Baba Wawa

There are many factors that impact obesity. There are genetic predispositions (nature), environmental influences (nurture), poor diet, lack of exercise, pre and peri-natal conditions, such as mother's diabetes, abuse, etc. The problem with doctors is that they lump all of us under one umbrella of diet and exercise. After gaining 30 lbs when I became disabled due to spinal stenosis/SI Joint dysfunction, my spine doctor sent me to another back specialist to get a second opinion. After I was weighed (285 lb) he pronounced loudly that my problem was easily managed by diet and exercise! "Get off the couch and onto a treadmill!" Was his advice. I asked if he had any normal BMI patients with my problems and he said he had several. I challenged him to treat me the same as them and his answer was to get to a normal BMI and he'd be glad to. What he didn't know, was that 3 months earlier, I couldn't lift my right foot to put it in a shoe, couldn't walk without help, couldn't dress without assistance. In 3 months, I'd been going to PT 3 times a week to get back some mobility and independence. I left his office in tears, determined that I would find a way to lose and I have. I still have spinal stenosis and sacroiliac joint dysfunction, a knee that needs replaced (injured in sports, I played softball and downhill skied until I was almost 50). The doctors don't get to know us, because they don't have time, they don't care or they aren't educated in the area of nutrition, childhood abuse and the impact of poverty on our population. While our food chain is also to blame, the general perception that obese = lazy glutton by our medical professionals contributes to the guilt, self-loathing and depression that makes us want those over processed, carb loaded foods. I hope for the sake of my grandkids, this changes. An interesting factor in our family, is that my son takes after his father, maintains his ideal weight pretty easily and his kids all have normal BMI. My daughter, who like her brother is very athletic, has struggled with her weight all her adult life; all her children are slightly obese. I had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, not with my son. My daughter had it with her pregnancies, delivering a 9 lb boy at term and 27 months later, identical 31w6d triplet girls weighing a total of 9lb12oz at birth. Coincidence, I don't think so. Just my thoughts for today...

Sure, blame skiing! I started at 30, when we lived in an area close to ski areas. I learned weighing about 200 lb, chasing my 7 and 11 year olds down the advanced ski runs. When I crashed, it was spectacular. I played catcher for almost 20 years on our jack and Jill softball team, going undefeated, lol. My first injury to my left knee, was from skateboarding...I went to junior prom with an ace bandage around it and a dislocated thumb. That thumb is very arthritic today. My back is a mystery, but about a year before it went ballistic, I slipped and fell hard on ice, landing on my right hip. SIJoint Disfunction is very common in women, since the cartilage there becomes soft with pregnancy to allow the baby to pass thru the pelvis. The stenosis is congenital. I can walk a mile on the treadmill but the bikes and elliptical kill the back. My knee and back pain range from a low of 4 to 7-9 on a bad day. If I walk more than I should, the chondral lesion on my knee gets going. I had the injections of synovial fluid several years ago after arthroscopic surgery to remove torn miniscus. Your situation sounds a lot like mine...you take care too!

Our family has eaten quinoa for years. I toast it in a tiny bit of oil, add broth (1c quinoa:2 c broth), cover, cook 15 min on med heat and serve with a dollop of ff Greek yogurt as a side dish. I've made muffin cups with it, eggs, chicken Italian sausage, broccoli and cheese. They end up being about 15 gr Protein each. There are tons of recipes on Pinterest.

A port infection can be a sign of more serious band problems. An infection of this duration and resistance should have been cultured long ago and dealt with aggressively. I would insist on being seen by a different band doctor, since yours doesn't seem to be alarmed by your situation. If your band doctor isn't cooperative, get your PCP/OB doctors involved, since this is an issue of overall health of you and your baby. Surgery to deal with this is a lot easier now than it will be in another month, when the uterus reaches the umbilicus. Best of luck, please keep us posted.

Are you saying you've been taking NSAIDs? Ibuprofen, aleve, even aspirin are NSAID medications and they cause a thinning of the protective lining of the stomach which can lead to erosion. Best to get yourself checked out, ASAP.

Please, please see your doctor ASAP. Keep us posted on the outcome.

I love rack of lamb, yum!!!

