abby1

I feel hungry a great deal of the time and I eat, trying for lo cal. I think about food or eating more and more. When can I eat again and I hungry, etc. I sometime wake up in the middle of the night and have a cookie. These are urges that have come back and I am not handling them well.

I am feeling very frustrated. I got to within 20 pounds of my goal, then had several surgeries and broke my arm. I gained 15 pounds that I can not get off. Worse yet, some of my old bad habits have returned. My doctor does not want to tighten the band, he says the flow is good and the pouch is the right size, but I am feeling hungry all the time. However, I would do this again in a heartbeat. If anyone has advice, I would appreciate it. I became unactive on the list, when it seemed that there was nothing of interest being discussed and old issues were being rehashed.

I had a consultation with a plastic surgeon today about having a tummy tuck. I had one years ago and was very happy but then way before the lapband I had two abdominal surgeries that messed up the work. Now that I have lost the weight, my tummy is very misshapen because of the surgeries. My doctor is concerned about working around the port and tube leading to the band. Has anyone had a tummy tuck since being banded and has this been any sort of problem?

I was banded 2 1/2 years ago and I am 30 pounds from my goal. I have no problems with breakfast or lunch and drinking much more water that before I was banded. However, at 4:00pm I am absolutely famished no matter how much or what I have for my noon meal. I wind up snacking until dinner time. I am not sure if I should have my dinner then and a light snack about 6:30 or how to handle this. Suggestions please.

I work out at a gym using the weight equipment and I can not get a straight answer out of the people there. My goal is toning and calorie burning. Which is most effective more reps at lower weights or fewer reps at higher weights?

I also do cardio on a stationary bike, but because of some knee surgery a couple of years ago, I can not bike for more than 15 minutes at a time. Because of the same knee injury there are certain exercises I can only do with light weights.

I was banded in November 2007 and got to within 20 pounds of my goal, then I plateaued for about a year which I was comfortable with. Over the eighteen months, I've had two surgeries that kept me immobile and broke my arm. I've gained 15 pounds that I can not get back on track to lose. I need someone in the Clearwater Florida area to act as my mentor and help me get back on track. I can deal with someone long distance via e-mail too.

I am getting my first fill on Monday. But I am having a weird problem. I can cook dinner and after two bites of my hot protein I will get nauseous. The next day I can take the same protein, eat it cold, and have no problem. What is going on?

Before being banded, I took the once a month Boniva. I had to stop that pill, after being banded, because it can not be split. I switched to weekly Actonel but that made my acid reflux worse, so I completely stopped taking the medication. I just had a bone density test and need to start taking medication again. I just tried the once a week liquid Fosamax. I slimed up a portion of it; it is about 3 oz of medication and then you drink 8 oz of water. The amount may have been too much. Since I have three more bottles of the stuff, I will attempt to use it up and see if I can hold it down. My question is what does everyone else take? If I can not hold down the Fosamax, I want to discuss other options with my doctor.

When you set the new dates, please keep the Jewish High Holidays in mind. They start at sundown so if the calendar says the holiday is on a Monday, it really starts Sunday at sundown.

At this point in time, I am being treated for osteopina, which is preosteoporosis. The IV drugs are not an option at this time which is why I am looking into what other bandsters might be using.

I had a problem like that years before my lapband. I was taking 1800mg of calcium with vitamin D and that was the cause. I stopped it for a few days and then dropped the dose the 1200mg and the problem has not reoccured.

I had surgery in November and again in December. Both surgeons were aware of the lapband and my lapband doctor did not say anything about unfiling the band. I normally get violentsly ill from the anethesia so I did dicuss it with the surgeon beforehand. Both times I was given a number of drugs to prevent nausea and had no problems. Good luck.

While I won't get much sympathy from the rest of the country, and that is understandable, we are having a cold snap here in Florida. I am absolutely freezing. Now I've been here over 25 years so I am used to the weather, but I have never been this cold during a cold snap before. Are any of you finding that your more affected by the cold?

As a colon cancer survivor, call your doctor.

Julia, good luck with your surgery.

The first doctor I spoke with does both LapBand and RNY surgeries. He refuses to do RNY on anyone over 50, his people also stated that most of his patients have done over 200 hours worth of research before deciding on the surgery. (For various reasons, I did not have this doctor do my surgery). Ultimately, you need to do the research on all methods of weight loss surgery, perhaps talk with your primary care doctor or other medical personel and make the decision that is best for you.

I am not blaming her. We and the public only have a partial story. In the article her husband states: "...when she appeared to have altitude sickness along with the rest of the family. “But she seemed to be suffering more than the rest of us,” her husband Scott Finley said Monday. “She’s a doctor, so the whole time she was trying to diagnose herself, you know, ruling things out.” There are serious questions that have to be answered before blaming this totally on the lapband surgery. Did she somehow become exposed to the infection from a patient? I became extremely ill from something I caught on an airplane flight. Was she exposed to something on the flight? Assuming she was on a clear liquid diet, did the lack of food weaken her in some way making it more difficult to fight the infection? Did anyone else having surgery that day in the center get ill? If so, maybe the operating room was not as sterile as it should have been. During the autopsy did they find something amiss? Was there band erosion or other problem directly from they surgery? I hope the medical professionals will continue to examine her death and make thier findings public so that those of us with or considering the band can make intelligent decisions.

While my heart goes out to her and her family, I am going to play devil's advocate for a moment. This will be the same type of questions a lawyer or insurance company will ask with regards to any potential lawsuit. Why two weeks after surgery did she travel on vacation? Why did her doctor allow it or did he even know? Could the flight or altitude make the infection worse? Could she have gotten exposed on the flight? When I had my surgery, I made sure I would be home for the first six weeks in case there was a complication no matter what stage of recovery I was in. At two to three weeks, I was still on clear to full liquids. I would not have wanted to be away from home.

Every person is different. I can eat a small amount of pasta if I am careful and I never eat more than about 1/2 cup cooked. I can eat a bit of untoasted bread - a couple of nibbles. But there are times when those foods just do not go down right. I can not eat ground beef as in a hamburger. Sausage is sometimes a problem. You will just have to see what your body will tolerate.

I've had problems with acid reflux for years so when I have my colonoscopy they do scope my esophagus. If what you say " The problem is that my surgeon is one of the people who support True Results, the business. So it seems like a conflict of interest to me..." is true then I believe that is not only unethical but illegal. If i were in your position, I would talk to my lapband doctor to ask why this is recommended. I would then talk to my primary care doctor to order the test in a facility my insurance would cover making sure my primary care doctor shared the results with my lapband doctor.

In the just over a year that I have been banded, my doctor only used the fluoro once and that was when I had a problem and needed to be unfilled. If you are not having a problem I would not bother. You might want to get an opinion from your primary care physician before answering.

Who is True Results and why are they suggesting you have this procedure? I just passed my one year anniversary and this was not suggested to me. Having said that, I do have this done when I have my regular colonoscopy. I will do this in the spring and then I will discuss the situation with my doctors.

I can not eat a hamburger either, whether from a restaurant or homemade. I've had ground beef in spaghetti sauce without a problem; I've not tried meat loaf. I can eat steak and roast beef without a problem as well a cold cuts if I chew well.

I've been banded just over a year, the more I lose the more I can feel the port. The only time it bothers me is when the cat decides to walk on it:wink2: