Alexandra

Whew, that was close! What wonderful wisdom is oozing all over this thread. Thank you, thank you, thank you. V, you've said something profound I am going to try to remember. I do set goals, all the time, and I meet them. It just seems like when they have something to do with ME they turn into traps. Kathy and La_Madam, thank you--there's lots of good advice there. And Donali, my light in the wilderness, I'm sure you've hit it exactly on the head. It's the friggin' NUMBERS!! I hereby banish all thought of number-goals OUT of my head forever. So: When I see my doctor on August 10, the goal I want to have reached is...no reflux for six weeks. I know how to make that happen, and if weight loss is a side effect? Good.

Pam, that's a great idea! We use baby wipes for just about everything in my house, and taking off makeup seems like a perfect application. Good thinking!

LOL!! No kidding. But now that I'm thinner, I've been known to wear tights. They're pretty comfy, actually!

Betty, I am SO jealous!! What a great time you must have had. Yesterday was my amusement park acid test, and I passed with flying colors! It's so hard to get out of the habit of saying "no, honey, YOU go!" but I finally did. I climbed the big towers for the inner-tube slide rides, four times. And then I joined my girls on the carousel, on a horse that actually goes up and down! That was phenomenal--I literally cannot ever remember having done that before in my whole life. All four of us rode a ride called the Tornado, and I fit into a car in the little train ride with one of my kids. This is a park we have been to before, and where I have enjoyed just observing my children and husband having fun. Hey, someone has to watch the stuff, right? My perennial rationale for sitting on the sidelines. But it's a whole new world of enjoyment to be able to do it with them, for me and for them. I had to keep reminding myself that if DH could do something, so could I because I weigh less than he does! All of the weight limits on the rides were MORE than what I weigh--amazing!! Wow. Just wow.

Legallyblonde, the other reflux thread was locked when it was moved to the Reference section. There's nothing wrong with having more than one thread on the same subject. Paula, I've wondered about that too. I'm sure my doctor would say yes, that's it. You've reached a physical point where further tightening would just make the reflux worse. C'est tout! But I do think Kathy is right, and more weight lost would widen that margin. At least, it's a great theory. I'm waiting to see if another 10 lbs will change the reflux situation. I agree, being 30 (or 40 or 50) pounds overweight is FAR preferable to having serious reflux every night. I had a very short period of what Legallyblonde is going through, and it is the WORST. The lack of sleep is more debilitating than anything.

Oy. It sounds like entering the world of makeup means commitment and money. This is what happens when you leave it too long, Crystal! Maybe I'll wait until my girls are old enough to drag me with them to a salon or something. Doesn't sound worth doing by myself, quite.

I experience reflux on occasion, but it's mild and not at all painful. Basically it's a physical sensation of Fluid in my throat when I wake up in the morning. Once in a great while it will wake me up by making me cough. It definitely goes in spurts--like it will happen for three days in a row and then not again for several weeks. I can almost always point to a culprit, eating too late or eating something acidic (like strawberries, recently) or spicy in the evening. If I stop eating altogether at least three hours before bed, and be sure to drink something afterwards to wash out my pouch, I can prevent it pretty consistently. If I have any reason to think it will happen, I'll take a Pepcid AC before bed. That won't necessarily prevent fluid in my throat, but it keeps the fluid from being irritating (I guess by keeping acid down). I am indeed concerned that this could be something to deal with for the rest of my life. It seems like the lower esophageal sphincter isn't consistently doing what it's supposed to: i.e., keep what's in my stomach in my stomach. Then I think, is this just something I've even noticed because I'm banded? Am I analyzing it too closely? Almost all of my friends and acquaintances have heartburn or some other gastric issue from time to time, so this just means I'm normal! Right?

This is something I keep meaning to ask my doctor. Is reflux pouch-related? And if so, wouldn't it be present in any other WLS that creates a pouch? What is it about the band that makes reflux occur in some people? Definitely, living with reflux for the rest of one's life is not desirable. Not at all.

Thanks, Sue, that's very helpful. It's wonderful that you still HAVE options, isn't it? At this point very little has been done to your anatomy and moving on won't be medically complicated.

Glad to hear you're feeling better! You know, it doesn't take much to create this problem. Often it's nothing you would ever believe could get stuck. My worst episode was after eating some seaweed salad, and when it finally came back it was the smallest shrivel of green I'd ever seen! Probably it's not so much how it gets stuck, but where, in cases like this.

