faithmd

Julie, you look amazing! Only a few pounds to goal!!!! Wooohoooooo!!!! that is soooooo excellent!

YEAH Julie!!!!!!!!! Go, go, go!!!!!!

These are the links to all the info we have as yet about the Vegas trip in '08 Hope this is helpful.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Anniejo, :welcomeB: to LBT! There is a GREAT search function here on the blue toolbar near the top of every page. I have found that I usually go Advanced and search for thread titles only for whatever I'm looking for. So I went to Search, Advanced, Thread titles only and searched Vegas, here's what I got: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f7/lbt-las-vegas-event-40131/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/vegas-january-agenda-next-steps-39545/ http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/lbt-vegas-feb-08-a-37937/ Here's the thread that took us to Vegas: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/interested-gathering-34987/

It is very safe, since you've done some research, you have probably come across the references to certain tribes in Paraguay and Brazil that have been using Stevia (sweet leaf) for centuries. In Japan it accounts for over 40% of the sweetener market. Here's a snippet from Wiki about it: Indeed, millions of Japanese people have been using stevia for over thirty years with no reported or known harmful effects.[29] Similarly, stevia leaves have been used for centuries in South America spanning multiple generations in ethnomedical tradition as a treatment of type II diabetes.[30] You shouldn't have to order it online, it is readily available at health food stores, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, in most large supermarkets like Kroger, Meijer, Hiller's, Giant Eagle, etc. where you will find it in the health food section, usually with the supplements. Sometimes it is with the sugars and sweeteners. Stevia is a plant extract or derivative. It is NOT artifical like Splenda or Saccharin or NutraSweet. There has been promise shown in its use for type II diabetics to increase insulin production and to lower hypertension. You use a tiny tiny amount. For example, the 2 oz bottle I have says it is about 600 servings which are considered the equivalent of teaspoons of sugar. So 2 oz of liquid is equivalent to about 600 teaspons of sugar sweetness. As far as the taste, I can equate it most to slightly like saccharin. But for me not wanting to gnaw my arm off because I'm so hungry after drinking Splenda or to not have a NutraSweet headache, I'll take a it.

I went looking around the net for the statistics and reference to weight loss surgeries in Australia for you to present to your doc and husband. Here's a snippet from Wikipedia that includes the article it came from: The LAP-BAND in Australia According to an August 2006 article in The Medical Journal of Australia [1], over 90% of weight loss surgeries in Australia are installations of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band. Some of the more interesting findings in the study are these: Our group has treated more than 2700 severely obese patients with the LAGB procedure since 1994 without a single perioperative death. In contrast, mortality from RYGB is reported at between 0 and 5%, with the ASERNIP-S systematic review showing a mean short-term mortality rate of 0.5% — ten times the risk of LAGB. [...] All bariatric procedures have been able to achieve loss of more than 50% of excess weight. The ASERNIP-S systematic review showed greater weight loss after RYGB than LAGB during the first 2 years after the procedure, but the difference in weight loss was not significant at 3 and 4 years. In a recent review, we extended the data of the ASERNIP-S review by including all studies that included at least 50 patients, reported up to March 2004. This showed a substantial weight loss after both procedures, with an initial greater weight loss after RYGB but similar effectiveness for both procedures at 4, 5 and 6 years. I include this to point out that in Oz 90% of weight loss surgery is the BAND NOT Bypass! They have been using the band for over 10 years. Very forward thinking. We are (as usual) behind the 8-ball here in the US.

Hello Silk, don't know if you saw this thread: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f9/share-ideas-what-did-you-eat-today-36828/ it's also in the food forum. I thought it might give you some more good ideas

Hooray April!!!

Do not worry! We have a tendency to read about things that happen to people on here and immdeiately wonder if that is going to happen to us and we start asking what does this mean or what does that feel like.... Try not to worry. You won't know if your port has flipped until you go for a fill. Sometimes if it is tilted they can still fill it. I still have occasionally feelings like I know something is in there. I'm over two months out.

What band does Invacare make?

There must be some difference with using the J & J band. I can't imagine what that would be, but perhaps there is. With the other bands, the point in waiting at least three weeks is because there is NO way to secure the band on the back of the stomach (no matter what band you have). The band has to heal in place and get "seated" or "nestled" in the little fat pad around your tummy. A groove settles in and scar tissue forms and that is what helps hold the band in place. Filling early (from what I understood) is contraindicated because it sort of forces the band to slide up to a smaller area, i.e. it will have a tendency to slide up the esophagus towards a smaller area. Then again, you have a J & J band. There may be something totoally different about that band. I have done a quick search on the net about fill procedures with that band, but I can't find specifics. I also remember a person mentioning the other day that she had (I think) a Swedish Band and her doc won't fill for SIX MONTHS. Isn't it amazing the differences?

FSC: WOW!!! You look great already! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting these (and future) pics. I truly appreciate it!

Hubba hubba MM!

:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2: Hear Hear Losing! You are sooooooo on the money with what you wrote. I LOVE food, I still love food, and because I love it, I'm delaying my first fill, which is silly. But I'm still losing weight (albeit VERY slowly now), and would lose more if I learned to tur off the head hunger. I log every bite and every sip I take in on an online free food site. I loosened up my food program during the summer, but it's time to buckle back down. I love your idea about putting off the craving until tomorrow. I'm going to try that. Andie, I wish you luck, perhaps you should give your hubby a cool-off period and then take him to an information session about the band. Go to lapband.com and register there, it's Allergan/Inamed's site (the US band manufacturer) and they have a calendar where you can search for info sessions near you.

