Dody

Just curious if you are excited about the new insulin inhaler. They say you only have to take a shot once a day. That's kind of a major breakthrough don't you think? I was just wondering how you felt about it.

I'm not banded yet, but I can answer this one. It means productive burp, which I construe to mean getting to enjoy your food twice I'm looking forward to that one and to the gas pains too. Hope you do well.

Has anyone ever seen TV's Vanessa Manillo (a beautiful, thin woman) dress up in her "fat suit" and go out in public. She showed everyone how differently she was treated as a heavy person compared to when she looked as she normally does. She would ask directions on the st. and people would not even stop (although many people stopped to turn and look at her and laugh); she got no respect; people were unkind and it was about a preconceived notion that she was fat and they found her disgusting and unattractive. The next day she went back to the same spots looking like herself and men in particular broke their necks trying to give her directions and come onto her. People were still glancing her way but they were no ogleing her. There is a definite bias in society to "fat" people, and some of the people making fun of her were very fat themselves. It was an interesting show and made me realize that life is very different for the average person than the heavy person.

I must have lost and gained 500 lbs. in my lifetime. I'm 62 and have run the gamut of diet crazes from pills (that were ever so dangerous) to every living diet known to man. One involved drinking vinegar and Water. That surely had to be the worse. I've done Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, you name it. Yes, I lost a lot of weight. I went from an 18 to a 10 ONE time, and guess what within a yr. of reaching that goal weight and splurging on a new wardrobe because I was determined I would never gain it back, I had to buy a new and even larger wardrobe by the end of the following year. You just can't maintain the weight, nor can you keep affording the food for another thing, plus don't let anyone fool you...it doesn't taste great. I went to a size 22, up from the 18 I started at. These crazes may work for awhile while you are losing and have an instuctor you are paying bookoo bucks for, but poof the pounds come back in no time. I need something all the time to help me keep them off, and I've come to the solution I'm going to work with this band and make it work for me. I just have to get the band which I'm working on. Dody

Just as I'm waiting to get my ulcer cleared up I get notice from Dr. McAlexander's office that he is closing his office and moving due to an illness his son has. They need to be close to a certain hospital for the son's treatment. I thought perhaps I was back to square one, but they have referred my file to a Dr. Colquist who I have never met in Marysville, TN. I have talked to their office on the phone and the requirements are the same ones I've been going through thank goodness. I won't be meeting him until April 13 though, so I sure hope I like him as well. Has anyone used this dr. or know anything about him? The office tells me he is very knowledgeable in both RNY and lap banding. It's going to be difficult to switch doctors in mid-stream, but at least my records have been forwarded. I will be getting my surgery at a different hospital. I do have to stay overnight because of my sleep apnea they told me, which is fine with me. I want to make sure I'm going home holding down fluids and feeling OK. I wasn't nervous at all before, but knowing I will have a new doctor has made me just a little nervous.

There is such a thing as narcolepsy, where you fall asleep often and fast and wake up erratic. There is also sleep apnea which can cause weird things to happen to your body. It may be nothing serious, or it may be one of many things, but I would definitely print out exactly how you explained it here and give it to your dr. in layman's terms. You expressed what was happening to your body loud and clear and that's what he needs to hear too. Try and take it easy till you see him. Although depression causes lots of things, including sometimes wanting to sleep all the time, this doesn't sound like it. Take good care of yourself and be extra good to you.:help:

It is Australian and the worse possible thing in the world....God awful tasting. In Australia they spread it on toast and bisquits just as we do jelly or jam. The comparison stops there. I have never, ever tasted anything worse in my entire life. Humans shouldn't eat that stuff. I hope someone didn't tell you to get this stuff!! Horrid.......:heh:

I have arthritis too, and unfortunately you can't take Celebrex or ibuprofen (so my dr. tells me), so please check if you are on either one of these meds for the arthritis.

I don't know if this would do anything to convince you one way or the other, but my dr. has told me that a lot of people find the balloon extremely uncomfortable and want it removed, whereas the lapband doesn't cause this discomfort. I can't explain what he means when he says the balloon is extremely "uncomfortable" as I never really considered it, as it is kind of like taking diet pills for 6 mo., then going off them, and as we all know gaining back the weight we have lost or more. Maybe you could do some further research on both in order to make up your mind. I hope this helps you.

I have suffered from nausea a lot since getting my gall bladder removed. I wear a Scopomine patch behind my ear all the time. It lasts 3 days before you have to change it. I have no idea why you are experiencing nausea, but this might be a solution.

You said you were diagnosed with kidney stones. Did you ever pass them? This could be a recurring problem. Sorry you are going through so much pain.:focus:

This is getting to be a trend with people who were banded in Mexico. Correct me if I'm wrong, as I often am, but could this have anything to do with bacteria introduced at the time of banding. Just because a facility looks clean doesn't mean it has passed American specifications.

