firefaerie266

Ditto to the above. Hope you can have a good pee shortly so you don't have to go back!!

I don't plan on telling anyone other than my husband. Hopefully he'll be here to take me home from the hospital, if not I'll have to tell a local friend. I really don't want to tell my parents. Part of me wants to because I could use the support - but I know there is a very good chance I'd hear "Oh sweet heart" and be given a pathetic, heart broken speech from my parents about not needing it etc. So I'll wait until after I start losing to open up to them - or maybe even wait until the next time they see me (which very well may be 3 or 4 years from now).

I love mall walking! Great way to get exercise in a wonderful air conditioned environment. You'd be surprised the number of people that show up before the shops open just to exercise!

If it's iron related - that can easily fluctuate based on your cycle (if you have a regular or heavy one). I agree with the above and to go back in for another blood test! Good luck!

I didn't know aspartame effected blood sugar - very interesting!

I can see both sides. When I was pregnant with my daughter I was on Medicaid, and had no out of pocket expense for that pregnancy (besides some prescription and supplement things). And even though I only had Medicaid just to cover my pregnancy, I took full advantage of my benefits and got myself some new glasses too (still had to pay out of pocket for the frames). My husband worked a fulltime job, and we made about $25k a year. He had insurance for himself through his work - but I wasn't covered, and to cover me would have been very expensive. Now my husband is in the Army and we get amazing coverage through Tricare. After moving to where we are now, I've gone around and checked up on the body parts I've been neglecting for 3 years after my Medicaid ended (OBGYN, wellness checks, dental exams, eye glasses etc). I did have to go to the hospital once and an urgent care center twice while I had no insurance (before my husband enlisted), and my husband also had a health scare before he enlisted - so I've slowly but surely paid of my bills and his, and now we are just left with a couple (dentist bill, and his ambulance ride). I say all that to say that I think Medicaid is great for the people who are just down on their luck, and trying to get back on their feet - maybe they lost their job in the economy or their business went under. But I also have come across people (my family is full of them) that devote their time and energy in learning how to exploit the system and find ways around claiming certain income and receiving extra benefits etc. Those people aggravate me. People who abuse the system don't deserve a free ride. The system definitely needs some revision.

If that was my cute belly button I totally would! (and I didn't have this thing about needles/pain lol)

Hi! I'm 24 and just now starting the process for preparing for surgery. My PCP has already given me a referral to an excellent surgeon in my area, and I went last night to their information seminar. I should be getting a call in the next couple of days for my first appointment. What area did you say you lived in? I'm near Savannah, GA.

Without insurance, my surgeon only charges $100 for fills - and the first 90 days of followups are automatically covered (I think it's called a "universal grace period"). Do you know if your doctor has anything like that in effect? Or how much a fill would be out of pocket? You might be worrying about nothing =) I just got my initial paperwork and expense sheet last night so I can't offer more help than that!

Nope! He's very dark hair, olive skin tone. Muscular build too. Just one of those weird things about his body! Guess it just happens to some people.

