Hello fellow banders:

I just had my band installed on 8/13/07. I'm curious as to why we have to be on liquids for 3 weeks. I was recently in a situation where I had been out of the house all day at a function and didn't have any of my Protein liquids with me. I opted to have a few tablespoons of tuna fish at that point, just to get something in my system. I had no problem digesting it. So why do I have to be on liquids if I can tolerate food?

:help:

You must let your stomach heal. Also you want to make sure you do not vomit and eating solid foods too fast can do that.

Hang in there! I am suffering right along with you in bandster hell!

Various doctors have diffeerent post-op regimens, but ALL require at least a week or so of fluids. After that, soft foods may be taken in small amounts (known as the "mushy" phase) and that phase can range from 1-4 weeks.

The reason for all of this is to LET YOUR STOMACH HEAL. It is not a matter of whether you can "tolerate" it or that you are actually going to damage anything if you test the waters. It's just to give your body and band the best possible chance to heal in place, so as to avoid problems later on.

Soft fish is not out of line for you; I was banded on the same day and I'm on mushies--including salmon salad and cottage cheese. But I'm staying here for at least another two weeks just to give my body the best chance I can.

(Doxie is right about the pre-op, but of course you're asking about the POST-OP regimen.)

BTW, NewMe, where were you banded? Did we pass one another in the hallways at Morristown Memorial on the 13th?

Liquids for 3 weeks - for me liquids was anything I could put in my Magic Bullet and turn into soup. I took any kind of soup I like - and I like most of them - blended it and strained it and I was very happy. Then I proceeded onto the soft mushy and that isn't like it sounds either - I pretty much eat anything now and I am 4 weeks out - but haven't had that first fill yet!

I do not know. Did you get the booklet from your surgeon from the lap band company? On page 10 is what I am following. I started eating at day ten. I had my surgery 8/10/07.

good luck. Did your doctor say this happens often?

On my diet canned tuna is ok. I think they want stuff that is liquid consistency so your band can heal.

Hello fellow banders:

I just had my band installed on 8/13/07. I'm curious as to why we have to be on liquids for 3 weeks. I was recently in a situation where I had been out of the house all day at a function and didn't have any of my Protein liquids with me. I opted to have a few tablespoons of tuna fish at that point, just to get something in my system. I had no problem digesting it. So why do I have to be on liquids if I can tolerate food?

:help:

Your band has to heal on your stomach. When you digest food, your stomach is working to digest the food. They don't want your stomach doing any work

until the band is completely healed on the stomach. You are risking problems later on down the road which you have no way of knowing about, even though you think you're tolerating food.

Hi,

Inamed/ALLERGAN told me on the telephone that the overwhelming majority of slips were caused by REPEATED, SEVERE vomiting.

Another cause of slips is eating solid food too soon after the operation, before the band has time to settle into a "Groove" that it makes around the stomach. The scar tissue helps the band to stay in place, and eating solid foods too soon may disrupt the healing process and make the band more likely to slip.

One more cause of band slips is to repeatedly ignore the "Full signal" and "Stuff the pouch". That exerts tremendous downward pressure on the Lap-Band, which could cause a slip.

They said that the symptoms of a slip are either a sudden, UNEXPLAINABLE loss of restriction, or a sudden, UNEXPLAINABLE severe obstruction.

The way a slip is diagnosed is through either an X-ray or, more commonly, a fluoroscopic examination to verify.

Although eating food too soon is, in itself, unlikely to cause an immediate slip, having the stomach "Work" (Move around to digest solid food) may create a condition where the band does not heal in place, which, in turn, could cause a future slippage.