Wheetsin

I think it took about 3 weeks for my approval. My surgeon's office handled everything. I just gave them my preminilary paperwork and medical records, and next thing I knew I had a letter of pre-approval from my insurance company. It was very painless (back then) for me. I was 90% expecting to be denied as I didn't have comorbidities. At the very least I expected to have to submit additional paperwork or undergo some tests, but nope!

Ok, you're the only other person I've communicated with who has ever heard of Fifteen or You Can't Do That. I had a crush on him WAY back then, and it just never went away! Then when Two Guys, a Girl... came on, I caught it one night and I was like - HEY! That's my guy!... and ever since he pops up just often enough to keep me happy.

For bad boy-ish look I'd have to go with Chris Nunez (Miami Ink).

Ryan Reynolds, Gary Dourdan, Brendan Fraser (in order). PS - Ryan Reynolds is questionably comitted to Alanis Morisette, but she's not so great so I'm sure he'll dump her as soon as he realizes what a great person I am.

I would like to know, in as much detail as you care to share, what your experience was like.

Just to be clear, I think Leonardo DiCaprio is creepy, not cute. There are a lot of "mainstream" actors I don't think are cute at all. He's one of them. Brad Pitt is another. Sometimes there are exceptions to a pretty boy that can make them more desirable, as in the case of Johnny Depp and Ryan Philippe. I think I prefer men with dorky undertones.

Not more aroused. Never had a lack of arousal, but found that as I gained weight, there were some things I just couldn't comfortably do any longer. Now that the size is greatly reduced I'm rediscovering a whole new world of positions and ways to get all tangled up that my size kept me from being able to do for way too long. And DH loves it. "We haven't done THAT since we were dating!"

The only Simpsons I know is the animated show. Surely you're referring to something different? What is it? Spader is cute but too "pretty boy" for me. Johnny Depp is a "pretty boy" BUT he's so weird that it compensates. Same thing with Leonardo DiCaprio. *shiver - eww - yuck* Way too pretty. Ryan Gosling is a "pretty boy", but in the Notebook when his hair is all shaggy and he has that shadow of a beard... it's all about YUM!

This topic came up yesterday. Refer to that thread for more opinions. For me, I have one but I don't carry it. For a few reasons. For one, most of the time I order a regular entree and just give the leftovers, or make a few more meals out of them. That beats the chicken strips, grilled cheese and burgers you can get on a kids menu. For two, I don't feel that the fact that I eat less obligates restaurants to give me a discount. I've gone there by choice. I know they do the discount voluntarily, but it's not something I'd be comfortable with. Please give me a discount because I've had surgery and eat less than most others here? No thanks.

Right now the only time the FDA can step in (for these purposes) is if the product claims to "cure". You'll notice that most of these commercials will say everything but that one magic word.

Because only getting three is part of the fun/challenge. You know - he's going to make my list some day. He's freaking hot.

A soft stop is some kind of indicator that it's tie to stop eating, or else. It's something that alerts people that their pouch is filling, and anything else is going to have to come up. Of course since I don't have one, anyone else please chime in. I know some people who have them. One has this little *sigh* she does, and she's not even aware of it. I know two banded sisters and one of them gets a runny nose and the other describes hers as "tingles" - she says she gets a sort of pins & needles feeling in her abdomen. I have nothing like that. THe closest I get is if I drink something too soon (normally I can drink with meals). If the food is just sitting there for some reason, and I take a drink, sometimes it will hurt but other times I'll just get this sort of "numb" feeling that is actually kind of creepy. Like when you stub your toe, and you have that short time before the pain kicks in where you just kind of feel a weird numb wave.

