LAP-BAND Surgery Forums

Need to seek counseling, (I've been banded for almost two years now) but I'm checking to see if anyone on the board knows a good doctor who has dealt with WLS patients before. Prefer a psychiatrist, as I am currently on meds, but I'll take any suggestions.THANKS!

i got my date yesterday and i am sooooo excited. :Bunny i'll be in the liquid phase for thanksgiving but i couldn't care less. i can't wait. everything went so much faster than i expected. i guess since i'm self pay, the only thing to wait for is the operating room. so here i go. thanks for all of the info everyone. because of this board, my doctor was surprised that i was so well informed and had such a good idea of what to expect... enough rambling, i just had to share with you guys!

Geez--I think I had a reverse PB last night... Reverse you say..How in the Heck..... I was sitting on the couch with my daughter last night after I had eaten dinner. Dinner seemed to go down OK. I've been battling a cold for the last week or so, so I seem to be a little tighter than normal. Anyway, Sophie (all 35 pounds of her) got a little rambunctious and flopped on my stomach/lap. Didin't hurt, but holy smokes...there it was.. watering eyes, burning in the chest and mass burping. It took about 10 minutes and the feeling went away. Do you think it's possible to have a reverse PB??

tomorrow and I'm more nervous than I was the night before being banded. I hate going to the dentist, I'd rather have a baby. My question is, should I have my band doctor prescribe some antibiotic after I get this done? Do I need to tell him, my band doctor, that I had this done? Ok, now I need everyone to tell me it's gonna be ok and it's not gonna hurt and I'm not going to cancel my appt. I've got some valium I could take, but I don't want that to interfere with the nitrous she gives. Wish me luck:eek

I ate about 1.5 hrs ago, and for the last hour I've had TREMENDOUS pain around my port area. I've tryed pain meds, walking (can barely walk), heat, mint tea. It seems to be coming in waves that are almost unbearable. Any ideas?

I finally hit below 200...YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 199.5 This has taken me SO long. (I had surgery on June 7.) I started at 222.5. SO I have lost 23 pounds. MUCH less than I would have wanted by now but I am SO excited. And I am actually glad it has taken awhile because I have been able to get used to the new system. Frankly, I have had some SERIOUSLY stressful times (like not talking to MOM for several weeks and fighting with her in a way I never had before) and yet I didn't gain and was not able to turn to food like I used to, THANK GOODNESS. This is a BIG success for me and it has been HARD! Having to sit through anixety and stress without eating has really bee…

Just to throw this out there but how many people believe there is a genetic link to obesity something in our bodies just doesn't work right because no matter how much we lost in the past we always put it back. I really feel that it is genetically linked let me know how you feel

Hi everyone. I leave for MX Monday and have surgery Tuesday with Dr. Ortiz. I have read many great posts here and even had someone send me a list of needed phrases translated to Spanish. I would like some shopping advice. If I am able to go shopping, do you all have any recommendations as to where to go? Any warnings? Have you found any "bargains". I have started my liquid diet today....ugh. As I get more excited, I get more nervous. I have never even BEEN to MX....much less having surgery there! Any last minutes words from wise???? Dana

Welcome to bandland! Please post and let us know how your are doing when you get a chance. Eileen had her surgery today at 4:00 she should be out by now!

Well, I posted the other day that I was banded last week and still felt awful. I found out yesterday that I have a touch of Pneumonia! I kept using my spirometry bottle and my breathing was getting worse instead of better...so went to the Doc. SO, Instead of going back to work today, I'm off for the rest of the week and I'm on an antibiotic and have had 2 breathing treatments. I guess I am not so suprised this happened. I am very suseptible (sp?) to bronchitis, etc. My allergies and asthma kick my ass all the time. The doc did say, though, that he thinks my asthma and some allergies may get better with weight loss. Let's hope so... My emotions have been so up a…

