Alexandra

Congratulations, Carmen!! What a wonderful surprise!

Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeons, the office of Dr. Bertha and Dr. Abkin, have two LapBand support group meetings every month. The early one is on the second Wednesday, and is a bit less formal than the late one held on the last Wednesday. Who is your doctor? Does his office have support groups?

Seppi, been there, done that, have the t-shirt. DON'T WORRY!!! Once you get your unfill, just concentrate on how much better you feel. Talk yourself into believing that NOTHING has changed with regard to how much you can eat or want to eat. All that will have changed is your comfort level. Enjoy it!! Two weeks is nothing. You can do anything for two weeks. Good luck with your unfill and DON'T WORRY!!

What I love about the melatonin is its gentle effect. It just helps my eyes to close; I don't know how much effect it has on helping me stay asleep, but I do know that if I wake up for whatever reason I can get back to sleep pretty quickly. It has no hangover effect whatsoever, even if I take it at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning.

Penni, did you ever try melatonin? I've dealt with occasional insomnia my whole life, and this is the BEST thing I've ever found. Ambien didn't even work for me when they gave it to me in the hospital (of course, the labor pains I was having might have gotten in the way :eek:). I used valerian root for a long time but the capsules were too big to take after banding. Now I have chewable melatonin that I buy at Trader Joe's, and it's a lifesaver. :eek:

There was just a recent thread on this. Obviously, lots of people smoke who have the band. But NO ONE will tell you it's a good idea. Coughing, if it's severe enough, CAN slip the band's position. So if you can avoid it, try to do so.

Flower, once you've had a PB or something stuck, YOU ARE DONE EATING FOR THAT MEAL. It's also a very good idea to stick to liquids for the next meal or two. PBing or vomiting irritates the stoma and esophagus, and it's very important to let it rest and recover before trying to eat any more solid food. There are many people here who can attest that NOT doing so can lead to even more PBing, increased irritation, and worse. Many times people who have pain and excess restriction to the point of needing medical attention can trace their problems to behavior like this. Really, you don't want to damage yourself or your band. If you have a PB or vomit, stop eating and stick to liquids for 24 hours.

Flower, I'd agree with Vines that 100 lbs in a year is an unreasonable expectation. It's not at all impossible, just not likely. Most successful bandsters are going to lose 1-2 lbs a week, but it's only the UPPER segment of those people who will achieve 100 lbs in a year. Is it unrealistic for you? Only you can say. It would have been unrealistic for me, since I wasn't willing to count every calorie and work out every day. But I still lost within that 1-2 lbs a week for a first-year total off of 70 lbs. So that's what was realistic for me.

This is the effect that restriction has when you're not careful enough chewing or have eaten too fast, yep! It's not a "complication," though, so I'm going to move this thread. Sliming is indeed the excess production of saliva; your body's reaction to something not going through the esophagus the way it should. Swallowing this saliva is the worst thing you can do; that's why it's a good idea to have a receptacle handy if you're not near a bathroom while eating and think you might have this problem. Presumably you've come away from this experience motivated to be a little more careful when eating, so as to avoid it in future. Behavior modifiction in action! This is the way the band works--welcome to bandlandia!

My feet got narrower, absolutely. Some shoes that I had got too big, but now I think it was just because they were stretched out. I got overzealous and bought 9.5s that really didn't fit. I was a 10 before and I'm still a 10 now.

Nicole what a great post! Thanks so much for letting us know how you're doing, and congratulations on everything!! :biggrin1:

Remember, Inamed's perspective on "the rules" is different than any given patient's. They will happily lay down a list of things that, if you do them, will lead to the absolute best weight loss results. Some of us, for whatever reason, have slightly different goals. Here's my take on the rules: 1. Eat only three small meals a day -- Impossible at first, much easier later on after restriction. Early on my main concern was not getting too hungry so I wouldn't eat too fast, and Snacks were a MUST. 2. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly -- YES. This can't really be stressed enough, although the reasons why aren't very clear until good restriction is achieved through adjustments. 3. Stop eating as soon as you feel full -- YES. See #2. 4. Do not drink while you are eating -- This can really counteract the effect of the band if done all the time, but an occasional sip is fine. 5. Do not eat between meals -- NOPE. See #1. If I'm hungry, a few bites between meals makes all the difference for me. Getting too hungry is the worst thing I can do. 6. Eat only good quality foods -- Very good advice. A little is all we need, and it's important to enjoy it. 7. Avoid fibrous foods -- YES. Don't find this out the hard way. 8. Drink enough fluids during the day -- YES. Very important for all sorts of reasons. 9. Drink only low-calorie liquids -- YES, if you're not actually replacing meals with Protein shakes or something. 10.Exercise at least 30 mintues a day -- UMMM.... :nervous

Hi Lenay, Welcome to LBT!! You've asked two very big questions, and you'll be able to get the answers by poking around a bit and reading old threads. Pay careful attention to people's signatures--many will have their band dates in them as well as their weight-loss progress and/or other pertinent information. Several people on LBT have had their bands removed, in most cases due to erosion. That's a situation where the band erodes through the stomach wall, essentially wearing a hole in the stomach. The only treatment for that condition is band removal. It's a known potential complication of ANY implanted device, and the statistics we've heard is that it happens to 1 - 3% of patients. There's no clear reason or cause. There are other reasons to have the band removed, but since it's designed to be permanent this isn't a step anyone would take lightly.

