Finally out of the 30s

SB0233 · September 13, 2008

I finally reached 29.9 on the BMI chart today!! I am no longer labeled as "obese". I say labeled because I really hate these categories the medical community lumps everyone into.

The last 6 weeks I have been loosing really slowly, but I guess it's not about how fast you go in this race, it's about finishing. Never really thought I would identify with a tortoise. Next stop "healthy"???

Chrisann · September 13, 2008

That is so cool, I was estatic yesterday when my BMI was 39.5, out of the 40's!

I like your number so much better.

dianegoe · September 14, 2008

Hi Everyone,

First I'd like tosay everytime I come to this site, they seem to have changed the home page. Why? Then I want to say that I went to a gym in Spain today and after working out, I weighed myself and in kilos I was 80.6 Kelos so I came home and did that math and that means I weigh 177#. I am down 10 lbs since moving to Spain 3 weeks ago. I now have a BMI of 30. I can't believe it. I can even wear size 12 pants! I am in heaven. There still is one small problem. I seem to go a few days just fine, then for no reason nothing will go thru this band and I drink shakes. When I go home in December I will probably have the Dr. remove so Fluid from this thing because I am tired of being bulemic. I hope everyone is doing well. Diane:tt1:

SB0233 · September 15, 2008

That is so cool, I was estatic yesterday when my BMI was 39.5, out of the 40's!
I like your number so much better. :cursing:

Congrats Chrisann. 39.5 is a huge milestone. Looks like you are almost 1/2 way to your goal. Keep up the good work. :lol:

SB0233 · September 15, 2008

...There still is one small problem. I seem to go a few days just fine, then for no reason nothing will go thru this band and I drink shakes. When I go home in December I will probably have the Dr. remove so Fluid from this thing because I am tired of being bulemic. I hope everyone is doing well. Diane:tt1:

I have the same issue. My level of restriction fluctuates constantly. Could be hormones, stress, who really knows. It also means that I have many weeks with no or little weight loss, and then some with huge losses. But I have found it easier to just leave well enough alone as far as fills. I had my last fill in June and although there are days when I am super tight, and days when I am not, I worry that if I take some Fluid out, I will have no restriction. Good luck at your next appointment.

dianegoe · September 19, 2008

Hi Everyone,

As you know I am in Barcelona Spain with my daughter for 3 mos. while she goes to school here. On Monday I told you I had lost 10 lbs. But I was not able to eat Monday night, I think it's because I had a Vitamin get stuck Monday morning, and maybe it caused swelling. Anyway, I could not eat Monday night, or Tuesday morning, but I was able to drink liquids. By Wednesday I could not get yogurt pass the band. By Thursday I could not even drink Water without throwing up so I went to a hospital here in Spain by myself in a taxi. Let me tell you it was not my idea of fun. When I finally found a Dr. who could speak English, he had never heard of the lapband and I was trying to get them to take Fluid from the port. Which is near impossible beacuse my Dr. left it so long it's looped twice and has a kink that looks like this ^near the port so it's really hard to get fluid out. So they started an IV and sent me to x-ray where the tech said, "what you have in you body? I never seen that before", things got worse. I go back upstairs and they try oh about 4 times to get fluid out, and then tell me it will be 4 hours before they can get an ultasound to see the port better. I am calling my husband in AZ. to call my Dr. He tells me the Dr. says there are alot of Drs. in Spain familiar with lapband, and I say really who? My husband tells me can't I get a phone book and look. I remind him I am in the hospital with an IV in my left wrist, and the phone book, if there is one, will be in Spanish, AND I DON"T READ SPANISH and my speaking ability is not that good either. So 4 hours later they come back and tell me no ultrasound, in the morning they will do a barium swallow and if nothing goes thru, then they will do surgery to remove the band. I tell them once again to try to remove the fluid, or just open the old incision and pull the tube and draw out the fluid which they say they cannot do. So the Dr pokes me 3 more times and is able to get out about 1/4 cc which is better than nothing. I say I want to go home and she says now I need the barium swallow in the morning. I say give me some water and she doesn't want to and I say well if I can't swallow water, than I can't swallow barium. So she gives me 3 oz of water which I am able to sip. I tell them I am going home. It takes 2 more hours (I went in there at 2pm and now it's 2 in the morning) I am in some kind of holding area with bright lights and very sick looking people and I feel as though I am going to get some weird dreaded disease. So they finally let me leave and tell me to come back in the morning if I am not better. I have been able to drink water, juice and now I am trying a watery Protein Shake that seems to be going down. I am afraid to eat anything solid yet. Do you think I just caused some swelling around the band when I choked on the vitamin on Monday? I am not going to have surgery here. If I continue to have problems I am going home. But, I have not had a fill since May. And sometimes I can be fine for a week, and other times I have to throw up for no reason. So, it has not been a fun week and yesterday I was scared being in a hospital with people who do not understand me. I have new sympathy for the immigrants in our country who do not speak our language. Sorry for the long post. has anyone had fluid removed from their ports yet. I knew from the beginning this would be a problem because my Dr. could never draw back fluid to see if he was in my band. I had a x-ray taken 2 mos after the surgery and I saw it was kind of kinked and he said it wasn't, but now he says it is, and I will have to have the incision opened up and he can remove the port and fix the tubing and put the port back and then it will be fine. So, if this isn't better I will go home to have it fixed. Has anyone else had this happen to them with food and water not even going thru? What did you have to do? Do you think that now that I can drink, it should be OK? Sorry for the long post, just need your opinions. Diane:redface:

RedTulips3 · September 23, 2008

Congrats SB and Diane on your respective major NSVs! Woohoo!

Diane,

wow! I can't imagine what you went through having the issues you're having, especially being in a foreign country! I can't really be of much help because I haven't had such issues. I only had one episode where I couldn't get anything down except Water after swelling up from getting stuck. If everything gets better and you stay in Barcelona, maybe you want to look into getting your tubing shortened and "de-kinked" when you get back to the U.S.? You should be able to get your fills out of the band, specifically for cases like this when it's an emergency. I hope now that it's been a few days since this that everything is okay! Sending you well wishes!

HeatherO · September 24, 2008

dianegoe,

I had the same exact issue. I got a little sick on a Sunday night, and got progressively worse every day until I could not get Water down by Thursday and had to go for an emergency unfill. My stomach was swollen from getting sick and it caused a snowball effect because I would go on liquids for a while, try to progress to mushies, get sick and pb, causing more swelling in the stomach . . . and repeated repeatedly.

I got 2 cc's taken out on the 29th of August, it was instant immediate relief and afterwards I could eat anything, and I do mean anything. It was like being unbanded. I got 1.5 cc's put back in yesterday and I am at good restriction again.

My previous fill went from the end of April to the end of August with absolutely no problems. I was at my sweet spot. It only took getting sick one time to cause this issue. I asked the nurse and she said that it does have the ability to snowball in that if you get really sick, it can keep progressing until you need an unfill within a couple of days.

My nurse also said to take Motrin to relieve the inflammation in the stomach if this ever happens again. She said Motrin is OK for use on a very occasional basis and works great to relieve swelling in this specific situation, but you should never use it regularly or for an extended period because it is rough on the stomach.

She also said that I might have been able to avoid the unfill if I would have stayed on liquids for a couple of days uninterrupted combined with Motrin. My cycle of trying to get back to normal foods too soon just added extra aggravation to my already swollen stomach.

I am sorry you had to go through that in Spain, it was pretty terrible here in Ohio . . . and being abroad in a foreign hospital with people that are unfamiliar must have been very frightening and intimidating.

I am going to Turkey for several weeks in mid-October and I am scared to death of having a similar situation so that is why I asked the nurse not to replace my fill level 100%.

I hope you feel better very soon.