ladypitboss

I have BCBS of Michigan and my doc went back over her records and showed that I had dieted and lost weight but had been unable to maintain. I didnt have to wait another 6 months. She had even prescribed Meridia in the prior year. I stopped taking it because it raised my BP. The main thing they want is to make sure you have tried this on your own before resorting to surgery. Maybe if your doc has some documentation of your weights, that you have talked about diets, or prescribed you some weight loss meds, you may be able to get around the 6 months because you have already done that and more.

Sounds like a lot of the stories I heard before getting banded. Some docs that do both still push people toward bypass surgery. I am not sure why. Maybe it's money or maybe it's a comfort zone they are in with the bypass surgery. I didnt want this argument so I chose a doctor that specializes in lap-bands. He and his partner have done over 1500 lap-band procedures. I was initally driving 3 hours one way to see him. Now I have moved and have to drive 4 hours one way but it is worth it to have confidence in the experience of my doc and his team. I am not sure how much weight you have to lose. But at 2 lbs a week, that is 100 lbs in a year. Think about it that way. I am 1 1/2 yrs out and have had quite a few set backs. I am still about 40 lbs from goal but I know that I will get there and I didnt have to have my insides cut up and rearranged. It is certainly a personal decision which way to go. My brother tried to talk me into gastric bypass. He has so many problems with eating meat and made poor decisions. He lost nearly 200 lbs but now 2 years out he is starting to regain. With the bypass there is nothing else his doctor can do for him. I know that with the band even 10 yrs down the road if I start to regain I can get another adjustment to help me. Just get as much information as you can and make the best informed decision you can for you. And you may consider looking for a different surgeon. You dont have to settle for one that doesnt support you in YOUR decision.

I dont post very often but I need some help. I have had my band for a year and a half. Lots of set backs along the way. I just had my port replaced in October and went for my first fill yesterday. Now I am too tight. My problem is that my doctor is 267 miles away. I made the trip yesterday but I really dont want to make that trip again if I dont have to. I have tried calling different surgeons in this area since I just moved here this summer. No one wants to see someone elses patient. Is there any chance this will loosen up given a few days. Or has anyone had any luck with getting an unfill from the ER or other source?

I think maybe I was starving this morning because I hadnt had anything to eat or drink for 2 days. The rest of the day went very good. I had some tuna salad with a few crackers for lunch and I wasnt able to finish as much as I would have eaten last week. And I just got finished with meatloaf for dinner. No getting stuck no pb's. It is like perfect restriction. I had no desire to snack after lunch. It was a good day. I hope I dont have too much swelling and can keep this restriction. I am ready to get the rest of this weight off.

Thanks everybody for the ideas. I did end up making the trip yesterday. I saw my surgeon's partner and we determined that he put in 1.5 on top of the 2.0cc that he put in at the time of my port replacement. He took out .5 and I drank some water and for a minute or two it seemed to go down fine but in the waiting room as I contiued to drink I knew I was still too tight. He ended up taking 1.0 out. Now this morning I am starving. I just can't win.

I am having port replacement surgery Friday, and was wondering if anyone had ever had it done under local anesthetic instead of being knocked out. If so how was the pain? How is the pain and recovery in general after a port relacement. It seems to be a pretty simple procedure. No cutting of muscle ....right?

Just bumping to see if anyone has any answers.

It is weird you guys are talking about this port thing just when it is on my mind. The only lump I feel is my port itself. But it seems to poke out more when I am full. And lately I get a sharp pain like just beneath my port when I take a deep breath. I see my surgeon on Monday. I am just wondering if I may have pulled the muscle that the port is sewn to or what. I remember in December complaining of port pain and he said it felt fine. I think I have said before that I havent had a flouro or any kind of visual test of my band since the morning after surgery. My port sits on the left side right under my rib cage and I have always has discomfort there since surgery, especially if I sit too long. He told me that it does go away eventually. But this sharp pain is very different.

