kimkimmie’s Posts

kimkimmie
on 1/9/23 1:08 pm
Topic: RE: New life for old band?

Thank you! Never heard that theory before but it really makes sense. I appreciate you taking the time to share.

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 5/6/22 4:46 am
Topic: RE: New life for old band?

Thank you!! I have an appointment towards the end of June to get some more info. I plan to try to do better with diet & adding in activity is a must that I have to start doing.

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 5/3/22 9:32 pm
Topic: RE: New life for old band?

Hi everyone! I was banded April 10, 2008. I had a solid 5-6 years of success with my band. I lost 160 pounds & kept it off. At some point after losing almost all of the weight I wanted to lose, I started eating carbs again at first in controlled portions. Over time little by little I could eat more & more. Over the past 8 years I put back on 100-120 pounds. That is:9 hard to type. My understanding is that my band was tight & the volume of Food would stay above the band. All I know is my breaks were gone No more discomfort and no more sliming when I overate. I was having Night coughs & sometimes I'd wake up choking with acid or fluid in m lungs & chest.

in February we did a complete unfill. My appetite and ability & desire to eat large quantities is back to pre band levels.

im wondering if anyone else experienced this & waited 12 weeks to let things settle & got a re-fill. If so I'd love to hear your experience. Can my band work again like it did in the beginning?

I'm hoping that I get a do over. I wish I would have known then what I know now & started with vsg but I didn't. I just losty best friend of over 30 years to a blood clot becoming a pulmonary embolism at age 48, & now I'm afraid to get another surgery. Hers wasn't related to baristric surgery but it's very much in my head now. Also I know a revision to vsg can have more issues than that being the only surgery. Sometimes with deadly results. So that is how desperate I am to have my band work again & re-lose this weight regain. It's my best shot and I know me well enough to know I can do it but I absolutely need a tool to help me. If not the mountain is too high to climb all on my own.

thanks for your time.

Love,

Kim

kimkimmie
on 11/2/18 2:03 pm
Topic: RE: Hello! I'm 10 years out and have a question. I've been dealing with aspiration & night cough a l

The doc took the fluid out & it fixed the issue. My band was way way way too tight.

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 11/2/18 2:01 pm
Topic: RE: Hello! I'm 10 years out and have a question. I've been dealing with aspiration & night cough a l

Thanks for your reply. They removed my fluid & what a relief to not have the night issues anymore. How did the fill go? Not sure how long I need to go till I get some added back. My pouch was stretched from the food piling up there & not going through well. I want to give it time to go back to normal.

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/15/18 6:13 am
Topic: RE: Hello! I'm 10 years out and have a question. I've been dealing with aspiration & night cough a l

My question is has anyone experienced a combination of being able to eat large quantities and experiencing hunger (common signs of being too loose) combined with aspiration & night cough (common sign of being too tight). I made an appointment for this Friday because I'm worried it is damaging my lungs. Sometimes when I exhale it sounds wheezy or like bubbles. I know I can sleep in a chair or stop eating 2-3 hours before bed and it might help some but I don't want a temporary fix, I want the night cough to go away.

Thoughts?

thanks in advance.

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 4/3/15 5:30 am, edited 4/3/15 5:30 am
Topic: RE: Going to get my band tubing reconnected

Thank you. I'm sorry this happened to you!! Did you check for a leak? Seems like the little connector on the tubing can get pulled loose with the type of surgery we had. If so did you get it straightened out? Wishing you well. It's extremely disheartening to pay so much for skin removal only to have the very surgery that was supposed to help send us right back to nearly starting over :(

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 4/3/15 5:18 am
Topic: RE: Going to get my band tubing reconnected

Hello :) They said my insurance is covering it BUT I have a high deductible plan so depending on the cost there's a high probability I'll be paying it all so using a surgery center. I had several fills greater than capacity so it basically told us there had to be a leak. To confirm he objected dye into my port and on the ex ray machine he uses to do fills with flouro, we saw the dye go in and as it moved through the tubing slowly flow out from its path (like smoke almost). Wishing you he best!!

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 3/31/15 5:55 pm
Topic: RE: Going to get my band tubing reconnected

Thank you!! Ok, will do!! Thanks for taking the time to comment. Very kind. He's looked at it on flouro & with the injectable die & says the band is in the right place. It definitely has a leak but like you are saying, I'm praying that this is the only reason for the gain and that fixing it will help me get back on track. My appetite & hunger is as strong as it was pre-band so hoping all goes well. 

Thanks,

Kim

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 3/31/15 5:51 pm
Topic: RE: Going to get my band tubing reconnected

Thanks so much Dejah!! Very sweet of you to comment with well wishes. A quick recovery would be great!! I'd like to get back to where I need to be or at least a lot closer :) Wishing you many blessings today!! :)

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 3/31/15 5:47 pm
Topic: RE: Going to get my band tubing reconnected

Thanks for sharing Kate. This is so encouraging!!! Hoping to get back to the way it was before the leak. We don't know fo sure how long it's been this way but it seems like it is probably the reason for the weight gain. I was thinking I just over-ate the band somehow and so I'm praying that this really was the issue all along and not something new in addition to (or because of) over eating the band. Praying that I can get this weight back off & keep it off. Thanks for taking time to reply. It means a lot to me. 