Then take what your boss says with a HUGE grain of salt. She's speaking of something she knows really NOTHING about. My PCP in the beginning wasn't totally committed to my getting banded when I first brought it up to her about two or three years ago. She's so AMAZING that she started researching it on her own and read everything I brought to her to learn more about it herself. She ended up being more pro-band than pro-bypass. Shows me why I've stuck with her since I was 14years old. Well over 20 years now. You won't know what kind of results you have until you try. NOTHING IS A MAGIC CURE FOR FAT Doesn't matter if you get bypass or the band, if you aren't ready to make the changes required of either procedure, you won't be successful. Just because you have a surgery doesn't mean you will drop weight and become svelte. Both are a lot of work. Granted the bypass requires a little less work in food choices at least initially, but after a while, eventually the body regrows some intestine and what's there relearns how to absorb fat and sweets, but still doesn't absorb the nutrients you need. Not to say that bypass is terrible, it isn't if that's what you choose. I don't choose it. You can always go have a bypass after the band if you need to. There are a couple folks here who did. Many people who have had bypass end up being banded because they are eating through their bypass. Remember it's not reversible. What they take out is gone for LIFE. IT'S FOREVER.

I agree with losing TOTALLY. I ALWAYS get a window seat. It fit soooooo much better there, I could care less about crawiling over someone if I have to go to the bathroom, they'd have to stand up if I was 95 lbs or 300 lbs, planes these days are just too damned tight. I get tired of the serving cart and people knocking into me in the aisle. I always take my own inflatable pillow and a sweatshirt to ball up against the window because it's pretty cold. I NEVER get an aisle. If I were taller, maybe. But I too am almost 5'8" and don't find I need to aisle to stretch for height. I and very thick through the butt/belly area and needed an extender at about 280lbs on up. I asked as soon as I boarded the plane for an extender, usually they have one tucked right over their heads in the forward galley and they'll just hand it to you, of they'll ask for your seat number and most have been pretty discreet about bringing me one. I now have my own as well. I was on a very turbulent flight one time and will NEVER go without my seatbelt again. I know MANY folks here say they tuck their belt under the edge of their shirt or under a newspaper rather than ask for an extender. NO WAY, my head and neck hurt for three days from cracking it on the rack above me.

Andie, take some time, look around here. Look at people's tickers. Mine alone is great than 50 lbs but that's a combo of pre and post-op. There are loads of threads about people who have lost more than 100 lbs, bandsters with BMI greater than 50, before and after pics, etc. I think you need to find a new surgeon.

It's not a site. Go to the Search function on the blue tool bar near the top of every page. Click on it, then type in what you want to search for. In this case we'd suggest you type Bandster Hell You can go Advanced Search and then search for thread titles only that have Bandster Hell in them, too.

For a few of the band vs bypass threads, scrool down to the bottom of this page, there's a few listed there with links. Hope this helps!

Go with your gut. Do you want the Band or do you want Bypass? If you want the band, remember the doctor works FOR YOU. Write down your reasons for each, and then look at them. There are simply LOADS of threads here where folks have written why they chose Band over bypass, do a search and peruse some of them again. Look through Alex's News thread and find the data about band vs. bypass five years out. Then print it and take it to the doctor if you have to. The only way I'd ever have the bypass is if something were medically wrong with me that I HAD to lose weight FAST. Other than that there is no way you could have convinced me to have bypass. There are LOADS of folks here who have BMI's greater than 50 and are VERY successful with the band. I'd find a new surgeon.

Liz, you might want to order some unflavored Unjury powder from Welcome to the UNJURY Homepage You can add it to anything cold or warm up to about 120 degrees or so. It should help quite a bit. Also, I'm not sure which Atkins shakes you are using, but the Matrix is an EXCELLENT product and much higher quality protein. Good luck! Remember stress REALLY decreases your milk supply. It may not be the lack of protein that dropped your supply, it may just simply be the stress of surgery itself and all the worrying that goes along with it.

WasaBB makes an EXCELLENT point, if you can stay on clears longer, do it. WasaBB: ONLY 10 more to GO!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!:whoo::whoo:

Just be careful with anything with artificial sweeteners in it, especially Splenda. It causes soooo many people to crave sugar, it makes me really hungry to drink Crystal Light. I use Stevia (a plant leaf extract available in the health food section of most big supermarkets) to sweeten caffeine free tea or make my own koolaid or lemonade and it doesn't make me want to gnaw my arm off. Just a suggestion.

I have not personally used an attorney but have heard that obesitylaw.com is a good resource and are quite effective.

Depends on who your insurance is. Sounds like she gave you referrals to surgeons that it should cover. Double check that first before you choose one of these docs, please. A good place to read about docs is over on obesityhelp.com Do a search for the doc's name and there should be independent patient reviews there. I had considered Deol and Krause as MCare (my insurance) pays for them as well as UM (but they hadn't done a single band yet) and the group at Hurley in Flint. I went to information sessions for each (Krause and Deol and Hurley). I was not happy about the hidden charges that no one told me about in the info session for Deol or Krause. I called their offices later after I read about the "mandatory support group fee" or whatever it was called and they 'fessed up about them. I'm sort of glad now that I didn't go with Deol since she's moving. That makes life sooo tough because lots of surgeons won't touch someone elses' band. If your insurance pays for Port Huron (Boutt and Bhesania) or Hurley (Obeid, Farhan and Wagner) I'd check them out, too. I don't know alot about the Bon Secours group, or the DMC group. I am fairly happy with the Hurley group.