I've gotten lazy and I've started picking up bad habits. It ends today. My band is a gift. I am so lucky that my insurance has paid for this valuable tool and I have not been making the most of it. I've been on a plateau too long, and it's my fault. Goodbye Halloween candy, poptarts, and 9 PM popcorn. I'm going back to the bandster rules. The rules that I have been ignoring. I haven't been posting lately because I know that I have been sliding. I need for you guys to help me stick to this. Remind me that I'm not alone and that others have "re-started" this process after falling off the wagon. Tell me that I can still succeed. Thanks in advance for you s…

:banana:banana We leave first thing in the morning for Monterrey! Next time I visit here I will be banded! I am scared and nervous.....but most of all excited!!!! I am so happy that it is here and almost done, the waiting was doing me in. I need all the prayers and positive thoughts coming my way that I can get! Ya'll please send me some "uneventful banding and good easy recovery" vibes on Friday!!!!!!!

Ok....how do you know if you have slipped your band off? The reason I ask is that I have been really tight and have been PB'ing. Last night though I was able to sit down in front of the TV (watching The Biggest Loser, I feel like one now...) and ate two entire pie pans full of nachos. Granted it only had cheese and jalapinos on them but I should never be able to eat that much. I am scared. I called Dr. Benevides office this morning and the fill center and have an appointment next Wednesday to look at it under fluroscopy to see if it has slipped. Any of you bandsters out there slipped your band? They say that the nurse might be able to fix it. She would pull out all the …

I will be band on Nov 4th at 9am. I wonder sometimes what I am getting myself into, but at almost 300lbs I think this will be the help I need to get my self on track. I started my liquid diet on Friday 21st. This has been a big challenge. I now realized how addictive I been to food for the last 10yrs.<O:p</O:p I am looking forward to the future and hope to be complication free thought the entire process.<O:p</O:p The most frustrating part of all is that I have decided not to tell anyone (with the exception of one friend and my spouse) about my surgery. Even other good friends of mine don't know about "my secret". I think they would become critical of my…

Hello everyone....I need advise on a few issues before I have the band done. I am soooooo much an emotional eatier. I am wondering if anyone was like that before they had the banding and if so,,,,,,,how did they handle it? This is the one concern I have and don't know if I could handle it. I am not going to fail at this.....I have been waiting too long. Any advise would be greatfully! Thank you, Nancy

I have made my last purchase at Lane Bryant. They have forever lost me as a customer. I can still fit into their clothes at the moment DH and I went to the mall. I tried on pants at J.C. Penny, Sears, Dillard's, Foley's and consistantly wore a size 18 pants (sometimes 16's) and 1x shirts. I then went to Lane Bryant. I couldn't even get a pair of 20 stretches on my butt. I would have to buy at least a 22 or 24 to be able to button them!! I would have had to purchase a 22/24 shirt at L.B. as well. I don't know if they (L.B.) are wanting to make women feel like they are to fat to shop elsewhere or what. But that is a real morale killer in my opinion. I went back to Se…

Today I have been banded for one year. I sure can’t believe it has been a whole year. I can still remember searching for a doctor, waiting for the date to get here and being scared and excited all at once. I have had great weight losses, and long plateaus, but I don’t regret for one moment getting my band. I feel like the band has not only saved my life, but it has given me a whole new life. I can do so many things now that I couldn’t do before: I can take long walks, climb stairs without feeling like I am going to pass out. I can get up off the floor without help, I can bend over, do exercises, work in the yard, run, look people in the face instead of at th…

I had a shake this morning 30 P. Then hot and spicy soup (chinese) They went to a work thingy with some food. Had a glass of wine, a very small open face turkey sandwich. They had french bread sliced thin with Turk and cranberries on it. 2 bites of cake. That was between 6:30 and 8. Had pain in stomach. Had some pain meds 1st time in weeks! now I feel weak dizzy and nausues can;t spell either. So I figured it is lack of protien so I made a shake.My face is cold and the rest of me is hot. Is this lack of food? Or is there something else going on?should i call doc tonight or wait a while and see how i feel.

