Lydia Levy Perez

while your calling your doctor.. sleep on elevated pillows.. 90 degrees,. see what happens,

a nice warm cup of tea.. and nothing gets stuck.. i wouldn't miss breakfast for nothin.. sides.. i go to zumba just after and need something to burn.. now what you eat for breakfast is another story.. trying to stuff a salami and a pork chop down might present an issue.. but i eat fruit only in the morning. usually fat burners like papaya or pineapple... no issue here folks.. and would never recommend not eating.. just find a way that suits your anatomy.. like your rings.. when your hands are swollen, sometimes your esophogas seems to be edematous too.. no telling when though.. since theres just no way of telling from out here,, just have to pull on the "ring" a little to see hows the fit today.. if its tight.. hey.. get out the soap... thats when i eat the creamed soups and water filled salads.. when its loose.. its time for the chicken and cole slaw.. work with it.. find its quirks.. see if time of day means anything.. but more importantly... check out the tight factor before you make your food choice.. so you have a pretty good idea what is NOT going to stick today.

insurance is a raquet... for 5K you can make your decision on monday and be banded in 2 weeks. I don't understand the games they play with the fragile minds of overeaters.. Its not bad enough you are overweight and sometimes unhealthy.. they have to put you through hoops to give you a surgery that is clearly going to relief most of your problems.. i don't know why they insist on playing armchair psychiatry... makes no sense at all to me.

lap band surgery in mexico is about 5K... save your pennies.. and pay cash

btw... what you're describing doesn't sound like classic stuck.. not sure what you're having but stuck doesn't usually happen 2 hours post meal.. it s happened to me and its usually right away. I don't advocate barfing..some people use papaya.. meat tenderizers.. and other things to try to "rotor-roter" themselves... ask your doc.. after all, whatever mess you make of your lapband.. he's going to have to fix... go with what the pros tell you.

How does it feel to get stuck? It's not something you want to happen, but it will occasionally when you eat to fast, too large bites, or something that is just not going to go down no matter what you do to it. It starts out like a heaviness in your upper chest..it starts to feel like a tightening and then the nausea starts. You start to think, uh oh.. I've done it now... and it's all you can do to swallow at all. Saliva starts to build up in your mouth and you are amazingly uncomfortable. You begin to think of "where is the nearest toilet" because any second you feel like you are going to barf... and you may get an overwhelming desire to put your fingers down your throat to stop the pain. and if you are lucky enough that whatever you ate does come back.. its going to be covered in this awful white frothy stuff.. some sort of mucus that your esophogas produces to help slide this object through.. its a vain attempt.. it won't go down..it ultimately is going to come back up one way or another...and if you do this enough.. you can screw up your band, screw up your surgery and screw up all the goals you have for yourself... and surprisingly, lots of people seem to do this to themselves regularly so I hear. Overeaters who just don't listen to the rules or just plain don't get it. I've been there.. done that so they say. Stuck is like taking a short trip to pergatory and back.. its where you learn to repent your bad ways.. and hopefully, don't go back too too often. when you get "stuck" trust me you'll know it.. It ain't pretty.

Dr Ortiz cost is about 5K... includes everything but fills.. fills are $100 each and unfills are $30... but all you'll need is 2 or 3... not 10 or 12.... he's that good. Lydia

