GeezerSue

This site is written by a brilliant, somewhat crazy and VERY irreverant guy. It has incredibly good information and I think it may make you feel better about the drug. http://www.crazymeds.org/strattera.html

Ya know...I ADORE Donali and most everything she writes...but I have a diferent perspective. I haven't spent years eating more than I need when I wasn't REALLY hungry because I'm MO. I'm MO because I've spent years eating more than I need when I'm not really hungry. So all I can wrap MY brain around is the concept that my MO is a symptom of my being insane. This came up because a week or so ago, my PCP offered me "something to reduce my appetite." I started laughing and told him that I don't eat because of "an appetite" or to "correct" the "problem" of hunger. I eat to "correct" the "problem" that I'm not eating. I see that MO can kill us and for that reason it is a disease..but, FOR ME, it is a disease secondary to the NEED (compulsion, if you prefer) to eat all the time. ALL THE TIME. It is NOT about the food. It's about self-comforting or avoidance of distress or whatever it is that if I really knew the answer maybe I could stop--or not. So, I'm once again "Valium-deficient." But I am an instant addict on that stuff, so...not a great idea. And Xanax wasn't around when I went to my LAST Valium detox event...but I take it that it's more addictive. So I'm reading up on drugs to deal with the anxiety that won't kill me faster than the food that I'm currently (apparently) treating myself with....I'll just let that preposition dangle. Anyone else crazy, or just me?

let us know how it goes.

I'm confused. Are you worried that the UHC won't cover LapBand or that they woan't accept you as the insured?

Since when does Kuri even have a "staff surgeon?" He's a one man show. It's gotta be wrong. A different surgeon was, some time ago, convicted of insurance fraud. But he is not now, nor was he then a partner of Kuri's. And it had to do with overbilling. BTW, there was no jail time that I'm aware of.

they fed it to me before I left the hospital the next day. I only managed a spoon or two...but that's a start. Jonathon--do you live anywhere near a Jamba juice or similar place? That was a nice treat during recovery. And a free Protein boost gave it nutritional value.

AHA! here's from the gov't website: Returning to the United States – Caution! Make certain that you can return to the United States with the proof of citizenship that you take with you. Although some countries may allow you to enter with only a birth certificate, U.S. law requires that you document both your U.S. citizenship and identity when you reenter the United States. The best document to prove your U.S. citizenship is a valid U.S. passport. Other documents that establish U.S. citizenship include an expired U.S. passport, a certified copy of your birth certificate, a Certificate of Naturalization, a Certificate of Citizenship, or a Report of Birth Abroad of a U.S. citizen. To prove your identity, either a valid driver’s license or a government identification card that includes a photo or physical description is acceptable. Well for once, I was ahead of the game! Time for every to get a passport!

If you're in GA, you really need to check out Ponce. Last I heard, his price is under $14,000. It's worth the time it takes to get the few thousand extra to see a local doctor with that kind of experience. Once you add in the cost of travel, and adjustments and emergencies...there is no difference in the cost.

Not driving through...just a photo ID. Driver's license will do. But I find that I go through faster WITH a passport. I've only used a passport in air travel, but I don't think you need one. Where are you having surgery?

you need to go READ everything you can about the procedure. I'm saying this because your question shows that you were not properly prepared for this surgery. This is one of the most basic, yet often-asked questions...which means that even though your surgeon may be great at the surgery, he is (like many surgeons) terrible about informing patients. And that means YOU have to do all the work so that you can have a good experience. So, now that this question is answered, go back and read eveything you can about the band. It won't bother us if you ask the questions, but it can save you from concern, fear, feelings of failure, etc, if you know what to expect.

Santiago Horgan is one of the most reputable and experienced LapBand surgeons in the country. From what I hear, his skills are wonderful...and his bedside manner could use some work...but if you have to choose... He repairs mistakes made by less experienced and less proficient surgeons. He is not the ONLY good doctor in town, but he is "the man."

Yeah, but...at least our weights LOOK/SOUND better in kilos or stones.

When she was about four, we told our daughter that there was a law that said that, once you turned 18, you had to be living in your own apartment, living in the college dorm or living in the Army barracks. One day, when she was about seven or eight, she came home really pissed at us when she discovered that her friend had a nineteen-year-old brother who lived at home. Well, it worked for a few years. And she's had her own apartment ever since she graduated from college.

There was someone on another board I frequent who WAS reimbursed...but that was a couple of years ago.

Religious concepts aside...because not everyone shares the same beliefs or values...I think that, for the time being, you have to make a choice. And, like some of the others, I think your doctors will feel the same. It's so hard when you think you're going in one direction and things change, but--as you discover by the time you're really old, like I am, and figure out that there never WAS any control over anything--that's life and more the norm than the exception. Sue

be really nice to her. I told her that there was a lot of wisdom on this board regarding port infections, etc. thank you, Sue

Phyllis, Aetna turned my daughter down...I wrote one GOOD letter and they reconsidered and paid for the whole thing. Let me know if I can help.. Sue

