SMMC LB support group chicas

[Wheetsin 714]

I'm really scared of getting an unfill. I have such a long and ingrained history of weightloss without any long term maintenance (longest I've maintained is a matter of months).

Now - if I was physically unable to eat enough for healthy baby growth, OK... of course. And if it was causing some undue discomfort or distress for some reason, OK...

And I'd be ok with a partial unfill - enough to ensure I was going to PB (even though I haven't PBed in a LOOONG time anyway)... but really like the idea of keeping enough in there to moderate my appetite.

Good point Robyn about the GB patients, that's true, and even on my worst day, I can out-eat my RNY friends without even trying.

So remind me again when you're leaving for your cruise? I'm jealous! We loved our last cruise (also was our first) and want to go again. For our last 3 anniversaries my husband has been on call & paged in the evening, so we haven't really been able to do much. Our solution was that next year (our 10th) we'll be out of the country so we *can't* be disturbed. We think another cruise is the perfect answer. (That or a week in an all-inclusive, still debating).

No chance you'll bring home a special little "souvenir"? :grouphug:

Holli - I'm the same way, very random in my restriction. Some days I can eat and eat, and other days it takes me 45 minutes to eat 3 bites and then I just give up b/c it isn't worth it. Some days food will slide right on down, and a few days later the same thing is hanging up on the first bite.

Just our bands reminding us who's in charge, I guess!

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

So remind me again when you're leaving for your cruise? I'm jealous! We loved our last cruise (also was our first) and want to go again.

I think it's in my ticker...like 22 days. Our ship sails on Jan 6th, but we are leaving on the 5th. Still haven't gotten our passports, but I called today and they reassured me that they were mailed out today. I'm starting to get really excited. I went and bought a pair of knee high-high heel brown leather boots(anything higher than 1/4 inch is high for me:D ) to go with this cute dress I bought at Dillards (you know, the supposed size 12:p ). Then I also found a formal that I like that is a floor length dark purple color. Then I also found a black velvet form fitting top and velvet pant set. The arms are trimmed with a fringe of black feathers. Totally not me, but very cute. I'm finding as I lose more weight, even though my chest is sagging, the tops I am finding myself buying are more low cut than I ever thought I would wear...hmmmm?????:welldone2:

No chance you'll bring home a special little "souvenir"? :success1:

Whatcha want? I heard of a cool idea of taking baggies along and collecting a bag of sand from each beach in each port you go to, then layer the sand in a very large pretty vase of some sort in your living area. I think I'm gonna do that.

Holli - I'm the same way, very random in my restriction. Some days I can eat and eat, and other days it takes me 45 minutes to eat 3 bites and then I just give up b/c it isn't worth it. Some days food will slide right on down, and a few days later the same thing is hanging up on the first bite.

Oh it's so frustrating and weird at times.....Did I mention that 2 days ago, my iced tea was making me feel like I was going to PB, then last night I ate an entire Taco salad from Taco Bell along with a small Diet Dr Pepper.....ARGHHHH!!!

[Wheetsin 714]

Whatcha want? I heard of a cool idea of taking baggies along and collecting a bag of sand from each beach in each port you go to, then layer the sand in a very large pretty vase of some sort in your living area. I think I'm gonna do that.

Oh, nothing - just a reference to you not having any more kids. Sometimes people bring home "souvenirs" (pregnancies) from romantic trips.

There's something I eat that causes me annoying pain for extended lengths of time. It has nothing to do with my band, I had it long before then, but have had it few times since. It seems linked to fatty foods, so I wonder if it isn't a referred pain from my gallbladder. But it also seems linked to artificial sweetners, maltitol and sorbitol in particular. Tonight is one of the nights it's hurting and I'm going on hour 4 of this constant nagging ache. Usually it strikes at night, sometimes waking me up, and can last 6 - 8 hours at a time.

I don't like pain.

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

No souveniers for me....unless I hook up with some Caribbean man while I'm there (hehe)....just kidding. Hubby has been 'fixed'...remember, it was part of the deal of me having the lap-band surgery.

Where is your pain located? My gallbladder pain was VERY atypical as well. In fact, I still would not have believed I needed my gallbladder out if I hadn't seen all the stones on the ultrasound screen myself.

[TheGh0st 9]

My gallbladder pain felt almost like contractions. Strong lower back pains with an intensity that would come and go over several minute intervals. Also accompanied by nasea and diarea most of the time. I actually had them for years. Would go months without an attack then have several in a row. It finally took someone else asking me to have the doctor check for it before they diagnosed it right.

OK completely off topic. I actually got on to post a quick, funny story. I had to go to DH's company Christmas party Saturday and wanted to wear a top that was still a little to tight in the stomach. Mainly due to how the skin is sagging. So I found a new use for the all purpose duct tape. Instant tummy tuck! I tried an Ace chest wrap and a control top, but good ol' duct tape wrapped me up the best. It really helped flatten out all the lumps and bumps around the waist. Most of Ben's co-workers hadn't seen me since last year and were all shocked. The top was also a bit more low cut than I would have liked. I practically had to tape it in place as well to keep the bra from showing. DH & I were quite nervous about that going into the party but it was actually quite fun for both of us to watch where all the guys eyes were when they said hi to us. DH said it was the best work party he had gone to. He kept looking around at the other spouses and thinking they looked pretty homely compared to me. Ofcourse we also had the nights to ourself with Brian at the grandparents for the night so the compliment may have just been a form of foreplay but either way I had a good time as well.

[TracyinKS 7]

Hiya all!

I live in leavenworth, and I go for my first consult appointment tomorrow morning at the WLSC off 135th st in OP......... anyone have experience with them.

I look forward to becoming a bandster......... it has taken me over a year to decide to go for it, but now I'm taking the bull by the horns.

[Wheetsin 714]

Where is your pain located?

Here's my LONG answer.

It's hard to pin-point, but always in the front abdominal area. Ranging from about where my band is, to just below my belly button. It will "move" a little, I think. Or maybe it always hurs everywhere and is just stronger some places than others, I don't know. When it hurts enough that I'm paying attention to it, it also hurts enough that I'm trying to put it out of my mind. Maybe 4 on a scale of 10, though I'm really bad about ranking pain. I think that most often it's an inch or so above or below my belly button.

When it strikes & wakes me up, there's nothing I can do other than rock myself. Not that the pain is that intense, but because nothing makes it any better. Changing positions sometimes helps for a few seconds, and sometimes it makes it instantly worse. Pain releivers don't do much of anything for it. The only time I've been successful in doing something to help with the pain (took a shower just a little hotter than I could stand... skin was numb & deep red when I got out, pain dulled significantly) it could have also been coincidence since that was a desperation move after about 6 hours of late-night pain during a business trip w/ me needing to present in front of 300 ppl the next morning!

No plumbing issues or anything that accompany it...

At first I thought it was linked exclusively to the sweetners, but it was too inconsistent. There's a much clearer link to fatty foods. That's why I wonder about the gall bladder, but it could just be an intolerance, or who knows.

I have a physical next month and will def ask doc about it.

[Wheetsin 714]

I live in leavenworth, and I go for my first consult appointment tomorrow morning at the WLSC off 135th st in OP......... anyone have experience with them.

Hi!

I have no experience with them. In this particular thread, we all were treated by the same surgeon, who is not affiliated with WLSC.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

ANGELA!!!!

Don't make me come hurt you! Simply call Billie and tell her you want an ultrasound of your gallbladder. Dr Hoehn would be the one that would need to do the removal anyway. Don't wait for your physical. There is no need to endure any sort of pain like that (rocking in the middle of the night can't be fun). CALL HIM!!!!:kiss2: :kiss2:

[TheGh0st 9]

Well put Robyn. We expect to hear how the ultrasound went by next week or we might have to take matters into our own hands here.

[Wheetsin 714]

This is me. I don't go to the doctor unless I believe I absolutely need to. Since it doesn't hurt very often anymore, I figure I don't really need to, and I can sock it away until my physical. My doctor knows me. She will say, "You need to be on medications, but I know you don't want to take them."

I need to call for a fill appt. anyway. And I somehow lost the lab orders she mailed. I'll mention it when I talk to her about that.

[TheGh0st 9]

Sorry for the grief. Its easy for me to "raz" you about going because I worry about my friends. But I'm just as bad. I don't tend to go to the doc unless I'm practically drug there by others.

