katschai

Hi - I (hopefully) will be moving to Rwanda for 1 year beginning July 1st for my job. Right now due to some complications I am totally unfilled as of a month ago. Its not easy at all of course I have gained weight. I see my MD next week to decide what to do for the immediate future. I wanted to hear from anyone who had moved to another remote country what you did about your band. My instinct tells me to be completely unfilled because of all of the issues that might come up with food and water consumption in Africa. I sort of assume for the first couple of months I may have stomach/intestine issues. I have to fess up I am not the best care giver of my band the complications are mostly my fault. However what I eat and drink will be so different in Rwanda. Any and all advice is welcome. Thank you

Hi - I ended up in the ER a month ago. My band completely closed up. They looked at the xray and barium swallow and said did not look bad enough to warrant surgery. they saw a little pouch above band but They did a complete unfill. It was not my regular MD it was a new associate. He had the hardest time getting the fluid out of the band I was probably jabbed 6 times. That concerned me because makes me think something is going on in there since he could not access the port. So I am unfilled now and of course gained 5-6 pounds but it feels and looks like 20. I am so bloated. I realize that for years my stomach and intestines did not get the work out I have given them in the past month but wow. So any advice, suggestions?

Hi - you do need to get medical care asap. I live in AA county and Dr. Singh is in Catonsville. 700 Geipe Road Suite 203 Catonsville, MD 21228 410-368-8725 My surgery was at St Agnes in Baltimore just out of of AA County. We will be sending good thoughts your way!

Hi - did you all meet at the St Ag group? If anyone wants to meet up in SP let's plan something. I am not sure why I thought UMMS did the band, I think it was something I read in a campus newletter but they must have been referring to bypass. Singh did my surgery. I have been out of town a lot but around now for a couple of weeks so would love to meet you all.

Hi - I too live in Severna Park My surgery was at St Agnes w/Dr Singh. A little further away are Uni of MD Med Ctr www.umm.edu and JHU Bayiew www.smallscar.com There are at least 3 of us in SP, I'd love to meet!

Hello Miladyscribe - I live in Severna Park too! I was a St Ag /Singh patient. Singh was very flexible with my on fills and time between. If you would like to meet sometime let me know.

Hi - if there are any other parents out there who have recently become or this fall will be an empty nester I would love to hear from you. My son goes to college this fall. He is my only child. Of course I have been very wrapped up in night/weekend school volunteer activities. Luckily I work so that will take up my 9-5 but I am really worried I am going to eat to fill the time. My spouse works and goes to school so he is pretty much gone all the time. I know I will drive the dog crazy hoping he will entertain me. I exercise almost every day at the gym. I don't know what else I can do to fill up the time. Any support is welcome!

I do ab exercises 1-2 times per week as part of a weight training class and it is somewhat uncomfortable. I was also banded in April 2007. When we are working upper abs (crunches and twists) I do feel it pulling on the band, lower abs exercises are ok (reverse curl/crunch). Try a web search of lower ab exercises and see how it goes. BTW my son will be attending Univ of MN this fall. We live in Maryland.

Hi Maryland, DC, VA - I have not been on the site for a while and glad the thread is back in action. Njudono - I live in Severna Park and I was banded at St Ag. Good Luck!

I was banded 1yr ago. The only person who knows is my husband. I did not even tell my teenage son. I agree wth dlsparks - you really get set up by all the pressure, now for some people that can be a big motivator, but for me I knew it would not be a good idea. I workout almost every day and people attribute my weight loss to diet and exericise and that is valid. You are the one working hard, the band is a tool.

Last night Wed on PBS they had a program on average sedentary people who trained for the Boston marathon. The nutririonist on the show said the exact same thing. That diet is what causes weight loss. So...the diet causes the weight loss, but the exercise keeps it off so that you have a net loss at the end of a week. They did body scans of the thin people who still had an excessive fat to muscle ratio. Since they were training for a marathon the focus of the show was running and exercise but the diet issue did come up. Go to PBS website and search for the program you can watch it online. I am not stating an opinion just relaying what I saw on PBS.

The law was passed by MD legislature in 2005. If a large company is self insured they can exclude the procedure. For example 8 years ago I worked for carefirst BCBS and they excluded the procedure. http://mlis.state.md.us/2005rs/chapters/Ch_301_SB0333T.pdf I can't find the final bill but here is the senate version. She can also contacted the Maryland Insurance Administration. Good Luck

Hi Katalin - My doc is Singh. I can't recommend who, to use but I can tell you something you need to request, a baseline or scout xray. I used Seton radiology and when Singh and I looked at my xrays they did not do a baseline (or as he calls it a scout xray). It is an xray taken before you drink anything. I assumed since Seton is at St Ag where I had the surgery they would do a lot of these, I was wrong. It ended up fine he was able to see what he needed but whoever you use make sure they do that preswallow xray. Good Luck! Kathy

I buy Smart food that is located in the produce section of my market. It is in a white bag and Ibuy smart chili and smart tex mex. They are great. But if you are not accustomed to soy protein the texture might put you off. I would suggest putting it on a low carb tortilla. I have not tried the dogs or deli "meat". Enjoy!

I live in Maryland and depending on the weekend I want to come. Kathy

Hi - I was banded by Singh as well. I would be happy to meet in Baltimore or any area nearby. Looking forward to meeting everyone (Jessica - I live in severna park.) Kathy

Thank you to everyone for the ideas and for the weblink. I had no idea there were so many products out there.

Hi folks - I guess because of the weight loss my band sticks out and I feel like I need some support when I exercise. Something to wrap or support my mid-section. Any suggestions? I saw on the men's page something about a compression shirt but I don't want something long sleeve and insulating. Thank you!

Hi Donna - I was also banded in April and really understand your situation. I know it can be frustrating. Your accomplishment is signficant. I have lost 30 and another 30 to go. I knew it would be slow but not this slow. I know I need to exercise a lot harder. I thought I was doing good with exercise but when I stepped it up for a few weeks by working out for an hour, I did lose a few pounds, so that's the goal for now. Good luck, Kathy

Hey GraceUtah - so does your 8 step method mean you are throwing up/pb'ing food frequently? .

I recently found NashuaNutrition.com - the hot cocoa is 90 calories and 15g of protien, choco-mint is great. Lots of great products. Nashua Nutrition

Hello Everyone! I totally fell off the planet even after I offered to host a get together! I spent my summer visiting colleges with my son - NY, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, SanDiego. I am up for a play date if someone wants to pitch an idea!

I probably have one of the most unusual jobs. I hire and train people (many are actors) to portray patients so that medical, nursing, pharmacy, etc students can practice interpersonal and clinical skills on people portraying an illness instead of practicing on people who are ill. They are called standardized patients. If anyone remembers Seinfeld, the episode when Kramer is an actor at a medical school and is assigned gonorrhea as his disease, well that is the TV version of this work. To get their license medical students must now pass an intensive standardized patient exam. They are evaluated on communication skills, history taking, physical exam, displaying caring and concern. This national exam just started 3 years ago. So if you ever saw a physician with terrible bedside manner, he/she probably did not do well on the SP encounters in med school. Med schools have been using SPs since the late 1960's. The most rewarding sessions are when students have to give bad news and they really learn from the SPs how patients truly feel when a physician, nurse, etc has to deliver bad news. We hope our students walk away enlighted, more thoughtful and better health care providers.

I was banded by Dr. Singh at St Agnes, they do a lot of procedures there and handled all the paperwork with ease. I agree, I work at Univ of MD Med Ctr and I don't have any health care where I work (When I lived in Calif and worked at USC I once had confidentiality betrayed by MD to my boss!!!!) Good Luck!

Hi - I tried to be a good forum user and searched to see if I could find a thread on this topic...if there was one, can you refer me to it? If not... I know it is common to have less restriction at night but this is ridiculous. I can barely eat in the morning, little bit at lunch. At night I get full easily but eating an hour later, then full, then an hour later, and so on Tips? advice? I wish I had a button I could push to increase my restriction after 8pm and then open it up in the morning. Thanks for any advice!