Carmen188

I am 5 weeks post op and the gas didn't last that long for me probably a good two weeks and now I burp when I eat too much but not constantly like at first. I think you will be fine, it's a big adjustment period but I feel good now pretty normal.

diarreah for 4 weeks does not sound normal, I would call my drs office if I were you. usually it's constipation that they warn of us because of the lack of food and the pain meds...be careful and call a professional who can tell you what to do. good luck

Good luck to you, my only advice is be prepared that it will be very hard the first couple of weeks you may even regret having it done (I did) but about the 3rd week i started feeling much better. I had shoulder pain for the first two weeks that i thought would never go away but it did. (i was banded on Sept 13th) I feel pretty normal now except of course my eating habits have changed, I have lost 13 lbs so far. sometimes i worry that i am eating too much I have not thrown up nor gotten sick, sometimes I feel a little soreness when I eat too much but it doesn't last long. I am going on and on but I just want you to be prepared (i know everyone is different) but hopefully some of this has helped you to know what to expect...I know how you feel to finally be there about to get it done it's a relief in a lot of ways!!! good luck! God bless!!

oh I hope they get that fixed for you with little pain and misery..good luck to you

I used it about once every hour and did the inhaling about two or three times per session, hope that makes sense..lol after I talked to the nurse at Kaiser and she reminded me to use it I was on a mission! I too love this site because of the support and inspiration I get from the my banded peeps on here ... I hope that works for you!

here's my two cents..I lost 10 lbs the first week after surgery then didn't lose any in the next two weeks and then on the 4th week I lost 3 lbs, total of 13 lbs so far. I was 277 on the day of my surgery I am now 264. I am going to stay positive, it's 13 lbs off that hasn't come back and will hopefully stay off not like before when I'd take of 5 and put 5 back on the very next week. It's a little over a 10 lb sack of potatoes I'm not carrying around anymore! Stay positive..let's make this all worth it and lose weight!!!

Yes I felt like that, but I had told so many people that I was having it done that I felt like I couldn't back out, I know that's a crazy reason to go through with it but now I feel like it's a good thing that I did. I had my surgery on Sept 13, 2010 and I want to be honest with you I regretted having the surgery for about two weeks I was miserable the first two weeks, now I am ok with my deciscion but I miss being able to just eat without having to put so much thought into like I do now. I am hoping that when I lose more and more weight I will be totally at peace with my decision. Go with your heart, if you feel like it's not for you then don't go through with it, it's a big deal and a big big change to the way you live and your whole relationship with food will change. Best of luck to you.

I feel your pain literally, I was banded on Sept 13, 2010 and I got depressed because I thought my shoulder pain would never go away but it did. The pain was excruciating..I think yours will go away, you know what helped me...using the spiromiter faithfully I wasn't using mine like i should have been but as soon as I did the pain started to subside. i pray your pain goes away soon...take care

I was banded on Sept 13, 2010 and have lost 11 lbs so far, I have to admit that I thought it would come off faster. 41 lbs is great. How did you do at first, how much do you usually lose each week? Do you ever "cheat" and I mean like eat chocolate or ice cream? just curious. I had some chocolate today...and right now ice cream is the only thing that satisfies. I am still on the mushy stage.

what is it you need help with? I was banded on the 13th of Sept and for about the first 2 1/2 weeks I was hungry most all of the time. I am eating soft foods now and am not so hungry all the time like I used to be, it's getting easier..head hunger is still there though but it's getting better too. hang in there, stick to your fluids it won't last forever you'll be able to move on to the next stage soon and then you'll get sick of that but eventually you will get back to regular food. You might try popcicles..they seem to satisfy me a little here and there. I hope I helped...be careful with the bread.

Well then if you know 5 people then you have knowledge of what you're in for, I pray that justrite's situation is worse case scenario I personally do not want to go through the "head/image/emotional" issues that she is going through but I do understand how it can happen and how things can get to that point. I had lost 100 lbs on my own a few years ago and people make such a fuss about how good you look and how beautiful you are and I was still fat at that point (240 lbs down from 379) but I got to feeling like I looked good and things hadn't really changed in my life so I got very depressed. Anyways I think that everyone on this site has good intentions and justrite is right :thumbdown: when she says we need to accept and love ourselves at any size. God sees the heart not the shell that surrounds it, but for our health this shell will send us to an early grave. Again I wish you success, keep us posted!

No amount of research can prepare you for how you are going to feel afterwards. It changes your whole life, not just how much you weigh, if this was an easy thing to do there would not have to be support groups involved. Don't get me wrong I wish you all the best but please just know that it is going to be very very hard getting adjusted to this new way of life. I think that justrite is just being honest with you from the point of view of someone who has been down the long road and has experienced some of the negative things associated with this surgery. I take all of the things I read on this site to heart because these people have been there done that and their sharing their experiences with us is invaluable to getting better. Best wishes..keep us posted.

God bless you on your journey. I was banded on Sept 13, 2010 I've lost 10 lbs so far, i will not lie it has been very hard, I miss food. I know it sounds bad but I feel like all this will be so worth it if and when I am thinner than the people who I feel try to be sympathetic but still eat their lasagne, fast food etc in front of me. Keep us posted on your progress, I have found this site to be very helpful and inspiring as I start this new way of life. good luck

Thank you so much for the information you shared, I have been sleeping a lot since my surgery I didn't really know why, I thought that I was getting lazy. I am not a lazy person so I was getting worried that I could not get a handle on myself and get to working out already, I used to go to the gym 3-4 times a week but never made much progress with the weight loss. Hopefully this sleeping thing is just part of the recovery process as you mentioned that you slept some too the first month. I can't tell you and everyone else who posts stuff on this site how much help you all are too me, before the surgery I didn't think I needed the support groups but now I know that they will help me immensly to stay positive about all of these changes. I thought my shoulder pain would never go away and got a little depressed about it thinking that I would have it forever, but it did finally go away. oh and yes I am going to the meeting at Sutter on the 16th I look forward to meeting all of you, it will be my first meeting ever. The only things I have attended were the nutrition classes with Robin. See you on the 16th and thanks again for your words of wisdom!! It gives me hope that I will feel 99% sure some day that I made the right decision.