You people have WAY too much fun when left unsupervised. Here's a chart that has to do with the..oh, yeah, THAT...bra sizes. Volume and Cup Size This area causes quite a bit of confusion, both pre and post op. Band size is band size - you can't change that by going up or down in cup size. But cup volume does vary by band size. The volume of the cup of a 38C is not the same volume as that of a 36C. It's actually larger. Next time you go shopping, select one style of bra and compare a 38C and a 34C. You'll see they are not the same size in the cups. But if you compare a 38B and a 36C, you'll see the cups are the same size in volume. Below we have compiled a few comparisons that will help you to visualize how volumes work in different band sizes: This is based around a 38B cup: Though the band sizes all differ, the actual volume of all of these cups are the same. 40A 38B 36C 34D 32DD This is based around a 36B cup: Though the band sizes all differ, the actual volume of all of these cups are the same. 38A 36B 34C 32D This is based around a 34B cup: Though the band sizes all differ, the actual volume of all of these cups are the same. 36A 34B 32C This is based around a 44C cup: Though the band sizes all differ, the actual volume of all of these cups are the same. 46B 44C 42D 40DD 38DDD This is based around a 44B cup: Though the band sizes all differ, the actual volume of all of these cups are the same. 46A 44B 42C 40D 38DD 36DDD So, in the above example, if you are wearing a 44B cup right now, the actual cups of the other band sizes in the list would infact fit your breasts. The band size will not fit, but the point is that the volumes are the same in that grouping.

First, you've lost 30 pounds in two months?!? Amazing! Next, I'm going a paraphrase a friend who had bypass surgery, because it applies to us as well. The number and variety of foods I can eat post-op is infinitely larger than the number and variety of foods I can still scarf down. Learning which is which would be easier and faster if I could just stop trying to scarf anything down.

I've been "wired" since about 1960, give or take. (I'm looking forward to bralessness post BR.) Can you force yourself to go for a fitting? Here's what I DO know: the instructions on how to measure vary from store to store and make no sense. (I just took a survey.)

Leatha...me, too on one of these stories. Went to urgent care. Said, I can't breathe. They said something stupid...i don't even remember. Two nights later, I go again and they write that I'm "overutilizing" services. I say, "Gee, if I wrote something like that, I'd order a chest x-ray or something, just in case the patient had a hungry attorney in the family. You know, to cover my ass." They did an x-ray. It was pneumonia...but they still sent me home, with antibiotics. Two days later I cannot roll my daughter's hair in rollers. I can't sleep except sitting up. I go to my new PCP. She says, "You have pneumonia, but you also have antibiotics. You need to go home." My mother, a cranky old broad, was there. She said, "Let's go shoot your f'ing toe off." Then she looked at the doctor and said, "Do you suppose if we shoot her f'ing toe off, she can get into the hospital? Maybe THERE she could get medical care." Two more days. I have hubby take me to ER. Forty people ahead of me, I know I'm gonna die. Somebody notices that I'm grey. I spent a week in a private room. Seems I had mycoplasma pneumonia. I fired my doctor. spent 18 weeks on disability. took prednisone forever. Gained forty pounds. "Overutilized" my royal all-american back end. I HATE when they think MD means "knows everything."

Deal is...every time my band is tight enough, I get reflux. This time, i was reluctant to let him tighten it vey much at all. So, my weight loss stalled, reversed, went up and down for a while and is minimal. That said, I had the TT and I am about to have it "revised." I knew going in that such a huge amputation would need tweaking after the fact. So I'll probably have them done together. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, I'm delighted that I had it done.

I got my shiny new Bi-PAP (a CPAP for "special people") yesterday. I hate it again. (Settings are 18 and 14...so I DO need it.) Life was better when I was less fat. I have new excuses...but that doesn't help. Going to the gym tomorrow. Can't walk or use treadmill. So, it's the bicycle or eliptical thingy.

My best friend once had respiratory problems and went to a doctor who was not very communicative. He asked, "Smoke?" She said, "Yeah." He said, "Hmmpf." She said, "So?" He said, "Stop smoking." She said, "Did. Twenty years ago." He said, "Well you said..." As she got off the table and left said, "You didn't seem interested in working, so I thought I'd make things easy for you. It sure is easy when you can blame everything on smoking, isn't it? And don't you DARE bill me for this appointment." He didn't, and she went elsewhere. So, anyway, I really feel your pain. About four years ago, I started having dyspnea. I kept going to doctors and complaining of shortness of breath. They decided that, since I was fat and over fifity, I needed Zoloft. A month later, I went back and said I still had the problem. They changed my meds to Effexor. I went back and said, "Okay, I have not been to work now in a couple of months. I cannot breathe when I exert myself at all." They said, "OH!!!" And gave me Prozac. Two months later, I said, "Okay! I am no longer as depressed about the fact that I can't breathe. But I still can't breathe." They decided I was having panic attacks and sent me to a shrink. She kept watching. Because I did not have state disability insurance, I had my own policy. They didn't want to pay me, if I was just short of breath due to panic attacks...which is what they expected from a fat and over fifty female. The private insurance said, "Well, anyone can invent panic attacks. We're sending you to a private medical examiner." I went. He said I had COPD and could not do my job. I retired due to my disability. After I'd been retired about a year and a half, my NEW pulmonologist said I didn't have COPD and I should go back to work because nothing was wrong with me. And then prescribed inhalers and other drugs. That was about a year an a half ago. a week ago, a cardiologist said that, without examining me, but based on my history, I've probably never had COPD, but probably pulmonary hypertension. And ordered a sleep study for apnea. (It was previously diagnosed, just checking to see my status.) Yesterday, the next pulmonologist said that he didn't think it was COPD or pulmonary hypertension. It's something else...and I'm getting to the point where... I feel so bad for you. I got my new BiPAP machine yesterday. Are you on any airway pressure? Can you get outside your usual healthcare situation for another opinion?

LOL, Greg...look I'm MO. I was, then wasn't, then am again. I DO NOT look as good as this woman. And this woman looks WAY BETTER than she used to look. But she felt comfortable enough with this pose that is is her "after" pose on another site. I'm all about Rubenesque...but something about this makes me not want to pose this way. What do you think?