1....("I, am one bad habit") away from being fat! Such as Eatting when I'm not even hungery! 2. No person needs two plates of food at a setting. 3.Never deny your self a treat just use portion control. 4.never put of today what you plan to start tommorrow Get up and exercise! 5.Control your food intake. 6.never reward your self with a food treat unless it's healthy. 7. if you have to stick something in your face let it be healthy. 8.If you find your self out to Eat put half of your food in a container and bring home with you. 9.All the all you can eat buffet's sould be off limit,s unless you have good control (" And I" fall short half the time on this") 10.Find …

My port area has always been sensitive, but for the last 3 days if i bend over just a little or turn i feel this sharp pain near my belly button !!! It's a sharp pain and it's freaking me out. Has anyone had pain like this before? Please help me out here. I called my doc and he said it could be scar tissue healing, but if it persists i should go to emergency. I just want to hear other opinions. Thanks, RUBINA

Has anybody been approved with a BMI of 37 with UHC?

My surgery is scheduled for Thursday Nov 3rd I havr to be there at 6 am. I have been back and fourth 100 times of why i should not go through with it, but i guess I will. Pray for Me Melanie

I LOVE Water. I drink a minimum of 64 oz a day... usually more on days I work out. Will I still be able to drink my water like I am now if I get banded? I am most concerned with when I work out, I usually drink 24-32 oz in a one hour period. Does the thimble sized sipping last forever? Or just in the beginning?

Howdee all~ I had a doctors appointment today and I found out that I lost FIVE pounds since my last visit with him four weeks ago. I am starting to think my house scale is a big liar~~ According to my doctors fancy schmancy scale, I weighed in today at 222.5. My last weigh in with them was 227.5......According to my scale I weigh in at 219. I am going to keep using my scale for the Fall Weight Loss Challange weigh ins.....cause it does show a decrease in weight...soooooo we will get it as accurate as we can..When I was at the doctors today, she laid me down on the exam table, so she could poke and prod at my belly and she said "Oh my gosh would you look at how FLAT your…

Ok Charlotte area bandsters with United Health Care: 1. Did any of you have a BMI under 40? 2. If so, what (if any) co-morbidities do/did you have?

I’m so glad to have found a group of people who really understand, but sometimes coming to this board makes me so sad. I’ve felt so alone in my struggles with my weight. I stood there and pretended like I didn’t care when my father told me I was fat, ugly and stupid, when my sister complained about gaining 5 pounds and having to buy a size 6, when my friends went to the club and flirted and learned how to date and talk to boys, while I sat there, invisible, when my friends went to the beach and I stayed home because I didn’t want to be the sweaty fat girl, when I went shopping with my friends who did not realize that if there was no Lane Bryant store, there was …

A blonde called her boyfriend and said, "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started." Her boyfriend asked, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?"The blonde said, "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger." Her boyfriend decided to go over and help with the puzzle. She let him in and showed him where she had the puzzle spread allover the table. He studied the pieces for a moment, then looked at the box, then turned to her and said, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger." He took her hand and sa…

I am having surgery next week and was wondering if it is normal procedure to be catheterized during surgery?

I have seen bandsters mention they "forget to eat" or are "never hungry". I think that is great... but doesn't it make you very lethargic and tired if you don't have proper nutrition?? :cry I can't imagine eating only a few cups of food for the entire being enough to sustain my body. :cry I am sure that it is, seeing as everyone here is alive and kicking.... Do you ever just feel TIRED and WEAK???

I had my first fill on Monday and the next morning I woke up with these huge ugly bags under my eyes. I thought it was because I had not got enough sleep, even though that had never happed before. I went to bed early last night, but the bags are there and now they are even worse!!! I look horrible! Has anybody ever had this kind of reaction or have any explaination of what it could be?

