Hi

My name is Ellen and I live in Mt. Vernon. I have not had the sergery yeat still talking to Dr's and getting Info. Jest wandering if there is any one close by. I have lots of questions. I have a consoltaion visit with my Fanily dr on friday and am not shure what to ask.

Thanks

Ellen

:cheeky :cheeky :cheeky :cheeky

P.S. sarry about the spelling

Sue what do u use for calcium supplement. I have tried the tablets, both disolved and cut in half and swallowed. I feel nacious both ways when i take them. I have been try'g the viactiv but are starting to taste nasty and tech aren't the citrate kind doc wants. you ever heard of any smaller calcium pills? wondering if because the kind i get at costco are so thick and have to break apart (still hard to swollow) make me nacious.

Citracal makes a "petite" tablet that goes down pretty easy and it is calcium citrate and not carbonate.

I only have five more days till my surgery. I am so excited!!!

I was actually wondering the same thing about the calcium. According to my surgeon I am supposed to take 3500 mg of calcium a day and I am only seeing 500 mg of calcium citrate available. Do I really have to do seven servings a day? Or has anyone found a 1000 mg?

Hello Everyone I needed a little color today. I was banded on tuesday the Sept.23 I had to stay overnight in the hospital I came home late wednesday night but I am feeling kinda beat up. I feel really bloated and i am having pain under my collarbone and in ribs and shoulderblade all on left side feels almost like you need to go to bathroom but can't is this normal can anyone let me know. also its really hard to swallow is this also normal. Well I know I wrote alot but thanks everyone I appreciate it.

CindySue...

Sounds like you're pretty swollen inside. I didn't feel restriction from the time of surgery, so I can't speak to the diffaculty swallowing, except that it's probably swelling and should go down. The shoulder pain is usually gas (traped from the lap surgery). It puts presure on the diaphram and diaphram pain is refered to the sholder. This was the major source of my discomfort after surgery...hurts like *$%# sometimes, but it will get better. The best "treatment" I found was walking and a heating pad. By the way...that same pain (on a smaller scale) lets me know when I've eaten too much now.

fleminld...

I take the calcium chews too. I hated the powder (gag), so I would never take it. I figure the lesser absorbed calcium carbonate taken 100% of the time is better than the calcium citrate taken 10% of the time. I use the Kirkland (Costco) chews, they're not bad. The chews do leave a little aftertaste, but I just follow it up with something else.

Shellshock...

I find alot of Docs treat all their gastric patients like by-pass patients. By-pass have absorption problems, so they have to take mega doses. That's not necessary for lap-band, we absorb fine. Too much calcium can contribute to things like kidney and gall stones. Don't be afraid to question your Doc and look to other resources, such as a nutritionist.

Sue

Hello Everyone I needed a little color today. I was banded on tuesday the Sept.23 I had to stay overnight in the hospital I came home late wednesday night but I am feeling kinda beat up. I feel really bloated and i am having pain under my collarbone and in ribs and shoulderblade all on left side feels almost like you need to go to bathroom but can't is this normal can anyone let me know. also its really hard to swallow is this also normal. Well I know I wrote alot but thanks everyone I appreciate it.

Only time I have had restriction has been the first week after surgery. It took my 30-40 mins to drink a Protein shake and wasnt even hungry. It will go away by the 2nd week. I luckily didnt have the sholder pain from the gas. For me it felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I was only able to take shallow breaths. I got up and walked for 10-15 mins several times a day. It went away in about 3 days. Make sure you getting at least 32 oz of Water in that first week and work up to 64oz. I was told biggest prob for people after surg was dehydration.

congrats on being banded.

Let me pose a question to all of you NW folks. I saw my doc 2 weeks ago. She had already cut one cholesterol Rx, cut one BP med in half and that day cut the other to half strength also. She wanted to do blood work to check cholesterol since it'd been a few months since she'd cut the one med. I told her my P.A. at surgeon's office cautioned me to make sure I was getting enough Thiamine since us band folks don't get much bread and that's where we get Thiamine/B-1, so she decided to do another profile to check nutrients, etc. She called me the night before we were leaving for the winter to tell me she was a little puzzled because my Vit D was less than half what it should be. Normal is 50 ng/ml, mine was 22! So she told me to get lots of sun while in CA & she'll check again when we get back (not until May!) At the time she had me get the blood drawn, we were right towards the end of that couple of weeks of wonderful weather and I'd been out riding around the neighborhood on my (handicap) scooter every day for at least an hour, sometimes two hours. So, was just wondering if any of you have had problems like this??

