vinesqueen

The idea of the band is not restriction, it is to lose weight. You've lost more than 50 pounds since April, which is well within the 1-2 pounds we are expected to lose. Just becaues you can "gulp fluids and scarf most food" doesn't mean you should. Excellent that you haven't had a PB in months, because the band is NOT surgically induced bulimia. One thing also to keep in mind is the whole "normal portions." Bandsters often get a twisted view of what is "normal." We come to think that a saucer full of food is a huge amount of food, which it isn't.

Carol, you have the "big band" and it sounds like you still need more fill. I think what you are experiencing is swelling from the fill, which goes away after a week or so. This seems to be pretty typical with folks with the "big band." I don't know itf that helps, but it should give you and idea of what is going on. Strength and Courage!

(((((hugs))))) I agree, you need a complete unfill. This will make a huge difference in the way you feel. If you cannot lose weight on a low calorie diet, if you cannot lose weight with the band, then it is time to look for a different reason. I did everything I could to lose weight with my band. EVERYTHING. I became seriously depressed, but I started to demand answers from my doctors. It hasn't been an easy battle for me. It hasn't been easy to not lose weight, yet again. I was devistated, absolutly devisated when I couldn't lose weight. Even when I was too tight, I couldn't lose weight. But I pushed for answers. There had to be an answer why I wasn't losing weight, for me that answer is Cushing's. Not a happy disease and not something that will be easily cured, but at least now I know why no matter what I cannot lose weight. Please, please, please take care, and get the emotional help you need and deserve. I'm so sorry you were too tight for too long, that is just plain cruel. But after you get your depression addressed, please start pushing for answers why you cannot lose weight. Do NOT let them give you a BS diagnosis of "Metabolic X" it's a cop-out. Please feel free to PM me if you need to.

Some people get wide open, while others get super restricted. Part of the deal is that we are just a hormone Soup, and each has a different mix, while still being "normal." I supect that while you are PMSing, you spit out a bit more cortisol during this week. Excess cortisol makes many people feel hungry, this isn't a bad thing, just a thing. Some people when they get really stressed get wide open, while others shut down so tight they can hardly swallow their own spit. When I have a fill, and I get super stressed I'm one of the ones that clamp down.

yes, too bad they couldn't get their facts right about the procedures. But as to whether someone has WLS as a preventative measure opens a whole other line of thinking. I am not sure if it is much different from a "starlet" having WLS so she doesn't have to face any weight gain, than one of our low BMI folks having the band because the need to stop before they do get as big as I am, or bigger. I think that says something about our socity when someone who is tiny under goes something as drastic as WLS so they don't become a fat cow at size 6.

thanks for the laugh! Too funny that he's such a whiner, but you have to love the flawed logic. but unfortunately, so many people are horrified by obese people, espeically since we seem to be the last socially acceptable group to discriminate against. I'm a pagan, but even I now judge not, lest ye be judged. The tiny little frail man needs our sympathy.

sounds like "head hunger" to me. we eat for lots of reasons, hunger being just one reason. For many of us, if we only ate when we were hungry, we'd never be MO... not all, but many. We eat because we are social creatures, because food is part of celibrations, because we are bored, because we are angry, because we are not paying attention. We eat because eating gives us pleasure and because we need too from a phycholoical point of view as well. (Sure wish I could spell)

hormones is the simple answer.

My DH has been banded for just over 3 years and has lost over 200 pounds so far. For the first time in his adult life he is under 400 pounds. We don't know his current weight, but I suspect it is about 385, down from 596. His only grief with the band is occasionally being too tight. I've been banded for almost two years, but I've lost almost nothing. But if I hadn't been banded, I don't think we would have ever found my brain tumor.

yup, I worked my butt off trying to lose weight. Excersize and diet did nothing, nor has the band of course. But we all know my story... Whoa! you've already lost 50 pounds! Woot! Right, you need to make sure you are eating enought to ballance the energy you are expending. Have you tried to increase your calories for a few weeks to match your work outs? It might be that you need to be at about 1200 calories aday to see any movement. Are you using something like fitday.com or sparkle to track your calories, both in and out... Strength and courage!

