faithmd

When folks are losing some of their fill (at each fill the practitioner should be withdrawing what's in the band to see how much is still in there, before adding more) sometimes it is used in place of the saline because it is thicker and may not leak out if there is a tiny leak in the port.

BBK: Oooo, vedddy scarrrrry! I LOVE the spiders in the hair! Phyllisc: WOW! What a hottie! Mal: Those are pretty cool costumes, I was wondering where my Girl Scout badges went. I think you both look really awesome. Josette: Whoa! You make a GREAT drag queen (in a more feminine way, of course), and I have many friends who are drag Queens and a few who are Kings, you are much prettier. And you have GORGEOUS hair and amazing lips! Laura: HOT DAMN! You look GREAT, I am in love with that dress! (I want one, where'd you get it?) Losing: Adorable, simply adorable. Sorry my hair isn't blue Well, not now it isn't, but there was a time in my teens...

Here's three, the first is our wedding reception. Yes folks, we got MARRIED on HALLOWEEN(we LOVE it, too!) this year is our sixth anniversary. The entire bridal party was in Renaissance attire. The second and third photos are from last year when we were in WVa and had taken our costumes from the previous year (Fred and Pebbles Flintstone) with us in case we could find a party, and we found a Flintstones car! Totally happenstance! The first one is a good one that shows me at my fattest (371), and then second one is a little PhotoShop magic with a pic we took at Joshua Tree and created our Christmas cards for 2006.

You have to start tiny with Stevia, then add to get to to the sweetness you desire. It kind of reminds me of saccharin but I don't get the feelings like I want to eat right after like I do with Splenda, and I don't get the NutraSweet headaches. I love it.

Yup, it will be very interesting to see what the slip rate is in say three years.

Yup, it will be very interesting to see what the slip rate is in say three years.

Me either! I'd love to see the research this presentation was based on. It boggles my mind.

Me either! I'd love to see the research this presentation was based on. It boggles my mind.

I found an abstract about titanium allergy on a surgical board, it is very interesting and brings up a good point, TRUE titanium allergy is beyond rare, those who are "allergic" to it usually end up being allergic to the tiny bit of nickel mixed with the titanium in the device or implant they have. I have no idea if ANY nickel is used in the port or not (even a tiny percentage could cause a problem in someone with a metal allergy). That would be a good question for Allergan. " '...A number of reports have found that true allergy to titanium is extremely unusual (see abstract enclosed below). Titanium is frequently combined with nickel or other metals as an alloy in surgical items. In contrast to titanium, nickel is a fairly common sensitizer, as is chromium. Therefore, I would contact the manufacturer of the titanium clips in your patient as to the complete content of the clips. If other metals are involved as an alloy, patch testing to those substances and to pure titanium powder (which the clip manufacturer can likely provide) would be a reasonable approach for evidence that contact sensitivity is a cause of the...reaction.' 'Allergic potential of titanium implants <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P></O:P> Schuh A, Thomas P, Kachler W, Göske J, Wagner L, Holzwarth U, Forst R. <O:P></O:P> Orthopädische Klinik Rummelsberg, Schwarzenbruck. Schuh-Alexander@t-online.de <O:P></O:P> <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 /><ST1:STOCKTICKER>AIM</ST1:STOCKTICKER>: The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the allergic potential of titanium and titanium alloys for surgical implant applications. MATERIALS <ST1:STOCKTICKER>AND</ST1:STOCKTICKER> METHODS: Discs cut from rods supplied by five different titanium suppliers in several diameters were investigated. The samples were cp-Titanium as well as Ti6Al4 V and Ti6Al7Nb, 6 mm thick with a diameter of between 6 and 60 mm. The material was checked by optical spectral analysis. RESULTS: In all samples except iodidtitanium, a Nickel content of 0.012-0,034 wt% could be detected. CONCLUSION: The low nickel content in the implant material results from the production process. The nickel atoms are in solid solution in the titanium lattice. Nickel allergic patients may develop hypersensitivity reactions even due to this low nickel content. Hence, this reaction may be falsely attributed to the titanium material itself. Measurements of ion concentration in the body are helpful for quantifying the maximum content of nickel in titanium materials for surgical implant applications. In addition, technical questions related to the production of nickel free titanium materials for allergic patients have to be solved. ' "<O:P></O:P><!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

This is a great thread you two. And just an FYI for you, Lauren: At the ASBS convention this past June (when they released the AP band) there was a presentation about the post-op diet and guidelines for revision to allow softs to solids much earlier than before. I notice that Allergan hasn't changed their reccs on their website yet, but I found it interesting that someone would present to a group of bariatric surgeons that it is okay to eat earlier. Perhaps your doc had read the latest from the convention and that is what made her put less emphasis on the post-op diet. I have to wonder though if part of the reason for the change in diet comes from patients complaining and griping about being hungry so much. And/or if the change was intended for AP band patients only. But thinking logically about the stomach and it's action to digest, I can't imagine that speeding up the post-op diet would be fine and dandy. But I'm not a surgeon and I'm not a bariatric researcher. Of course, one can always go slower on their post-op stages themselves.

