jlray

Are you already experiencing some hair loss, or are you just trying to avoid it? Just curious... I started losing hair about 2 or 3 months out.

I have been on antibiotics for a staph infection for the past few days... every time I would go to take a pill, I would position it carefully and take a full glass of Water. The pills are pretty big, but the swelling and pain from the staph was horrible - I didn't think to ask my doc for liquid meds, and I'm regretting that now. The pills had been going down fine until last night... Last night I took a pill and didn't really feel like it went down right. I drank some more water and laid down. The next time I got up, it still felt like it was stuck there in my chest. More water, then warm water, and I still had this feeling like something was stuck there, and at times it felt like heartburn. So I decided to sleep on it. The next morning (this morning) I felt fine. I didn't have Breakfast, but drank liquids with no problem. Then at lunch, I tried to eat, and I was able to feel that "stuck pill" feeling again, even with my usual small bites and lots of chewing. Could it be that that pill is still lodged in my band somehow? It's a capsule, so I figured it would have dissolved by now, but... could it be stuck in the opening? Or... is this a slip? I can't eat solids or else I feel pain and some cramping as the food goes down. Liquids go down ok for the most part, but I get a slight cramp occasionally. I tried calling my doc, but I work 12-hr shifts at a prison, so I either get a hold of him on my lunch break or not at all. Today, it was not at all. Any thoughts?

I had my surgery in Mexico, but I'm in need of a fill. It's been a year, and I'm still losing weight but it's verrrrryyyy slooooow. And I get full, but I don't stay full for very long at all - maybe 20 minutes. Anyway, I was going to Mexico for my aftercare, but now that a passport is required, and I have to drive 3-4 hours (I live near Odessa, TX), plus arrange transport from/into Mexico, which is another $110, I've decided it would be easier, quicker, and cheaper to get fills in Dallas. Does anyone know of a doctor in the DFW area that will do a fill under fluoro on a Mexico surgery? Please please please let me know! Thanks!

It's not that big of a deal UNTIL something happens. That's with everything right? I insist on it - I won't get my fills done without it. A lot of people get their fills done without fluoro and they never have an incident. But then there are those who do. I paid out of pocket for mine, and I don't take any chances!

I think there will definitely be moments when you miss food, Yes! You learn to deal with it, though. I just went through my kids' first birthdays since being banded and boy did I wanna eat a big fat piece of birthday cake. I sure did try, but I couldn't get much down before it made me miserable. Sometimes when I'm in a restaurant and I see someone at another table taking a big ginormous bite, I think to myself "gosh I wish I could do that." It's funny though cuz sometimes, I see my kids scarfing things down, and for a split second I think, "slow down - that's gonna get stuck!" lol. Then it's like oh yeah, I'm the only one that's banded. It's totally worth it though! Good luck!

I'm glad I found this thread!! I had googled "how to start running" yesterday and found the couch to 5K. I'm still very overweight in the 220's, and I haven't been working out for a while. I've been plateaued for about 2-3 months now, and I need to get moving. I probably need a fill too, but that's not in the finances right now. I think I'm going to modify the plan for me... I'm going to start with just walking, then I'll add the jogging in November. And I'll probably do 15-second increments and work my way up slowly. I'm super excited about this - the thought of running, muscles working, joints in motion - sounds euphoric. I've never done it, and can't wait until I can do the whole 5K!!

I've only taken off about 50 pounds, but I had gained them so quickly that I now have more excess skin than I know what to do with. Especially the lower belly - i HATE the way it looks in jeans if I don't wear a spanx or something. I've been yo-yo fat all my life, and I've never had this skin hanging problem before. Of course, i'm not getting any younger, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it also. Has anyone had surgery before goal, just because you couldn't stand it? How about getting the surgery twice? I'm sure the recovery is excruciating, so I can't say I'd want to do this, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has.

Awesome! Congratulations!! Soon you'll be banded, and all this will be behind you. You're such a pretty girl... and I don't always say that. Thanks for adding me as a friend. Good luck!!

