Thats All Folks

I have 5.2cc in my 10cc band. However, I started losing weight when my band was still empty. Just remember, your sweet spot will control your hunger significantly but it won't suddenly make you lose weight. It just makes it a lot easier to lose weight because you're not hungry and satisfied on very little food.

I love corn. In the fall when corn on the cob is in season, I eat it often.

Honestly? I'm no doctor, and spinal taps aren't fun, but I'd insist on one. As you wisely stated, there are many other diseases and illnesses that can mimic MS. Lyme Disease is a common one and unlike MS, it's 100% curable. I think the second opinion is a great idea, btw. I know this is hard but it's really good you're taking such a pro-active approach.

That was seriously an awesome blog. I can't tell you how many times I've felt exactly what you're feeling now. I see all these commercials and half are for food (because we need more junk food like we need a hole in the head) and the other half are for the diet I supposedly need to undo all the junk food damage. But wait...there's more! I can buy a nifty cami that will make me look 3 sizes slimmer, but then I *really* need the hair removal cream because I can't been seen looking like a bush woman. Oh and then? I should seriously invest some of those videos that will teach me to exercise and look like I'm a stripper doing a lap dance at the same time, because you know, there's a good chance my boyfriend will buy that beer that shows the woman that looks like a rejected porn star falling all over the guy because he's drinking *that* beer. I need to look like a rejected porn star apparently. Seriously, really excellent blog post. I hope more read it because you totally nailed it.

Ugh I'm so sorry you have to go through this, but that's way awesome that you can now safely have the surgery because you've lost so much weight. My mom had both her knees replaced. The first one she was only 41 and the second she was 43. The recovery was very hard but she'll tell you it was SO worth it. She is now 60 years old and still doing great. She still has no pain in her knees, walks just fine, and overall enjoys her mobility. She moves lightyears better at 60 than she did at 40 because of her "new knees". I'll definitely keep you in my prayers!

I found the area where the port is attached to the muscle was sore for a couple months after surgery when I pulled or strained it. For instance, stretching a lot or lifting a heavier object. Now, sometimes when I move weird, I get a small pain there. For example, I just got back from the pool with my son. I was playing with him and diving for rings. At one point I was stretched out reaching for the ring under Water when he jumped on me. I twisted weird and immediately felt a pain around the muscle near my port area. I've read of others having similar, random pains there too. For me it doesn't happen often but it does happen.

If you mean alcohol, it's usually because it can lead to band erosion. It's also empty calories and there is also a risk of transfer addiction (trading food addiction for alcoholism). I would ask your doctor his specific reasons to be sure.

PB is productive burp but it's not anything like vomiting. PBing is literally just burping stuck food back up. No retching, no stomach contracting or spasming, and not violent. The food comes back up before it ever reaches your stomach. Vomiting is when you retch and your stomach contracts forcing food back up, like when you have a stomach bug. This is when food is past the band and in your stomach. PBing isn't pleasant but it isn't dangerous. Vomiting is very dangerous with the band, never normal, and should be avoided at all costs.

I've only PB'd once in the 18 months since being banded. It was totally gross. Unfortunately, I've vomited a couple times. Once when I had a strangulated hernia and once when my gallbladder went this past spring. The weird thing is, apparently I can't "correctly vomit" anymore since getting the band. Both times I violently retched and felt my stomach contract and try to force the food up- but it couldn't get back up through the band. It was awful and scared the cr@p out of me. I was so afraid I'd hurt myself or caused a slip.

This is just my opinion, but I wouldn't trade doctors just because there is a small delay in appointment time. If you trusted him to do surgery on you and are happy with his care overall, then it's worth the wait.

Happy Birthday and congratulations on your success!!

With no disrespect to previous posters, PBing and vomiting are not even close the the same thing. The only similarity is the fact food comes back up with both but process is very different. When you PB, you essentially just burp the stuck food back up. There is no force and there is no retching or stomach spasming. It's not pleasant but it's not dangerous, either. When you vomit, your stomach contracts and spasms forcing the food back up. That is when you get all the retching and violence. Vomiting is very dangerous with the band. It's never normal and should be avoided at all costs because it's the leading cause of slips.

I actually feel like now I eat normal. Before I had the band and changed my lifestyle, I ate like a glutton. Do I ever miss the gluttonous eating? Every once in a great while, I wish I could sit down and have a Big Mac, large fried, large Coke, and apple pie. It's usually when I'm upset over something. BUT... that is a very fleeting moment because then I look in the mirror. I love my new life since losing weight and wouldn't trade that in for the world.

