I am in a real funk. I was banded on June 18. My last fill was Nov 6. Siince then eating is a pain. The healthy food that I should eat makes me sick and the food ( like chips and sweets) go down really easy. I can't handle meat at all and since Nov I have lost 1 pound. I have tried eating really slow. Another problem is that I am always hungary. My start weight was high and I was on the border line for the lapband proceedure. Did I select the wrong proceedure. I am so unhappy. To date I have lost 46 pounds. I tried to go to a liquid diet but the hungar is really bad. My doctor is from UCSF in San Francisco and he is really not a very nice man. Any suggestions would really help.

Sue

Hi Sue,

I don't have any solutions for you...but I just wanted to jump in and give you a big hug! I can definately comisserate and tell you that when I was feeling like you, I went in for a slight un-fill and now I can eat foods that are good for me like chicken, etc. that I couldn't tolerate before without sliming and PBing all the time. Yuck!

I don't know if I should've had a different surgery, but I sure wish I hadn't gotten the band. It's not been at all what I thought it would be.

I hope yours works out for you. Big, big hugs!

Toni

I am in a real funk. I was banded on June 18. My last fill was Nov 6. Siince then eating is a pain. The healthy food that I should eat makes me sick and the food ( like chips and sweets) go down really easy. I can't handle meat at all and since Nov I have lost 1 pound. I have tried eating really slow. Another problem is that I am always hungary. My start weight was high and I was on the border line for the lapband proceedure. Did I select the wrong proceedure. I am so unhappy. To date I have lost 46 pounds. I tried to go to a liquid diet but the hungar is really bad. My doctor is from UCSF in San Francisco and he is really not a very nice man. Any suggestions would really help.

Sue

Jumping in from another board, but it sounds to me like you are too tight. Even if you are looser than most people would want to be if you can eat actual food, I think you are going to feel fuller longer. Liquid diets made me starve. Right now my fill is too tight but I live 5.5+ hours away from my doc and couldnt' get the time off of work to travel there until this coming monday. I tried doing liquids since my last fill on Dec. 21 but it didn't fill me up. I switched to fish and it seems to be working better. My doc says that if you are feeling pain when you are eating anything besides bread, rice or Pasta then you are too tight. As for the bread rice and pasta, some people can never handle them again without pain. Even when I was completely unfilled due to getting something lodged, I couldn't eat rice. I think the reason that you are not losing weight is because you are not getting the right nutrients. Those deceptively easy to slide down foods are usually very high in sugar and fat and halt the weight losing process.

As for your doc, is there anyone else that you could go to. I don't know your financial situation but if you are not happy with your doc, you should be in a big enough city that there should be another one around. Hope this gets better for you.

Also on a good note, my doc considers someone successful if they lose 50 pounds in 1 year, so you are doing fantastic!

Thanks for the hub. I also wish I wouldn't have gotten the band. I had a choice and because I was scared went with the band. My friend has a bypass 2 weeks after me and she has lost over 65 lbs and can eat anything but more important she gets fulled up and stays satified for a while.

Sue

Should be hug not hub, so much for my spelling today. Thanks again, I don't feel so alone.

Sue

Well, I love my band - and only you can say if you should have had a different procedure, but here's my advice:

I am in a real funk. I was banded on June 18. My last fill was Nov 6. Siince then eating is a pain. The healthy food that I should eat makes me sick and the food ( like chips and sweets) go down really easy. If you cannot keep healthy solids down, you need to seek an unfill. Chips should not go down and easier than, say, Beans. Perhaps you need to try different behaviors when eating good foods. If you tell yourself you cannot get something healthy down, then you're probably not going to get something healthy down. I can't handle meat at all and since Nov I have lost 1 pound. You're eating sweets & chips, and have only lost 1 lb since November. That sounds about right to me. Being banded will do nothing for weightloss if you aren't also making good decisions. Have you tried Soups? Softer healthy foods such as cottage cheese or eggs? Have you tried very crunchy meats, e.g. very crunchy bacon or cooked/drained pepperoni? I have tried eating really slow. Another problem is that I am always hungary. I'm confused - you're too tight to eat, but you're always hungry? Most of the time the discomfort from eating when tight, or being cligged up, is enough (in most people) to wipe away any signs of hunger. Are you truly hungry, or are you head/pity hungry? Are you an emotional eater? My start weight was high and I was on the border line for the lapband proceedure. Did I select the wrong proceedure. I am so unhappy. To date I have lost 46 pounds. 46 lbs in roughly 6 months is not bad. It's between 7 & 8 lbs per month. How much were you expecting to lose? I tried to go to a liquid diet but the hungar is really bad. If you need to resort to a liquid diet, then you need an unfill. My doctor is from UCSF in San Francisco and he is really not a very nice man. Any suggestions would really help. Well, a doctor being NICE, and a doctor being ABLE TO HELP have nothing to do with each other. Go try a slight unfill.

Here a response to your suggestions.

