My name is Kathi and I am in the early steps of preparing to get lap band surgery. I do have a question that I have not seen addressed...is there anyone out there who takes prednisone often or regularly that has had lap band surgery, been denied surgery, or has any comment on how prednisone figures into successful weight loss. Thanks for any response and any help you can offer.

Hey Kathy, Is that a steriod? I know I heard of it but not sure whats its for.?

I have taken it since my surgery. It did not seem to have any effect on the band.

yes, prednisone is a corticosteroid used to treat, in my case, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. I do not take it all of the time....but I do take it a lot. One of the side effects of steroid use is weight gain...and I am concerned as to how that will factor after lap band surgery. Thanks for the responses so far.

You may have to take it in liquid form....nothing bigger than a pencil eraser.....if your taking the medrol dose pack those are small enough....but the prednisone is probably too big! But you'll figure that out later I'm sure!!!

God Bless,

Melody

Banded 3/20/06 -52lbs :confused:

Hi Kathy... prednisone is my problem at the moment. My surgery was 5/24 and everything went well. one week later, i started having shortness of breath. went to family doc who gave me a medrol dose pack. took that for a week and it did nothing. went back to doc one week later. she gave me a nebulizer treatment for my asthma....no help.....then she did an EKG (just to make sure nothing going on with the heart).... the EKG was fine. she then sent me to ER for a VQ scan (lung scan) and venous ultrasounds of the legs...... this was to check for blood clots since shortness of breath can be a sign of that....(scared the hell out of me, but luckily all scans were negative and No Clots!).... in the ER they gave me another medrol dose pack.... did nothing.... went back to family doctor 6 days later. She upped the prednisone (said the Medrol dosepack was not strong enough)...now i cant wait to be done with it..... luckily, i am finally feeling better with the higher dose of prednisone. the only problem is that i havent seen any weight loss lately....maybe even gained 2 pounds.....so i am NOT happy about that. At least i have lost 15 pounds. I also went back to my pulmonologist who told me that i was "air hungry".... he said that sometimes after surgery, your diaphragm is not opening up properly. he said my lungs are clear, so its so frustrating that i can't get a deep breath!! He suggested that i start walking (which i was afraid to do being short of breath). But he said that the exercise should "pop the diaphragm" and get me breathing better. Ill let you know how that goes. I am regularly on Advair twice a day and Spiriva once a day. I cant wait to stop the prednisione though. the doc says weight loss should pick up as soon as it is stopped. Hope i didnt go on too much and hope some of this was of help to you.

Ok maybe I got things mixed up but at my appointment today I was told to stay away from steriods because it can cause tissue damage and can lead to the band eroding into your stomach. This was from my Band Dr.. Maybe i missunderstood but check with your Band Dr. Good luck

He did say shot were fine cause they stayed in one area and that inhailers were fine because it stayed in your lungs but to stay away from the injested kind..