hodegard

I was reading the other thread about who among us is on anti-depressants, and I noticed something. It seemed like everyone who said that they have taken Lexapro said that it is no longer working for them. Hmmm... I'm in the same boat, but I thought it was just me. I've gotten so bad that I've just quit taking them (not smart, I know... especially around the holidays!) Anti-depressants make me extremely exhausted ALL THE TIME, but it was a side effect that I was willing to accept, as long as the depression stayed away. If I'm not feeling any of the "benefits" of the drug anymore, then I'm not interested in taking them just for the miserable side effects! (No point in feeling miserable all the time ON them if I feel just as miserable OFF of them.) Increasing the dosage might be an idea, but I'm already on a fairly high dosage of it. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that everyone who mentioned Lexapro, specifically, seemed to have the same "it's no longer working for me" experience. After the first of the year (when the insurance at my hubby's new job kicks in), I plan to go to my doctor and ask for something else.

I am 8 days post-op now, and I had my follow-up visit today. Everything looks good. I'm feeling great, back to normal, in fact. I'm still very hungry, and I'm having a tough time feeling full, but I'm hopeful that when I go in for my first fill (five weeks from now), I will start seeing a difference. But here's the good news: I've lost ten pounds already! Woo-hoo!

I still plan on following the post-op diet recommended by my surgeon, but I was just thinking about how every surgeon seems to have a different recommendation. I ended up switching surgeons along the way, and the diet recommended by the original one is very different than the one that I ended up going with. I thought it would be interesting to hear what everyone else did post-op... Here's my diet: Week 1 - Week 3: liquid only Week 4 - Week 6: Mushy foods, like pudding or yogurt Week 7 - Week 9: Soft foods, like scrambled eggs Week 10 - Week 12: Soft foods, like hard boiled eggs Week 13 - Regular food

I had a lower body lift. I will also need two more surgeries; one will take care of my batwings and my breasts, and the other will take care of my inner thighs.

I was banded about two and a half years ago, and I've lost about 115 pounds. I also had a lower body lift last summer. At 185 pounds, I'm STILL a size 18. It's so frustrating, and I'm getting more and more depressed about it. I have a friend who weighs the same as me and wears a size 12!! I know that all bodies are different, and everyone carries their weight differently, but I'm really starting to get depressed, thinking that no matter how much weight I lose, I'm still going to be huge. Is there anyone else out there who's weight and size don't seem to match up?

Yes, Dr. Neal does do them. He performed my surgery and he (or one of his nurses) does my my fills. Their website is http://www.pacsurgical.com.

Great idea for a thread! Gee, for me simply allowing my picture to be taken is a huge NSV in itself!

That's no small achievement! That's HUGE!! Let's face it, our membership in the Clean Plate Club is what helped put us in a place where we needed WLS in the first place, and giving up a plate that still has food on it is a huge mental hurdle! Congrats!

I've only noticed this type of response from two kinds of people: 1. People who have never had a battle with their weight in their entire lives. People who have never struggled with their weight don't understand why we don't just quit eating and start exercising. For them, it IS that simple, and they don't understand that that's not the case for everyone. 2. People who have unsuccessfully battled BIG weight problems. I'm not talking about the people who have 15-20-40 pounds to lose; I'm talking about the people who are extremely obese themselves. I have a customer who is in TOPS and is extremely heavy. She's eating junk food every time I see her, and she's extremely critical of the WLS patients who get the same weight loss "rewards" at their meetings as the the non-WLS people. (She doesn't seem opposed to the surgery; she just doesn't view it as a "valid" weight loss program, I guess.)

Is it just me, or is it absolutely crazy that if you want to attend just the dinner, it costs $40??? Hello?? We're talking about a group of people who, collectively, probably won't eat $40 worth of food, much less $40 per person!!

