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Post lapband surgery frustration



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Hi, This is my first time on this site. I had my lapband surgery on 9/12/08. I had my first fill in December of 2008 due to some complication in healing of my incision. At that I was only filled to a 1. In January 2009, I was filled to a 2 and that is where I am now. I have lost 27 lbs to date. I have been feeling a little bit of frustration because I haven't lost more weight and I have also been experiencing the phlegm sometimes after the first bite or two of food. This kind of contributes to my indulging in some "junk" foods which go down easier. I would like to know if anyone else has experienced this and is there anything that can be done about it. HELP!!!:tongue_smilie:

Edited by jones1100
left out a word

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The "phlegm" sounds like excess saliva, which probably means, believe it or not, you may be too tight. That is why you are eating the junk slider foods. Do a eating check at your next meal. Make sure you are taking small bites and chewing well. If you are and you are still experiencing the sliming, then please consider going for a small unfill. Sometimes it only takes getting .5 cc taken out to make a world of difference. Just because you don't have a lot in your band, doesn't mean it isn't too tight. I only have 2 ccs in an 11cc band and I have really good restriction and this is after 8 months.

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Thanks to crzytchr for the words of encouragement. When the doctor did my fill to a 2, he told me he thought it was too tight but I convinced him to leave it because I wanted the restriction and was not getting it at a 1. So you're probably right and this is what I was thinking that I may need to have .5 cc taken out. I'll call my doctor for an appointment.

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Make sure you're chewing very well and taking small bites before you get an "unfill". I was banded last August and haven't really had restriction at all until my Feb 5 fill. Even then I could still eat a good deal. My Mar 5 fill really tightened things up and I thought I was too tight until I realized I wasn't following my doc's orders regarding eating. I sit at the table without distractions, cut my food up into small bites, and chew each bite to mush. And guess what? No problems! I get full on less but don't have problems with the first bite. So try that before you get unfilled. how large is your band? You may very well be too filled but before you pay to have some taken out, try really thinking about what you are eating, paying attention, chewing well, small bites. That worked for me, anyway!

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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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        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!

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

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