tangerine

I'm cranky, I'm clingy, I'm needy, I'm bitchy, I'm bloaty. I'm hating everything about being a woman right now and I'm hating my band even more. After all this time, I've learned some ways to deal with my emotions rather than stuffing them down with food, but PMS is hitting me hard this month and nothing is working. All I want to do is eat. I CAN'T EAT!

I figured I'd drive 20 minutes to get a take out salad from the new Saladworks. Normally, I'd just pop through Wendy's or go to Subway or something to get a salad, but I figured I'd treat myself with a trip to Saladworks. I got a nice garden salad with extra cucumbers and broccoli, diced chicken and balsamic vinaigrette. Two bites, gets stuck, goes down after much spitting saliva into the sink.

Decide maybe I need something a little easier to eat. Drive to Taco Bell, get a crunchy taco with fire sauce. Three bites of taco, I'm done. It's stuck. Repeat steps above. Hate to vomit and will happily drool until it goes down or I have no other choice. Taco goes down, the rest gets thrown out and I give up.

I should be happy that my band kept me from binging, but I'm not. Usually I am, usually I'm ecstatic, but damnit, I had NO restriction yesterday, but I wasn't feeling nearly as PMS-y so I ate normally. Today I'm totally PMS-y and I can't eat. Grr. GRRR! I'm sure I'll be happy later that I didn't go hog wild with the food, but right now I'm just pissed. I couldn't even enjoy the food that I did eat, because each bite hurt. Guess the head issues never really go away and the only thing we can do now is deal with them, instead of eating. But, totally whiny, I don't *wanna* deal with them today. Hmmph. Thanks for letting me vent. :mad:

You really, really have to be careful here. As everyone else said, throwing up is NOT a good thing. If you're following all of the bandster eating rules (tiny bites, chewing thoroughly, eating slowly, etc) and still throwing up at least once a week, you ARE TOO TIGHT. And going back to eat more after you throw up is never a good idea. Throwing up causes the stoma to swell, and most surgeons and experienced bandsters recommend staying on soft foods/liquids for the rest of the day.

In 14 months of banded life, I've thrown up 4 times. Once was one bite too many, once was a cranky stomach day (threw up after my first bite, dangit!) and twice was on those huge dayquil horse pills that I'll never, ever try to swallow again. Vomiting should really not become a daily or weekly thing, and if it does, you need to talk to your doctor about it right away.

Hi DeLarla

I moved your post into a thread of its own, so hopefully you'll get more responses this way. Also feel free to post on the Nevada board, listed under states.

As far as I've seen, there is no reason to be worried about Mexico. Which surgeon are you going to? I've been around lap-band boards for a long time and have only heard the best about most of the Mexico surgeons. Good luck!

My surgery was done by Dr. Kurian. I love her. She is very to the point, but once you get to know her a bit, she is very warm and friendly. She doesn't take any crap or excuses though. I have the utmost confidence in her surgical ability, and really like her as a person. The only con is that her office is quite busy and she often gets swamped with patients, resulting in a short visit. She will most definitely take her time with you if you're having a problem though.

Good luck! I haven't been around here in a while, or I would have posted about her sooner.

Alexandra, you're doing great!

I thought I'd chime in here with a BCBS question too. I have BCBS of NJ PPO, do you know how they are with reconstructive surgery? I have horrible hip and back pain from my hanging skin and my belly button gets infected all of the time. Some insurance carriers won't cover these things even when medically necessary, so I'm wondering how BCBS is with it. No way will I be able to save enough money for a Tummy Tuck in the near future and I'm going to need one fairly soon.

Thanks!

Carol, there was a 70 year old man who made it through the class without a problem, so I don't want to hear age excuses!

Kiera, I'm not in too bad of shape fitness-wise. I'm better than I was when I weighed 350, but not nearly as good as I could be. But, walking on the treadmill at 3.5mph with hills barely gets my heart rate up. Kickboxing definitely got my heart moving, but it wasn't overly strenuous. You kick as high as you want to. The higher you kick, the more strenuous, so, if you keep your kicks lower to start out with, you can build up to higher kicks.

It was great fun, and I'm definitely going back to the class tomorrow!

