the best me

Girl, get you some Prilosec OTC. Take it twice a day. Crush it if you have to. Drink it with Aloe Vera juice if you can get it. What do you have to lose? Try it. Do it faithfully for a week. Do not make yourself miserable waitng on a doctor who might think you are making stuff up. Just do it. You don't need a barium swallow to do this. You don't need an Upper GI or an Endoscope. It won't hurt you, it will reduce the production of gastric juices, that's all it does. Wash the pill through very well to keep yourself from becoming worried about something else. Try it. If after a week you have no improvement, whine all you want to and get a second opinion from another doc. Prilosec!

PB stands for Productive Burp. It's when you eat something too fast or not well chewed and it can't get past the band, your body will force it up. Kind of like a vomit but without all the gastric juices...just food and lots of saliva that your body produces when something gets stuck (this overdose of saliva production is also known as "sliming" in the band world). Hope that helps. Don't ever feel lost around here!!!

I have heard of sliced turkey pureed with a bit of yogurt...ask Jack about this one, he seems to have the tasty recipes for pureed meats. I like the canned meats (like the Roast Beef) because they are creamy enough you don't have to blend them. If you take small enough bites and liquify before swallowing, it could be good. BUT, they are SOOOO full of sodium. I had it in the cupboard but really just lived without meats until later. Got my protien from shakes. Good luck!

I want Wynonna to get banded. She's been on Oprah struggling like a poor ole beat dog trying to get her weight off. I hate it, because you feel like such a failure, like something inside you is terribly wrong. I really hate it for her. Go get banded WY! I know you love to eat, girl! This is IT! I'll bet Oprah got ballooned, no scars, temporary, got the wieght off and started working with Bob Greene again to get toned up. She DOES look great, though. Sarah, be careful out there on the WorldWideWeb!! Keep it online, okay?

ROTFLMAO!!!!!

See? Yer so cool. And we have been misspelling etymology. sigh. Sorry Gaynor, I'm glad you had fun at the Green Day Concert. Good Father/Son time. I won't talk about etymologies anymore, promise!! And congrats on your 47lb wieght loss!

Creepy!! So is this guy now in some type of 10-step recovery program, and he's on the step where you have to go and apologize to the people you have hurt? Why after all this time must he confess? Will you continue to talk to him? I know a guy named Anthony...

Crystal! I told you it takes major narcotics for you to think like me!! LOL! In my defense, he did type 471B (that's 47, the number 1, the capital letter . Admit it, it's a little confusing when usually pound is abbreviated to lb. However, I should have caught it...yep, 47 pounds makes sense to the normal person...pass the Percocet! What's the etimology of the word "etimology?" Is there some book or dictionary or, better yet, a web address where you can find word etimologies? OMG college was a long time ago, and I was an English Minor (shame and embarrassment)

hmmm, SPJones "says" she's from the Durham NC area. This IS the internet, so one never really knows...I mean, is my REAL name really Kathy? I always wonder who is really out there. If I were famous, this is the FIRST place I would come to for anonymous support. Of course, if I were Starr Jones, I doubt I'd make my screen name SPJones...

Happy Birthday to two GREAT ladies! Hope your celebrations have been happy! Birthday hugs to both of you! ((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))

hehe, you are so funny. I do feel normal most of the time while eating. It does get frustrating not being able to shove when I want to, but isn't this why I did this? Sloooow down, Nellie. Iced tea on an empty somach should not be an issue. The 2 chocolates you could live without, but still shouldn't be a big issue even after a meal. Welcome to "properly restricted" and congratulations. Puleeze enjoy this, because it was fleeting for me and now I'm begging for it with a fill. I worked so hard to get past this restricted time post-banding, just so I could feel normal again. Pushing and testing my band. Don't fret, take advantage of the restriction, because you WILL be less restricted in the future as you lose some more weight. Don't eat to Uncomfortable. Get full and stop and don't worry about it! You are banded! Lose weight! This is what it's supposed to be like!!! Relax, go with the flow, eat less, you will not shrivel up and blow away. (((hugs)))

Cool, Gaynor! Okay, translate for us American-type folks who still measure in pounds and not whatever metric is appropriate. What's 471B?

Oh DeLarla! Is this your new blonde "Hair Do"? Yes, puleeze crop and post!! I wanna see a close up! It's looking just gorgeous from here so far! Yer so purty!

Whoa! Now, that's deep. You could never lose another pound and if you get THAT lesson, you are doing well, my friend. I will listen and learn, oh great teacher...

The NY Times article revisited. sigh. Nothing new, no scoop on Starr (who I guess I hadn't seen in a while because her weight loss surprised me! She's lost alot!!) The only real Lap Band comment the gal got in was that you can gain the weight back because the pouch stretches...huh? Granted, she didn't get much of a chance to explain but you are MUCH more likely to gain wieght by eating around the band and not following the bandster eating rules (no Water, protiens first, etc) than by having a stretched out pouch. I'm a bit dissapointed.

