Search the Community

Hi. I've had my band for about a year and a half and it's been very difficult for me. A few weeks out each month all is well but when I am approaching my period, it always gets too tight and I throw up A LOT. I have been in a cycle of loosening and tightening my band for about 6-9 months to try to get it adjusted so that I do't throw up 2 weeks out of each month without success. I went in today and was told my stomach slipped up..a part of my stomach that should be below the band slipped up on top of the band. My doctor took all the restriction out for the next 3 weeks. If my stomach doesn't go back then I will have to have surgery to repostion it. Has anyone ever heard of this? Has anyone had issues with the band related to their menstrual cycle? I am the only person I know with a band and feel alone and frustrated. Help!

Hi. I've had my band for about a year and a half and it's been very difficult for me. A few weeks out each month all is well but when I am approaching my period, it always gets too tight and I throw up A LOT. I have been in a cycle of loosening and tightening my band for about 6-9 months to try to get it adjusted so that I do't throw up 2 weeks out of each month without success. I went in today and was told my stomach slipped up..a part of my stomach that should be below the band slipped up on top of the band. My doctor took all the restriction out for the next 3 weeks. If my stomach doesn't go back then I will have to have surgery to repostion it. Has anyone ever heard of this? Has anyone had issues with the band related to their menstrual cycle? I am the only person I know with a band and feel alone and frustrated. Help!

I am one week post op and I notice some back pain. Not really bad but I notice it a little. Especially in my shoulders from time to time. Is this still a from gas after a week or something else?

Well... they are confident that insurance will pay. I may need to do a 3 or 6 month diet and ex. My husband and I were hoping for a 1or2K investment, thinking that 4or5k would be a reach but we could do it. The numbers on the high end came in that we would pay 6.5-7k. Yikes! Just enough to be out of our total max. So we have spent the last week trying to see how we could save money. My hubby is very supportive in all of this. Yeah! My parents (mom had g bi pass 12/26/07 down 60lbs) said they would help pay. What I am realizing is that WLIA is a great program and they have all the extras that will help you sucseed. However you pay for this. We discussed that it doesnt make any since to find a cheeper or less of a program. That just sound so silly. So I have an appt tomorrow to move forward. I am going to try and do my blood work and phsyc eval outside of the office. This could save us $450. I just hope this isnt a mistake. I just hope and pray that we get good advise. So I am hopeful and excited regarding the future. Looking fwd to my appointment in the morning. thanks for keeping up with me.

WOW sorry to hear that you had an overfill. That's very common and sometimes you don't know you're overfilled till days and weeks late. We all react differently to fills. Some instantly feel too tight, Some have swelling that eventually goes down, others wait weeks then the stomach gets irritated and then swells. I have a great doc that seems to do quite well with my fills. He puts the needs in and has me stand up and he fills the band completely. he has me take a drink of water, he slowly retracts the saline from the band. When I tell him to stop he leaves the fill where it's at. I just say stop when I feel the water begin to pass through the band.

I'm new to this thread but have been visiting the forum for a while. I usually don't post a lot but have been doing it more and more recently because I think I need the support of others going through the same things. I have been losing about 1/2 to 1 lb a week and its been a struggle as I see others in my group having lost much much more than me. Especially as it seems the scale has been sort of stuck for a while. Today I went into Lane Bryant. I have been resisting shopping because I refuse to pay that much for something I hopefully won't wear very long, but this means all my clothes are really big on me. I was unable to wear a 28 there when I began my journey. Today I tried on the pants and the lady told me they run kind of small. So I tried a 24, and they were falling off of me. Then a 22, again they were too big. So she got me a 20 and......I actually got them on my body!!!!! Its been years since I could fit in a Lane Bryant 22. Granted I could only fit into them and zip them up, but still they went on my body. It made me hope that even though the number seems stuck that I am at least getting smaller. :rolleyes2:

I've gotta fly next month for work. I've been working my butt off these last few months but am still scared to death that I won't fit into the seat. Has anyone else flown weighing 290? I read that the seats have a width of 17 inches on average. That is not very big at all...my butt is a lot wider than this! Oh my, what did I get myself into??? Any helpful advice, suggestions (other than lose 50 pounds in the next few weeks!) My flights are short, domestic flights with no first-class, just coach. :help: PS-What would I do without you guys? This is the only place in the world I feel safe enough to post a question like this and show my true weight!