Thanks for the encouragement Tamra! I am going to attend a support group on Oct 16th, hey now that you are 8 months out are you glad you got it done? Oh by the way I had the lap band surgery. Some days I regret my decision more than other days, did you go through that? at 8 mos out do you enjoy food? mashed potatoes are the best but I try not to eat them everyday for dinner, i am currently trying to focus on my protein. The reason I got lap band as opposed to the other options is exactly what you said it's a slower weight loss but I think it's healthier, if I could lose 50-60 lbs and keep it off I would be ok, but I do hope to lose more. Well thanks for the response to my cry for help LOL this has been something else but i guess I don't have to tell you.

I too was approved for one month off, I tell you I needed it. this has not been easy adjusting to a new way of life and food. I'm going on week 4 and I think I am definately ok to go back to work and hopefully I am up to the challenges of being around people who don't know I am banded and be able to stand seeing them eat whatever they want. It's rough for me. The head hunger gets to me quite a bit. Good luck to you enjoy your time off I think it really does take a lot of time to get accustomed to this new way of life.

Oh and can someone tell me how you put those "tickers" at the bottom of your posts I am having some trouble manuevering around this web site. ty!

Hello everyone, my name is Carmen I live in Rancho Cordova I was happy to see some people on here who had their surgeries at Kaiser Richmond, my surgeon was Dr Park. I was banded on Sept 13, 2010 and have lost 10lbs. Is this normal to only lose a little bit of weight at first? I am on pureed protein now and still have days where I just want something GOOD to eat, how have you all dealt with your food issues? Give me some positive information i want this to all be worth the pain and suffering I feel like I have endured....thanks in advance for you support and any advice, encouragement you can pass on to me...!!!

Hi I am sorry you are feeling down today, I was banded on Sept 13, 2010 and I have days like you are having not so much as when I first got my band but still I have them, I miss just being able to eat food, the hard part is having to prepare everything! To not just go in a get something to eat without having to think about it, but of course that is what got me in this trouble. I have lost 10 lbs since the 13th and I am happy about it but wish I could see more come off. I wonder if I will ever be able to enjoy food again, right now I am at the puree protein stage and it's wonderful to be able to eat something other than soup and mushed up food it's still not as great as I imagined it would be. Let's not give up, I think it's awesome that your husband is doing it with you it will make things so much easier for you, my mother made lasagne the other day (a huge pan) and I wanted some so bad, I wanted to just get in there and stuff my face with it like I used to, it's kind of sad but I think if I can lose weight and be thinner it will make all this worth while. If I knew how hard this was going to be I would go back in time and not have it done and try harder to diet and excercise...but the reality of it is I did it to be healthy and look better and I've only heard positive things from people who are farther down the road then we are. Let's pray that we get through this and accomplish what we set out to do when we decided to go through with lap band surgery..my heart goes out to you I know this is so hard...best wishes.

Thank you Shelly for your input, it is such a relief to hear those positive things from someone who has just recently had it done but is a few weeks ahead of me! I am enjoying my mashed potatoes too..they are the highlight of my eating day LOL it is so true what you say about the amount of weight that has come off, even though it seems like i'm starving and should be losing weight like crazy 10 lbs is good..it's a whole sack of potatoes! let me know what happens when you eat regular food... and what you eat and how your body responds to it once you start on your regular food again. thanks a million for your response!:biggrin:

I had surgery on Sept 13, 2010 at the Kaiser in Richmond, my surgeon was Dr Park, the day itself was miserable as I had to wait around all day to finally be released because the surgeon had some other priority/emergency going on that day. I am left puzzling because nothing was ever explained to me as to why the delay, when she finally did come see me it was about 4:00 in the afternoon (I had been there since 6:00am with a 2 hr car ride ahead of me before I could get home) when she saw me it was obvious she was worn out from the day she had had and kind of just stood there looking at me not saying much, I felt like it was up to me to talk so the only dumb question that came out of my mouth was "when can I take a shower". Anyways...it will be 3 weeks this Monday since my surgery and i admit at first I SO regretted having this done, I was kind of miserable and hungry and had the worst pain in my shoulder imaginable, I thought "great I am going to lose weight but suffer from this shoulder pain for the rest of my life" lol but the shoulder pain has subsided and seems to be going away and I still have my hunger but I think that it is mostly "head hunger" you know the feeling like you just want to chew and eat something good besides yougurt, soup, cream of wheat. If anyone has any suggestions for this stage of food I would welcome them. I have only lost 10 lbs since the 13th it seems like I should be losing more and faster but I am not getting discouraged I will keep the faith that this will work! I forgot to mention that the 10 lbs came off within the first I'd say 3 days and I havent' lost anymore since. I have a lot of tenderness on one of my incisions and it is swollen but maybe it's just the port ? I wouldn't know since my surgeon didn't take the time to explain things. I didn't have some "wretching" right before I went home from surgery and a little more on the way home in the car but other than that I have been fine. Pain meds worked really well, I wish I could have some more for a little while longer just to help me rest and not think about food. Well sorry to have gone on so long, and I plan on posting more on here it seems to help me get this all out of me..thanks for listening if anyone has listened!!! :biggrin: