Toddy

We all have a tendency to whine occasionally. I spent Day 5 post-op in the ER certain that something had gone horribly wrong. Well, nothing was wrong. Day 6 was better. Day 7 was the worst of all, but it was the last bad day I had. I'm 3.5 weeks post-op now and even though I'm not feeling any restriction yet, I'm working the band, telling myself (sometimes more convincingly than others) that I'm full after my alloted amount of food, and I'm feeling great! Hang in there!

I got the 50% spiel from my dr, too. They have to average the successful banders with the less successful banders, and they come up with the 50%. If more of us are successful banders and follow the band rules and make it to our goal weight, that 50% number will rise. My doctor also told me he would be happy if I got down to 160 (just at the point where my BMI would be in the normal range). He doesn't have to worry about that, my goal weight is 140 and I fully expect to see that number by the time my son gets married in 2013! I don't want to be the fat MOTG!!!

I agree 100%. When I first started researching lap-band I was thinking it would be a good thing for my daughter. As I was researching I quickly figured out you have to have your "head" in the right place, foodwise. You have to be willing to give up certain things without regret. In my research I realized that my daughter's "head" wasn't there yet, but mine was!! Guess what? Three and a half weeks post-surgery and down 18 lbs and I'm thrilled!! I did enough research to realize it was the right thing for me to do. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people that don't do research. The info is abundant and easily accessable to anyone with a computer.

You should ask your surgeon in NC to help you find someone in your new area. A quick letter or phone call from the orignial surgeon and maybe the surgeons in your new area will be more willing to deal with you.

I was in the same place until I started exercising. As soon as I threw some exercise in there, the scale started moving, slowly, but surely.

My incisions and my port weren't painful, it was mostly the gas pains in my shoulder that caused me to take pain meds. The last bad day I had was one week to the day after my surgery. I noticed you said you were taking ibuprofen. I'm not sure why, but I was told absolutely no ibuprofen or aspirin ever. I was much more concerned about living a life without ibuprofen and BC than I was about giving up my Diet Pepsi, Pasta, rice, et, cetera!!

If you're past child-bearing, ask your ob about endometrial ablation! It has truly been a miracle for me! It didn't completely stop my peroids, but they are so light now they may as well be non-existent (I'm talking one day/sometimes I joke that it's just 20 minutes!). I didn't want or need a hysterectomy, mainly because I didn't want to have to deal with the hormonal issues. Ablation acheived almost the same results with none of the hormonal and/or recovery aspects. It was done in my doctor's office and I was back at work the next day feeling fine.

You need to check with your insurance company. All insurance companies have their own reqirements. I was very fortunate that with a BMI between 37 and 38 and one co-morbidity, HTN, I was approved very quickly.

Ten pounds a month and you're complaining? I don't know any other method of weight loss that would give you a ten pound a month loss. I'm three weeks post-op (today) and satisfied with my four pound loss!

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I couldn't start my day without a Diet Pepsi in the morning, and then drank several more thoughout the day. I knew I couldn't do that after being banded, so on my pre-op diet I started experimenting with loose leaf tea, and now I'm addicted to that!! I'm sure it's much better for me, so I give in to that particular addiction! I haven't had a Diet Pepsi since January 17th and I really don't miss it at all now! I think my tastes have definitely changed!

As far as pain relief, I was told I could take Excedrin Tension Headache and it was about the strongest OTC pain reliever I would be able to take. No aspirin and no NSAIDs. You'd be amazed at how just a little bit of loss can make a big difference. I was beginning to have some daily pain in my hip radiating down into my leg and just 16 pounds down and no more hip pain! Yay!!

That's exactly what I did. I love my PCP, but she's busy and I know some things get lost in the shuffle. I wanted to make sure my letter wasn't one of "those things"!!

