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Betsyjane

LAP-BAND Patients
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Everything posted by Betsyjane

  1. Betsyjane

    Do We have to Live with Acid Reflux?

    Are you eating or drinking in the evening?
  2. Betsyjane

    How is weight loss for people over 50?

    My weight loss was slow until I felt restriction, and then fast, and then slow while I worked on some bad old habits. So depending when I averaged, I either lost an average of 3 pounds a week, 2 pounds 1.5 pound sor nothing! Don't compare yourself to others on this journey because you and others will go through lots of changes. Get ready to learn patience at times and be utterly thrilled at times. Your weeks will vary. BUT listen to this! 1. On my worst weeks when I really screwed up, I didn't lose but I didn't gain. I have never been able to say THAT before! 2. I am now meds free for my diabetes, and in fact I just don't have elevated blood sugar period. 3. My osteoporosis reversed itself and I don't have that diagnosis anymore! 4. I don't shop in the big girl department anymore. 5. I can see my feet, cross my legs, and and there's no belly shelf for me to rest my arms on now...oh, and my arms hang straight down. There are lots of things to Celebrate in this journey, even on your slow weeks.
  3. You know, reading that link, I wonder if for you, Barbara, it's about getting a teeny fill, not even .1 up or down..... 'course we won't know UNTIL YOU GET THAT TEST, GIRL!!!!!!!
  4. Betsyjane

    Frustrated with my (lack of) fills..

    Hey, you sound jsut like me! First fill...nothing. Second fill...part of the first one was gone...normal. Got that second fill...nothing. I kept wanting a lot of fill and they wouldn't do it. Third fill....and OMG I was living the life of a bandster! I loved it! But it was a bit too much and I stretched my pouch. Now all is well and I'm a happy camper, but I figure with as much as I had to learn once I had a REAL fill, I would have screwed it up royally if they had filled me full the first time! Now I figure I was just supposed to keep studying and learn patience until we got to the sweet spot. But I feel for ya...bandster hell feels like it lasts forever!
  5. Old habits are emerging for me too and for a bunch of the November bandsters.... I'm pretty sure for me it's not a fill issue. It's just a matter of having to tackle them one at a time. It's funny. I remember in my old psych days that I used to give people a graph of how new habits are formed, and even with great progress, there are almost always HUGE drops as old habits try one more time to assert themselves. The falling off the wagon stuff makes change a real challenge. But if we persist, we eventually get those new habits to stick. Now where DID I leave my persistence........
  6. Betsyjane

    I Am 60!!! Years Oldand Things are Bleak

    My Mom is 90 and has more energy than I do. She lives with us....part of why I'm tired, I guess. I want to read that book! Somebody said on TV recently that the difference between 60 year olds of today and in the 50s is hair color. Ha! Sometimes my fantasy is to rent a single room, but it's always walking distance from a big college campus...plenty of places to walk and interesting lectures. I do think people age at different rates. I feel pretty old, and I'd love to live unencumbered for the next part of life.
  7. Go back to that thread and read the entry by Wendell.
  8. Hey Barbara....Did you read about bandsters who are sensitive to .05 fills? Thought about you... http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f84/overcome-food-no-band-restriction-39924/#post544886
  9. Betsyjane

    Band tomorrow

    Better than Boullion Soup base tastes really hearty after surgery while you are on Clear liquids. I like both the ham and turkey flavors. Welcome to the journey.
  10. Betsyjane

    Help! What is the secret?

    Well, that's a key for me. When I get busy I'm OK. It's when I stop in front of the TV that I get in trouble in all kinds of ways. Cravings=Get Busy!
  11. Betsyjane

    Is the band a waste of money?

    I must say that starting at 6 months post surgery, it has been a lot harder for me to lose. My old habits crop up and I have to knock them back down one by one. But I can do it, and I couldn't without the band. AND while I struggle with something, I simply stop losing weight. Without the band, I would ahve gained it all back and more. The band just holds me at weight until I get my act together again and start losing. I can't ask for more.
  12. Betsyjane

    Help! What is the secret?

    I drink a lot before a meal.... If I'm at a restaurant, I order a drink, usually water, and drink a bunch until the meal comes. Then I have a ritual of pushing the drink out of reach, as the meal arrives. The ritual is my reminder that I'm starting a bandster meal, and to be mindful. It's harder for me to not drink after, but it's just a matter of practice like so many other changes.
  13. Betsyjane

    Is the band a waste of money?

    PEople post on this site when they need support, so it aslways looks like problems are rampant. Remember that people who are doing well are out living their lives and don't post as much. In reality, the lap band has very small incidence of complications. For me, it's been a life saver, so it's been worth PBing while learning how NOT to! It was worth the money because nothing else worked, and my life was going to be downright miserable without it.
  14. Betsyjane

    I Am 60!!! Years Oldand Things are Bleak

    Hmmm. Soul mates. I've been married for a long time to a very pleasant man, but as I deal with issues of wrinkles, lack of energy, arthritis, and unwanted hair, I have this wonderful fantasy of just driving off, living in my van, having no ties, and just wandering around the country looking unretouched. No responsibilities, no home...occasionally renting a great hotel room, but mostly just being unfettered in a t-shirt until it's time to lie down for good. MY road trip in my head puts me in a better mood.
  15. Betsyjane

    Nsaids

    I have lupus and have been on a variety of NSAIDs. MY Rheumatologist has started switching me to other things, telling me that chronic use of them is too stressful to the kidneys and liver, apart from any band concerns.
  16. Betsyjane

