sophrosyne

I never thought I equated food with love, until I had a baby. And I noticed that I was feeding her, to show her love. Good thing I caught that in time.

To be angry if someone refuses your food - you should work on that. They're not refusing you, or turning you away, they're just refusing food. They don't need to take some to be polite. They're perfectly within their rights to refuse it, and it is not a personal affront.

My mom's got the same problem. Part of the reason why I wound up so fat.

The cake thing, however, was just rude. I can see why you'd be upset about that.

Every time I try to diet, (I'm pre-op), I swear, I panic. I start eating more than I do when I'm not trying to diet - as if this might be the last time I eat that particular food. I feel like I'm starving, all the time. Anyone else feel that way? And I know it *has* to be psychological.

So, I decided to try a pre-op type of diet before I make my mind up about the lap-band. (Okay, so I'm a wuss). But I figure I need to do it anyway, and if I can stay on it for any length of time, the weight loss will be a bonus.

And what I would up doing was eating most of what I normally eat, but adding Protein Shakes (and more calories) into the mix. (I tried to substitue a shake for a meal, and I'd feel fine - for an hour - and then I'd get so incredibly hungry).

How can I stop being so hungry? After my c-section, my stomach was swollen so much, I didn't want to eat, and it took months to be able to keep food down anyway. If it wasn't for the need to consume calories to make milk, I would have probably lost a lot more weight during that period, instead of forcing myself to consume liquid calories until I could get my stomach to eat semi-normally again.

But now that I can eat again, I feel like I'm starving all the time - especially if I'm dieting. How can I stop that feeling? I just bought some Dexatrim "natural" - green tea and caffeine. It only works for a few hours though. Maybe I need to increase my dosage?

At this rate, I have no idea how I'm going to do the pre-op diet. So, now I'm trying just to reduce my intake first, before substituting the shakes for food. But today, between 6am and 12pm, I've had a South Beach bar, a few sips of a soda, an apple, an orange and a lunchable. And I still feel hungry.

What tricks/tips do you have for making the hunger thing go away while you're doing pre-op dieting? At this rate, my liver's never gonna get small enough.

What about trying shashimi? It's like sushi, but without the rice.

Is it worth it? With the long-term complications, like erosion and gastro-esophageal problems, is it worth it?

I was all set to get a band, until I was reading about the long-term problems on the board. They seem pretty common for those who have been banded 2+ years. And I just got off Prilosec. Don't want to spend the rest of my life back on it.

Is it worth it? I'm having second thoughts. Has anyone just gotten banded for under 2 years and then had the band removed once the weight goal was attained?.

I'm at 41 BMI, about 100 lbs to lose, so it's not as if my life depends on it - yet. Am I better off doing it and getting it removed? Not doing it at all? I'm so confused!

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question, and with such great detail-I really appreciate it. I'm glad to know the band has helped without having to go crazy. I have a fairly low BMI and need to lose about 80lbs, so it might take longer to lose the weight than it would if I had a higher BMI, but my concerns are eased by your responses. I am already relacing one meal a day with a Protein shake, and seeing a food addition councellor, so I feel I am doing the right things to get prepared for the surgery. Although surgery isn't covered by my insurance, at least the councelling is! Thank you all again!

More and more HMOs are covering the surgery. I too have a 41 BMI and about 100 lbs. to lose. I'm going to try replacing a meal a day with a Protein Shake, and see how that works out. If I can do it at all, without a band, I'll give it a shot. What I was reading on the board today kinda shook me.

Why stop at three?

Harrison Ford

George Clooney

Brad Pitt

Michael Greyeyes

Angeline Jolie

A woman at work went to Dr. Paya and she loves him. She's lost 89 lbs. since last January, and has had no problems with her band. She said that the pre-op liquid diet was 3 days when she did it, but she's heard it's down to 1 day now. And she was back on mushies within a couple weeks post-op. She loves her band.

I'm going to call my HMO PCP and try to start the process this week.

There's another thread on here that's very informative about fills. It says, basically, that as you lose weight, your stomach shrinks. And as it shrinks, you need another fill to keep the band tight.

Thanks.

Yeah, I was diagnosed with GERD many years ago (stomach valve wouldn't close). After my c-section, it went away.

It's been 11 months since my c-section, and I'm just starting to get back to normal. (They took out most of my organs and removed a tumor as well as the baby, before stuffing the organs back in). Is it too soon to have another operation or should it be okay?

Thanks. That was really helpful!

I had heard that banding can cure GERDS, but then I noticed a bunch of posts about stomach erosion, reflux, etc.

How does the band affect GERD?

Does the band help mask stomack symptoms until they get so bad, you have stomach erosion?

Can they do an endo before they insert the band, to make sure everything's okay?

I had a c-section last year, and have dealt with a lot of the same side effects I've been hearing about the banding - gas, no poop, gurgling tummy, not being able to swallow food, etc. All of which have lessened over time. And, as a bonus, the GERD seems to have vanished post-op. And I don't want it back.

Except now my tummy's gurgling.

How do they do fills, what does it feel like, does it hurt?

What's up with the pre-op diets? The dr. that does banding out here only has you do a liquid pre-op diet for - it used to be 3 days, now it's 1 day.

Why do some drs. insist on weeks of liquid dieting pre-op? Heck, if I could stay on a liquid diet for weeks at a time, I wouldn't need the banding!

I was just wondering about clothes. I'm in the process of getting a referral for the banding. Please include me in the group. I'm currently wearing 20-22, but I also have bags of 18 and I'm looking forward to getting to the point where all of them will be too big and I can ship them to someone else.

I just got an HMO that pays for gastric surgery. So I'm thinking about getting the lap-band, and I'm considering Dr. Mark Paya. Any recommendations / opinions?

Also, I was googling lap-bands and I ran across a place in San Fran that said that, due to their patient's experiences, they can't in good conscience, recommend this surgery anymore. What's that about?

Are there obsolete type of banding surgeries? Is there a specific type of band I should be looking for?