WASaBubbleButt

All I can say is "Wow". There are a lot of people out there very frustrated. And rightfully so.

Didn't you know? The state licensing board made it just so some would have credibility. Heh....

Yeah, but this is the only good one.

Did you look under "band practitioner" licensing? BWAHAHAHAHA

WENDELL!!!!!!!!!!!! ((((((((HUGS)))))))) Coming to the "right" side of the tracks finally? LOL!

WOW! I had no idea she did that. I knew she claimed to have a hand in Dr. Kuri's work but what you are writing is taking it a bit far. Yes, everyone else is wrong and she is the only person that knows anything about banding. Every bandster at goal did it all wrong if they didn't do it her way. There was a person that was writing about how they had a hard time with solids. It wasn't even just solids, it was everything including liquids. If they are sipping room temp liquids and still PBing, there is a problem. They aren't doing anything wrong, there is something wrong with their stomach or band. Sandy was telling the person that they were taking too long to eat. They should be done in 20 minutes. Set a timer and when the timer goes off after 20 minutes they aren't permitted anything else for six hours. This person was eating a pea sized bite every five minutes just trying to keep it down. According to Sandy's rules the person would get (literally) 16 pea size bites of food daily. Huh??? I jumped in and reminded her that not every bandster is the same and we need to take into consideration each individual and their unique needs and issues. She actually disagreed and insisted the person stop eating after 20 minutes. That just isn't a nurse, an actual nurse would know better.

That would be her. The first ever "Band Practitioner" in the world. I'd kinda like to be a band practitioner, perhaps I should start adding it to my sig. Sounds good! HA!!!! It isn't real, but it sounds pretty good.

Many of the members are great people with a heart of gold. Most of the members over there would do bloody anything for anyone. It's a small group of posters that run the boards and their pack leader is this RN. If the RN gives bad advice they won't even correct her, they just let her spew and sit back saying nothing. If anyone dares to disagree with this RN then they come out like rabid dogs protecting their leader. It's insanity over there. The problem (IMHO) is that they don't put the RN on a leash. I'm quite serious, I doubt you guys would let her get by with the disruption she causes. Actually, you have gagged/banned some of her pack from posting here. But they just come back with a new ID however, they mind their manners with their new ID. It's because of the way you folks choose to run the forum. That is the difference I see in the two forums. One is ruled by a pack of dogs and here it is a place of support and information. First time I came here I was floored at the difference in the forums and I started a thread on the tech board about it too. I am totally impressed with the board format, the mods, and the posters over here.

The only reason she even posts is to sell her snake oil CDs. She sells lists of crap too, lists of bad foods for a diabetic, good foods for a bandster, etc. She tells people to email her for the list and when they do she THEN tells them there is a fee. I heard about that so I started following up her "offers to email her for a list" with ... "Why not just post it for all to see instead of emailing them to individual people?" She couldn't admit that she sells them so she would ignore me each time I would make the suggestion. Go figure. I went toe to toe with her several times and without fail, 100% of the time, I would get at least 5-6 emails thanking me for telling her how it is. It never failed. One time a woman had a fill. The evening of the fill she ate pork chops and they went down, she did not PB, but it hurt. I explained she was likely swollen from the fill and to stick to liquids for a day and see how she felt. The "RN" over there jumped in, said I was giving bad advice and the women needed to call her MD and go get a slight unfill immediately, as in that night. I said I disagreed, if someone who is swollen can still get pork chops down and not PB, she doesn't need an unfill. She needs liquids for a day. At 10PM the woman called the bariatric guy on call and asked what to do. She was a newbie and didn't know which of us was correct. The doc told her to go on liquids for a day and she'd be fine. The woman came back and explained the doc said liquids for a day and thanked me for giving the correct suggestion. The RN over there started stomping her feeties and insisting the doc and I were wrong and she was jeopardizing her health and band by not doing as she said. What kind of idiot nurse throws a fit and insists a board poster not follow her doc's advice? It all boils down to the fact that the RN over there will give bad advice KNOWING it is bad advice just to try to make ANY other nurse look bad. Didn't work. Heh... She keeps referring to her "practice" and when you call her on incorrect advice she will change her "title" under her name to "Band Practitioner". Considering there IS no such thing as a band practitioner she is really screwing up if she really is a nurse. And, if she is a nurse the state licensing board isn't aware of it in her state. She claims to have worked with Dr. Kuri on various journal articles and Dr. Kuri (Mexico) is quite clear that she has never had a part in his work. Not ever. Yet she continues to make the claims. She causes problems non stop over there, they lose members left and right because of her and yet, they don't get rid of her. But that's okay, because the folks they lose come over here. She does LBT a world of service.

A friend of mine went through the same thing and we tried to come up with a reason why she couldn't have bypass. She did fight it and got nowhere. They have their rules and if they don't offer banding they don't offer banding. Hers was TriCare. TriCare will be offering banding in the next year or so from what I hear.

Jeremy in the exercise forum is wayyy cool! I do adore him, and he's OH staff. My subscriptions are all messed up and I was able to speak with the editor of OH today. I told him flat out that OH is for bypass and not banded folks. He agreed and admitted they are trying to change that. I explained I'd believe it when I see it. I told him that if it wasn't for Jeremy I would end my subscription and tell them to buggar off. He understands. I don't care for the forum, but Jeremy in the exercise forum is very cool.

OH sucks donkey peeters. LBT rocks! If you aren't a nurse that agrees with the Lap band RN regular, you are dirt. Period the end. Just don't go over there. My opinion, of course.

YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!! That is it. OMG there is someone else out there with the same problems. You understand. Thank you soooo soooo soooo much! Plz check your PMs. (((HUGS)))

I did break the cycle, the cycle I am all too familiar with! LOL Tried 25mg of IM Dexamethasone x2, did no good. Tried going on clears for three weeks. First bite of soft foods started it all over again. I was able to see under fluoro what happens and as soon as the slightest issue touches my stomach (food/fill) it goes into automatic spasms and starts the entire cycle all over again. Spasms, swelling, closes off completely. Already looked into a larger band, that won't help. What I need to find is a drug that stops spasms. I'm working on various drugs for that now. At the time I have 0cc in my band. Not even saline to fill the tubing. It's started all over again. I'm going to keep trying various drugs and see what happens.

I have very unique band challenges that your typical bandster doesn't have. My stomach goes into spasms and my band closes off to the point that I can't even drink Water. I could take it slower but why? Where is the value? If I am doing things safely and losing quickly, that's my preference. I have absolutely no desire to maintain fat. That does not mean I believe it is wrong for others to lose slowly, I just don't want to. I have the opportunity to lose quickly and that is what I prefer. I will take full advantage of my band for as long as I can keep it. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's my logic.

You have to realize that fat is stored energy. The human body is really not all that good at the way it handles calories. For example, many years ago other cultures considered raising humans (they would win a war and keep the enemy captive) for food sources. They realized that they ate a great deal before they would gain weight. It was farrrr cheaper to use animals for food sources because their bodies are more efficient. Humans just aren't very efficient. We eat a great deal of calories before we gain weight. The same concept holds true for losing weight. By the time we actually have fat stores it takes a great deal of effort to lose fat unlike animals. It *does* take one type of metabolism to lose weight like a furry one, but it takes a totally different metabolism to lose weight as a human. We don't require huge calorie sources if we have fat stores. There comes a point where we are merely maintaining fat cells/stores. It's not a bad thing to lose weight at a snail's pace, but at the same time it isn't a bad thing to lose a little faster. If I don't consume calories I am merely burning fat. At my weight, height, and gender I require about 2000 calories a day just to walk and breathe. For my heart to pump and my body to regenerate cells. I require proper nutrition but that is a far cry from calories. I need nutrition to do things right, I need fat for energy. Big difference in many ways. If I use my calories for sugar, where am I going? Where is the nutrition? The human body does not require refined sugar, it just doesn't. It requires nutrition. If you use up your calories the right way you will burn fat. If you eat all sugar you will become ill. Perhaps the best question here is this, what is the magic number in 800 calories? Why does it *seem* as though anything less will slow your metabolism? If you get the required Protein, Vitamins and minerals in 500 calories, why do you need 800? Assuming you can get the required nutrition in 500 calories, if you consume 800 ... aren't you merely maintaining fat? The reason I am asking you this is because I have come to realize that I always believed whatever I talked myself into believing. I NEED food or I'll be tired. Well, fat is stored energy so what the heck was my point? Or, I NEED food because I'm sick. Protein is what I need, not additional calories. So what is the magic in the number 800?

I agree with everything you have written, but then... I usually do!

I have a 9.75/4cc band, the small one. I asked early on about a bigger band and my surgeon swears that if I had a bigger band I'd never have the restriction necessary. I went to a GI surgeon for a 2nd opinion (he doesn't even know my doc) and he agreed. He said after an endoscopy that the band is placed perfectly and it is the right size. I just need to end the spasms and that should take care of everything.

I'm a nurse who is used to accessing ports so it was a piece of cake to do. Not sure how easy it would be if I didn't have experience doing that. Well, poking a needle in my stomach didn't excite me much but after the needle was in it was easy. "Getting" the needle in... whole different story! HA! Night before last I removed 0.3ml, I could drink Water. By morning it was swollen shut again. Last night I finally removed it all, an additional 1.1cc. I didn't run it by Dr. C (problems) but I did ask him for a quote on removing my band and he said he would get back to me. I never heard back so I have arranged to have my original surgeon do it if that is the route I take. Even with my band unfilled I still have spasms and swelling so I'm not sure how long this is going to last with having nothing in my band. I pretty much live on Protein shakes and honestly, I'm getting sick of it. Twice weekly or so I can do tuna, but that isn't daily. I don't think it will work with an empty band since it hasn't in the past but I'm going to give it another shot.

Each person is different. One doc claims that 70% of bandsters don't need a fill for six months. I'm at four months and I don't need one. Some need them often during weight loss and virtually none while they maintain their weight. Others need hardly any at all. It's unique to each person, nobody is the same.

A fill is how they adjust the band. If you don't have a lot of restriction they inject saline into the port of your (future) band. It causes the bladder of the band to grow tighter around your stomach making the hole between stomachs smaller and food takes longer to drain into your bigger stomach. If you have too much restriction they remove saline, if you don't have enough they inject more in. It's a simple office procedure that takes 5-15 minutes. Not a biggie at all.

I wonder what he was slapped for. There are medical assts. with their own business cards, equipment, etc. doing them. I have their brochures. One does not need to be Inamed certified but it's a nice thing to have. I would dig my eye out with a rusty nail before I'd let a med asst do my fill/unfill. Sad thing is, it does not require a medical license to do fills, one does not have to be Inamed certified. One does not have to claim to have a medical license of any sort to do them. In order to be certified you do have to work for a bariatric surgeon or have a surgeon say they will take over the patient if there is a problem. Those are Inamed's requirements to attend their classes. But it isn't necessary to go to the class to do the fills. As for the chemo nurse, when I went to ER the first time I had problems I never even thought of that! I kicked myself later when that concept dawned on me though.

HA! Mine is a psychiatrist. They don't know anything and everyone knows that. At least, that's what I tell him.

I had never heard of a fill party until I was talking to Inamed about something. He mentioned fill parties and explained the concept. I was pretty shocked. I HAVE done the ER routine, they have no clue what to do. As for the environment... have you ever worked in a hospital? They are so full of virus/bacteria it is unbelievable. There was a study done a few years ago about patients entering an ICU. Within 20 minutes they could measure the effect of the bacteria as the patients were building antibodies within that time frame just from the new stuff they were exposed to. I don't think people should be doing their own fills or unfills unless they know what they are doing. Just my opinion. However, I'm different! LOL!!! I really do know how to access a port and in a pinch, I'll do it on myself. Unfills, anyway. Inamed invited me to their certification class, meaning if I go I would be Inamed certified to do fills but I have little desire to do them on a regular basis. I might be interested in anything they have to teach me but I wouldn't want to do them on a routine basis. Actually, I'm trying to talk Jack into going to the class. I think if a lot of Chiros started doing fills it would be mega fantastic! They know sterile technique, they know microbiology, they can be certified and if we could get chiros certified all over the country we'd have a better selection of fill docs. Don't know if that is something he is interested in doing but I'm trying to talk him into it anyway. (Hope that was okay to say, Jack.)

Wow... that's just wrong! Can you find someone else that is a little more reasonable?