I've been catching up on some post reading and I've seen these two words used synonymously more times than I can count, both in questions and in answers. The two are very different, and I've seen some really bad advice given, and some really inaccurate symptom descriptions, because of a lack of distinction between the two words. If you're experiecing constant VOMITTING, and you're expericing constant PBING, you're experiencing completely different things with completely different symptoms and completely different causes. Vomiting is when the contents of the stomach are purged through the mouth. The contents of the stomach include things like stomach acid, and anything that is yet undigested. If you've just eaten a big meal, and you bring up a bit of saliva, you aren't chances are you are not vomitting. PBing (granted definitions vary, but in general it's the same principle) is when something cannot pass throught he stoma and has to be ejected, generally through esophageal spasms, through the mouth. The contents of the stomach are not involved. It's usually just whatever got stuck and whatever you've swallowed since. Sometimes when you PB whatever was stuck is pushed through and you only bring up some nice frothy and perhaps discolored saliva. Totally different things. But when you use them synonymously, you're in the position of giving someone some really bad advice, or really misleading people about the symptoms you're experiencing.

Whyat size band do you have? It took me 2.5 in my 4 before I felt restriction, and even then I didn't feel much. I'm going today for another fill.

See this thread (found it by searching for "pb"): http://www.lapbandtalk.com/does-pb-stand-t26155.html?t=26155&highlight=pb

I got one from my surgeon's office when I went in for my first post-op appointment. I've never carried it. The one I have seems to be from Inamed and doesn't request the carrier be allowed to order off the children's menu, it pretty much just says "This person has a gastric band to help with weightloss. They can only eat 2 - 4 oz, or about 1/4 cup of food, at a time." I will either order an appetizer and share it, order a regular entree and take the rest home for future meals/DH to eat, or order off the kid's menu. I've been doing this 10 months and have never once had a problem a waitor/waitress refusing to let me order. The most common thing I get is concern that the food was OK, since I've not eaten much of it.

Then I started having problems with vomitting. I see that some on this site have referred to 'productive burps'. Most of the time I don't feel nauseated - I get a sharp esophageal-spasm type of pain, need to burp a lot, and ultimately need to go and make myself throw up. I'd wager that you're not vomitting, you're PBing. I'd advise that you not make yourself throw up. PBs hurt. They hurt me a LOT. But letting it happen on its own is (IMO) better than forcing your gag reflex. That said, I can understand not wanting to go through the pain any longer. I have a damn high pain tolerance, and I've been brought to the point of crying out by the spasms I have. The odd thing about this is that things are always worse in the morning. This is VERY common. A lot of people are tighter in the mornings and their Breakfast menu is pretty much limited to liquids. Warm liquids in a many cases. It is to the point now that I have nothing but hot drinks or warm Water until about 2 pm.(Cold seems to set off the spasm). Then, I try to have a bit of cheese and maybe a cracker. I would suggest starting off by eating something that is more band friendly. Neither bread-based products (crackers) or cheese are a band-friendly consistency. Maybe try something like Soup, or refried Beans, or tofu... or a wet tuna/chicken/whatever salad. On a good day, I can eat soft solids for dinner. On a bad day, it all comes back. The really ironic thing is that chocolate goes down really well! It's important to mention that I have never had a fill- my surgeon usually waits until 6 weeks postop for this. You don't have to have a fill to have restriction. In my case, I firmly believe the band itself gave me some degree of restricition. I PBed 3 days post op, and didn't have my first fill until week 5 or 6. Also, my appetite never came back between surgery and my first fill. So...any ideas? I'm getting tired of throwing up, I'm concerned about my nutrition and dehydration, and (believe it or not) I'm getting tired of chocolate!! It sounds like you try to eat the same foods every day, and every day get sick. Take it easy for a few days. Let Protein shakes and wet mushies be enough, don't feel that you HAVE to eat solid/crunchy foods. A few days on liquids won't kill you, but can give your band area some time to heal. PBs can cause a lot of irritation and swelling, and if you're having PB upon PB and not taking it easy on the menu so you have some time to recover before another irritation sets in, things aren't likely to get any better. Just sounds to me like you have sognificant restriction from the band itself. PBing isn't good for you. What does your surgeon say about this?

