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1st post, needing some post op emotional support



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hi all

i am only about 50 or 60 lbs overweight but with the new fda approval for people in my weight range, i decided to do the surgery. had it on 3/15/11 [edited date] and am just having a lot of chest pain (not worried it's heart problems). after hearing so many horror stories about lap bands (and an equal number of positive stories) i feel like it's just a crapshoot. you do the surgery and just hope and pray that you won't have any problems. the other thing is that my insurance wouldn't cover it so i had to pay $16k cash for this. losing the weight is worth that much to me. i wasn't able to lose it because i took antidepressants for a long time which caused the weight gain to begin with but i believe altered my metabolism.

i just have so much anxiety today about the chest pain. i called the dr's office and spoke to a nurse who said it's gas, because it comes and goes. but i'm not so sure. i'm just worried that it might be posisitoned wrong. i don't think i could go through another surgery. it was tough.

ugh, i just feel like a made a mistake by doing this. would love to hear from some people who maybe had some problems or concerns early and things passed. appreciate it.

pam

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hi all

i am only about 50 or 60 lbs overweight but with the new fda approval for people in my weight range, i decided to do the surgery. had it on 1/15 and am just having a lot of chest pain (not worried it's heart problems). after hearing so many horror stories about lap bands (and an equal number of positive stories) i feel like it's just a crapshoot. you do the surgery and just hope and pray that you won't have any problems. the other thing is that my insurance wouldn't cover it so i had to pay $16k cash for this. losing the weight is worth that much to me. i wasn't able to lose it because i took antidepressants for a long time which caused the weight gain to begin with but i believe altered my metabolism.

i just have so much anxiety today about the chest pain. i called the dr's office and spoke to a nurse who said it's gas, because it comes and goes. but i'm not so sure. i'm just worried that it might be posisitoned wrong. i don't think i could go through another surgery. it was tough.

ugh, i just feel like a made a mistake by doing this. would love to hear from some people who maybe had some problems or concerns early and things passed. appreciate it.

pam

HI there! - You said you were banded in Jan. of this year and you are still having chest pains? That is def not normal. I was banded in Jan. also of this year and yes I too had horrible chest pains that scared me coz I didn't know if it was my heart or from the gas that they pump into your stomach for surgery. I also had neck and shoulder pain as well. But anyway, this pain all went away by the 2nd wk. post op. I did do alot of walking to try to expel the gas. Are you walking or exercising? Either way, I think you should go to the hospital and get it checked out. YOur surgeon that did your lapband should be taking this more seriously. PLease keep us posted on your progress. Take care. :)

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Hi Pam, I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble. If I eat too fast or take too big bites (what used to be regular bites for me), I get a great pressure in my chest. I wonder if that's your problem? As much as I try to follow the lap band rules, I still do this once in a while.

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HI there! - You said you were banded in Jan. of this year and you are still having chest pains? That is def not normal. I was banded in Jan. also of this year and yes I too had horrible chest pains that scared me coz I didn't know if it was my heart or from the gas that they pump into your stomach for surgery. I also had neck and shoulder pain as well. But anyway, this pain all went away by the 2nd wk. post op. I did do alot of walking to try to expel the gas. Are you walking or exercising? Either way, I think you should go to the hospital and get it checked out. YOur surgeon that did your lapband should be taking this more seriously. PLease keep us posted on your progress. Take care. :)

doh!! ha, i meant 3/15, which is just last week. so it's only been 4 days. i didn't have any shoulder pain from the gas. maybe this chest pain is just gas. it does come and go, which is good. would be more worried if it were constant.

i think i'm just anxious about all of this. i am single and did my surgery alone because i didn't want to make anyone take a day off from work and then i wished i had asked my sister to be there. was just tough taking care of myself at home over the past few days. i'm just so fiercely independent though! my dog and friends have been great though. i have been getting out and walking my dog around the block a couple times a day. just bummed because it's supposed to rain all weekend. maybe i'll have to dance in the living room haha.

