Doddie63

Juremea: My husband had a stroke last year and again this month. Each time, I felt restriction and I only have 4ccs. Go get a defill as suggested by others. Then slowly up the ccs until you feel comfortable again. Sure hope your dad recovers. Some strokes victims do not have severe lasting affects. I hope your dad is one of them. God speed. Doddie

Congratulations Donna D. Seems your latest fill is working. Keep it up. Doddie

Hi SusanSilver and Angel Bear: SusanSilver I was banded Feb. 01/07 and I have been fighting the battle but Angel Bear has helped me get my head on straight. Slow and easy is the way I want to go as well and our journeys shoujld be ups and downs but I am absolutely sure that the band helps me more than if I tried it alone. Thanks agan Angel Bear for your support and by leading by example. Doddie

Your post Angel Bear is wonderfully encouraging. I sure hope others that are fighting with themselves read it. So often I get caught up in the posts of people loosing weight fast and I wonder why I can't be like that, then I read your post and see your success. The tortoise is a great example and I think I will change my ticker to a tortoise instead of lightning. I feel really uplisted this morning. Thanks again. Doddie

well said Green Doddie

Hi Everyone: I was wondering if it is possible to indicate what type of band you have. I have a Fr. Midband and 4ccs is a minimum with the average fills being 6 - 8 ccs. When I hear about .2 cc it is a lot for some bands and not much for others. I draw a lot of support from this website and the information is sometimes saving me a lot of pain. Doddie

Thanks Donna D. I am black and blue after that fiasco. I know I gain every 3rd week but will I learn. Seems I have a wood block for a head. Today I checked in at 267.5 and NO I won't change my sticker from 265. I reached there once and I will again, hopefully. Enjoy your cottage we are in a rain storm. Doddie

Hi: PB means productive burp. If you eat too fast or are too tight or don't chew your food, the food won't pass through from the pouch to the rest of the stomach. A pain starts and grows stronger until you can't stand it anymore. Then you must bring it up. This PBing is not like a regular regurgitation with foul tasting bile. The food is encased in a cacoon of slime and comes up as a lump. You will then "slime" for a short time after PBing. The slime is saliva that you swallow as you try to get the food to pass through the pouch. Not a scientific explanation, but the best I can do. Maybe there are nurses or other professionals that can answer this better. Hope this helps a bit. Doddie

Hi well we I don't want to start a dissing contest as to who screwed up the most but..... I had a four pound weight gain and it was partially over eating but mostly water gain. Called my doctor who told me my blood work at 1st of July indicated my kidneys had decreased doing their jobs so he uped my diaretic. I am diabetic so kidney failure is a real worry. Problem with me though is I have such a guilt trip with weight gains that I usually end up on a grazing binge. Which I did but I think all is back to normal. I am back to measuring. I think I will get better at this job of controlling eating when I get my fills up to 6 ccs. I am told the fr. midband's normal fill level is 6 to 8. If I have one peice of advice to anyone, that is to go over your eating habits and if everything is the same, then it is a water gain. Usually at the time of your menstral cycle. If the water stays on, then check with the doc to see about increasing your diaretic. Doddie

Thanks for that angel bear. I sometimes despair that I am not dropping the weight like others but then I keep reminding myself that the band is there to educate me not to give me the easy way out. I believe strongly the band is helping me as I have not gained and I am eating smaller portions. The junk food is eaten but only under controlled circumstances. For instance, Jim and I are watching a football game and he brings out the cheezies. I take a small bowl (custard cup) fill it and that is all I eat. This way I don't feed deprived. Before I used to refuse it until I was alone then I gourged myself. I no longer do that. So I think I am making inroads. Again thanks for the encouragement. It helps tremendously. Doddie

Thanks Angel Bear. From what you have said, I think I will stay with 4 ccs for a few months and see how it goes. I have PB'd 3 times since receiving the last fill so will work on my chewing habits before going higher in the fills. Doddie

Angel Bear. How much fill do you have in your band. I have 4 ccs and feel pretty good. Weight is slowly coming off many weeks stay the same but I am not rushing it. Doddie

No problem the first few months it is after that ones old habits start to creep in. Having the LB is a tool to be used wisely with dietary changes, mental exercises and physical exercise. I am a binge/grazer and now into my 5th month. I have chosen to go slowly in the weight loss and change my eating habits and exercise habits. I know the weight will come off eventually. Others chose the rapid weight loss road and do just as well. The critical part is to remember the LB is a tool and it is to be used wisely. Doddie

Angel Bear you are right on the money. I eat junk once in awhile because if I don't, I get to resent the fact and then for some stupid reason pig out. The band is my conscience and tells me when I have had enough. Usually only a taste is good enough. Strange the fact I can have it makes me not want it. Go figure my brain. Doddie

Out of towners have a great deal of problems with fills and defills. Some are very fortunate to have local doctors who will do fills but most others have to travel great distances, even down to the US. The greatest fear for us is the emergency defill. Not many ERS are trained nor are very empathic to our plight. We are also short on person to person support groups. Internet is OK but will never replace the comaradie one can get from friends in a support group. Still you would be hard pressed to find anyone of us that would not get the band. Doddie

Liz1571: You go gal. Go and get the band and to hell with everyone. Your family sound like "enablers". They are comfortable with the fat, jolly gal in our family and don't want change. You will find your health will improve. Your BP will go down, diabetes will retreat, you will feel more alive. If they won't support you, the bandsters can be your extended family. We will support you. Doddie

Congratulations Donna D. I guess we are both having our successes. Doddie

BC has three doctors that do gastric bypass and banding. All have wait lists for 3 or 4 years. One doctor had a shorter wait list, but I had read in the papers he was thinking of picking up stakes if he didn't get more hospital time. I did my research on doctors and clinics and felt the TLBC Dr. was the best although I know these are arguable comments. What I did not do was research the meaning of fills and if they were difficult to have done in BC. I believed the comments from all clinics that fills could be done by a GP or fill nurse and went no further. I had my GP set up to do the fills but he reneged as he was too busy and really didn't feel confident in doing the fills. TLBC helped set me up with a surgeon here but I have comlicatons of a tipped fill and he has been unable to get a fill in SO.......I travel back to TO where they do it. I could go to Alta but why waste the money if they too are unsuccessful. Might as well go to the people who know what they are doing in my case. Doddie

Lots of good jobs begging for someone. Microsoft is going to open an office here. On the news last night, a spokesman stated how all jobs from blue collar workers, to white collar, executives, are in demand. What are you interested in? You are Dr. C's patient so shouldn't have problems with fills. All you have to do is decide if you want to leave that beautiful province. Doddie

LMCHP No need for your to apologize it is CRA that should do that. My point I tried to make was don't panic, have your house in order and you will come out on top BUT be prepared for what could be a rocky road. I sure hope Weenette your road is smooth. Good luck.

Hi: I am A feb bander too. I am taking it slow and easy. Since Feb. lost 18 lbs but I have been taken off three diabetic pills, downgraded my BP pills to 1/2 the strength and my sugar areading are 6% for my diabetes. I am working on changing the bad habits and letting the weight come off at its own slow pace. It gets very frustrating to watch all the successes, but I have failed so much in the past that my doctor wants my habits to be changed first and let the weight take care of itself. I am averaging 1 lb a week. Congratulations all your successes. Doddie

My goal is to be consistant in my efforts. I hope to break 265 this month. Doddie

LOL I have too much fat to see it yet. But that is my goal to be able to see my port like I see in the DVD CD. My badge of honour you might say. Doddie

No everything remained the same. Doddie

I am struggling myself so can't give any advice. Had two fills and have some restrictions, but I am PBing again which means I am eating and gulping my food. Not good. So I have put myself back on Glucerna (meal replacement for diabetics) untll my sore stomach gets better then I start all over again tracking everything I eat on the Sparkspeople website. Others use Fitdat but that is what I am suggesting start tracking and go back to square 1. doddie