Hey Babe, your labs all look very low to me. (I never thought I'd be able read lab results, I'm a computer geek, not a medical geek! sheesh! So, Addison's (adreanal insufficiency) is the opposite of Cushing. But those of us who are Cyclical Cushing's can and sometimes do have both because we either have too much cortisol, Cushing's, or not enough, Addison's. It just depends on how far your disease has progressed, if you have this. If you post your results on the Cushing's help site, the link is in my signature, and ask for help reading. There are folks there who really understand lab results. Addison patients typically are very skinny, Cushies are typically fat. Buffalo hump, central obesisty (all our weight tends to be "trunk centered" as opposed to equally spread about) and bright purple stretch marks and the inability to lose weight, or worse yet, rapid weight gain, and a red moon face. Not everyone has all the symptoms of course, but those are all the hall-marks of Cushing's. I strongly hope you spend some time on the Cushing's board, since that is one of the best places to get information on Cushing's. PM me if you need me. You have my phone number still, right? Just remember I'm on the West Coast! (((((hugs)))))

Excellent Kathy! Hurray!

I have one in the center of my back, at my third chakra, it's a center flame inside interlocked boxes, inside flames. I got it just after I found out about my Cushing's. Yellow, red and blue. Chakra Three: Fire, Ego identity, oriented to self-definition This chakra is known as the power chakra, located in the solar plexus. It rules our personal power, will, and autonomy, as well as our metabolism. When healthy, this chakra brings us energy, effectiveness, spontaneity, and non-dominating power.

welcome home!

you want to make sure your stiches and sutures are cometely healed. COMPLETELY healed no matter where you soak. Your own tub or a public soak it it doesnt' matter, don't soak until you are completely healed.

Hi Chrissy The reason I can't lose weight is that I have a pituitary tumor, a brain tumor. You know that disease you hear about where people have that glandular disease where people get really fat and can't lose weight? That's what I have. Its a real disease called Cushing's. And I have it. I suspect that several of the Turtles also have a Cushing's as well, based on their inability to lose weight, comments about humps hurting, fategue and stretch marks.

Strength and Courage Alex! Strength and courage.... I'm with Jack, once I found out what a number corn does on me... I do so much better when I can either avoid it, or pair it with protien and fat, since those stay in your bloodstream longer. (glycimic index theory)

Thanks for taking this on NewSho. I am sure that it is a labor of love. Positive of it.

