synicalchick

Chest Pains/cramps/spasms? I have had my band for about 4 years now and have never experienced this before and have now twice since Saturday and hoping there's someone on here that has. My doc is out all week so I can't talk to him. It would see that I have been to tight for about 8 months.. was waking up around 1-2 at night, liquids coming up through my nose, mouth or ending up in my lungs no matter how much earlier I was eating and drinking before going to bed. Finally went in Friday and had 1.6 taken out of my 4cc band. I've slept like a baby for 3 nights now, HOWEVER, Saturday I had this HORRID HORRID cramping or spasams going across my chest, both sides, working it's way up into my Jaws and the top of my head. This lasted about 10 minutes before fadeing away. The again this morning but this time it lasted about 15-20 minutes. I just can't even describe acurately how horribly it hurt. I am wondering if maybe I was banded to tight for so long, that when the pressure was relieved it's causing spasms or cramps? Any advise or comparisons would be nice. thanks Tracy

Ok. I just called my doc's office and his nurse is going to call me back when she gets in.

Chest Pains/cramps/spasms? I have had my band for about 4 years now and have never experienced this before and have now twice since Saturday and hoping there's someone on here that has. My doc is out all week so I can't talk to him. It would see that I have been to tight for about 8 months.. was waking up around 1-2 at night, liquids coming up through my nose, mouth or ending up in my lungs no matter how much earlier I was eating and drinking before going to bed. Finally went in Friday and had 1.6 taken out of my 4cc band. I've slept like a baby for 3 nights now, HOWEVER, Saturday I had this HORRID HORRID cramping or spasams going across my chest, both sides, working it's way up into my Jaws and the top of my head. This lasted about 10 minutes before fadeing away. The again this morning but this time it lasted about 15-20 minutes. I just can't even describe acurately how horribly it hurt. I am wondering if maybe I was banded to tight for so long, that when the pressure was relieved it's causing spasms or cramps? Any advise or comparisons would be nice. thanks Tracy

Chest Pains/cramps/spasms? I have had my band for about 4 years now and have never experienced this before and have now twice since Saturday and hoping there's someone on here that has. My doc is out all week so I can't talk to him. It would see that I have been to tight for about 8 months.. was waking up around 1-2 at night, liquids coming up through my nose, mouth or ending up in my lungs no matter how much earlier I was eating and drinking before going to bed. Finally went in Friday and had 1.6 taken out of my 4cc band. I've slept like a baby for 3 nights now, HOWEVER, Saturday I had this HORRID HORRID cramping or spasams going across my chest, both sides, working it's way up into my Jaws and the top of my head. This lasted about 10 minutes before fadeing away. The again this morning but this time it lasted about 15-20 minutes. I just can't even describe acurately how horribly it hurt. I am wondering if maybe I was banded to tight for so long, that when the pressure was relieved it's causing spasms or cramps? Any advise or comparisons would be nice. thanks Tracy

Merry Meet, My name is Tracy nickname Gretchen Noel and I am a very spritual pagan. I am 37 years old and the daughter of a Southern Baptist Minister. I live in a different state and my parents, though they know I'm different, do not know of my spiritual beliefs. I have been kitchen/nature witch since I was 25 and do not follow any certain path in particular, but gather differnt things from all faiths and make them my own. I and my husband, for the most part, are solitary (he follows the budda yogi path) but we do have a small 'family' that gathers 8 times a year for holidays. I think all of our prayers,energies and spells all go to the same place and that no one religion or denomination is the 'correct' one, just that it takes different things for different people and situations. I am being banded on Tuesday Feb 27th and I am both excited and anxious. I was a size 12 in jr. high and a size 14-18 through high school. I went through a date rape situation when I was 19 and ballooned up to 240. I have been over 200 since I was 19, over 250 for about 12 yrs and over 300 for about 6 years. I 1st attempted to have this very procedure four years ago but I had health spring and was denied without any hope of an appeal. Last year my company started offering BCBS along with health spring. I didn't change anything, then I found out last fall that there were 6 other people in the company that had switched to BCBS and sucessfully had the procedure SO, I switched this year and as you will see in my signature.. was approved!:clap2: I am so excited about what lays ahead for myself and my husband. I LOVE to be outdoors and being my size is REALLY a hinderance. I look forward to hearing from others of alternative faiths or, No faith in particular. I have created a poll, thought it would be fun. I know there is NO WAY I have remembered all of the different paths so if yours isn't listed..VERY SORRY. Example.. right after I created the poll, I realised I left of NORSE. ANYwho, I'll add it if you ask me to assuming I can figure out how to make changes to the poll. I'm kind of technically challenged. Blessed Be, Tracy/Gretchen Noel

I went through a phase last year that was not plesant. I had to take steroids and it caused me to swell inside and my band was to tight but I didn't want to go in and I was throwing up everynight. It was kind of scary.

