Katy517

I've no idea what could be the cause and not heard of that type of experience from anybody else here. Would suggest that you make an appointment with your surgeon pronto. Your symptoms sound serious. Good luck.

Thank you, that means a lot coming from somebody who just passed the 100 pounds lost milestone. Kudos to you!

It changed mine tremendously and for the better too. I used to have incredibly problematic and far too frequent bowel movements. Things now are much better and pretty much normal, which is something that I haven't known for 15+ years.

Funny you should mention pictures. I had pics taken the day of my surgery and just had more taken yesterday - 2 1/2 months post-op. Still hard for me to see much of a difference, but my face does look a little thinner now.

I've heard others refer to the 'magical' 60 pound milestone. Love adagray's response too that she's been aware of the cosmetic changes all along. That's something that I aspire to as being in touch with my body and body image was never something that came naturally to me, even when I was thin.

Whillow has a great line in her signature here that reads "My "Oh yeah" moment when I *saw* the changes 2/12/2010". When was yours? Those close to me say they can see a difference now that I'm down almost 50 pounds, but I still don't see it. Wondering how it is for others who are further along post-banding.

You beat me to it as I was going to mention fills. The hospital that I go to is charging $992 per fill though. Only one has been billed to my insurance company though and I don't yet know how much they'll actually pay as a negotiated price. I know that if I weren't insured I could find a more reasonably priced alternative to have them. Also, be sure that everybody on your surgical team is covered by your insurance. I'm fighting now regarding the assistant surgeon's bill as he's not covered on my plan and $3400 of his $4000 bill was deemed to be over and above 'usual and customary' charges by my insurance company and thus not paid.

I'm down 47 pounds at this point and haven't considered wearing different clothes to this point so am still wearing the clothing I was pre-band. I keep wondering when I will see a difference too. I feel much better, but that's about the extent of the progress as it's not cosmetic so far.

It's different for everybody. Many say three fills, but folks differ. You should probably make an appointment with your doctor and find out for sure how much you're filled with and if you're due for a fill.

There are several posts here about this very subject, a few of them my own. Based on the responses that I've received, I don't believe it's normal. You're lucky you have no pain though. I'm ~2 1/2 months post-op and I still have a great deal of port pain and discomfort. My suggestion is to speak with your surgeon about your concerns. I have and mine says the only thing that can be done to resolve it is another surgery.

My understanding is that in many cases there are different prices for cash pays vs. insured so the prices you're referring to are those that are billed to insurance companies knowing there will be a significant reduction in the amount actually payed. I know a few people who are cash payers for healthcare (they consider themselves to be self-insured) and they typically negotiate prices for large ticket medical expenses in advance at greatly reduced prices to what gets billed out to insurance companies.

What size band? What is it filled to? How many fills have you had? When was your most recent fill?

Congrats on your weight loss. I'd suggest that your starting weight might be pertinent as those with more weight to lose are going to lose more and more rapidly especially on the liquid diet. As to what foods are allowed, that's very unique to each doctor. I was not allowed any mushy type foods at all and was limited to a full liquid diet for a full six weeks post-op. No mashed potatoes or anything else of that consistency. Cream Soups, Jello, etc. were my daily regimen. Please check with your doctor and good luck.

I had some pretty bad diarrhea post-op and did report it to my surgeon. He was concerned enough to order a c-diff test on a stool sample. Turned out to be negative and the diarrhea was attributed to too much 'rich' diluted fruit juice and cream soup. Do you have a regular doctor that you can ask while your surgeon's away?

Try not to be discouraged and remain positive and committed to this lifestyle change that you have entered into. The band is only an aid to weight loss though and we each must do our part in order to make it successful. Every doctor is definitely different. I was on liquids for a full six weeks post-op. As for pills, the bariatric coordinator at my surgeon's office advised of the need to crush what could be crushed and to substitute liquid medicine options where possible for other meds at our preliminary visit a good six months prior to surgery. It was at that same visit that I was given a document with dietary guidelines that outlined what foods would be difficult if not impossible to include in a post-band diet plan. I'm grateful for receiving that information early on and wish that other physicians would share at that same level. Good luck.

I haven't told any co-workers and only a very few good friends and close family members. I don't intend to tell any more than already know and have asked those that do know to keep it to themselves.

Had my 2nd fill yesterday. The original 6.5 cc was measured and removed from my band and 8 cc was added. I'm very sore today and still doing liquids. Am hoping that I get decent restriction since I did not at 6.5.

That's really interesting. I will ask about it at my next visit.

I'm 2+ months post-op and have a port that still sticks (way) out along with pain and discomfort - especially when exercising and/or bending over. Mine has gotten a little better and easier to deal with over time, but it's still very much a constant irritant.

I went to a different hospital for my 2nd fill than I did for surgery and the 1st one. Not by choice really, just because the doctor who does fills at the other hospital is on vacation and I didn't want to wait two weeks for my 2nd fill. The first thing that I found interesting was that the doctor was much more informative than the other one or my surgeon. This doctor just started out by telling me how he approaches fills for 14 cc bands and that his experience tells him that folks typically get restriction at between 8 and 9.5 cc. I then asked him about filling to band capacity and he said that the capacity for a 14 cc band is really only about 12 cc. That's the first I'd heard that it can't actually hold 14 cc. Then we got started on my fill and he caused a lot more discomfort than the first doctor. I'm still sore in fact. He proceeded to drain my band of the 6.5 cc of saline from fill #1. I asked about it and he told me that he does that because some folks have problems with their bands leaking or whatever and this is a great way for him to be sure that a band hasn't lost Fluid. He mentioned that it's also helpful for patients like me who were filled elsewhere previously. It seems pretty simple as a practice, but I thought it sound and it makes a lot of sense to me. Once I was filled to 8 cc I did the barium swallow and drank way too much of it and had a horrible case of the burps, but feel better now. Lots of small sips of Water have helped. So, that's my story. Nothing earth shattering, but a couple of pieces of information that I hadn't previously been aware of. He gave the usual directive about 48 hours on what he termed as 'light liquids'.

Here are the links to a couple of threads regarding the 14cc band and what it takes to get restriction http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/how-many-ccs-restriction-14cc-52373/ & http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f13/poll-poll-how-much-fill-14cc-band-111551/.

Welcome from lurkdom. I have a 14cc band and it's currently filled to 6.5cc with no restriction so far. There's at least one thread/poll here about fill amount to gain restriction in a 14cc band.

I'm wondering the same thing Lynn and posted about it in the insurance forum http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f8/insurance-changes-after-banding-lots-uncertainty-116541/ several days ago. No responses so far to my thread. U.S. vs. Australia location might make a big difference though as we have no 'public system'.

I weighed 259 on my 4/15/10 surgery date. On 5/15/10 (which was prior to my 1st fill) I weighed in at 241 pounds - so a loss of 18 pounds in the first month.

This. Even the lo-cal options are loaded with sodium too Official SUBWAY Restaurants' Nutrition Information. I try to steer clear of processed foods as much as possible.