DianaDickey

I was banded Oct of 2009 and lost 200 pounds. I was 368 lbs and went down to 168. I was too tight and never could eat except dinner. I liked drinking alcohol, but my like for it became extreme once I took away the food I use to eat to deal with life. I would go out to dinner and order my food to go and just drink the entire time everyone ate because I did not want to keep getting up to run to the bathroom. I turned myself into a alcoholic, or I could say the problem reared its head fast once I took away food from my life. Anyway I am now sober and got to AA, but I did not know that you cause an extreme sugar addiction when you are an alcoholic. I never ate a ton of sugar. Sure I had ice cream a couple times a week, but never gained weight from it. I started eating like 3 pints of Ben and Jerrys a day. Since Sept I put on 71 pounds from pure sugar. Now of course comes the depression, none of my clothes fit, and my body hurts just walking again. I just got a fill and explained everything to my doctor. I am finding I can eat huge portions again and that is scary. I eat all the time and am hungry.I may go in for another fill, but would like to work on getting back on track first. I do enjoy not vomiting every time I eat and I know another fill could bring me to that. I never snacked, never over ate, never gained weight over 5 years. This has really turned my life upside down. I am not willing to let my overcoming alcohol ruin 5 yrs of constant weight loss. No way! It was bad to be heavy before, but to lose that much weight and be packing it on is so much worse. Anyway I could really use a network of weight loss friends to get back on track and be happy again. I am not good at these msg boards so who knows if I will be able to find this site again. If you all have some group or place to support each other my email address is diana_dickey00@yahoo.com let me know where to find it on the site. I may figure it out once I post this, but just in case. Thank you to everyone that shared on the site. It has given me a lift and hope. You all stay strong. We can do this. Diana Tampa, FL

United Health care? If that is the case you can call them and ask a rep what they cover. I know it depends on your employer as to what kind of plan they pick. I worked directly with United Health care and would cry if I ever found out I had to use them. They were terrible with how often they changed things, but again it depends on what plan your employer chose. Diana

Large portobello mushroom caps roasted and filled with marinara and what ever you like on a pizza. Then bake it. Do not have the mac n cheese, but was happy to have the pizza lol. I can not handle this , but I seen a recipe that used a cooked chicken breast and topped with marinara and pizza fixings of your choice then re baked to melt cheese etc. It looked great and would satisfy if you can handle the chicken too. I myself would like a juicy mushroom cap. I like to get my recipe's from all recipes. com and then I alter them to fit my needs. I heard of the mushroom caps many of times. I just decided that I am going to try it, but it looks amazing. Let me know if you get mac n cheese. When you want that one you may need to make it more moist with just a few bites. I did find if you love ( I'm Italian) spagetti that by using spag squash for the noodle helps and I promise you will never know you have no noodles. My husband hates squash and he had it once and told me about it. I tried it and WOW it was amazing. Good luck. Diana

The remarks on the swelling once you throw up are so true. If it is mild and once you seem to be fine, but a 2nd time and more forget about it. You must eat broth like soup, or something real easy on you for a day or two to get the swelling down. I use to think I was having issues for days and learned that those episodes cause swelling that if ignored do not get better. Think of it as healing up a couple days and start over. I have made the mistake of trying to eat over and over again because I know I need to eat. By doing this I got to a point where water would not stay down, my saliva over a period of time would cause me to throw up, and I have even thrown up old blood. Take it from the old timers......chew, put down your fork between meals, make sure the meat is never dry, do not drink with your food every, and when you do (and you will sometimes) throw up......... eat a mild soup for dinner the next night to allow healing. Good luck Diana

It sounds like your doctor is punishing you for losing weight. You have a lap band what does he expect? You can not keep from losing 4 lbs between visits. I would search for a new doctor if one will see you. Unless you are not putting out issues your doctor is concerned with I do not see why you are not getting fills. Key questions they ask help them decide if you need one. If you are not throwing up and can eat the protein you need then nothing should prevent a fill. Good luck to you and remember your doctor works for you and can be fired and replaced. Of course with lap band I am not sure if other doctors are easy to get. Diana

We must stay in touch. I think it is great we are just starting out. I'm so excited to be talking with someone that is going through this. I will remember the clothing issue you had and use a bandaid if I run into that one lol. Thanks for your input on the burping thing. I hope it goes away soon. I start a new job next Monay and can't imagine how that will feel with this. Everything else is perfect and I'm not even hungry. I almost forgot congrats on your band too. You mentioned your hubby was coming home next month and you must be so excited. Tell him thank you for his service to our Country and my prayers are with you both. You know I wish I had a scale that weighed me. Mine goes to 320 and I'm not there yet. I have to wait until Oct 26th to find out if I lost anymore. Bummer

Let me know if any of you are going to chat at a set time. I will make sure I hit the chat room then. I was wondering if any of you were still suffering with the gas? I am talking about the burping kind and mine is still very painful. I don't seem to find much on it in the post's. Talk to you later.

Hello everyone, I was banded Oct 7th 2009. I would love to find friends that are going through this too. I love this site and would love to have friends to travel this journey with.

Hello I was banded on Oct 7th too. I don't work until the 19th thank goodness. I find that my wounds are healed up really nice and moving around is easy. I was wondering if you have painful burping at all? I do and it is not bad if I eat just yogurt. Whenever I drink water, or any liquids I start burping and it is so painful I can't stand it. I don't know if I'm swallowing air or what. I know it is getting better, but slowly. I walk around and my tummy is feeling pretty free of gas now. Just wondering if you had this issue as I don't seem to find anything on this. Good luck on your journey

I add a serving of my protein shake to my plain greek yogurt. I then add 1 tsp of sugar free jelly for flavor. I am only 7 days out and the nutritionist told me about the yogurt. This will work until I can eat real food again. It goes down easy and feels great in my tummy for a long time. It also gives me over 66 grams of protein at the end of the day.

