Caribear

I don't think 24 is too young to be doing this. I'm only 27 myself. The way I look at it, I'd rather do this now before I get sick with all the comorbidities that come along with obesity. So far as slippage and erosion go, I have to admit that I'm worried about them too, but slippage is fairly rare, and erosion even more so. We see a lot of it on here because this is where people tend to come to ask about their problems and look for people who can relate to what they're going through. Your loved ones should be supportive of your decision, no matter what it is, and remember that it's up to you who you choose to tell about the surgery. A lot of people here decide not to tell anyone but the people who will be helping them immediately post-op. The reason I decided to start the process is that I realized that if I didn't do something about my weight, I would die early. Morbid obesity, heart problems, and early death due to those things run in my family. My dad died at 52 after three heart attacks - he was about 700 pounds. I saw that nothing I had done in the past had worked long term, and the thought of having my child watch me die the way my dad did just horrified me. So I started the process with a reputable surgeon with a comprehensive support program. I'm still pre-op, in my insurance company's required supervised diet plan, but I know that this is the right thing for me to do. It's either risk the complications associated with this surgery (which is the safest of the available weight loss surgeries) or risk not making it to 50. I want to live long enough for my children to get sick of me! Good luck in your decision.

Hi, congratulations on your success! I'm still pre-op but I am enjoying the fellowship and the advice that I'm getting from this forum. It's nice to meet you!

I just came across this article not too long ago... it is specifically for gastric bypass patients but I think it applies to anyone who has had any weight loss surgery. http://ezinearticles.com/?Im-Freezing!-Why-Gastric-Bypass-Causes-Patients-to-be-Cold&id=34757

Some people like to do the charm bracelet idea, with one new charm for each goal met. I'm not much of a bracelet kind of girl, but I am obsessed with Philosophy bath products. So most of my mini-goals are connected to that. My first mini goal is to get down to 350, then I get a bottle of cinnamon buns shampoo/body wash. At 300, I get a new bottle of Inner Grace perfume. At 250 I get to pick out a skin care product of my choice. 200 is a biggie for me, so I am giving myself another bottle of shampoo/body wash and getting my tattoo re-done. Then once I reach goal, I'm giving myself a new wardrobe. My advice is to pick something that you really like, but wouldn't normally just go out and get/do for yourself. Maybe a spa day, a vacation, something like that, so you have something to look forward to at every milestone.

Hi Lisa, I haven't been banded yet either and I also have 200 pounds to lose to get to normal BMI. It is really daunting, but like Cheri said, you have to break it up into smaller goals. I realized that if I focused on the whole amount, I would get frustrated and might be tempted to give up. So I set a series of mini-goals and milestones, and have rewards planned out for each one I reach. It makes it feel more manageable, and the rewards give me something to look forward to. You can do this!

Great post, Chrissy! Isn't it funny how when we're going through stuff, we always wonder "why, God, why?" but when we come out the other side and see how our experiences affect other people, we see that He had it all planned out the whole time? Thank you so much for taking the time to inspire others, and congratulations on your success! God bless you!

I agree, call your surgeon and describe what you are experiencing. Usually redness and warmth indicates infection, so you should be checked out as soon as you can. I would imagine that your surgeon will want to look at it, then prescribe you some antibiotics to nip it in the bud.

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!

I'm so sorry, Amanda. I'll be praying for you. <3

I'm so happy for you!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about one particular habit that dies awfully hard - eating what's on your plate whether you like it or not. I know that there are times when we should choose to eat certain things because they are good for us, but if they're bad for our health and we don't like them, why should we be eating them? And by we, I mean me. Does anybody else do this, or is it just me? I really started to think about this a few weeks ago at dinner. Every Wednesday, the church down the street from us holds a community meal that is free to everyone. We always get it, because it is a nice break from cooking for me and something different every time. That day it was spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and fruit. I was eating the spaghetti when I suddenly realized, hey, this doesn't taste good at all. It was greasy and salty and not at all the way I would choose to have it. But I kind of mentally shrugged and thought, oh well, it's free (well, we did put money in the donation jar, but it's not like we went out to a restaurant.) But here's the thing - even though it was unpleasant, and I knew it was bad for me, I still continued to eat it. In fact, I finished it. Then I sat there staring at the grease at the bottom of the styrofoam container and thought, now why did I just do that? It was then that it occurred to me that all those years of my grandparents constantly scolding me to finish what was on my plate has really ingrained itself more deeply than I imagined. Between that and the years of mindless eating, I had stopped being picky about what I put in my mouth. I realized at that moment that it was something I had to change. Over the next few days, I watched how my son ate his dinner. If he liked it, he would put a bite in his mouth, put down his silverware, chew it thoroughly, talk a little bit, and then eat another bite. If he didn't like it, he would refuse to eat it. On those days I would push him to eat at least three bites, and sometimes that was all he would eat. So I have decided that from now on, I will try to eat more like my son. After all, those are the habits I will need after I am banded anyway, so why not start learning them now? I will make my best attempt to do all of the following at every meal: pay attention to the flavor of the food I am eating put down my fork and have some conversation between bites chew thoroughly if I don't like it, I won't eat it (within reason) I hope that by doing these things, I can start to develop those good eating habits that I will need to be successful in losing and maintaining my weight. Things have been changing quite a bit here over the past week or so. I haven't been blogging nearly as much because my boyfriend has been on the computer every night. He had quit his job driving the Amish construction crews because they weren't paying him (yes, the Amish can be jerks too, lol) and things were pretty tight here for a while. But last week, his dad bought a local business and has hired him as the general manager (woohoo!) so he has been pretty busy. It's going to be crazy for a while until we get settled into a routine again. And another super bonus is that I will be doing some cleaning on their closed days, so I can finally have some income of my own and have a reason to get out of the house! I would be doing cartwheels with excitement if I weren't so achy and, well, 360-pounds-y. (lol) I hope you all had a great Valentine's day! <3

Hi all, This is my first post here. I have been reading for the past few days, but haven't found any posts about how having fibromyalgia may affect the surgery recovery or anything like that. I have fibromyalgia and a bad back, and have gained too much weight between the new medications and the fact that I can't exercise like I used to. My rheumy is referring me to a bariatrics doctor, and I have been trying to do as much research on my own as possible. I had my gallbladder out about a year ago, and the recovery took much longer and was much more painful than normal because of the (then-undiagnosed) fibromyalgia. I have to admit, the thought of going through another recovery like that scares the you-know-what out of me. But on the other hand, I have a family history of heart disease, and my quality of life now is practically non-existant. I'm only 27 and that's way too young to feel as bad as I do; plus I have a 3-year-old to raise, and I want him to have the best mommy possible. I'm all for the surgery, except for that one thing. Does anybody have any experience with this? I would appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks!

You can change your signature by clicking on your user name at the top right of the page, then "My Settings," then go down to the tab marked "Signature." I wrote out instructions on how to add a ticker at the following link. I'm afraid I didn't help the original poster, but it will at least give you an idea of how to get started. I hope this helps. http://www.lapbandta...__fromsearch__1

I may not be the best person to answer this, because I'm pre-band, but I have heard that one of the most important things you can do is ask to see before and after photos, and not just the successful ones. Ask to see some results that the surgeon considers less than desirable. That way you can get an idea of what the real quality of his/her work is. Good luck in your search, and congratulations on your success!

Congratulations on all your success!

