leatha_g

Woohoo!! Congrats on getting a date!! Now off to the store for protein drinks, jello, popsicles, broth, tea, crystal light, propel, whatever suits your liquid fancy!

Yup. I think that's what it is. The doc just put Upper Respiratory Infection on my diagnosis, but this isn't your run of the mill URI. lol. This morning, just getting out of bed and trying to sit in my desk chair I became so faint I nearly passed smooth out and had lay right back down. No nausea thus far, thank goodness, but I am one sick puppy..

Have you done any reading on the other sections on this board? There is lots and lots of information there for the taking. It would be hard to give you everything, but I can tell you that I've lost 69lbs that I surely would not have lost without the band. It takes some getting used to, as far as making the right food choices and learning that it's okay to eat a minimal amount of food. (we all have plenty of storage on board already) The lapband is the safest of all weight loss surgeries offered and leaves all of your organs intact. It is completely reversible if, for some reason, a person needed it taken out (although, it's meant for life). It is adjustable, so if I'm not losing weight according to the 'average' weight loss expected, I can go in and have my doc tighten it up to help me better lose weight. This goes hand in hand with my own efforts in making the right food choices. The recovery time after surgery is minimal. The pain is very minimal. The complication rate of surgery itself is almost non-existent compared to many bypass patients requiring lengthy ICU stays and worse. www.obesityhelp.com has a Memorial page for bypass patients. There isn't one in existence for Lapband patients. However, there have been deaths occuring around lapband surgery. Most of them were not related to the band itself, but due to the patients not contacting someone when a problem presented itself. There was also one man who had a heart attack on the OR table, but it had nothing to do with being banded. The deaths related are still miniscule comparatively. As with any surgery, there is always a certain amount of risk, involved. There is probably more risk involved in NOT having the surgery and becoming more and more obese, which brings with it many many health factors. With bypass, you have about an 18 month window of opportunity to lose your excess weight, then your body begins to adjust and often you begin to regain your lost weight. On the other hand, in some situations with bypass, people have been known to be unable to stop their weightloss and finally waste away because the weight loss can't be stopped. This is more due to the inability to absorb nutrients, because of the part of the colon that has been removed. Which brings us to the very real aspect of nutrition. With the band, everything I eat, my body gets nourishment from. Hence, the reason for making good food choices, because with so little intake, everything must count. With the bypass, your nourishment is flushed right on through, leaving you having to take loads of supplements for the rest of your life. With the band, you get to take 2 Flintstones a day or some really good Multivitamin and your done. There is no window of opportunity with the band. You can continue to have it adjusted and you can continue to make good food choices so that you continue to lose. Thankfully, it's a relatively slow weightloss, which allows your skin and your mind to keep up, resulting in less flab - depending on age and amount of weight lost. Sorry, I know that's rambling all over, but those are some of the things that come to mind.. Good luck with whatever you choose! Most importantly, get yourself a good, experienced doctor. If you get a band, have your aftercare in place BEFORE you are banded. Read, read, read everything you can find, because it is you who is in charge of knowing how this thing works. There is lots and lots of info here and there are many other boards on the net also. Happy Reading!

yup. That's your band. I get a sporadic one every now and then too. It is caused by your diaphragm and with you being newly out of surgery, you'll probably notice it happening more often for awhile.

Hugs to you, Lisa. You're definitely a trooper! I hope you can prove him wrong and not reject this thing. Good luck with that!!

Ice cream was pretty much the only sweets we ever had too. I came from a very dysfunctional place too. My father was an abusive alcoholic and my mother was a very sick co-dependant. We were very poor due to my father's escapades - drinking up the pay check/bailing out of jail. Not a pretty picture, I know. However, his favorite thing was ice cream after dinner in the evening. If we had anything more than ice cream as dessert, it was definitely a holiday or guests were around. So, that's the one habit that we all inherited. Ice cream in the evening. My brother still thinks he has to have half a gallon at a sitting. I'm much better, although it's been hard. It's okay with me if I just use a cup instead of a bowl or I often buy the pre-filled 4 oz cups. Now and then I find myself wanting more so I stop bringing it in the house. Then, if I absolutely feel I 'need' it, I will take myself in the car to find it. I have, however, learned that frozen yogurt is just as good and lower in fat and calories. All things in moderation. What a concept!