Regina My last 2 fills (Nov. & Dec.) were both .2. I drive 4 hours for a fill and dont ever want to risk being too tight. My doc and his partner have done over 1300 lapbands. He has never done a flouro except for the morning after surgery. After both of those fills I had to deal with being stuck and PBing a few times. I have never had a problem getting water down. I do however gurgle with water first thing in the morning. I usually do coffee first thing then oatmeal for breakfast. I am finding myself able to eat more now. I think I may need another fill. My appointment is on the 5th. I still dont know if I will be able to go or not. Still fighting with insurance company and dont have my own car. And if the weather is bad I dont know if I want to travel that distance. Regina I also took chantix to try to quit smoking and it didnt seem to have ANY effect. Not on my weight not on my desire to smoke. I really dont think I am ready to quit. I know a few people that have quit with chantix but most that I know that have taken it havent. The last time I quit for any length of time it was with the nicatrol inhaler. It solved the nicotene fix as well as the oral fixation. I didnt even have to put more nicotene in most of the time. I just had the inhaler for those stressed moments.

Pinky, when are you going to discover Splenda girl!? I love the stuff and could never go back to the pink stuff. It is the only artificial sweetner that is heat stable so you can cook with it. warmmorningsun, Well I probably should have talked to her months ago. I have cramps that press down. Not in my gut or back down. And I huge ginormous clots. Well the week after my accident (started my period the day after) I am in the bathroom at Wendy's and there is some kind of tissue sitting in the toilet. It was pink and fleshy looking. I couldnt even get my DH to come look at it as it was public ladies room. So when I took my DD for a sports physical I asked my doc about it and she wanted to do an exam and ultrasound. When she did my pelvic she said the my uterus was a little large but not alarmingly so. So I am waiting for the ultrasound till Feb 2. I have never had any problems either but I am diligent about going for my yearly exam. My last exam was in July. As far as leg veins, I am looking toward a less invasive procedure for that too. One is called VENUS and I cant remember what the other is. Both use a catheter to get into the vein and one uses radio waves and the other uses heat to close the vein as the catheter is withdrawn. I will not even go try to see anyone about it untill I am in onederland. That is still a ways away. I guess I am just not a fan of being cut on. My friend had hers stripped and had like 48 staples in each leg. Yikes! I am even looking in to body thermage for loose skin because I dont think I would like to go through the recovery of plastic surgery and the scars are awful. Barbara4 I am watching your fill pretty close. I think I am happy with my fill amount but between the holidays and this recent stress I think my surgeon will want to give me another little one. The last 2 or 3 fills I have gotten horribly stuck for the first few weeks and PB'd a few times. I live 4 hours away from my surgeon and fear having to make a quick trip back for an unfill. My last 2 fills have been only .2cc. The last 4 or 5 weeks have been easier to eat. So maybe it will relax in a few days. I think I could live with this level of restriction. I just need to be making better decisions and get back to my exercise routine.

I have heard about pineapple juice before. I may try to get some small cans to have on hand. I saw my doctor yesterday and she did a pelvic exam and scheduled me for an ultrasound. I am kind of worried about it but she seems to think it may be related to weight loss and the release of estrogen stored in fat cells. She also said that I am suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. She gave me Lexapro. I took one last night at bed time because that is when I take my meds. I woke up this morning and got so dizzy and naseaus I had to go right back to bed. I was seeing flashers and got immediately hot (especially at the front of my head) and was sweating profusely. I got something to eat and I felt better. I called her today and she said to take just 1/2 a pill for a few days. If there is anyone on here that takes these kind of meds (anxiety/depression) I would love some imput. I explained it to my DH who takes meds for depression and he says that is how he feels if he misses a dose.

If things turn around so I can go to Vegas, I am thinking about leaving DH home. A good friend of ours is going out there this week to work. I told him that I hope to see him in June. He has interviews at 4 different properties. Barbara12 I dont think you are being selfish at all wanting to go it alone. My DH however may get a little insecure. Not even sure it is gonna happen or not so I just wont worry about him yet. I can also relate to getting compliments. Only I am in the pit so it is the players that are making comments. I went shopping in my friends closet tonight and squeezed my but into a size 16 pants. Havent seen that number since junior high. I still need a few more weeks before I can wear them out without worrying about busting a seem. Hopefully by then she will find the jacket to go with them. I can also relate to depression. I have been suffering terribly since the accident. I have severe anxiety over driving in the snow. I made my hubby stop drinking tonight so he could drive home. I would never have done that before. I have always been the happy DD. I always loved driving. Last year I drove 16 hours all night by myself. This is killing me. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I will talk to her about it.

Hi Barbara, I am originally from Bham. I dont know about your insurance but wanted to say HI. I called my insurance company and asked them. I am sure there is a number on your card.

I am with ya poodles. My thing is that if I dont drink coffee before I eat lunch or breakfast. I cant eat near enough to keep me satisfied past the next time I have something to drink. My doc says that when I reach proper restriction it takes 4-5 hours for the pouch to empty. Sounds realistic but I usually get a break after an hour to an hour and twenty minutes on the floor then I get a 20 min break. I eat lunch on one break usually say 3/4 c of egg or tuna salad and 4 crackers. Then next break I drink something and by the time I get to the floor I am hungry again. So I end up eating something around 3pm. Then it is the same thing after dinner. By the time I am supposed to drink and I do then I get hungry again before bed.

Your pics look great btw! I too wrote an email when I decided to get the surgery. I didnt do it to explain my reasons why. My reasons are my reasons. My email to my family made it perfectly clear that I wasnt looking for approval or permission. I was only looking to inform them of the type of surgery and how it differed from the RNY that one brother and another SIL had, and the very botched stomach stapling that my mom had had years earlier. I remember that I was disappointed that I had heard from my mom and 2 of my brothers but the other one hadnt responded to my email or called. He was the one whose opinion did matter to me because he is the "medical" person in the family. My DH said , well maybe he doesnt approve. You told him you werent looking for approval and he is staying out of it. Well when I did hear from him ...not only did he approve but had done his own research on it. He thought it to be the only way to go. He asked me all kinds of questions. Now I am waiting for an email from him about the new vericose vein procedures. I really dont want to go through stripping and having lots of staples and such. Yikes!

Hunkered down, stress eating, plain ole feeling sorry for myself. I am here with ya. I am almost afraid I am gonna need professional help. My accident has me scared to death to drive in the snow. I guess it doesnt help that I have only driven one time. I ride to work with a friend. The stress of the insurance company low-balling my settlement and just everyday worries. My dh lost his job 6 days after my surgery and we have been hanging on till now. He is finally working but playing catch up is crazy. Now I am going to owe $2000 on my car. I am just maxed out. I hate to keep whining to you ladies. I will get through it.

I am pretty sure that the point and click band would have to be in the hands of a professional. I think it would be wonderful if my regular NP could be involved in my fills because she is always asking me questions about my surgery so she can refer others. But on the other hand my surgeon believes that the level of follow up care (ie monthly appts for first year then less often after that) that his clinic provides attributes to his patients having comparable losses to that of RNY patients. I think that is the one thing that my RNY friends have a hard time understanding is that this requires so much more after care. My one friend went for her 6 week check up and hasnt been back in 4 years. She sees her regular doc for any thing she needs. The problem is that most regular docs dont know enough about the band.

I drive 4 hours one way for a fill so I have been very careful. This is the way mine have gone. August 1cc September 1cc for a total of 2 October .5 for 2.5cc November I really debated and we settled on a small .2 Got stuck a little more often but no real problems with PB's. December I still didnt know if I needed one but the doc asked me if I was still hungry between meals and I was. So again I settled on a small .2. He usually goes from 2.5 to 3.0 but with driving that far I didnt want to get too tight. So I been sneaking up on the sweet spot. The first 2 weeks at 2.9 ( which is where I am now) I did PB a few times. I finally stayed on full liquids and mushies for a few days to let it settle and now I am doing real well. I think we need to relearn so much every time we get a fill. I know I have. I told my friend that had rny that it is almost like baby steps. Instead of coming out of surgery not being able to eat more than 1/4 C of anything. I got to slowly let my habits change into eating smaller and smaller portions. I told my regular doc yesterday that I like that I have to make the right decisions. These little set backs are just that little. I will get there. I will just have to get busy.

Hi everybody. I have had the most nerve wrecked day/ week. It was a week ago that I rolled my car and now the insurance wants to give me about $4500 less than book value and about $2000 less than I owe on the car. It is killing me bacause with DH just getting back to work I have no way to get another car. I would understand if I were in a negative equity situation but I am not. I just dont know what to do. People tell me that this is negotiable but they just arent giving in. I really dont want to have to pay a lawyer but I am afraid it may come down to that. Today DH took me to the chiropractor and then I had to drive in the snow to take my DD for a physical. It was the most scared I have been of driving in the snow since I moved to Michigan in 95. I even started crying once. While I had the doc in the room I asked her about some issues I have been having and now I have to go for an ultrasound. I really dont need anything else to go wrong. Needless to say I have been stress eating badly. Good thing there isnt any junk in the house.