I read an interesting article on here yesterday that really made me stop to think - why was I overweight? Was I just going to blame my bad habits on my parents for the rest of my life? Or was there something more to it than that? Part of the reason I've avoided thinking about it before is because to do so would be admitting to myself that I had a problem. When someone talks about overeating or people with eating problems, I immediately conjure up in my mind people that snack on potato chips constantly, eat half a cake for a snack, and chug a 2 liter bottle of coke with each meal. And since I didn't eat like that, then I'm obviously not in the same category as those people, right? Well, it's only now that I'm beginning to see and accept that I *am* overweight, that I *do* look overweight to my peers, and that hardly anyone who is overweight eats an entire pizza in a single sitting. So I sat down and really thought about the painful things (yep, I cried) and tried to get to the bottom of what was behind my weight gain and poor eating habits. Why do I eat? Denial - If I didn't eat at all during the morning, then I must have some extra calories to spare in the evenings. If I didn't diet then I couldn't fail. If I didn't diet then that meant I didn't need to diet. Control - Eat what I want, no one can tell me not to. Not missing out on my favorite foods. Sadness - I earned or deserved it. Ability to relax or distract myself and not think too much. Boredom - Keeps me busy, something easy and enjoyable to do. Better than just sitting and doing nothing. Rewarding - I cooked it, accomplished that it turned out great. Some of my earliest memories of food as a child were that of my dad eating the last of my favorite food. Many times we'd have left overs and if I wanted to save something for myself for later, I'd have to choose between eating when I wasn't hungry or eating more than I needed. Often I would find myself in the situation where my dad would have a large dinner and eat the last of whatever I was saving for myself and I was forced to have something else that I didn't want or sometimes I just chose not to eat. I also remember very vividly this fear of eating something "ok" only to find out that my parents had decided to have pizza for dinner after my dad got home. So more times than I would like to remember I would have 2 dinners because I didn't want to "miss out" on the special food that was ordered or prepared later in the evening. My parents were also ALWAYS dieting. We did Atkins on and off for years. After I moved out I really began to resent them for this. I was obsessed with thinking about food and diet and my weight - eventually to the point that I swung to the other end of spectrum and avoided all diets and forms of calorie control. I wanted desperately to be accepting of my body and who was, I some how tricked myself into thinking that to love myself mean I wasn't suppose to care about what I ate. I tried a couple of diets after highschool, but I didn't want to turn into one of those compulsive dieters that spends most of their life yo-yo-ing and failing. I didn't want to fall for fads. I didn't want to turn into someone that hated my body. Now as an adult, I am beginning to realize and accept the fact that I have complete control over my body. That no one is going to run off and hide my favorite mashed potatoes. And if for some reason I run out of a certain meal before I am tired of it, I can always make more when I need to. Food is becoming more about "what I need to survive" and variety and less about what I am craving. And I'm getting better at saying no to cravings and impulses or limiting the extent to which I give in (having only 1 cupcake every couple days, as opposed to a huge slice of cake with dinner). The food isn't going anywhere and I don't need to eat it before it disappears. I am giving our family more structure so that our daughter doesn't have to have the same worries I did as a child - and I want more than anything, even if I can never save myself, to teach her positive attitudes about food and have her educated about the effects of foods on the body so that she can make healthy choices and live wisely. I don't want her scared of food or obsessed with food - I want her to learn to be normal. Or even if she has some of the same issues I do, to have the confidence and education to make wise choices.

What really kicked me into gear was preparing for my husband's upcoming deployment. I knew I needed to keep myself busy, and what better way to do it than to get into shape? I really want to be able to surprise him when he comes home and show off what I have accomplished. So I made a "To Do" list and I want to share that with you all! What do I want to do? Exercise every day lap band surgery dye and spin (yarn) pen turning finish schooling get a job make soap get a tatoo start daughter in pre-K meditate/yoga read more logic puzzles/brain exercise How do I do this? Get up at 7am exercise shower study/work be creative computer time meditate/yoga bed at 10pm What am I afraid of? What's stopping me? failure wasting resources if I can't make a profit wasting time (should I be doing something better?) guilt (that I don't focus on something more important What should I do instead? Not waste time "thinking" make an inspirational space for myself listen to music JUST DO IT And then I made a list of bucket list goals that I want to do sometime in my life and to help me remember that my life is worth living: Bucket List learn to be a dog trainer knit a pair of socks knit a shawl write a book get published learn more digital photography master photo shop learn to sing learn to dance grow a vegetable garden travel to Europe learn to weave take a cake decorating class paint a picture write a song "trash the dress" go to cosmetology school

You're welcome! And thank you! He's doing great and is perfectly fine now - he hasn't had another episode of the gagging/feinting thankfully, and is learning to stop looking when he gets a shot or they do a blood draw!! Silly man. I also learned recently that a lot of people who have a fear of needles aren't afraid of needles per se, but that they know they are going to feint. My hubby of course isn't scared of needles (like I am haha), but feints during routine blood draws when he watches. He almost passed out recently when I had an Iron infusion and he was watching the nurse put in my IV - she had been having trouble getting it in, and when she finally got it, there was a gush of blood that made my delicate flower of a husband have to sit down lol

