HeatherO

Great article and they make such a lovely family . . . and they were able to do it without it turning into a circus :0). Thanks for sharing.

I thought about joining as a member in the past but was involved with other groups and with full time work, family and graduate school, I just didn't have enough time to commit. I have known many people personally involved with the group over the years so that is why I know so much about it. I have a lot of colorful friends with interesting pursuits. I am also a veteran camper at festivals so, other than making clothes by hand, I have experienced it all, lol.

I think this might be a mistake. I had mine done and it was no big deal. One thing my OB mentioned is that she read that it was not appropriate to do this test in WLS patients due to the dumping syndrome (she said she was doing some reading because I am her first and only WLS patient). However, she said she quickly realized that this is for R&Y'ers and not people with bands. Perhaps your doctor might have read similar literature and may be confused about the difference if you are their first banded patient. I have known people with gestational diabetes who are both heavy and thin. You never know who will be afflicted. I think you should be tested because this is a standard test for all OB patients. Only a small percentage of people get gestational diabetes, but if you happen to be one of them, it is better to treat it then let it go undiagnosed. I would give your doctor a call and ask for the reason why they are not doing the testing.

I had the exact same problem from 1-3 weeks out from surgery. It wasn't only eating, I am sure that drinking Water also made me nauseous. I didn't have any vomiting, but continuous low-grade nausea is uncomfortable and annoying to say the least. Prescribed nausea meds were also too strong for me. I found a band friendly medicine at Wal-Mart called Nauzene which are chewable, cherry flavored tablets - kind of like a tums or rolaids but taste better. They worked well within about 10 minutes or so . . . and they really helped with no side affects. I have also seen them in the local Giant Eagle grocery store, so I suspect it might be a common brand in the states. I highly recommend them. I probably sound like a cheesy commercial, but they worked too well not to share the news with others. :0) By my fourth week after surgery, the nausea was gone completely if that is any consolation. Like I said before, even water affected me so it was anything in my stomach regardless of what kind of food or liquid it was that affected me this way.

I havent had a slip but I have had a bad pb episode cause stomach swelling where I keep pb'ing more, which causes more swelling and further pb's, until I eventually needed an emergency unfill. While it is true that pb'ing is not the same nor as dangerous as vomiting, it can still cause some damage. If you are constantly pb'ing over an extended period of time, which can be caused by keeping the band too tight, you can eventually slip. A too tight band can cause slippage and excessive pb'ing is a symptom of a too tight band. Pb'ing may not have caused the slip in and of itself, but being too tight can absolutely contribute to it. There have been many threads where people have slipped and being too tight for many months beforehand is mentioned frequently.

I have also had to have unfills in the past for being too tight. When I was excessively tight, I always immediately gain a couple of pounds within days of the unfill as my body goes back to normal. When I am too tight my intake is very low and it even affects liquids ingested. I almost feel like this is not so much a gain as much as that a part of the previous loss wasn't real in that I may be dehydrated. I agree with the others, you may have been using the band as to much of a physical barrier. It is not meant to work solely as a barrier. If you focus on eating the right foods, following the banding rules and getting your exercise, you can still continue to lose. With that said, I have found that when I am near my sweet spot, unfill's that are tiny can make a huge difference. For me, 2 cc's is enough to go from full restriction to almost no restriction. Perhaps your best fill level is somewhere in between the original rate and the 2 cc's lost. Maybe having another 1 cc added might put you at a more comfortable fill level all the way around. You definitely sounded way too tight before.

I have had it before banding but I am not sure if it has ever reoccurred. It is so easily treated with antibiotics, it shouldn't be a very big issue. As long as you get checked every once in a while and treat it if necessary you should be good. Antibodies to h pylori can be detected by blood tests or breath tests can detect active infection with h pylori so there are easy ways to diagnose it that aren't too invasive. I read that the usual treatment is a combination of antibiotics and an acid-blocker/proton pump inhibitor for 1-2 weeks which should cure it 85-90% of the time. Once it is truly cured, reinfection rates are less than .5 percent per year. It is a little more difficult to resolve if you have an ulcer. It could be that your initial infection was not cured 100% and it came back again. I am not sure that you can prevent it as much as just treat it when it occurs. Perhaps after this occurrence is resolved, you should get retested.

Hello everyone, Just checking in . . . nothing exciting to report, just a ho hum kind of day which is all too busy. I think it is all the snow and flurries outside my office window (not to mention having to dig the ice scraper out of my car again so I could clean it enough to go to work) that makes me feel so blahhh. Where did Spring go???