Case in point my own gallbladder. I swear I had those stones since I was in college and didn't get them properly diagnosed and removed for over 10 years. I could go for months even a year with no pain so maybe they were "passing" and reforming, or just moving around, I don't know. But when I'd have my bad spells. I'd wake up in the middle of the night with pain so strong I was OK with the idea I might die. But I still didn't go to the doctor until my husband woke up once and found me lying naked on the bathroom floor trying to "breathe" through the pain. Even then the ER ran NO tests, gave me NO pain meds and sent me home saying I had a pre-ulcerous condition. (MY @$$!) 5 years later he & my mom caught me in the restroom again. (Clothed this time) and forced me to go back to the ER. This time I played up the tears and moaning as much as I could rather than hanging tough and they finally gave me some meds and treated the pain more seriously than before. Still they wouldn't have got the diagnosis if it weren't for my mom being there and insisting they try an ultrasound.

Oh, for me the only "relief" I could find from the pain was if I lay flat on my back with my bare skin against a cold tile floor and my knees raised breathing like I was going through contractions. The problem with that was the whole time I lay there I was usually severly nauseous and had bad diarehea. NOT a pretty sight.

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

Okay...here's the nurse in me again.....Suppose you put it off and put it off....then oops....a pregnancy accidentally comes along (which tends to flare up a gall bladder even more). Then you CANT have the surgery without a) causing some sort of risk to the pregnancy, or you have to wait many months enduring excrutiating pain causing a needless miserable pregnancy because they prefer not to operate on an abdomen while there is a baby still in it????

Of course...worst case scenario....but I have seen it happen over and over! CALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL them Sista!!!!

[Wheetsin 714]

Ok called today. I had some other questions and needed to schedule a fill so I went ahead and brought it up. And dammit, as much as I downplayed it, I was still advised to let Dr. H know what's going on so he can order a scan.

*sigh*

Does the gallbladder always have to come out? What she told me on the phone, as best as I can remember, is that it's best to have it looked at now because it starts off slow, and then before you know it you're doubled over in so much pain you can't stand it.

I don't suppose there's any "take two and call me in a month" treatments, or "no attacks for 6 months and we'll consider you cured"? Because this really is an uncommon thing (was way more common when I was on Atkins, probably because of the fatty foods I was eating). And I really would like to consider surgery an optional thing in my life (I know, relatively good health has spoiled me). You know, band, boobs, belly. The "3 B's".

(though I don't think I'd do the boobs, really... no starting rumors about my raisins).

[Wheetsin 714]

Restriction - yowzer!

Had a fill Monday. Half a cc, which puts me at 3 in a 4. That night I had a Protein Drink, didn't feel a thing, and some refried Beans mixed with Water to make them runny, didn't feel a thing.

Yesterday morning go to work, don't eat Breakfast, leave around noon. Get home, make a Protein drink, and have to wait about 10 minutes between each swallow because I can feel it just sitting there like a brick. 3 swallows and that was enough of that.

Yesterday evening heat up some refried beans (by some I mean about 3 oz), grab a 100 calorie pudding cup, and head upstairs to work on the computer. Eat the beans slowly and I do just fine. Two bites into the pudding cup and I'm full. Go to bed about 2 hours later - we're now just past midnight. Drink some water, no problem. Drink some more water, no problem. Wait a few minutes. Take a swig of liquid Benadryll (same consistency as water) and almost immediately I'm sliming & hurting over it. Enough that I tell DH to get the kitchen sink ready (sad, we've developed a little routine for the PBs). Go downstairs, start walking my laps around the kitchen, and several Benadryll burps later it starts to feel better. No PB, but I slimed for a good 15 or 20 minutes. Over a mouthful of, essentially, water. That's definitely never happened before.

About 20 minutes ago I bit off about 1/3 of my chewable Multivitamin ,chewed it to goo, swallowed, and while I'm not sliming, I feel it sitting there.

GOing to give it a week or so and see how I do. I'm liking the restriction. It's been a long time since I couldn't finish a pudding cup. Maybe I'll just have to readjust my eating schedule to be between 10 and 11:30 pm.