WASaBubbleButt

Brandy... I'm kinda jumping in late and I haven't read all the posts (I skipped a few pages) but there is one thing I want to point out. Regardless of which WLS type you have there is a certain amount of will power that does go with it. You can't eat anything you want (generic you, not specific you) and lose weight. Banding: If it goes through a straw it will go through your band Gastric Sleeve: See Banding Bypass: Dumping isn't promised and it's not likely to last forever. Usually after about 6-12 months you don't dump anymore, assuming you did to begin with. Then after about 18 months intestinal tissue begins to compensate for bypass intestine and you absorb fat and calories again. DS: They CAN eat carbs and sugar but they'll gain weight. MGB: Why not just have people shoot themselves now and get it over with instead of a slow death? However, see bypass. Gastric Ball: Limits quantity for a short period of time only, maybe 6 months. Does not prevent poor food choices VBG: Total failure of a procedure, see banding. If it will go through a straw it will go through your band. As you can see with any of the above you can eat around your surgery type. :woot:/ My thinking... You have a band. It's time to start working your band. Here is a post I wrote on another forum. I am not sure if this is gonna piss you off or help. It will likely do one or the other. My intent is not to piss you off. Thing is, we often times tend to go through a stage where we fight the band. I think it's normal. But nobody can end that stage but YOU. Yep, it takes will power and determination but WITH the band, you can do this. Here is the post I wrote elsewhere to someone in your shoes: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm going to get hammered for writing this but that has never stopped me before. ;o) You know these people that eat pizza and tacos a few days after surgery and they come to the boards asking if they just messed up? You know those people that pat them on the head, tell them it's okay, and to "try" to do better tomorrow? Yeah, I'm not one of those people. I tell them to knock it off, they are risking their band and why? For a lousy taco?? Are they serious? I don't suggest they TRY to do better the next day, I tell them to DO better right now. I think we often times don't give ourselves enough credit. We think we are weak willed and powerless over the world. That simply isn't true. We have been living a life of fat for many years. You tell me the weak willed and powerless can do that, I won't believe you. Being fat in today's society is no easy task. It's really damned hard. Yet we survive it and if we can survive that, we can survive passing up a donut. Let's face it, it is much easier to pass up a donut than it is to have to buy two airlines seats because our butts are too big for one seat. It's much easier to pass up a single donut than it is to face ourselves in the mirror of Lane Giant after realizing we are yet... a bigger size than the last time we were there. We face humiliation and embarrassment every single day just due to our size. I think sometimes we tend to get used to it and forget that humiliation and embarrassment are normal and a part of life. We also pretend it does not hurt as much as it does. I'm not trying to be a skank about this but you know, WLS is our last shot at WL. This is a big deal, we have choices and too many times we are all making the wrong ones. I don't eat a lot of junk because I don't need it. Neither do you. I disagree with those that say ANYTHING in moderation is okay. The reason I disagree is because ALL of us did not get fat because we can do moderation well. With a band or any WLS our caloric intake is cut drastically and we need every calorie for food we actually need and use. The only thing cake, pasta, or crap food will do for your body is make it more plump. This is a lifestyle change and a lifestyle change does not mean eating the same load of crap but just less of it, that means overhauling your diet and eating food that your body needs and does something positive for it. What "value" does Chocolate cake have for your body? So does this mean that you can never have a piece of birthday cake again? Of course not. It means that eating junk on a regular basis serves no value. We don't know what moderation is so we have to go searching for it. Moderation does not mean limiting ourselves to crap food just one time daily or one time weekly, it means more along the lines of on birthdays, special occasions. When we "plan" on eating junk weekly, what does that make our thinking? That means we are *still* planning our lives around food and poor choices. Thin people don't set out to plan on when they will eat a load of crap, they don't even think about it until the birthday party or social meeting is there staring them in the face. Yet we fatties actually plan a date and time to eat bad food. See the difference in thinking between a fat person and a normal size person? The lifestyle change is not planning on WHEN we will have loads of crap food, lifestyle change means actually going out there and living what we claim we want. Life as a normal size person. If you can face the humiliation of being obese in society, can you honestly sit there and tell yourself that passing up junk food is harder than being the fat girl walking into a room where being MO is socially unacceptable? I mean, I think there comes a time when we have to put things in their proper perspective and this is one of those times. Next time you want junk food get real and get honest with yourself. Get a photo of that food item and a photo of a person that is the size you want to be. Which do you want more, do you want the cake more than you want to be thin and healthy? Be verrry honest with yourself. If you prefer the cake over thin then just go for it and have the darn band removed. But I'll bet you'd rather have thin over a piece of cake when you really get honest with yourself. It's all about perspective and self awareness of what you want out of this life. We have a choice, and it IS a choice. We can be fat or we can be thin. With a band thin IS within grasp. The thing about us fat folks is that traditional diet and exercise is too hard, we just can't do it. We cannot lose and maintain at a normal size weight. Call it a lack of self control, call it anything you want. I'll cop to it, I'll be one to stand right up there and admit that I can't do it. But with a band it is still hard but it is the kind of hard WE can do, OUR population. Losing weight with a band is the kind of hard we can do but without a band, nope... we can't do it. Sometimes, maybe often times, maybe 20x a day when we are justifying more grazing behaviors and opening the frig to see what unnecessary food is in there, there comes a time when you just have to tell yourself no. We tell our children "no" daily. No, you can't play with razor blades in the middle of a busy street. No, you can't eat rat poison. No, you can't fail to look both ways when crossing a street. No, you can't do drugs. No, you can't go out with that drug abuser who just got out of juvvy. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves no as well. If you are like me, not sure you are, but if you are like me I can't stop at one Frito, or one bite of this or that. For me it is all or none. If I eat white carbs I can't quit. I lose self control. If I stay away from them completely I have no problem. The more I eat the more I crave. I am a person that wanted bread so bad about 3 months after banding I actually broke into the bread crumbs I use for cooking and ate the whole can. Then I started in on dry stuffing mix. It wasn't even something that tasted good (pretty rank, actually) but I couldn't stand the carb cravings anymore. That was my moment when I realized when and how I lose self control. So I avoid those situations. You can come over to my house right now and look through my house. You won't find any flour, pasta, bread, Fritos, or other foods that are my triggers. There are no bread crumbs, stuffing mix, cake mixes, cookie mixes... none of it. I don't even keep it in the house. There is not a person that has ever once been in my home that even needs those foods. My husband doesn't need them and he doesn't get them if he is here. Why would your family NEED cakes, cookies, etc? We are not punishing our family members by denying them food habits WE have, it really is okay if you don't load your cupboards full of crap your kids do not need. I think that is another mindset we have to change. I've seen people post on these very boards that they can't pass up the cookies in the cupboard but they can't punish their children by not having cookies in the house. Since when it is a punishment to decline to feed a growing child cookies to the point you can't have a day without them in your home? Exercise... you know, we have physical and emotional reasons for overeating. Those issues we have to overcome and find ways to deal with them. But exercise? Nahhh, we have no excuse. That is just plain lazy behavior. You don't like exercise? Neither do I. But it's like cleaning the toilet. Who DOES like to do it? We do it because we have to. It's just a responsibility. We are all great at justifying eating too much and not exercising but the reality comes down to sheer lazy behaviors. If you can't run then power walk. If you can't power walk then walk. If you can't walk then do chair exercises. We have the energy to get up and run to the frig 20 times a day yet we can't find the time nor the motivation to do the SAME walking outside and away from food. How does that work? ;o) There are people who LOVE exercise, zog bless their little hearts! It's like a transfer addiction. They go from eating to exercising. They love it. Personally, I think they are sick and twisted human beings. ;o) I exercise but I hate it. Never have enjoyed it, not even a little. The person who invented weight resistance cannot possibly be anything but a lover of S&M. They should be shot. But you know what? It really really works. The motivation for me was not busting my butt on a treadmill when I would have much preferred doing my nails. The motivation was that the more I exercised the more weight I lost. THAT was my addiction, losing weight and getting thin. The more you lose the more motivation you get. What if you do this, just for ONE week... one week only. Cut out ALL white carbs. Yep, you'll be climbing the walls, you'll be dealing with head hunger full force. Every single TV commercial for food will be calling your name. You'll cus and swear at me and everyone else that is around you in real time or the boards. Start exercising. Even ten minutes of brisk walking. Work up a sweat, bust your butt. Just 10 minutes. That's nothing, that is the same as a couple of TV commercials. That is about the same amount of time to read a single thread on OH. Just take 10 simple minutes and go out for a hard walk. Then you are done exercising for the day. Honestly, 10 minutes is NOTHING. We have 144 10 minute blocks in a day, it really is nothing. Then tomorrow do 11 minutes. And yes, time it from the time your walk is a brisk one, not when you start thinking it's time to go outside for your walk. When your pace is up to brisk then start timing. Daily add a single minute to it. Push yourself to do better each day, just a single minute added. So for a week eat what you want, don't count calories, don't count fat grams. Don't worry about calories in the least. Eat what you want but do limit WHITE carbs to 20 a day. I'm just talking for a week. Do the 10 minutes of exercise while adding one minute daily. See what that does for you. You want 20 chicken breasts? Eat them. You want zucchini, yellow squash, any other carbs except fruit? Eat them. Lots of them. Don't even count carbs from veggies. Just count white carbs and limit those drastically to 20gms daily. The idea here is not to get you into ketosis, the idea is to get you eating the right carbs. Have unlimited VEGGIE carbs. You'll poop like a champ too. ;o) I'll bet you that you lose weight. Then as the motivation kicks in and the stomach hunger dies down you will be able to cut those 20 chicken breasts down to 10. Then 5, then 1 daily. Understand what is head hunger and what is true stomach hunger. Just focus on white carbs and minimal exercise. I'll bet you it works. If you can live the life and frustration as a fat person, you can do this. Being fat is MUCH harder than better food choices. Again, it's all perspective. What about your fill level? Are you at good restricton? If not, get thy butt to the doc and take care of it. There, that's yer' butt kicking. ;o) Just remember, you CAN do this, you have survived much much harder as a fat person and you have survived a life that is no walk in the park. If you can survive fat life you can easily survive the above plan for the next week. And BTW, this means start the whole plan tomorrow, not on Sunday at the beginning of the week. If you have already eaten a load of carbs today you will be hungry for the rest of the day. It's a blood sugar thing. So start tomorrow and keep remembering, you can do this. Good luck to you!

Just make sure that your insurance covers both doctors. They apparently charge for two lead surgeons, one takes some plans, the other takes different plans, they both take a few plans. There have been people that were annoyed that they had to pay several thousand dollars out of pocket because one of the surgeons wasn't on their plan. I don't really know details, only what I have read here. But be sure to check into all of that before scheduling anything in case you have to pay one of the surgeons out of pocket.

The last two weeks has been a verrrry bad two weeks for TJ. The crime, street shootings, etc. Two weeks ago 14 people were shot and killed in TJ streets. A few days ago there was something on the news that said doctors are going on strike in TJ until the police do something about the crime, shooting sprees, drug lords, etc. They are willing to see ER cases only, otherwise they are going on strike in many areas of TJ. There are two bariatric surgeons in TJ that have body guards. It's getting serious, they need to do something about this. On the news it also said that three Mexican police officers from TJ are looking for asylum in the US due to their lives being threatened for trying to clean up the corruption and drug wars. My doc used to practice in TJ a long time ago but he didn't feel it was safe for his family or his patients so he moved his practice. I'm starting to understand why.

I am one that does not tolerate a band well. I just have one problem after another. Band induced reflux that no drug resolves, esophageal spasms, now esophageal motility issues, my voice has been affected by the reflux, port pain, etc. I am just simply one that does not tolerate a band easily and this is something that could not have been known before I actually had a band and experienced it. I'm tired of fighting one issue after another so I'm considering a sleeve. I need to decide quickly because I either need to have my band removed or revise to a sleeve. I am pretty pro-sleeve, it has the fewest complications long term between bypass, sleeves, and bands. There is no aftercare, you get a sleeve and you are done. That sounds very appealing to me at this point.

An emergency room cannot deny you care, it's not a code it's a law. If your life is in danger they have to treat you. If your life is in danger they have to keep looking until they find someone to treat you. It's getting easier now, in the beginning it was hard to find anyone for after care issues but the tide is turning and more doctors are taking patients banded in Mexico. They see it as advertising. If you were banded in Mexico but your friend has insurance in the US and wants a band, you are likely to refer to your aftercare doctor vs. someone else. So they are seeing the advantages of seeing Mexican banded patients. All the more reason to get a sleeve instead of a band if you can't find aftercare before surgery. There is no routine aftercare for sleeves. No fills, untills, restriction issues, etc.