If any of you should belong to a gym that offers kickboxing, try it! Not just tae bo, but real kickboxing, with gloves and heavy bags. Oh man, I went today and it was SO much fun! Didn't know if I'd make it through the class, but amazingly enough, I did. Good for releasing stress and aggression too.

If you've ever thought about trying it, DO IT! I had SO much fun.

You guys can count me in for nutty too! If I hear the word "carb" anymore, I'm going to go postal on someone. Whatever happened to healthy, balanced eating?

My cousin, who is an Atkins follower, was watching me eat a banana the other day. I asked her if she wanted some because I wasn't going to eat the whole thing, but she declined, saying that she hasn't had a banana since she started Atkins over a year ago. She continued to watch me eat it, drooling. It's a friggin' banana! What harm could a banana do to a normal person? It's not as if I were sitting there eating a box of chocolates (I wish!)..it was a BANANA! EAT IT! lol

:banana

Bullit, check out my web log, www.xanga.com/scarletini

I just wrote up two posts about life with the band for me, and the reasons why I chose the lap-band over the bypass.

As far as vomiting goes, I haven't vomited since 1992. I've also been banded for almost a year and haven't PB'd. Things have gotten stuck, but they always seem to go down instead of coming back up. Of course, I'm sure PBing at one point is inevitable, but it doesn't sound nearly as bad as a full fledged vomit. Good luck to you!

Ooooh...I'm a bloggggggggggger! YAY!

Anne, thanks for the compliment! I do feel much better these days and I'm sure it shows.

Becky, yes, please keep reading! The more people I think read the darn thing, the more likely I am to update it..lol I'm finding it very nice to write out my thoughts.

Never thought I'd jump on the blogwagon, but I wanted somewhere to chronicle this band process in one spot and didn't feel like taking the time to build a website, so I did it! Come visit me if you like! http://www.xanga.com/scarletini

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife. Please keep us posted.

I know she'll be okay, someone's gotta keep a wiseguy like you in line!

Wow, guys, thanks! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post again, we had to ire another bartender at work, so I've been going crazy training someone new. One of the owner's friends who has never bartended before. Oy!

Sue, I had been wondering how the "kid" was doing. Glad she's happy with her reduction. I'll definitely want some sort of reduction or lift, depends on how close to goal I get and how I'll look then. I hear ya on the draperies...a Tummy Tuck is most definitely in my future!

Shelly, I don't think I really have a secret. I haven't cut out any of the food groups. I do try to get in Protein first, but I don't go low-carb. My brain simply can't survive on a low-carb diet, I get fuzzy and my memory goes. I need a good memory for work, so I don't risk it. I guess I eat healthy compared to how I ate before surgery. My pre-surgery diet consisted of fast food (usually two whole value meals) and chocolate. I could go for days eating nothing but chocolate. I do still eat chocolate when I crave it, but I force myself to have a more structured meal plan around it. I tend to use the meal plans at www.ediets.com and really like them. As far as exercise, I've been really lax in that department. My job keeps me active, but at this point, not active enough, so I'm going to be rejoining the gym this week.

Getting a fill next week too, hopefully! When I saw her last month, I had a horrible cold/flu thing going on and she didn't want to fill me because of the mucus. Desperately needing a fill now though. That combined with exercise should jumpstart me again. Was nice having a break over the holidays though. Sometimes weight loss on top of everything else going on is just too much to think about!

Sorry for rambling. Thanks again, everyone! Sometimes it helps me to see my pics together to get an idea of how far I've come. When I look in the mirror, I'm still fat, just not *as* fat, so that gets discouraging at times.

Ditto! Work has been crazy lately, so I haven't gotten here as much as I'd like, but I wanted to second Sue's post! Thank you!

Oh God, *those* things! They're sticking out way too far! I've gone from a 48 to a 40, but the darn things are still DDDs! Oh well, I guess a reduction will be in my future. Here's to perky boobs!

Ooops, forgot my before pic!

Okay, so it's still a large shape, but it's a shape! My goodness, I even have a butt. Never had a butt before, couldn't see it with all of my back fat. Wow, I'm stoked.

Hope everyone had happy holidays!

Hi Sultana!

Thanks for the congrats. Dr. Kurian is a great surgeon, don't let her scare you. Sometimes she's very blunt and we don't always want to hear what she has to say! She is very caring though, and will give you as much time during appointments as you need.