OH.. and I meant to add, that I bought myself a Body Bugg for my 40th bday this year and it is FABULOUS. I burn between 2,100 & 2,700 calories per day so knowing that I need to decide what I want my deficit to be and eat that amount of calories per day to lose a certain amount per week.

well...... I was 331 ( I think) the day of surgery, lost down to 240 and creeped back up to 260. I'm working on being more active now. I'm still huge but I'm not over 300 huge so It's the best thing I've ever done. I'm so lazy and HATE to work out so I just have to kick my self in the arse.

Wow, this last fill is really working for me. Back at my 'sweet spot.' I'm already down to 258. I was 266 at the docs office. Nice to be back on track. I've been drinking an ensure for early breakfast. (I get up at 4:30) Then around 8:30 - 9:00 I eat a little cottage cheese. Lunch varies. I had a beauti Control thing to attend yesterday and ate less than 1/8 cup of salad and 'picked at' my soup and had a couple of crackers and was almost to full. By supper I can eat about 1/2-1 cup of food depending on what it is. Last night Sis-in-law had everyone one over for supper. I had about 1/2 cup fried chicken or slightly less cut up VERY SMALL and some mashed potatoes. T

Wow, this last fill is really working for me. Back at my 'sweet spot.' I'm already down to 258. I was 266 at the docs office. Nice to be back on track. I've been drinking an ensure for early breakfast. (I get up at 4:30) Then around 8:30 - 9:00 I eat a little cottage cheese. Lunch varies. I had a beauti Control thing to attend yesterday and ate less than 1/8 cup of salad and 'picked at' my soup and had a couple of crackers and was almost to full. By supper I can eat about 1/2-1 cup of food depending on what it is. Last night Sis-in-law had everyone one over for supper. I had about 1/2 cup fried chicken or slightly less cut up VERY SMALL and some mashed potatoes. T

Alrighty, Had my one year/1 month check up with Dr. Morton. I was there last month, however, Dr. Morton wasn't there to do my 1 year check up so I had to come back today. I wanted to cancel... REALLY bad because I have been able to eat quantity wise more than I should have been able to, and well, loving food, like you do... , I didn't stop until I felt I couldn't fit more in. AND as we all know from previous post and doing a 'challenge' Exercise has NOT been happening since last fall. That being said..... well, I gained 2 pounds.. I have to say I thought it would be a LOT worse AND I didn't get griped at by my most wonderful surgeon. It's been 1 year and 1 month(on the 27th) and they said I was doing great that up until this point I've had slow steady weight loss so he wanted to check the actual fluid content in my band. It will hold 4 blah blah's of saline and I was supposed to have 3.3 Basically he went in through my port with a needle and pulled everything out and I only had 2.8 if he didn't pull up on the stopper & left it relaxed. When he created suction he could make it read 3.2 so, basically some dissipated. At which point we aren't sure so it's possible that when I was filled to 3.3 it may not really have been 3.3 but today.. for SURE I'm a 3.4 and jeezy creezy can I tell, but that's cool. In the past I would lose down to a certain size.. like now, buy some clothes then slowly the weight would creep back on. NOT this time! We fixed the problem and I'm on my way to losing more! YAY The moral of the story.. DON'T cancel your Doc appointments....