The nerve that tells your brain you are full is at the top of your stomach. The pouch formed by the band is at the top of your stomach. So it just takes a small amount of food to trigger that nerve and tell you that you are full.

Sorry this happened to you. Question, I'm assuming you are referring to Inamed? If so, there is another person with a faulty band that I know and she wants an Inamed rep in OR when her band is removed and she's not having a lot of luck. I'm going to refer her to this thread. Would you share your secret how you got them to agree to be in OR?

I can only imagine it was some kind of communication error. There was a person that I talked to on OH that was able to go through Rod's office directly and she said she save several hundred dollars doing so.

That is true and it's not. If someone is used to caffeine it will not act as a diuretic like it will to someone that never consumes the stuff.

One on one and I'm great, but public speaking? Nooooo, not me. I start speaking so fast nobody can understand anything I say anyway. Then when I get nervous I start cracking jokes and well... you have to know me to love me and understand my dry dry dry sense of humor. ;o) *I* think my jokes are hysterical, not everyone agrees. HA! I used to teach and even getting in front of a large class...I had to psych myself up for it. Once I was on a roll it was fine but it was still hard. Also, as most of us I have body image issues. I'm 130-135# right now but feel like I look over 200#. That's hard too, I'm forever adjusting clothes to cover up fat... It's weird, I know.

Yep, I've read studies about a specific center of the brain that seems more active in ultra religious vs. non religious. I didn't put a lot of stock in it at the time, I don't recall why. But it has been a long time ago. I did read some interesting things about OOBEs. Years ago NASA did a study where they were able to change the electrical impulses in the brain and people had out of body experiences and near death experiences.

Ditto. Also, at night it takes forever for pages to load.

I don't like that site at ALL! There are surgery wars on every section, "My surgery is better than yours, neener neener..." kind of wars. The set up is so horrible that you can't being to find a thread once you leave it, it is unorganized, full of bickering, they have paid posters there, it's just awful. I hate OH, LBT rocks! You really can't trust all the testimonials there either. The paid posters write many of them if they are pushing a given doc. So just be careful. They also don't keep their site updated well at all. They don't verify MD statistics, they don't verify credentials. There are two doctors (Huacuz and Arturo Rodriguez) that were claiming they are fellows of the College of Surgeons. According to the college of surgeons that is a load, they are not and never have been. So there is a great deal of misinformation over there. Just be careful. BTW, speaking of stats, you can't depend on that either. There is one doctor that claims he is the 2nd most experienced doctor in a given procedure and he's probably one of the least experienced surgeons in Mexico. The doctors put their own stats there, not OH. They can (and do) claim anything they wish. So it's a crap shoot if the info is legit or not.

A friend of mine was getting banded a couple of months ago and she wanted to go to my doc based on my research. I told her no, she needed to do her own research. So there was a doctor from Mexico that was doing a seminar here locally. We went there and as soon as we walked in the door he grabbed me and pulled me to the front of the group and introduced me as HIS patient. I never met the man in my life. Oups. What was I supposed to say? Hey, this is Dr. "X" seminar but I went to Dr. Aceves! HA! I didn't, I just said I was too shy and didn't speak in front of groups. He kept pushing me to speak and I didn't. My own doctor has asked me to speak and I just can't. I'm not a public speaker. I get nervous and forget what the topic is.

Well, for many carbs are like an addiction and it's hard to stop. I was like you a great deal, my diet was mostly white carbs and little protein. Sometimes you just have to change things to get to the ultimate goal. Today I eat a lot of fish and veggies. I don't eat white carbs because I can't stop if I do. For me it is all or none so I have to choose none.

I have to admit that I am a fan of plenty of "fluids" during weight loss. More than most probably drink. When you burn fat the burned fat turns into chemicals that are not pooped out, but excreted through liquids such as urine, saliva... and actually breathing too. It really is quite important to drink a lot of fluids during weight loss so you keep flushing your renal system. I think people do realize that if they put Crystal Light in their water, that counts too. LOL

Water isn't my pet peeve. "STARVATION MODE!" The concept that "I must eat more calories so I can lose weight faster!" Sheesh...... As my surgeon says, he's yet to meet a morbidly obese person in starvation mode.