I am 5 months post op, and have lost 45lbs to date. I have had 3 fills so far, and have had fluid taken out of my band due to a complete blockage in April. I decided to leave it out due to the fact that I was going to be away from home for a few weeks and didnt want it to happen again. I had never had a problem before this happened, I had never even thrown up or anything. I believe that I ate too fast that night, and nothing that I did resolved the situation. I went back on the 19th of May to have the fluid put back in, did my days of liquids and mushies. The first day I was able to go back to solid foods it happened again. I got home from my sons' baseball game and it was late, I had made pulled pork in the slow cooker, it was cooking all day long and I shredded it, it was moist, but it completely clogged my band. I could not eat or drink anything again. I went like that for 12 hours before I could get into see the dr again in the morning. She took the fluid out of my band, and put it back in. This time when she did it though, she hit the port and it made a very painful popping sensation. Since then I have been itching at the site and it is red and a bit swollen. I know I am supposed to eat slowly and I do for the most part. I feel like I am constantly hungry though, all the time. I try to eat protein, I will eat a scrambled egg in the morning and be hungry 15 minutes later, to the point where I feel like I could pass out. I just dont know when I will feel satisfied with this band, and not be focused on eating 24/7. it is all I seem to think about,.... is this something I can eat? will I be able to digest it? Will I be hungry again in a few minutes? I feel like I eat more now than I did before I had the surgery. Sorry for the vent, I just feel a little discouraged right now. I havent lost much weight in the last 2 months and feel like I have hit a plateau. Anyone else out there have problems with being blocked??? No one ever told me about sliming!! LOL

I am so use to eating a lot of food and now I am on the pre-op diet....only on day 3....and I am struggling big time. So far, I have still stuck to it. I am having trouble with the Protein shakes as I don't seem to like any of them. I have Protein Power, nectar, Isopure, Slimfast, and the Oh Yay shakes. I have to guzzle them and then I have to try my best not to gag and throw them back up. I hope that this will all be worth it in the end. I have a wedding to attend at the end of the month, in which I will still be on the liquid diet....so no solid food eating there. Then there is Thanksgiving coming up along with Christmas and New Years....HUGE holiday family events with lots of eating.... Sometimes I just think that maybe I was just meant to be fat....some people are OK in their own skin.....I am not really...but the sacrifices....I just don't know if I can do it. Still doing my best to stay on the pre-op diet track....I still have 11 days to go until surgery.

So I just wanted to check in with you ladies. It's been about a year since my surgery. I went from 409 to 337 as of today. That's 72lbs in a year. I feel like it should've been more. My original goal was 100lbs the first year. I just feel like my weight loss has stalled. I think I need to track my calories. I think I'm eating more calories than I think. I also quit exercising for the last month. It's time to get that started again because I can't lose weight without exercise! Anyway, just wonder how everyone else is doing?

Hi...I went to SIOS in Ashfield and that is the price they told me as well..I am booked in for Westmead Private and it will cost me $2.5k plus cost of top of that for Dietician, 2 visits to the surgeon but this can be claimed through medicare. I will know the exact price next week when I go back and will finalise the details and will let you know. Baulkham Hills private hospital is $4,500 so both alot cheaper than Ashfield....Dont know why you have to wait 1 year for Ashfield they were going to book me in 1 month after I saw them which was early Feb this year....Happy to provide more details if you want..:thumbup::scared2:

Wow... this is a time bomb topic that goes off in my head nearly everyday!! My body confidence has been zero for so long I can hardly remember... I think it started when my mother (with all good intentions) took me to the Dr cos I was fat, lets remember this is the late 70's early 80's making me about 9 or 10. He immediately agreed with her and put me on a calorie restricted diet. This lead to me having my own shelf in the fridge with all my milk and butter in little daily portions that I was allowed to eat... my food was literally segregated from the rest of my families. At that age I felt and outcast and I am sure this lead to a hatred of food! I too was always the fat and funny one of my friends, I looked ok, still do, but I felt awful. I covered this up by being outgoing, chatty and funny - luckily for me I have a good sense of humour and can 'crack' people up in the blink of an eye! So, as the adult years progressed, my self esteem remained but I forced myself to get on with it and not let it spoil this beautiful life that I have. People are shocked when I tell them that I am self aware and don't like being fat... infact a friend of mine more recently said' Coops I can't believe you are on a diet 'cos you seem so happy with yourself'! Ain't I a good actress... ahmmm... Oscar please!! The main thing that surprises my husband is my constant failure to loswe weight when I diet ... and he isn't being harsh when he said that... what he means is that when I put my mind to something, I generally succeed as I have an inner determination that doesn't like failure (as I am sure we all do). For example, I went back to uni when my kids were young, I worked my ass off and came out with a first class honours degree... top of the class! This lead me to my current teaching job where I am flourishing and doing a good job; the pupils get on with me and they do well in my class... happy days! So the question he posed is... Why can't you lose weight when you diet cos you always do so well with other parts of your life? Good question I thought ... and here I am now... 13 weeks post op and slowly losing weight. I get frustrated with my slow weight loss and my hubby seems to think that this is more of a psychological issue ... dunno he might be right? It might just be me and my body. However, I do feel as if my head and my body are constantly arguing with each other...lol... I ain't saying that I am going nuts, by the way... just don't understand why I ain't losing faster as this is what I want sooooo much; to have a slim, healthy body to enjoy the rest of my life with! I don't know if I will get to goal weight, or how I will feel if I get there... but I do know that I am pleased to be losing and not gaining. I am pleased to feel better and have more energy. I am pleased that I have made this commitment to myself and my family!!

well today has not been great just as far as quanity. i had a carnation instant Breakfast when i got up, then had some buffalo chicken dip with chicken pieces on the side. I did have one handful of chips with 7 layer dip (work we had a potluck for Labor Day) and about 1/4 cup greek salad, one hot dog. That's what i've had today so far. My goal is to start fresh Tuesday (when i get off at 7am) and do primarly Protein for the first week. I need ideas on what to have portable wise at work. I'm a registered nurse and work 12 hour shifts, so i need things that i can eat that are eat on the go while i'm working. Last week i did about 1/3 cup grilled chicken strips for a snack and a yogurt, that worked well. Then for dinner i had about 1/2 cup whole wheat spagetti with meat sauce and broccoli for my dinner. I don't understand what is going on, seriously.

It takes a while to adjust to this whole process. I'm 8 months out from surgery and still have days where I wonder what I'm doing!! Don't worry, it will be worth it. The week or so after surgery will be trying so be prepared. The bad thing about laproscopic surgery is that they blow your stomach up with air to do the surgery. That's the worst pain you feel after surgery. It got trapped in my shoulder and I thought I was going to die!! It's not gas, it's air. You really can't do anything for it except wait for it to dissolve. They say walking helps but it didn't for me. It will only last for a day or so so hang in there. Once that has past you'll feel better. I wish you luck and hope to hear about your progress soon. sabrina c

Today I go to soft foods. I have been on liquids for 2 days. Lost another 2 lbs. being on liquids which I am sure will come right back when I starting eating reg. foods again. I now have 2.75 cc in my band. I go back again in 2 wks. My doc. is wonderful. I need to really focus on eating the protein first. I am in a wedding this Sat. and I really can't wait for this to be behind me. I feel that the dress is more appropriate for the thinner girls in the wedding party. My being 230 lbs. Not really a good dress for the "fat girl". At this point I just want to go and make the best of the day and smile. The bride is my dear friend for 35 years and I will be 41 in a few weeks. I would love to change my ticker but I am having a terrible time attempting to do so. I have lost 20 lbs so far. My surgery was May 11 th. :smile2:

I know Terri it was really hard for me not to be scared at first. You have all these what ifs??? running through your head. You will feel so releved that its all over and you will be recovered and back to normal life real soon. The first 6 weeks is the hardest. Going through the food stages and all but it does get better and when you see the pounds coming off you will see that the band will help you lose the weight and you will be so thrilled you went through with getting banded!! Hang in there and remember your not alone you got all of us on LBT!!!!