The worst episode I ever had lasted more than an hour. It got worse and worse and worse until finally it came up and I found relief. The longer it takes to resolve, the more irritated your esophagus might become. PLEASE take it very easy the next couple of days--stick to liquids for at least 24 hours and then mushies for another day. You will need to rest after this. My sympathies!

Congratulations, Chris!! And yep, clearing out decades of "fat clothes" is SO liberating. You have many more rounds of this to come!! :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny :Bunny

As Leatha says, we've probably all gone through precisely this phase. My husband took some persuading, shall we say, but when he saw I was serious and not "just thinking about it" he decided to learn more for himself. He liked what he saw. Look, no one has known you as long as you have. Every person in my life who wasn't a blood relative thought I was going overboard, should be able to do this myself, etc. etc. My actual blood relatives, who remember the 5-year-old me constantly being told not to eat any more, were a bit more open to the idea. (I didn't tell them all, but I did tell a couple.) I don't think it's surprising that other people who haven't been MO are doubtful. I would have been too. But none of that matters! The only thing that matters now is YOU, and whether you think it's the right thing for your health. Period.

Caffeine in your coffee or tea, and the acid in lemonade may very well be the triggers for your reflux episodes. Tomatoes, chocolate, and spicy foods are also common causes for heartburn or reflux. Good idea to do liquids, especially if you try to make them non-acidic. I'll bet you'll see an improvement within a couple of days.

It's closed but it's still there, for reference. Lindsay, thanks for starting a new thread with your question because I know there are probably many people (like me) who just stop reading really old threads when they get bumped again and again. New questions deserve new threads, even if they may have been addressed elsewhere in the past. BTW, is Prevacid a prescription med? I've had good luck with Pepcid AC, but OTC Zantac didn't do anything for me. Are there any other over-the-counter medications people have used that really help?

The thing about makeup that has always bothered me the most, just in terms of using it, is removing it. I feel the less done to my skin, the better, so my regimen consists of washing my face only in the shower (i.e., daily, with no soap), and applying Oil of Olay moisturizer right afterwards. In the summer I use Olay Complete, with sunscreen (yeah, I know I should use it all year round, stop yelling). Crystal, there are tinted moisturizers on the market. Have you tried them? Paula and Dragonwilo, how do you take your makeup off? Waterproof mascara is a bear to remove and when I've worn it I just let it wear off. Non-waterproof types just run if you cry or sweat. So how do you manage it? As for being "lucky" I don't think that has anything to do with it. It's just deciding that how I look is how I look, and that's enough for me and anyone looking at me. My husband agrees; when he's seen me in makeup he says he really doesn't care for it. But I do want to see how I'd look as a "girl," if only in the spirit of trying on a totally new face just for fun. As for getting a makeover at the mall, I don't know about that. Too public for my comfort. I know people do it every day, but I just don't want to be that visible when I'm so vulnerable.

Hi Sue! Can you describe what happened that caused your regain? Did the band just stop working for you at some point, through mechanical or other problem? Were you unable to get it and keep it properly adjusted? Or was it something else? And how are you doing now? You still have your band, right? Those statistics don't surprise me at all. The band takes a lot of participation by the patient. But it also doesn't have the brief "window of opportunity" that the RNY does. It seems to me that anyone who is properly banded still has the chance to make it work for them, whether it's two years or twenty years later.

Sounds like everyone is celebrating in high style! HarleyNana, my DREAM has always been a beach house. That's what I'm buying when my ship comes in, whenever that is. We saw fireworks last night, in a really cool way. The last couple of years have been frustrating, trying to find the right places to watch, where to park, getting too close, not close enough, which town's display is the best, etc., etc. But the next town's display is always partly visible over the trees from our porch, so this year we just decided to see how close we could get on foot. (With a 4 year-old after dark, we didn't think we'd get far.) There's actually a farmer's field down the street from us, the back of which rises up in a low hill. So we trekked down there and laid a blanket, and had the whole place to ourselves. Just the four of us sitting in a meadow as the sun went down, so idyllic! Then when it got dark, DH got all frustrated because we could hear explosions from various towns all around, but couldn't see anything. Then just as we thought we might have misjudged, the display began, RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR FACES! We were about a mile away, which is perfect with small kids who are more scared of loud noises than they think. The fireworks cleared the trees easily and we had a completely unobstructed view. It was literally perfect, and the start of a new tradition for this family. Like our own personal fireworks display. Next time we'll take sweatshirts, though. Brrr... Tomorrow we're going to the Land of Make Believe, a low-key amusement about 35 minutes from here. It'll be my first amusement park experience since losing weight, and I expect a whole raft of NSVs.