Alrighty, Had my one year/1 month check up with Dr. Morton. I was there last month, however, Dr. Morton wasn't there to do my 1 year check up so I had to come back today. I wanted to cancel... REALLY bad because I have been able to eat quantity wise more than I should have been able to, and well, loving food, like you do... , I didn't stop until I felt I couldn't fit more in. AND as we all know from previous post and doing a 'challenge' Exercise has NOT been happening since last fall. That being said..... well, I gained 2 pounds.. I have to say I thought it would be a LOT worse AND I didn't get griped at by my most wonderful surgeon. It's been 1 year and 1 month(on the 27th) and they said I was doing great that up until this point I've had slow steady weight loss so he wanted to check the actual fluid content in my band. It will hold 4 blah blah's of saline and I was supposed to have 3.3 Basically he went in through my port with a needle and pulled everything out and I only had 2.8 if he didn't pull up on the stopper & left it relaxed. When he created suction he could make it read 3.2 so, basically some dissipated. At which point we aren't sure so it's possible that when I was filled to 3.3 it may not really have been 3.3 but today.. for SURE I'm a 3.4 and jeezy creezy can I tell, but that's cool. In the past I would lose down to a certain size.. like now, buy some clothes then slowly the weight would creep back on. NOT this time! We fixed the problem and I'm on my way to losing more! YAY The moral of the story.. DON'T cancel your Doc appointments....

Ok.. this challenge may seem on the wimpy side but sadly for me.. is really a CHALLENGE.... Week 1 starting March 10 One bottle of Water on the way to work One bottle of water on the way home from work I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of Herbal tea 30 minutes of walking 3 days (Monday/Wed/Friday). Week 2 starting March 17 One bottle of water on the way to work One bottle of water on the way home from work I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of Herbal tea 30 minutes of walking 3 days (Monday/Wed/Friday) Week 3 Starting March 24 One bottle of water on the way to work One bottle of water on the way home from work One bottle of water while at work. I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home & at work the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of herbal tea. 45 minutes of walking 3 days (Monday/Wed/Friday) Week 4 Starting March 31 One bottle of water on the way to work One bottle of water on the way home from work One bottle of water while at work. I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home & at work the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of herbal tea. 45 minutes of walking 3 days (Monday/Wed/Friday) Week 5 Starting April 7 One bottle of water on the way to work One bottle of water mid morning. One bottle of water on the way home from work. I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home & at work the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of herbal tea. 45 minutes of walking 3 days per week 2 days of yoga or weight lifting Week 6 Starting April 14 One bottle of water on the way to work One bottle of water mid morning. One bottle of water on the way home from work. I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home & at work the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of herbal tea. 45 minutes of walking 3 days per week 2 days of yoga or weight lifting Week 7 Starting April 21 One bottle of water on the way to work. One bottle of water Mid Morning. One bottle of water after lunch. I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home & at work the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of herbal tea. 45 minutes of walking 3 days per week 2 days of yoga or weight lifting Week 8 Starting April 28. One bottle of water on the way to work. One bottle of water Mid Morning. One bottle of water after lunch. I can have one cup of decaf coffee and one cup of regular coffee. Whether or not I can have my one cup of regular coffee will depend on whether I drank my bottle of water on the way home & at work the previous day. If not, I can't have it. One cup of herbal tea. 45 minutes of walking 3 days per week 2 days of yoga or weight lifting Week 9-12 All the above PLUS 3 bottles of water per day at home on the weekends.

Well, It was one year for me on 2/27 and I'm fluctuating between 260-270. Since winter hit I've done NO exercise what-so-ever which is my problem, that and not drinking enough water so I'm on a 12 week challenge to increase both water and exercise. I go in to see Dr. Morton this afternoon and I DREAD it because I've put on a few pounds since last month's visit. Tracy

WAKE UP EVERYBODY! wow it's been a long time! My one year bandiversary is today. I am at 260 down from day of surgery 331. LIfe changing procedure and I'd do it again in a hear beat. A lot of y'all on this thread are approaching your one year... report in and let me know how you are doing!!!! xoxoxo

