Joint Pain
Hi all. I had my LapBand on December 19, 2006 and I seem to plateau more than lose, but that's o.k. as I know it will slowly go down. I had to battle my insurance co. to get the WLS approved as I, thankfully, have not suffered from any co-morbities. It seemed that I wasn't sick enough to prevent getting sick, go figure
. Anyway, I finally had my surgery on a Tuesday and was home by Wednesday morning. Got back to work a week and a half later and haven't stopped since.
I am down from having to wear XXL shirts to XL shirts, which is a blessing in and of itself. I have not had any side effects (unless you consider slow weight loss one). My doctor has been great and continues to adjust my band (I told him to crank it down right away, but, he declined and said we'd do it gradually).
I am finding though, a couple of things that I'd like your input on. First and foremost, since starting to lose weight after the surgery I seem to have pain in my hips whenever I do any type of exercise or when I spend too much time sitting down. The pain is the same on both sides and I have never had any hip problems or other joint pain before. The second question is regarding the amount of food I am able to eat. The Psych (whom I lovingly refer to as the fat shrink) I went to for my eval told me that my stomach would be the size of a golf ball after the surgery. If that is the case, it must be a pretty large golf ball (more like an oversized softball). Anyway, has anyone else experienced the same thing or is it that my band has not been tightened enough yet? The fat shrink also warned me that I most likely would be "sliming" someone at some point down this path if I ate too much. Have any of you experienced that? I look forward to hearing from you guys.
Alex
Alex,
Glad to have you Posting on the Men’s Forum.
Congrates on the Loss!!
Pain in the But?
Yep!
Many have Hip and But pain as the fat deposits leave and the remaining body has to shift about a little.
That, and losing some azz-pad can make some painful rears. The good news is that as weight stabilizes it typically goes away. Once the muscular/skeletal system stops ‘shape-shifting.’ There is about a 3 month lag-time that many claim, so don’t expect it to stop all at once. Do ASK YOUR Doc about it though.
For "Pouch size" resulting from Band? (or even RNY for that matter) It does tend to hold more than most all docs originally claim. This is as common out here as deep navels.
[*See post above- Pouch Stretch..]
"I most likely would be "sliming" at some point down this path if I ate too much."
The Band equivalent of "Foamies." If you fill or block the hole out the bottom of the pouch, (Stoma) the amount of spit that you normally just swallow un-consciously, has no "bottom-exit" and will come out the top! "Productive Burp" is the typical "Bander-Term."
[see "F-is for Foamies" post below…] or just-
http://obesityhelp.com/forums/men/a,messageboard/action,repl ies/board_id,5479/cat_id,5079/topic_id,3250427/
Congratulations on your smooth ‘take-off.’
Keep it Up!
Best Wishes-
Dx
Capricious; Impulsive, Semi-Predictable 
Hey Alex,
I had my lapband done on Dec 4th and I know what you mean about eating more than they say you should. They tell you your stomach will be the size of an egg when the band is perfectly adjusted.
The Dr. likes to adjust it slowly so you can adapt to eating the correct amount and feeling full. When your band is at the right adjustment I was told you should be eating 3/4 of a cup of food and it will satisfy you for at least 4 hours.
I like you am eating more than that amount now. I've had 2 adjustments. But I go back in 6 weeks for my next adjustment and I will be eating the correct amount when the band finally gets adjusted to the correct setting, which is different for everyone.
Just stick with it, you'll get there. You should know we "Banders" will lose slower than the others.
Good luck.
Dan 
