samomom

I have taken Ambien in the past and just recently after surgery because I have been having major sleep issues. I will only take one or two nights of it, that was, until last Friday night...I guess I have started metablolizing meds differently after surgery(happened to my sister after her sleeve too) and the f'ing Ambien did a 180 on me and kept me up all damn night!!! I was so pissed and a complete wreck on Saturday. No more Ambien for me.

Talk about being jealous. I'm nearly two months and have eeked out only 15 pounds and have lost 1 freakin' pound in 5 1/2 weeks. My body doesn't want to let go of the fat despite the healthy eating and exercise. Every one of my doctors is baffeled. I know one of them is really waiting for me to confess to hoards of secret ice cream binges, McDonalds trips and laziness, but none of that is happening. I'm beyond frustrated and pissed off. First the crapband, and now the sleeve and I can not lose the weight. Congrats and keep up the good work.

Think of it ths way- It would be physically impossible for you to gain 6 pounds of fat in two days when you aren't eating.

Its most likely acid reflux. You should call your doctor and tell him/her because you need to get on some acid reducders if that's the case. I'm dealing with the same issue. I saw an ENT two weeks ago because I thought the anesthesiologist messed up my vocal chords. After 4 weeks I was still sore and felt tight and like there was food stuck. She took a look with a camera and showed me the redness from the reflux and prescribed 300 mg of Zantac and Delexant. It was working ok, but the past two days have been a bit icky.

Way too soon to even be worried about that!

You should try some warm broth. Most stomachs don't tolerate cold drinks so well just out of surgery. You also don't have to stick to Nectar eaither. There are so many other types of proteins in liquid form that you can drink. I prefer the Muscle Milk powders mixed with milk.

I am 4 1/2 weeks small out and have had maybe a few tablespoons of rice, 6-8 pieces of Barilla Plus penne, and few bites of hash browns and a few pretzels dipped in tuna. I can't eat that much of any starch because it fills me up, triggers my carb brain, isn't appetizing like it used to be, and causes anxeity because I fear heading down the evil carb highway. I am super vigilant about the carbs I consume. I won't even try a piece of bread right now. It's just too filling and with such little room to fill, I'd rather be eating protein and veggies.

I only had about a day and a half of liquids before surgery. I had a Monday surgery so I could eat whatever until noon on Saturday and then clear liquids from that point until midnight Sunday. I've heard some crazy stories of doctors telling people to go 7 days on clear liquids which is downright dangerous and completely unnecessary. The point of the clear liquids is simply to clear your digestive system of all solids. It shouldn't be to starve anyone.

The same thing happened to be in April after I had knee surgery. I was taking Percocet for pain and after 6 days of hell from not wanting to or being able to eat or drink for whatever reason, I ended up at Urgent Care. I told the doctor that I felt like **** and I was full of ****. He could feel my abdomen and tell that is was severe. He said I could go to the ER or head to CVS and buy Mag Citrate, an enema and Miralax and take care of everything myself. I bought suppositories along with my other fun OTC meds and went home. By the next night I felt so much better. It's not often you wish for diarrhea.

No. You have to remove all jewelry. There is always a risk of shock, something getting snagged, etc. Just don't wear them to the surgery center.

