DeLarla

This is a tough one because on one hand we want to lie our way through the psyche exam to pass, but on the other hand it's so important that we realize we can't ever fall back on our old ways. I'm a big binge/purger in the past, but I lied cause I knew it would hold me back. You just have to get some more counseling and convince yourself first, then the counselor that you'll never purge again. But I don't know ANYBODY that purges on purpose after being banded. I think we all do anything in our power to never vomit again. This isn't a toy to play with. Good luck. Keep us posted. And no more purging!

Productive Burp. You can do a search and find all sorts of stories and info about this subject. Mine are from eating too fast. I'll never learn. You start eating then suddenly have an awful scary feeling in your throat/chest. My face gets red, my eyes Water, and I march around the house pounding my chest and trying to swallow. Sometimes you spit up wads of slime, then the offending stuck particle will come up. Once you PB, the pain and discomfort instantly go away.

OOPS, sorry but I totally forgot to address the original issue because I'm in a self-serving mode today... forgive me? My best friend of 25 years had the biggest boobs in school - I'm talking freak-of-nature big. She got loads of attention and dates and refused a reduction till last year. She had day bras and sleeping bras. Wearing the sleeping bras never did anything to help or improve her boobs, it just kept the girls in place so she didn't smother her husband at night. I think the only thing that could help is serious weight-lifting (a trainer could give you exercises that would tone up and maybe minimize your breasts some.) Either that or surgical intervention. I'd love to join you on the surgery table if you want to pass some to me.

Can I sit up front on this boat of non-losing folks? I bow down and worship my band for allowing me to shed almost 70 pounds. But I have 70-90 more to lose and can't give up my bad habits. Gloomy day for me.

Hiya Par, and welcome. I've heard a lot of people talk about their moving ports, so I don't think it's too uncommon. Glad to see you here.

Zoe, I'm right with you. I'm wearing a 42C but have to smoosh the girls & scoop up extra back-fat to fill in the cups. I need a 41B. I'll be your first and best customer!

Eat wet food. I use dipping sauces, veggies, stuff like that. There's no way I could eat dry chicken or bread wihtout food-lube.

Hey, I thought I was the resident drunk here?

My left boob stayed perky but my right one went south-ish. Not attractive.

I never liked Christmas or Easter, but I really love Memorial Day. Makes me think of my late uncles & their war memorial in the center of town near where I was born. Here's to fond memories, to our flag, to our friends, to you. Please be safe this weekend, and share your plans here. I might nag hubby till he caves to drive to California and invade John (Penni won't be there cuz she's in Florida.) Then Monday, one of us Bandsters is coming to Vegas to meet me and play with me! I have a four day weekend... And you? (Waving flag with hand over heart.)

I've taken Elavil before and it knocks me the heck out. I never knew they gave it to animals though. I prefer getting him stoned than to killing the poor guy. I guess you have to believe in the death penalty if you want to put a dog to sleep. I personally could never kill an animal. In your shoes I guess I'd just keep him an outside dog and not let anyone around him. Or cook him up like one of them bunnies with sauce. NO, you know I don't mean that but I don't want you killing the bunnies either!

Stacey, "some" people are back at work in two days, but I personally laugh at that statement because I felt like hell for two whole weeks. Give yourself plenty of time. You shouldn't be taking whole pills right now because that could be horribly painful. Ask your pharmacist if they can be crushed or broken into tiny pieces. A whole pill would have killed me during the recovery period. There were times that I couldn't get enough liquid in, so I would lay down with a sports-bottle and I held it at my lips and let the liquid drip drip drip like an IV into my mouth. Sometimes it took a long time to finish, but it beats going to Urgent Care and having an IV of liquids poked in my arm. I hope you're feeling better soon.

A lot of the band surgeons offer a seminar to discuss the pros and cons of the Band vs. Bypass. Dr. Barry Fisher in Vegas offers them about once a month, so you might try calling your surgeon to see if he knows about a local seminar. If you can't find a seminar, you should be able to find an indepth list of pros & cons on the internet somewhere.

Kelly, they can "detect" erosion in a barium swallow, but you need an endscopy to confirm the diagnosis. You're right, if there's erosion, the barium will flow around the outside of the band instead of through it, which is seen under x-ray. Once the doctor detects it during the barium swallow, he won't give you a fill but instead will schedule the endo. This goes back to the old debate of getting fills with fluro vs. non-fluoro. An occasional non-flouro fill is fine as long as you get your band looked at under x-ray from time to time.

You can call ME any time! Just PM me and I'll give you my number. I mean to collect a list of people from LBT, right here. I've got a whole list of banded friends that I drive nuts when the going gets rough.

I can't imagine that it's a difficult procedure considering so many non-banded people have ports. Many cancer patients have ports to get their chemo for example (according to what I've heard.) I would hope any qualified surgeon could more the port by just calling up the band surgeon for a little chit-chat. I bet your Band guy would be happy to talk to your TT guy.