Have a great day!! 

Kim

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 3/30/15 8:44 pm
Topic: RE: Going to get my band tubing reconnected

Hello there!! 

Wondering if anyone around this website has had this done? I had some skin removed a little over 3 years ago. Since then I slowly have been gaining. Probably gained about 60-70 pounds. I fought it tooth and nail at first. Taking phentermine and starving myself all day just eating dinner. I came to terms that I probably stretched my pouch because over time portions got bigger. Then I started wondering if my band could be the problem. I had tried getting 2 fills prior but both times were too much & ended up having some removed. My appetite & ability to eat large portions was not affected. I figured I failed the band. My surgeon moved a good distance away. I decided though to make an appointment with another surgeon. We tried fills. He looked at the flours and said my band looked ok. After 5 fills with no satiety, we were both wondering if there was a leak. He injected dye into my port and we watched under the X-ray machine. Some of the dye slowly escaped the tubing. It was coming out at the connector where the tubing from the port and band meet. He thinks that with all of the pulling and tugging the plastic surgeon did when she removed some of my skin it probably came a little loose. It makes sense now that I think about it because that was when I began to struggle with weight gain again. On 4/16 I'm scheduled to have it the connecting tubing repaired/replaced. I am hoping that this truly was the reason for my regaining some of what I worked so hard to lose. If so, maybe there is hope that things will turn back around. I will report back to let you know how it all goes. 

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 1/31/15 1:14 am
Topic: RE: Very bloated & gas pressure after dye injected in my band to look for a leak.

Thanks for taking the time to reply :) overall much better now, thank goodness. Still a bit sore but I think it's just from tensing my muscles up so much prior the the fill. I am appreciative as your reply as it gives me hope I can get moving in a positive direction again & that I havent reached the end of my weight loss attempts :) regaining has been very disheartening but at least now I know the reason why. Continued success to you. Have a great weekend. :)

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 1/31/15 1:11 am
Topic: RE: Very bloated & gas pressure after dye injected in my band to look for a leak.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond :)

I'm feeling much better today now that the bloating & swelling is down. I did take gas x and ibuprofen. It got worse in the night & I even got a low fever and sweaty and light headed with nausea as I tried to stand and walk to the restroom. Still very sore as I don't use my ab muscles a lot. I think I overused them as I tensed up with fear prior to the injection being that I was still sore in that area from my fill attempt 2 weeks earlier. Overall much better than last night. Thanks for the great advice. Have a wonderful weekend :) 

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 1/30/15 9:00 am
Topic: RE: Very bloated & gas pressure after dye injected in my band to look for a leak.

And yes I do have a leak where the port side tubing meets the stainless steel connector to connect to the band side tubing. The band filled up with at least 4 cc's of the dye, some leaked, some went in the band & I could tell it was squeezing my tummy because I felt the need to burp feeling. He took the dye out and put it back in again. Ever since I have been very uncomfortable with gas & bloating. I took gas x twice but still feels very uncomfy. Similar to after surgery when my tummy was puffed up with co2 so they could do surgery. We expect the band leak started about 3 years ago after another unrelated surgery after the skin was all moved & shifted around while my abdomen was open. I've been banded since 4/10/08 and at first lost 165 but with my gain over the past 3 years, the loss is now only 98 lbs from my highest weight. Does anyone know what could be causing the gas & bloating? I've never experienced this after a fill & over the years & even in recent months had several. Thanks in advance :)

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/25/13 11:51 pm
Topic: RE: Has anyone personally used the 5 day pouch test?
Ill check it out! I never watched it, but hear its a great show. I probably do that anyway because on special occasions I allow carbs, but my plan is to have 100% low carb days 85-90% of the time. Maybe 2-4 days a month. Ill google it. Thanks for sharing. My surgeon swears low carb is the only way to go so as long as I'm in that realm, I know I'm where he advised me to be. I lost 7-9 lbs so far since I started this post and seeing that it is doing something is helping keep me in track the secret for me is finding allowable replacements for the things not on my plan that I'm craving & being prepared with low carb options. Planning ahead is important. I am more aware of the sensations now, but i can still eat a little more than i could in the first few years. The pouch test helped get me back on track. Best of luck to all of us. We all had major surgery & deserve to be successful. I just have to remind myself that the band only does so much & the harder part is up to me.
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/25/13 1:25 am
Topic: RE: Has anyone personally used the 5 day pouch test?
Hello. I can relate. You will lose it again The pouch test is like a way to start back on track. Gets you used to eating the band way, reminds you of the early days, and is a good mental helper I've lost about 7 pounds since doing it & starting back to low carb eating. You can see the details online. The website is www.5daypouchtest.com. Weigh first & let the success of losing a few pounds & the feel good feeling of taking a stand to get back on track to motivate you to keep going from there
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/14/13 3:09 am
Topic: RE: Restart 10/13/2013

Hi Joey,

Wishing you success!!! You can do it. Where your greatest desire is, that is where your focus and efforts will be. 1 day at a time. 1 meal at a time. Planning will help. I am just now getting back to it too and I did pretty well last week and the weekend wasn't perfect but I did ok. Better than usual. MUCH better than usual, I stuck to my plan but had some alcohol which I know will slow it down, and some fried pickle chips. That was the worst... but back on track today and I may even do another liquid day to kind of make up for it.