As for grieving, as Alexandra said it's not the loss of food that gets me, because I can still eat just about everything I did before surgery. What gets me from time to time is the overwhelming desire to binge, and knowing I can't. It's very frustrating at times, but it is getting easier over time.

It's great that you're an overacheiver and will work hard with the band. One word of caution though, don't expect perfection! Most likely you will test the band, you will get food stuck, you will give in to bad cravings from time to time. But this isn't about being perfect, it's about changing our habits over a very long period of time. It's going to take a lot of trial and error and a lot of perserverance. Not always fun, but always rewarding!

Good luck to you! Maybe I'll see you at Dr. K's office someday.

Oh, thank God everything is okay!

You know, I get pains when I wear tight jeans too. I'm also more inclined to eat less, since I feel more restricted. Weird.

Originally posted by GeezerSue

Novel concept for me. I'm working on it, really:

NOT HUNGRY = DON'T EAT

This is the hardest thing, IMHO, to overcome.

Way to go Alexandra!

Tonia, I'm glad you're going to get this checked out immediately.

Best of luck, I really hope everything's okay!

I do eat breakfast shortly after waking. I'm almost always very hungry when I wake up. It's the meal that I have to be the most careful with though. Usually I have something small, my latest kick has been a mini bagel toasted *really* well with a slice of 2% cheddar cheese on it. I have to take really small bites and chew very well, but it satisfies me and qualifies as breakfast. If I don't have that, I have a crunchy type Protein bar (Zone bar usually) or yogurt with The Baker brand pecan granola.

As far as the liquids thing goes, I know that for me, a Protein shake or yogurt fill me up when I have good restriction, and tend to keep me full almost as long as solid food. And calorie-wise, I don't have to consume any more of these than I do of solid food to satisfy me. So to the Mexican-Doctor-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless-And-Likes-To-Mess-With-Fat-Peoples'-Minds, I say...well, I can't really say what I want to say here. If a full liquid in the morning will satisify you and doesn't take more than solid food, there's no reason why you shouldn't go that route. I think it's when we start using less than solids to get around a tighter fill all the time that we can run into problems. A yogurt or Protein Drink for breakfast ain't gonna kill anyone.

Originally posted by tosha

I'm I worrying over nothing?

Yes.

You're losing weight, right? You're not shoveling food in past warnings from the band and making yourself sick, right? You're pre-fill, my dear! Relax and enjoy the fact that you're losing weight eating a decent amount of food!

Don't worry about how much you're eating, as long as it's *enough* food. Eat until you feel satisfied, and if you're still losing weight, hooray for you! You'll get a fill soon enough.

I went 6 months without a fill, and ate a whole lot more than most bandsters. But I was still losing weight, consistently. I eat a lot less now, but still more than most bandsters. You're actually eating a lot less than you think you are, especially if you compare it to pre-op. If you go to www.fitday.com and log your food intake for a few days, you'll see that you're really not eating a whole lot of food.

Enjoy this time! The real hard work comes later!

This got me through the first couple of weeks! I love CIB. I didn't use the sugar free though, since I can't handle sugar substitutes. I mixed that stuff with just about everything! vanilla with berries and ice...chocolate with peanut butter...it was soooo good!

My second night home from the hospital, I woke up in the middle of the night and found I had been dreaming about soft vanilla ice cream cones, therefore I was dying for one! I got up and make a CIB shake with the vanilla, ice and milk and the craving went away. If I hadn't had that in the house, I *know* I would have gone out for ice cream. lol

Okay, I am not a baby with pain. Seriously. I fell asleep while getting a tattoo on my ankle bone.

The worst thing after banding was breathing right after I woke up. Man, those breaths hurt. But by the end of the first night, it wasn't so bad. The catheter annoyed me. My butt hurt from laying on my back in the hospital bed.

The band? Barely a bit of pain. The ride home from the hospital wasn't all that fun, but I hadn't had any pain medication in hours and Manhattan streets are hella bumpy. Just bring a pillow with you to hold against your stomach. Like Sue said, I felt *tender*, but not really in pain. I moved slowly for a couple of days, but things were more sore than anything else. It wasn't debilitating pain.

Just take your pain meds, that's what they're for. They'll keep you nice and comfortable. 10 months later, I can barely remember how I felt the first few days.