Well, I am not going to speak for Lauren but in my case it was never an issue of pain, more frustration. "If I don't believe I'm going to hell, but I can't believe because I don't believe so I'm going to hell." Looking back now it was kinda funny but it wasn't funny at the time. It also isn't a matter of belittling my beliefs, it's a matter that many assume atheists just don't want to live a good, solid, Christian lifestyle so they "choose" not to believe. That just isn't how it all works. One does not strive to be atheist, instead they realize and accept they are atheist and go on to have a very happy and fulfilling life. When someone says that we are idiots because of our lack of belief, they are often times basing this on the misguided notion that we choose to be atheist. It was a 20 year battle to accept my own atheism and to say that because I'm not Christian being called an idiot shouldn't bother me as much as it would a Christian... well, can you see how that is difficult to walk away from and pretend it wasn't written? An insult is an insult regardless of the faith or lack of faith, the slam is directed.

I think there is always value in trying to understand people with differing POVs.

HEY! Me too! We have something in common!

Those are all doctors that Mexican banded people have been to for fills and they added them to a data base.

I am referring to the kind of prayer where someone asks their God for a favor of sorts. Save the baby from the train wreck kind of question. Take God out of the scenario, who are you asking to save the baby? I understand meditation, I did a great deal of it as a twinkie. Did the chants and all! ;o) But if you ask God to do something either he says no, or if he does it then he was going to do it anyway so what's the point? If he does change the great cosmic plan, then he doesn't know everything before it happens because prayer made him change his mind about the plan.

Plain... We see what she is saying, she isn't seeing what we are saying. Do you suppose it is easy to be an atheist in today's society? Most hide it, they have to. It's not nice to discuss atheism in front of others, everyone takes offense. They ask why we lack belief and when we tell them they are insulted. You know, I was raised Roman Catholic. It's no easy task to go from Catholic to atheist. I remember many years ago I was seriously struggling with my faith. I wanted to believe, but none of it made a bit of sense. So I started reading the bible. To be honest, the more I seriously studied the bible the more I realized I could no longer force myself to believe in Christianity. I was horrified by what I was reading, there was no way I could call any of that morality. So here I am, a Catholic with no faith. So I went out searching for a God I could believe in. I attended every church, I did it all. I even took the spiffy little classes to become Jewish. That didn't work out either because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't believe any of that either. Then came New Age. I was a true blue New Age Twinkie. Finally, one day it hit me. I really don't believe in this stuff. I can't force myself to believe and I can no longer trick myself into believing. I lack belief. I dawned on me that this makes me an atheist. Atheism is not something anyone strives to be, it's not like that. It's more like... one day you get down and dirty honest with yourself and you realize, admit, and accept that you are an atheist. We don't "choose" to not believe, that's silly. Belief is either there or it isn't. If I tell you that Santa Claus is real, do you "choose" to believe it or do you simply know it isn't true? It's not a choice, either you believe Santa is real or you don't. It took me 20 years to undo the Catholic upbringing and get a grip on what my feelings really are and what my opinions are. I was fighting with myself tooth and nail struggling to force myself to believe. Twenty years, Plain. Then some Christian comes along and tells me that my fight of 20 years means nothing if someone believes that is ignorant. Instead, she is Christian so the slams and insults mean more. They don't mean more, slams and insults are just that. I don't care if you struggled for 20 years to maintain belief or if you struggled for 20 years to GET some level of belief, we are all made up of our own history. I'm not really sure if it is harder to believe in the impossible or if it is harder to be honest with those around you and admit you are an atheist. And nope, not being sarcastic. I'm dead serious. So this claim that idiot means more to her than it does to us... it's crap. Nothing more, nothing less.

See.... I don't get the whole prayer thing. I makes no sense to me. If it is true that the Christian god knows everything before it happens, then really, what good does prayer do? If he knows he's going to save a baby from a train wreck, then people praying asking for him to save the baby really isn't going to do any good. He was going to do it anyway. And this great plan he has, if he already knows what he is going to do before he does it, and if the plan is set and in motion, then what good is prayer going to do anyway? If the plan is set, all the begging, pleading, and prayer aren't going to change anything. He knows what he is going to do before the act requires action on his part. So where is the value in prayer? Is someone praying to him going to make him change his huge plan? He is going to change his mind about everything because someone said a prayer? If that is the case, then he does not know everything because he didn't know he was going to change his plan because someone prayed asking. I find it all very confusing.

Sorry.. the formatting didn't come through. If you can't sort out the above mess the formatting works in email. if you want to PM me your email address I will send it that way if you wish.