I wouldn't worry overmuch about them knowing it was you that called. If they've already had four visits from the police, it's a reasonable expectation that eventually the POLICE would call CPS on this family. Do what you have to do--a call to CPS isn't going to hurt anyone. If the family is healthy and the parents care, they can satisfy the investigators and change their act enough to protect themselves. If not, better the kids are placed somewhere safer. Don't keep this information to yourself. It's the reports NOT made that cause the most harm. Hugs to you, this must be hard. :hug:

I was also going to mention the plastic toothpicks! I love them, since they can be used with one hand (i.e., while driving or on the phone), ergo, after every meal. I have a little thing of them in my purse. My dentist also said "whatever you're doing, keep it up!" which surprises me because I'm not really doing much. I'm the daughter of a dentist but am not as anal about toothcare as I should be. I have a Sonicare toothbrush (and I'm never giving it up!) but only use it once a day, and I only use Listerine in the morning for about 10 seconds. Whoever invented those plastic toothpicks is probably the person to thank for my clean teeth!!

Thanks so much for remembering and asking about it! Actually, I wasn't able to schedule it for today; evidently this is a bigger deal than I thought and it can't happen until the 13th. So I'm plugging along, trying to manage my symptoms and will find out what's up at that point. I have an appointment with a gastroenterologist on Tuesday evening and I hope he'll be able to shed a little light on what's going on with me. I'll post more when I have a clue, don't worry. Thanks so much for thinking of me!

I have to thank you for this: Heaviest Weight: E I get the giggles everytime I see it. :pound: :pound: :pound: I'm dyin' heah!! :pound: :pound: :pound: :pound: :pound: :pound:

DING DING DING DING!! We have a winner! Haven't you ever used a calculator and made a typo, tried to divide by a negative number or something, and it comes up "E"? A lot of electronic devices will show that if you've, um, stumped them or something. I've never had an electronic scale, but I can SO imagine it just silently sitting there, that wiseass "E" showing that nope, you just can't be measured on this scale, sister. I don't know why, but that just tickled the hell out of me and I laughed for about a half-hour when I saw it in Dawg's signature the first time. Guys in my office were asking me what was so funny.

You know, part of me understands that doctors charge something for support groups, because they DO cost money if they're done right. Our surgeons' practice has a nurse practitioner attend the monthly meeting, and has made space available for a second monthly meeting to be run by veteran bandsters. Surgeons do pop in from time to time, although their presence is not assured. Surgeons are NOT in the business of providing support groups, we really should realize that. It's wonderful if they do, but it's unrealistic to expect them to provide all those followup services just for the one-shot surgery reimbursement they get from insurance carriers. Until and unless the insurance industry realizes the value in these services and starts covering them, patients are going to have to shell out a bit. That said, support groups don't HAVE to have surgeons or medical professionals in attendance every single time to be valuable. And it's unfair, I think, to require patients to pay in advance for a whole string of them at once.

Well, that's interesting! At a recent pre-op meeting I heard the leader mention to the group that our support groups are free. He said it several times, and then repeated it again later. I thought it was funny that he was giving it so much emphasis, but now I know why! Call Advanced Laparoscopic Surgeons! Their support groups are FREE!!!

Before Surgery Height: 5'10" Weight: 340 pounds Pants size: 28/30 Shirt size: 3X or 28 Bra size: 44DD (probably should have been bigger) Shoe size: 10 Ring size: 9 After Surgery (2 1/2 years) Height: 5'10" Weight: 215 pounds Pants size: 14/16 tall Shirt size: L/XL or 14 Bra size: 38DD Shoe size: 10 Ring size: 7 1/2

Hi Pokerbear, First, yes, I think it's safe to say that the VAST majority of us here went through the same evaluation process you are going through. We just decided on banding. Check out obesityhelp.com, which is probably the largest support site around for weight-loss surgery. They are very pro-RNY but have a lap-band forum as well. Good luck with your evaluating and I hope we see you more often!

And before this goes any further, let's call a moratorium on discussing people's posting styles, please?

Tricia, say the word and I'll help you edit the thread title. I think it's a very good point that everyone's doctor is different and the MOST helpful thing is to share other bandsters' experiences through support groups and fora like this. No question is dumb or too naive. though they do get repetitive sometimes (which is why it's a good thing there are so many people here to answer them!). It is surprising, to some, that people are willing to jump in with both feet to a lifestyle change they don't seem to have researched thoroughly. But there are always mitigating circumstances.

To me the answer was clear: B. I had a treadmill and used it for a couple of weeks, but it just got so incredibly boring I couldn't handle it. I'm just glad it was a freebie and not something I bought! If it has to be one or the other, go for the fitness membership. Variety is the spice of life, and ABSOLUTELY the spice of exercise. Both would be great and give you the best of both worlds.