Don't judge someone's reasons for choosing to be banded until you've walked in their shoes! One reason I haven't told people I got banded is because the typical reaction would be that I'm not big enough. But I have a very small frame with a congenital spine defect and have been in terrible pain for years that was only getting worse. No one other than immediate family knows about my issues with the pain because I don't like to complain!! If I had not had this surgery, I could see myself being confined to a "jazzy chair" within the next 10 - 15 years! That is not how I want to live my life. I thank God this surgery was available to me and I am already noticing a decrease in my chronic pain! DON'T JUDGE!!

I think some spouses (or is it spice?!) can be a little insecure to see their husband/wife lose a lot of weight. I don't think they mean to sabotage, but that's exactly what it is. It's something we all have to be very careful about. I wish this was a journey I could experience with my husband, and while he is a little overweight, I just don't think he'd qualify, although he did show interest in the beginning.

I do a 45 minute interval training video, with a total of 30 minutes cardio with six intervals of weight training. My doctor gave me the go ahead to start back two weeks post-op. I'm not having any problems with it at all, although I'm only using two pound weights and I'm going really light on the crunches.

I don't have a problem not telling my friends, but not telling my sister has been the worst! We're very close and she has the same weight issues that I have -- but she has very different ideas about any kind of medical intervention -- for anything! I think she would feel sorry that I felt like I had to go to this extreme, and I consider myself very lucky for having this option, so I think she's better off in the dark. I sure don't want my sister's pity for something I'm thrilled about having done! Oh, well, it is what it is.

I looked into it, but opted not to do the plication. I'm a little over two weeks post-op with only a one pound loss and now wishing I had gone ahead with the plication. I'm also quite hungry between meals and with no restriction I'm having to force myself to stop eating -- Bandster Hell!

My absolute worst day post-op was one week to the day after my surgery, and it was my first day back at work. I went back to work to do a "short" job and it ended up taking all day. I thought I was going to die, almost literally. And no one I work with knows about the band, so I just had to suck it up! On the bright side, that day was my last bad day and I have since improved dramatically! Good luck to you!

The mind is a very strange thing. I have worn every size from a 6 to a 20 in my adult life. I have only (?) been obese for the last ten or so years. In the mirror I don't see the obese me; I just see me, as I've always been, average. On the rare occasion I can't dodge a camera, to see a photo of myself as a truly obese person is absolutely shocking! I don't know if I'll ever see myself as I truly am, even after I get the weight off.

Gas X did nothing for me. Walking and a heating pad helped some. I have a torn left rotator cuff, so my left shoulder was really bad! In fact, that gas pain was the only bad pain I had; the incisions were nothing in comparison. I was banded 1/31 and I haven't had any real pain in the last week.

Centrum makes a chewable adult vitamin.

You're not alone! I was feeling pretty awful at one week out, but now I'm a whopping two weeks and one day post surgery and I feel much better. Hang tough! One thing that swayed me toward this surgery is the overwhelmingly positive attitude that banded people have about their bands.

Let me know what they say. My problems haven't been significant enough to mention -- like I said, just kind of felt like it was all in my head! I'm going to call my PCP on my blood pressure meds though; that's one thing I always try to stay on top of!!

I'm not one for giving advice on this matter, because I haven't told either of my sisters, and probably won't for vary different reasons. However, since you have mentioned it to your brother and received a negative response, take advantage of the fact that he's overseas and write him a nice long letter explaining the facts: That the band is only a tool, you still have to do the work. The way I feel about my band is that I know I can lose weight on my own, I've done it dozens of times; however, I am a complete failure at keeping that weight off. So I look at my band as sort of an insurance policy, I know I'll lose the weight and it will be the tool that helps me keep it off for good -- that's my goal anyway!

This is very interesting as I'm two weeks post-op today and have both the lightheadedness and eyesight thing going on. I kept telling myself the eyesight thing was just my imagination, but the light-headedness is definitely happening periodically! I'm only down 13.5 pounds (including what I lost pre-op) so I can't imagine that it would be enough to affect my blood pressure.