I agree, different insurances might have variations so just call and ask. Also, if you don't have the comorbidities to have less than a 40 BMI and be accepted and you are right on the cusp of 40 with a 39.5, you may want to make sure you are 40 when you go for your first surgeons visit. You are so close it wouldn't take much. Slouching when they check your height, wearing lots of layered clothing, carrying change in your pockets, having a heavy Breakfast, etc might be just enough to put you over the line.

Welcome back, Judy. I hope you had a wonderful time. It is snowing like crazy here . . . unbelievable. Laura, I can't believe your neighbor or whomever would actually open a package and then toss it out in the garden and risk being seen. Bad enough to take it in the first place, but to not even bother hiding it? I am happy you got your stuff. Have a great morning everyone.

I am not over 40 yet, but anecdotally . . . I have several friends that have had children in their 40's and not one of them has had a child with an issue. The risks go up after 40, but the majority of people do have healthy infants. I also wanted to mention that medical knowledge doubles every 10 years or less. It is so easy to do screenings anymore and they are par for the course after a certain age. You can easily determine early in the pregnancy if there are any significant issues of which to be concerned.

I am still focusing first on veggies and Proteins like I did with normal restriction. However, I have added a few things because I am hungry. For instance, I have found that oatmeal is really filling for me, sticks a long time and is really low in calories. Bananas work well too. I also eat a whole grapefruit from time to time by peeling each individual subsection. I am finding that without restriction, I need to get that feeling of fullness and try to find healthier options to get there. Pregnancy is making me ultra hungry . . . even within an hour after meals sometimes.

I was down a little over 70 pounds but only needed to lose 85 to get to goal. I got pregnant at about 8 months out. I am happy I was close to goal before I got preggers. It was so nice wearing normal sizes again (medium shirts and size 8 pants) before having to increase the sizes. I was able to continue wearing those size through most of my pregnancy and even now my maternity pants are a size medium which are 8/10. Maternity shirts are still medium but I did raid my closet for a few old size large shirts and size 10 jeans because they fit. My ob also said that it is a lot easier to feel the baby kicking, to find a heartbeat and to do ultrasounds at a more normal weight. She said it also generally leads to a more healthy pregnancy overall. I think getting close to goal with improved health and being physically fit has definitely enhanced the experience by far.

I think it all depends on the circles you run in as far as which is considered the bigger offense. Circles in which drinking is considered more of a social norm might consider it less of an offense than shoplifting. The other side of the coin is that shoplifting on a small scale exacts a much smaller penalty legally than a drunk driving offense. The majority of people I know would have much less sympathy for drinking and driving then shoplifting because of the potential for physical harm both to the driver and others.

I get this too and it is rough. Sometimes I get up to pee at night too quickly (probably because I wait until I am almost ready to burst before I go if I am sleeping deeply) . . . and it hurts!!! If I wasn't awake before, you can be sure I am after that. It is kind of like seriously stubbing your toe at night . . . unexpected but really painful. I only seem to make the mistake of moving too fast when I am half asleep, lol.

Pamela, you are so lucky. Melissa Etheridge is wonderful and she would be on the top of my list of people to see in person. She is soo charismatic and really doesn't need more than her voice to keep you enthralled. The babies name is still probably Ayla but we are keeping our options open and evaluating other names as they come along. If she was born today, that is what it would be. I am kind of partial to Erin too for some reason. I know some of us are really struggling with weight woes right now, and I am one of them as well. For me, I can never seem to maintain a middle road. When I am on plan, I am ON PLAN . . . almost no deviations and really hitting it hard every day without stop. Then, like now, when I am off plan, I make poor decisions most of the time. Once the baby is here, I am really going to need support getting back to basics. It is so much easier in the beginning, I definitely agree. I think the best thing about posting here is that we all have each others backs and all understand the struggles in a very personal way. Laura, you look very, very pregnant and adorable. I am starting the dress thing too because it is so easy and comfortable to wear dresses. :0) Michelle, I havent seen you on the tube yet, but I will look today when I get home. I am excited to see one of our own on the big screen. I don't know how you can do PTA for so long. I have found some of the mothers in PTA to be every bit as politically motivated, power hungry, gossip mongering as you would find in corporate politics. Most mothers are only there to support their children and education, but the few bad apples really spoil the experience for me. I will always be involved but I keep it at arms length . . . work and school is enough drama for me, lol. Have a great day everyone.

