Bandmom

I am 5'7. I want to be about 135, what I was when I got married, but the nutritionist said 170 is more like it. I dont' know if that is the right number for me, so I figure I will just be happy when I am under 200 and then determine my stopping point when I LOOK good. I don't want to lose so much I look unhealthy, but I want to lose enough to be healthy.....

I am in the KC area. Live out in the boon docks, but work up by Crown Center. I was banded by Dr. Hoehn. Tried Malley as my friend went there but insurance wouldn't pay for him but would for Hoehn...No complaints though. Except that their support group meets during the work day hours so I can't go..............

I feel the frustration. I have my first fill next week and am so ready, because the scale isn't moving. My mom and husband say they can tell I have lost weight from here or there, or things like that but the stupid scale is not moving....I am ready for the next step.

I can eat less then I could before, but more than I think I should be able to. It all goes down fairly easily, even foods I know I won't be able to have after the fill (bread etc) and sometimes depending on what I eat (and if I got two protien shakes in that day) I still will get hungry sometimes....

My immediate family knows and one friend knows about my decision - and my one friend actually had gastric bypass about 5 years ago and is very supportive of my decision.

Others that I have mentioned I was "thinking" about LAP-BAND® have not been supportive - I have had comments of "you are not fat enough" etc. I also have heard all of the horror stories from everyone.

I don't want people to be questioning me or judging me about my decision. So I am going to keep quiet about it.

You go girl. That is my only regret on all this. I just wish all those others didn't know I did this....

My doctor was 30 before and an hour after, and that it wasn't just for not washing things through, but also to help ensure you get the calories and protien requirements instead of just filling up on water.....

I am four weeks post op and feel great. I have issues bending over like they said (you can feel the port hit the ribs, or something that feels like that) but the incisions, and everything are just fine. I was warned that the flying can be a bit of an issue since the altitude can change the restriction on your band, so they said to stick with liquids several hours before the flight and the day after to allow it to resume normal restriction. Without a fill in you should do just fine with it though.

Just watch out of the tiredness......I feel fine most days, but sometimes the tiredness can just hit me. I was told by a nurse before that the medicine they use to knock you out can take quite a while to work out of your system, so often you will be running along fine and just hit a brick wall.....

This is my first post, I have yet to have my band placed and in the very starting phase of the process. I had to post here though because this is one of the prime issues I have with the band.

I have decided not to tell anyone but my husband and my immediate group of girlfriends. Not my expanded group of friends, not my extended family, not even my parents. I may decide this is a mistake and tell them, but I probably won't. I live on the other side of the country as my family so I'm pretty sure I can accomplish this, but part of me still feels like I'm cheating a bit. Logically I know this is untrue- this is a sound decision for my health. I just don't want to encounter any judgement. Most of my family is heavier than me and either struggling with their weight or not. I don't know...

I hope you can do it. I didn't want anyone to know but one person let it slip to another and so on, till everyone knows. I am really more than a little upset about it to the point that I just want to scream sometimes. EVERYONE has something to say, and not all of them are nice or supportive. It is my decision, MINE, so back off.:thumbup:

But I would have loved it to have it kept to just me and my husband.

My surgeon---and the hospital--would not have discharged me without a driver.

There is NO way you will be able to do this safely.

Same here....Hubby had to sign that he was driving me home.

My insurance required my PCP to recommend the surgery. My PCP was very supportive, and said that while she likes to see it occur without the surgery she understands when you hit a certain point diet and excercise just aren't going to work. She was GREAT!

Now I have a lady my husband works with that was considering this and she came back to my husband, knowing I have had this, and stated her doctor said the surgery is a hoax, EVERYONE gains back the weight and MORE, and he won't recommend anyone for it, that she needs to eat 500 calories less then she burns, and excercise and she will do better then any of us "unfortunates" who have fallen for the surgery hype. She said 'he is a very smart guy, so he knows what he is talking about'

WHATEVER...............

anyway I would suggest finding a different PCP because if you get this approved you want one that will support you afterwards, not blame every sniffle, or issue you have on the band.

Does anyone else find it a bit odd how few times you actually see the doctor? Guess that is a great way to keep the fee down for self pay, but it a bit concerning. Everyone is SO nice and seems knowledgable, but you think I would see the doctor more than three times............

I had wanted to keep mine as personal and private as possible, but it seems impossible. No one seemed to understand that this was something I felt was personal to my husband and me, and before I knew it EVERYONE knew. Not happy about that, but there it is and I just have to deal with it now. My co-workers do not know about it yet though.

I found that the majority of the indivduals that are truly close to me were happy, worried about the surgery as they would be any surgery, but so happy for me because they knew the issues the weight caused, and were supportive in my efforts to change.

My mother in law has made several comments about me not leaving her son when I get all thin. I mean come on, I have a wonderful relationship with my husband. I married him when I was thin, it isn't like I just "settled" on him because I was to fat to get anything else. I love him. Gets old.

I found many others just LOVED to tell those horror stories, well so and so has a cousin/brother/friend/sister/whatever, that had it done and they had this go wrong or that go wrong, or died.