If you cannot keep healthy solids down, you need to seek an unfill. Chips should not go down and easier than, say, beans. Perhaps you need to try different behaviors when eating good foods. If you tell yourself you cannot get something healthy down, then you're probably not going to get something healthy down.What you don't know is that I would love to eat chicken and veggies. Every time I go to eat them I feel blocked. As far as eating the chips it isn't my food of choice. I have been fighting for 6 years to get this surgery and could have had either one but I selected the lapband because I thought it was safer. I can't handle meat at all and since Nov I have lost 1 pound. You're eating sweets & chips, and have only lost 1 lb since November. That sounds about right to me. Being banded will do nothing for weightloss if you aren't also making good decisions. Have you tried soups? I have tried soups and if they have any type of meat in them then I get sick. Softer healthy foods such as cottage cheese or eggs? Once again I would love to have egg whites with some veggies and some turkey bacon but after a few bites the pressure is bad and I end up throwing it up.Have you tried very crunchy meats, e.g. very crunchy bacon or cooked/drained pepperoni? The only meat I have found that I can tolerate is ground pork and then it takes me about 4 hours to get down a few ounces.I have tried eating really slow. Another problem is that I am always hungry. I'm confused - you're too tight to eat, but you're always hungry? Most of the time the discomfort from eating when tight, or being cligged up, is enough (in most people) to wipe away any signs of hunger. Are you truly hungry, or are you head/pity hungry? Are you an emotional eater?Once I try to eat and get sick most of the time what every was in my stomach is thrown up and yes I am hungry. Your right while I am in discomfort I don;'t want to eat but I also can not be in that situation for very long.My start weight was high and I was on the border line for the lapband procedure. Did I select the wrong procedure. I am so unhappy. To date I have lost 46 pounds. 46 lbs in roughly 6 months is not bad. It's between 7 & 8 lbs per month. How much were you expecting to lose? I was expecting to lose about 2 pounds a week. That is what I was told in my informational meetings.I tried to go to a liquid diet but the hunger is really bad. If you need to resort to a liquid diet, then you need an unfill. The reason I was thinking a liquid diet was because I was told that maybe I am at a plateau and it would jump start my weight loss.My doctor is from UCSF in San Francisco and he is really not a very nice man. Any suggestions would really help. Well, a doctor being NICE, and a doctor being ABLE TO HELP have nothing to do with each other. Go try a slight unfillI am not looking for Dr. Welby but I am looking for a doctor that I feel comfortable talking too. He is rude and never goes over anything unless I am persistent and then he gets nasty. He has way too many patients and when I went in for an unfill he told me "I thought you wanted to lose weight, deal with it. I also told him that I had a hard time getting meat down, his response was, "become a vegetarian". And no I can't see another because of my insurance group once they assign a doctor you must stay with them. To tell you how nasty this doctor is on my surgery day in the pre op room, he came in and asked if I had lost more weight. When I said a little he said, "well don't be surprised if I don't do your surgery and just open and shut you up" My daughter ask me who this was since he didn't even bother to introduce himself to her and she was shocked when I said my doctor.

...that your Dr. has spoken to you like that. I am so sorry this has been your experience. I have not thrown up as much as you have, but my husband has. I empathize with your frustration at not being able to eat. Nothing I cook for my husband is edible. He throws everything up.

I have not been able to solve the mystery...why he can eat chips and other crunchy things, but not any meat or vegetables is still eluding me.

I have no real suggestions for you but I would say that if you have to eat crunchy things to get food down, try low fat, high calorie things. I am not totally sure what that is, but I plan on getting some answers and I will share them when I get them.

Christy

Sue my suggestion is to get into a face to face support group. My favorite (I currently drop in to 2, and know of a 3rd) is at Mills Penninsula, yes Burlingame CA....It is held the 1st Saturday of every month in a basement meeting room - starts at 10:00am...all WLS patients are welcome and its free...... There are more RNXY then banders, but our ranks are growing. Its a judgment free 1.5 hour session (you can leave early without a problem) where you pick up encouragement, and tips on how to succeed, and maybe best what to expect along the way, at every stage - even years out.....drop in in two weeks...

On to your Dr and eating issues...... you have to show backbone with your doc....MAKE him unfill alittle, or better yet do a swallow test...I say test is better because I am currently in the "throwing up" group. Early on (up to first year) I had trouble with healthier choices, and became a chip eater, and starting craving sweets (these were new bad habits), At two years out of need I discovered the benefits of PBing. I had not had a fill in 1.5 years.......By year 3 I was PBing with much greater frequency...now at 3.5 years I cannot eat or drink anything without regurgitating, this includes Beans and soups.... anyday now I will be approved for an upper GI and I fully expect to hear that my band has slipped......but I will just have to wait and see and keep sipping this and that

thank you so much. At least now I don't think I am totally crazy. You are right. I can handle crunchy things

Sue

Thank you the the information. I will go next time. I really do need the support and I hope all goes well with you. I will keep my fingers crossed that you get better.

Sue