Getting Stuck, Poor Circulation, and Diet recommendations..

Good Afternoon everyone!

My shiny new band and I have a couple of questions, I'm sorry this post is so long! I appreciate your help!

1. Getting Stuck...
So. I feeling slick and protein deprived (god I hate whey) so I took a bite of my brothers chinese food. Just a bite. Well now I understand that "stuck" feeling. I felt like I needed to throw up or the slime would jump out of my body and eat me. I managed to hold it down for 5-minutes (it was the worst 5 minutes of my life) and then it miraculously cleared and I had no pain -- just the memory... It's my fault for cheating, but I remember my physician recommending to hold it in as not to irritate the GI tract. Do you always hold it in? Does it ever last longer than 5 minutes? What is that slime?

2. Poor Circulation
This may have been occuring before my surgery but it's much worse now. My toes are bright red and my feet are super pale. My hands are constantly tingling and my legs fall asleep even when standing. I have to change positions everyone couple of minutes (whether sitting, standing, or laying) to keep comfortable. Did anyone else have that after surgery? I am 2-weeks post op, today.

3. Diet recommendations/ fill
I'm curious what foods are intolerable by the band. I know everyone is different (my younger brother can't eat lettuce, while my mom enjoys her salads) but after being stuck I'm very afraid. I also feel like I don't have a  lot of restriction. I can gulp down water like before I was banded but I can't eat as much. I think my calories have reduced to like 500-800 per day as compared to probably 3000+ a day. So I'm not sure about getting a fill yet. My doctor did cut the fat away from my stomach before fitting and filling the band. I have a 4cc band with 1.4cc in it currently. I've dropped 10 lbs so far, but I'm sorta stuck the last 3-4 days.

I'm also wondering if there are any yummy high protein (don't care so much about calories at the moment since I can't eat much) foods you enjoy. I've been eating eggs and cheese like a maniac but it's getting old. I can't stand sweet stuff and the whey protein tastes awful -- I bought Nectar.

1. Your first question regarding stuck episodes.  I've only had it happen 4 times in 2 years.  I've been very careful to follow my surgeon's eating plan.  Please be careful to follow your surgeon's diet progression and amounts. You are healing right now and you want to be very careful.  The thick saliva is your body's attempt to help the food go on down, but it makes it worse.  I just spit it out.  You asked if a stuck lasts longer than 5 minutes... well for me, I've been stuck for 2 hours.  It's always been too dry of food for my stucks.  Just a painful experience and I never want it to happen again.  And after a stuck episode you are supposed to do fluids for 24hours to let your stoma rest and to let the swelling decrease.

2. You might want to talk to your PCP about the circulation issues.  You could read about Raynaud,s Syndrome...    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud's_phenomenon

3. As time goes on, you should be able to eat 3 oz of dense protein and a 1/4c of a veggie.  I eat that for lunch and dinner.  Breakfast is usually a Greek yogurt.  Snacks could be a 1/2 of an apple with peanut butter or a cheese stick, or baby carrots etc.  I don't eat bread, rice or pasta. 
You stated you don't think you have a lot of restriction, you are only 2 weeks out. It should be a slow process of getting fills to reach a good level.  The band is more about appetite dimming than stopping you from eating more. If you use your band to stop you from eating too much, you could cause damage to your esophagus or upper pouch. 

I can drink as much fluid as fast as I want without problem. Fluid goes right on through at a good level.   I wouldn't call 3-4 days without weight loss being stuck.  Your body has gone through a lot and if you went 2 weeks or more than maybe a little stall, but you can't lose weight every single day. 

4. Protein...  Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, refried beens etc.

Hope this helps a little,
Kristi

I didn't read Kristi's reply so if I repeat some of what she said, I apologize.

1)  We've all tried to "hold it in" and sometimes it passes and sometimes it doesn't.  It feels so much better when its gone, we don't always fight too hard to hold it in.

2)  Call the doctor.  You need to get that checked out.

3)  Everyone IS different.  Its sort of like a trial and error situation.  And just because you can tolerate it at lunch (whatever IT is), doesn't mean you're going to be able to tolerate it at dinner time.  My sister and I were banded on the same day and she had absolutely no poblem with bread....ever....and I never could take even one bite. 

You won't have any restriction for a while and the surgeon should take the fills slow as you have a small cc band and you sure don't want to overfill it. 

Liquids SHOULD go down easily.  If thre's ever a time when the liquid doesn't seem to flow evenly and quickly thru, call the surgeon.  Trust me, the longer you wait, the worse it can get. 

And your doctor should know when its time for a fill.  He should access the port, measure the fluid that's in there.....making sure its the same amount he put in there last time and that there are no leaks....refill the band with what was originally in there and then push on the syringe to see if the plunger backs off at all. If it does, you don't need a fill.  If it doesn't move, he'll leave the additional fluid in there and have you drink some water to make sure its not too tight.

On my first fill, my surgeon filled my band as tight as he could get it and asked me to SIP some water. I took one little sip and it went nowhere.  He asked me if it went thru and all I could do was shake my head.  He drew the fluid back out while telling me "now, that's too tight.  You never want to feel that".  No, kidding.  What a shock that was.

NECTAR.....I couldn't stand it.  I found WalMart brand of high protein powder or Protein Power that I bought at Publix were the best. 

Check your labels.  If the protein percentage is higher than the carb percentage, its a good choice.  Cheese and eggs are a good bed but I know how tired you can get of the same old thing.

Good luck to you on your journey.  Its quite an adventure so enjoy the ride.

LaWanda