JBT222

Anyone know of lap band dr in the US Virgin Islands? Thinking of moving there and was wondering if i would have to plan to go back to the main land if i needed something. I have been banded a long time so i don't go often, but I would like to plan contingencies if needed.

Dr. Malley is great but I really liked the NP there. She helped me get restarted and was focused on whole health, not just the band. Wonder where she went. I was going to Dr. M before she started, I remember him training her on me. LOL

got a call today to reschedule an appointment i had with the NP Karen because they said she no longer worked there. Anyone know what happened? i really liked her and was getting great progress and coaching there.

The amount really depends on your swelling. LISTEN to your band. As soon as you feel any restriction STOP. you can always add to what you ate if you need to but throwing it up just sucks.

Weight gain can cause you to put up new walls due to shame and embarrassment. Both the gain of weight and the loss of weight carry huge psychological issues that often get completely ignored in the process. I look at the walls you are putting up as a way of you avoiding dealing with the problem. Just like with any other disorder, you can't fix it until you admit there is a problem. So yes, you gained some weight. Now you are taking control and you are going to fix the problem. Yes you had to buy bigger clothes, but now you are changing and focusing on the new. Find your motivator and stop putting up the walls. You will need these friends to help hold you accountable when you do start losing and you will absolutely cherish their support and compliments when they see your changes.

Have you been back to the Dr. in a while to get a fill? I went a couple of years, yes i said years, in the situation you described. I lost 140 pounds then over those years gained back about 40 of them. Finally sucked up my pride and went back to see the Dr. I got a fill to help me restart it. I am self pay, so that means it hit both in the pocket book and the pride department. I would also recommend finding some sort of workout thing you can do. There are lots of options out there. Even if you just go walk the mall before the stores open, it will get your mind back in the right place. Good luck! and let us know what happens.

Thanks for the comments. It does help to know i am not way out in left field. So Water consumption helps flush it? It's crazy how hard my body is fighting me on this. I am not new to the band; banded in 2007. But i am hitting the lowest numbers ever for me right now. My clothes are getting to big. People notice. Every non-scale victory I would normally crave. I should be on an endorphin high or something but instead I am feeling like crap and fighting depression.

I know it sounds crazy, but do fat cells store bad things that get released as you lose? It seems every time I start a good losing cycle I start getting sick. It usually last 3-4 days but it can get pretty rough. Is it all in my head or is it some odd coincidence with allergies? Seems to happen no matter what season so thought I would ask.

personally i like the old disco songs. Most of them you can put dance steps to. I had a trainer and that is all she used. Worked pretty well for cardio. Try pandora on the disco station.

power 90 ended up being a little to advanced for me. I ended up going with the Rockin Body program instead. That was pretty awesome. I lost a lot of inches. About to have to buy a new belt as i am on the last hole. Here is a website if you need one http://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/tngirlgetsfit Full disclosure, this is my wife. We liked it so much she became a coach to help people get involved with it. Good luck no matter what you try

Great job on what you have accomplished already. If you are losing inches that is a sure sign you are doing something right; however, I completely understand being scale motivated. I am the same way. If it doesn't move at least a fraction I start rethinking the previous day and what i ate. My dr. told me i had to stop being so scale focused. I tried putting it away and not weighing for a week and that sucked. I lost almost nothing. I needed that mental motivation. So now i still weigh every day, sometimes twice a day (shhh don't tell) because it keeps me motivated. I just don't tell my Dr. that. How far are you from goal? I still have a ways to go but if you are really close, you might need to re-evaluate your goal weight as your body may be telling you that you have already achieved it.

Those are the most encouraging comments sometimes. Love it! Congrats!

Final boarding call for the Bandland express for today!!! Band day should be exciting. Congrats to both of you for making it this far and making the decision to go through with it. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Let us know how it's going.

you may not have damaged the band, you may just need to have all the Fluid out for 6 weeks. If you caused a slip, that is bad, but that should also be rare. Generally if you have really bad reflux you probably are too tight and inflamed. Regardless of the answer, you did the right thing by going to the Dr and being upfront about what you did. Trying to hide it from them will make solving the problem harder.

interestingly there is a lady in our support group who had by-pass from my dr before my dr did lap band. My dr left the by pass practice and quit doing them because he saw so much failure with it after a year. The lady who he did by pass on he had to later do a lap band on when by pass didn't work past the 1 year mark. don't get me wrong, I know people who have done well with bypass too. It is a personal change that makes whatever "tool" you chose to implement with your WLS.

right after the band i had to stop all the diet coke i was drinking pre band, we are talking a six pack of 20oz bottles a day. I went off most caffeine for about 6 months. I could tell a difference when i added tea back. If i drink a lot of tea in a day I have a hard time going to sleep. I don't remember that from before and i have been banded a while.

Welcome to band land!!

mine was gone pretty quickly but i walked all the time. I don't remember it being painful but then again it has been a while. Whoever mentioned 8 months and still gas, i don't think that is from surgery. If you are still having pain from gas that far out, you need to be talking to the Dr.

i was self pay so the costs were fully disclosed. You could ask for that cost to know the worst case possibly. Mr Dr. was very up front with the price. In fact that self pay price was mentioned at the beginning of the seminar i went to. The Dr office will not know what your insurance will ultimately pay until they submit it. They have no way to know where you are in your policy and out of pocket max.

Remember that the first 6 weeks or so is about healing not weight loss. The loss is a bonus. Your body is still adjusting to the drastic changes you just allowed to be introduced. Someone mentioned staying off the scales. That is a good idea, but so hard to follow when you are excited. It will start dropping again.

It's all about tricking the body into letting go. If that worked for you I say bravo! I have been banded a long time and have hit plateaus that became the grasslands of the midwest. HA. But the key is it takes doing something different to get it back in gear.

Talking to my Dr., he said he has had very few bands slip and it is pretty rare. I don't remember him saying how they fixed it though. I would assume it is a simple procedure to just readjust it and not completely remove the device and start over. It is probably going to be something your band dr will need to comment on after he sees what is going on in there. Congrats on the wedding. Hopefully they can do something simple and fix it well before the date.

Very similar story for me. I was banded in 2007 and lost about 140 pounds in a little over a year and half. That was great but i wasn't at goal. I gained about 50 or so back and like someone else said, it was my fault. I was not following the band rules and eating slider foods i knew were wrong. (read that ice cream-aholoic) I went back this year and I am almost back to my lowest. It seems to be coming off slower this time. I also seem to only be losing around 10-15 pounds per fill. I can lose that usually within 2 weeks of the fill then i just plateau for some reason. Trying to get a good exercise routine started but time commitments are playing havoc with my schedule and energy levels have hit rock bottom sometime. Thankfully my Dr's staff is awesome and helping work through the problems. At least the weight is coming back off!

I have the same problem so have taken to trimming in advance. But yes, the cotton ball and it might as well be duct tape they use. OUCH! When the Dr. does it instead of the NP, he just holds the gauze there for a minute or two and talks to me. No tape.

enjoy the pizza. after banding you will not have deep dish pizza again. lol The rest of that you can have once you are back on solids if you choose to. Just a much smaller portion. I remember a friend of mine and I were getting banded close together and we had what we termed our "Farewell to food" tour. A banded friend of mine is a caterer and created this stuff she calls pizza dip. She makes that and we eat it with pita chips. Not exactly pizza but close enough for once a quarter to make you not feel deprived.