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Well that makes a big difference Pam! wink.gif That is not unusual at all for 4 days post op. It is HARD to do it by yourself, though! And I'm sure you don't have a whole lot of energy yet. Did you have the hiatal hernia repair at the same time? I think I felt the most discomfort from that part of it. It can hang around for a few weeks, but you should notice some improvement soon.

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Hey Pam......don't worry. It gets better! I had my surgery the same day as you. I still have the pains below my sternum when I drink something too fast. My Dr. said to only drink 1 oz of liquid every 5 minutes. If I do more than that, I can tell. But, I take a deep breath and it helps with the pain. I also use a pillow every time I get up. I squeeze it and it helps me get up or move around. Kinda like a security blanket. lol. I'm feeling much better now. The thing that has helped me has waking up and getting on the scales. I'm down 17 pounds since surgery. Thats my motivation each day.

As far as the walking, don't try walking to far. Try to stay around the house and walk. It will help with the gas. Don't try and do it alone. Have a support system with you!!! But, hang in there, you're gonna do great!!!

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thanks so much for the comments, everyone. really helps a lot to know that there are other people going through the same thing and who understand. appreciate it. glad i found this forum. :-)

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Hey Pam......don't worry. It gets better! I had my surgery the same day as you. I still have the pains below my sternum when I drink something too fast. My Dr. said to only drink 1 oz of liquid every 5 minutes. If I do more than that, I can tell. But, I take a deep breath and it helps with the pain. I also use a pillow every time I get up. I squeeze it and it helps me get up or move around. Kinda like a security blanket. lol. I'm feeling much better now. The thing that has helped me has waking up and getting on the scales. I'm down 17 pounds since surgery. Thats my motivation each day.

As far as the walking, don't try walking to far. Try to stay around the house and walk. It will help with the gas. Don't try and do it alone. Have a support system with you!!! But, hang in there, you're gonna do great!!!

and thanks for that advice re 1 oz of liquid every 5 minutes. i realized that i've been downing a Protein shake in a few minutes and it's too fast. i bet that's what's causing the pain! i thought i was going slow but i think it's not slow enough.

thanks!

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Hang in there, Pam, and you'll be fine. I am just ahead of you by four days. It took all week to feel pretty good, and I had the same types of pains. I don't think that you'll be sorry you had the surgery.

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Hang in there, Pam, and you'll be fine. I am just ahead of you by four days. It took all week to feel pretty good, and I had the same types of pains. I don't think that you'll be sorry you had the surgery.

thanks! i just kept worrying all day that i made a really bad decision to do this. i just felt off track and anxious, but spent some time meditating and focusing on positive thoughts and i got grounded and feel a ton better. everyone's comments here really helped too. thanks!

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also, based on a post here, i realized that i was taking in WAY too much liquid at once and that's what was causing the chest pain! i cut it down to like 4 oz at a time and sipped it very slowly and took breaks and no more chest pain today! yay!

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I am a week and a day post op. I know that my day four was the worst for gas pain. I dont know why but I felt gas pain in my chest and bowel area. I am telling you I felt like a macys day float. It has gotten progressively better. I did have some mild gas pain today but I just started eating mushie type foods and I think that might be causing a little of mine. But on a pain scale I would say it is a 2. Now it is almost just irritating. My doctor said that for the first few weeks to expect some gas but that it does get better. So my advice is use a heating pad, walk, and take Gas X strips.

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Pam, you're doing fine, just take it slow. You've got the same pains we've all had. I know it's painful and scary, but it's normal. Now if it's still happening two weeks from now, you might have a problem. Best advice I can give you is, if in doubt, call the doc. That's what you paid him for.

Oh, and most of us also had a "what have I done" day the first week. I cried my eyes out and hated myself for a good 12 hours. Then I went to bed, woke up the next morning, got on the scale and said "oh yeah!"

Denise

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That sounds like gas pains. I had a lot of gas pains post op. Gas x strips, peppermint tea and a heating pad helped. So did walking. But the heating pad was definitely the biggest help to relieve some of the trapped gas.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
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