I also found that those that had always seemed jealous or cranky that this just made it worse. A cousin who is over-weight but swears she isn't allowed this surgery because of her doctor saying it is just her thyroid (but yet she is gaining even more weight while on an ungodly amount of thyroid medicine) just went on and on about how she doesn't understand how anyone can do this to themselves with all the risks, and her doctor says this about it and that about it, and it just isn't healthy and you would have to be an idiot to go through with it. Oh and tell me is being this overweight all that healthy???? I mean really.

My husband and kids are 1000% supportive. They encourage me, and have done whatever we needed to ensure I succeed on this. And at the end of the day, they are all that really matter.

I am curious to see what the reaction is in a few months when I have dropped a visable amount of weight so that everyone has to take notice that I am no longer the "fat" girl. I may have a different posting at that time. :biggrin:

I think the one general rule is that it gets a little better every day, so definitely hang in there! The gas will pass (literally), the shoulder pain will subside, and the swelling will go down. Not at the same rate for everyone, but it does get better each day after surgery.

It is a good question though - why can't they get that gas out of you at the end of surgery? And why is the gas pain in my shoulder or chest, not my stomach? Mysteries of the universe....

Exactly, they pump it in your stomach and your shoulder hurts? Gives some credence to the accupuncture theory. Maybe we need someone to develop a therapy for this, if you put needles in this spot it will ease the gas pain, or better yet, if you put a needle in that spot you will magically release all the gas....Oh that one might not be so good after all.................:biggrin:

That's my question!!!

Looks like around 5 G on average. Not bad.

Me too... I have felt this from the time I got home. I have only lost 9 lb so far, si it's nothing I am "discovering because I have lost weight". To me it feels like my Dr put the belt on deeper in my abdomen and left the "new stomach" facing outward toward my skin because everytime I eat or drink it swells and becomes visably distended. I was asking the same thing yesterday... If it stays this way as Iose weight I will look like I have a round protrudence from my abdomen all of the time. I never saw myself being one of those who wanted the band removed once I lost the weight... But if my choice is"keep it in and look deformed" or remove it and try to maintain without I may have to go for the latter.

Your are lucky you are married so you don't have to explain it to him. I am casually dating someone that I was hoping might turn into a real relationship in the future. I didn't tell him I was being banded and would prefer not to do so... But this "growth" may be a little difficult to explain. For now next time I see him I will fast for 10 hours or so beforehand, andI will wear one of my Lacey corsettes and not remove it. At least it won't be so noticeable then.

I wonder if I am having this problem because my Dr isn't a LAP-BAND® Dr. He has done arount 150 lapbands, but he prefers the bypas of which he has done hundreds. He tried to talk me into one, but I didn't want anything that drastic. Now I think maybe I should have done the bypass... They can eat whatever they want and stillose weight, plus there is nothing visable to the naked eye that says "hey look at me I have a LAP-BAND®"!

My doctore is a lap-band doctor. He does the bypass as well but he does the lap band as much if not more as well. he is big on doing what fits you, he really pushed the band for me, but for my husband suggests "strongly" that he does the bypass. So I don't think it is just that he did it "different'. It almost feels like the buckle of the band is sticking out, you know the excess part of your belt that you tuck into the next belt loop...that part, that is sticking UP instead of down. My best friend had this done and her port is on the right, mine is on the left.....wonder if that matters.

How many carbs are they?

I haven't had it with hot food, as I don't eat a lot of really hot food. I tend to be the last one in there to eat so it is always more tepid by the time I eat, but I have noticed some issues when I try to drink my Water if it is to cold. Like the band just closes right up on me and the water just sits on top of it for a few minutes, then as it warms up the band opens back up and works just fine. I dont' have any fills yet (first one is June 1) so I can imagine how difficult it will be once I do have one. I have taken to using less ice in my water and not refilling it with ice as often. I am slowly getting used to the warmer water, and all is good. Still worth it!!!!!

Do you have information on getting the LAP-BAND® in Mexico? I think I may have to be self-pay. Thanks.

Not sure where you are at, but a lot of places are now doing self pay specials. I would think the cost to travel to Mexico for the surgery plus the hassel of fills and such down there it can't be that cheap....The doctor I went to has a special right now that all lap bands are only 12,000 and that includes surgeon and facility fees it states....The fact that they dont' have to spend extra administrative fees to file insurance, wait for insurance to pay IF they pay and hassle with all that is enough for many places to give discounts for self pay....I would check into that before looking at going across the border for the surgery. :biggrin:

The gas pain has sucked and the meds haven't seemed to help as much as the walking did but I haven't tried the gas x yet either. I had my surgery yesterday so I can only say that since i have been home my biggest wish is that I could burp and get my soar throat to go away and get the phlegm out of my chest and throat. Coughing is not so comfortable I keep a pillow over my belly to help with it. I also had a hernia fixed. But really other than that I haven't had any major pain, none that I am debilitated by anyways! Which is a blessing. :biggrin:[link=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wCQgVQ0/]

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Yeah I had the congestion in my chest as well, started about day two, and it was not fun. but the gas was still worse. You would think if they could pump it into you , they could figure out a way to pump it back out!!!!

