Alexandra

Hey, Nykee, great to see you! What an amazing NSV, being able to walk after living life in a wheelchair. That right there will go further towards improving your health than anything you can imagine. Just keep walking! You look wonderful--and it's good to hear your band is OK. Congratulations on your weight loss and keep it up!

Holy cow, Soniacan, what a great story! I remember so well when my band was doing its thing, days like this were my new "normal." Without my band friend helping me through, though, weekend days are pretty much like they used to be--constant thoughts of what to eat next. I can't wait to be able to have days like yours again. Congratulations!!!

Carol, if you're trully hungry an hour after eating then your band is indeed not working correctly. You have a larger band and it may just be that you have not reached an effective level of restriction. The fact of having 6.5 ccs of Fluid means nothing--YOUR optimum level may be 7, 8, or 9 ccs and you just won't know until you get there. Don't give up!! You can't know how it will work for you until you've gotten to that perfect restriction level for you. I can't tell you how many posts like yours I've seen that only turn into "OH!! NOW I see!!" posts later on. I know it's hard--I'm unfilled right now myself, and struggling--but I also know a band that's filled properly is like the promised land. It's out there, we just have to find where it is for ourselves. Good luck!!

Hi Gmom! My doctor, also in NJ, has no pre-op diet at all. Well, I think they might have said something about liquids the day before, but that's just because they want to be really sure there's nothing in the stomach when they operate. The liver-shrinking pre-op regimen is by no means universal, so if your doctor didn't mention it just count your blessings!

I have two daughters, 6 and 9. The only thing I can/will buy for them at Wal-Mart is sweatpants! Everything else is just too "fashionable" and I just refuse to buy into that. Luckily my girls are unswayed by it all, don't have any interest in it and neither do most of their friends. Since they're perfectly mainstream girls I have to assume that MOST girls 5-10 years old could take it or leave all that flashy stuff--it's the parents who are the target market. I used to shop at Target but their tweeners stuff is awful now too. I'm sticking with Lands End overstocks, JC Penney, and nameless local stores carrying second-hand classics.

If you're asking about here then it's A-OK for people to discuss my weight HERE. It's in real life that I can.not.stand for anyone to mention it at all. I'm here, obviously, because I need to be thinking about my weight and talking about my experience (good or bad) is part of that. But in my daily life I'm focused on other things and consider any mention of my weight an etiquette violation--except by very close friends.

Happy birthday!! I've been scarce but wanted to check in with my band-buddies. I haven't lost any weight beyond the 1st 8-10 lbs, and am sort of struggling to maintain even that. My first fill isn't for another 6 weeks (!) but it is what it is. Halloween, my birthday, and Thanksgiving lay between me and my first fill, so I'm just hopeful I won't be moving up another BMI point in the meantime. Glad to see everyone doing so well!

Tuesday night was great, really, sort of to my surprise. I used to go to new-patient seminars all the time but haven't in quite a while, and I had forgotten how inspirational they are--for ME. I was reminded all over again how blessed I am to have this band, to live where I live, to have had the skills and resources to go up against my insurers, and to have my doctors office be so supportive. It's just been an amazing ride and Tuesday night brought it all home once again. (And it was all about the band, for a refreshing change! Those seminars are usually heavily weighted toward RNY, no pun intended.) Khaliah Ali was a wonderful speaker! And the new job is amazing, stressful, fun, scary, basically all the things I'd hoped it would be. I am SO HAPPY to be out of that insurance office!! Still selling insurance, though, so if you know anyone who needs a NJ small group plan, send 'em my way. )

Hi Rain! Congratulations on your fill! You may be like me and find that it takes some time--even as long as a week or two--for the fill to "kick in" and really make itself felt. I remember it once taking three weeks. So don't give up or leap to conclusions. Just give your body time since many of us (especially women!) find that our bodies take a little while to sort of "realize" a tightening has taken place. You are doing so well!! :biggrin1:

I am always telling people not to panic if they get something unexpected from their insurer or their medical provider. I swear, more than 50% of the time it seems claims are denied for some technical or inaccurate reason. Patients have to be more alert than ever to KNOW what benefits they are entitled to so they can keep their cool when a denial comes through. Paying a bill that you didn't think you should be responsible for is the LAST thing to do. Get help if you don't understand something; call the carrier first and find out why they processed the claim as they did. Most of the time it's just a mistake on their part and one call will fix it up. Good on you, and congratulations!

Hi Stacey, Typically, insurers will only approve an exception like the one you describe if there is truly no one IN the network within a reasonable distance to provide the care. Is there some specific reason you can't use someone else, other than personal preference? If not, and you're determined to stay in-network, you may have to switch physicians.

A stop of weight loss shortly after surgery is absolutely normal, Katarina. I just posted to someone else with essentially the same question. If you have not had an adjustment yet you very likely won't feel any restriction or effect of the band. You're in what's known as "bandster hell"--that time when you know you've had surgery but can't feel any difference. Patience is called for, and you'll feel the difference once you've had one or two adjustments. YOU ARE NORMAL and everything is fine.

