Lapband surgery: the rules of the road, part 2 - weight-loss

The Continual Quest for Restriction; Not adequate vs. too much

Restriction. No one can actually explain it but each one wants it.

You have restriction when your band is adjusted to the point where you can eat 3-5 bites of well-chewed food and you are full. When this happens you have what is called good restriction.

You are too loose, or open, if you don't feel full after just a few bites. You are able to eat more on a even basis than before. Maybe your credence loss has slowed or stopped. This is when it is time for a fill, or adjustment, in your band.

You are too tight when you can eat very hardly solid food or worse-none at all. If you are so tight that only liquids go all the way through your band or you are spitting up too often this is too tight. If you can't keep liquids down this is a checkup issue and you must get some removed. You run the risk of apt dehydrated. Being too tight is not a good thing!

Not only are you not being paid the diet your body needs to behave accurately but it can also bring on a slippage in your band. If this happens you will command minor surgery to get working again it.

Now that you know a hardly about what restriction is, let's get a hardly deeper. There are three points to learn:

1. The first thing to appreciate is that every hooped character feels restriction differently. So to balance by hand to others is difficult.

2. Also the total of fluid in the band and the stomach's reaction, or restriction, to it is a assorted as the Bandsters analysis this now. Everyone's stomach is a altered size and reacts to the band differently. It is fine to balance fluid levels but don't get too fixed up in "I have this and they have that".

3. Finally, your level of restriction can adjustment day to day. It can alter meal to meal in some cases.

You are now asking, "How in the heck do I deal with that?" My fulfil is trial and error and education about your band.

Let us go back to the beginning. Directly after surgery you will feel restriction. The doctor customarily doesn't put any fluid in your band at some point in the surgery. The restriction you feel is the abscess of your stomach and it's adjustment to the band that has rapidly been wrapped about it. You won't get your first fill until 4-6 weeks after surgery.

You will be on clear liquids and they will fill you up briefly for the first few days. Then they will stop inside you up you will begin to feel hungry. About this time you will be allowable to eat mushy foods like mashed potatoes, buttery soups, etc. You will find that you eat just a few bites and you are full. This is great! Who knew a 1/2 of a can of soup would be enough? This is going to be a piece of cake.

It isn't going to last. Abruptly this won't assure and you will be affecting on to solid food. That air of restriction comes back. A slice of bomb and you are stuffed!

This doesn't last either. At about 4 weeks, at times earlier, you will start to feel craving again. You feel like you are drinking everything. Your authority loss has slowed or stopped. You start to freak out. "Where is my restriction?!" you cry.

This is a arduous time but one that every Bandster gets through. Just be long-suffering and let manually appearance the remedial process. Watch what you eat and know that you are not drinking everywhere near what you were pre-band. The vacant band food a a variety of sum of restriction and you won't hurt your progress.

Your first fill will bring you back to the restriction point right after surgery. You will eat a few bites and feel full. You will start behind burden appealing quickly. You want to make sure you are intake your protein first, vegetables agree with and any starches last. This will make sure satiety.

This fill will as a rule last more than a few weeks. Then it starts to relax up. Your be with fill is the one that by and large kicks a Bandster in the butt. This is where they learn what not chewing absolutely and attractive bites that are too large can do.

And so it goes. Some Bandsters need one fill others need more. I had 4 over the choice of the first year. I heard of one woman that lost 80 pounds on her first fill. This is why I stress not comparing physically to your hooped friends. It brings on frustration and we have spent an adequate amount time in our lives comparing ourselves to others. Now is the time to stop.

One of the leading environmental factors that make our band feel tighter is stress. I never truly unspoken what Bandsters were conversation about when they said stress was tapering their band. That is until I on track the deal with of import a house. The stress of the pending inspection and what they might find had my band so tight I was barely eating. My band was so tight I cancelled my fill appointment.

Let me say right now that I cultured from this come into contact with and you need to make sure you are receiving the right vitamins in to guarantee your health. I wasn't in any jeopardy but I was very tired and was bloom like crazy!

Well, the inspection went well. I got my house and my band opened back up. Food ongoing going by means of more smoothly and I on track ingestion better.

Other environmental factors can be tiredness, excitement, sadness, or just the fact that it is morning. Many Bandsters find they can't eat until after 11 AM every day.

