I am seriously concidering lap band surgery and have learnt a lot from reading these forums. I have read that generally after surgery you are on a liquid diet for a few weeks???? was this a struggle? just wondering if people found this difficult to stick to.

Also I notice from reading this forum and a thread on smoking that you need to quit smoking prior to surgery. I am just wondering why this is exactly. I understand that smoking is bad for you and I know that I really should quit anyway however I am just wondering why it is a requirement and at this stage in my life (recently seperated) I may struggle with both the different way of eating and quitting smoking. Do you know of anyone who has continued to smoke since having lap band surgery?

Thanks

Hi Thinlizzy:), going on the liquids after you have your band done i found was very easy for me,because its the start of your band being put in you wouldnt really be able to eat solids because you would just throw it back up again because everything inside is swollen i guess!! :cryim not really good at explainig am i?!!:phanvan anyways i found the liquids really easy you cant really stomach much anyways.as for the smoking aprt of your question i couldnt answer that,i am a non smoker,if you really are thinking about getting the band done then maybe you should see a doctor in your area and ask him/her all the questions:confused: you need answers to and hopefully that will bring you to your conclusion on wether getting the band or net, let us know how you go and what you decide!! take care!!

Hi,

The following details from Quit Victoria may help (full article at Surgery - Quit Victoria).

Smoking & Surgery

Doctors strongly recommend stopping smoking at least eight weeks before surgery.

If you smoke, you will have much higher risks for serious complications during and after surgery. If you continue to smoke, you will be more likely to:

• starve your heart of oxygen
  
• form blood clots in your veins
  
• find it harder to breathe during and after surgery
  
• increase you risk of infection
  
• impair the healing of bones, skin and wounds
  
• change the breakdown of certain drugs in your body

Why does smoking cause these risks?

Nicotine in cigarette smoke increase your heart rate and blood pressure, making your heart work harder so that it needs more oxygen. Carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke competes with the oxygen in your blood. This makes it harder to get the oxygen you need for your heart and body. Chemicals in cigarette smoke make your blood thicker, stickier and more likely to clot.

Chemicals in cigarette smoke can paralyse and destroy the cilia in your lungs which work to keep your lungs clear. Smoking increases the amount of mucus in your lungs, and narrows your airways. It increases the likelihood that your airways and air sacs in your lungs will partially collapse, making it harder to breathe.

Smoking alters your immune system and you will have a higher risk for chest and wound infections after surgery. Smoking can slow down and interfere with the healing of bones, skin and other body tissues. You are more likely to have wound infection after surgery, longer healing times, problems with new scars opening up and bad scarring. Chemicals in cigarette smoke interfere with the rate at which certain drugs break down in your body.

What Can I Do?

You can greatly reduce these risks by stopping smoking, ideally at least eight weeks before surgery. You will be more likely to:

• have a faster recovery
  
• have better wound healing
  
• have a shorter stay in hospital
  
• not need intensive care
  
• not need further surgery.

Hope these details help

I had my band last thursday, I have had no trouble with the liquid diet, and am naughty and smoked right up until the surgery....no trouble with the surgery in relation to being a smoker.....just depends on the person I suppose, I am not a heavy smoker...if you can do it great for you....I was so nervous I was unable to give it up.

The whole thing about erosion kinda makes people want to quit... if they don't they have a chance of getting a gaping hole in their gut and losing their band for good. That would suck! You can take Zyban or something to quit smoking pre banding. Work through the emotional issues first then get the band.... if you emotionally smoke you'll emotionally eat or do something else destructive, figure out why that is first and you'll be better off & able to start a new life without any of the old habbits.

I honestly found the puree stage of the diet to be much harder. In the liquid stage I had next to no appetite . . . in the puree stage, my appetite made a vengeful reappearance.

I actually cracked on the last day of the puree and had a solid dinner. It was like heaven, I swear.

Hi, i had my lap band put in on the 3rd October and am recovering well. I stayed on liquids for about 4 days then went to soft foods like mashed potato & carrot with peas and corn and found that was easy to eat, and have been also been eating cruskits and vegemite and shepards pie and things like that. I even had nachos, taco's and burritos the othe night...a little of each. My food intake has been cut down by about a third already and i don't have Fluid in the band.

I'm still sore where the port is because i spose my body has to get use to the foreign object in there...but all is well.

I'm also a smoker and stopped smoking the day of the operation! I didn't smoke for about a week but have started again, although not as much as i use to smoke...i'm going to quit in the next month, so i'm on the way to being healthy! :cool: Looking forward to the future ahead for myself!

i smoked right up till 1 day before......and started again about 10 days post op..im 23 days now.....

im still on soupy stuff 4 weeks Soup with my doc....so im looking forward to some mushie stuff....

im continually empty not actually hungry but empty.....

would have given up the smoking if i could but fraid im hooked....

good luck if you give it up

Leeanne

First let me say I don't smoke-never have...hate it!!! That being said , I cannot imagine how hard it is!!! My surgeon gives a test to see if your body is nicotine free...not a good result?? NO SURGERY!!! He is not going to risk his reputation on someone who isn't grown up enough to do something for the sake of their healing!! I know it is an addiction,however it is something that is very important to live without....make your choices carefully...

"someone who isn't grown up enough to do something for the sake of their healing"

Isn't that awfully judgemental coming from someone who "wasn't grown up enough" to control her own eating habits for sake of her health and had to resort to a band?

Now I'm not saying people who get banded aren't grown up - I'm planning on becoming one myself! However, I do know that some addictions, just like food, are incredibly hard to give up and they don't make a lap band for smoking!

(Apologies if my comment gave any offence to others but as a 45 year old smoker and a fattie, that "isn't grown up" just GRATED on me.)

Thanks for all interesting comments.

Only you can decide if it's worth the risk of continuing to smoke. I'm a non-smoker but was addicted to diet coke for years, since I was 16. That might not seem like a big deal but it was an addiction none the less. A few years ago my blood pressure had sky-rocketed off the charts. My doctor told that if I didn't give up caffeine and lose some weight, I would have to go on blood pressure medication and was a major risk at having a heart attack. I left the office and haven't had a diet coke since. I had caffeine withdrawals for a week and miserable migranes but my health was more important. I also lost about 20 pds. My blood pressure is now normal even though my weight is still very high. Is this the same things as giving up smoking? Probably not, but for me it was what I needed to do and the thought of having a heart attack at the age of 33 scared the crap out of me!

You have a lot going on in your life right now so I'm sure you're feeling incredibly overwhelmed. Just be aware that you might have a surgeon (like someone else posted) who will run a test right before surgery to check for nicotine.

Whatever you do, I wish you the best!!!

Jenn