What Jayme said. I had real problems with eggs for the first 18 months after banding. If you can drink thick liquids I don't think you need to leap to the conclusion that you're too tight. This is the hard part, though, really learning what it means to eat slowly, take tiny, bites, and CHEW. This is restriction, and it will take getting used to. Try chili, egg salad (which for some reason is easier than scrambled eggs), and mushy foods for a few days. Pay attention to how you're feeling and don't take that next bite if you feel any discomfort. Good luck!!

V, are you thinking about going over to the dark side on a regular basis? I never wear makeup but have been sorely tempted to see what a really good application could do for me now that I have cheekbones and such. Maybe I'd see the appeal of face paint, finally. (BTW, it doesn't take being raised by wolves to be ignorant of makeup. My mother was fairly civilized (until drink did her in) but she was constitutionally opposed to face paint. And so have I been, until my recent urges in that direction.) Mary Kay, hm? Do the people who sell that stuff actually know what they're doing with regard to application? The one and only time I had a professional makeover was for my wedding day, and the pix make me look like a clown. If I'd known any better back then, I'd have washed half of it off. The artist kept saying it had to be vivid for the photographs. :rolleyes Could it be true? Privacy and tasteful instruction? Hmmm....

Lindsay, I'll bet your reflux is going to be a short-lived reaction to being banded. As time goes on your stomach and esophagus will become accustomed to the new configuration and things will settle down. I didn't have any at all until more than a year post-banding, and it was due to being too tight; I'd assume that's not your problem at this point. Meds can help, I guess, but for me the best treatment is prevention. That means SMALL portions and chewing. Not eating for hours before bed, and washing food through thoroughly an hour or so before retiring. Do you have it all the time, or only at night?

I've never encountered anyone who's gained all their weight back, but those few instances of significant regain I've heard about always involve some disruption in the band or the patient's behavior. Assuming all remains in order, there is no reason to fear regain to any significant degree. That's the beauty of the band. Unlike RNY, which can just lose efficacy over time even if the patient continues following all the rules, the band is merely a mechanical device that will continue to do its thing through time. Whether we want to ALLOW it to, and continue letting it tell us when enough food is enough, is another matter and completely within our control.

My doctor has assured me that pretty much anything we feel capable of doing--outside of lifting more than 30 pounds, which should be avoided for at least 4 weeks after surgery--we can do without worrying about causing damage. As you get back into exercising certain things might indeed be uncomfortable, just because there is now a foreign object under your skin that you'll have to learn to move around. Floor work, for example, was a little tricky for a while. But you don't have to worry about damaging anything once you're fully healed. That equipment was designed to withstand pretty much anything the human body can dish out.

Hi Kylie, Nice to meet you! Wow, 14 is indeed young to be contemplating such a move. Do you know if you've even reached your adult height yet? (I'm 5'10", too, so I can understand if you hope you have!) I hope there's a teen here who will be able to get in touch with you. But in the mean time, please feel free to ask the rest of us any questions you like. Banding surgery is the same no matter our age, though I'm sure being so young presents issues of its own. Personally, I would have LOVED to be able to be banded when I was in high school. It would have kept me out of all sorts of trouble, no doubt, and not just overeating. You're a very brave person for even considering it, and doing the right thing by exploring and researching. Good luck, and please do come back if there's anything we can do!

Your doctor should have known from the start what sort of band you had. The fill techniques/timing/amounts are different for the VG band than for the smaller ones, and it's not surprising you need a log more saline to feel restriction. But it's unconscionable that the person doing your fills didn't KNOW what band he was trying to adjust--I'm sure Inamed would be horrified by that. Where you've had five fills, perhaps only two would have sufficed if they had their act together from the start. If I were you I'd get really proactive and talk to Inamed about this fill practice. From where I sit, they owe you LOTS of freebies. It absolutely shouldn't have taken this long to get to a decent level of restriction. Get in that doctor's office's face, girl--they owe you an explanation!