I went to a campaign kick-off party tonight and it is so hard to follow the band rules with snacky/finger food. I ended up eating 1 stuffed mushroom, 1 cookie, 1 mini piece of pizza, 1 chicken on a stick thingee, 1 potsticker, 1 slice of a rollup thing, 1 artichoke thingee, 1 carrot stick w/ dip, 1 bite of hummus, and I came home and ate 2 mini candy bars b/c I never got satisfied and full like I would have if I had just sat down and ate a regular meal. That is SO much more than I could eat at one meal but b/c I was just mingling and nibbling for 3 hours of this party I ended up eating way too much and never feeling full. How do you handle it when you are at something lik…

I had my first fill this afternoon by Jessie at Northwest Weight Loss Surgery and was in and out the door in 10 minutes...that included taking my shoes off, weighing-in and getting the fill! (My doctor does not have his patients do the barium/fluoroscope unless absolutely necessary. I don't know if that is trpical of most doctors or not). Amazingly, I did NOT feel a thing! She was done before I even knew she had done the procedure! (I was staring at the ceiling as she instructed me to do, reading the chart overhead.) The person who did my fill is one of the best in the US and wrote the book: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595311148/qid=1130296666/sr=…

I read posts here quite often and almost always, without fail, I see the words "I feel like a failure" in a thread. Let's stop this self-destructive behavior RIGHT NOW! Let's band together (no pun intended) and tell whatever friggin demon lives in our heads to go to hell! Despite whatever binging or poor eating habits we may have (and we ALL have them or we wouldn't be here) this thought process just CAN'T be good. I can only imagine that thinking you're a failure causes you to ACT like a failure. If we think it, we make it happen. So, let's choose to change our bad habits, not look back on the bad things we think we've done, and look to to the future! I've made horr…

Can anyone help refresh my overloaded brain as to where I might find template letters for PCPs? I have everything in order including pre-op testing, op-date, insurance approval etc. etc., but I need a letter from my PCP stating medical clearance/necessity. When I spoke to her she asked me to provide her with a template letter that she could fax to my surgeon today. I want to make sure that the wording is correct so I don't have to do this over again. Thanks for any direction or advice! puffyone:glasses

I was banded last Thursday, June 30th 2005. I feel compelled to share a whole list of personal observations regarding pre and post surgery. In some cases these end up being recommendations. If they don't help maybe they will at least raise a smile or two. I should qualify all of this in advance though by saying that this was the smartest decision I've ever made. --------------------- Pre/Post Surgery ---------------------------------- 1.) Hairy Chest - If you are a man (or ....gulp....maybe even a woman) with a hairy chest, shave the damn thing yourself before surgery. The rat bastard who shaved me during the procedure nicked my right nipple so bad to where I have mor…

I had my surgery on Sept 8 and I am very proud to say that I have lost 23 pounds. It has been six weeks and the dr told me after 6 weeks I could excercise strenously. I wanted to join curves and I also wanted to do body wraps. Have any of you done the body wraps. Or is a waste of money$$$$$

How much weight in a month does everyone lose? In the beginning I lost quickly now I have been playing with losing like 2 pounds in a month. and strangley to say just tonight my husband said to me are you still dieting it hurt kind of because its true I haven't lost lately let me know how you guys feel thanks.

Hi all. Tried to find this by searching, and came up with nothing. I know "money" isn't a popular topic for many of us, but I'm curious to know... Have any of you used your surgery as a tax write-off? I looked at the IRS website today after someone I know who doesn't have insurance was talking about writing off their bypass surgery. I looked at the IRS website, and under Publication 502, here's what I found: Weight-Loss Program [/url]You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to lose weight if it is a treatment for a specific disease diagnosed by a physician (such as obesity, hypertension, or heart disease). This includes fees you pay for mem…

Up til about a month ago, I would receive emails when posts I participated in were responded to, but now I don't get them anymore. I checked my settings and it looks like I'm still set up to get emails instantly, but don't get any at all. Has there been an LBT change in policy or am I doing something to cause this? Just wondering if anyone else is having this?

