thsisme

Jersey diva, don't give up! you are losing and that is what matters most! Questions for you: are you journaling your food intake? Are you exercising? What is your carb, fat, protein intake like? Do you have access to a nutritionist who might be able to help you along the food path? I have found that by keeping a journal of my food intake, water, and exercise keeps me pretty on point. Mind you it is not a perfect process, but it sure does assist me in trying to figure out why I haven't lost. Take care and keep us updated

What a great idea, going to try it this week! Thanks for sharing and the storage idea is great as well!

congrats and I wish the best of luck! let us know how you're doing on your progress towards bandsterdom!

As princess said, I would add protien to your milk or soy milk as the case might be. You might want to try another brand of protein. Vanilla I find can be a good flavor to add to your milk/non milk product to help keep your protein needs up. Immodium, or you might want to try adding some fiber to your drink. Remember the fiber may take a bit to cut in. No topic ....ok well let me modify that almost no topic is to gross for this forum at one time or another there are always a few of us who have experienced one thing or the other and it always helps to know that you are not alone out there in bandster land!

From what I have heard and read. Port pain is the last to go! It does get better and better with each passing day. My experience was that it took 4 months for the tenderness to go completely away. It doesn't bother me now at all now that I am 8 months out. Hang in there...it really does get better!

Mattie and Rachael, have got it right at day 3 you are probably still on liquids and you were 8-24 hours pre op without any food. so your body probably has nothing to put out as of yet. This will gradually happen as you re-introduce foods into your daily diet. As some before have mentioned, you might want to mix some type of fiber, i.e. benefiber or something similar into your protein drinks to start getting some fiber into your body. Everybody is different, just pay attention to it as you start to introduce foods back in and remember some folks do get constipated, so drink, walk, and be prepared to take fiber or stool softners or laxatives as your bariatric team suggests. Take care and I wish you all the success that we all here on this pathway deserve!

Sometimes there just are no easy answers. As Elfiepoo stated perhaps a hobby that you can keep busy with. Try chewing on gum or perhaps drinking flavored water. We all have our demons with our relationship with food and the world around us. I go walking when the urge comes upon me to start grazing. You are not alone in this battle

obviously, the best is to have someone drive you and your son, but if you don't have anyone and you are not taking any pain meds and are not sleepy (obvious safety thought processes) make sure that you protect your incision site(s) by using a small pillow / pad to protect you from the seat belt. You energy levels will be low, so take rest where you can and take it slow. Some folks do just fine after surgery and only need to protect their incision sites.

During an emergency, paramedics/Emergency personnel will not take the time to look at every piece of jewlery. and like Cocobean stated if the symbol is not large enough for them to see, they will probably miss it and not turn it over and they will not be searching the ankles for medic alert info (unless that is the area of problem) as they are going to be focusing on the area(s) that is causing the emergency or trying to perform procedures to keep you alive or stable. ID for the reason of the port..yeah I could see that one, but I assume (and you know what they say about those of us who assume) that if they see the word Gastric band/lapband that they will know what the port is. If they do not, then usually the thought might be a vascular implant device going directly into an organ in which case they need to leave it alone any ways....Just my thoughts...

Topazz, I know how you feel! To all of those that have lost or have met their goals for this challenge...CONGRATS! To all of us who are still working towards our goal...CONGRATS!

Tylee, hope all goes well for you. Keep your thoughts positive no matter what the surgery decision. I hear tell that we WLS folks have a higher rate of gall bladder surgeries due to our lower fat intake. I wish you the best. Kelly congrats on finishing your class, however, very sorry to hear that you hurt your back. Hoping you are doing better and better! LIfe is coming along for me, the weight loss (as expected) has slowed down, and I was stuck there for a few weeks at the same weight, changed up my exercise routine, went back to the basics and have finally (at least for this week) lost a few lbs! I am still happy as to the level of weight loss that I have achieved and feel ever so much better!

yo, yoing, finally lost 2 lbs after staying the same for 4 weeks!

benefiber can help or increase your fiborous veggie intake through out your week, lots of water to keep things workin along!

BCBS: always depends upon the level of contract that your employer has with them as to the amount of coverage. When you call into the customer hotline ask for them to send you a copy of their policy on lapbanc surgery. this policy states what criteria they are looking for. All bariatric cases go through a review process which usually takes approx. a one to two weeks. I made a pest of myself and called enough that they approved my surgery within three days of receipt of the criteria documentation. Everything, was covered with the exception of my share of cost and the cardiologist, assistant surgeon who did not have contracts with BCBS. For those two I paid them and then submitted the totals to BCBS and was reimbursed 60% of what I paid. All in all, I paid under $1,000 for the surgery, hospital stay (1 night), supplies, and surgeon fees.

