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Can You Feel Band Squeezing Your Stomach?



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Hello All!

I've been researching bariatric surgery for awhile. Today, I scheduled my first appointment with a surgeon for a couple weeks from now... yippee! Pretty sure I can work through all the surgical pain/recovery, "rules" and lifestyle changes I've read about. However, there is one question that keeps eating away at me. Can you feel the band squeezing your stomach, connecting tube and/or port inside your body on a regular basis? For some reason, the possibility of that really freaks me out! If so, do you eventually just get used to having a foreign object in your body? How long does it take to get used to it?

Also... thank you to the veterans who humor all the silly questions posted by us newbies! You all are an inspiration and sooooo helpful!

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Mostly when you lose the weight you can only feel the port & you get used to it ,you can't feel the band just the port it really isn't bad like I said you get used to it.

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No! Can't feel the band in that way at all. What we feel is the effects of the band but not the band itself.

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You can feel the port near your skin by touching your stomach. You can't feel the band at all.

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Hi no can't feel any of it . With certain foods sometime it feels like you have eaten whole if that makes since xxx

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I started to laugh when I read this post but realized if one is not banded, then it's a legitimate question. So yes...as the others have said, you cannot feel the band. As you lose weight, you will be able to feel the port because it will stick out but you don't feel anything 'inside' your body.

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You guys are the best!!! Yeah, I felt a little ridiculous asking, but since it's been bothering me, just decided to put it out there. Thank you so much... feeling calmer already! Didn't want an unfounded fear to stand in the way of a better life. :D

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No...don't feel the band at all...

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Good question, though! Add another voice to the choir: I don't know my band is there.

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"Can you feel the band squeezing your stomach, connecting tube and/or port inside your body on a regular basis? "

......no....

the port is visible bump after I my Fat Iceburg melted.....I can also touch my ribs & hip bones!!! THAT was a freak out the first time since 1957!!!!

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@@Jack LOL!

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That was a main concern of mine before I got the band too. I remember worrying that it would make things awkward if it was poking my husband in the chest when we hugged etc rofl.

Anyway Im noticing that the more weight I lose the more I can feel the port, especially after a good session of crunches, I was a little cautious of touching it at first thinking it would be fragile but after a while it just starts to feel like a part of you.. A special knob to turn on your life :-D

When I got pregnant with twins It really made me realize just how much the port can handle being shoved around, so now I never worry about it! Good luck!

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@@gin765 no such thing as a silly question! I asked a zillion when I was researching and getting my head ready for banded life. We have fun here...

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"Can you feel the band squeezing your stomach, connecting tube and/or port inside your body on a regular basis? "

......no....

the port is visible bump after I my Fat Iceburg melted.....I can also touch my ribs & hip bones!!! THAT was a freak out the first time since 1957!!!!

"Can you feel the band squeezing your stomach, connecting tube and/or port inside your body on a regular basis? "

......no....

the port is visible bump after I my Fat Iceburg melted.....I can also touch my ribs & hip bones!!! THAT was a freak out the first time since 1957!!!!

Yeah, but I can now see my TOES!!! LOL!

The rest comes later, but we won't go there on here.

Edited by labwalker

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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