December 19, 2008

Heartburn, Hungry or Full?

Is it Heartburn, am I Hungry or am I full? Those are the three questions I keep asking myself. For the past year I have had problems with heart burn and was talking Prilosec OTC daily for it. In September there was a medical report that came out saying that Prilosec was causing low calcium levels in individuals and some people's bones were breaking easily. So I discontinued using the medication. Since then, I only experienced a very low level of heartburn once or twice a week. Nothing for me to even take a tums for. It would come and go away just as quickly.
Immediately after the surgery I started feeling heartburn again. I wasn't really sure at the time if it was heartburn or if it was just gas pain or another pain from the surgery. I now know it was heartburn as I'm still having it on a regular basis. I get it when I lay down and sit up. When I eat or drink anything. Sometimes I'll get it when I'm even just walking around the house. I had been taking Rolaids but they weren't helping at all. I called the doctor's office this afternoon and they prescribed me Prevacid. So today I took my first dose. We're hoping this helps - if not, there may be more going on. I have read on some of the lap band message boards that some people experience heartburn when they have been overfilled. Since I don't have a fill in yet, taking some fluid out won't help me. My doctor did say tell my husband that I my lap band is like putting on a 40" belt on a 44" waist. So it's pretty snug. The only other thing I have read is that some people will start having heartburn if their band slips. I don't think that has happened. I just think my stomach is getting use to this band wrapped around it. We'll see in a couple of days. I'll give the doctor's office a call either way on Monday to talk to them about it more and give them an update as to how the Prevacid is working.
The other issue I've been dealing with today and part of yesterday is whether or not I'm really hungry or if I'm full. After eating a small yogurt for supper tonight, I started feeling really full. You know the feeling you get after eating a big Thanksgiving Turkey dinner with all the fixins'? The one where you need to loosen your pants and it's hard to breathe? Well that is the way I was feeling tonight after the yogurt and last night after the 1/2 cup of tomato soup. The weird thing is that my stomach is still growling. After feeling so full, why would my stomach growl? That's a question I'll be asking my doctor on Monday also. Maybe it's normal. It really is interesting to watch all these changes going on. I feel like a child on the first day of school asking easy questions that someday I'll look back on and laugh about.
Anyone want a scale update? On day 1 of my 10 day pre-op diet, I weighed in at 262. Today when I stood on the scale, I weighed 250. That is 12 pounds lost in 14 days. I hear this is pretty common for pre and post op diets and I know it will slow down when I start getting "normal" food into my diet. But I will enjoy this ride while I'm on it.

1 comment:

Sus said...

Thanks for being so open about your experience. I hope it gets easier.