On the same note, but a little different, I saw a woman a few weeks ago that looked amazing to me. She was very curvy and tall, but she actually was about a size 18, my guess. But she didn't seem "fat" just "large." She was solid, also, and no jiggles. I was jealous. She was very beautiful in an amazon way. Stunning, to me. If only I could look like that in a size 18, I wouldn't feel all that bad about it. For me, I started out at 272 and was in a 24. I'm 5'4". I don't have record of what size I was at each weight, but I'm now a size 18, sometimes 16, and I'm about 222. So I've lost 50 pounds and 4 sizes, at most. I do find it strange, though - that I've never been in anything smaller than a 16, but my lowest weight was 199. So even 20 pounds lighter, I was still in a 16 before (years ago, pre-band). I guess it's that muscle, from working out more this go-around.

That helps me... I was beginning to wonder. I've only lost about 30 pounds since my last fill, and I'm feeling like I could use another. But I was thinking a fill should last a good 75 pounds - I'm glad you posted this so I know I was wrong, and maybe I do need a fill. I'll make an appt.

I've been banded for 5 months now. I like to think I have band experience, but some days I still feel like I have no idea what this thing is doing in my body. I understand how easy it is to fail ourselves with the band, because it is still a lot of hard work. I haven't worked out in weeks, and I don't want to work out. I feel so lazy... maybe I'm depressed? I eat whatever is readily available and will go down easy. On Thursday, I had a really bad stuck episode that kept me heaving in the back parking lot at work well beyond my lunch break. It was meet the teacher day for my boys, so I was in a big hurry to get them fed during my lunch hour. In my haste, I scarfed down my burrito way faster than I should have. Even after I came back to work, I kept going to the bathroom every five minutes (at least) to hurl up slime. Sorry for the image, but I think most of us have been there. Anyway, when I was going through all that pain and fear, I realized that I do NOT want to lose my band. I remember praying, "please Lord, don't let me slip. Please just pass... just pass..." I haven't been using my band or taking care of it like I should have. Like I said, I haven't been exercising. Where the heck did the motivation go?? I was super-stoaked to get this and I did really well at first. What the heck happened? I went on liquids for 24-hours after that stuck episode, and when I started eating again I was scared like I had been when I was starting solids post-op. And although I'm not saying I wanna live in fear of my band, I think a certain level of "respect" for the band is in order. Maybe I'm scared to go any further. But I think I'm more scared that I have failed, and I can't go any further. Sorry, this has just been a rant/vent. :thumbup:

These are my biggest challenges when it comes to eating right. I'm a single mom of two active boys who are both in school. Getting them to school, daycare, sports, birthday parties, etc., keeps me very busy so I often don't have enough time to make meals that are both healthy and band-friendly. Additionally, I've taken a paycut recently, so the food budget is pretty small. Does anyone have ideas for quick, healthy meals that are also economical? Or am I shooting for the moon here? I'm getting a little burned out on cheese and lunch meat.

My hair loss didn't start until about 2 months after surgery. I think was the concensus in an earlier thread about hair loss... it takes a while to start, and takes a while to stop. Hope you don't have to deal with it.

Oh, but remember this -- once you lose weight, it may reduce your risk of heart attack, injury, etc., that would put you back in the hospital and worrying about MRSA.

Goodness gracious tell your buddy to shush!! lol. Jk - I'm sure your best interest was in mind. But to be totally honest, MRSA is always of some concern when you're in the hospital, for whatever procedure. You're more prone to it if you have a weak immune system, I think. My mom has had MRSA twice, but she didn't get it from the hospital. It was not fun at all. Hospitals go through a lot of precautions to prevent the spread of MRSA - I'm confident that you won't contract it. Talk to your surgeon about it, I'm sure he/she will calm your fears.

I also don't buy that it's from lack of Protein, nor do I subscribe to the "trauma of surgery" theory. I do, however, believe it does have something to do with the anesthesia. I read something about the anesthesia interrupting the fallout cycle of the hair when you're under anesthesia for several hours. I don't know how long you went under in your previous surgeries, though, so you might be able to totally discredit this, since you've had lots of surgeries. This was my first. Anyway, it's said that it "resets" the hairgrowth, so to speak, and puts the follicles in resting state. So for a while a large portion of hair follicles are on the same fall-out cycle and the hair loss seems more extreme. That makes sense to me, because I drowned myself in protein and still had hair loss BUT... the hairloss is slowing now. I'll post a link that kind of explains the hair cycle thing. Oh, just read that it's called telogen effluvium. http://www.hairsite.com/female-hair-loss/forum_entry-id-21940-page-0-category-32-order-last_answer.html I'm not a doc or even a nurse, and I don't know if that's right, but I think it's interesting and plausible.

