Confused and Concerned

rs2aj3 · 06-07-2008, 05:13 PM

Hello. New to the site, 5 days post-op.

The main reason I decided on this procedure was I needed help restricting the amount of food.

I talked to one of the nurses on Thursday and told her I was hungry. She told me to add jello, yogurt and soup to my diet...but no big chunks.

Well, I had some chunks of meat in the soup and some tortilla, too. I was really testing myself expecting a bad reaction but everything went down fine. In fact, I still felt hungry. Today I had some peanuts and still no reaction.

I feel guilty for cheating MYSELF like this and not giving it a chance, but knowing myself I also feel like I will keep testing the band since I didn't have a bad reaction.

Does this mean my band is not on correctly?

Any advice would be helpful.

auntlucy · 06-07-2008, 05:24 PM

The reason for the liquid diet post-op is to allow your body to heal. You really need to stick to the liquids now so that your body can heal properly. You will likely be hungry during this time period. Until you get the magic fill (it takes some people more fills than others), you may not feel much restriction. I still don't feel as much as I think I should after 1 fill. So, for the sake of your health and your new band, please please please follow the doctor's instructions. You will be on solid foods soon (I know it doesn't seem like it now)!

snowbird · 06-07-2008, 05:31 PM

You aren't going to feel any problem with eating at this point, but it is very bad for you. The band has been stitched into the outside of your stomach. Eating solid foods causes your stomach to move and work. You may damage your stomach by eating too soon. According to my doctor, many slips and erosions are caused by patients eating solid food too early. Please stop!

snowbird · 06-07-2008, 05:34 PM

This is actually a quote from Doctor Ortiz:

Liquid phase is three weeks is 21 days
Yes you will hear that some patients did less days of liquids and nothing happened. Well wait until six months have passed and you find yourself struggling with more band adjustments and not feeling the restriction. These patients enlarged their pouch. Once the harm is done it won’t show up imediately, but it will hinder your weightloss and you may never reach your goal. Now I ask you is it really worth it? By the way the only way to correct pouch enlargement is through surgical repair.

rs2aj3 · 06-07-2008, 05:59 PM

I appreciate your responses. I guess I wasn't very clear on this part of the process. Your factual information did scare me and I promise not to cheat myself anymore. Thanks again!

snowbird · 06-07-2008, 06:06 PM

Fear can be your friend !

Northwest_Nance · 06-07-2008, 10:36 PM

Every doctor is different. My doctor does only LAP-BAND® surgery, he's been doing it for years, and he has done well over 1000 of them with a high success rate, very low band slippage rate (which he says is mostly from vomiting, which can easily be avoided) and many very, very happy patients. He has his patients on one week post-op of liquid diet and then one week of mushies, then on to regular food. I don't really like to see people posting scare tactics from other doctors.... let's everyone just follow the advice of their own doctor, ok?

That being said, follow the advice of your doctor. And peanuts right after surgery is totally wrong by any doctor's advice!