Yesterday I did 30 min on my lunch break which is 1.6 miles according to the people at work. TODAY however... I went to the park and walked around the lake which is premeasured to be exactly 2 miles. I started it at 4:36 and finished at 5:17 which is a decent clip for a person of my size I think and it took me 5,014 steps (according to my NEW free Chicken Little pedometer that a co-worker gave me out of a cereal box... whatever works man.. What's cool about all this is NO LOWER BACK PAIN! now as far as the REST of my body goes... hmmph My hubby let me order a Refurbished iPod off of the Apple site for me to walk with (that my ex hubby suggested... I lead an interesting life.. what can I say..) I Can't WAIT to get that puppy in! Of course, the challenge for me will be figuring out how on EARTH to get music on it off of my computer. I'm so excited.. now I can bust a move to ABBA, Jack Johnson, Simon & Garfunkle, Nickel Creek, Dixie Chicks & Blue October.. just to name a few. I'll have to be careful.. I'm liable to dance my way around the lake when Cecelia comes on. My restriction is still more than in the a.m. and by supper, though I'm not NEAR what I used to be and I still have to be careful WHAT it is to avoid the dreaded PB I can def eat more by supper time. I've been eating about 1/8 cup of cut up Spring Greens (hubby bought me a Hinkle scissor and knife set) 1-2 cut up strawberries, one cut up low fat string cheese and vinaigrette. It's VERY good. if that's all I'm having I'll add extra cheese for protein, & do about 1/2 cup of greens, or If I have fixed bacon for my hubby I'll cut up a couple of strips of that. Tonight I am fixing one of those Campbell's supper bakes.. garlic something. It comes with pasta and I'll only be able to eat like 2 or 3 pieces of that and the chicken we'll have to see. The whole thing is an experiment. I don't know WHAT I'd do without sFree popsicles. Good for late night cravings. Ok.. I'm like rambling now. More tomorrow Cheers!

There is hope. I was a BMI of 56 at my highest.. I am now (almost but not quite) 6 months from the day of surgery and my BMI is 46 if not lower.

Brilliant! thanks! T

Has anyone, like myself, been feeding their cats the same thing for 2-3+ years and then switched them over? That's the part I'm not looking forward to. Usually it screws them up for a short period of time as their body gets used to the new stuff. thanks, Tracy

<p> </p> <p>This is fabulous, Thanks! I have been feeding the girls the same thing every single day since the day they were brought home and this has inspired me to switch.</p> <p>Tracy</p>

Haven't posted in awhile. It will be 6 months 8/27 and this procedure has totally changed my life for the better. My BMI alone is down 10 points from a 56 to a 46!:whoo:

"I now have the side profile of a beer wench & hello... burps aren't REALLY burps anymore" I haven't really reported lately because food wise/lap band wise, there really isn't much to report. I'm at 3.2 in my 4cc band and it seems to be working. tight in the a.m. slightly tight for lunch and eating fairly easy but not much for supper. I've been fighting my stinking back stuff for about a week and a half now. I have arthritis/bone spurs in my middle back/thoracic area. Normally not that big a deal with chiro maintenance every 3 weeks. I have, however, been painting, scraping,sanding, mudding, sanding, mudding, sanding, mudding, sanding pulling nails/staples for almost 2 months every single weekend with Saturdays sometimes going for 10-14 hours. Well apparently, when you do repetitive stuff like the above aforementioned, and you have bone spurs, it pisses your muscles off.. go figure. Well, I thought, I'll nip this in the bud, go see an orthopedic dude, get a shot in the muscle and spasms be GONE! It will be 7 days tomorrow and though with the exception of this afternoon, they have been better and fewer in-between but.. I'm still having those hateful spasms. I did NOTHING this weekend but supervise and sleep. My sweet hubby got the floor installed in the master bedroom and I slept. I get up this a.m. and was like.. well SHOOT, this is kind of like when they 1st started... I drug my gimpy self to work and ignored them for the most part. I had a 'female' appointment today @ 2 so I figured I'd ask her about my back. Now.. I'd almost rather get poked in the shin with a pointy stick that to have a pap smear done... throw in some spasms on top of that & you have one hoot'in holler'in of time I'll tell you. By the time I got there they were kicked in to almost high gear. I was sitting in the waiting room having vision of a leather strap in which to put in my mouth so others around me wouldn't suspect that I had Tourettes Syndrome. (which reminds me.. the other day I was talking to my mother while getting into the truck when a spasm hit and I hollered into the phone... F$%^! I thought Todd was going to die laughing. My mom is a preachers wife. He was like.. I can't BELIEVE you screamed that bad word to her on the phone.) ANYwho... imagine if you will... being in the assumed mortifying position that we females have to get in for this... and WHAM SPASM. That poor woman.. it took her 10 minutes to get in the right spot to get what she needed. I reached a whole new realm of physical and mental uncomfyness right there. She said.. You know... Why don't I write you a script for that and you come back to see me Monday. OH.. I almost forgot to mention... she had to get her assistant to lift my leg up(i couldn't because it hurt) so she's doing all this while her assistant held my leg up in the air... very dignified I assure you After this lovely experience I drove my unhappy not-so-little arse across town, spasms in full bloom at this point, to the chiro. They proceeded to tell me how unique I was & that bone spurs weren't common in the thoracic area. Well, isn't that nice... uh.. now can you fix me please? They did there thing all the while announcing how tight I was and how there was NO MOVEMENT and how unusual it was. I felt like I was flopping around on the table like a fish out of water. This episode ended with me trying on a rib cage Velcro thingy. It's right under my 'glorious DDD rack' and now my rack is even more the 'rackier' & I look like a beer wench... man where are those Lederhosen when you need 'em? Maybe I could pick up some tips? I finally made it home without running anyone off of the road and am fixing to take drugs. I come home, heat up a meat patty to eat so I can take my pills, eat half of it, guessing that the rib thing cutting off my circulation is affecting the quantity and I 'burp' not thinking that there is no such thing for a bandster as just a 'burp'. THAT was fun. I loosened up the rib thing after that. And that.. is the rest of the story... well not quite.. but I love Paul Harvey and it seemed to fit. Later p.s. I forgot to mention that I was running a low grade fever and my chiro wants me to get my galbladder out.