I would tell myself to start buying smaller clothes in various sizes as I see them on clearance or at 2nd hand shops. It's expensive to constantly be dropping sizes!

When I first got banded, I could only feel my port if I really pushed and searched for it. Now, after losing a lot of weight, it sticks out a lot. You can actually see it through my clothes if my shirt is snug.

Unfortunately we can't help unless we know exactly what you're doctor allows at that phase. It's very important to stick to your post op diet exactly.

Emotional eating is rough, very rough. I realized early on I was an emotional eater at both extremes, both good and bad emotions. Have a bad day? Have a Twinkie! Have a great day? Celebrate with a Hershey bar! It wasn't until I was banded and was changing my lifestyle that realized how emotionally driven my eating always was. For me, my incentive is seeing how far I've come. Nothing depresses me faster than remembering what my life was like when I was almost 220 pound heavier. I was positively miserable. I never, ever want to be "that girl" again. So, when I feel the overwhelming urge to emotionally eat, I think and remember how awful it felt back then. I even keep a picture of myself taken the day of my surgery on my phone so I can look at it as a reminder why emotional eating just can't happen in my life anymore. Best wishes.

Plateaus are a normal part of weight loss and so are minor weight fluctuations. You have to remember, your body isn't a machine. It needs time to adjust to major changes and weight loss is one. It's not uncommon at all for plateaus to last weeks- sometimes even months. It's frustrating, I know I've been there, but it's all part of the process. If you keep doing what you're doing your weight loss will pick up again. As far as a fill, talk to your doctor to be sure. But typically speaking a plateau isn't reason to have a fill. The fills are to control and dim your hunger. If you feel your hunger isn't controlled as well then maybe you do need one. But if it's just because of the plateau? A fill won't help. Best wishes.

I am so sorry you're going through this. I also have MS. The best advice I can give you is to get on a disease modifying drug (often referred to as a DMD) ASAP. This is really important because they slow progression of the disease and the sooner you get on one the better your prognosis will be. Yes, there are 4 types of MS. Relapse/Remitting (RRMS), Primary Progressive, Secondary Progressive, and Progressive Relapsing. The majority of people start off RRMS (which is what I still am, too). In fact, that is another reason the DMD's are so important, to keep people from turning from RRMS to Secondary Progressive. May I ask, did you have both an MRI and a spinal tap to be diagnosed?

Lellow gives good advice (as she always does!) It takes time and patience to have adequate Fluid in your band. Until you do, it's very much just another diet. At this point it's a choice: White knuckle it and follow your eating guidelines despite not getting enough help from the band yet or have your weight loss stall out (or possibly even gain) until you're in the Green Zone. Bandster hell (which you're in) isn't easy but it's survivable. As far as another fill, most doctors have a set schedule amount of time they'll allow between fills. For instance, mine will do them every 4 weeks. Most will make you wait a period of time just to be sure it's settled in and another won't accidentally over fill you. To know for sure, you'll have to ask your doctor what his rules are fills. Hang in there, it does get easier.

You likely vomited today not because of "restriction" but because you ate food your stomach was too injured to handle. Unfortunately, vomiting only assaulted it further. You desperately need to get back on your post op diet and stay there. When you cheat on your post op diet and vomit, you put yourself at risk of very serious complications including ripping the sutures in your stomach.

The way it was explained to me was this: If you feel like you just ate a big dinner and can't eat another bite, you're full. If you are simply no longer physically hungry, you're satisfied. This is why I was told pausing between bites was so important- to give your stomach time to send a signal to your brain "Oh, I'm not hungry anymore". (and of course so you don't get stuck by eating too fast). Honestly? It wasn't easy for me to learn. After spending my entire life stuffing myself silly and eating when I wasn't hungry- I didn't even really know what physical hunger felt like anymore. It's a pretty big learning curve at the beginning with the band. It's A LOT easier once you have adequate Fluid in your band, too. A lot of us also have "soft soft" signals when we're satisfied, too. Like mine is getting the hiccurps. Some will sigh, or their nose may Water a little. There's all different little body cues we learn to tune into and really listen to our bands and body. Hope that helps!

I get what I call "hiccurps" after eating. It's like combination hiccup and burp. I get about a half dozen of them every time I'm done eating.

I am. I've lost 2.8 pounds so far this week.

Ask your doctor to be safe. The biggest reason doctors advise against long car trips or plane rides immediately after surgery is due to the risk of blood clots.