I had my checkup as well . . . they come every two weeks now. They were all exciting in the early days of pregnancy but now that I have to go more and more often and there are no ultrasounds, they are a little boring and uneventful. I guess that is good news because it must mean that everything is perfect since there is a lack of anything significant to talk about. :0) For the first time, my ob had to work a little harder to get a heartbeat. It was always immediate in the past. This time, she located it right away and the baby abruptly moved. She located it on the other side and the baby moved again (I could actualy hear the thumps of movement as she moved away from the probe). The third time was the charm, lol. I guess the baby just can't run far enough away to avoid it altogether :0) I love it that she responds to outside stimulation. I was measuring one centimeter under average based on fundal height which the ob says is no big deal and they are averages anyway. I already knew that the baby was small from the last ultrasound (21st percentile) but she is perfectly healthy. The OB says it really doesn't matter as long as I continue to grow uniformly. Movements have become so much more interesting. I can actually see the shape of my belly change. I might have a big lump bulging on one side, then the other, lots of quivers and thumps. I can easily feel something bigger and round in different places but I dont know if it is her head or rear poking up, lol. I am definitely feeling full body shifts but I know this part will be over quickly as she gets bigger. Late pregnancy is supposed to get progressively more unpleasant . . . but I am feeling really good. The only thing I noticed is that I need to rest a bit more. I also am tired after I eat, so dinner dishes are not getting done right after dinner which I have been doing forever. In all honesty, they are occasionally drifting to the next day or my husband does them. I have enough energy to cook, get the table ready, eat . . . and then I am ready to sittt and there is almost nothing that can make me get active again. However, I think working a full time plus job while going to graduate school nearing my eighth month of pregnancy might have something to do with it.

It is interesting that you brought this up. I had a fill for many months that was stable and I thought I was at my sweet spot. Then I had a stuck episode and ended up needing an emergency unfill because I couldn't keep liquids down. I always thought you had to have a fill and then it would be too tight. That is not always the case . . . sometimes it just happens.

I would never consider it unless I knew a whole lot more about the protocol in the clinical trial. Clinical trials are going on everyday throughout the world, however only a fraction of the procedures, medical devices and medications are every approved . . . why is that? Because of either lack of success in the trial or the side affects far outweigh the benefits. Perhaps you can google more information on clinical trials pertaining to omentum separation or even more about the whole process of performing clinical trials. Just be careful in your decision making . . . it is your body and you will be the person living with either the positive or negative results of this trial if you decide to move forward.

Janesays said everything. Your body does go into starvation mode with too few calories. I also stopped losing at 800-950 calories and had to go up to between 1000-1200 to get it moving again. I would definitely suggest increasing your caloric intake and either adding or changing the exercise routine to get the weight moving again.

I have had that same problem and it ususally takes two things to get me back on track once I recognize the behavior for what it is . . . backsliding into old habits. The first thing I do is start tracking everything I put in my mouth. That includes a little piece of this or a little bite of that immediately after I eat it. Making myself post it, which I hate to do, actually makes mre take more responsibility for it and I eventually stop eating extra stuff because I don't want to have to post it. You can use an online application like thedailyplate or fitday.com . . . or even just track it in a notebook for that matter. If I do this for a week or two it usually gets me back on track. The second is that I cut out all simple carbohydrates or processed foods for a little while. I find that when I eat them, I am hungry again 30-60 minutes later and start rooting around the kitchen again looking for something. I eat lots of Protein, lots and lots of veggies (but not starchy ones like corn or potatoes) and a little fruit. This breaks the cycle for me. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I think that almost everyone thinks this is true prior to banding, but it is not for the most of us. I enjoy food now more than I ever have. Have you ever eaten something, like maybe a bag of chips, and found that the first few bites are great but afterwards they don't really "taste" anymore and you just munch to munch. It is the same concept that applies post banding. You take the time to really taste your food, chew it well, really discover textures and flavors . . . and then you are full long before you ever get tired of it. Also a lot of us ending up cooking more after banding then before because we get rid of most of the impulsive fast food or junk food. You end up experimenting more and your tastes change. You eventually replace quantity with quality and learn to really appreciate it in new ways. Banding has definitely enhanced my food experiences and has not been a sacrifice at all. I just didn't know what I didn't know until after banding :0)

Hello everyone, Laura, I am jealous that you are sooo close. :0) Another 2-3 weeks and you get to see little Carson. I didn't post a picture yet because I need batteries for the camera and just haven't done it yet, lol. It won't be today either because I had work from 7:30 to 5:00 today and had an OB appointment at lunch, I then have to drive 1 hour away to be in an economics class from 6:00 to 10:00 and then drive home . . . Wednesday's are roughhh. I will do it over the next day or two. I had oatmeal for lunch today because I had some in my drawer and missed lunch. I forgot how filling that is and pretty low in calories. I am stuffed and feel like I will be that way for a long time. I think I need to start eating more oatmeal with a complete lack of fill.