LB symptoms you might mistake for something else, causing delay in treatment and subsequent damage. 1) returning heartburn: many of us obese folks had heartburn/reflux and hiatal hernias preop. After surgery, losing weight or HH repair, our symptoms resolve, we go off our meds and carry on with the business of losing weight. IF your reflux symptoms return or increase at any time, at any level, call your band surgeon and consider a small unfill. This early warning could save you from further complications, lifelong damage and misery. It might allow you to lose more weight, since you will tolerate raw veggies, salads better with a bit less fill. It might save your band. 2) chest pain, mid-back pain that radiates to left shoulder, neck or jaw is a sign of trouble; vagus nerve irritation, esophageal spasms, etc. this was my first sign of trouble. I'd waken during the night, with mid epigastric pain, radiating to my left arm, neck, jaw and teeth. Drinking a little Water and/or changing positions helped...over time, it did not. 3) change in bowel habits. I had IBSd most of my life. This last year, it changed to IBSc. I became so constipated, I was having a BM only every 10-12 days. I attributed it to intolerance of salads and fibrous foods. Turns out, I developed a motility disorder affecting my entire GI tract. This is a serious and potentially life threatening disorder. 4) regurgitation of food. If you're eating and feel like you might get stuck, then regurgitate food, your food might not be getting out of your esophagus. This is true, especially if you've had the above mentioned symptoms. If you are burping a lot and regurgitating up small bits of an earlier meal, this is a warning that you have retained food in your esophagus. I have had tiny bits of food from meals days before just come up... 5) random tightening of band (without a recent fill), getting stuck on liquids or soft foods: this is a sign of an esophageal issue. The food isn't getting out of your esophagus, so it's not necessarily your band tightening, it might be psuedo-achalasia, a recently recognized complication of banding. If treated promptly, it can be reversed. If allowed to continue, you risk losing your band and potentially damaging the esophagus permanently. It's amazing to see this on ex ray. The Fluid goes into the esophagus, distending it, while the esophogeal muscles contract violently, trying to force it through. In my case, the entire distal portion of the esophagus was tightly contracted, the mid portion dilated 4x normal and the liquid sloshing around in there. My heart rate increased a lot, since all of this was happening directly adjacent to the heart, hence the name "achalasia cardia". 6) feeling tight with an empty band. This is also a sign of trouble. Empty bands slip more easily. Food getting stuck in your esophagus feels like food stuck in your band...no way to tell without an Esophogram. Any one or combination of the above symptoms is cause to call your band doctor. I'm posting this to bring awareness of these symptoms and prevent someone else from suffering the pain and anxiety I have for the last year. I also believe that had I recognized these symptoms sooner, had some saline removed early on, I might have saved myself a lot of misery and lost more weight. I only had 3.5 cc in my band, was compliant in all respects with diet, nutrition and hydration, but since I saw people posting about their "fickle bands", random tightening, getting stuck on liquids and these things being chalked up to a "normal" consequence of banded life, I wasn't alarmed.

Glad you called your doctor. I would stay on liquids till you go in. Fingers crossed that its just irritation.

Since this was posted two weeks ago, I hope you went to your doctor and figured out what was wrong. Please post to let us know what was done and if it helped

I think that when our bands are working great, we're losing, complication free and enjoying doing things we haven't done in years, we are willing defend our tool and our choice vigorously against "band bashing". The problem is that often the signs that things are getting off track are confusing, feel like other minor issues, until we hit a wall, so to speak. The problems I'm hearing about with bands and motility often feel like something else (esophageal spasms feel like angina) or something commonplace, such as constipation. The other big red flag is when you hear of someone stuck on Water or other liquid. They think their band has randomly tightened, though they haven't had a fill in months or years. In this case, they might be experiencing what I am...achalasia, failure of the LES to open in response to swallowing. This is above the band, food, liquids back up in the esophagus causing dilation and damage. When I post of complications I've had, it is purely to educate, inform and help someone else who might not realize they're experiencing the early warning signs of band complications. Knowing these signs, reacting quickly could mean they reduce the pressure in their band, lessen the damage and save their GI tract from permanent and painful damage. The intent is not to bash, just to inform.

I got a new appointment for manometry on 4/9

Today, I was Dx with achalasia, failure of the LES to open and allow food to enter stomach. This wasn't present 9 months ago when I had my last Esophogram. This is a serious problem and is most likely going to require removal of my band. Achalasia is a rare disorder, with about 2000 people Dx annually in the US, about 1:150,000, but I was told today, it is occurring in about 1% of band patients. To say I am devastated, would be an understatement. The only revision option open to me is RNY, which is not feasible, for other reasons. Following the rules, keeping your band lose, is no guarantee.

Have you found any solution to this problem? I was Dx with achalasia last week.

Thanks everyone! Still waiting on the hospitals to get me a manometry appt sooner than 4/23.

Since we have one great article today from Dr Roslin, why not add a link to another.

Thank you. You raise a lot of questions about the effect physical fitness has on ability to perform the duties of office. No one questioned FDR's leadership because of his physical limitations. The difference between Cheney and and Gov Christie is that Christie's issues are visible. When 100% of the populous is obese, these conversations will cease...life expectancy will shorten. The bigger problem is the control of our food supply by big business. It's a sticky wicket...free enterprise or government managing business. There is no easy answer.

It's difficult to be in that environment at this stage. It will get better, I promise. Just keep thinking of your future, all those things are part of your past, for now. Hang in there!

Often, especially early on in a bandster's journey, they will post, frustrated by a stall or small gain...here's an explanation of why this happens: Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of Water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet. As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.

You can't stretch your band or tighten your stoma. You can stretch your pouch and esophagus if you overeat. The 5 day pouch test will help you to get back on track, determine if you need a fill... It's great that you take responsibility for your regain and are getting back on track! Congrats on your marriage!

While I get your point Missy, it's not legally discrimination if its applied to every employee evenly. There is a benefit in encouraging employees to get an annual health assessment and rewarding those who do. I take issue, however, with the payroll deduction for noncompliance. It would be much more of an incentive if it was a reduction in premiums. My son-in-law works for Boeing and they've had to fill out a health assessment for the last 5 years for every family member. They get a $100+ discount on their health insurance every month for their family of 6 if they complete the assessment. I agree that obesity discrimination is prevalent, we face it every day. I just don't see this as such. I'm not fond of CVS either.

Looks great!!

Thanks, Terry!

I don't think it's "attitude", you used the word cheat in your title and on any WLS site that word will draw a lot of looks, opinions and replies. Those of us who have "been there, done that", seen the problems that come with testing the limits, and struggled with head hunger, cravings and all the other things that got us here, want to save you from making those mistakes and suffering the consequences. I think you'll do fine, but potatoes are something to be avoided during this time. Best of luck to you in your journey!