WASaBubbleButt

Did the psyc suggest the three months of therapy and do you have to return to THAT psych for the therapy? If so, I'd be a little careful of that one. What a way to drum up business. People who want to be banded will do anything and jump through any hoops and here you have someone who can't figure out why a MO person might be depressed? Keep in mind, there is a lot of controversy on therapy and depression anyway. Depression is a chemical imbalance within the brain and therapy is as useful as it would be for a diabetic with high blood sugar. I would insist on going to a different doc for a 2nd opinion. Make it clear to the first one that you won't be going to him/her for the therapy but someone YOU choose if that is the route you decide to take.

Heh... Lots of people complain of port pain. I have a lot of port site tenderness but I think that might be because since I have lost all the padding that used to cover it - things irritate it such as belts and such. There are days I can't run because my port hurts. It's sewn into the fascia which is connective tissue above a muscle and below a fat pad and it takes very little to irritate it.

My feeling is that I worked really hard to get down to a more normal weight and I earned the PS. I'm doing it.

Keep in mind one issue about Splenda. Pound for pound Splenda and sugar have the same number of calories. But Splenda is 200x stronger (sweeter) than sugar so you need much much less than sugar.

Hypochondriasis? :confused:

OMG yes! And it's fugly. My stomach looks like a dehydrated Shar Pei dog. It's gross. Or... you know those little old ladies that are 100 years old and they have been smoking 99 of those 100 years? You know the extreme wrinkles they have? That's what my stomach looks like. Nasty, just nasty.

Great! Thank you. I'll send you some of the Whey Gourmet Milk chocolate, some Syntrax Chocolate nectar (you MUST use a flavoring like Da Vinci, it kills the after taste), and some vanilla Nectar from Syntrax. Have you tried the Parmesan Crackers yet? When I get that order for the Whey Gourmet there will be Parmesan crackers too in case you haven't tried them yet. I can also send samples of Da Vinci now since the weather is cooling off. Before it was too hot and they exploded on those little tupperware containers. I have Spice (ICK!), strawberry, blueberry, Chocolate, Raspberry, Peanutbutter, and I think that's all.

I'll call you now.

Not completely sure yet! :confused: I am having the TT on 12/3 but since I don't care for the Michael Jackson look I'm limiting myself to two procedures. For the other I can't decide on a face lift or boob job. My plastic surgeon has pretty much decided that I don't need a face lift, she said that is the last thing she would suggest. But my face shows, my boobs don't. A Wonder Bra works freak'en miracles!

I'm hoping someone who has it will post it. This is Lauren's fault, I was doing JUST fine with my chocolate Matrix but nooooo, she had to turn me onto Whey Gourmet and now I'm addicted to Choco/peanutbutter. It's good stuff.

Hey Denise... Are you still coming back here in December?

Thank you. I do it by busting my butt. No white carbs, very little meat (I'm pretty much vegetarian at this point except fish), I keep calories at 600 daily, and hard cardio daily. My goal is to have surgery, lose 102 pounds, and have plastic surgery in one year. I was banded 12/6/06 and my plastic surgery is scheduled for 12/3/07.

Do it, we always need more nurses in AZ!

Heh... comments such as yours make our 115(F) summers worth it! :confused: I'm originally from Iowa so I know exactly what you are talking about. I recall a hospital I used to work for, I worked the 3/11 shift. One night it was so cold my car door was frozen shut. That night we also had a guy come in that was frozen solid, he should have been taken to a funeral home, not a hospital. He was dead as dead could be, poor guy. It was soooo cold out that night, dangerously cold. He was trying to get into his house and dropped his keys in the snow. He couldn't find his keys and in fear for his life he broke out a window to get into his home and froze to death halfway through. He was an older man so I assume he wasn't moving very fast and compromised anyway. But it was still sad. So I know allll about your weather, that's why I live in the desert.

Our winters here in Arizona are the best months of the year. It's usually in the 60s-70s. So I'm looking forward to it.

It's good stuff, I can't wait to try the Dreamy Creamy Milk Chocolate. Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Banded it sure doesn't take much, eh? We have all become cheap dates for food and alcohol. If hubby thinks he's getting lucky tonight he might not realize you'll be sleeping in NO time. :confused:

That wasn't intentional.... really. Heh.......

Doctors have their own pet places for putting ports. Some on the left, some center, some right, one idiot even puts it up by the collar bone.

What does the poll have to do with the thread topic?

Heh... I have cases of the stuff. I don't have room for it either.

