Hi,

I am 4 days post-op now, and moving from a clear liquid diet to a full liquid diet, and I am having some trouble understanding what my body is telling me. The biggest problem I have is trying to figure out if I am actually hungry, and I need to drink something, OR am I experiencing gas pain, and general surgery pain.

There have been times now, when I decided I must be hungry, and go ahead and drink something. Which then makes me feel better. But then there have been a couple of times when I thought I was hungry, drank something, and it just sat there (I am guessing above the band) feeling like a ton of bricks.

I am going to guess that over time, I will begin to understand it much more clearly, but as this is still band-new (pun intended) to me, I am finding the learning curve a little tricky.

Anyone have any tips or hints?

Hi there!

I'm not too sure. I am 1 day post of not even 24hrs out. The post op gas pain is generally a left shoulder pain, which will go away with walking. Are you sipping your drink? Because i've noticed when I gulp it just sits there like a brick too. Try sipping your drink.

Also, you are still swollen in the inside I was told by my surgeon it will take about 4weeks for most of the swelling to go down and might not be able to drink too much at one time..just sips.

I hope this helped you some.

Dolphin

How are you drinking? Are you sipping or are you drinking like you used to drink prior to your surgery?

Hi,

I am 4 days post-op now, and moving from a clear liquid diet to a full liquid diet, and I am having some trouble understanding what my body is telling me. The biggest problem I have is trying to figure out if I am actually hungry, and I need to drink something, OR am I experiencing gas pain, and general surgery pain.

There have been times now, when I decided I must be hungry, and go ahead and drink something. Which then makes me feel better. But then there have been a couple of times when I thought I was hungry, drank something, and it just sat there (I am guessing above the band) feeling like a ton of bricks.

I am going to guess that over time, I will begin to understand it much more clearly, but as this is still band-new (pun intended) to me, I am finding the learning curve a little tricky.

Anyone have any tips or hints?

Randy, only time will give you the experience to tell the difference between the two. As bandsters, we often need to re-learn the difference between "full" and "stuffed".

I am on day 6, my surgery was 11/20. I too wonder the sam questions as you, what is all this gas and pain. Am I hungry or is that gas bubbles shifting around?

I have found that sipping tiny sips and only drinking my liquids in 10 to 15 min incruments seems to work best. I have also learned to keep water on hand at ALL times. I went out and did some errands yesterday and I didn't think ahead, I was with out my vitamin, my shakes, and had no food on hand. I had my water, but noting to fill my hunger pains. I didn't get home until 2 in the afternoon and I learned to be prepaired. I will always carry something with me that I can eat.

Hope this helps, I see we are similar in our problems and concerns.

It all takes time, folks. Your body is adjusting to having a piece of hardware inside it, restricting your stomach down to a pouch about the size of an egg. All the pains and gas and what have you will either subside or become second nature as the days go by. You'll learn to live with the band and you'll learn how the band "talks" to you and signals you when you goofed up.

Remember, you took this step to improve your health. Keep it focused on the big picture and you'll do fine.

Hi,

There have been times now, when I decided I must be hungry, and go ahead and drink something. Which then makes me feel better. But then there have been a couple of times when I thought I was hungry, drank something, and it just sat there (I am guessing above the band) feeling like a ton of bricks.

I am going to guess that over time, I will begin to understand it much more clearly, but as this is still band-new (pun intended) to me, I am finding the learning curve a little tricky.

Anyone have any tips or hints?

Hey, Randy, I was banded on Aug. 4 and I also struggled with what my stomach was telling me. I put myself on a schedule of when my meals were, and when I should drink. I planned my Water an hour before my meals to give myself 30 minutes to drink a small bottle of water (or less) and then another 30 minutes to wait before I ate. It has worked well for me. My stomach gets noisy telling me it is hungry but at least I'm sure I'm eating when I'm hungry AND I am getting my allotment of water. It's just an idea. Might not work for you.

Signs become more obvious and recognizeable over the next couple of weeks.

You will soon find that you are more an expert at reading your body than you ever were pre-banding.