Mandi, you're still healing and your body is recovering from a pretty major trauma (even if you don't feel that way). In all of this journey, the great unpredictable is the way our bodies react to circumstances. If you're looking for an absolutely steady rate of loss you are bound to be disappointed. EVERYONE goes through stops and starts, plateaus and periods of rapid loss. YOU ARE NORMAL. just be patient and take a longer view of the process. You're doing great!!

I think they meant "Inamed" lapbands, right? There's no such thing as an "enamel" band. As I understand it, the band that's just been approved has been in use under the name Swedish AGB for years now. Johnson & Johnson bought it, or the American rights to it, in order to compete with Inamed (now Allergan). And they've just received FDA approval. Many, many patients banded outside the US have this band, and while there's nothing wrong with it they have found it difficult to get followup care here in the States because it was not FDA-approved. That may change now, but probably not for a good while. I'd be leery of getting anything other than in Inamed/Allergan band if you plan to have aftercare in the States.

The word "restriction" itself means just that the band is tightened to a point where the banded person feels its effects. The actual sensation and effects vary considerably from person to person, and even from time to time in the same person. And there's "good" restriction and "bad" restriction (which usually means over-restriction). When people have what feels like perfect restriction for them (also called their "sweet spot"), the effects will be such that: --a small portion of highly nutritious food, eaten slowly and chewed well, satisfies hunger; --hunger remains at bay for 4-6 hours. There should be no other negative effects; if there are, there is something wrong with the patient's behavior or the level of restriction. (I say that assuming that we all agree that an inability to eat a whole pizza at a sitting is not a "negative" effect.)

This was very interesting! Here is mine:

In general, any truly emergency situation will be covered by all carriers, no matter what the reason. There's just too much liability otherwise. That said, the treatment might be limited to an emergency unfill or whatever is necessary just to stabilize the situation; it's unlikely a carrier that excluded the surgery in the first place will pay for a revision surgery, even if it is necessary.

I've recently started swimming for exercise, and have to say I am really loving it. Though always a Water baby, the very idea of swimming back and forth and back and forth never appealed to me AT.ALL. Booooorrrrring, I thought. No music! Until this last couple of weeks. For some reason, upon catching a whiff of the pool-chlorinated air last time I was in the Y locker room, I got the urge to swim a little. The thought didn't leave me, and in the last two weeks--during a time of incredible professional stress--I thought I'd give it a whirl. It's remarkable! Using all my muscles, non-impact, no sweating (!), really stretching as well as contracting and getting decent cardio as well, it's pretty miraculous. I'm totally NOT a jock, and literally can't do more than two laps of crawl before my arms start to scream, but without pushing myself too hard I actually can do 25 laps of breast, back, and side stroke. The next day I feel really nicely worked out, and there's no question it is a great way of managing stress. I hope I can keep this up! Anyone else start slow with swimming? How is it going for you now?

I 1000% agree, BetsyJane. This thread will be locked if the personal attacks and name-calling don't stop. Thank you.

In my experience, it takes about four HOURS before I notice a difference with BeneFiber! :peep: Just to show your mileage may vary. It's great advice, a great product, and daily use will prevent any problems.

As long as the thyroid hormone levels are well-controlled with medication, an underactive thyroid is no reason not to get banded. If it's newly diagnosed or is not responding to hormone treatment, the doctors will want to get a handle on it before proceeding with surgery.

I just got a new job (YAY!) and I think I'm going to need something that will let me check e-mail and the web when I'm traveling. But I don't want a laptop, since I just bought a new desktop and really only want to use that. I have no idea what I'm doing, though, and could really use some help. Here are my questions: I have Verizon Wireless as my phone provider, and I really like it. Naturally, I just signed a new contract and got a new phone over the summer, and now I find I need more. But I've heard that I can buy a phone anywhere and make it work. Is that true? Is there any way to have two cell phones using the same number? I really like my cell phone and don't want to use a Blackberry all the time if I don't have to. If I can buy a unit (for lack of a better term) elsewhere, what am I looking for? Blackberry? Palm Treo? Something like that? What's a "Smartphone"? The listings on Ebay are utterly mind-spinning, and in any event I've never used Ebay and find that intimidating enough. What I'd really like to do is rent a Blackberry or Palm Treo or something just to use on business trips and vacations. Anyone know if that's at all possible? Or maybe I can rent a laptop? God, I feel like such a dork. All this new technology is finally making me feel old.

This discussion has really helped, y'all. I just ordered a Palm TX handheld which should do everything I need it to do without making me change phones or learn too much new stuff. Thanks!!

Believe me, I would. But I really do need to be able to check e-mail from places other than my home or office from time to time. In past years I've done things like go to the library, but that won't work everywhere.

Can you look at this and let me know what you think? It looks cool!