I'm an Army Wife - tomorrow marks my husband's 1 year enlistment anniversary. This is significant to me because if it wasn't for him enlisting and for Tricare I don't know where I would be right now. I have always been a little on the heavy side - but I was healthy, pretty active, and looked great. But it was drilled into me from a young age to "diet diet diet" and I never appreciated how healthy and beautiful I was until it was too late. After HS, I slowly started gaining weight - I was about 190 when I graduate and around 220 a year and a half later when I got pregnant. Pregnancy started off great - I was gaining right on schedule, exactly as my OBGYN expected me to. But somewhere near the end, things started spiraling out of control and he was at a loss for why I was continuing to gain. When it came time for me to give birth, I was close to 320. About a month after delivery, I dropped 30lbs without even trying - most of it water weight. My legs were sooooo swollen during pregnancy that I stretch marks - yes stretch marks - on my ankles. I was jumping for joy when I could see my beautiful bony ankles again! I even told my husband that I don't care how fat I ever got - so long as I had my ankles! LOL After that, things really stagnated. I tried doing a couple diets with little success. One diet program I tried was called "Quick Weight Loss" - it was a community type thing, like WW, that required almost daily weigh ins and a strict diet. They really stressed using their supplements and vitamins, but they were expensive and I didn't want to use them - I figured if I couldn't lose the weight eating regular food, then it just wasn't going to work in the long run! Anyways, about a month in to this diet and I just couldn't do it. I tried really hard, but the stress of measuring and weighing and organizing a meal plan were just too much for me. This was *very* strict. I could only have an exact portion of salt, could only have certain meats so many times a week, and needed to have so many vegetables and a lot of variety. I couldn't eat any of the things that I enjoyed, and many times I just wouldn't be HUNGRY any more - but still had food on my plate, that I was required to eat. I was stressing about food and thinking about it so much more than I ever had in my life and I just couldn't live like that. I did adopt a few things from that experience though - I'm careful about my sodium intake, I cook almost all my own food and LOVE cooking from scratch, and I eat a lot more protein in my meals (our family practically lives off chicken!). The other true diet that I tried was one of those meal replacement things called "ViSallus." The plan was you eat 2 shakes a day, one for breakfast and one for lunch, and then have a normal dinner and small snacks throughout the day. Sounds good right? Well the shakes - which everyone RAVED about and were suppose to be one of their selling points - tasted NASTY. They tasted like cake batter and the ONLY recipe I found that masked that horrid taste of sweetness was chocolate/peanut butter. I tried using frozen fruit, I tried using different flavor additives, but nothing helped. Eventually it got to the point where it took me half the day to finish half of a shake - instead of the 2 shakes I should have eaten. It's like my body said "If this is all there is to eat, than I'm fine not eating!" and I just wasn't hungry anymore. So here I am. And I've finally decided to take control. The thing that appealed to me the most about lapband was the idea that I don't have to be so crazy and obsessed and precise for the rest of my life - it's simple - I eat a portion of protein, and then have fruits/veggies. I can do that! I can roast chicken, I can grill fish, I can broil shrimp - and I can most definitely eat some apple slices or cucumber slices or have a salad or whatever. And to find out that one day I might be able to just go out to eat with friends and family and order from the same menu as everyone else was enough to bring me to tears! To know that one day I *won't* be hungry, that I can learn how to eat a reasonable sized meal and be satisfied, that I can learn new habits and stop grazing - it's so inspiring and motivating to me. Heck just learning what "reasonable" means would be a step forward!

I have actually been hanging around this site for awhile, reading up on things as a non-subscribed user, but after stumbling across your post I felt like it was time for me to join and post a comment You mentioned your vagus nerve (funny how this ONE thing controls practically everything!) - my husband has what is called (or had, depending on how you look at it) "Vaso-Vagel Syncope." His only episode occurred when he was at work and gagged on a chug of carbonated beverage - this caused him to feint (from a sitting position). After numerous tests (everyone originally thought he may have had a seizure) we finally got an answer. As it turns out, this is the most common form of syncope - but goes largely unreported (people who feint at the sight of blood, needles etc have the same issue - which my husband does as well). Everyone has different triggers and all you can do really is avoid your triggers. So yes, I can completely understand how something like what you are describing can cause your problems. I know you didn't mention any feinting - but that's just one of the possible outcomes for that sort of pressure on your vagus nerve (pressure can be stress, like the sight of blood, or physical, like your band or my husband swallowing). I'm really sorry that this given you issues with your band - but I suppose it's good that you are getting this answers and figuring this out now rather than years down the road if your situation became critical. I think what some people don't understand that while this problem is not *caused* by the band - it's definitely made worse by it. And I think that, and a lack of understanding on what your problem actually is, is where the tension is coming from. It sounds like you were experiencing mild symptoms for years but didn't know it (the constant constipation). I would even go so far as to suspect that if your doctors knew, they wouldn't have suggested the band in the first place. Well, anyways - I wish you a speedy recovery and I hope you are able to get some relief! Maybe now that they are able to tie everything together you will have a better way to manage your bowel movements too! Take care!