Cate18

Also, if you have your surgery performed at a larger research university, you should ask about donating it to research labs. I did my graduate research thesis work related to skin, and it was only through the kind donation of skin from patients that I was able to complete my work. Be sure to ask if you're comfortable with that !

If I had to take a wild guess, I would say that your stomach has a bunch of acid in it before you put the milk in on top. Though 15 minutes is rather quick for that to be happening. It may be that you need to be taking an acid reducer. I would mention this to your doctor and see if he agrees about you taking an acid reducing medication or at least Tums.

Thanks for the input ! I really appreciate it !

For those that eat popcorn as a snack, what volume of popped popcorn will you typically eat ? I know this is a little lame to be asking, but how many individual pieces would you guess that you eat ? I love popcorn, but I'm really perplexed about how much is too much. I've had some Portion Control problems lately, and I'm trying to be more cognizant of what I'm eating. Thanks !

It sounds to me that what happened was that the doctor's office billed under the assumption it was being picked up by insurance. As you may know, hospitals charge different amounts for insurance and self-pay accounts. They will often charge a ridiculous amount for a syringe or a plastic tube if they know insurance is going to pay for it to offset different costs. But usually if your insurance company won't pay the whole amount they'll write off the difference (USUALLY). They just cut their losses in an effort to try to get the insurance company to pay as much as they will. So it sounds like when your insurance company said they weren't going to pay it looked like you had to pay much more than you actually did. Something vaguely similar happened to me. I found that it's just best to let the insurance company and the hospital duke it out until they come to a final bill, THEN I start making my calls. I'm glad to hear things have been sorted out with you ! Best of luck on your weight loss, and hopefully a less stressful experience !

I think this is a question that your surgeon would have to answer. When I have problems like this I food journal and write down when I had problems and with what food (and how much of that food) and let my surgeon tell me what he thinks is going on. Did you have your fill under fluoro so your surgeon has a reasonable idea of your restriction ? I went a very long time being too tight and being miserable. I found that I was throwing up Water some mornings, and then some evenings I could eat like nobody's business. I really encourage you to make an appointment with your surgeon and talk about this. Also, I would ask him what he wants you to do in a situation like the one you suggested. Where should you go if you are in Vegas and you are just too tight and need to get some saline out ? Hopefully he'll have some good answers for you !

I think getting a fill with or without fluoro depends on your situation. I usually have mine done in the office, but was having a difficult time with my most recent fill. I would sometimes throw up Water and other times I would be able to eat a normal cup of whatever. Yesterday my surgeon decided for the first time to fill me under fluoro to find out what was really going on. I told him that I felt like I needed .3cc taken out, and of course, I was correct, but being able to see it I could see that liquids even tended to hang around for a bit after most of my pouch emptied. Also, it told me that my pouch hadn't stretched, and it gave me a better visual idea of exactly what percentage of my pouch got filled up by a sip of liquid. It gave me a better framework for eating. I get where the other posters are going with the "it's nice to have a good surgeon", but I don't want anyone that's less experienced to think that their surgeon isn't good if they want to fill their patients under fluoro. I completely agree that having an experienced doctor that listens to you (since you know your body!) and can quickly guage how much of a fill you need is VERY important, but having a thorough surgeon that double checks his work and isn't above a little help isn't bad either !

I think you may also find that your stomach is much higher up than you may think. And with the pouch--that is even more high up. Next time you go in for a fill have your doctor point out where your pouch is and you may be surprised !

Thanks so much for letting me ! I appreciate it !

Eek ! Just thinking about those of you that have the port near your breast line gave me the heeby jeebies thinking about what it must be like to get a fill ! Especially Saffy ! That must be a very strange experience. Mine is on my right. Just slightly to the side and above my belly button. I never feel it unless I go in for a fill and he starts pushing on it. Guess I have quite a bit of padding to get rid of before it starts bothering me !

Scorpioqt--I was wondering where you found Naked Nuggets ? I've been looking for them around here and haven't found them. Did you get them in a chain store or a health store ? I'd love to be able to find them. Thanks in advance !

