Daisalana

I have been a bit worried about this, but in a Before & After picture I saw someone with a cigarette so I know at least one person out there smokes and would have information! I am a smoker, and though I plan to quit one day, I don't want to yet. I haven't been able to find any information on smoking with lap banding. I read in gastric bypass you have to quit before having it for healing I guess.. Anyone who is a smoker that had lap banding, what did your doctor tell you about it, did it bother you to smoke having it in (I don't know how involved your stomach is when smoking?) and all that. Any info please, thanks!

I am definitely looking forward to that, I just heard it causes heart burn in the beginning, and I swear by Prilosec as it is, so I hoped to take it afterward until I lose enough weight to get rid of it!

I enjoyed all the pics I saw, thought I'd show off my fur babies too! This is my red boxer Cassy, I dress her up for Halloween and she gives me the 'I hate you momma..' look. These are my two kittens, Apollo & Gracie. Apollo is a Ragdoll, and Gracie is a ragdoll mix. Gracie is climbing on Apollo in this pic. This is Pandora & Apollo. Pandora is my 5 year old ragdoll cat.. (They were begging for treats!) Gracie rolling around.. Apollo has turned into quite the fatty, here he is being a beach whale (how I feel!!) Pandora protecting the Christmas presents.. And lastly, me and fiance checking out our house that's being built. Woohoo. (They just started)

Still browsing and absorbing all the information I can from all you guys The scars don't seem too bad, the badly bruised pictures kind of scared me.. but I hardly EVER bruise as it is, I can take quite a beating before I get a bruise. LOL I just wanted to add about Vitamin E, that is what I planned on using.. When I got one of my big tattoos, my skin rejected the ink and 'rotted off', about 6inx4in of my skin just peeled off one day and left a big gooey red mess. I was so afraid of the scar it would leave and my tattoo-ist told me to put pure vitamin E on it (I found it in a cream form), and applied it daily, within 2 weeks it was fully healed and I was able to re-tattoo it. Now, you wouldn't even know it happened. Also, I had always heard flaxseed oil is good for the skin and good for helping elasticity when dieting (or in this case I would think for lap banding weight loss). Anyone use flaxseed oil during their weightloss?

I live in Huntsville,AL and referring to Decatur, AL.

I am worried about pre-op diet as well. If nothing is there to help me restrain myself (the band), I will have a very hard time if they do like the liquid diet. And then to not smoke on top of that.. I don't know. And you're right Carlene, I hate to have to find another doctor, but I've heard people mention doctors in Decatur which is not far from here.. so worst case scenerio if they are hard about smoking, I will call around and find on that won't be too tight on smoking. I just think the lap banding is enough of a change in my life for one time, I want to be able to put my whole heart into it, not worry about cravings from smoking and wanting to replace it with food, etc. I can quit smoking later, but I need to lose weight right now.

I'm happy that some of you are as excited to quit as you are to lose weight I wish I had that same feeling!! Back in my yo-yo dieting, I got into cardio when I was going down and I did pretty well as a smoker. I'm sure I could have done better, but I don't think smoking was holding me back too much. Who knows! As for Chantix, my mom and uncle both did that in the past month or so. My mom had a hysterectomy and she took Chantix just so she could stop smoking for the day she was in the hospital. She said it worked great for that one day, she didn't crave and panic a cigarette, but as soon as we checked her out and we got out of there, she had one and she didn't quit.. My uncle was gung ho about it, and thought Chantix was working for him, and after 2 weeks of taking it, you quit and he said he felt (actually my mom said this too) they didn't feel like finishing a cigarette. After 2 weeks on it, they would smoke but only smoke half and felt like they'd smoked a whole cigarette. Anyway.. my uncle is diabetic and has extremely high blood pressure, so he's been dieting, he was an alcoholic and he actually has not had a drink in 2 months now has lost weight, but he is still smoking.. :speechles So I'm afraid if I'm told to stop smoking is mandatory for the surgery, what if I can't, since I won't be completely into it..

I don't want to undertake both of these at once. I don't think stopping smoking while giving up food.. at the same time would make for a very sane me. I also enjoy smoking, not only out of habit. I want to quit eventually when I decide to have kids, but I need my smoking crutch right now! And I have had surgeries since being a smoker, and they always say I 'should' stop smoking for healing, and I've never had any problems.. I am hopeful they don't 'make' me quit, as I KNOW I am dedicated to losing weight, but my whole heart would not be into quitting cigarettes right now, and I know from experience unless I'm completely on board with it, it won't work.