Yes I puked on myself and ruined a shirt and now my Camaro smells like puke. Awwwwwww, well this was something new that happened to me. Yesterday I didn't have time to grab Breakfast before going to an eye Dr.'s apt. I ran through the drive-threw at something called a Hi-Boy - never ate there before - but it was close. I ordered a junior cheesburger ONLY MUSTARD and a child's size pumpkin shake at the last second. I know this was a no-no so no one better say anything like that - I was starving and made a bad decision that I now won't ever repeat. So I'm eating the cheesburger and I thought I was taking small bites and chewing thoroughly - but apparently I wasn't.…

I finally joined Curves and I LOVE it. So far I've gone twice and can't wait to go back tomorrow. I'm shooting for Mon/Wed/Fri at Curves and eventually working in walking on my off days. I've lost all my weight so far without working out.. I can't wait to see how my clothes feel once I start toning up and losing inches!

Girls...I'm exploring the lap band idea and have 2 questions...anyone use a DR near Philadelphia??? And....will pizza be lost forever?? Hel

sorry testing changess i made

Hey, I work at a very friendly place. Everyone is great and cares for one another, very close. Well I know that once I start going on my liquid diet and when i want to take off of work I will have many questions. (For one because we were all doing Weight Watchers together and suddenly i'm going straight liquids) and I NEVER take off of work (I teach elementary school). So what do I tell them? Like specifics. Just saying "something medical" won't work, and I feel as if they will wonder what is going on if i don't open up like I usually do. Help! Oh yeah, went for my EKG today and am planning on surgery (my first one ever) the monday before thanksgiving.

Hi all, I wanted to let you all know about something I am doing that I have NEVER done. I am going on a airplane!!!!! I know this may sound wierd for some, but at 351 lbs before, I never wanted to do that, but at 198 lbs I am ready. I am flying from Maine to Indiana to see my best friend. I haven't seen her since my surgery July 2004 when she came up to be there for my surgery. The funny thing is she doesn't know I am coming . Her husband is picking me up at the airport and then I will arrive to see her. I am going without my husband, or kids. My husband is very supportive, and I wanted to always do something special when I finially hit under 200 pounds, and my husban…

Went to see my lap band nurse today to complain about the constant uncomfortable feeling I have by my rib on my left side. I thought this was my band - my port - my something......NOPE!!! None of that. She showed me where my band was (in the middle) I had no idea. And then she had me feel for the port - down lower in the middle toward the left front.....no where near the area of discomfort I kept thinking was my problem. I told her I had thought they had lied to me when they told me I would not be able to feel the band after I healed. I kept feeling this discomfort on my side and I thought it was my band cause I just had surgery July 25, 2005 - so I assumed th…

I was banded on August 8th and wonder how others are doing and if they have experienced any of the same things. I am thrilled with my band and wouldn't trade it for anything. I have lost 41 pounds as of today and feel so much better already. 1) It seems at times that the band is tighter than others. 2) Sometimes when I am sitting it is hard for food to go down. Wonder if this is because my underwire hits about the same place as the band 3) I am almost never hungry! I forget to eat most of the time. This is a VERY different feeling for me! 4) Have already experienced the chest pain and having to throw up -- taught me not to eat things I shouldn't! 5) Hard t…

:bored Well, I thought I would be enjoying my last weekend before my surgery -- maybe a little "last suppering", wrapping up loose ends for my kids before I head to surgery etc. Instead it is gross, cold, and raining and I am bored/anxious and getting nervous. I was never nervous before now because I know I am doing the right thing. I am so informed, have just completed the best bariatric program, and have tons of support. But all of a sudden I have cold feet. While not looking forward to the physical part of surgery, most of my worry involves after the surgery. What if I break the rules? What if I don't loose? What if I have a ton of complications? All of a sudden I need…

Last week I had my visit with dr bauman, he said my BMI was 39.4 and that I didn't qualify because it was under 40. Has anyone else had bmi lower than 40, I do have hypertension and it's treated with medicine. Just curious. Actually, I'm looking for encouragement that I will get approved. THe insurance lady felt that it was worth while sending it in to UHC. Jennifer

I have just been approved by my insurance company with no surgery date yet. I keep reading in the posts mentions of PB's. This may be a stupid question but what are they????