Can ANYONE tell me why it takes the stomach so long to heal? Why you HAVE to be on liquids for the first couple of weeks (other than to lose weight). I would like a REALLY DETAILED explanation and I can't find one. HELP PLEASE??!!?

:hungry:

Hi Danielle,

Lively bunch for sure aye? lol. It's always great to get different views on things but, always go with what you believe is the best for you having taken in your docs advice, nutrionists and signs from your own body.

I followed my docs/nutrionists instructions after my banding. They were pretty much the same rules given out by the band makers. I was on clear liquids for 2 days then full liquids for 2 weeks, mushies for 3 weeks then regular food. Told to take very small bites and chew very well putting my fork down in between. No liquids 30 min before or 30 min after etc. The reason I followed those rules to the T? The track record of patients my surgeon performed this surgery on. I asked him how many patient's had erosion....not one. That was enough for me to follow them. Another thought is.....I don't want ME to be the reason for any banded problems. If a problem occurs I know I did everything I could so it wouldn't happen. I don't want that blame on my shoulders. If something happens it won't be because I ate too soon, too much, or the wrong things at the wrong time. But, that's just my way of handling my banding and keeping myself on track. I figure I went through alot to get this tool and I really want to keep it as long as I can so I know I have to do the work and do my best. Your best is all any surgeon can ask for or that you can ask for yourself :eek:

Take time, listen to your body, seek out suggestions from your bariatric center and never be afraid to call them if you have questions or concerns.

I wish you the best with your band! Good luck everyone and remember one banded day at a time :eek: Hugsssssssss

Something else to try, get a small wendy's chili and blend it to a liquid. It looks gross but taste really good. If it is too thick I watered mine down with a bit of spicy V8 and it was yummy. I also ordered egg drop soup with no eggs. The thickness of the broth filled me up. ~Mandy

Wow - you've gotten tons of advice here Danielle...

So I'm curious what did you decide to do?

~~ Disclaimer~~ If you admit to eating solid foods here you may be stoned to death or at least given thirty lashes ~~evil grin~~

My advice is still - Check with your doctor and go with your gut... (no pun attended)

Danielle,

I so feel for you and I can say that I was thinking exactly what you wrote in the first thread. I have been eating "regular food" as in crackers, tuna salad etc. since last week and I was banded a week earlier than you by the same Doc. I was eating egg drop soup WITH eggs when I was 5 days out. I was also eating grits, creamy soups and mashed potatoes. My fill surgeon which I met last week says it's ok as long as you can handle it. He recommends eating (and I'm 17 days out) ground beef, soft chicken, and whatever else I can chew up well. I'm taking that advice and running with it.

Doctors in other countries, who have been doing this alot longer than the Doctors here have people eating mushies at 4-5 days out. That tells me something. I have no restriction and can eat just about anything I want and as much as I want. I don't do this, but I could. My main goal since the hunger hit was to stop the hunger pains, but stay within reason because I don't want to have to start from scratch when I get my fills. I eat small amounts (just enough to get rid of the hunger) and drink lots and lots of Water or crystal lite. This is how I do it, not what was recommended by Dr. Ortiz. Just listen to your body. Good Luck!

Michele

I'm in the medical field as well so I understand that one needs to heal before the solid food is started. But I thinks it's pretty well known that some people heal faster than others. I really think Strawarts' doctor has the right idea. I think that the amount of time depends on the person and the individuals doctor should guide them on whether they can eat more solid food post-operatively quicker than the week or two that all patients are told.

I was SO hungry about a week after the surgery and all the jello in China was not going to help that, so I started eating foods considered to be solid (as long as I chewed a lot) and I felt no pain and had much more energy.

I agree with Kelly B.

I was STARVING after a week on full liquids, so I went to mushies for 1/2 week and then stayed at soft foods for the rest of the time. The mushies filled me up without any problems and it worked for me. Of course I was already walking 3 miles about a week post-op, so I think I needed the protein/nutrition of real food.