I am SOOOOO happy to discover that I can still have sushi. Ok... it took me 45 minutes to an hour to eat one roll and I had to cut it up with a v. sharp knife but OH MY IT WAS DIVINE! When you consider pre surgery I would have woofed that roll down in about 5 minutes and could have easily eaten 2 0r 3 more with salad and some of Todd's main course... Major improvement I would say! Yesterday was our 1st anniversary. I got beautiful orange/peach roses a small dark chock dove bar SUSHI and I'm getting a set of wide bottom rocking chairs for the front porch... well and of course.. I got my sweetie My visit with mom was fabulous and fun. The paint is officially all picked out and I don't have to think about it again! We dropped her off at the airport saturday @ 1 then left for KY to work on the house (she didn't have a cell phone) then when I called dad @ 5 to see if she got there ok I find out she is in Nashville still and won't be flying out until 10. Bad weather in Houston. She didn't get to Houston until midnight and home until almost 2 a.m. I spent the rest of the weekend on my bum/belly pulling nails/staples/screws & carpet tack strips out of the floor leftover from the carpet and linoleum. Almost every room is done for that, but not quite. should finish that this Friday evening. Todd got the master bedroom ceiling painted and the walls sprayed down with primer. I think we are going to need one more coat of primer so you don't see the color diff between where we mudded & the reg wall. Our plan is to have the bedroom done and completed 1st floor to ceiling. We are going with a Raven Oak in the bedroom and a smokey maple in the rest of the house except for the kitchen and small bathroom which will be 16x16 neutral tile. My hobby/craft room will be done in vinyl so It won't matter if I get dye and stuff on the floor. I think I'm at about 293/2 but it's that LOVELY time of the month so it's hard to tell for certain. I have our new land line phone number, the girls vet appointment scheduled for October w/ their new Doc, & their new collars and name tags ordered. Slowly but surely things are starting to kind of come together. coffee time

This is by far not my highest but still good to measure by. I don't have any measurements from my 340 & 330 days. 1/9/06 3/13/07 6/11/07 Bust/Chest55" 57 54.25 Waist 48" 49.5 46 Abdomen 60" 60.5 58 Hips 61" 61.75 53 Thighs 33" 32.5 31 Calves 19" 18.5 18.75 Arms 18" 19.5 18.5 Weight 321 319 295 Update on house stuff: We are still mudding and sanding. Todd got the master bedroom ready to paint except for one more round of fine sanding =) Ripped out small 32x32 shower in master bath, discovered that it has been leaking for quite some time and the floor and walls will have to be cut out and replaced. I am SO glad we decided to rip out the shower. It's going to be my dirty laundry closet. I finished scraping all of the walls which contained 1 layer of wall paper and about 3-4 layers of paint (except for the hobby room). In just one room I found hunter green/burgandy/cream followed by a light blue. All of the beams/door frames/wooden wall strips have been ripped off All of the flooring removed & most of the carpet tack strips ~ ugh.. they are hard to get off and are still in a couple of rooms Air works fabulously New Fridge plugged in and working in the dining room Huge dumpster completely filled up and ready to haul off by dumpter people. After the final sanding in the bedroom, we may actually get to apply the primer with our fabulous new Wagnor Power Pro Painter. This weekend will be all about mudding/sinking screws & sanding. hoorah. My mom is flying in this week to help me pick out paint colors. I am totally stumped & am relieved to have that burden taken off of my head.