I don't know if this satisfies your curiosity of what restriction is or what you are to do with it. I do hope you absorb that each one is assorted and it is a culture process. You will learn what it feels like for you to have good restriction and when your band is discussion to you.

Being "stuck" and "spitting up"

As WLS patients we have a few fun words we use. Some are nice and some are not. You will hear "PB" which means "Productive Burp". I desire the austere term "spit up".

What does "stuck" mean? Stuck means that what you have eaten won't go because of the cavity concerning your pouch and lower stomach. This is called your "stoma". The bite is too big to go all the way through (meaning you didn't chew it enough), it isn't amazing that moves smoothly all through the band (lettuce), or you just ate too darn much. When a bite of food goes by means of your gullet and hits your pouch it has one of two seats to go?through the band or back. If all is well it will go all through with no challenge any now or later. If it can't make it to the pouch or by means of the stoma it will consequence in a spit up.

Understand that this is amazing that will come to pass to you and to every bandster out there. Call it a side-effect or anything you like but it will happen. The questions are what causes a spit-up, what it feels like, what to do when it happens, and how to avoid them. Remember, equipment can adjust day-to-day, heck even meal to meal. This is the characteristics of the beast. Frustrating? Yes. Small price to pay? I think so.

What causes a spit up is easy. The bite it too big, you took one or two too many bites, you didn't chew properly, or it is cleanly a food that you can't tolerate right now. It is up to you to affect which of the above it true. Trust me? you will learn to affect this.

What does if feel like? You will know. The best way I can find to depict the ambiance is when you drink a big gulp of water and it goes down with air. You get this pain in your chest that makes you feel like a bit is going to bust out. That is what it feels like when a little is stuck. It can be minor or it can hurt like a son-of-a-gun. Some bandsters say their bodies tell them when they are completed consumption and need to stop. Some Bandsters start to drool which is their body's way of washing the food through. Some, me included, get a heavy sigh or exhale; this tells us we are full. Don't worry; you too will learn to read what your body is illuminating you?even if you don't now.

What be supposed to you do when it happens? Stop consumption is the first thing. It doesn't be of importance if it is your first bite or your fifth. A spit up is your body's way of forceful you that you are full. This is your band in full-alert. It is effective you that you are done and to put the fork down. Many times you can stop ingestion and just wait it out. Until you are used to it you might get the "deer in the headlight" look. Soon you will just adjust. If it doesn't go away then you need to deal with it.

Dealing with it means excusing by hand and bearing to the bathroom. A spit up is just that. I balance it to a baby spit up. It must never be what you classify as vomiting. This is perilous for a Bandster and ought to be avoided as it can cause slippage. There is a very large change in spit ups and vomiting.

How to avoid them? Well, that comes with be subjected to and a eagerness to acknowledge when your "food police" tells you to stop. Very abruptly you ought to learn when your band tells you to stop. I found that after my 2nd fill my band was at concentration and told me when I was full. This is when I practiced my first spit ups and found foods that I could no longer tolerate.

One of the most challenging clothes to get your mind about is just how hardly you will be eating. Your band tells you that you are full but your brain engages and says, "You haven't eaten all but enough!" So you take that extra bite or two. Then there it is?the air in your chest?your eyes get big?and dribble fills your mouth.

The largest point I want to get diagonally to you is that, while normal, spitting up is not automatically a good thing. You don't want to be doing it every day and emphatically not every meal. If this is incident you need to take a good look at what you are eating, how big your bites are, how much you are consumption and to what level you are chewing.

Be aware at the commencement and it will be converted into more of a habit soon enough.

Surgery Is Not a Magic Pill

Surgery is not the magic pill we have all been behind you for. You will not wake up thin. You must be eager to meet the band half way. You will lose authority at a another pace than your friends. You must adjust your conduct for this to work. It is a tool-and nobody more. An stimulating mixer is easier than combination by hand but you still have to adhere to the recipe for the cake to taste good.

Right now you be supposed to be asking by hand one question-"Am I ready to go the distance?"

Robin McCoy was lined on Feb. 3, 2004 and has lucratively reached her authority loss goal of 110 pounds. Robin is Vice-President and Elder Critic for Lapband Lifestyle, a LapBand reserve and assist group.

http://www. lapbandlifestyle. com
robin@lapbandlifestyle. com