This is a great thread you two. And just an FYI for you, Lauren: At the ASBS convention this past June (when they released the AP band) there was a presentation about the post-op diet and guidelines for revision to allow softs to solids much earlier than before. I notice that Allergan hasn't changed their reccs on their website yet, but I found it interesting that someone would present to a group of bariatric surgeons that it is okay to eat earlier. Perhaps your doc had read the latest from the convention and that is what made her put less emphasis on the post-op diet. I have to wonder though if part of the reason for the change in diet comes from patients complaining and griping about being hungry so much. And/or if the change was intended for AP band patients only. But thinking logically about the stomach and it's action to digest, I can't imagine that speeding up the post-op diet would be fine and dandy. But I'm not a surgeon and I'm not a bariatric researcher. Of course, one can always go slower on their post-op stages themselves.

Everyone is different. If Protein shakes help you, then drink them. If they don't and you are eating well enough to lose weight and get your nutrition in without them, then don't use them. Some people are too tight in the mornings to be able to eat any real food and get by just fine with a shake as a meal and are not hungry for several hours. Others don't like them, eat enough solid (good) food and don't need or want to drink them. I'm still not buying that 1/4 cup of food could at all provide you with proper nutrition. And if someone ate only 1/4 cup of food for each MEAL they should be dropping weight like nobody's business. But as soon as I write that I tell myself that again, we are all individuals and what works for someone else may not work for me. Our restriction feels different person to person. There are loads of threads out there that ask what your restriction feels like. I've read probably fifty different descriptions of restriction. What it feels like to me and what works for me may not work for you. I'm not going to go around telling someone that if they can eat more than 1/4 cup of food they need a fill. Or if they can eat 2 cups they need one without asking some other important questions first like WHAT are they eating and is it head hunger that hasn't been tamed yet. Even if you have enough restriction that allows you only to eat 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup at a time, if you are eating 1/4 or 1/2 cup of high calorie, low nutritional value food, then you are no better off.

I've been eating the Kashi Go Lean for a long time now, and recently have been doing the yogurt thing, too. Kroger has a CarbMaster yogurt that is 80 calories and 12 grams of Protein for 6oz and it's GOOD. Great combo. Or I'll use vanilla Soymilk with the Kashi.

Very well said. It drives me INSANE when people say, "If you can eat more than 1/4 cup of food, you need a fill" or "I can only eat 1/4cup of food at a time." Really? If that were the case, then I'd think you'd lose loads of weight REALLY FAST. And be VERY malnourished. Yup, what she said, too.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/lower-bmi-bandsters-26697/

Having only 60 lbs to lose you may not need any PS, as long as you are toning and exercising and your skin is fairly tight. But if you have loose hanging areas, as Chicke said, a lipo procedure is not going to solve that problem. A Tummy Tuck removes SKIN, lipo removes fat.

Hello and :welcomeB: Go over to the FAQ and references forum, there is a checklist there. Good luck!

Julie, I'll be following your journey this time as well, best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Fine, I dumped my ticker and my "goal" weight. According to the upper end of the MetLife range (that the insurance companies use) my goal should be 167, which gave me a BMI of 26.2, which is somehow considered overweight. So I guess that's not a good goal to have, since someone somewhere as sometime decided that's overweight. I don't buy into the BMI crap, it's a VERY imperfect system. But the weight tables aren't any better. I think I'll just look in the mirror, look at pix of myself and then go with how I feel to determine my goal. I don't have a fear, I just don't know what goal will look like to me. I don't know for sure what frame I have under these pounds so it's hard to say which end of the range I should fall into. I cannot imagine saying someone here was ugly for a weight they were. Now Angelina Jolie, I think is too skinny. Posh is too skinny and looks kind of odd but I wouldn't call her ugly, more like unnatural. Jachut, I think you look beautiful.

I do not work for, have not used and know nothing personally about Walter and Kelly, other than reading mostly positive comments here and on other boards about them and their practice.

Obesity Law and Advocacy Center For a reasonable fee this firm will help you with an appeal, DO IT!

Julie-His loss, TOTALLY! Woohoo, your date with another procedure is coming, and you'll be more than half-way through your procedure list! You are one HOT woman now, you are going to be even skinnier and more beautiful than you already are in a matter of weeks.

Wait, your doc fills every week? I can see that for perhaps the second fill, but soooo many people report that it can take two weeks or more to feel restriction for their second or third or fourth, etc fill, I'd be very hesitant to go more often than about three weeks after that second fill. You don't want to end up on a Saturday night throwing up everything you take in.

I wish you luck, but I'm sure you have read over and over and over and over again the countless posts about it taking three or four or more fills to get to that sweet spot. Please don't be too frustrated if this one isn't "the one." Remember that it can take a couple of WEEKS for a fill to "kick in" as well. I'm sure you have also read the countless posts where someone was too aggressively filled and couldn't even keep Water down and had to go back AGAIN and get some removed, or all of it removed because their stoma was too irritated from the overfill. I think we all have to rearrange our schedules to go to our appts and get our fills, we're all in the same boat with that one. Wouldn't it be AWESOME if a doctor's office had hours that were designed around the PATIENT?

Instead of sex life, ask about their finances. Personal in a different way.