the best me

Hey, congrats! May 9 is a GREAT day to be banded. It's my birthday!!! I didn't get complicated on the post-op protien drinks. I got Boost. Yay me. Okay, so I DID get the High Protien version. Stock up on your chicken broth, popsicles, Jello (great to sip while still warm and liquidy, surprisingly yummy) and, let's see...gosh, it's been so long! Anyhow, WTG on your date! wahoooo!

Oy, Paula, I wonder if the laser treatments are worsening the rosacea? That's kind of a catch-22...it seems like laser treatments would be hard on the skin, especially if you really DO have rosacea and your skin is sensitive. I'd say the oral antibiotics would be helpful. Doxycycline or tetracycline are the ones most used, I think. Paula use the Metrocream regularly for a good little bit and see if it gets better. I'm sure you have a good moisturizer, but I'd try putting the Metrocream on clean dry skin at bedtime, then topping it with your moisturizer or that olive oil...although, I have to admit, I was laying in bed last night and remembered the olive oil and thought about the side of my face on my pillow....ewwww. I'm sure it sinks in, though. I really will try it! I'll be the guinea pig! Diva, I use artificial tears for my dry eyes and it helps alot. It's no problem, I'm just using them morning and night now, and occasionally during the day. So it's an issue, but if the best thing OTC is artificial tears, I'm set. I'd rather not go to the Restasis if I can avoid it. $$$$ LOL

No coconut diet for me...but I still wanna say "Heeeeyyyy!!!!!!!! :wave:

Okay P'nut. You, little miss bubbly ray of sunshine, bitchy?! Dont' make me laugh. LOL ((((hugs))) anyway. Come back, sweet P'nut! I know you are in there!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing silly about that! Welcome to Twonesia! Onederland is next! It's so wierd to see a "2" first when you are used to a "3". I'm still not used to seeing a "1" first instead of a "2" but it feels so good!!! Now start looking for a "2-8" something...pound by pound...here you go!!!!! Congrats!

Excellent. You are on the right track! Yay Trish! When do you see the wound specialist? You are ON the prayer list, girl!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep pressing forward!

Okay, I found your other thread with the pic and replied. You may want to put this same info...6wks post-op...etc on the other thread so others will know. Someone will fix that pic for you soon, I'm sure. See you over there. Call your doc!

Someone help with pic fixing! LOL Okay, it's very red, a bit swollen in that one area...yes, you need to see your doc. When were you banded? Have you had a fill? I'm not crazy about the looks of that. You incision is closed, but it looks as if something is "boiling" beneath the skin there. hmmmm. I want to see the pic from "not so close" and I don't know about sizing pics, so I'll look again when someone resizes for you. Anyhow...yep, call your doc.

Thanks Diva. I have been having dry eyes lately (months) and it never occured to me it might be related to my rosacea? hmmmm. Maybe I won't be giving up my Metrogel? But I must be eating something or exposed to something not helping my dry eyes. Interesting. I'll give that some serious consideration for the next few weeks...see what I can find that might be making the dry eyes worse? Thanks for the tip!

Hang on Dee. Many women have the VG band, which holds 10cc of saline, if I'm correct. Sometimes it just takes more fills to get the right restriction. It SHOULD have more to do with your anatomy, and not the amount of weight you need to lose. Some folks just need the larger band to fit around that stomach muscle. So, now what? Now you work with what you've got and make the best of it. I think you did the right thing getting an Inamed band. Nothing wrong with the Swedish, but, like you said, the after-care issue. Do you have a local doc for fills? How many fills have you had? What's your fill level? How's your eating? What's up with your esophogus? I know, lots of questions...but if you want to make a go of it, you have come to the right place for help. Your larger band will STILL help you to lose weight. I'd also like to know who your doc is, so I'll go ahead and ask.

Oh I can't WAIT for pics...you are so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rockon:

Cool! I'm trying it tonight! Olive Oil. My Metrogel RX is $45! It's great...works wonders for me...but olive oil is sooo much more affordable. I'm giving it a shot! Thanks, Terri!

Trish, I'm worried about you. Please don't give up on the second opinion. Do what it takes. Take care of your band. I'm so sorry this is such a hardship. Please hurry and get this taken care of. We are rooting for you!!! (((hugs))))

Aaaahhhhh! I'l breath a sigh of relief with you! Glad you got THAT taken care of! Too tight stinks!

Get thee to your band doc. Port infections are not funny. Do you have pus or oozing? Is it hot to the touch? If so, don't waste another minute. It isn't normal to have an infected port. And it isn't good. Can you post a pic?

Hey Janice. Welcome to LBT! Sit back and make yourself at home. Lots of info for the taking! I was banded in MX. Who is your doc? Read up! Be prepared! Be full of info! Ask lots of questions! Now, go get 'em, tiger!!!!

Don't drink the gel...it's topical, or were you joking and I missed it? The gel is great for anything on the skin. I'd give my 3yo the juice if he'd drink it! LOL As for how long it lasts...I'm not sure. I looked for something on the bottle that said how long after opening?...nothing. So I figure I'm on my 4th gallon since July? That's about 2 1/2 months per gallon? Who knows, but I haven't thrown any of it out! Anyone else know? We always had an aloe vera plant growing up. Cuts, scrapes, burns, sunburns...anything and everything got aloe vera plant gel on it. Then they started bottling it for sunburns which was super handy. I have an aloe vera plant in my own home now.

I agree about the shakes! Switch to a bar, or do some sliced turkey breast. For breakfast, you could do 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 bar. Your portions look great. Shake up the menu a bit. I also agree about your body recalibrating. Yup. You know what you are doing! Oh, the hot tea...all great ideas! I love LBT!

Milk of Magnesia. Yummy. And/or glycerin suppositories. Not very glamorous but very handy and effective. Good luck. You aren't the first to have this problem

BOTH! You have restriction and first-bite syndrome, sounds like to me. Now you know I'm going to recommend aloe vera juice at bedtime, just to soothe a banded tummy that has been working overtime. I think the lower part of the stomach is not used to being occasionally empty (mine still isn't!) and when you put some food in there it wakes up and starts moving again, says WOW and gets to work. All that movement above and below the band makes lots of noises. Look for the "First-Bite Syndrome" thread I have been seeing and get some ideas about how to deal (if you haven't already) but I'd say cut your first few bites in half. Smaller and slower till your tummy wakes up and gets efficient. My only concern for you is to very carefully avoid doing anything to cause swelling in the band area or you will need a small unfill. Be a super careful eater till you drop some more pounds and loosen up "naturally". What quantities of food are you able to eat? Is it good bandster portions? Or do you have to stop after just a few bites? You should be able to (fairly comfortably) get down resonable amounts of calories of real food. Don't go too low on calories or you'll stop losing. Too tight is not a good way to live. You are doing a good job paying attention to your body's cues with your band. At some point, you will need to begin to shift gears and pay attention to the "head" cues too. They are just as important for long-term weight loss, and for maintaining your loss. You are doing great, Wheetsin! What a good bandster you are!!!!!

Yes, it helped me with acid trouble. At about 8+ weeks post-op with no fill, I was having a burning throat, thought it might be esophogitis related to reflux...seems like it was and once I started drinking the aloe vera juice it improved lots. Cool, ladies! It's a great find. It's cheaper by the gallon but it doesn't come flavored by the gallon, so I suck it up and go cheap. OH! I should add to refrigerate after opening. It says so on the bottle but it's always good to remind folks. I'll add that to the post above.

Thanks for the bump, 3loves! Okay, I'm not a doc, nurse, dietician, anything medical. I'm a bandster and Kelly(Dylansmom) mentioned AloeVera juice one day because she sells Watkins products and they have an aloe vera juice. So I looked into it and have been drinking it ever since. Paula also spoke with a health food store person who said "it isn't how much you drink, it's how regularly you drink it" which is advice I have heeded over the last year. So, I'm just a bandster who likes and uses aloe vera juice and I think it's a great bandster product because it's soothing and healing. For post-op swelling, I'd say drink it by the ounce 3 times a day. If you can drink 3-4 ounces in 10 minutes, you probably aren't very swollen and can back off a bit. For PB recoveries, reflux, burning esophogus, or any bandster problems, drink 2-4 ounces 2-3 times a day, or just drink 3-4 ounces a bedtime (or after you are done eating/drinking for the day) for a few nights to soothe and heal. Any time I have any throat or band issues, I'll drink it at bedtime for a few nights. Then I won't have any for weeks. So it isn't something I drink every day. I use it to treat, not prevent. However, it is good bandster practice to rinse out your pouch at bedtime, just to make sure all the food is gone. Aloe Vera juice is perfect for that, IMO. I buy mine a Wal-Mart. It's by Fruit of the Earth. It comes in a smaller quart container with berry flavoring, which I'll bet is good. I get the unflavored in the gallon and keep it in the fridge in the garage. I take my little glass out there at bedtime and pour me a shot...yummmmm (haha) It's an acquired taste. Not great, but drinkable and beneficial. And be sure to refigerate after opening. In case you didn't catch that. Plus, it's better cold. :eekB: That's it. That's what I do and what I would recommend. I won't ever be without aloe vera juice. Your mileage may vary! Thanks Cashley. I haven't cleared out my PM box and I ought to go and check to see just how many PMs I have about aloe vera and egg drop Soup. LOL Many many, to be sure! Happy aloe vera drinking, everyone!

I wear very little make-up. If I need it, I'll put the Metrogel on first in the morning. Then add moisturizer w/ SS. Then I'll apply a loose powder with a make-up sponge and that helps even out my skin tone. Then eye liner, maybe a little blusher, lip balm. That's it. Yes, I could be fancier, but that's enough for me! Without taking care of my skin, it looks like I have a mask on...like the top layer is thick and not smooth. It's wierd. So I buckle down on my skin care routine, drink my Water, get extra rest, and it really improves in a day. I still have some of the broken blood vessels, but they are light under my skin...which seems a bit transluscent? Really, I have gotten so used to taking care of it I guess I forget how bad it can get. I have more trouble with my chin than anything. I get real acne there. My advice: go for clean skin, moisturized, and NO products that irritate. If you can, go make-up free for a few days to give your skin a breather? Give it time. Research rosascea so you can find out your triggers (foods and products) that can irritate. Tomatos are a big one for many folks. I eat them, but really don't avoid much since it's pretty well under control now. I'll see you this summer, right? You can see my skin in real life then. It's not great, but it's smooth now, without the bubbly look. That's good. I also saw my sun-kissed cousins this weekend, and their skin has aged more than mine. We are all around 40 years old, and my skin, carefully kept out of the sun for years and years now, has aged better than theirs. They look great, but have more lines and wrinkles than I do. That was encouraging for me to go with the pasty-white look over the tanned look. LOL Treat you skin like it's super-sensitive. Go as non-irritating as possible. Drink your water. It can and will improve!

Cashley, I'm here but I keep losing this thread and get distracted and now, it's bedtime again! Up that to about 3-4 ounces at bedtime and you'll be golden. I'll post a more comprehensive opinion tomorrow. but for now, I have bumped this and will be able to post in the morning. Night all!

Right. Vinesqueen and I had a discussion and came up with some terminology. Soft Foods Syndrome is eating soft foods all the time so you can shovel more in. You are NOT making good use of your band doing this. Soft Foods Technique is eating yogurt at work so you don't cause problems when you get busy. Plus, yogurt is a perfectly respecatable band-friendly healthy food choice. Youknow what you are eating and why. If you think you might be using the Syndrome and not the technique, change your food choices before you try a fill. Hey Kim! You are excused on missing the 1-year. I did a thread, but I'll be updating with a recent pic if I can find a good one from this weekend's "outing" to Virginia for a cousin's wedding. I hope there's a good'un in the batch! No regrets, not a one! Wish I had lost more by now, but I'm good. No endo scheduled yet. My next fill will be under flouro, and I'll go from there. I'll go to MX for the endo. Just need to get there. I'd like to have that done by 18 months, which will be in October. Oy vey. That needs to go on my list of things to do NOW! or I'll put it off. Especially if I continue to go symptoms-free. I know that's no guarantee...I'll be a good bandster, I promise! Hey, Kim, who does Dr V refer tummy tucks to? I need a PS who knows what to do with my port and knows bands. Any leads? 15 more pounds and I'm looking into it! My list is growing. Here's what I need money for new transmission for my van OR new(used) van tummy tuck endoscope fill under flouro braces for my teeth/invisiline? vein treatments for my legs pay off Band. Anyone got extra cash laying around? I think I need a job! haha!