I was banded in November 2010, but have not had any problems since my third fill, march 2011. Sorry to confuse. I emailed my doctor, and will try to get in sometime this week. Thanks for responding...I have no one to talk to, and cannot find infiormation in the internet besides reflux, pain, etc.

Saw my surgeon yesterday and am down to 351, which is 39 lbs from my highest weight ever. I can now sleep in my bed in almost any position with no problems. I get to move to purees on Tuesday but I have had a scrambled egg already and some mashed potatoes and they seemed fine. Was hoping I wouldn't have to experiment with the purees while in work. I dread something not agreeing with me and coming back up while I am there. Can't wait to be done giving myself the blood thinner injections each day, only 5 more days to go. Overall I feel normal, no discomfort or pain, only a little weak sometimes or wobbly as it was put before. I can definitely feel a difference in my body with just this little bit of weight lost. My grandmother who does not know I had the surgery told my mother on the phone the other day she thought I looked like I was losing weight. I don't see her every day so it was interesting that someone actually noticed that wasn't aware of the situation. I am back to work on Monday. I am really glad I took the two full weeks off, I had plenty of time to rest and relax and will go back feeling pretty normal.

4th week and I'm headed to get my first fill! Nervous and excited. I hope I begin to see amazing results with my exercising!!

I honestly feel there are very few people they would NOT find having some degree of sleep apnea if every person was tested. I was in denial for a long time after my sleep test and diagnosis. I actually refused to believe them even when I was told I stopped breathing every minute. I have been using my CPAP for a few weeks faithfully again and actually do feel more rested when I wake up now.

I agree that losing more slowly and staying toned will help but genetics and age play a factor as well. You can kind of control how fast or slow you lose by how tight you keep your band. I kept a daily log of my weight to help me, others did not like monitoring daily. Even now 4 years later I weight myself almost 4 times a week to keep an eye on it. I rarely have to see the Dr. for adjustments. It takes time to find what works for you and what works for me very well may not work at all for you. BUT I did want to share that I had a lot of loose skin after losing 100+ pounds and being over 40 and having had a child. I did not plastic surgery to have it removed. It is all a mixed bag with no "normal". I will say if I had to chose one I would take the loose skin back before I would take the 100 pounds. Embrace the journey and surround yourself with your cheerleaders and do not listen to any negativity. I wish you the best on your journey

I have Highmark BCBS in PA. I met once with the surgeon (initial consultation), 6 times with my NUT (and weighed in each time to track what the insurance required me to lose), once with the exercise physiologist, and then another visit with the surgeon about 2 weeks out from my surgery. My surgeon's office staff was very helpful in explaining all the insurance requirements during my initial visit. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hi Diane, I am hoping that you feeling better now and less hungry. I made it through the first weeks by drinking a mixture of flavored water and vanilla protein wrey. I filled a 32 once bottle and kept it near me. I worried about sippage too, but you are probably safe. If you can attend support groups, they really help. Portsmouth has one for only lap banders on the second Monday of the month at 6:30 in Shoals Building. Banded Brenda

Hope the pre-op diet keeps going well. I meet with the nutritionist on 1/29 to get started! Good luck and I'll be thinking of you in the upcoming weeks when you have surgery! Anna

I was banded yesterday 2/1 and I'm feeling exactly the same. Lots of pain and it feels like I have a giant air bubble in my body that won't come out. My doc checked over everything this morning and said it all looked good. He said it can take a week before all the air is gone. Kinda miserable, huh? Hope you feel better soon!