I actually started my period the morning of my surgery. They wouldn't let me use a tampon or wear my own underwear, but they did have me wear the meshy ones that they give you when you have a baby. When I woke up, the underwear were long gone, but they had me lying on one of those disposable pads (I don't know what they're called but they remind me of the pads that you lay on your floor to housebreak puppies... LOL). I also had a maxi pad between my legs, and to be honest, I moved so little that it stayed right in place, even without underwear holding it there. Sounds like each doctor has a different way of handling it, based on the replies to your question. But, like someone else said, you can be sure that it isn't the first time that your doctor has come across this. If you are able to call the doctor's office and ask how he would prefer for you to handle it, then you can be prepared with grungy underwear, a tampon, or nothing at all, depending on what he wants you to do. Here's a suggestion that I have for you, though, for after you come home. If you don't keep maxi pads on hand, buy yourself some. You won't feel like "contorting your body" the way that you need to in order to insert a tampon for a few days. Regardless of how much you might hate using pads (if that's the case), you'll be glad to be prepared in this case.

Victoriana, I, too, have read that book. I actually went through a study with the book at my church. I agree that it's a good book, and I saw a lot of myself in it.

My depression is due to a chemical imbalance. I have fought it all of my life; in hindsight, my mom says that she can see it as young as my toddler years. The lexapro worked pretty well for me for a couple of years, but it's like I've "outgrown" it or something. And the downcycle that I'm in now is the worst that I've had in about 15 years. This is the second drug that I've "outgrown" after just a couple of years, and I'm beginning to feel like, "What's the point? In a couple of years, this won't work either, and I'll be right back where I started." I didn't realize that a "coctail" of multiple drugs was even an option. When I see my doc in January, I'm definitely going to ask about it. I'm also switching counselors in January. I really want a Christian counselor, and my new insurance (that kicks in January 1st) will cover me to see the one that I have in mind. My current counselor is great, and I have nothing but good things to say about her, but maybe a new perspective will help get me back on track.

I'm at my lowest BMI right now, but I'm not done losing yet...

I had a lower body lift in August (which is like a tummy tuck on steroids), and I actually had my band FILLED just a couple of weeks before my surgery. They didn't have to do anything regarding my band except relocate the port.

Last night I went to a Weekenders party. (If you're unsure of what that is, it's a company that sells clothing through home parties.) The last time I went to one of these parties was about two and a half years ago (before my surgery), and I had to buy the largest size they carried. Last night, I had so much fun trying stuff on! Just enjoying that process is a MAJOR NSV for me. What's even more exciting is that I was able to wear several pieces in a medium. I honestly can't remember the last time I wore anything that size! It was so exciting!

A friend of mine just had her surgery yesterday, and she's doing great! They even sent her home yesterday afternoon. She has come so far (emotionally speaking) to have this done, and I'm so proud of her. She has been a friend of mine since before I was banded, and when I had it done, she kept saying, "I could never do what you've done" because she had an extreme fear of doctors. Obviously, she had to overcome that fear to end up lying on the operating table yesterday. I don't have those kinds of fears, so for me, having the surgery was not really a big deal from that perspective. But I've watched her go through this, and she has come so far. I AM SO PROUD OF HER!!

I had the first of three of my plastic surgeries five weeks ago. The first surgery was a lower body lift (basically, everything from my bra-line to my knees, excluding my inner thighs). As a part of the lower body lift, he also did "agressive liposuction" on my outer thighs. Around Christmas, I will have the upper body done, which will include a breast lift and brachioplasty (arm flab). In the spring, he will lift my inner thighs. As far as pain goes, it was NOTHING like what I expected. I was on some really good drugs, so I didn't feel much pain at all. And I was completely off ALL pain meds one week post-op. The worst pain, in all honesty, was from sneezing because he stitched my stomach muscles back together. But aside from that, I didn't think it was bad at all, and it's not like a have a high pain tolerance. My insurance would have covered a tummy tuck if I had been able to prove that it was medically necessary. After a couple of appeals, they still didn't feel that I had proven it necessary, so they didn't cover it. In hindsight, though, I'm kind of glad that they didn't. If they had covered it, all I would have had done is a tummy tuck, and I wouldn't have gotten to go to the surgeon of my choice. When they declined me the final time, I decided to go to my first-choice surgeon, since I'd be paying for it anyway, and he chose to do a lot more than just a tummy tuck, and he was much more "agressive" about what he wanted to do than the other surgeon would have been. So far, I'm much happier with the results than I think I would have been with "just" a tummy tuck. As for doing more than one procedure at a time... I would have loved it if he had done everything at once, but he felt that it was too much for my body to take, which is why he's breaking it down to three procedures. Plus, the way that he explained it, when they do the inner thigh and the outer thigh at the same time, the two kind of work against one another, so you get better results when you do them separately. I keep telling people, "I had my tummy done, and now I have a perfectly flat tummy! Now I just need to get my breasts lifted so that you can SEE that I have a flat tummy!" By the way, the ITCHING has been FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR worse than the pain ever was!

