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.