I was banded on May 8, '06 and haven't had a fill yet, not sure if I want/need one. My surgeon said to return whenever I want a fill!!

Anyway, I have a bad taste in my mouth all the time. I keep brushing my teeth and it doesn't help. Sometimes my tongue is white. I get food "stuck" real easy, even on cottage cheese, but I've never thrown up or needed too. I just sits there sometimes from 8 am until the next morning. When I wake up I'm all cleared up. I'm thinking this may have something to do with the breath. I went to my PCP and she ordered an upper GI for me. I need to wait for the approval, not sure how long that will take. :nervous

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

:help:

thanks, Laura

You are losing weight very quickly!!! While that is great, it means you are probably in ketosis. When you are in ketosis, your body is burning fat for fuel. It creates a bad taste and bad breath.

How many calories are you getting in a day? Maybe if you upped your calories a LITTLE, the taste will improve, but it may slow your weight loss down a bit. Just an idea.

WOW! I think you hit it on the nose. I looked up ketosis and everything it says sounds like what I'm doing. I'll be upping my calories as of today and see if it goes away in a week.

Thanks so much for the excellent advice/information.

Laura

Yep, this topic has come up a few times before...my breath went through a stinky stage too. It seemed to resolve itself once I was eating normally again. As for stuff getting stuck alot...it hasn't happened to me so I can't offer any input.

Hey! Nothing wrong with being in ketosis. Just brush more and make sure you brush your tongue... sugar free mints and gum can be your friends

It sounds like you are in ketosis....also that you are blessed w/ restriction w/ just the band and no fill yet....remember baby spoon bites of cottage cheese!!! Or pencil eraser size bites.....

GOd Bless,

Melody

Banded 3/20/06 -75lbs

It is possible that you have a oral yeast infection. Antibiotics, which are used at time of surgery to help prevent infection, increase susceptibility to oral candidal infections by killing the beneficial gastrointestinal bacterial flora that naturally inhibit Candida, thus disrupting the normal balance of organisms in the gut.

In 20 drops, saliva can have as many as 10 million bacteria, most of them harmless. Thus, when the normal balance of organisms in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract is disrupted, the Candida organism can overgrow and become invasive.

The chance of this being the case is increased if you use birth control pills and/or tricyclic antidepressants.

Of course this isn't necessarily the case for you and your doctor should be able to rule it out or treat it if it is what the white stuff in your mouth is.

Best of luck.

Thanks everyone for the advice; I'll just keep trying everything.

Laura

Laura, the wonderful thing about being in Ketosis is that your body has switched from burning refined carbs for energy to burning fat. Definitely a good thing You can buy some strips at the drug store to check if this is the case - basically you pee on a strip and the color will indicate ketosis. Good luck to you!

As far as stinky breath goes, try parsley gelcaps and/or chlorophyl juice. Both are in health stores. They make evey part of your body, armpits and all, smell fresh and clean. Totally awesome for ketosis or mass garlic consumption.

Cool I'll try the test and the parsley gelcaps.

My breath is kickin; so gross. I bought the Listerine pocket packs today and have been shovin them down. It doesn't even help to brush my teeth more. Yuch Yuch Yuch. I'm ready to get out of the liquid stage and have some real food so it will go away. I remember Ketosis from when I did the Atkins/Southbeach diet. Yuch.

I hate that YUCKY breathy smell and taste from the liquid stages etc......shhhheeeee ooooooooo lol.......

The thing that works like a charm for me is yogurt. One low-cal (I like the Yoplait "Whips") yogurt a day provides enough beneficial bacteria to keep away that yukky taste and breath.

Eww you have ketosis breath! (as my Atkins supporters used to tell me during my Atkins days).

The little round Ice Breakers mints saved my life. I can't think of the name, but they're tiny little balls, about the size of a BB. They're small enough that if you accidentally swallow one, they won't get stuck (at least they don't for me). And they're not solid, they're liquid inside of a gelatin-ish skin, so if it were to get stuck it would dissolve quickly.

A lot of people I know also had success with chewing parsley, but who wants to sit around chewing parsley?

I have had this set of symptoms for several weeks. :puke: After a couple of weeks I started getting nauseous all the time, especially after eating. After talking with the lap band practice, I went to my regular doctor, who said it was not thrush. He said to try a tongue scraper. This has helped with the white stuff on the tongue, and I gargle with Listerine also. I was eating some carbs so figure it isn't ketosis. When the nausea kept on I went back to the doctor who said it could be acid reflux, said to take Prilosec. I have been doing that for almost a week. It got quite a bit better. :bolt: Then I got really hungry (6 weeks post surgery). I had a fill and the symptoms are worse, plus I can't eat much at all. I'm to have a slight unfill today. I hope that helps the situation as it is not very comfortable.

Ellen in Friday Harbor