I won't complain at seeing those!!! but this is a good three inches below the bottom of my rib cage, and I can move it around in a funky way. It is starting to bug me, hurts if I try to sleep on my left side, and just really seems to ache if I do anything that is really more then my normal activity requiring stomach muscles. I go in June 1st, so we will see what they have to say. If I have to live with it I will, because it is so much better then the alternative.

I have never heard of the band having a "shoulder." I have a bump where my rib cage comes together, at the end of my sternum. I asked my dr about it and he told me it is called the xyphoid (sp?) process. I not really sure what the purpose of the XP is, but my dr said it is normal for me to feel it now since I have lost so much weight. This is just one of the many new bony parts of my body that I am discovering!

See the problem is I haven't lost all that much weight yet. About 15 lbs, and I have felt it from the day I got home,

Ah, yes-- I remember how much I was looking forward to eating some cottage cheese during the last few days of my liquid phase. Anything that I could use a spoon with made me happy! It's so funny....

Same here, just to be able to chew, even if it wasn't really chewing! I was just so tired of just swollowing my food!!! Soup is good, but man you need some real food every once in a while!

So I was banded yesterday and I totally didn't expect pain like this. It's mostly gas pain, but still, it HURTS. Did anyone here have any severe gas pains? It's not just abdominal gas, it travels from the abdomen to shoulders.. my sides. Just hurts! That and I'm seriously nauseous. I'm definitely experiencing that buyer's remorse that I've heard about!

Yeah and I hate to say this but it got worse for me. Day three or four was the worst, but walking really helped me. Shoulders hurt so bad I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. I was okay with everything else but that. My friend had the surgery and warned me about it so I was somewhat prepared, but still it was bad.....Hang in there, it will go away.

I did get the gas...but the rest of what you describe i did not...banded 4/22...have lost zero pounds......

Nothing so far?

I was banded 4/29 and have lost 15 lbs so far. I do know it has slowed down some now as I dont' have a fill in and you can really tell. I can't eat as much as I used to but I can still eat some of the stuff I know I won't be able to once I have a fill in, so while I am watching what I eat, I am not being 100% good......(no will power, that is why the band is needed)

My surgery was done on April 29. It was so quick I was amazed. I got to the surgery center at about 6:45 AM, and was headed back home by 10. I filled out all the paperwork and was back in the pre-op room by 7:30, I think I had to have had the friendliest, nicest, most accomadating nurse in the world. she was really wonderful. I remember being there about 1/2 an hour, my husband and daughter were back there for the majority of the time, and we were just laughing and looking at funny pictures on my daughters computer. Then they gave me something in the IV to 'calm my nerves' and I dont' remember anything after that!! My daughter said I started laughing at everything, telling her how much I loved her and just laughing. She said I was freaky!!! Then I remember being moved from the gurney to the operating table, telling them my feet were cold and then I am waking up, and being told it all went great. I was like, no way you can't be done yet. I did the drink test, ate a few ice chips, required no additional oxygen, and was told I was a model patient, they wish they all went as well as me. The lady that had the surgery done before me was still there, but I did so great, they had me get up, and if I could dress myself I was able to go. My husband had to help with the socks and shoes, and honestly I didn't put my bra back on, because the incisions are right there so I didn't want to push things! I got home, and was feeling great. I walked around a lot because I am on hormone replacement and I didn't stop the medicine, so he warned me that I had to be careful on blood clots, I drank my broth, ate a couple sugar free popsicles, and have had no complications. The doctors office and the surgery center staff have been so nice and friendly through it all!

I was sent home with pain medicine, and for the first day I didn't really need it but after that the pain I had to deal with was all from the gas. My shoulders, neck and upper back were just hurting so bad. I would walk to help ease it but honestly nothing, not the medicine, the walking or anything helped. I broke down on day 4 post op and cried, freaked my husband out, but the pain was just getting to be to much by then. It would come at the oddest times, stay for what seemed like forever, and never ease up. The pain medicine didn't really help with it but it allowed me to sleep through a lot of it. My friend suggested gas x strips as she used them when she went through this, but when I sent my hsuband to the store to get them, he got the pills which are huge so I couldn't take them. (It was the thought that counted!) But walking and doing a sort of bounce as I walked would help the most to work it all out. Day 6 is when I noticed it lightening up, but honestly I still get a little bit of that pain now and I am 3 weeks out. but it is once every couple days and it lasts for maybe 5 minutes and is only 1/100th of the pain I felt those first few days.

I have my first fill set for June 1. It will be with someone other then the physician assistant I saw last time, so I will watch it to see if it goes down with the swelling and ask again at the fill, if they can't give me a better answer I will see another doctor on it. I haven't had any issues, no vomitting, no compliants, so I don't want to seem like a "whiner" over somethig like this, but I guess it doesn't hurt to just check it out..........

Thanks