My first suggestion for you would be to really focus on the science of morbid obesity and weight loss. There are many myths that seem to have come out of the 70s and people still believe them. For example: Destroying your metabolism with dieting. Not possible. Your metabolism will naturally slow down with age, weight loss, and thyroid issues. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and I haven't had any problem at all losing weight. If you are not getting any results treating your hypothyroidism then you need to find a different method even if that means traditional medicine. There is a great forum on Welcome to About.com for thyroid issues. The ladies there are amazing at reading labs, they are up to date on all the latest studies and treatments and they know their stuff well. I would grab a copy of your latest labs and post the numbers on that forum and see what they have to say. I'm not sure holistic methods of treatment are going to work because plain and simple, you need to replace the hormone your body is lacking in. Until you do, you will not get better. But if you want to keep trying the holistic route just know you are going to be doing this for a long while. In the meantime you are at risk for heart problems, joint problems, arthritis, and kidney damage just to name a few. Then there is the issue of no weight loss and that brings up issues of weight related issues such as more heart disease, more joint deterioration, diabetes, hypertension, etc. So to be really blunt I think you need to take a look at the holistic approaches you have been doing and ask yourself... how's this working for me? Not eating and gaining weight. Actually, that's impossible. It might SEEM like that but if there are no calories going in there is nothing to gain weight with. You could be gaining Water weight but with no calories you cannot gain weight. It's impossible. It's like filling a balloon with air and saying it's being filled with water. It isn't, there is no water to fill the balloon. Starvation mode... that's another myth. The bottom line is that it comes down to calories in/calories out. You might have a slower metabolism and lose slower for various reasons but the reality is that calories in/calories out. If you eat more calories you need to burn more calories or you will gain weight. Starvation mode is when you are consuming about 100 calories every few days and your body draws Fluid from your arms and legs and brings them to the abdomen to protect vital organs. You know those little children in Africa that have bloated stomachs and sticks for arms and legs? THAT is starvation mode. Your body doesn't "think" and it is unable to say, "Oh my, I have fewer calories coming in so I am going to hold on to what I have." It just can't do that. It works by a chain of chemical reactions. We are built to hold on to fat. The human body is exceedingly efficient at storing energy for later use. Consider this, it takes 3500 excess calories to create a pound of fat. Who can't do that in a day? Who of us can't eat an extra 3500 calories in fast food, greasy food, chocolate, ice cream, etc. in a day? Yet it would take about 20 hours of running to burn that one pound. So we are very good at creating and storing fat. There was a study done at the Phoenix Indian Hospital a few years ago and they were trying to figure out why American Indians have such a high rate of diabetes. The end result was that 200+ years ago life was hard in various parts of the US. There was plenty of food in the summer but winters were hard. Indians would eat like crazy when food was available and they would gain a great deal of weight. Then winter would come, food was scarce, and they lived off the fat they accumulated during the summer. This is exactly how the body is designed. It's great at storing fat for times when food is not readily available. All in all, the starvation mode is a myth. Oh, people will swear their docs tell them it is real, they will justify more calories in any way possible (that's part of why we are all fat, we ALL justify more calories) but the reality is that fat people don't experience starvation mode. You will NOT lose weight if you eat more calories, you will lose weight slower. Low carbing doesn't mean eating more. It means limiting carbs, that's all. When you low carb the whole idea is that carbs create blood sugar spikes and that is a chain reaction that tells your body you are hungry. When you eat protein you don't have the blood sugar spikes and you aren't hungry so you don't eat as much. It puts your body in a fat burning mode and causes ketosis. My guess is that your hypoglycemia is caused by your diet. When you eat carbs it turns to glucose. The glucose causes your blood sugar to rise. When your blood sugar rises your pancreas kicks out more insulin. When your body kicks out more insulin your blood sugar drops and sometimes it drops lower than it was to begin with and low blood sugar signals your body that you are hungry. It's a cycle that is easily broken by cutting out all white carbs and increasing protein. This also happens to be a great bandster diet. No white carbs and increased protein. What Protein Drinks are you consuming? What is the calorie/protein count? How many are you drinking daily? What is your exercise routine? How many minutes/hours are you exercising daily? In order to increase your metabolism you MUST increase muscle mass, without exercise you are not going to increase muscle mass and you aren't going to change your metabolism. The band will help you with some food choices, it will help with portion size, but the rest is up to you. You have to exercise and especially in your case. You say that you are on HRT, what kind of HRT are you taking? Premarin type drugs? If so, you aren't doing yourself any favors. Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy is going to likely work better for you. Premarin type drugs are a waste of money. Consider what Premarin actually is: Pre = Pregnant Mar = Mare In = Urine Premarin IS pregnant horse urine. Horses do not have the same hormones as we do so taking their hormones isn't going to work for us in the long term. It's the best that was available for a long time but today we have hormones available that are identical to what WE make, not what a horse makes. For the above reasons if I were you I would seriously focus on the science of weight loss and morbid obesity issues. There is soooo much to learn and so many ways of thinking that are outdated and simply wrong. We fatties are always attracted to the diets that allow us to eat more and lose weight anyway. The reality is that doesn't work. :confused: Perhaps consider researching obesity issues somewhere such as this site: Obesity News & Weight Loss News & Fitness News from Medical News Today It is updated daily with new studies. Good luck to you!

If you are in the Phoenix or Flag areas getting follow up care and fills will not be a problem. I don't know about other areas of AZ. I had my surgery in Mexico by Dr. Aceves and most of us prefer to go back to Mexicali for fills. We go as a group and have fun while we are there. It's only a 3-3.5 hour drive. Surgery can be very safe in Mexico but you have to do your research. If I had it all to do over again I would go to Dr. Aceves ANY day.

Mags... Any updates? Usually an unfill cures a slip (80+% of the time). The stomach will typically fall back into place and you are on liquids while you form new scar tissue to hold the band in place. Sometimes it needs to be surgically repositioned and once every now and again the entire band needs to be removed. So what did your doc say?

Congrats! Good job!