Hope you have a great day!!!

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/11/13 7:49 am
Topic: RE: My Review - The 5 day pouch test was the perfect start to getting back on track
Thank you!! Made me smile!!!
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/11/13 7:48 am
Topic: RE: My Review - The 5 day pouch test was the perfect start to getting back on track
Absolutely!! It's www.5daypouchtest.com the liquid protein & broth for the 1st 2 days helped me eliminate stored carbs and also was pretty hard bit once I did it I felt empowered. It also made my eggs on day 3 super delicious then adding in new items on days 4 & 5 were like rewards for making it thru the previous days. The real reward is knowing my pouch still restricts how much I can eat... When I eat the right foods. It allows unlimited snacks & refined foods & so I will have to be diligent to avoid those kinds of thing. I now remember that it's a partnership with my band and if I don't do my part it's not going to do anything at all. congrats on your success & wishing you continued success in the future.
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/11/13 5:19 am
Topic: RE: My Review - The 5 day pouch test was the perfect start to getting back on track

It was a reminder of what I went though. It forced me to follow the band rules. It reminded me that eating the dryer protein part of a meal first followed by small amounts of veggies and whole grains is the key to success. It is what works with the band to allow me to not be hungry and not overeat. I little by little learned to eat foods that didn't feel uncomfortable which means I little by little started eating more since it was easy... just like life without a band. Life without a band for me was a life of being overweight. I got the band to get in control but the part I chose to forget was that the band does its part if I do my part. The food choices is my part. It is hard because I love delicious food, so I have to make a dedicated effort to eat the proper foods for band success. I have to re-learn to eat the foods I used to eat when I was first banded and go back and read my original posts on my blog to remind myself of that all out determination I felt in the first year. I think this 5 day pouch test has really helped me get started back on the road to weight loss. I don't know if it shrunk anything but I feel my pouch now because I am eating the foods that the band was designed to work with.

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/11/13 3:54 am
Topic: RE: 5 and 1/2 years out and gaining weight. Want to get satiety again.

It's great the the band lifestyle has become a natural part of your life!! I think mine did that too... but last time I had a flouro (over a year ago) they said all looked fine. I think its a combo of that and I stopped eating the dryer protein things and learned the items that would go thru fast and comfortably over time and started allowing myself to indulge in things that didnt sit in my pouch which allowed my portions to get bigger and choices to become worse. When I started gaining a couple of years ago I basically got on Phentermine and starved myself during the day eating a pouch of tuna for lunch and nothing else, then going home and cooking and eating elaborate delicious dinners. I enjoy cooking and it was like a hobby. I got way of track but maintained my weight. After the breakup... I started eating like that a lot more and stopped dieting during the day... and here I am up 15-20 pounds. Getting back on track now and it is working!! :)

~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/9/13 9:00 pm
Topic: RE: Has anyone personally used the 5 day pouch test?
Good luck to you!! You got this I know. Switching from gain to loss is powerful!! I'm starting day 4. I bought the keto sticks to test to see if I'm in ketosis and it turned to moderate purple today so that means I got rid of the carbs and my body is burning protein & stored fat made a motivational impact seeing that. Have a great day!!
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/9/13 11:47 am
Topic: RE: Tasty simple recipes. Know any?
Have the grocery store steam some crab legs and bring them home. Melt butter & dip
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
kimkimmie
on 10/9/13 11:44 am
Topic: RE: I'm ready to call it quits
On October 3, 2013 at 5:17 AM Pacific Time, tlabelladonna wrote:

I just had lap band surgery 2 months ago.  They just partially filled my band 10 days ago for the first time.   I feel no difference.  I don't know how it is that i can still eat a full meal and not feel full.  I'm thinking about going back to the cottage cheese and fat free popsicles.  Im not really losing anything.  I don't feel the band is doing anything.  I've yet to have that "full" feeling.  Im stuck at the same weight teetering between losing 3 then gaining 3.  Any advice.  anyone

This is normal. I didn't get any restriction till like my 3rd fill. Practice now the tiny bites & lots of chewing & eating protein 1st so you will be a pro once restriction kicks in. congrats on getting the band & wishing you success.
~Kim 

***I was at 27 pounds lost on the day of surgery -- the loss shown on ticker includes my pre-op weight loss***
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