I don't think any of us will ever know what the true meaning of the real word, "full" means. What do "normal" people feel like when they are full? Does that feeling mean they are busting at the seams, or do they still have room for another meal or snack down there? Hard to say because none of us are (or were in the past) normal. There's no way I could trust my new pouch to tell me when it's full. Even though lots of us have huge issues with my original surgeon, when it comes to Bandster rules, he's still number one in my book. Lopez says to eat for 20 minutes, slowly, chew chew chew, then stop eating. If you are eating slowly, then you get the right amount of food in within those 20 minutes. Does that leave me feeling satisfied? Well, it takes away the kinda grindy feeling of starving or being really hungry. And if I walk away and think about it, my body (stomach/pouch) will honestly feel like there's enough in there, and my energey level is left high. The whole "golfball" thing is where my restriction is. Once I get that tight feeling in my throat, I know it's time to stop. No, that's not how a normal person feels like they are full, but that's how I've learned to stop eating with the band. The reason I'm here right now is because I got the golfball, and I know I've got plenty of food in my tight band, but my head wants more. Belly is good, head is screwed up, so I come to LBT and write long babbling posts. Sorry, but at least I'm not eating right now!

It's kind of like catching a wave. It's hard to jump on one, but once you got it, ride it all the way home! I keep waiting for that wave to pass so I can jump on. It's like everything has to be perfect: It has to be past my PMS time of the month, it can't be around a holiday, my frame of mind has to be in the right place, then whammo, I'm on board and riding the band-food-friendly train. If you have one day down, tomorrow will be that much easier. Maybe I'll be ready to join you soon. I hope so!

Sometimes posts on LBT make me happy, other times they make me sad. I'm sad to hear you didn't have the willpower, but I completely understand. As they say in Overeater's Anonymous, "food is cunning, baffling, powerful." Food rules my world, which is the reason I got the band. Make sure to be honest with your surgeon. I had the same fear that my doc wouldn't operate on me since I was supposed to follow a low-fat diet for one week prior to surgery. I only did good on 1/2 the days, but I had a couple regular binge episodes. I almost cried when I had to confess to him that I couldn't even stick with one week's dieting, but he was very comforting and just said, "don't worry, this new Band is going to help you." So he operated anyway. The way I understand it is that any experience doctor should be able to handle a larger liver. Sure, it makes the procedure easier if your liver is smaller, but a good doc shouldn't have a problem. My surgeon told me it just makes the procedure easier, but a good surgeon shouldn't be afraid of a big liver. Start building a list of phone numbers. Next time you feeling like you can't control yourself, lock yourself in a room with the phone.

I'm not ignoring you, I'm just in the same boat. Carb junkie all the way. I did quit sugar for almost two years once, but that was a long, long time ago. If I could just make it through one little day....

I've heard a lot of fill doctors that take out an amount different than what you thought was in there. My last guy said the first doctor simply measured wrong. I think it's fab that you got a great, affordable fill. Just promise us you'll have fluoro every so often so they can keep an eye on your band. I have several friends that didn't even know they had erosion, and the first signs were seen on fluoro. So while no-flouro fills are great, it's good-band-maintenance to take a LQQK-see from time to time. How's that new fill feeling? Good restriction?

Lots of us eat Jerkey as long as you chew like mad. But I always spit out the grizzle. Don't swallow anything that hasn't turned to mush.

I haven't been home for years, but I'm a Bergen County gal myself. If you are truly afraid, is it because you have a bad gut feeling? If your instincts are telling you to run and hide, then I think you should reschedule your surgery for another date because maybe the stars or the moon or whatever force you believe in is sending a message not to have it done on that particular day. Even if you only postpone it for one week, that might give you some relief. However, if it's just regular jitters, don't be afraid, be exicited. Everyone's gonna be here waiting for you & cheering you on. Good luck.

THEY are cheating. Relying on Atkins or Jenny Craig or the Onion Diet, that's all cheating. Why can't they lose weight on their own? Huh? They are so weak that they have to purchase other people's ideas and diets? People will try to screw with you out of jeaousy and fear that you'll succeed. I have no respect for people that can't appreciate what it's like to walk in our triple-wide shoes and think they know better. Give them my name and number so I can shove their hipocricy down their throats.

Ask them who you're cheating. Are you taking something away from someone it doesn't belong to? Are you cheating the multi billion dollar diet industry by no longer purchasing their scams? This confuses me. How is it cheating? Because if someone goes on Atkins, they are cheating the poor little carbos who had been sustaining them for years. Weight Watchers cheats any company that Supersizes their meals. Simply cutting back portions cheats the entire food industry because you don't buy or use so much food. Next time anyone says the band is cheating, laugh in their hypocritical faces.