morningoasis811

Hi Everyone, it's been a while since I've been back here and active since I made this post a while back. I have continued to go to OA meetings at least once a week, I have only told a few friends in OA about the suregery and I mentioned it once in a share. After the share I received warm hugs and support. I too had been feeling like I was keeping this huge secret or not being completely honest. But I've been in OA for 5 years now and I know discussing in depth is definitly an outside issue. Where I was really struggling was people in OA seeing me lose weight (120lbs in the last 1.5 years) and from my shares they know i'm not abstinent. I feel guilty about this. I had success in OA with a 90 lb weight loss over 2 years working with a sponsor and it was amazing, I truly lived the miricle of this program. I'm really gun shy and had been using my band as an excuse for not getting a sponsor and working the steps. My first sponsor basically let me go for two reasons, 1) she did not have experience with relapse and encouraged me to find someone and 2) she was shockingly opinionated about WLS and basically told me I was going to die and it was rediculous to consider it because of the dangers and it goes against oa. So in the back of my head i'm thinking that no one will be supportive and I was scared to look for a sponsor who would work with me and accept my band decision. I am a raving food addict. I feel that since i've reached 160 which is only 10 lbs away from my goal, I have lost my mind. I can't stop eating. It's like everything i've worked on for the past 1.5 yrs is out the window. I'm eating way too much sugar. I'm grazing during the day. I haven't been gaining weight but my disease is getting a sick high off of getting away with getting around the band. I feel really fucked up right now. Everyone looks at me like i'm so awesome now and i've conquered my problems, i'm so thin.... they don't understand i've only conquered the fat. I still really suffer inside. I have a sponsor now, she knows about my band but really doesn't understand. I'm still not certain she'll fully accept me. we'll see how it goes. I'm also searching for a Therapist who is knowledgable in the 12 steps and who has worked with wls patients. I know I need the help. I'm trying to work one day at a time to find the strength and willingness to ask my HP to help lift me out of the obsession so I can stop abusing my self with food. I've come too far. I don't trust myself right now. I know OA is the answer for me. It is the ONLY thing that ever worked for me in the past. I'm just not working it. I wish I had the spirit of a new comer, it seemed so much easier then. Now I feel like I should know better and beat myself up for not "getting it".

I started to experience hair loss at it's worse around 3-6 months post op. I already had Thin hair, all over my head. But it was really starting to thin out, like my bangs, and the sides above my ears. My pony tail looks like a 5 year old little girls. Hair is kind of a big thing for me and I had some mild "body/identity" issues with it. I was hitting my protien mark every day. Excercising, losing weight consistantly. I started reading on these boards. I started taking Biotin and Folic Acid. I cut my hair a little shorter than normal because you could tell my ends were thin and straggly looking. It's growing back in now, I have about 4 inches of new growth and it's thickening back up. For me I think it was just a shock to my system with the rapid weight loss. My dr. said it can be a normal side effect, every body is different. I continue all my Vitamins and biotin daily.

Oh I'm going to go check out that Lipo in Box right now online! I've been wearing tummy slimmers for years (since i hit my top weight.) I wear the high top panties that go up to your bra. Where most women have the "apron" I have the opposite. My lower belly below my waist is normal and chubby but smoothes out nicely under jeans and was never a concerns. between my boobs and waist I feel like I have another rack of tits. It permanently looked like my fat belly was spilling over my pants all the time. I still wear them now to smooth things out after losing 100+ pounds, but looking for something better than I pick up at Target. -Leena - I experience the chubby mons! my lower belly is all flat and saggy now, and my mons is chubby and swollen looking. I actually wondered once if I could get that lipoed or do a mons/labia tuck... I've had droopy boobs since i got boobs at age 8. Totally got jipped on the perky tits. On topic of the pencil test... in my younger more shameful years while I was up at 280+, I demonstrated to my friends that I could hold a full 2 liter of soda under each breast. There is a picture somewhere I may have burned already. Now my boobs are flat, like without a bra, i look flat chested until you see the boobs sitting on my tummy. I'm 28, no breastfeeding yet. This is not self depricating at all, I'm always pretty light hearted about body issues. I look bad ass all tucked into my tummy slimmer and bra so I dont' worry too much. Getting thin didn't look like I thought it would naked. But even though i'm saggy, I totally love my whole body more than ever. It reminds me where I've been, and being fat made me who I am, i'm just getting better now. (sorry this got so long, i've been up with reflux all night and just got a second wind)

I have been up since 2am (it's 7am now) with the worst reflux of my life. It's been going straight now for a week. I already take 20mg of Aciphex twice a day (that seems to have been working). Last weekend I added 150mg zantac 2 x's a day. And if anything it's just gotten worse and is now 24 hours a day for the last 4 days. I've been sleeping sitting up... when I can sleep. Right now I have terrible burning, lump in my throat, reflux during the day, worse at night. F@#$k why didn't I call the Dr. earlier this week. I thought I could manage this! So at 6am in misery I called my hospital, they page a dr. who calls me back within 5 min. He just tells me that I need to call the surgery clinic first thing monday and make an appointment. MONDAY!!! I asked what to do in the mean time, he said it sounds like you're doing it all already. Just wait. After he hung up I started balling (i'm delirously tierd and am in so much pain.) -Gall bladder removed at age 23 -Lab band surgery at age 27 -I had heartburn(no reflux), ulcers, gerd, gastritous and a hiatal hernia before suregery. -Since surgery it calmed way down. I went down to just taking 1 aciphex a day and sometimes could skip a few. -I had 2 unfills over the summer (because some reflux started up, spitting up and choking on acid burning my throat). I felt 100% after the unfills. I hit a weight plataue at 170 from Aug till Dec. Reflux was fine. -Now since xmas eve I have been miserable!!! I've started losing weight again, but I think it's because i'm eating so much less because i'm in so much pain. In two weeks I've lost 8 pounds. -I know I was overeating during december and having too much sugar. I go to Overeaters Anonymous and treat my food addiction. I'm not binge eating anymore, just test my limits sometimes. I'm all about following the rules and my surgeon says i'm his star patient, never had a lap band patient lose 100lbs before. I'm doing something right. But this december I got a little loose. Was it the overeating that caused it? Why all of sudden am I having reflux from HELL? Guess I just need an ufill. I can't imagine having to wait till Wednesday (his clinic day) to get an unfill. Any suggestions, I'm totally open? and miserable...

Hi, Does anyone know if the small stomach pouch above the band can or will stretch out like people with the gastric bypass? One of the reasons I chose the band was because it was adjustable. I know a few people with the bypass who have stretched out their pouches and can now eat as much as they did before. Any insight on this?

OMG, I have been "Stuck" for over an hour now. For lunch at 12:30 I had two bites of salad with deli ham and ranch, and one bite of my bean Soup. I chewed and swallowed, and I've been stuck since them. I'm at work and miserable right now. I feel like I've been on the verge of barfing for an hour. My mouth is slimming and i'm PB'ing:drool:, i've been spitting into a cup at my desk since I got back from lunch. I havne't had a stuck like this since I got a fill almost a month ago... i've been fine the last two weeks back on normal food. I've been trying to sip a little milk to see if it will help and it doesn't. I don't know what to do. It usually only lasts about 30 min max when it does happen... this is getting rediculous! I can't leave work because I have an appointment on this side of town that I can't miss after work and we don't have a place to go lie down or anything. I'm just at my desk trying to get by and not make gross noises.:biggrin: Any suggestions????

:confused:I'm going to go to the break room and whip up some hot tea... we shall see. thanks for the suggestion. I'm just torn between leaving it be or thinking that sipping or eating or drinking something else will fix it you know...

I smoke a few days a week and have lost 72 pounds since my band on 10/25. Munchies are an issue, however I just try to keep it under control. sometimes I find that when I smoke, my band tightens so I end up eating less. The coughing hasn't bothered me at all. I did wait a month post op to resume. I used to be a big beer drinker and now I don't drink at all (like we're told) so I smoke when people drink and I smoke to smoke because I want to. I lead a normal professional life and am losing weight like I should. My Surgeon says I'm his BEST band patient!!!!

In the Pink ones I'm 274ish, in the red & dress i'm 188 (86 pounds difference)

I was banded on 10/25/07. You can see my fill schedule below in my signature. I had some restriction with no fill. I could eat up to about a cup of food at a time, but I was getting hungry after 2-3 hours. After my first fill of 1cc, I had better restriction and was eating about 1/2-3/4 c per sitting. No side effects of PB's or stuck feelings. did good the first month with a fill. then at my next appointment I didn't get one in Feb and my weight loss plataued. In March I got another 2cc's putting me at 3 total now. That fill I could REALLY tell the difference. I got the stuck feeling (horrible), drinking Water got harder and so did taking pills. After almost two months with this fill though I think i'm doing pretty good with almost 10lbs p month average. It's slowing down now though, so we will see. I think I could use maybe another .5 to get to a true sweet spot. I'm happy to see a 4cc band thread. This is great. I can really relate! Thank you all for sharing. Emily~

On Saturday morning I hit 199.0 lbs on the scale! OMG!!!! I did a happy dance and took a picture of my toes on the scale next to that glorious number. I'm at 75 pounds lost now since my pre-op diet began in Sep 2007 and 56 pounds down since surgery! I am just so happy to see a "1" in front of my weight! This is huge for me. I weigh less now than I did at my wedding in 2006!!! I love my band! Thanks for all the support here. Emily~

I have some weird mental stuff around being under 200 pounds. Here I sit 2 weeks later and I'm only down to 197:blushing:. So about a pound a week I guess... so at least i'm still losing. The last time I lost weight I only got down to like 191. I have faith that the band is my ticket (tool) to help me get under that threshold. I know I can do it. It may take more time but it will happen. I'm going to start tracking my food again each day and add some strength to my cardio excercise routine. I'll need to kick it up a notch and not just keep doing what I've been doing.:wink2: Thanks to everyone for all the support. And good luck to everyone else! we can meet our goals together.:confused:

Thanks!!! I'm going to post the picture soon. I'm just so damn excited!

I'm 5'4", and for my height based on BMI range I think I’m supposed to be between 117-146 or something like that? My doctor wants me at 130, but most importantly under a BMI of 25 (then i'm not considered Overweight any more). I'm going more for a pant size for myself I guess... I have no idea what I'll look at a certain weight. The only time I've been under 190 was in jr high and high school. I think I was in 8th grade when I weighed 140 and was a size 9? Goal: BMI 24, 140 lbs, size 6/8 , 36 or 34 around and no smaller than a D Now: BMI 34, 199 lbs, size 14/16, 38DDD Start: BMI 47, 274 lbs, size 22/24, 44DDD

How am I doing? Freaking awesome! I got down to 199 on Saturday! I'm in ONEderland baby! 75 lost and only 69 to go. I'm over the half way point!!! I have my 6 month Post Op appointment this week on Wednesday! I can't wait to see my surgeon. Since my last fill in March (6 weeks ago) I've lost like 20 pounds! I was stuck at 221 for nearly a month before this last fill. I think i'm at my sweet spot and I've kicked up my excercise! I've also started going to OA meetings again. I want to make sure this weight never comes back on like it has in the past! The Band has been a great tool for me! I love it. Just wanted to share with my fellow 10/07 bandsters!