Here is my complete list of NSVs (non-scale victories) today. Since I am not seeing any change in the scale, I decided that I needed to review my progress, to see how my life has changed since March 14th, 2005. Because I was so distraught earlier this week because I listened to the damn scale, I decided I needed to list them all in one place. If you are not currently tracking your NSVs, I really want all y'all to start tracking them. Besides, when we are all invited to the Oprah show we need to have some evidence besides what the scale says, right? My most important NSV is that I haven't died from respiratory failure. 03-27-2005, 11:04 AM I finally have an NSV! my rings fit again! And I don't have the terrible edema problem I developed over Christmas any more! Woot! Two NSVs for week two! 03-29-2005, 08:18 AM This is a gi-normous NSV. I haven't used my inhaler in five whole days! As many of you know, I have terrible acute and chronic asthma. Five days before my band installation, I had to be taken to the ER via ambulance. My asthma was one of the main reasons I got the band, that whole prospect of death by respiratory failure just didn't appeal to me. (..."I want a death by misadventure) My book bag doesn't seem as heavy as it was before I was banded. (and I do almost all my walking with that book bag) It doesn't hurt to stand at the sink when I do the dishes anymore. I believe it is because I can get closer to the sink because my tummy is smaller. I've lost an inch from my waist! Speaking of inches lost, I've lost a total of 11 from my entire body. 03-30-2005, 06:29 PM another day, another NSV! I ran up a flight of stairs this evening. I didn't even realize what I had done until after I had done it! And my had my 20 pound backpack on. I wasn't even winded when I got to the top either! New crop of NSVs 4/5/05 Okay, one of the women in my math class wanted to know how much weight I’ve lost. “You’re looking good! How much have you lost?” My purple robe fits me! My jeans slide off my butt! New NSV 5/7/5 Monday will be my eight week bandiversary. All my pants have been very baggy, so today I tried on a pair of pants I haven't been able to fit for 4 years and I could button them! Size 22 black jeans. 05-10-2005, 07:44 AM Sunday night I woke up because I was laying on something hard. I figured that I must have rolled over on a book or something like that. (I sometimes fall asleep reading). I felt around in the dark, but I couldn't find anything that didn't belong in my bed. The hard thing? it was my ribs. 05-19-2005, 11:20 AM the other day the weather was on the wet side, so I zipped my jacked. Just like that, without even a second thought, zuup up the zipper went. And then it hit me. I. Zipped. My. Jacket! No wiggling, no struggling, no thought! Holy weight-watchers Batman! 05-24-2005, 11:56 AM I got a great NSV Sunday night when I got home. My sweet son wanted to know how I was doing, with the band. We've been apart since I got my band 10 weeks ago. He said I looked really good, and that my face was full of life, and that I was glowing. Then I had to chase him down the stairs and out the front door, and around the truck. I RAN down the stairs, I RAN around chasing him until we nearly collapsed laughing! 06-21-2005, 10:09 PM Today I wore a pair of jeans I haven't been able to fit into since 2002. Today I walked 15 minutes to and from the restaurant for lunch, and I wasn't winded, and I didn't need my inhaler. Today I took a walk with my son and he had to tell me to slow down (of course the silly boy wasn't wearing any shoes...) Today I went grocery shopping after work, and then DID NOT collapse on the sofa all night. 06-23-2005, 11:23 AM Another day, another NSV. Today, not only am I wearing for the first time, a shirt I got for Christmas, but I RAN FOR THE BUS. Yes, you read that correctly, I RAN for the bus. It's not like there wasn't another bus in 5 minutes... but I RAN. Me! and I wasn't winded either! Heh, sure, I'm happy with all my NSVs but a part of me is wondering when I'm going to start having some weight loss! 06-26-2005, 09:40 AM And here I was, worried that I'd never have any NSV when I started this journey... Today, I needed a belt! Now, I'm not in any real danger of pulling a Jonathan in the grocery store, but my pants are uncomfortably loose. I didn't even think that was possible! So, I dug out an old belt that I haven't been able to wear and it fit! 1 notch down, 13 more to go! 07-13-2005, 08:29 PM Major NSV time! I had to get a pair of Khakis for my trip to NY this weekend. I was told "brown khakis" which don't really exsist... Anyway, I digress. I tried on a pair of 22, thinking they might fit. Nope, too baggy. I tried on a pair of 20s! They were on the baggy side! I got a pair of 18s, and they fit! I fit into a size 18 today!!!!! Okay, I didn't buy them because they were not pretty, but I could put them on! Oh my gawd, oh my gawd, oh my gawd! A size 18! I haven't been able to squeeze my pretty little self into a size 18 since my baby was small! Oh sure, my jeans aren't a size 20, but still! It looks like I'll be bringing some clothes to the Las Vegas Bash after all! 07-28-2005, 10:17 AM Okay, I apparently gained 3 pounds but I lost another notch on my belt! Woot! Maybe the best one of all... This morning I realized that I will never go hungry again. (it's a wolves thing) 08-07-2005, 11:28 PM This weekend at the Beach I discovered that forgot a jacket. So I had to buy a new one. I picked up a 2x and it fit fine. A little roomy but that's okay. Wait a second... The sleeves are a bit long. Let's try the XL. I know, I know, an XL? That’s crazy talk. Hey! This XL is pretty roomy... but the sleeves fit. So, I had this totally insane idea... What would happen if I try on a Large? oh, it's never going to fit, it won't even zip up. Nah.. I'm too fat for a LARGE. oh my gawd, she's actually going to try to put on a LARGE jacket??? What, is she nuts? Is she a glutton for punishment? No! She's the proud owner of a powder blue fleece Long Beach Washington jacket!!! SIZE LARGE 8-11-2005 I am not hording food anymore. 8-14-2005 I just realized that on my cross country flight to Syracuse NY I did not need a seatbelt extender. Not only did I not need one, I actually had wiggle room in my seat. 8-21-2005 Well, my NSV has to do with my hording. I gave 2.5 big black lawn & leaf bags of clothes to the help house. I was going to bring them to the bash, but I felt that they were more needed here. I got rid of them while packing to return to exile. 8-22-2005 back to school, and I fit into the desks so well my tummy doesn't even touch the table! No squishing into the desks! 8-25-2005 I just realized that I didn't have any trouble with the change in altitude or the change in heat this year. For the last 2 years going from temperate Seattle to the extremes of Pocatello were very hard on me. A week after being here I ran up 2 flights of stairs in the COB without being terribly winded or needing my puffer. I also have been handling the heat just fine. Of course, having an AC sure helps... 