Megan, great reply! You are so smart! Thanks for the reminder. I needed that! Melissa, I think the saline squirting everywhere was more likely coming from leftover saline in the syringe that wasn't going into the band anyway. SURELY that wouldn't effect your restrction? Anyhow, hope that fill kicks in and you get the restriction you need. BTW, Ann, if you can get through a hysterectomy, I'd say the band recovery will be a breeze. I have had 2 C-sections, and I don't know how those compare to a hysterectomy, but the Band recovery was SOOO much easier! I was walking around the day of surgery, although very slowly, and the next day I was be-bopping through the airport in a leftover anestesia fog. Rode the plane for 5 hours. I was sore, but it was very bearable. Recovery from banding was much quicker then the C-sects, as you could imagine! Anyway, like Alex said, if you know how you will react to the anesthesia, you are ahead of the game.

1.9 sounds about right on a first fill...I'm assuming you have a 4cc capacity band, yes? Do a Search on "fills" or "kicking in" because I hear of people saying a fil will kick in a few weeks later, sometimes. So don't rush back just yet, just let it settle and see what happens. Keep us posted!

Hey Dixie, the word "stoma" refers to the area of stomach that passes through the band. It's the tightened part with the smaller hole where the food passes through. Hopefully very slowly. Hope that helps! Wow lins, that's cool! Glad you got relief!! It's so nice to be able to help someone...just paying it forward! You do the same! Wahooo for you, too!!

I always hate posting after Jack. He's so eloquent and I'm so, whatever, rambling and non-sensical, freeforming, like Crystal on Percocet! except I'm like this every day! You are such an inspiration, and I understand your concern about losing more and changing TOO much, dealing with the sags and wrinkles associated with weight loss AND aging. It's tempting to stop here and be happy. You DO look awesome! On the other hand, 50 pounds overweight is a good little bit. Had you not lost the 120 already, your doc would be admonishing you to diet and exercise and get that extra weight off for your good health as you age. You have a band. Why stop? Okay, so take a break and don't nickle and dime yourself on food, maintain for a month or two. Get some perspective. You know better than any of us that next week and next month is NOT the big picture. Plus, you are currently 218? I was 223 on band day. Oh, yes, you CAN keep going. Let's all go together! wahooo!!!

Good luck! I'm anxious to hear how it goes! I think it's great you can "start fresh" like this with no fill. I'll bet you won't need your old amount to get good restriction, but it will be interesting to find out. Have a great trip!

Thanks Alex. ("Media whores" hehe. Girl, we need to get YOU on The View! Guess we'd have a hard time talking you into getting an agent. You are SEXY, too!)

Maybe it's just the mind game I'm playing with myself, but I keep thinking it's a good thing to get my metabolism adjusted to maintaining my new weight. Just for a while until I hit another drop. I lost 15 lbs the first 12 days and have been toying up and down with another 2 pound loss. BUT, amazingly, this morning, I checked the scale and had hit a new low, 205.2. Huh? I had seen for a day 205.8, so this was news! Anyhow, I was banded 11 weeks ago and I'm eating like a champ and I'm NOT gaining the weight back. I try to keep my chin up and take it as good news that my body has officially adjusted and is able to maintain this small weight loss. However, I simply cannot wait until July 6th when I go for my first fill. I have had enough of eating and maintaining. It's time now to cut back and be a LOSER! Good luck, we'll get there!!!

JS, do you get the solutabs OTC? I only see the 24-hour kind at the drug store. I'd love to have that handy!!

Blue Bunny Turtles and Cream for dinner, followed by Trail Mix for dessert. Hello!!! Well, I did have a salad with grilled chicken for lunch. Next paycheck, I'm getting The Rules for Normal Eating. I know it's only 10 bucks but there is free shipping on orders over 25 and I need to purchase the Little House on the Prairie set for my daughter. If I wait and get the two together I will get free shipping. Can I free flow type for a bit longer? Sorry. I ate ice cream for dinner...

YES! I have had my share of temporary issues. All of which seem to be related to being quite restricted after banding. Once the swelling went down (after about week 2) I had good restriction and was able to experiment with different foods and as I moved to solids I had a bit of a bout with self-diagnosed esophogitis. I had burning in my esophogus all the time. I had reflux and it irritated my esophogus...I'd have to look back at old posts to see which week this was...I'll post a link when I finish this reply...but I treated it with Prilosec twice a day. I started out crushing it (post-banding) and by the time the espohogitis was an issue I was able to swallow the pill whole and wash it through with about 4-5 ounces of Aloe Vera juice. I bought the Aloe Vera juice at Wal Mart, but you could get it online, for sure, if you can't find it locally. I used the Prilosec OTC which says once a day and it's sustained release. I ignored this and took it twice a day and crushed it. It worked great. Seems like all that trouble was ages ago, when in fact it was probably just weeks ago! I haven't had any trouble with the band itself, just the swelling and irritation it has caused. All is fine now and I have scheduled my first fill. I was banded 3 weeks before you were. Hope that helps. Ask away, I'll tell you everything I know. Lemme go find my esophogitis link... Here's the thread...go read, you may get some really good info! http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=6713&highlight=Esophogitis