The hiccup is your sign that your pouch is telling you it's full. It's your diaphragm, reacting. This is one our main 'soft stop' signs. Sort of like a yellow light. That one big hiccup, a sudden bout of scratchy throat and coughing (while you're drinking/eating), a runny nose. These are all signs from you band. You'll learn to listen.

Speak with Charlie Collings and see if he or his wife will send you a note stating she was banded under Tricare insurance, by what Dr and on what date. It never hurts to start gathering ammo for your fight. Good luck!

some of the people who I know are at goal, have gone back for a fill when they begin to notice the scales creeping back up. Remember, this is a lifetime thing. Fills will slow down, but you have the opportunity to tweak it just enough to help you maintain what loss you've already had.

Good luck with your surgery! Please keep us posted when you feel up to it!

Sounds like restriction to me. It's funny you should write this, because I've noticed over the last couple of days, I think I am finally back to restriction again, too. Today (I'm terrible) I haven't eaten anything except for a handful of grapes and a few Frosted Mini Wheats. I am sitting here at my puter, drinking Alpine Punch Isopure so that I can catch up on Protein that I missed today. Where does the time go? Usually, I'm foraging for more food, whereever I can find it. Anything will do. Yesterday and today, I forget to eat anything. I hope this is a good sign and I can finally reach those 170's.

Just remember, Brighteyes, you will NOT starve. We all have more than enough storage on board, even if we didn't eat for weeks. It is dehydration that you are focused on at this time. Drink, drink, drink. Learn to take a walk while your family is eating. Call a friend, take a bath, anything to keep you from feeling deprived. Can your husband do the cooking for the interim? It is very tough cooking meals that you can't partake in, for sure. I don't envy you, but Megan is right, the reward of weight loss is worth it. Soon, you'll get to move on to slushy/mushy foods and you'll then complain that you're gaining. lol, it's all part of the process and this too shall pass. Keep up the good work!! You're going to make it through this!

Well, these bands are definitely a mystery. Last night, while sleeping, I had the strangest thing happen. Before bed, I had eaten my normal 4 oz of yogurt to take my nighttime meds with and all was well. I don't do well with just drinking water and taking them. I have one that has gotten hung up in the past, if I don't take it with something like food, ice cream/yogurt, etc, so I try never to take it any other way. Anyway, I may have laid down sooner than I usually do, because around 1:50am while sleeping, I became aware of this constant, excessive salivating. I was having to keep swallowing in my sleep. Eventually, I woke up and went to the restroom to make sure all of this was clear (sorry) and there were no signs of anything gone awry with my band. So, no evidence of any blood or anything, just clear excessive saliva. It was almost as if something was stuck in the pouch and the saliva was doing it's job, trying to either dissolve it or dislodge it, but I really never had any overt signs of stuckage. I decided to try some Crystal Light to see if I could maybe at least thin the saliva down and maybe wash anything (like the meds) that might not have gone on through. This didn't help, but all the time I could feel my band tightening and with each sip, I could hear it gurgling, even the tiniest of sips. So, I went to the kitchen and decided maybe I should try something warm. I mixed a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice in hot water and sipped it very carefully, just trying to pay attention to the reaction of the band. It continued tightening and gurgling, but eventually, the lemon juice seemed to cut the saliva and maybe washed any offending particles on through. I was able to go back to bed after nearly an hour of wondering what was happening and trying to calm the salivating beast. Interestingly, when I took those sips and it traveled down, it seemed kind of painful down around the band area, which worried me, especially with my history of slippage already. This morning, my band was still very sort of cranky and I can feel it is much more tight. I've been babying it, doing everything very slowly and trying to 'listen' to how it's responding. I did stop by Popeye's and get some of their new Naked Chicken Strips and after chewing the tinyest of nibbles to pulp, I have only been able to eat 2 of the 3 in the pack. Eating 2 of them has taken well over an hour which I find very interesting. (If I was a good bandster, I'd have stopped at 1, since it took so long.) So, for those of you who talk about waking up with much more restriction 2-3 weeks AFTER a fill - you slept through the process.lol I think I may have gotten to witness it in action. I hope that's all it was!

Welcome Emmy!! Sounds like you're doing well. You have a very reputable doctor also! He has great results! Glad to have you here. Please feel free to search all the forums for lots and lots of information and experience!!