Hey fellow Bamians! I mentioned this on another thread, but I'm going to be using Dr. Fuccundus in Huntsville,AL. Anyone have any experience with him?

Hi, I'm new, thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Laura and I'm in Alabama.. I have my first consult in a week. :clap2: :clap2: Are we there yet??

I tried the fasting diet, where one day you eat normal, next day you eat nothing but fruits & veggies.. Repeat. The first day, my fiance did it with me even though he doesn't have weight to lose, he is supportive.. On our fast day we ate oranges, and then I made a broth soup with veggies in it. That night, we both had explosions in the toilet! He actually poo'd himself, didn't even feel it coming. We stopped that night after that, I thought it was due to all the liquid from the day. One thing I've been worrying about on pre-op for lap band.. Sounds like this happened to you!!

This is a great thread, I hope to lose 150# more or less. So I'm glad to see it can be done!!

Just wanted to add, another reason I'm going with this Doctor is because he is with Crestwood Medical, and Crestwood is like a resort.. they're a for-profit hospital, so the rooms are really fancy and the staff is great. Anytime I have to have surgery I try to get it done at Crestwood instead of Huntsville Hospital, just so I know I will be treated like I'm paying out the wazoo! LOL

Well, I'm hyped for it now, now I can't wait to get all the preliminary things out of the way. My sister plans on getting it done if things go well for me. My brother would probably follow suit. My parents made some big kids!! My sister is younger and is 6'0 280lb, my brother is 6'8 350lb and I am 6'0 330lb. Eeek!

Niec, we're not a little podunk city, but I know what you mean! LOL I have a consult with (watch me butcher the name) Dr. Fuccundus in Huntsville, AL. From the research I did and support groups I contacted in the area, he came recommended. I was going to look at Birmingham doctors, but from my experience when I have any sort of operation-I do not want to travel.. I want to be able to go straight home, and the 2 hour drive from Birmingham didn't sound appealing.

Well, I'm 98% sure I am getting the surgery. The only 2% is if the doctor gives me a reason why I shouldn't. I have a kidney that is in the wrong spot, I don't see why this would matter, but I never know what it's going to affect. I want to get it ASAP. I have an appt. with my back/pain doctor tomorrow to schedule more injections, and if I can get this Lap-Band quickly, I want to possibly hold off on getting more injections to see how quickly I could lose weight and stop the pain in my hips and back. I'm glad I found this community, as I don't know anyone who has had banding (just gastric bypass) and I think this will be a great resource when I have questions or tough moments as I go along :girl_hug:

Hi all.. I've been trying to do some research on Lap-Band and came across this forum. I'm about to get in depth into the threads, but there are a couple of questions I tried to google and could not find an answer for.. I'm 23, 6'0 and 330lb. :confused: I did the yo-yo dieting, my best success was with Atkins, but gained it all back plus some.. and then as of the past couple of months I went to a dietician and was put on a diet, and actually GAINED 30lbs. I don't know what's going on. So gastric bypass was my last resort, I've thought about it for some years now. It seemed so drastic, so I kept hmm'ing about it.. So last night I just can't stand the path I'm going despite my efforts and good intentions, and began to do more research, then discovered Lap-Band, how less invasive it is, that worst case scenerio if something goes wrong it CAN be reversed, and that it is done locally here.. and so now I've set up a meeting with a local doctor to get more information on it. One thing I can't find an answer to, I plan to have kids in the next couple of years. Do they have to take it out for pregnant women? Are there health risks for mom or baby? Any information you guys have on this would be very helpful.. Also, I've been trying to find blogs of people who did this and wondered what you guys, not any sort of doctored testimony, how quickly or slowly you've lost weight? Thanks in advance! :eek:

Are free fills not included in the US bandings?

A little late response, but my family and fiance are the same way. They all support me doing the banding surgery, but if I say we can cut corners by going to a place in Mexico, no matter how immaculate it is, I'd lose all the support I had!

woops, I also wanted to ask.. from first doctor appointment, what is the time till you can get the surgery? I want it ASAP and even though my insurance covers it, I don't have the 'proof' they need for it, so we are going to pay for it ourselves. I'm ready to get this going.. I have been having such bad back problems for years now, and getting cortisone shots, they've worn off again and I want to fix the root of the problem.