost, you look great, how have you done it?' I can't stand not telling the truth and I can't be bothered to tell everyone the whole story. I am starting to think I might put an announcement in the local paper and get it over and done with :-P

Hello again Swirl, thanks for the extra info :-) Now we know what you're up against. I am glad you are losing weight and now involved in lots of dialogue about your band and problems, I kind of feel it will be good for you to 'talk' to those on here and get support and feedback. You have lots of problems and I don't know what has caused them but I am sure that obesity wasn't helping them and so every pound, hell honey every ounce you lose will have to lessen the load on you already stressed body. With your heart and liver conditions it is even more imperative you give your body the correct fuel it needs to function and try to repair itself or arrest the damage. I think the emotional side of this road you are travelling is so much harder than the physical one. I don't mean the hunger thing, I mean the 'why me' 'it's not fair' etc that makes us sadder inside. Maybe your doctor should have postponed your surgery or maybe he thought it all important to give you the best shot to drop your BMI and reduce the strain on your heart so you could be here to fight. I had my band as a last resort after life-long un-diagnosed health problems lead me to 138kg. I was on the verge of a heart attack and figured I didn't want to leave just yet. I didn't want a band, I didn't feel I should have had to have one but I was told by a couple of my specialists that it was the best way to deal with the major factor in my health decline regardless of the causes behind my massive weight. So I cried and screamed, ranted and raved, made the decision and got banded within 4 weeks and 12 months later I have never felt fitter or younger or more energetic for 20 years and I still have 30kg to lose. If I had not had the band I could have been dead...very dead. The band has not been easy but it was better than the alternative. I do feel sorry if you feel we have been unfair but I feel very pleased that the strongly worded replies have resulted in you posting back and opening up and becoming part of the group. I wish you well with your struggle, keep posting you struggles, loses and victories, you will be answered. They may not be quite the answers you are looking for but at least you know we are listening to you :-) Best regards and wishes

Hello Swirl It would be nice if you could give some more info on what you are struggling with and what you have found out since being banded that you did not know before. I have looked at all your previous posts and with the exception of the first one (in which you were excited to have got your date for 8 weeks later) all the rest are of being 'sick of hurting', 'sick of liquids' - 5 days out and not being happy because you haven't lost any weight pretty much for the most of it. Were you sick of being fat and that is why you took the step of getting banded? Your pre-band life must have been just hunky-dory as it sounds like everything has gone wrong for you since 15th June and you are now more miserable than you have ever been before. Let's just blame it on the band. You are now almost 2 months out and still venting and making negative statements without giving any reasons why you feel this way. Is that because you don't want any advice or support? Are you not wanting help from anyone else to succeed or to work through the things you are struggling with? Are you happy to go it alone and not get it right? Do you think it is safer to blame it on the band than to give it your best shot and risk not succeeding? Your negative post is not helpful to yourself or others. FYI: I did do my homework and I did have a band in Aug 09 and I have lost 101 pounds by using what I learnt from every source I could get info from and I will continue to gleen every bit of valuable info from this site and other sources to make the best of and get the most benefit from the choice I made...dare I suggest you start trying to do the same. Give it your best shot. There is so much help and advice on this site but you gotta tell what the problem is, specifics and you will be supported and helped. Good luck with all your struggles, whatever they may be :party:

I owe you an apology :-) I did not mean to make you feel un-welcome or as if you were asking daft questions. Your question is/are very valid...I was 'tongue in cheek' when I posted the first line...I've said it before etc. I just meant that I have mentioned that it may be a little key-hole but a very big, long key the put into it...I was very sore too and I should think with SIL that all of the pain is concentrated around one incision not spread around over 5. The whole idea of them doing it through my poor belly button makes me wince and cringe. I think you must be very brave to have had it done that way :-) I also thought afterwards that I should have added that if you have any concerns you should contact your surgeons office and have a word, just to allay your fears or let them know that you are a little uncertain and uncomfortable. Once again, I apologise for using my 'talking in person to someone who knows me well' tone in the post and I assure you that no offence was meant. Please continue to post :-) TTFN :-)

Chill out Pickles26...isn't it often said that God helps those that help themselves? Or am I missing something crucial? Give it your best shot and your most positive attitude.