I am a Mexico "graduate" I would do it again in a heartbeat I didn't have insurance, I didn't weigh enough, etc etc.. I'd yo yoed up and down all my life. I was so depressed I was sure I was going to be the fat girl forever. I tipped the scale at 197... .for the 10th time.. I'd just lost and gained the same 50 pounds....Id just done the HCG diet..I was so sure I'd lost if for good this time and gave away all my fat clothes.. a year later.. I Jlooking at 200 again.. What was wrong with me???? Go back with me to January, 2012.... miserable, depressed, out of control eating. No motivation to diet, just regained 50 pounds...knee joints aching, can't fit into anything. Dumped by the boyfriend...Beginning to think, thats it life's over for me...I should throw in the towel and accept it all... And then I glanced at the pictures of my two wonderful sons....and thought of how their lives were just beginning.. both in school... one studying law, the other premed...was I really going to let them down.. and just dissolve into this depressed mess of a person... or was I going to fight???? I was going to fight.... and I did fight... I decided to fight with a vengence.... and Mexico played a huge part in this determination. I got off my butt... I searched the internet.. I didn't have insurance to cover lap band surgery. I didn't even have the money.. I did however have a line of credit on my house.. and I did make the decision to use it!!! January 24th I made the phone call. Feb 9th I was banded I didn't have to go through 6 months of psychological counselling and reams of insurance issues. I took my $5,000, wrote a deposit check and a bank note for the balance. I got into my car... I drove to a border crossing A van picked me up (if I'd flown they would have gotten me at the airport) I was driven to a surgery center.. I was preoped, I was banded and recovered the same day I stayed in a wonderful hotel overnight with some great people I met who also had surgery that day I drank soup, I ate popsicles, I went home the next day I drove myself 90 miles to my home...I recovered in a week and went back to work So began my journey... It is 6 months later.. I have had 2 fills and a slight unfill....I have lost 59 pounds. i went from 197 to 138, from a size 18 to a size 8 I would do this again in a heart beat... I believed going to Mexico to the surgeon I went to, saved my life...it gave me back my life.. and if it had not been for this affordable alternative, I am sure I would be completely miserable right now... instead I am healthy, happy, and going to zumba 6 times a weeks. What can I say? Viva La Mexico!

it doesn't matter how big you started.. the perceptual distortion is universal... i didn't think it was that awful in me until my slender college age son came home this time and begrudgingly noted "mom you look good"..this from a boy who perceives "fat girls" as invisible aliens who will wander the planet boyfriendless forever because they are undisciplined gargoyles" For that boy to notice I had shrunk to normal size was monumental.. for him to say it out loud was unthinkable. I went from 200 (not huge by some standards) to 138 pounds in just 6 months. A size 18 to an 8 . Im 5 feet 4 and would still like to lose 10 more pounds..body perception is so strange.. my coworkers say I should stop losing weight.. when i strike a pose, my hand on my hip and I say: "So how much do you think I weigh?" they'll say: "128" so I say "good, because I weigh 138, so if I lose 10 pounds I'll be just right"....it never stops.. a person who has been heavy can not see what the world sees... our software programs that define our size are filled with distortion. We have to trust and rely on the perceptions of others...others we can trust. Am I ready to stop? Not yet.. I need a margin of safety... so I can bounce up and down 3-5 pounds and not feel Im breaking the bank....

you can have your surgery for lots of money in the US or you can go to tiajuana like i did and get the best quality surgeons and surgical procedure. I would fly around the world for these guys. THey pick you up at the airport, place your band and deliver you back to the airport after an overnight stay, all for 5K. add in the air... and a couple trips for fills and you haven't even spent your tax refund and you are on your way to a new life... i weighed 200 pounds.. not huge compared to some.. my goal weight is 137.. i currently weigh 139....id do this again in a heart beat.....i wear a size 6-8....and all this since feb 8th, 2012.. my life is mine again... i won't even tell you their names.... unless you want me to..

it seems every doctor and every clinic has its own idea of post fill diets.. mine said 24 hours of liquids and go back to regular eating.. im not sure there is any scientific research in this area to really say what is right and what is wrong. some docs are very conservative and push the fluids and mushies for days.. others think its a waste of time. all i know is that i use liquids after i get stuck.. to just calm things down for a day.. and my band seems to be well placed and is working.. im no doctor.. but im not sure all the docs know the answers either.. this lap band thing seems to be very individualized to the specific patient and there is no 'recipe; for any one person or any one band.

thats 47 :0

I'd go see a new doctor who has fluroscopy and barium and get my fills from someone who knows what they are doing.. That's nuts that you are a year into this without decent restriction. I go to mexico for my fills but i live in california. I had 2 fills and I"m 8cc in a 10 cc band. I'm tight but not excessively.. warm tea opens the band most times if i really feel too tight. but the bottom line is i was banded feb 9 this year.. have lost 40 pounds.. and don't see any reason not to get to goal by september 5th ( my birthday)..

please refer to my post the gut-wrenching truth.. get used to it... while you have made the big step to get the lap band.. this early recovery period is just that, don't expect much from the band.. its just a healing period and not a period when your band is functional as a weight lose tool... .