Phlysser when I received my result to blood work I was also told I was very low in vit D have an appointment in Oct with my doc to see what to do and how can we get sun them 90% of time we don't get it.

Phlysser when I received my result to blood work I was also told I was very low in vit D have an appointment in Oct with my doc to see what to do and how can we get sun them 90% of time we don't get it.

Will be anxious to hear what your doc decides to do. Mine knew we were about to head to So CA for the winter, so she just told me to get lots of sun this winter and she'll check it again in the spring when we get back.

laxatives, maybe.

a girl at work that had the bypass, goes to a tanning booth for short periods of time, works for her.

Phyl as soon as I find out I will let you know but the best medicine is sunshine enjoy every min of it. I know when I lived in CA I never had a problem with it.

Enjoy you trip.

Carol

My nutritionist told me that pretty much everyone in Washington state is going to be Vitamin D deficient. My surgeon has me on 50,000 units three times a week and an over the counter 2000 unit daily. I don't know what my lab numbers were but he was pretty worried about them and that is why he is being so aggressive with the dosage. I remember reading an article that said something about not putting your sun block on for like 15 minutes so that you can get some Vitamin D.

Also, we were talking about Calcium earlier and I found a health food store in the Kitsap Mall called Helen's Health Foods. They had lots of calcium citrate in multiple forms. She recommended a liquid called "Life Time". It came in many flavors and was between 600 and 700 mg depending on which flavor you chose. I bought the strawberry which was 600 mg and haven't tried it yet. After I try it, I will let you know if it is any good. They also had an orange flavored chewable that was 250 mg. If I stick with the surgeon's recommendation I would have to have too many per day so I didn't choose that one. But at least I know there are other options if I get board.

My nutritionist told me that pretty much everyone in Washington state is going to be Vitamin D deficient. My surgeon has me on 50,000 units three times a week and an over the counter 2000 unit daily. I don't know what my lab numbers were but he was pretty worried about them and that is why he is being so aggressive with the dosage. I remember reading an article that said something about not putting your sun block on for like 15 minutes so that you can get some Vitamin D.

Also, we were talking about Calcium earlier and I found a health food store in the Kitsap Mall called Helen's Health Foods. They had lots of calcium citrate in multiple forms. She recommended a liquid called "Life Time". It came in many flavors and was between 600 and 700 mg depending on which flavor you chose. I bought the strawberry which was 600 mg and haven't tried it yet. After I try it, I will let you know if it is any good. They also had an orange flavored chewable that was 250 mg. If I stick with the surgeon's recommendation I would have to have too many per day so I didn't choose that one. But at least I know there are other options if I get board.

Good info. Thanks.

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Hi all,

I had my surgery on September 30th so now I am two days post op. I am doing well but have major pain at the port site. I hurts really bad to sit down and stand up. I called the nurse though and she said that was normal. It is weird though because that area is indented. She said that was normal too. I don't have any other major pains exept when I have to cough. Unfortunately I have to do it often. I hope the pains go down over the next few days since I plan on going back to work on Monday.

Shell. You might need a few more days off. I'd suggest at least 2 weeks off of work. Glad to hear surgery went well.

I went in for my second fill today. This time was with the doc's pa. I'm not sure if I care for him. It hurt more when he did the fill and I had to talk him into putting in a .5 cc fill. He was happy with my 6 pound weight loss this month. Had to keep explaining to him that it was me and my control that had me loosing not the band. I have yet to feel really any restriction. I guess I have 4.5cc in right now but some of that is what liquid is in the tubing leading up to the port. Have my first mushy meal in a couple hours then later after that will have reg meal and hopefully will see if have some restriction.