The weight will only come back if you dont make the necessary lifestyle changes. This will be talked about at the seminar and also at the psyche eval. I know people that have had rny bypass. Some are the posterchildren who still 4 years out watch themselves very carefully to maintain control on their weight. I also know some that have ignored the rules and regained quite a bit of their weight. I think it is completely individual. How prepared are you to making the necessary changes. Can you say I will never have another carbonated beverage. Will I do everything I can to use this tool to help me? After all that is all this is. A little tool. You still have to do the hard work on making good decisions about food and exercise. This is not to say that you will never slip up and eat something you shouldnt or skip a workout here and there. Hey after all we are all human. But it is much easier to have just a little of something bad with this band. The band is a huge commitment. Especially for the first year. Fine tuning and tweaking your adjustments. I am only nearly 7 months out so I cant really that long term I wont regain weight. What I can say is that so far this has been totally worth it and it will always be there 5 or 10 yrs down the road if I regain weight. I will still be able to go back to my surgeon and get an adjustment and regain control. With bypass surgery you have a 1-2 yr window to lose your weight then if you fall back into bad habits there isnt anything that can be tweaked. You are pretty much on your own. OK I really didnt mean to go off on a tangent but I think you get the point. This isnt the easy way out.

Regina my best friend quit smoking with her husband in the beginning of December. She quit because of Reynauds. Smoking hurts your circluation and she has lots of problems with her fingers going white. She truly liked smoking but put her health first. She was in the smoking breakroom the other day smoking and I was shocked. She said to me later that she decided that she wouldnt say "I will never have another cigarette." If she wants one she has one. She has had 2 in the last 8 weeks. Once when we were baking for Christmas. I wish I could do that. I am an all or nothing kind of person. I want to be a non smoker. My husband and I have tried several times to quit. The last time was about 2 years ago and I made it 11 weeks or so with the nicatrol inhaler. Tremendous stress caused me to start back up. Right now life is just too stressed for me to think about it but I will do it again and one of these times it will stick. Just keep hanging in there. It does get easier.

I wouldnt normally advertise another forum on here but I do know of a lady on another BB that is very educated on thyroid issues. Here screen name is nonstickpam and she is on the bb at www.lowcarbfriends.com . Go in there and do a search for her screen name and I bet you will find lots of good info. Also I think thyroid testing and medication would help you. I would certainly do that before paying some diet doctor a ton of money if it really isnt any different than say slim-fast. If you are pretty sure you have thyroid problems then you should definately get tested.

Barbara12 Think ...cartoon character eating corn on the cob quickly from one end to the other then DING and back to the other end to start a new "line" of corn. LOL My 5 yr old is totally unimpressed by my crash. She has no sympathy for my sore back as I wash her hair. She just doesnt have the concept how close I came to not being here. But you never know about my little one. Let me tell ya a story to give you chills. She was born on 11/11/01. Halloween of '05 just before her 4th birthday, I was putting her to bed and she says, "I'm worried about Anna (DH's mom)" I said," she is ok and will be here for your birthday," "what about Grana?" (my mom) "yep she is ok too, we will see her for Christmas." "and Pop?" (my dad) "Yep we will see him for Christmas too." "Him's dying." Matter of fact no real emotion. "what makes you think he's dying" we found out in August he had cancer but his prognosis was good. And nothing was ever really said to her about it. "I dunno. I just think him's been sick and him's dying." I tried my best to reassure her and called it a night. Less than a week later I was on the phone with my mom and sil and they were having a real hard time taking care of my dad as my brother works off shore and wouldnt be home for another week. I got off the phone in tears. My husband said," What do you want to do?" I said that I wanted to be there and he told me to go. So the next day I made arrangements for FML and drove 16 hours to help take care of my dad. I got there Friday afternoon and my best friend here was having a surprise 40th birthday on Saturday night. My little girl told everyone at the party that Pop was dead. Again no real emotion, just stating the fact. It wasnt more that 3 or 4 hours later that I held his hand as he took his last breath. I dont know why I am sharing that here but I guess the point is that there was never any doubt in her mind that I would be here. It's like her thought is...So you crashed your car so what. You're still here. My husband and my 12 yr old broke down into tears that afternoon with the thought that I had come real close to dying.

Ok I gotta admit I have been hearing about this supplement for a while and never tried it. Here is a link to one that is liquid. I am sure there are others out there. http://www.affordablesupplements.com/clarinol.asp

I have yet to see this Dr. C guy. I think his own forum would be a great idea.