When the question is about penis size, of course we own.

I lost 55 lbs in... oh it was probably about 2 months. BUT, I had 200 lbs to lose, and I've only lost a handful in the last few months. Your body will have more to say about how much you lose than anything you eat, drink, or do physically. You can approach it mathematically, but sometimes the math encounters anamolies.

In my own experience, I'm really not so sure that drinking with meals matters. I do it both ways and eat the same regardless, and go the same time before hunger kicks in again. So if quantity is the same either way, and frequency is the same either way, why not do it?

I wish I knew. Going for a fill today, hopefully I can answer your question afterwards. I have 2.5 in a 4 and can eat anything. And although I make myself stop eating when I'm no longer hungry, there's nothing mechanical/band that keeps me from eating more, because when I want to I certainly can. I occasionally PB, like 2 times in the last 4 months. It's always linked to eating something gooey like nuts or Peanut Butter and swallowing too much at once. I'm rarely caught off-guard, usually as soon as I swallow I'm like, "Yep, that's going to hurt..." When I first had my last fill I was definitely tighther. I could feel the pressure when I drank a Protein shake, and PBed on refried Beans. Now I have none of that. And I've never felt anything that I'd describe as a "golfball". Not even close. I know that my "feelings" the band brings are different from most. I've also never experienced a soft stop. At my last weigh-in I was around 268. I fluctuate between 264 and 270. October 1 I was 279. So in more than 3 months I've lost about 10 lbs. I don't necessarily attribute that to lack of fill, because I'm really not eating much at all, but you never know and I'm hoping today's fill will help prod my loss to start up again. I haven't weighed much in the last 3 or 4 months because I figure, why bother, the scale hasn't moved and I don't want the disappointment.

I know it's an unpopular opinion to believe that being a minority does not obligate you to "fight" for other minority groups. I think it would be great if it happened, don't get me wrong, but I don't think there should be any expectation or pressure to do it. I've been told on this site before, essentially "shame on you for not supporting her, she has a band too". Now of course the issue in question was not a band issue. So why would I support someone just because they had the same type of surgery I did, if I personally didn' tbelieve they were "right"? Doesn't make sense to me.

I do have to add that DH and I plan to have kids. Maybe start trying this year. I jsut want to lose some more first. But I've already been giving thought to how my band (assuming it's with me for a while) would impact future child. My fear would be that the child sees my portions and - as children do - models that and develops the belief that what mom does is what is "good". I really could see a lot of future generation eating disorders coming out of banded parents, purely unintentionally. I think the key will be educating the child from a young age.

Don't have kids, just DH. In my case, DH has gained weight since my banding. Parents have too, but for different reasons (they live about an hour away so I see them frequently). In DH's case, he has bad eating habits to begin with but the metablosim of a saint. However, he eats more now than before and it's more than even his blessed metabolism can handle. When we went out before, he use to eat his meal. Now when we go eat he eats his meal plus 80% of mine. And there's less "competition" for food. Meaning before maybe we bought a quart of ice cream, and split it. Now there's no one else eating that ice cream, so he eats it all. In the case of my parents, they're obese and after seeing my progress with the band are really wanting it themselves. Long story short they're "pending" to see if their insurance company will cover it, but making the mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket. They're pretty much eating out of control, making references to "if I have your surgery..." -- but not doing a thing to keep their weight in check in the meantime. It makes me sad.

They don't bother me. I can give them credit for being cutthroat marketers. Their job is to sell a product, and they're really great at what they do. The one that's brilliant is - go figure, I can't even remember the name of the product - so maybe it's not all that brilliant - is the one that markets the weightloss pill that's "not for you if you just want to lose 20 vanity pounds, this is only for people serious about losing weight". Does it mislead people? Sure. Do people have to be at least a little foolish to be mislead by it? Sure. But looking at it's ability to do its job - get someone to by the product - it's great.