Hello I've said it before and here it is again...it is called 'Key-hole Surgery' little hole, big key....check out the vids on YouTube, they put so many things in through your belly button and then drag them around to do what they are doing in there that masses of bruising all the way through and around the incision are inevitable. The wound is small but it goes all the way through every layer of you to your stomach on the inside. All those layers have to heal and it is not a 5 minute job. Every time you move it will slow the healing process and strain the incision. I had 5 incisions and the one they did most work through was painful for a good couple of weeks, the others were good after a week. I hope you feel better soon

Yes, mine did too in March of this year (banded Aug 09). It was reading 649 and the Alb/Cr Ration was 45.7 which apparently means I should have been on dialysis!! But I've never felt better for years so WTF??? Re-tested in June and results were back down to 116 and 23.2, both of which are still high but lowering. I did wonder if it is the toxins from the body fat we are using up. Any large amount of weight loss releases toxins and this would show up in blood and urine screening. Do de-tox diets have a similar effect? I am still losing weight but also walking for about 2+hours a day so I may be processing things differently these last few months. A nurse friend of mine who is familiar with renal stuff thought, judging by the first results, that I had a torn membrane but apparently they take the force of a punch, kick etc to tear and I don't recall any in the last few years :-) Go see the specialist and get it checked out but hopefully for you, like me, it will just be an anomoly and will resolve itself. Unless there is something my GP isn't telling me!! Best of luck with it. Let me know if your Kidney Spec comes up with anything interesting please.

I've just had a similar thing but it only lasted for a couple of days and it was the first time it happened. I will be keeping a careful watch for it next month as it caused me a few problems and I didn't work it out until the second day. With regards to having an unfill, I guess that would depend on what your restriction is like the rest of the month. If you don't want an unfill then I you may be ok if you can drink liquids. Stock up on Protein drinks, supplement drinks etc for the days you are unable to eat solids. Obviously you can only weather it if your periods are regular and you can still drink liquid easily. Good luck :-) Knowing what's the problem is half the solution.

In defence....I think you mis-read quilterlou's reply, she was expressing sympathy directly to 'thatgurl' who is the lady who posted. I believe you mis-read it as 'I feel sorry for that girl'. Please re-read the original post and check if you did mis-understand it or not...an apology may be in order to quilterlou who was genuinely expressing her sorrow for the lady's situation and lack of support from her spouse. That's not rude at all.

sounds like we're either married to the same man or just as lucky as each other

rinse a tea-cup out with cold water, don't dry it, break an egg in to it and prick the yolk. Cover & microwave for around 30 seconds (depending on egg size and microwave power) for a quick, easy and mess free poached egg.

Well at least all the anxiety and deep thinking means you are not taking this lightly and you are aware there will be massive changes to things other than your weight. I drink/guzzle Water every day...the only time I can't is when I have: a) just eaten - you should for 30 mins or so until the food has gone through the band or it puts pressure on and hurts. :cursing: I have eaten something that has stuck in the opening of my stomach - usually swallowed absent mindedly in a rush not to miss a gap in the converstation!! The process of it being stuck and coming back out/up usually causes swelling, then I am sadly reduced to sipping for a day or 2 and not even my morning cups of tea will go down. One can only sip whilst partially blocked, may last a day or 2, as the swelling subsides and full guzzling should be able to resume after that day or 2!! I find I never get anything stuck if I eat on my own with a book! Drink goes through ok if you have not eaten which is how people manage to eat around their band and stuff themselves with 'slider foods' then moan they have lost no weight. If your band is so tight you cannot drink water at a normal speed then it is too tight and you will not be able to consume good food so you will not loose weight, you will be very tired, very hungry and you will be very bloody miserable!! Good luck with your decision and journey in whichever direction you go :-)