vluckey

I had my surgery with Dr. Curry and he is great! He is very nice, down to earth and understanding. He answers every email I send very promptly. I emailed him on December 26th at 8pm at night and received a response at 10pm. I have had many fills and unfills trying to reach my "sweet spot". Whenever I've needed an unfill he has accomodated me that day. He has had some "staff issues" because of some disagreement he had with Deaconess, so that's been a little trying. But, I love him and totally recommend him to everyone. My sister in law is going to have her surgery thru him. The person who recommended him to me has had a lot of problems with a hiatle hernia and had to have her surgery redone. She still raves about him, that he was so understanding and easy to work with. Just FYI, he plays in a bluegrass band, that should tell you he's not stuck up. He invites his patients to his concerts. I don't know anything about the other surgeons here in Cincinnati. But Dr. Curry is great!

I've been prescribed Nexium by my Ear, Nose and Throat doctor as part of my treatment for vocal cord polyps. The reason for that is because they think reflux can contribute to a polyp that has developed on my vocal cord. They think the band might have aggrivated an exsisting problem. I've not suffered much from heart burn and don't really understand reflux. So, I have a question for those of you familiar with Nexium and reflux. 1. What does reflux feel like? Is it different from heartburn? 2. Does Nexium help? 3. Do you have issues with constipation? (I sure have since I got on it. I really don't want to take it). Any info would help. Thanks

Now THAT'S funny!

I have a new one, at least I've not seen it posted yet. I've been diagnosed with vocal cord damage. Some nodules, some damage due to "reflux". They think it could be from the band. I don't feel like I have reflux issues but my ENT says you can have reflux issues with vocal cords without feeling like you have heartburn. It also could have been the tube down my throat for surgery. It's not so bad that it would affect my everyday life, but I do sing with worship band ministry and it has definitely affected my singing. I have a strobe scheduled next Friday to see exactly what we're dealing with. Be careful out there singers! Just FYI. But, I still love my band!

Thanks for your replies. I'm not too terribly worried because I caught it early. I don't think I'll need surgery. I'm actually looking forward to vocal therapy because it will teach me how to help my voice not to strain. As for the reflux, I had an unfill on Tuesday and that certainly helped my more recent problems. I plan on taking some ginger and papaya supplements that are natural and help with digestion and reflux issues. I really don't want to get on any prescription if I can help it. That certainly is interesting that hoarseness can be caused by the band. I never would have even considered that before surgery.... BUT, I still LOVE my band!

Wow Poodles. That is so frightening. It just goes to show you the power that food has over us. I'll be honest, I've had a few days like that, especially the week or 2 after surgery. Last week wasn't so hot either.....filled too tight, mushy diet for 6 days before ANOTHER unfill. But, that's the key word.....unfill. Fill, unfill....get pregnant? unfill Can't stop eating?....fill going on vacation???? unfill (uh, well...) My girlfriend who had RNY almost died while pregnant and after she had her baby. They couldn't figure out what was wrong. Found out it was severe anemia. She had to quit her job, they lost their house and have never recovered. Although lapband is not without complications, it is reversable...

I know, there's hundreds of reasons. But I have one in particular. My experience has been that losing weight with a band is not all that dissimilar from regular dieting, with the exception of having a big help on the inside. You still need to exercise, make good food choices, and supplement. (At least I do) Yes, I know you can lose weight without those things, but not as quickly and not a healthily. I'm doing this for health. RNY patients (at least the ones I know) can initially really lose their weight regardless of food choices or exercise. That is why many lose 80% of their excess weight in the first 6 months. Fast, easy success. Sounds great, right? Well my best friend had RNY 7 years ago. Lost 120 lbs. Didn't exericise, supplement regularly or make good food choices. She almost died from a serious Iron deficiency, has never felt great and is having all kinds of little health issues. She has pain all of the time, is being tested for MS and other things. She has serious digestion problems. I personally think it's from the Vitamin deficiencies. Besides all of that......she's back up to a 14-16. She was at one point in a size 6. She cannot get control of her eating. I know that what I am doing today to get the weight off is what I will need to do for the rest of my life. So yes, I eat hot dogs, Cookies and sweets every once in a while. But I also generally eat better for the most part. I guess what I love is that in order to get where I want to go, I have to work at it, which is setting me up for future success keeping the weight off. So, why are you glad????????????????

So many of us are looking at plastic surgery when we reach goal. As I look at how my body is shaping up with my weight loss I keep thinking I'm going to need it. The idea of having it is not that pleasing. So, I would like to hear from anyone within a good distance of their goal and what they are thinking about plastic surgery. I really don't want it, but I didn't lose this weight to have an apron of lose skin around my girl parts. :confused: I am exercising vigoriously, taking lots of supplement, getting enough Protein, yada yada yada. Just FYI. Should I expect this to be the next logical step????

I really like the body fortress from Walmart too. I always doctor my shakes up though. I add a little chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup if I'm just having a quick shake. If I'm making a smoothie I've been known to do the following: vanilla Protein 8oz OJ variations- 1/2 cup canned pineapple splash of lite coconut milk 1/2 banana 5-8 frozen strawberries 1/2 banana 1/2 cup frozen berry mix 1/2 banana teaspoon of instant coffee splash of chocolate syrup chocolate protein 8oz low fat milk splash of chocolate syrup variations- add Peanut Butter and/or 1/2 banana teaspoon of instant coffee mint extract I buy a huge bag of strawberries and berries at Sams. I use canned pineapple with no added sugar. Doing it this way makes your shakes a treat.

So far, this would be purely for estetics. In other words, no rashes or other issues yet. I still have quite a ways to go though. How do you get insurance to pay for it? I keep forgetting that I will hopefully have another baby here in the next year or two, so I need to live in the moment and stop obsessing about the future and what my belly will look like. You know, when I lost 50lbs 4 years ago the "traditional" way, I NEVER thought about plastic surgery. Do you think it is more common with bariatric patients because we've already taken the surgical plunge????

I had the worst PB ever this morning. Lasted about 2 hours and resulted in 3 vomits. I am so tight that Water is having a problem going down. I can get it down, but very slowly. I emailed my doc to see what he said, but any advise from you guys would be appreciated. I know I need to do liquids today and maybe try mushies tomorrow. But, how long can this be a problem? Should I take ibuprofen? (anti inflamatory?)

Not really. I tried some mushies yesterday. It took an hour to eat 1/2 cup of pureed chicken salad. Today I'm just doing liquid again to try to get it to go down. If it doesn't get better I'm going to get an unfil Monday. Thanks for asking. Any more suggestions would be appreciated.

Me too. I hated the idea of doing birthcontrol to "treat" it so I didn't do it. I used to have 2 periods a years. Sounds great until you actually get one....boy did I make up for lost time. I've lost many symptoms since losing weight. I get really bad PMS now, since I had my son 3 years ago. I just got back on a natural supplement called Fem20 which I took 4 years ago when I lost a bunch of weight. I got pregnant within 5 months of taking it. I still need to lose weight, but I wont mind if it helps with PMS and happen to get preggers too. I have the rest of my life to get thin, but I'm getting to old to wait to have another baby.

Ok. I'm stepping it up. Today I met with a personal trainer. She had me do strength tests. I had to bench press 36 pounds as many times as possible. I did 45, I could have done 50 if I tried hard. She said the average woman does 25. I had to do crunch sit ups and hit a yard stick with my hand (hard to visualize). I did 20, could have 23-24. She said most do 12. I have to say, I'm totally impressed with myself. I also did 30 minutes on the cybex arc trainer (500 calories) and a few pilates exercizes for my big belly. Not bad for a woman who still needs to lose at least 50 lbs.

I go to the YMCA. I also do pilates at home when I can't get there. My Y has 2 new eliptical trainers called ARC trainers and man they are beasts! I can burn 400 calories in 22 minutes. That means along with my weights, sit ups and/or machines I probably burn at least 500 calories per visit. 500 calories X 4 days a week is 2000 calories or way more than a days worth of food. I've only been going 4 days for the last 2 weeks because of school, but I've already noticed a huge difference with that and adding in more Protein to my diet.

Does anyone here purchase their protein powder at Sams? Is it any good? I buy the one at Walmart called Body fortress, but the one at Sams is called something else. Comes is a big white container.

My nails got wierd. I added a calcium supplement to my vitamin regimen and they are fine now. Spots are a definite sign of deficiency.

It's been several weeks since I've lost any weight. I had an unfill about 2 months ago and took a break from really trying to lose. The good news is that I didn't gain anything back, but I also didn't lose. I scheduled a fill for tomorrow because I'm ready to get back to work. But, I went to the gym today, (which I have continued to do) and I have lost 1.5 pounds this week. Now I know that's not a big deal, but the ONLY difference that I've made this week is I have really hit my Proteins. I found a great Protein powder at Walmart that is tasty and inexpensive, (I forget the name, but it's a huge tub with 30-32 servings and it's only like $12). So, when I have milk, I add a scoop (20 grams of protein). I always have a shake for Breakfast, but my old shake only had 26 grams, I use 2 scoops of this so that's 40. If I have a sweet tooth, chocolate milk with chocolate protein. I've even made a breakfast shake with 8oz orange juice, 1/2 cup pineapple, a few spoons of lite coconut milk, a half a banana and ice. YUM! I've always heard that protein is the key, I believed it then, I really believe it now! Just wanted to share.

I've scheduled myself this week for a fill. I had an unfill about 5 weeks ago because I was miserable and getting miserabler. I'm glad I did it to give myself a break. I haven't really lost much weight since then, although I went on vacation and I haven't gained any weight either. I've kept up the exercise and feel like I've lost inches. My concern is, I've scheduled a fill for this week, I plan on asking for a "light" fill so I don't have the problems I had before. I'm a little concerned because I really don't feel like I eat a lot now and I know that you can get to a point where your body stops losing because you don't eat enough. I also have had a few PB's this week, although I would attribute those to the type of foods I was eating (ie-breading from chicken). I know this is vague, but any advise would be appreciated.

I do this when I realize that I'm eating a carb/bread before something else. I can't do that. Sometimes I pop it in before I really think. Did that this morning with my son's left over waffle. Then tried a sip of protein shake a few minutes later.......DON'T EVER DO THAT~!

I went to Phoenix to visit my Dad in August of 2004 for 2 weeks. He'd lost 30lbs doing Southbeach. I went back in November and he'd gained it all back. I had flashbacks of me being a kid and seeing copies of the "Scarsdale diet" book on our kitchen table and him taking me to see the "new" nautilus equipment at our Tennis club. (era 1979) I thought to myself, my Dad has been fighting his weight all MY life, he's now 60 years old and still losing the battle. He is one of the hardest working, most intelligent people I know. If HE can't win, how can I??? It took me another 7 months to go to the first Lapband information meeting, but I thought of this during the entire process.

Okay....I've been pondering an unfill for about a month now. I knew almost immediately that I was too tight. But I figured that it would eventually work itself out. It was only my second fill, so I hadn't much experience of what this band would do. So, I used to read posts about people who would have an unfill after a month or 2 of sufferring and think, what is wrong with these people that they would wait that long???? Now I know. You can put up with a lot when you see 2-4 pounds coming off a week. So, on Friday I had enough. I was able to eat less and less. More foods were becoming unbearable and I was sick of chili, (which is a staple food for me. Homemade with Turkey). It almosts seems like my stomach was swelling and not going down. So I called and my wonderful Dr. Curry (Cincinnati) squeezed me in even though it was a half day for them and they are short staffed. (Love him). I got .5 ml out which leaves me with only about 1 ml in. (I think those numbers are right) The reason I posted this is because if I would have read this post 3 weeks ago I would have unfilled 3 weeks ago. I'm hoping to help those in the same position and perhaps keep people from hurting their band. Happy eating!

I've never tried Tri-Vita, but I've heard it's very good. Flintstones are not enough by any stretch. I take a very high quality multi-Vitamin and have had no deficiencies. I have to wonder, if you have that, are you getting enough Protein? Not that one has to do with the other, except for the simple lack of food. Protein is very very important for a bandster. I hope a doctor didn't tell you Flintstones were good enough.....

I almost wonder if this is for real.........

I agree. I almost sounds like those statistics are backward. You really might want to look into another doctor who does the surgery laproscopically. As for pain, it is many many times more painful than having a lap surgery. I've had a c-section, and compared to that a lap band surgery is about 1/3 of the pain. I've always heard the open surgery is more painful than c-section because it is up and down and cuts many more muscles. You really may want to double check your info. If it came from your doctor, you really need to check him out.