I am extremely open with anyone and everyone who will listen when it comes to my lap-band and the adventure it's been since getting it. I have been fortunate in that most everyone has been extremely supportive. That support has really kept me going. But I will also be honest and say that I have lost a friend since getting my band. I thought she was a really good friend, too, but I know now that she really wasn't. She was super supportive when I planned to have the surgery and even for about six months after having it. But once my weight dropped below hers (she weighed about 250 at the time), her attitude suddenly started to change toward me. In front of a group of strangers, she went on and on for about half an hour about how I had gotten a "really, really big head" and that I thought I was "all that and a bag of chips." (I think that phrase bugged me more than anything else because it's just so Jerry Springer-ish. LOL) My first reaction was, of course, to think, "I haven't done that!" But then I started to think, "Maybe I have, and I just don't realize it." So, I asked a few friends that I KNEW FOR CERTAIN would be honest with me and asked them if they thought I had changed in this way. They all said that they saw increased confidence in me, but in a positive way, and that they didn't see the behavior that she described at all. They all suggested, and I couldn't help but agree, that she was just jealous... especially since her attitude didn't turn negative until my weight became less than hers. That was a really tough experience for me. Nobody likes for people to think things like that. But the sad truth is that there just might be relationships that are lost when you better yourself. It's hard but you just have to remember that it's their loss, and not yours, and if the relationship was a good one, it would have lasted.

I am scheduled for a lower body lift next Tuesday, and I have a question for those of you who have had this done. What did you wear home? They suggested loose fitting pj's so that I can go home and roll right into bed, but I'm not sure which ones to wear. Most of my jammies are pants and tops, and I'm concerned that the waistband would be uncomfortable. Or is the incision so much lower that it doesn't matter? I'm also going to have two drains, if this makes a difference. Any feedback is appreciated!

This is who is doing my "stuff"... http://www.egrari.com

I'm just curious to know if any of you have changed insurance post-op... Right now I've got great insurance that covers everything (they even covered my surgery at 100%!), but my husband is looking into getting a new job, and I know that a lot of insurance companies don't cover anything related to weight loss. So what about fills, etc? If you already have the surgery, is it considered a "pre-existing condition" that they will, therefore, cover?

I'm just not sure whether or not they would consider the band a "pre-existing condition" since it was technically an elective procedure. (Not that I believe that it was truly elective, but you know what I mean...)

My husband was the same way about feeling guilty about me not being able to "eat with him" anymore. He still feels that to some degree, but he's starting to see that it doesn't bother me nearly as much as it bothers him. He feels guilty eating things in front of me that I can't eat, and I just have to reassure him that I really am okay with it. I'm very open about the fact that I've had this surgery, and I find the same thing happens in many of my social circles. They don't want me to feel excluded, and they go out of their way to try to "accomodate" me. I just have to keep reminding them that I really am okay with it and that I don't feel left out. It really is an adjustment for people, especially when they care about you and want to make sure that they aren't leaving you out. I feel very blessed that those around me care enough to worry about it!

The "before" picture was taken the week before my surgery, at 296 pounds. The other picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, at 190 pounds. I'm now at 188, and my goal is 130, so I've still got a way to go, but I'm thrilled to be where I'm at!