8-30-2005 I had to go buy a big skirt for my Middle Eastnern Folk dance class... Yeah, they don't want us to call it "belly dancing" here, they feel it has "negative connotations." Yeah, what ever, it's belly dancing. I went to several stores trying to find a skirt that would match the requirements, let alone worry about the size thing... So at the 4th and final store I found one, a cocoa dip-dyed skirt. The biggest one was a LARGE, so I wasn't too hopeful. But I was brave and went to try it on. IT FIT! I just bought a size LARGE skirt. Not 2X, not XL, but just LARGE!!! Mind you, when I bought my Large jacket, I really suspected that the label was wrong, that it had been marked Large in error at the factory, an that it was some sort of cosmic joke on me. Sort of like that pair of size 18 pants that I was able to fit into (didn't buy but that's a different story). I felt that was in error as well. Maybe it wasn't an aberation, maybe it's the truth. I feel like I have no restriction at all. I still haven't lost any more weight, but I'll take my size shrinking. My other NSV is a medical one, and has to do with my leg skin graphs. In about 2001 I had a revision of one of my skin graphs from my motorcycle accedent. Every day since the revision, I had to wrap my leg in an ACE wrap to give it support so it wouldn't blow-out. I had such bad edema that if I didn't wrap it, it would buldge out quite a bit because of the nature of the graph. I stopped needing to bind my leg a couple of months ago. I simply don't need to any more, no more edema problem. 9/1/2005 My knees doen't rub together when I walk anymore. My belly roll is squishier and hangs a bit lower. This is an NSV because it is proof that I am loosing fat. 9/12/2005 This past weekend was the Bandster Bash in Las Vegas. I had to tighten the airplane seatbelt. Sure, I've lost 3 pounds since 2/29, but I'm trying soo hard to not focus on that. Focus on needing to tighten the seat belt. At the Bash this weekend, I got several pieces of clothes. Okay a whole new wardrobe. When you wear your own clothes over and over, it is really hard to notice any difference. I mean really hard. I've been working my way into several pairs of pants that I haven't been able to wear in years and they are size 22. Yet at the bash, I found size 18 pants that were comfortable. What gives with that? Anyway, I have a few pairs of size 18 that are comphy. 9/15/2005 I've been looking at my body fat % and my current Fat Free Mass. If I don't put on any more muscle mass, and stay current where I am, I only need to lose 55 to 70 pounds, not 70 to 100 pounds. I think that's counts as an NSV. Of course, if I can manage to put on 15 pounds of muscle like NanaHarly (Pat in Virginia) did, then I only need to loose 35 to 50 pounds! Woot! I know what I'm going to focus on! I was tallking to my DH on the phone and I casually crossed my legs. HOLY SH*T!!!! I CROSSED MY LEGS!!!!! 9/17/2005 As of today, I have had 46 NSVs. That amazes me. Today's NSV is that I dropped a .5% in body fat. 9/27/2005 I had an NSV this weekend of a sexual nature. Let's just say that I'm not as bulky.... My forearems and calves have amazing definition. My low belly is shrinking, and starting to gain some definition. 10/1/2005 My 50th NSV is that I am no longer The Great Crystal Dam in the bathtub. There was room on both sides of my hips in the tub! At this rate I'll have to invest in some rubber duckies... 10/2/2005 Spoke with my mom on the phone last night. She said it has been years since my voice sounded so strong. She said there wasn't any breathiness at all. I guess after years of severe asthma, I'd developed a sort of wheezy -breathy sort of way a speaking. 10/22/05 I had a fitness assessment done yesterday. While my aerobic fitness score wasn't very high, 22 out of a scale of 20-50 (needs work), my over all fitness level fell into the Fair range, and my blood pressure is in the Fit range. (mind you, I've always had good BP, except for the first few weeks I'm back in SE ID due to the altitude and heat change) 10/27/05 I am offically no longer Morbidly Obese, but simply Obese. Today my BMI is 39.6, so I might not even qualify for the surgery, if not for my co-morbidities, which are all under control. My second NSV for the day is that I have been invited to dance professionally at a Greek restaurant here in town. It will be fun to be able to put on my resume that I'm a Professional Belly Dancer. 11/5/05 All my pants are starting to look like giant clown pants, none of them fit in the butt or thighs anymore. If I didn't have this damn thick waist, I would really be in honest size 18 jeans. My black leather jacket is going to have to be retired soon. It's rediculously large on me now. The sleves alone now hang past my finger-tips and it looks like I could smuggle a medium sized ham in each shoulder. So I tried on my big winter coat, and now it really is my huge winter coat. It's about XX too big. It's fully reversable a suede stadium jacket, with lepord fake fur on the other side. I love this jacket, but next year, some other lucky bandster gets to love it. It's important for me that last winter before I was banded I couldn't zip the black leather jacket up. There was a 2-3 inch gap that just wouldn't meet. While the stadium jacket fit, it was pretty snug. Not any more! 11/10/05 Lastnight I was using my laptop. In my lap. This means that I HAVE A LAP!!!!! Woot! 11/14/05 When I sit on the floor or in a hard chair, I feel the bones in my butt. Not only my tail bones, but other bones (probably my pelvic bones?) as well. 11/17/05 Okay, time to bump the thread. Last night while Iwas talking on the phone to an old friend from high school I again casually just crossed my legs. Without thinking about it. I know I've done this before, but it's a mind thing I think. Other NSVs include belly dance stuff. My DH won a few auctions on ebay for me, a couple of B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L belts, a gorgous silk veil and a pair of harem pants. The pants looked impossibly small, even with an elastic waist. I just knew that they were NOT going to fit, but being the glutton for punishment that I am, I attempted to put them on anyway. They fit! They are too shere to wear without a skirt, so that will have to be next on my list of things to get. The other victories around dancing are some of the skinny ones are asking me for help, since they cannot get some of the moves quite right. I'm also getting really excited about dancing at the restaurant. I'll do that once I get home after Thanksgiving, and I complete my costume. I still need a top and a skirt I mean, I just bearly broke out of MO, and I'm going to be a fat professional dancer. What am I thinking? I mean, what am i thinking, other than I'm dead sexy and a fine belly dancer. 11/19/05 Okay, Thursday I passed up free donuts, and this weekend I've been busily working in my yard now that I'm home. Raking big fat soggy leaves, clearing flower beds, and the like. DH is amazined at my level of energy, and so is son. I guess I'm a little amazed too, since for the last several years the only energy I've had at this time of year has been spent trying to breathe or something aerobic like reading or playing video games. I've gotten used to a more active lifestyle in ID with all the walking and PE/dance classes I attend. I routinely walk up several flights of stairs with my heavy bookbag, where this time last year I was using a rolling bag, and needing to take the elevator because my asthma was so bad.