I am pre-band, but had my gallbladder out in January '11. For me it started as a deep achy pain, and I felt like I had a brick under my ribcage. I didn't have any nausea unless I ate something fatty. Unfortunately for me, it started right before Christmas, and I ended up throwing up after every Christmas party I went to (couldn't resist the food!) Then about a week before I had it removed, I passed a stone. It felt like a hot knife stabbing me from the inside, lasted about 20 minutes, then suddenly just stopped. When they finally removed it, the surgeon said it was pretty infected and had lots of small stones and a few larger ones. I haven't noticed any changes to how I react to food since I've had it removed. In the beginning I was afraid to have surgery, and I tried to "fix it" with natural remedies, but by the time they took it out I was ready for it to go. So I would have to agree with the previous posters that if anybody is having trouble with it, just get it taken out. It's not worth the suffering.

I agree with the posters above. You haven't failed. You can always start over. The 45 pounds is a great success! I know it seems small when you compare it to the total amount you need to lose, so just don't compare the two. I have to lose about 200 pounds, and when I think about it in those terms I can't even get my head around it. So I divided it up into more manageable goals, and plan to reward myself in some way when I reach each one. I would recommend talking to a therapist. Mine has given me some great coping mechanisms, but I think the most important thing is figuring out whether you are actually hungry or just trying to distract yourself from something else. That and learning to be ok with the feeling of hunger were hard to learn, but vital. Just remember, everybody makes mistakes, but what defines us as a success is what we do afterwards. You can do this!

Both my mom and I have tried it and it didn't work for either one of us. I could taste the flavor too. I wish it worked, but if it seems too good to be true...Luckily for my mom, she ordered through a home shopping channel and it wasn't hard for her to cancel it. I don't see anything wrong with trying it if you want to though.

Maybe you could try going back on liquids for a few days, kind of like a "do-over." There's a thing called the 5 day pouch test that some people on here swear by. I haven't been banded yet, but that's what I would start with. I wish you the best of luck!

You can do this. The two and a half weeks will go by before you know it. I'm glad your recovery has been smooth so far. Congratulations on being strong enough to make such a life-changing decision!

I agree with the ideas above, with one thing to add. There's one thing my nutritionist had me do that has helped me tremendously with this. She suggested I make a coping "tool box." It can be real or imagined, but mine is actually a shoe box. You fill it with things that will take your mind off of wanting to eat. In mine I have a few books, a word search and sudoku book, some soothing music CDs, and a handful of other things that will inspire me. When my brain starts screaming at me, I make a cup of tea (the temperature and taste help) and pull something out of the box to occupy myself. It has helped me more than any other thing I've done to help control the emotional eating. I wish you luck and will be praying for you.

Great job! I know it can be hard, but you are strong (as you've just seen) and it will be worth it. Keep it up!

Thanks for the replies. @Jean, I read the article you wrote not too long ago and it was fascinating. I appreciate you taking the time to research these things and shed some light on them. @Kassie, thank you. I have heard that PCOS can be greatly improved after WLS, and I hope that is the case for you. I guess when I wrote this I was concerned both about post-op pain and recovery as well as inability to exercise. Since I wrote it I have talked to my surgeon and he assures me that it shouldn't cause any issues, and that they will make sure to keep me as comfortable as possible post-op. I've also found some exercises that I am able to do fairly easily, and am working to get my body in as good a shape as possible before I'm banded. I have been trying to give up worrying about things like this and just learn to trust that God has good plans for me. Bless you both, and you and all the other fibro bandsters are in my prayers. <3

I haven't tried this but I have a friend of a friend trying to hard-sell me on it right now. I've looked at it and basically the weight loss package is a Protein shake diet with some added supplements. I would caution that if you are taking prescription medications, you should make sure there aren't any potential interactions with the supplement pills. For example, if you are on an antidepressant, you should avoid the supplement because it contains 5-HTP, a form of tryptophan, and the use of the two together can cause serotonin syndrome. I go to drugs.com and use their interaction checker; you could also take a list of ingredients to your pharmacist and ask them. Provided everything checks out, I don't see any harm in it, but I just wanted to bring this up.

I'm sorry you've got such a rotten decision to make, but so proud of you for making such great decisions! And it's fantastic that you have such supportive people in your life. Good luck in your decision, I'll be praying for you.