:eekB: Kristin

Just a question, but what about a protein shake? My ISOPURE shakes fill me up right now, and I am not banded yet. Seems to me that an extra shake here or there would be better than solids this soon post-op. Please correct me if I am wrong, and forgive me for chiming in pre-band...(I may feel totally differently one week out, but it is just a question.)

There have been lots of interesting replies to this thread, chastising, lecturing, etc. I personally believe that you need to follow the directions your physician provided you. I did the liquid pre-op diet for 19 days prior to getting my band on Friday. I followed the rules for the pre-op diet and I plan to follow the rules for my post-op diet. My doctor explained very clearly that I had to allow my stomach time to heal. He said I need to give the stitches time to heal and the band time to adhere to my stomach. If I eat solid foods too soon, that makes my stomach churn and work hard and could potentially cause the stitches to come loose and my band to slip.

I spent a lot of time talking to the psychologist, nutritionist and my doctor about this surgery prior to having it. I understood what was involved. I knew I would be looking at liquids for close to a month between the pre and post-op diets. I didn't go into this blindly. If I were not going to follow the rules and do what my doctor suggested, then I should have not been banded. I am sure each and every one of us that has had this done knew what to expect in advance. I am also sure we have all gone through what you are going through with being so hungry. That is not something that is exclusive to just a few bandsters.

You, along with everyone else that is getting banded can do whatever you want. However, if you do have a slippage due to failure to follow physicain's orders, then you have no one to turn to except yourself. Basically, I had to go private pay. It cost me $16,500.00 to have this done, I refinanced my house for it. I want and need this to work. I am not a person of wealth, so this was a large chunk of money for us. Therefore, I am not willing to do anything that my doctor does not say is ok. To me, that would be just plain silly and a waste of our hard earned money to risk slipping my band because I couldn't follow the rules for just a few weeks.

I deleted two of my posts on this thread because I didn't feel that the response I provided was well received and was upsetting the original starter of this thread. It is never my intent to insult, belittle, judge, condemn, or even lecture anyone. I always try to answer any questions with direct honesty. Isn't a person who posts a question such as "Why not cheat?" looking for others to tell them "Why Not"? In my mind, that is what several of us did, and suddenly we are being yelled at for being judgemental and making people feel bad.

Perhaps some people have a better way of expressing themselves. Perhaps some people just know how to candy-coat the response so that it's easier to swallow by the receiver. I'm not sure what it takes, but I decided I didn't have the ability to do it and therefore my post wasn't contributing anything positive on this thread.

I came back to this thread today, after distancing myself from it for a while and I have to tell you that I'm very shocked and upset by what I found. People who have taken their time to share what advice they have, based on what they were told by the makers of the lapband AND their medical professionals, are being called Nazis. NAZIS. Does it not strike you as ironic that passing on sound advice can bring hateful, angry responses upon us and yet someone can call us a fricking NAZI and that seems to be OK??

MerrianWebsters Dictionary: Nazi

Etymology: German, by shortening & alteration from Nationalsozialist, from national national + Sozialist socialist

1 : a member of a German fascist party controlling Germany from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler

2 often not capitalized : one who resembles a German Nazi

The thread starter was asking "Why shouldn't I cheat?" and as the thread progressed, the thread starter said, "I thought, if I posed this questions, hopefully someone would provide me with a valid and educated response that would scare me into being good."

Ok, so people answered her question with the knowledge that they gained from their own experience, study, and medical professional's guidance. That makes them judgemental? That becomes lecturing? That is reminiscent of a fascist military group that cruely tortured, experimented on, and slaughtered thousands of human beings? How? Explain HOW!

And then, please explain to me why it is ok to call people a Nazi, but you are being judgemental and hateful by telling someone, "If you cheat you are only cheating yourself. If your doctor has told you not to eat certain foods for your own benifit, then it's best not to." PLEASE! I really want to know how anyone can jusitfy that in their minds.