    Hello from Houston

    Just be sure your doctor has lots of experience doing lap bands! I found at the beginning, that when I ate out I was very cautious abotu how I ate. If it had happened, though, I would have had plenty of warning, left the table for the bathroom, popped the food out and back to the table with no problem.
  17. Betsyjane

    Hello from Houston

    What part of Houston are you in? Oops. PB=Productive burp That doesn't describe it well though....
  18. Betsyjane

    Hello from Houston

    Hi Houston. Welcome to the journey. You're smart to start asking questions! The jury is out on carbonation. Some Drs. say it can stretch your pouch or lead to gas. Some say there is no evidence of a problem. Some say to let it go flat before drinking. My Dr. said no carbonation, so I gave up my addiction to Diet Coke the day of surgery. I was sooo addicted, but with all the other changes going on, I'm surprised to say I never missed it. Now I drink a Diet Coke on rare occasions and have no problem with it. Your best bet is to do whatever your Dr. tell s you to do, and later after you are well healed, you'll experiment a bit. I frankly don't think I could have given up Diet Coke before the surgery. Just seemed like one more change at the time of surgery, though so it was much easier. Ah slime. Here's the deal. Our bodies are amazing. When something gets stuck and won't go through the little hole from the stoma to the big stomach, we produce a much thicker saliva to help it go through. That's all. And that's not all. What sometimes happens is that you fill up with slime, even into your mouth. Or the slime and the stuck food make you PB....throw up the whole thing. The good news is that when you throw up, there are no stomach acids involved so it pretty much pops out the way it went in....and the other good news is that that whole process is just there to tell you you did something wrong...didn't chew enough, took too big a bite, etc., so with some practice you should be able to avoid sliming and PBing. But you will screw up on occasion and it will happen. Until you get used to the band, you'll find when you go in a restaurant, you sit near the restroom, or at least know exactly where it is!
  19. Betsyjane

    Losing my way????

    Hi Micki. Your honesty will serve you well on the next leg of your journey. So many of us get stuck, and digging out of old behaviors we thought we had conquered can be disheartening. They say with alcoholics, one of the goals is to fall off the wagon for shorter periods of time each time. For us, when old behaviors crop back up, we shouldn't be surprised. We spent a lot of years cementing them into our brains. The nice thing about the band is that it will essentially allow you to be a laggard for awhile without that rapid weight gain we USED to get when we screwed up. Catch your breath for however long you need to, and when you are ready, get back to work. List the basics of living with the band, and figure out what you want to tackle first. Keep a log of your calories for a few days and see what bad stuff has snuck back in. This is all about how we learn to live permanently with new behaviors, and sometimes it's hard work. Don't kick yourself. It's just all part of it for some of us. I had a stretched pouch. I went in for a fill and was already full, but she could see from the fluoroscope pics that my pouch was bigger. She says it happens from things we do wrong, or even from doing nothing wrong. I'm very restricted in the morning, so even liquids in the morning could take too long to go through and stretch the pouch as they sit there. Many people then get a complete unfill or a partial unfill and let the stoma rest. With mine, I went back on liquids for 3 days and I was good as new. I also started sipping rather than guzzling my Breakfast. I guess the big deal with stretching is that if you try to live with too tight a restriction for a long time and with the subsequent stretching, you can get into a more chronic problem. I know when she told me I had a stretched pouch, I thought the world as I knew it had ended, and it turned out to be an easy fix and a cautionary tale. I keep a list of the rules of living as a bandster taped on my refrigerator, and I'm always finding something I need to do better, or that I just didn't do for awhile. Congratulations on your journey so far! Oh, and I also found out that for me, I am the worlds best at talking myself out of going to the gym. But I put Tony Horton's 30 minute routines on my portable CD, turn the sound off and turn the TV on, and I watch 1/2 hour of TV while I do his worout routine, and it's over before I know it. I find that I'm not going to be a major athlete in my life, so I need to have lots of different strategies for getting in exercise. I also found that sitting and watching TV is my worst emeny, so exercising in order to give myself permission to watch seems to work.... I hope you get lots of responses to this thread. I'll be interested to see what others are doing.
  20. Betsyjane

    diet soda

    I was a Diet Coke addict morning noon and night. I didn't try to give it up until the day of surgery, and then I did it without a glitch. I think so much changes the day of surgery that it's hard to even notice just one more thing. I also decided I didn't want to replace it with other artificially sweetened things, since they raise blood sugar just like sugar does, and I didn't want to end up with cravings. So I became an avid water drinker. I'm not kidding---I think the key for me was doing at as of the moment I was banded so it just went along with al the other changes....
  21. Do you guys know anyone who had the Lifestyle Lift? Now that my poor old face is getting more droop and more jowls, and some crepe skin where I used to have 3 chins, I was wondering if that procedure could tuck me back up. Haven't done any research yet......
  22. Southeast Texas Record | Couple sues doctor after daughter's obesity surgery Hmmm. When was it that Dr. S started mandating visits and support group with him?
  23. Betsyjane

    Dating someone with an Autistic Child...

    First and foremost, start a dialog with him! Ask him your questions and tell him that you want to do what's right. He's had the experience and might be a great coach. Let it bring you two together through some good conversation.
  24. You might also ask if you could be mantained on a diabetic med that has small pills.....
  25. I crushed mine and chewed my flavored chewable multivitamin after. BUT thanks to the band, I'm now off all diabetic meds!!!!!

PatchAid Vitamin Patches

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