Doesn't being a "virgin" Sleever give you more of or quicker of a weight loss than a Revisioner? As far as I know, it doesn't matter either way. You body doesn't know the difference. Honestly, the whole process before, during and after the surgery sounds like a royal pain in the ass. I'm coming off of a year off of work, hubby having 2 jobs and not making ends meet. I can't afford fatigue. How am I going to still work? I can't speak to whatever process your doctor and insurance makes you go through because I am a total anomoly when it comes to the ease of getting approved. Sorry, not to brag or anything, but I must have had the easiest time ever, both times. The band took one phone call the morning after I initially met with my surgeon to get approved. There was not even a question from the insurance company. The office called, asked if it was covered and that was it.I was approved.No one in his office could believe that they didn't have to fight for approval. I only did the standard physical, a 15 min 'psych' eval, which really was pretty humorous. I did have to clear with my cardiologist due to an arrhythmia, but she was all for it.I had the band done two weeks after my first doctor's appt. With the sleeve I just did an EKG, lab, had my family doc clear me by fax since she had seen me in April to clear me for knee surgery and that was it. The insurance approved me right away again. My husband's company offers some of the best insurance coverage in the country so we pay the higer monthly premium, but it sure as hell has been worth it. I have read some of the horror stories that people go through-sleep studies, therapy sessions, manditory weight loss pre-op, upper GI, etc. It take 6-9 months for some people to get approved. I would have not even bothered if I had to go through all of that BS. You shouldn't need to take a lot of time off for this surgery. I had mine done on a Monday and by Thursday I was grocery shopping, taking my kids where they needed to be, etc. I was tired and cranky, but functional. I haven't found anything to be a pain in the ass before or after surgery other than the true pain of the ass when you have to drink the magnesium citrate to clear you out. I even managed to worm my way out of that total misery by splitting up the doses of two days instead of one and in very small amounts so it wouldn't get ugly. I haven't had saline in four years and I still slime, throw up, PB. But isn't that just because I ate too fast or didn't chew enough? I hate to blame a tool that is already inside of me, minding it's own business, when it could be my fault it's not working. I'm not perfect, and neither is any WLS. That right there is enough reason to have the band removed. You can erode your esophagas with acid and that is dangerous. 4 years is crazy! More proof that your body can't handle the band inside you. I must not understand what soft foods are if you can eat ribs and chicken, etc. I can eat any soft Protein such as chicken, turkey, eggs, yes, pork rib(just two small pieces with the fat peeled off), ground beef, small amounts of cheese, fish, mushy vegetables which I prefer in Soups, fruit sauces, although I try to eat very small amounts of those due to the carbs. I could if I choose to, eat small amounts of Pasta, oatmeal and stuff like that, but why bother. Its is just evil fat producting carbs to me. I'm staying away, far, far away. What you are not supposed to eat in this period is tough meats like steak, pork, shrimp, fiberous veggies or fruits, seeds, beef Jerky, and other tough to digest items. As I type, I have a boneless turkey breast in the oven that I have been brining all day. I'm going to make a very low fat mushroom gravy with it. I have potatoes and corn for the family, but I'll pass on those for now. No craving for foods like that.

