Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum - Considering Dr. Kirshenbaum

[DrewsLou 3]

Hey gang!

I have been MIA for awhile, life has been busy! I won't be able to make tomorrows gathering but hope to make the next one. We are going into a 3 month off season with derby here starting Saturday so my schedule will open up a bunch.

I am a pretty frustrated bandster these days. A year and a half later I have only lost 75ish pounds and have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds for the past 6 months. A few weeks ago I had a horrible PB that caused me to have a lot of acid reflux... to the point it was waking me up and I had to sleep propped up on pillows. That lasted a few days but has since gone away. I decided to wait it out for a few days before I called Dr K because I knew he would probably just prescribe Nexium and my insurance doesn't cover it. I have times that I can eat with no trouble and times that the smallest things makes me stop up like a clogged drain.

I know most of this is my fault because of my food choices. I didn't get banded to be on a diet though. I want to be able to eat (most) of the things I love just in drastically smaller portions than I used to. Maybe I just need to bust my ass with more physical excercise and see what happens with that. I took most of October off from skating, I think I made a whopping 3 practices. I was fighting a cold then a GI bug last month. I have made 3 practices this month already, in fact yesterday I skated from 2-7:30. 2 more hours on Thursday and then I am off for 3 months with only one practice a week during that time.

I know this is a horribly rambling post and I appreciate it if you made it through.

Hope to see you soon!

[Lap_dancer 8]

Drewslou... you'll want to read this post. I'm going to type an article I got from Denise at Dr. K's office. Feel better. 75 is still a lot less of you.

......... Hello friends who commented...more from me after I type this for you all. It's a great read.

Think You Need a Fill? THINK AGAIN

By Nikki Johnson

Do you remember that feeling you had when you first had your band placed? For a while, everything was great. You didn't experience hunger, you felt satisfied with a small portion of good food, you had more energy, and you were thrilled with your initial weight loss progress.

If you are like most people, your experience changed over time, Some of those feelings of hunger returned, and you stopped losing weight. You knew you needed something, so you went to your surgeon's office and asked for a "fill" right? If so, you might be surprised to learn that it is your thinking about your band, and not the band itself, that needs adjusting.

The LAP-BAND Bad Word

Paul O'Brien, MD, FRACS, is a skillful, compassionate surgeon and a foremost expert on the LAP-BAND System. he was involved in its design in the early 1990's and placed the first band in Australia in 1994. Since then, he has treated thousands of patients and is recognized worldwide for his expertise. When his patients utter that worst of four-letter words, "fill," in his office, they are asked to throw a dollar in the Red Cross donation bucket--a reminder that, according to Dr. O'Brien, thinking about a "fill" is just wrong thinking.

How can a concept that we hear about so constantly be so very wrong? Dr. O'Brien's answer is simple: "Any adjustment to the band is something that only takes place in the context of clinical consultation--part of a relationship of trust, honesty and communication between patient and surgeon--that is much more key to the success of the patient than the precise number of milliliters of Fluid in the band. This concept of partnership is the central theme of Dr. O'Brien's new book, The Lap-Band Solution--A Partnership of Weight Loss.

Patty's Note: Available on Amazon.com ISBN#9780522854121

Like many people, you might assume that weight gain or a sustained plateau means an incorrectly adjusted band; in fact, you may be right. But you may be surprised to learn that weight gain sometimes results from a band that is too tight. This is part of the reason why the "fill" concept is so misleading. If your surgeon determines that you are not losing weight as you should, then discovering why that is happening is crucial. Sometimes adding Fluid to the band will only make matters worse.

Life in the "GREEN ZONE"

Most people who have the LAP-BAND operation will have an amazing feeling of disinterest in food for the first week after surgery, before any adjustments are even made to the fluid in the band. According to Dr. O'Brien, that lack of interest in food is referred to as satiety. A related but different feeling is satiation, or the feeling you get as you are eating, precisely at the point that you don't need any more food to eat but you do not have an uncomfortable feeling of fullness. These two feelings--satiety and satiation--are what the properly adjusted band helps you achieve, allowing you to maintain your new healthier eating habits.

Your careful observation and truthful sharing of your feelings and eating behaviors, combined with the expert care and training of your surgeon and his or her staff, can make the very individual determination of whether your band is properly adjusted much more accurate. In order to help create the most effective partnership between themselves and their patients, Dr. O'Brien and his colleagues at the Australian Centre for Obesity Research and Education have developed a concept they refer to as the "Green Zone". When patients are in the green zone, they experience satiety, satiation after properly-sized small meals, and satisfactory weight loss or maintenance.

However, there are also yellow and red zones, both of which indicate that the band is not optimally adjusted. If your band is too loose, you will not have the benefits the band's hunger-controlling mechanism. If your band is too tight, you will have trouble eating properly and may actually gain weight because the foods you can eat more comfortable, that tend to be liquid and calorie-rich, like ice cream and chocolate, do not provide the proper nutrition. Learning to recognize when you have the feelings and eating behaviors that signal a problem can help you give your surgeon the information he or she needs to help you keep the band optimally adjusted.

Thinking Adjustment

Once you have eliminated the concpet of "fills" from you Lap-Band vocabulary, you will be able to let go of much of the conventional thinking connected to it. Perhaps you have heard talk about the "ideal" amount of fluid in the Lap-Band. While it may be helpful to have some idea of how much fluid is in your band, Dr. O'Brien says there is no magic number. No perfect amount of fluid will provide the best results for everyone. He says, rather, that "whatever volume of fluid is needed to achieve the [feeling of non-hunger] is the correct volume." When you notice that you are feeling hungry or are not losing weight, your body is telling you it is time to revisit your partner in weight loss -- your surgeon. your success absolutely depends on this relationship. So rather than thinking "adjustments," adjust your thinking, and, in partnership with your surgeon, find a lifetime of health!

For more information about all of the themes discussed in this article, please see Dr. O'Brien's book, The Lap-Band Solution--A Partnership for Weight Loss, which is available fro Amazon.com. We also invite you to visit LAP-BAND® System Forum - Home for more information and supportive resources.

ADD FLUID OPTIMAL REDUCE FLUID

Hungry Early and prolonged Difficulty swallowing

Big Meals satiety. Reflux - hearburn

Looking for food Small meals satisfy Night Cough

Satisfactory weight loss Regurgitation

or maintenance Poor eating behavior

.................................................................................

Friends if you contact Denise at Dr. K's office, she has index cards with the above information in COLOR and printed so that you can nicely tuck them in your purse or pocket. FREE

[Lap_dancer 8]

Hey gang!

I am a pretty frustrated bandster these days. A year and a half later I have only lost 75ish pounds and have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds for the past 6 months. A few weeks ago I had a horrible PB that caused me to have a lot of acid reflux... to the point it was waking me up and I had to sleep propped up on pillows. That lasted a few days but has since gone away. I decided to wait it out for a few days before I called Dr K because I knew he would probably just prescribe Nexium and my insurance doesn't cover it. I have times that I can eat with no trouble and times that the smallest things makes me stop up like a clogged drain.

I know most of this is my fault because of my food choices. I didn't get banded to be on a diet though. I want to be able to eat (most) of the things I love just in drastically smaller portions than I used to. Maybe I just need to bust my ass with more physical excercise and see what happens with that. I took most of October off from skating, I think I made a whopping 3 practices. I was fighting a cold then a GI bug last month. I have made 3 practices this month already, in fact yesterday I skated from 2-7:30. 2 more hours on Thursday and then I am off for 3 months with only one practice a week during that time.

I know this is a horribly rambling post and I appreciate it if you made it through.

Hope to see you soon!

DREWSLOU- I take the "purple pill" or use to...over the counter use to be RX. Does a great job on reflux. Might want to check back with Dr. K.

