Does anyone else get a pounding headache after being stuck (golfball) for a long period of time? I wonder it is because of the pressure it puts on my chest and, therefore, possibly, makes my blood pressure rise? Anyone have any insight. I was wide open last week and this week I can't seem to eat any solid protein, but I can eat cereal, crackers, boca type burgers. So strange and fickle this band is. :help:

I don't get headaches but I do get exhausted. Like I have to work to climb the stairs to lay in bed. Or get to the couch and just lay there under a blanket. And I get the shakes. And if the PB was particularly bad, I'll have "mid PB panic", for lack of a better thing to call it... where I feel like I have to focus on each breath. It's not a mental panic, I'll be completely calm, but my body feels like I'm panicking... hyperventilating, shortness of breath, etc.

I have gotten a headache. What's really strange is when I am having a "golfball episode" I can tell when the food is not going to make it down because I get this tremendous feeling of pressure on my face. It's like the esophagus is pushing so hard that it is putting pressure on my cheeks and forehead.

Then after that big push...out pops the food! I never realized how strong

the esophagus muscle was until I had this experience.

I do love having a band..but in those moments of extreme discomfort I have questioned my decision.."Why do I have to be so disfunctional that I had to have this thing put inside me to keep me from stuffing myself?" But as soon as it's over I'm glad I have my band. When I get on the scale..I'm glad I have my band..when I get to buy smaller clothes...I'm glad I have my band. So most of the time I am very glad I have my band.

I just worry that all this pressure going to the head is going to cause a vein to pop or a stroke or something. I'm just overly paranoid, I know, it's just that the pressure I get in my head from the golfball really hurts. The golfball itself really hurts, it's very painful. UGH!

Does taking advil or something afterwards help the headache?

I suppose if you went really crazy and ate something you know won't go down like a whole pizza or something but for the most part what I usually have pop out isn't that big of a deal. I usually stop as soon as I feel uncomfortable. Just be careful and stick to eating what you are supposed to with small, small bites. Since my last fill I started drinking a cup of hot tea before a meal.

I took a fioricet that I have for migraines, tension headaches. I am prone to them. The pressure from the golfball causes a tension headache in me.

Isn't it weird how we all feel it so differently? I've never had a golfball. For me, when it's stuck, it hurts to either side of my bellybutton, in my hips (like where your hands are when you put your hands on your hips) and in my back, right between my shoulder blades. The bellybutton & hip pain can clear on its own, but back is my "sure sign" of impending PB.

Yes, Wheetsin, it is so strange. Before I had good restriction I would feel the golfball down lower and in the middle of my back too. Now it's just a painful pressure that is high up and goes straight to my head.

I am about to have LBS and reading these things scare me a little. :omg: Not quite sure what the "golfball" feeling is about. Is it about eating the wrong foods or not chewing good enough....????

Sometimes for one reason or another, too big of a bite, or not chewing well enough...food does not want to go down right, and it usually causes pain in the esophagus ---- which we feel in the chest. In fact prior to my DH's heart surgery, they looked at the back of his heart with a camera in the esophagus -- an endoscopy helped diagnose his heart condition!

It feels to me, like I used to get if air got gulped in with my food, like I was swallowing something huge (like a golfball), and it hurts. Now if it happens, the pain is fairly short lived, in my case, and then I start sliming. The body's way of trying to help unstick whatever it is, by slicking it up. Slime is thick, very gooey mucus....if that fails---and it has only happened once so far---then I PB, and bring it up.

It does not happen as often as it may seem. I mean for instance look on the home page at how many members there are on LBT, now all of the members are not starting threads saying "I am having a great day" "Another smooth sail today"....etc. We come on here when we need support, or a question answered, help with a problem, etc. Now most of us, make lasting friendships, and hang out, reading, answering questions, just generally yacking.....but there are far more bandsters having a regular uneventful day with their band....they just don't say it!

I am by the way having a wonderful day!!! lol....

Kat

Usually if i get something stuck i can bring it up pretty easily now whereas i used to wait it out - probably not that good to do but I feel its pretty much inevitable and why suffer longer than i need to. I've also occassionally taken a VERY small sip of liquid which really brings it up but that feels more violent and i'm sore afterwards so i avoid that unless really bad. I also get a headache and feel completely whipped after a pb - another reason why i try to bring it up faster - i think the tension headache and feeling whipped is from that awful feeling going on for so long - it just makes me miserable, scared, etc. also after a year plus being banded has lessened my pbing as i'm finally learning some lessons. I have great eating habits now - just still not able to lose weight - lol.

Hi,

I get the golfball feeling about 3-4 times a week. I think each time it's because I'm hurrying and not chewing well enough or trying to eat bread ( like on a hamburger). It hurts like hell, I get very dizzy, lightheaded and I feel like I'm going to pass out until it goes on down. I usually stand up, drink a few sips of water and wait it out. Sometimes, it only takes a minute or so, others it takes 4-5.

My hubby has taken to yelling at me when this happens. He says I'm eating too much. I tell him that I don't need a food police. My band will tell me when I've had too much ( I PB) ! It also tells me to slow down and chew by having hte golfballs! So he ( hubby) needs to give up his spare job that I never hired him for! My band was hired for this position!

I think it's me causing it all though. I need to slow down.

I have noticed that around the time for my monthly, I can't eat and don't even get really hungry. This is strange because most of us can eat down the house during this time.

This is also the time of the month when I lose most of my weight for the month. I can easily drop 7-8 pounds during this week and it doesn't come back.

Even with all the golfballs and Pbing... i still love my band!!

MaryS

What is going on? Why are you not able to lose the weight? Have you had your thyroid checked? I am pulling for you; it must be frustrating!

Hang in there!

Thanks for your concern - yes I just had my thyroid checked and they said it was fine. I vascilate between extreme frustration/depression and optimism that maybe someday i can lose weight. And, I hang onto the fact that I'm not fatter then before surgery.

Actually my doc called me last night cuz i called the office to schedule a band removal and i'm going down to tj again for a consult and maybe a fill. I feel as tight as I like - tho i know many others super tight - i do have restriction, but can eat 1200 calories a day pretty easily. i can't lose on that and can't stay at under 1000 for too long!

I promise to all that I eat well and exercise regularly and i do eat so much less than pre banding and i eat slower and chew - i still pb (it comes up liquid) sometimes but I've gotten that more in control - my local fill doc counseled me about first bite and if i follow his instructions i usually don't pb.

I never ever thought i would fail at the band - i thought i would be skinny by now and to read about everyone elses success is hard - i am truly happy for them but sometimes when i'm a bit down - it makes me feel even worse. It seems like no one can help me.

The reason I want the band out is it makes me more crazy and depressed being a failure. I still try diets, I still obsess of my body and weight and now on top of it I know I have the band and am still fat -

thank god my boyfriend absolutely loves me unconditionally - he says to stop trying and just stay the same. most days i can do that but here i go again trying - spending about 500 for travel and fill and not feeling too hopeful. anyway, thanks for asking and thinking of me. Mary

I get back pain and it goes up to my head and feels like a pressure headache. I think this is what you guys are talking about. I am just learning how much to have. I think I had to much just now. I feel like a vessel is gonna burst in my head. I just took some liquid vicodine cause my back hurts and head. AHHH!