Obviously the band isn't the miracle you hoped for just like so many of us. If it isn't working, get rid of it. It is not the answer to and for every weight problem. I think it sucks! I tried to love it for nearly two years. I pretended that it was going to to be this miracle. I played the game. I ate what I was supposed to, didn't eat what I wasn't supposed to, I exercised more, I tried to ignore the hunger and I suffered through the f'ing horrible sliming and thowing up. I filled, unfilled, forced my doctor to show up at his office to unfill on a Saturday morning, went to the ER dehydrated because I couldn't swallow my own saliva(yeah, try that one. It sucked). Then I finally decided about 6 months ago that something had to change. I had lost 32 pounds in 5 months. That isn't exactly a stellar feat, but I took what I could. After the first 5, nothing happened. I couldn't lose a pound. I skied all winter trying to burn calories. Nothing. Then I gained two pounds. Then 4. Then before I knew it I was up 20! I gave up. I knew it wasn't my lack of effort, but the lack of the success of the band helping me. It was creating more issues that it was helping. The band had to go. I just needed to decide when. I had the rest of the ski season, a trip to Europe and two kids to deal with. Then my sister told me she was having the sleeve done in March. Since I was kind of the guinea pig for the band, she could be for the sleeve. My sister is a nurse. A good nurse and a smart one. She researched the procedure and doctors like you wouldn't believe. She had access to info that many don't. If she had setteled on the sleeve, I was pretty damn sure I would follow suit. She had her sleeve done March 2nd of this year. It's been 4 1/2 months and she is down 64 pounds. She looks hot! No issues other than the first few weeks of fatigue and a bit of dehydration. I talked to my surgeon in April. We talked about getting rid of the evil inside me. I said sleeve. He said go for it. He admitted that the band doesn't work for everyone. I had to wait a few months to actually have the surgery because my husband travels worldwide for work and we were heading to Europe for two weeks as soon as school got out. I didn't want to be a few weeks post-op in Europe just in case and let's face it, I was eating good food on vacation! I made him totally unfill the crapband before I left. I still slimed and threw up with no saline in it!!! Evil piece of crap. So fast forward to Monday, July 9th. I cruised on into the Beverly Hills Sunset Surgery Center(yeah, I do it Hollywood style! I live in West L.A) that afternoon. I even showed up late! Traffic. I had surgery later in the afternoon and remember coming to about 5 pm. I had a little pain, but since I have a delayed reaction to Versed, it takes me forever to really wake up from surgery. I was drinking Water and Vitamin Water within an hour or so. No problems. I had to stay overnight which I really could have skipped on. I didn't need that much in the way of pain meds. Went home about 8 the next morning and slept a lot the next few days. I only took liquid Lortab(Vicodin) twice. I really wasn't in pain. I drank Protein shakes and Vitamin Water for the first two weeks. I went to my 2 week check up and I had already lost 14 pounds. Today I think its more like 17. My underwear are sliding off my hips. I had to toss a bunch of shirts. I'm going to Macy's to shop for new clothes already as soon as everyone gets dressed and out the door. For the next three weeks I'm on soft foods. I have been eating stir fried chicken breast, pork ribs(minus any fat), avocados, sliced turkey breast, eggs, cheese, yogurts, etc. I don't have to chew like mad and eat slow or any different than before. I don't get heartburn or upset stomach. This has been the easiest thing ever! I don't fear having any leaking issues because my surgeon staples and oversews to prevent that. He also created a flap to prevent any acid reflux.There is no issue of malabsorption because you aren't bypassing anything. I seriously feel like nothing has even been done. It takes some trial and error to figure out what full looks like in a bowl before I eat, but other that that it's been all good. As for being able to eat whatever you want as you mentioned- Choosing to eat something and being able to eat whatever you want are two different things. Right now and for the forseeable future, I am choosing not to eat carbs. They aren't off any list, but they don't do any good for weight loss and because my stomach is smaller, why fill it with empty starchy calories when I can eat muscle preserving protein? If you are worried about not being able to eat something, then you need to evaluate your relationship with food. Don't take that the wrong way either. I'm just saying that if you have issues with food that bother you a lot, you should tackle those issues before proceding with any type of diet of surgery. For me, its all about carbs. Because I know they mess me up, I will not eat them. My underwear falling off my butt feels a lot better than a spoonful of rice in my mouth. There is this entire board of people who have had revision surgery for a reason. We aren't failures. We chose to have this done because the LapBand didn't work for us. People who swear by the band are lucky. Good for them. I wish I would have done my research the first time around and gone straight for the sleeve. Do your research about the longevity of the Lapband. It's not been around long enough to determine it's true sucess rate. People who claim that it's is meant to be left in for life- please...... no supporting research for that either. Go to the NIH.org site and see what they have to say. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

My surgeon created a small flap to prevent heartburn. He does surgeries just for heartburn patients so he knows what he is doing. I had a bad bout of heartburn one night because of an antibiotic. I quit the antibiotic and having had any heartburn at all.

Definitley the gylcerine suppositories. Not fun shoving something up where it shoudl be coming out, but you will feel a hundred times better. Just had to do this last night myself. Glad I did.

The lapband is a piece of crap! I wish I would have known more about the sleeve and had that done two years ago and never introduced that evil thing to my body.I just had the revision done July 9th, just over two weeks ago. The pain was far less that with the band, I have lost 14 pounds in two weeks, I don't slime, throw up, have heartburn (because my surgeon created a flap to prevent it), no pain, nothing. I didn't even feel the need to stay at the surgery center overnight, but it was manditory. I only took my liquid Lortab(Vicodin) three times, and that was just to sleep. I have had 4 knee surgeries over the past twenty years, two kids, one with a failed epidural, and by far this sleeve was the easiest to deal with. I feel that the mental stress is far less than with the band. For some reason I was a wreck after the band for weeks and weeks. I'm totally fine now. I'm so thrilled that when I do get hungry I can eat whatever soft Proteins I want in small amounts and I am full physically and my body is satisfied. I don't have the carb craving whatsoever. That didn't happen with the band. I have even stopped drinking Vitamin Water Zero. I can't stand sweet right now. You shoudn't need anyone at home to help you. My husband picked me up early morining from the surgery center and stayed home until about lunchtime when he had to get back to work. My two kids, 9 and 12, were home, but they didn't have to do a thing for me. I was just chilling on the couch on the laptop or sleeping. One suggestion I have is to ask your surgeon to use power assisted titanium staples and over stitch you to prevent leaks. My surgeon is one of the best on the West Coast, if not in the US, and he doesn't mess around with your stomach when it comes to sewing it back up. Good luck!