A hallucinating woman discovers that Squirrels from outer space are invading. While in surgery to remove a rare brain tumor, she has a seizure, causing her to hallucinate during her recovery process. The neighbor’s cat, Mr. Tibbles, and the Raven Marrok draw her into a web of intrigue, explaining that an alien communication device malfunctioned and caused the fire behind her house and squirrels from outer space were those aliens. When she starts to warn people of the immanent danger of the invasion, her sanity comes into question. While she’s in the hospital, the space squirrels launch their first attack. Their target is the local power grid, causing a major blackout on the entire West Coast. While they are cleaning up the sub-stations, workers from The Division of Energy discover the mess left by the squirrels, some of their alien technology, all of which vindicates her warnings. That's my one paragraph synopsis for my novel , Shades of Grey for NaNoWriMo this year. I get to start writing in just a few hours... Hurray!

Hurray! It’s almost NANOWRIMO time! The most magical month of all! Okay, so that might be a little hyperbole. But not by much.... I mean, not only do we have nanowrimo, but we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Yule and Christmas! Then New Years! I’m hoping that I get to get cured of Cushing’s too, which will make it even more magical and special! For those of you who don’t know: National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. I don't know about the page thing, but according to the way I write and Word, that's only 4 pages a day, and I can do that easy! I found out about it last year from my friend Lori, about 5 hours from the start. I wasn’t able to finish, mostly due to my life imploding from the Cushing’s. This was pre-diagnosis. Mind you, I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish my November Masterpiece, but I’m going to give it a go. I'm astounded at the number of folks who've got titles and covers, and character sheets... All I've got are squirrels and two disasters... But perhaps I've said too much already...

Sure we remember you! Congrats on all your hoop hopping and dancing! Congrats on the Band Prize!

Wow! Yikes! And what the hell does count as a medical emergency? Oh Geeze! I sure am glad that you are ok. I had a large cyst bust, (but nothing as large as yours!) they told me it "resolved on its own" in the ER... Stupid ER ... They had to go in a clean it up later because I still had trouble with pain in my side after it burst. I'm so glad that you were able to get it taken care of. ((((hugs))))

Nope, didn't get the job, got sicker, the tumor Pitunia got worse. Kinda hard to work when I pass out every week. ... I kind of amuse myself when I can leave the house and go shopping.. . I like to imagine myself in whatever customer service job (even though I dont' do that sort of work...) and just picture myself doing the job in the "slow motion" shut down when I'm too Low, or the freaker/tweeker speed freak when I'm too "High." Strange things make me laugh these days....

I haven't given out candy at halloween for what... 15 years? I give out silly little toys instead. Goooy eyeballs, tops, party pack toys. I buy them year round. But we don't get many trick-er-treaters, which makes me sad... But I always make the kids do a trick for me Hey, is' in the rules isn't it? They want a treat they have to do a trick... This usually kills the moms that are standing down the walkway, they try valiantly and unsuccessfully to stifle their laughter while I make their beloved children bark like puppies or dance like bears... then I let them pick out what they want from the big bowl of toys. And it's a big whoop of joy.. SHE GIVIN' OUT TOYS!!!!!