*exasperated sigh of frustration and hurt*

Go P'Nut!! I agee with you 100%!!! No need to call names. Let's all just be nice. I just don't get it. :cry

As I understand it, the small pouch works just like the larger remains of your stomach. That is, it pulsates, churns, etc. trying to digest foods. It does everything the bigger part of your stomach does, minus the gastric juicies. If you eat solid food the small pouch will start churning, etc. trying to digest the food. In the early post op stages that can be damaging because everything is trying to heal, including the stiches that hold the band in place. Liquids flow through the opening and don't cause much problem in the early stages, except for the swelling. That is why most can't eat much during post op, including liquids. As the swelling goes down the opening is larger. Until your first fill you must rely on self will to get you through. It is not a time to lose weight, but a time to heal. Losing weight is the added benefit. I know I haven't gone through this yet, but I've read enough on here to know I won't waiver. This is going to work for me and I'll do everything to protect it. You will continue to have to feed your children and your husband. You might as well start now on dealing with the life changing attitude you must have to suceed. Good luck.

Susan - I'd like to address your concern on the Nazi comment since I was the one that made it...

I didn't obviously say you were the Band Nazi since I didn't get to read your post which were already deleted when I joined the discussion.

My response and choice of that term was more in jest and I apologize if I offended anyone or if it was judgmental.

The term to me was more in reference to examples like the "Soup Nazi" from Sinfield who say's "No Soup for you" if you don't follow the rules... or the IT Nazi's from Saturday Night Live who rules the companies computers with an Iron fist....or even the "Gym Nazi" from Saturday Night Live who is the workout "boss"....

There will always be people in the world who are "Rule followers" and there are also "Rule Breakers"... (And some people are in-between) I honestly wanted Danielle to just ask her doctor like I did and see what his/her answer was.

I don't think that because a person doesn't follow all the rules makes them a person who isn't ready for the band. For some people this band will still work even if all the rules aren't followed.

I retract my Nazi comment and want to point out again that word was used in jest... and admit I wasn't thinking of the German military of the Second World War.

Another comment I also wanted to make was "THat everyone is different.... I said that in the original post and that moving to mushies or solids early shouldn't be determined by us and our one size fits all rules.... that's most likely a subject that should be addressed with ones doctor.

My 2 cents....

I am SURE someone will correct me here.... or give me grief... but My question to the thread starter is...

What does YOUR Dr. have to say? We can all come the agreement that different Dr.'s tell you different things.

Just wondering what YOUR Dr. told you?? Surely you have spoken with your Dr. about your concerns..

AMEN P'NUT!!!

Susan, it's easy for you to come back here and restart this argument when you deleted your original comments. You were the one saying things like, "if you can't follow these rules, you made a bad decision getting the band, and you should rethink your goals." You obviously deleted those comments because you realized they contributed nothing to Danielle's problems.

I'm not sure why you came back to resurrect this debate. You are really blowing the whole Nazi thing out of proportion. Cashley, as she has so generously and humbly explained, meant no reference to WWII atrocities with her choice of words. It feels like you are grasping for straws to win this one.

Cashley - I knew it wasn't aimed at me. I understand where you were coming from. I just wish that people who do follow the rules wouldnt get so attacked by those who dont. Perhaps those who dont follow the rules feel the same way in reverse. I think that what most people fail to adequately express is that they feel a sense of fear and concern, even worry, for the person who is breaking the rules. Not disgust or distaste. The urgency in posts that warn people to stick to the Dr's orders is that of concern, not judgement. I just wish everyone would begin to give people the benifit of the doubt in and not take it as a personal attack when someone says, "Dont do that! You could harm yourself!" Basically, we are all here because we care about each other. Total strangers who bond together in an attempt to pull each other along the road to freedom. I think it's amazing how much we all care about the person beside us - that we can't even see.

Remember everyone. Text is just as fickle as the band. It is so easily misinterpreted. Tone and intent are often misread. Let's just trust that we are all concerned about the fundamental success of each person and believe that noone is here to hurt anyone's feelings or run them off by being cruel. Ok?

*hugs Cashley* It's all good