I can share with you that since banding, certain foods just don't cut it in my sysem anymore. In my head, I use to think this made me some kind of freak because when I was younger, part of the fun of my teen years was stoner time and eating munchy foods. When I was young, it was sleepovers and watching scarey movies and eating garbage til the first one fell asleep. food Food. Reality check for me is that now, at this time in my life, I just can't handle some foods.

Start taking notice of some of the foods that are killing your gut. Like for me tomatoes/IE Tomato sauce, is a gut buster.

Hope this helps.

[DynamoMini 1]

Mal - your Chris looks so angelic holding the kitty.

Drews - I am there with you. I am thinking I may have to concede and "diet" some to get some more weight off. I exercise a lot and still am not dropping. My food choices have deteriorated a lot since the beginning. But the band has kept me in some kind of "check" so I am not gaining a lot. i will have to give into the bandster rules of eating (yuck) to get going again. I don't know about a fill - per lap's information, I just don't know.

See you all tomorrow night.

Michelle

[Lap_dancer 8]

Mal that kitty is adorable! Nothing heals the loss of a pet like a puppy or kitten. I'll have to post photos of my cat's litter of babies that are now walking. They are soooo cute.

DynamoMIni ~~ So sorry I missed you all. Next time for sure.

VA~ Glad you liked the pics..I have more!!!

ShelbiC.and Want2beme: To answer your questions here's what happened.

After my fill at Fill Center USA in St. Pete, I had stomach pain, could be she had the needle digging around trying to find the port. Mind you she was using the fluoroscope too. She told me I had 7 in my band as she extracted the Fluid. She then re-injected the Fluid. Who knows what happened in that process. Not being there to observe, I didn't expect Dr. K to really know what happened. All I can tell you is after the Fill Center, it was about three weeks to where I started feeling hungry again. She told me my band was "almost full". I had no idea how much almost full was but learned that this was not the case from Dr. K on Friday.

The discolored fluid....I don't know. But what he did was he removed it. Then he injected me to an over restricted level so that I could feel the Water hanging up. From there we worked backwards to a good comfortable slide down the pipe with a little bit of restriction felt. Honestly, I believe I now hit my sweet spot!

There is no indication any damage was done to my band. Fill Center put in about .05 and that was gone but I was still sitting at about 7. I'm at 8 and a teensy bit more now.

I've got good satiety after my meals not feeling hungry with a stomach growl for close to four hours. I'll take that. I still have the new habit of chewing SLOWWW and no liquid with my meal. I might whet my whistle with no iced tea but other than that, I stay eating with no liquid.

My first meal after the fill was a crock (small) of french onion Soup at Bennigans. Between the cheese and soppy french bread and broth, I was FULL and was full for the next five hours before I got a signal I felt hungry. Thinking about food?? Nope.

Not thinking about food is awesome!

So I think I'm good for now.

I found a photo of me at close to my peak weight. Check out my stomach. This is where I told some of you when I walked it swung back and forth...yeah..well here are two photos of me and hubby in Seattle on vacation. About a year plus three months ago.

French kissing the totum. (not really but faking it)

and I had a girdle on!

[Mal 0]

Woof~I know my Chris is gonna be like "geee, thanks mom." I think it's cute, but I'm sure he won't be very happy with me...oh well, I'm the BOSS...LOL

and the sweater....thanks but, eeeeewwww it's going!!

Drews~It's nice to hear from you again...I missed ya'! Sorry to that you haven't been feeling well, I hope things get better for you. 75 pounds is an amazing loss! I think you look GREAT!! Don't be so hard on yourself. You are an active person and you have built up a lot of muscle. I think there is some over the counter antacids that work well, like Zantac (somethin like that).

[DrewsLou 3]

Awwww... the Melting Pot! Hubby and I went there for our anniversary last year. YUMMY!

Thanks for all your kind words everyone... you all mean the world to me! :clap2:

[Mal 0]

Drews, you ROCK and you look AMAZING! I am sooo proud of you! You are an inspiration to those that follow you in this LB journey.

Lap~Thanks for posting the info from Nikki Johnson. I get it!!!

Dr. K did my last fill the same way he did yours and so far I like the restriction. I think I am at a good spot, however, I do find that I will choose Cookies instead of chicken because it goes down easier and I know the cookie won't get stuck.....issues...or am I too tight???

Interesteing read, I am going to think about this one.

Thanks again!

and I LOVE the pictures!!

[Mal 0]

Mal,

Tonight it's The Melting Pot! I'm bad, very bad and I don't care! I'm going to enjoy a nice, fancy, event meal with my daughter at The Melting Pot! Yikes! I hope that the band helps me save money, because all these "last suppers" are really adding up!:hungry:

dee~

Yummmm...sounds good, enjoy yourself1 See ya' tomorrow night!

[Mal 0]

Here is Otis with out the sleeping Prince...

[Lap_dancer 8]

.

Lap~Thanks for posting the info from Nikki Johnson. I get it!!!

Dr. K did my last fill the same way he did yours and so far I like the restriction. I think I am at a good spot, however, I do find that I will choose Cookies instead of chicken because it goes down easier and I know the cookie won't get stuck.....issues...or am I too tight???

Interesteing read, I am going to think about this one.

Thanks again!

and I LOVE the pictures!!

Yeah, Ginger cookies here!! I was doing the same thing...ginger cookies, milk, soft power bars, two, three...I counted my calories one day and realized I was over 2500. Not good. So the slow weight loss was ME. Only I don't think I was too tight, I think I was eating the stuff that would go down easy and then having a meal on top of it just so I didn't contend with the restriction part ...restriction of things I really wasn't that hungry for. Just an offbeat sense of hunger is the bottom line. So yeah, I was doing the same thing. Not listening to my body, not paying attention like I use to.

I had medical problems...remember? the stomach thing (not related to the band) and I think I ate what would not flush through me. Getting that saline flushed out to a clean start is something I just feel better about. No stomach discomfort, nothing at all feeling funky. I'm at a good place.

That was a thought provoking read wasn't it?

[Woofay 0]

Woo hoo! No snow....doin' the no snow dance...:whoo:

I think that means I get to meet some new people! whoo hooo! (but, being Colorado, I may have just jinxed myself! A lot can happen in 10 hours!)

Lap Dancer~ I really like what you posted about the bad word "fill". And you say you got all this info from our Dr's office? I think that I may be where Taynuh was a couple of weeks ago. Just ever so slightly too tight. meat Proteins are giving me a pile of trouble and so are veggies. Rats! I've tried to resort to Protein Shakes instead of chocolate. They do make me feel better!

Dynamo~ We'll have a bit to talk about with this new bit of information, don't you think? What can we do with this? How can we make this work for us? Always a learning process!

Mal~ your kitty is so sweet! But kittens always have that look in their eye like they are ready to go off half cocked. In a moment they can be in all your rooms at the same time and spazing on your silk drapes....hahaha! Kittens...their cuteness is what brings them through that kitten stage!

Mare, you're still coming right?

Tied2bfit, Bookholder, Niknaknut~ Can't wait to meet you all! :bounce:

[Woofay 0]

Okay...just to give this a bump up....

Tuesday, Nov 13 7pm

Mare5569

DynamoMini

Tied2BFit

Bookholder

Woofay (depending on the weather~I'll see that day!)

nicnaknut

Mal

Anyone else? Tonight at Red Robin, I-25 and Arapahoe. Everyone welcome. We share band stories, problems, and have fun!

[kshoate 0]

How long does it take to get an approval code from the insurance company?

[Woofay 0]

Kshoate~I don't believe that Dr. Kirshenbaum accepts insurance for Lap Band. I believe that you can submit it after the fact to your insurance for reimbursment, but I don't know how that works. I was self pay. Maybe your insurance company could be of more assistance? (I know mine wouldn't! hahaha! They are so difficult.)

Good luck!