I found that it was whey Protein that I didn't like. I couldn't handle the taste, and mixing them with milk just seemed to make them even more terrible. So I decided to do away with both of those things and go to soy protein. Which sounds terrible, but it's really quite excellent. I use Spirutein Proteins (vanilla is my favorite) and instead of mixing with normal milk I use Silk Very Vanilla soymilk. I have a magic bullet and I mix 2 ice cubes, fill with soymilk and a packet of protein and blend. I promise I'm not lying when I say I think it tastes as good to me as a milkshake. Probably it's mostly to do with the "very vanilla" flavor of the protein. Now I can drink it as a dessert or treat. It's less protein than whey per scoop (generally), but you should be getting protein from foods now and it should only be a supplement from time to time. I really suggest you consider it may be the whey taste you don't like. And I guarantee you 100% that the quality of the product plays a huge role in it. You definitely get what you pay for and can't buy your protein just anywhere. That's my personal opinion at least. Hope you find something you like !

I think the reason I don't drink them was initially because I was told not to. But now that I've had it out of my system and have gotten used to not having it I look back and realize how truly addicted I was to soda. Honest to goodness, I was TRULY addicted. When you're planning out your trips based on how long you wait before you have to have another Diet Coke, or are late to a meeting simply because you have to have a Diet Coke, you're not in control. Now I hardly think about sodas, and it feel so good to not be controlled by something as stupid as a soda. I don't have any comments about "your doctor said no!" or "it's bad for you!". I'm just saying, most of us were addicted to these drinks, wouldn't it feel good to say you quit the habit ?

I agree with hydration. I'm not sure why it's that way, but I think it may be the culprit in a lot of people's "morning tightness". I definitely recommend bringing a Nalgene around with you and shooting for drinking at least two of them a day !

I don't think you can really use them as a Protein "drink" per se. Think about what they actually are. They're supposed to be for people to use in the middle of the day when they're starting to get hungry to stave off cravings so you don't go hit up the vending machine. So in that regard, I think they work pretty well. I've used them in the past. I like the pink lemonade. They have a strange aftertaste as some others mentioned, but it didn't put me off them. I just can't drink them every day. I keep them in my desk for when I don't have a healthy snack handy and am starting to feel bite-ish. I wasn't fond of the strawberry kiwi though. So I'd recommend the pink lemonade first of all !

My surgeon's office said they only see maybe 1 in every 200 people that come into the clinic NOT have sleep apnea. I was the 1. My father has it, so I knew I didn't have it, but like someone else mentioned, it was just another hoop I had to jump through. I would recommend bringing a book, because they may get you all hooked up and then say, "Okay now go to bed". And for me that was at about 9pm. Not my normal sleep time. They had a tv, but I don't watch tv before bed. I find it keeps me up. Also, like others mentioned, they'll put a paste (some place even use a wax type material) to keep the probes on your head. I strongly suggest bringing your own shampoo and conditioner. Use the conditioner FIRST to work some of the nasty stuff out, then use the shampoo. I had to go straight to work and no one told me I would have this stuff in my hair. So all I had to clean it out were packets of combo shampoo/conditioner the lab provided me with. Needless to say I left work halfway through to go home and take a real shower. Best of luck !

Walmart actually has a Mr. coffee iced tea maker on sale right now. I've been in a few Walmarts and have seen it being displayed out in the middle of the aisles. I like to use that tea maker, because I can select whatever flavours I want. I use two big Luzianne tea bags, and then two small flavoured tea bags. I have a HUGE assortment of teas in my pantry. I should take a picture and show you. I have a whole basket full and then stacks of boxes. This way I can make cranberry, mint, peach, raspberry, etc etc etc. Anything you can think of that you can find in any store. If you like your tea a little sweetened you can add a bit of Splenda to it. As a side note--I was a "drink with my meal" cheater. But I only drank iced tea. And then I found out that if you drink tea with your meal, it blocks Iron absorption, which can lead to anaemia. So that was the final stake in my drinking while eating cheat :rolleyes2: Just wanted to pass that along to any of you other closet cheaters. Good luck making some awesome teas.