Thanks for the suggestion!! I'm gonna go check that out right now.

I thought I just had glue, but when I asked my surgeon, he told us (three of us were banded that day) that the stitches were on the inside and would dissolve on their own. I had three incisions, two itty bitties and a one-inch one. I can really only see the one-inch one anymore. It's kinda pink. It's weird, though because even now 5 months post-op, the little tiny ones will itch every now and then. That's the only time I ever even know they're there. However, I also get stress-hives quite often, so it might just be a coincidence that I might get a hive near the scar.

Even though I'm not 2-years post op, I tried it out of curiosity. But I couldn't finish it. Mostly because it didn't seem AT ALL relevant. The first long set of questions was about coping with "what has just happened" and seem to be aimed at someone who has just gone thru something traumatic, like the death of a loved one or a divorce. For most of us the band has been a GOOD thing, so these questions are going in the wrong direction. I can see the outcome of this "survey" being totally misconstrued. Sorry, but the only trauma I've experienced was gaining 70 pounds in the year and a half BEFORE the band.

The packet I got from my doc said I could resume sexual "relations" as soon as I felt able.

Did a google search and found this... Apparently, hair loss happens after any major surgery. Maybe it's not the Protein after all, and maybe lapband is more "major" than I thought. "Hair loss may occur in patients who undergo major surgery. About three or four months after major surgery or a serious illness, patients may lose a large amount of hair. This type of hair loss is the result of stress associated with the illness, and the hair loss is often temporary." Hair Loss Causes – Chemotherapy, Alopecia Areata, Menopause, and After Surgery and Pregnancy and this... "Actually, some hair loss is common after any surgery. It's simply a side effect of anesthesia. Here's the way it works. At any given time, about 90% of your hair is in a "growing phase." The other 10% is in a "resting phase." After the hair rests for two or three months, it falls out, and new hair grows in its place. Well, the anesthesia causes more hair than normal, about 30%, to go into the resting phase. So two or three months after surgery, an abnormal amount of hair falls out. This is temporary, though, and the hair grows back without your needing to do anything special." The full article: Weight Loss Surgery and Hair Loss - Associated Content

Good information, Noni! Thanks for posting this! I had hairloss about 3 months post-op also. It has slowed down some, but I still lose a lot of hair. Especially when I'm in the shower, and I "squeeze" it dry, I pull out more hair than Water. I can't take a shower without having to stop and pull hair out of the catch (or whatever that little clog-preventer thing is called). And I'm constantly having to clean out my hairbrush and pick hair up off the bathroom floor. It's not as bad as it was, but it's still bad. Hoping it will continue to get better. The texture of my hair has also suffered. It's dry & coarse. However, that MAY be because I had to switch to Head & Shoulders after developing dandruff. I wonder if the dandruff is band-related. Hmm... doubt it.

She probably is jealous, and doesn't want to be big by herself, but I don't think you should automatically dismiss her from your "true friends" list. If you've been friends for TEN years - that's a long time!! I think she's being as honest as she knows how by telling you she's afraid your relationship will change. Around you, she isn't ashamed to be a big girl, cuz you're big, too. She can eat and let it all hang out, knowing you're by her side and won't judge her. People DO change when they lose weight - they get more confident, and often venture out to meet new people and do new things. Maybe that's what she's afraid of - that you'll go off and leave her alone. Talk to your friend - reassure her that you'll always be her friend no matter what. And that if you ever start acting too big for your britches, she's allowed to kick you in those pants! :juggle:

Isn't that crazy!? That hasn't happened so much to me yet, but it did the last time I lost a lot of weight and was at my smallest. I remember realizing that I had never been offered so much help - like reaching things on the top shelf at the grocery store, carrying a big box at work, etc. Can't wait to get there again. I have a hater at work, too. She's actually pretty amazing herself - she's lost 100 pounds in the last 3 years with diet alone. She still considerably bigger than I am, but I can tell she's jealous. She'll announce to everyone at work how much weight she's lost in the last two weeks since she's started a "new diet," and I congratulate her. I never announce my weight loss to my co-workers unless they ask - that's just my preference. But if someone asks me how much weight I've lost in front of her and I tell them, she always steals the glory and says, "well I've lost a hundred and ____ pounds." I think she's at 115 pounds lost now. That's over double what I've lost, but it doesn't bother me. Hopefully her competitive nature will make me a motivation for her.