LynneB

Do banders need to take Biotin? The GNC guy was an ex RN who specialized in post op recovery mainly for RNY patients. Yesterday I bought the chromium picolinate and isopure RTD & some vanilla cake flavored protein mix which is the most delish protein I have EVER tried & he said I should be taking niotin to prevent hair loss after surgery. I thought plenty of protein would prevent hair loss...do I really need biotin too? Lord knows I have the thinnest hair in the world (ok maybe not in the world..but compared to when I was younger.....)& I shed like a dog from hypothyroid & I cant afford to lose anymore! The chromium picolinate definately helps curb the hunger, I love it! Was there something else in addition to it that I thought I remembered seeing somewhere on here? Since losing 4 lbs over the weekend from the flu, I started a "modified" pre op diet early since my appetite was diminished from vomiting, I wanted to keep it that way, not start eating again just to start starving myself in 2 weeks when I start my real pre op 10 day. So far so good, I am not hungry at all... yesterday I had carnation instant breakfast, a vanilla cake protein shake, and a ceasar side salad from wendys that I only ate 1/2 of & tons of fruit 2o water. today so far, carnation instant brkfst, another shake for snack, bought a chef salad from publix at lunch but havent been hungry enough to touch it yet. & water of course! Hopefully it will stay this easy till April 11th!! I have lost 5 lbs since I got sick on Saturday night!

Went to the Dr's today to have the port looked at since it was swollen up so bad. They did an ultrasound on it & it is perfectly placed, all stitches & mesh are intact. There is alot of internal bruising which is causing the swelling. Nothing to worry about, it just may take another week or so to heal. I was so relieved!! They were concerned that I was losing weight too fast. I have lost 21lbs since preop diet & 12 of that has been in the last 11 days since surgery. So I get to move to pureed/mushy 4 days early!! I cant wait to eat something that I dont need to drink!! I am going to red lobster tonight w/ my family for my SIL's b-day & I am so looking forward to a bowl of clam chowder & some cheddar mashed potatoes!! Is there anything else you all can think of to eat there on this stage?

Hey guys!! Missed u all so much!! How have things been for all of u? I got a bit off track during the holidays, but I didnt gain, just didnt lose anything either. I would love to get back in touch with everyone again, hopefully u guys are losing like crazy & doing great!

velcro arm or ankle weights like runners use

1) I am at the VERY beginning of this journey, having just received my primary care dr's referral, and making an appointment at the Mass General Hospital Weight Loss Center (don't even have the date yet)... QUESTION: How long did it take for you when you were at the same point I am now until you were banded? I started my process in July of '07, it took me sevral appeals to get ins to cover me. Had I not had to fight w/ ins it would have taken me about a month from start to finish. I finally got banded 4/17/08. 2) I've started to read about post-op eating, etc. One thing that scares me is when you say you must be careful about fruits with skin and breads / fried foods. Now, I'm not a big eater of any of those, but people have mentioned "getting stuck"... what does that mean? Does that mean you'd choke? That confused/scared me. Getting "stuck" means you either took too big of a bite or didnt chew good enough or both. It feels like a lump in your chest or upper stomach, you can actually feel that the food is stuck above your band & will not go down. It makes you feel like you cant swallow your own spit & u end up over the toilet drooling like a mad dog till it comes back up. Some ppl say when they bend over it just flows right back up, but when I get stuck I actually heave & throw up. Not as bad as having the flu, but still miserable & it usually hurts for awhile after. You should really go back to liquids for a day or 2 after it. Though I am guilty of not always following that rule. It is important though so u dont slip your band. It is NOT like choking though, not at all so dont let it freak u out. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! I dont regret being banded at all! Also, dont apologize for asking questions, thats what we are all here for. We enjoy sharing our experiences!

I'm here for anyone who needs a buddy. I am in Bradenton FL, but I am willing to go thru this all w/ anyone. It would be nice to encourage each other.

Anyone use them or going to use them? I love Dr Bunch & his assistant Kris. I would love to know if you went to them, how did it go? Any info you can give me would be great. My date is 4/11/08 so its getting close!

I like wal mart chocolate(52grams in 2 scoops) , and vitalady.com has small sample packets for 1.99 with tons of different flavors ranging from 27g-39g per packet, my fav is chocolate peanut butter banana, I also like GNC vanilla cake batter flavor. Tonight I had chocolate ice cream flavor from vitalady w/ 33 grams of protein, added a lil caramel syrup milk & ice, blended it up & even my kids wont leave it alone!!