Not another one. I am seeing the dr. in April (have to wait that long to clear up some other problems). Am looking at a late Apr. or May date for the band, and just about to change my mind. This is getting rediculous. Tell me please if you have diabetes. My dr. seems to think there is a link. If you don't, I'm really curious what could be causing this. Can it possibly be what people are eating, like spicy foods or something. Please someone...have you been told anymore about erosion possibilities and port infections then I have. I'm about to change my mind. Better yet, how many of these erosions are coming from bands placed by Mexican doctors?:guess

So happy to read a positive post about the band. There have been so many recent negative things happening...slippage, erosion, port infections and leaks, that I was beginning to not check in so often. I'm sooooo happy you are happy and hope you continue happily on your journey. You have given me new found confidence about being banded.

Just curious, as I'm not banded yet. What did you have for the first 4 days that didn't give you these symptoms. I want to know what to avoid. I'm sorry you are so uncomfortable, but maybe trying to walk it off will help. I would also try Gas-X.

Mine was about an hour of answering question on a computer...pretty basic, and then a conversation with the psychologist who let me see my scores and told me I was ready for the surgery. Good thing to get out of the way, but nothing to worry about.

I love my New Balance walking shoes....they are so comfortable. For just everyday walking around it's all about Crocs. They are like walking on a pillow, but are not exercise shoes.

Most of the skin rashes in the folds of the skin are caused by yeast infections. They can be made more comfortable by a lot of creams, but if you truly want a cure for it you need to use Lamisil. It will take care of the itching, redness, and permanently cure the problem. Just trying to be helpful. We have used it in hospitals for years.

This was just a theory that my dr. says had been being tossed around at a medical convention he went to. When they looked at the statistics on erosion and infections they found that most patients were diabetics. I just wondered if there was anyone that related to this, and apparently there are some. It's just theory........but it does make sense.

How long till you can take medication by mouth? I take 8 different medicines but then this old lady is not a kid anymore and knows it. I know what crying over pain is all about. I deal with it all the time. I'm hoping this surgery gives me a new lease on life. I thought you only couldn't take pills for a little while after surgery. Someone please answer, how long till you can actually take medicine. Aside from my Nexium (which is a capsule and you aren't supposed to dissolve it) I take pretty small pills. Help someone...can I never take my pills again? That wouldn't work for me, and I'm so looking forward to this surgery and some of the pain being gone.

Although people are descretionary about their WLS Oprah would not be I'm sure...not with her vast audience. She would make a whole show out of it. I just think she gains and loses and she has gained a little again. She has a personal trainer and chef........how can you go wrong. I really don't think she has had by-pass. She is an up front, in your face person, that would not keep it a secret. She would be doing a show on all the do's and dont's, but unlike Star Jones she wouldn't be ragging on being "fat and beautiful" at any point in her life. Oprah is too honest to pull a stunt like that, and could never keep it under wraps. Hell, they even found out overseas when she wasn't let into a store when it was closing....everything in her life gets out. Star Jones...she's a wannabee. Oprah is the real deal, although I switch the channel constantly to Ellen who is much more fun to watch. She makes me happy on my bad days with her great attitude, and I care nothing about her sexual orientation. I think she is basically just a sweet person.:focus:. I took a few more minutes and thought about what I have just said, and then I wondered. If Oprah can get by about lying about the curly wig she wears, and making excuses that her producer called her into her office about her own hair (which she was just wearing straight for awhile) perhaps she is capable of having flown someone to her private island in the Caribbean to do this surgery. I just came in to edit this, because I know that is a wig she is wearing and she won't ever own up to it. It is so vastly different from her own hair that it is obvious. Also I am old enough to remember when Oprah was the pits...right there with Maury Povich, dishing paternity results and raising cain on her show. She wasn't always what she comes across as today. I remember when she was just another Sally Jesse Raphael dishing gossip and having fights on the show. I guess you have to be older to remember the old Oprah with the Tina Turner wigs.

If it works great, and if it doesn't you are surely getting your daily supply of fiber I wish you good luck with it. I love crunch raisin bran myself and could easily eat two bowls a day........but I also love oatmeal and have heard of people eating that twice a day for a diet also. It sure can't hurt to give it a try.

I've had fibromyalgia for years and years...back when doctors thought it was just in "your head". Thank God they now realize the pain is very real. I can tell you it doesn't get any better. My heart just broke as I got older and it affected my legs........but the good news is that an antidepressant called Celexa helps a great deal with the symptoms and how you feel. I thank God for it every day. Muscle relaxers only put me to sleep. This is the first thing that has helped. Good luck to you.

I'm still trying to figure out how you get the soap out of it!!

Just think about the bacteria on this band....God forbid. I wouldn't want to buy a band on Ebay. This goes to my last post where my dr. had told me he thinks erosion could partly be caused at the time of placement by bacteria already on the band....(he says bacteria can't be seen, but he thinks American hospitals are much more on top of the sanitary aspect). That is one reason American OR's are kept so cold. I guess you can find anything anywhere if you look hard enough. I know at my seminar they passed a band all around the room..............have to wonder if that band ever ended up in someone!! UGH. That's why I changed my mind on the first surgeon's seminar that I went too....besides he was a little obnoxious and distant not to mention arrogant.