I think cereal (particularly a "healthier" cereal like you indicated) is a perfectly good option, particularly with milk. Think of it this way--foods that some deem "off limits" like bread, Pasta, etc can get stuck if you aren't careful, but really are the kinds of foods that are going to keep your stomach full longer. By no means am I going to go stuffing myself with those kinds of foods, but in moderation, I think they're a really good choice. A book I read once stressed the importance of the "solidness" of foods you're eating. Tomato juice will be less long-lasting than stewed tomatoes, which will be less long-lasting than sliced fresh tomatoes. If that makes sense. I'll be eating my cereal right along with you :rolleyes2:

There's really not much I can say that wasn't said above, but I just wanted to add--these are the things you should talk about with your doctor. Tell him exactly what is going on with you and have a frank discussion with him. I would also recommend food journaling for a week before you meet with him (if not always food journaling), and even asking if you can see a nutritionist. It's not always necessary to see a nutritionist, but it may be that the foods you're eating are sabotaging you. I also agree about exercise, though. Food control alone won't make you the ultimate success you can be. Best of luck !

In case anyone else is wanting to do some reading of their own and is at a (large) university or hospital, try searching PubMed. Your university or hospital library should grant you access to many of these journal articles. PubMed Home

One of the most recent articles I could find was in the Journal of Surgical Endoscopy. It showed for bypasses a 4 year success rate of 75%, and a failure rate of 5%. For banded patients it showed a 27% success rate and a 34% failure rate. This work was done by Brad Snyder at University of Texas Medical School in Houston. But this is only one study. I think the study size was 309 bypass, 175 band. Remember that results can really vary from study to study, but I tend to put more stock into results published in peer reviewed scholarly journals. Research done by companies is always much harder to put faith in. That being said, I think you just really need to do a lot of soul searching. Ultimately my decision came down to what I thought was going to work best for me. Not what had or hadn't worked for someone else. I definitely applaud you finding out all the info you can though ! Best of luck !

I think that being a member of this forum gave me different kinds of expectations. I thought that since I was very well informed and knew what to expect and do that I wouldn't be "one of those people" that had slow weight loss. I also had seen some of the phenomenal results that some people have had, and maybe got a little bit unrealistic about what my results would be. I thought if I was well informed and did all the same things as the people on these boards that were incredibly successful, I would have the same results. But now I know that people are different. They have different medical conditions, they have different metabolisms, and one man's "exercise" is another man's...."light yard work". If you get where I'm going with that. Also I've learned to stop thinking about pounds as just pounds. I've started to think of the percent of weight loss I want to lose. I've lost about 43 pounds. Altogether I wanted to lose about 185 pounds (I'll probably never get there, but I like to be ambitious !), so if you do the math, I've lost about 23% of the total weight I wanted to lose. I'm harder on myself than anyone else, but that's a pretty good accomplishment. Thinking about how far I've come helps me think it's not quite as hard to keep going, and there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I think once you put the information out there, it's really hard to "take it back" or expect a particular kind of reaction from someone. Trust me--I told a few people I wish I hadn't. But I think we're all curious creatures, and what we don't know always interests us. People may have heard about bypass, but don't know about Lap Band. It sounds like a lot of other people disagree, but I think once you've put it out there, it's not a reasonable reaction to tell people to "mind your own business" with or without an expletive thrown in. I think MissBinda has a good point that it should make some difference where they're coming at with it. But regardless, if something someone is saying to you is bothering you, just try explaining that. You can always tell them, "I wanted to be really open about my surgery, but I've really found the extra attention on my diet to be really hard on me and I'm going to try to keep my progress more to myself from now on. But thanks for your interest and concern". I know how much it can suck to get what you think is negative feedback or irritating attention, but I think more often than not it comes from curiosity and ignorance, not malice. Hope things ease up on you soon !

I would recommend Spiru-tein, which I buy from my local health food store. I personally LOVE the vanilla with very vanilla soy milk. It makes the BEST shake. I think of it as dessert. Sometimes I throw in a frozen strawberry and it's absolutely delicious. Just a warning--if you make the shake like I suggested, it sometimes comes out a very very very pale shade of green. Nothing to worry about, and it really tastes like a treat. Their others flavours are pretty darn awesome too. Best of luck !

I really enjoyed regular Vitamin Waters, so I thought I would try Vitamin Water 10. I really liked those early after my surgery, but then as time went on and I had gone longer and longer without eating a lot of sugar, I found them to be TOO sweet. Now I can't handle them anymore. I'm starting to even find that I prefer unsweetened iced tea instead of artificially sweetened. This coming from the girl that was ADDICTED to Diet Coke. Odd, huh ?