I finally got it.....I'm APPROVED! My insurance will cover 100% of it too. BCBS of AL is great! I have my surgery in 2 days and am so happy.

I started off having issues of getting my info sent over. It was so bad at one point I said when this was over I was changing doctors. I love my doc though, but not a couple office girls so much. What I did was tell them that this was urgent and that I was going to miss the opportunity for surgery if it wasn't received right away. I then called everyday until it was done. After that they didn't mess with me anymore. It was very frustrating and I'm glad I don't need anything from them anymore.

I'm with you. I am 7 days from surgery and the insurance company needed one more thing. I'm told it looks good as they needed only one more thing, but a positive boost would be great in this 2nd week pre op. The anxiety is horrible waiting for approval. I think this pre op diet is not all that bad, but with all this waiting it makes me want to eat. I guess that is life and a first lesson in not eating my way through something. Take care

I think it depends on alot of things. For instance self pay vs insurance. I think the seminar is a good thing and I'm glad I went. It gave me something to work with to keep me ahead of the game. What I mean by that is I am using insurance and they required proof of a six consecutive month diet within a year of surgery date. They wanted proof of a visit once each year over the past 3 to prove my weight. The forms I received and the seminar gave me a heads up and I started collecting it right then. I will list my timeline for you. 8/4 Seminar 8/18 Consultation 8/24 Psych Eval 9/08 Nutritionist 9/17 Labwork and release from family doctor 9/30 Pre Op Appt today 10/07 Surgery In between I did alot of running around for insurance, but it is complete finally. Hope that was helpful for you and if you are self pay it may be faster. Take care and good luck. 9/21 P

You may be afraid of failure like we all are, but I feel you should be 100% sure that this is what you want before you do it. It may help to keep researching it and ask questions when you have them. You could also do a pro/con list to help you get an idea of why you do and don't want it. Good luck to you.

I'm with you both on the cravings. I am on my pre op diet and 7 days away from surgery waiting for approval. My insurance company needed on more thing, but have not said approved yet. My anxiety is causing me to want to eat really bad at times. If I could of just had the approval by now it would of made a world of difference on this pre op diet. I think anxiety causes me to want to eat and I can't, so I am sure that is what you are both feeling. Not to mention the last meal urge lol. I had several last meals before pre op diet and I stopped that because I had can gain weight very fast and knew my pre op was coming. Good luck to you both and may we all get that approval soon.

I'm scheduled for Oct 7th and have been doing my pre op diet. Having all those emotions I don't want when I can't eat a pizza lol. I am very nervous as my insurance approval has not come yet. I guess they needed one more thing and it is now sent. I wont feel at ease until I hear the magic work....Approved. It is hard to go through all the tests, appt's, and this pre op diet not knowing if it is going to happen. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for news this week to help me get through this anxiety. Best of luck to you all

I am new to this, but I am doing the pre op diet right now. It seems everyone is different by what I read on here. My doctor has me doing the pre op diet 2 weeks prior to surgery. I have 2 protein shakes and one meal. My meal consists of 4 oz of lean meat and 1 cup of green vegie with nothing on it. It does wonders though as I lost 16 pounds in 7 days. I drink 64 oz of water a day and sometimes have a cup of tea in the evening to comfort my belly. I did great and now the 2nd week of it is starting and I have had a hard time the last 2 days. I have not cheated or anything, but I couldn't get crazy foods out of my head. I am pretty confindent it is only because of my insurance approval that is still pending. Anxiety seems to make me want a pizza lol. Anyway good luck to you and I hope that was of some help.

I agree with you on all of your trigger's, but the one that angers me is TV. I can't stand when I'm doing fine (minding my own business) and along comes a pizza commercial. It starts something in me that brings out the most insane cravings. Sometimes for a couple days I think pizza. In case you didn't notice I love pizza so I used that example, but their are tons of these food commercials that do this to me. I'm on the pre op diet right now and I have to turn the channel, or mute and look away. It is frustrating though as it is already planted in my mind. I swear I never seen a whopper from Burger King look as pretty as it does in a commercial. Little things like that can really make it hard. I never noticed it until I stopped eating what I want.

I agree with Kiz about your weight loss. Your body has lost alot of weight already. You have been watching what you eat prior and that is very good. You should be proud of yourself and not worry. Just stick with it and you will be alright. I think the word diet makes us all slip up, so think of it as the start of your great journey and not a diet. Good luck to you

Wow! I'm on my 8th day pre op diet and have lost 16 pounds. If my insurance doesn't approve me I may stick to this if it is safe. Who am I kidding it wouldn't take long before I made a date with a pizza.

I'm am so with you. This is just horrible waiting. I think tomorrow is 2 weeks for me and everytime the phone rings I tell myself it is not them to keep from getting upset. I sure could use the uplift of a yes at this point. I want to call the insurance company, but I am afraid it will mess it up lol. Good luck to you Diana

I too was afraid to tell my hubby. I just knew he would think I thought this was the easy way out. I told him I needed to do this for me, for us, and to live. He was the one person that knew how much my weight held back our fun on vacation etc. Before I told him I made a mental list of reasons that he could understand because he lived them with me. He is supportive and now he asks questions which is great. He brings up my surgery and not just me now. Good luck to you, but remember this is your life and who wants it to end because of food. Diana