Betty - I was very restricted yesterday. I think this could be a good thing. I just think it's real weird how it sort of cranked itself up in the middle of the night. I may call my doc this coming week and see about getting an Upper GI just to make sure everything is still where it belongs. We talked about that at my last fill visit. With my history of slippage, I just feel it's something I should do on a routine basis. It's been 6 months now, since my surgery.

Ya'll take a gander at my band-daughter's (Paula) new avatar. Isn't she gorgeous? Beautiful picture, Paula. Hugs to ya..

Yup. I've found that food actually works better with this particular pill than anything. It may be that the yogurt I had was too thin. It's not the normal one I use. I did think I had drank enough and given it enough time to have gone on through. I'm still not sure what was going on, but it wasn't much fun. lol.

Some people have swelling immediately following surgery and sometimes fills, if their particular anatomy is prone to that. Sometimes, people come out of surgery very restricted for the first few days, due to surgery. If you mean bodily swelling - after surgery. Nope. In fact, my severe leg and ankle swelling went away the first week after banding and has never been as severe since. Thank goodness! As for gas, I think the band is placed in such a way that it contributes to gas. From Dr Ortiz's book, it says it is for most intents and purposes, a one-way valve, which could contribute to the buildup of bodily gas and bloating, which is quite common in banding.

I think this all has to do with how much you really want to lose weight. Of course, everyone of us here never had any luck with 'diets' or we'd not have to be banded. This is more than a 'diet', this is a lifetime committment to trying to make better choices MOST of the time. We had to resort to having the band installed because alone, none of us could do it ALL the time. That is where 'diet's fail us, they are temporary, with some holy grail waiting at the other end. This is not about diets, it is about learning how to eat to maintain a healthy weight. If I eat 3000 calories per day, that is enough to maintain 300lbs. If I eat 1500 a day, that is more likely to maintain 150lbs. That's tough for those of us who are used to eating 3000 and probably don't even realize we're eating that much. So, the band governs the volume. Something we tried, but were'nt any good at. You can defintely undermine your band, if you choose to eat high calorie, high sugar, high fat content foods in excess. But, I'll bet you can do it! Just like those of us here who thought we were hopeless before the band. Believe it or not, the band really does help. Your body does begin to crave things like Protein, instead of refined starches/sugars. It's a learning curve, for sure, but many of us have walked right where you are today, in fear and uncertainty, being sick and tired of being sick and tired and today, the band allows us a new life with much more energy, better health, better sleep, lower medications, new self esteem and inner awareness. Just think of the things that are hard for you to do right now. How about health issues? This is really a lifestyle change. It takes practice, but you can do it and we'll help you when you need support and encouragement!

No ma'am. Earlier, I had had only some shredded chicken breast for dinner, but that's all. The chicken had been cooked in the crock pot, marinated with italian dressing and wine vinegar. It had fallen apart and had been several hours before I went to bed. Unless the wine vinegar/dressing could have just caused some reflux? I'm not sure. Hmm... something to think about.

lol Nana.. naughty, naughty!

Congrats Shaz!! We're glad to have you here! Good luck with your journey!

I'm with you Nana. Everything I've lost has been my behind/hip area and legs. I do see a waist these days, but my abdominal area just hangs on. This is kind of disappointing because even though I've lost so much in the lower area. I haven't been able to move down that much in clothes that have waistbands, like jeans.

Wonderful news Tammy!! Awesome! Dr. Smith??

Congrats Lori and welcome to the board. I'm very happy to see that you've begun research and are learning all you need to know upfront. There are many other boards where others share their experience also. Being banded is a life-changing decision. Mostly, for the better, but it has it's downsides also. Please make sure you know all that you can so that you can make an informed decision. Having said all that, I just want to make you aware that there is a moderate amount of expense related to adjustments and maintenance of your band, once you've been banded. There is also always a possibility of complications associated with the band, such as port displacement, tubing leaks, possible slippage, even erosion (1-3%) which can still cost you a moderate amount IF those situations arise. I just want you to be aware of that, before you have the surgery and your insurance no longer exists. Also, there is the possibility that if you changed insurances, the new one may exclude your band as a 'pre-existing' condition and may refuse to cover anything related. Banding is well worth all that it may entail and is still SO much more safe than the alternatives, but there is alot to be aware of and ready for, in the event that it happens. I wish you luck on your decision and consequent journey!!