Sounds like you might need a small unfill. sounds as if your body is one that will not lose weight if it is getting too little kcals. until you can get your unfill perhaps try some cream based soups? just to get some carbs and kcal into you? Mix it up with a stew that has been pureed to hell and back? Good luck

i could not tolerate the chewable after taste, but I can tolerate their cyrstal vitamin formula. you take it three times a day mixed with water (which counts towards your water allotment). It is gritty, but I can tolerate that better than the after taste of the chewables.

How are you doing with your nausea (everyone)? take care

give your doc a call on Monday. Your stomach might be irritated / swollen from the bow tie meal. Try drinking something warm like peppermint tea to see if it will settle, go back to your protein shakes for a day or two to see if that buys you some time for your stomach to settle down. You might want to try a warm heating pad for a small period of time also. Good luck

NSVs are the best aren't they? off blood pressure meds and anti-cholesterol meds down from size 32 to a size 16 (have not been in a 16 since the early 70's) needed to readjust my car seat so I could reach the steering wheel due to all the room that is there now Flew and did not require a seat belt extender, the tray came down without resting on my stomach my hip, knee, and ankle pain is gone! I can take 5 flights of stairs without thinking about it I have so much higher levels of energy the list goes on....

The main reason for wearing a medical alert band, necklace, or whatever you so choose to wear is to alert medical personnel to the fact that you cannot be blindly intubated with a nasogastric tube as for some with restriction it could potentially puncture a portion of your stomach. Mountain Mamma, you can go on the internet and find several different companies who offer a wide range of choices for the medical alert id. Some of them are pretty cute from charm bracelets to dog tags....

Thsisme here! 52 years of age...one of the lucky ones to be retiring at the age of 53 and looking forward to re-starting a new career after my husband and I of 12 years travel a bit and get re-settled in where ever we decide will be our retirement location. We have 5 children 3 girls and 2 boys or should I say women and men as their age ranges from 25-34. We have three grand babies 2 grand daughters and one grandson all of whom live up in Alaska (sigh).... I am a workaholic and am extremely passionate about my job as a nurse. Our current children in the house consists of 1 cat rescued from the dumpster, 1 dog rescued from a person who gave her third degree burns and last but not least a bottom feeder fish whom I found in our youngest's bedroom under a bunch of clothing after she had left the house. This fish has out lasted all of his neighbor fishies and I don't think will ever go to fish heaven. I have been obese all of my life and am a life long failed dieter. I made the lapband choice due to the fact that I simply could not wrap my head around moving body parts or removing them as the case may be..and felt better about inserting a piece of silicone/plastic into my body to assist me in loosing the weight which had become a health hazard. I wanted to be free of pain, I wanted to walk a few miles without being so short of breath that I wondered if I was going to faint, most of all I want to be around to enjoy the grand babies, and the things that I have worked so hard to achieve and after 2 failed marriages, I thought it would be nice to hang around until God calls me home to be with the person whom I like most in this world. I 've only had my band for approx. 8 months now, but have not regretted a day! My weight loss has slowed as expected, but thanks to this site and my surgeon, I was prepared for it and actually had some good ideas of what to experiement with in order to shake the weight loss into losing rather than plateauing while maintaining my sanity. (what little of it that I have left) Thsisme, or at least partially who I am....

You go girl! congrats!

You will be there before you know it! I have been very blessed in this process. The weight is slowing down as expected for me, but I am so very happy with this process and I have nothing but great things to say about being banded.

Jingleboob, great to hear that you are doing so well! keep it up and keep us updated on your progress!

Ellen, there is,sadly no sure fire answer to your questions. These issues are wide-spread, but effect everyone on an individual basis. Some feel hunger and then there are those that don't. If your surgeon places a small amount of fill (it usually is not enough to provide any long lasting restriction, this may take several fills to accomplish) and with the swelling of the stomach you may have some time in which you do not feel hungry and then there are others who feel hungry right from the start. I think here again rather it is physical or psychological hunger is an individual experience and also could be both... I do know that Protein will help keep some of these hunger pains at bay. Gas pains, again no simple answer and is individual. There are those that have no real problem other than some distention and then there are those who suffer with gass for 1-2 weeks (which is where the majority of folks seemed to be) and then it might last longer for some others. The pain...again no simple answer, I think it depends upon 1) your pain tolerance; 2) the amount that you walk and move around; 3) how you react to the protein and mushy foods; 4) whether or not tums, gas-x, heat will help you or not. Some have sharp pain up in their left shoulder area due to pressure of the diaphram upon the nerve that hits the shoulder and then again there are those that do not get to have that experience. There are a minority of folks who I have read here on this forum who had shoulder pain for many months and I am not exactly sure what that is from. My experience was good, I had no hunger and the protein kept me there and from the time I hit the nursing unit (I stayed overnight) I walked every two hours, not just the hallway, but went around the entire floor and when I went home continued to move and walk until I was able to walk for 30 minutes continuously. However, that was me and again I cannot stress enough that everyone is different. I wish you the best of luck!