I am surprised your surgeon said yes. My gyn was willing but my surgeon said no way cuz lapband is considered a sterile procedure while tube tying is whats called a dirty procedure & it could introduce bacteria into the band site. Good luck & hope it goes well for you. I would have LOVED to get both done at the same time!

When I went to the endocrinologist back in March, she told me that I would be put on cholesterol meds next visit and that insulin was also going to be a possibility. At that time I still hadnt gotten definite approval (after all my denials)for my surgery so I didnt say anything to her about it. Didnt want to jinx it before it was scheduled!! Well, today was my "next visit" and my cholesterol and triglycerides were now PERFECT!!!!! My A1C was 9.0 in March & today it is 7.7. When it gets to 6.5 I am officially no longer diabetic!! So no cholesterol meds, and I have gone from 4 glyburide a day to now only 1/4 of a 5mg tablet at bedtime only!! Thats it, a quarter of a pill 1 time a day!! That is for the next 2-3 weeks & then I can stop all diabetes meds completely!! In March I weighed 239, today I was 205!!!! Almost to ONEDERLAND!!! I am so psyched!! Finally I have a tool that is ging to help me be forever successful!!:cool2::w00t:

Last Tuesday I got my 3rd fill & I had 4cc in a 10cc band. I lost 7lbs in the last 6 days which was awesome, but I started feeling lightheaded & dizzy cuz I couldnt keep anything but liquids down. I gave in today & had 1 cc removed. My doc really let me have it for not coming back on Thurs or Fri when I knew I couldnt move to mushies like I was supposed to. I told him I was out of town & he said it didnt matter, I shoulda called him & he coulda got me in w/ a doc in the town I was visiting. He said liquids are too many empty calories & not enough nutrition & I was risking losing my band or having serious esophageal complications if I couldnt move to mushy & solids like I was supposed to. He did an ultrasound which showed major inflamation in my esophagus even though I only vomited about 4 times in the last 5 days (only 1 time a day when I would try to move on to mushies from liquids.) So I am now back to the 2 days liquids to get the inflamation down & then move to mushy on Wed, & if I cant move on then I have to come back right away. He also said this has now slowed down my fill schedule since I let it go too long. It isnt worth risking your band over the scale moving, eventually the scale will move as its supposed to (slowly) and it will be the correct and healthy way. Too fast is too dangerous. Please dont wait another week, call your doc TODAY!!

I had 1cc removed today. I had 4cc in a 10cc band & my last fill was 2cc which made me too tight. I was the same way as Kerry3, I could keep liquids down fine but no mushies at all, I was throwing up from anything that had any substance at all, I couldnt eat tuna salad or scrambled eggs and could barely eat 1/4 packet of runny cream of wheat. I lost 7lbs in 5 days which was awesome but I needed to have more than liquids. Now I am at 3cc so hopefully I will be able to eat but still lose too.

My Dr has me come back every 2 weeks. 1st fill was 1.5cc, 2nd fill was 1cc, a week from Thurs I go back again & this time he will prolly only do a 1/2 cc. I had to talk him into 1cc for the 2nd fill he only wanted to do 1/2 then. He will let me continue to come back every 2 weeks unless I am steadily losing 2-3 lbs a week then he wont do anymore till I quit losing again. I would hate to only go monthly for 1/2 cc.

I am only about 25 mins from StPete so we will have to get together while u are here!! Hope to get to meet u!

I got my 1st fill this morning & the nurse talked me out of the numbing meds & told me it wasnt any worse than a needle stick from a blood draw. It wasnt horrible, but it did hurt! It took 3 sticks to get the saline into my port. No fluoro, no ultrasound, just a fill by feel. I sure hope I get some restriction. I have gained 4 lbs since moving on to solids.

I would love a ladies only forum. I cant think of any original names right now, all that comes to mind is "Ladies Only" , "Ladies Room" "No men allowed", nothing catchy comes to mind at the moment.

good luck & keep me posted! let me know if i can help you in any way

Good luck w/ the appeals process, it took me 3 appeals to get approved so dont give up!! Ins companies hope if they deny you that you will just give up & go away. Try sending them pics of yourself w/ a personal appeal letter. Let them know you are more than just a policy number. I can also send you copies of my appeal letters if you need them. Are you in west FL? What Dr are you going to? Let me know if I can do anything to help you in any way. Keep positive & be persistant, it will all work out in the end.