mercedes

Hi Angeleyes, I noticed you were banded in Provo. I just flew back home from Provo yesterday. I have some questions for you. I'm wondering if your MD does fills for people banded in Mexico. Eventhough I don't live in Provo anymore, I visit there often and it may be a good place to get fills??? I read that you were once looking into being banded in Mexico but ended up getting it in the states. How did you get them to do it w/ low BMI? I didn't even try very hard to get it here because my BMI was low and my health was too good, other than the extra 40-50 I was packing : ) Just wondering : )

When were you banded? 8/5/05 What was your weight ON DAY OF SURGERY? 171 What is your weight now? 161 What size do you wear? 10 How tall are you? 5'4" If all I lose is 20lbs I'll be happy. (I have lot's of clothes that will fit that I havent worn in a few years) If all I lose 30, I'll be thrilled. If I lose 40, I'll be completely satisfied. Looking forward to my first fill so I can GET 'ER DONE :speechles

I think Loopylou hit it on the head. Her brother is thin because he was not "controlled" with food. When I think of kids (me) & food these are my thoughts: #1 Never tell kids that they need a diet or that they can't have something because it'll make them fatter. This tells a child that they ARE fat and so they will behave like a fat person. If I had a child that I thought was getting out of control with eating, I would NEVER tell them I knew it. I'd try and make food a non issue. Help them forget about it by not talking about it. When they ask for food they "shouldn't" have, I would/do say "Yes you can have some a little later". It's so much nicer than "no" eventhough you mean "no". Chances are, they will go off and play and forget the craving and by saying "yes, but later" you have not made them feel controlled or punished. You have postponed their craving and cravings go away if you're not concerned it's your last chance to have it. Don't control with food. Many times when people say that I can't have something, it makes me obsess about it and sneak it so that I prove that they have no control over me. #2 Don't ever tell your kids they have the chance of getting fat. Skinny people never considered they'd ever be fat. Don't we all remember when the first time was somebody told us we were fat and we believed them! I do, and I lived up to the belief once it was put in my head. I look at the pics and think, "I was not fat then". Sad that I believed it. The best thing my Mother could have done was put me on a diet w/out me knowing it. Exercised w/out me knowing it was a weight thing. She could have kept my day too busy for over eating. My mother was a granola girl who grew all her own veggies and fruit and we rarely had sugar in our home. She never deep fried anything and we never ate out. We had very healthy diets. I got fat on peanutbutter and honey mixed : ) I ate a lot of it. I got fat on lots of healthy foods. I was just compulsive and self destructive. I went on so many diets as a teen. Finally, when I was 21 I decided I would never "diet" again. I knew one thing, skinny people don't diet. I told myself I could have whatever I wanted, but like a skinny person, I'd only eat a little bit because that's all I wanted. I brain washed myself into believing I weighed 5lbs less, 5lbs less. 5lbs less. Until finally I was at 125 and I said over and over "I weigh 125." until that was the number that stuck in my head. I also stayed very busy working. I was able to stay thin for 6yrs until I got married.... My husband unknowingly made a grave mistake after just a few weeks of marriage by telling me I'd get fat if I ate what I was eating. He watched what I ate and I couldn't deal with that. He didn't mean to, he is a very nice person. He just had no clue that he'd married a food phsyco that needed to be free of any outside control when it came to food. A skinny person would have heard those same things and not believed them, why did I fall back into obsession?

I think Loopylou hit it on the head. Her brother is thin because he was not "controlled" by food. When I think of what my mother could have done to help me this is my list. #1 Never tell me I need a diet. This tells a child that they ARE fat and so they will behave like a fat person. If I had a child that I thought was getting out of control with eating, I would NEVER tell them I knew it. When they ask for food they "shouldn't" have, I would say "You can have some a little later". Chances are, they will go off and play and forget the craving and by saying "yes" you have not made them feel controlled or punished. You have postponed their craving and cravings go away if you're not concerned it's your last chance to have it. Don't control with food. Many times when people say that I can't have something, it makes me obsess about it and sneak it so that I prove that they have no control over me. #2 Don't ever tell your kids they have the chance of getting fat. Skinny people never considered they'd ever be fat. Don't we all remember when the first time was somebody told us we were fat and we believed them! I do, and I lived up to the belief. I look at the pics and think, "I was not fat then". Sad that I believed it. The best thing my Mother could have done was put me on a diet w/out me knowing it. Exercised w/out me knowing it was a weight thing. My mother was a granola girl who grew all her own veggies and fruit and we rarely had sugar in our home. We had very healthy diets. I got fat on peanutbutter and honey mixed : ) I ate a lot of it.

I found something that saved me. Read "I hope I'm not in trouble" thread. What I did along with a little GasX worked right away. I guess it's worth a try.

What is a revision?

It does Sandie. Are you taking GasX? Also I posted in the thread called "I hope I'm not in trouble" of one way that really helped me get rid of that gas. Each day it's better and better. I was banded 8/5/05 and I have been lucky to heal pretty well but still had those darned gas pains!

The answer is "yes". I'm 1 week out and there is a lump there. Wow 21lbs! I'll be happy with 1/4 of that. Haven't weighed yet.

Yep, it sounds like gas.

With Ibuprfen (and those types of meds) the concern came from gastric bypass patients. The concern with them is stomach ulsers. Dr. Ortiz told me that because the band is on the outside of the stomach, (no wounds on the inside) there have been no links w/ that med and banded people.

Those gas pains can be a bear and they are different than what you are used to so they scare you bad! So get the Gas X. You may be able to take more than what the box says and still be safe. Ask your MD.

P.S. If you lean towards doing this, I suggest also that you carefully choose the best MD possible.

What you posted sounds exactly like me one month ago(except I'm older and I have cut the tears and just kept the disgust with myself). When I first heard about the band the end of June, I just knew it was the answer for me. I'm 7 days out now and it's done all I expected and more. I wasn't sure if I'd have cravings or miss food and I really don't feel them very strongly. I wasn't sure if it would restrict me right off the bat before getting a fill but it is. I couldn't over eat if I wanted, I feel so full with so little. For the first time I'm a little worried because I can't get in more that 350 cals a day. So far, it's been the miracle I was searching for....and I knew it in my soul when I read about it and researched it... But your soul may tell you something else and so I suggest searching all options until you feel comfortable with whatever.

Well, last night I thought I was in for a night of hell. I decided to go take some benedryl again and see if it would at least help me sleep. I got in bed, face down on my elbows and knees and just let my rear stay up higher than my front and somehow this was a more comfortable possition. In about 5-10 minutes ALL of the pain was gone. The benedryl started working and I started falling asleep in this position! I stayed that way for a good 30-40 minutes cuz it felt so good not to have the pain. I had a heating pad under my stomach to lay on after I got tired of being in that position so I just lowered myself and layed on my stomach and NO PAIN!!!! It was COMPLETELY gone and I had the best sleep in 3 days! I was soooo relieved that this was not a permanent condition that was going on. It didn't go away all day yesterday! Today I feel Soooooo good to have those bricks on my chest gone!!!!!!! Flygirl, try the butt up, face down thing, it really helped move the gas bubbles and reflux or whatever. I'm serious, it feels like a miracle to feel this good when I felt that bad yesterday. It flipped from horrible to relief in 5 minutes!

Although, I am still pretty distended in my stomach area from surgery. I hope it's that and not full blown reflux.

Wouldn't it have felt like this from day one and be getting better instead of worse. My back muscles also feel like they are pulled. Ouch!

I just read some other threads about reflux. Mine doesn't feel acidic and it isn't in my throat, it's lower. It's just pain and heavy chest. Is this still reflux?

I Hope somebody out there can give some more good advice to me. Last night at about 7:00 I must have not liquified my jello bite and must have swallowed to big a chunck. You'd think this would melt and go down. I began to feel reflux (I think). I didn't BP I only spit a little foam but it was painful in my chest right near my sternum. I was still trying to walk it off at 1:30AM because if I lay down it hurts more. By 2:00AM I am able to fall asleep on my stomach and slept for 2 hrs and was up again. I walked and layed. I kept having a hard type hiccup now and then and I think that made my sternum really sore through out this day. I layed back down at about 5:30 until 7:30 but no sleep. My stomach felt pretty empt so I was really curious if anything could go down so I sipped some warm skim milk and it went down fine and felt pretty good of a few hours except those darned hiccups that I can't stop. It feels like a big brick is sitting right on my sternum now and has most of the day. I feel like I can actually feel the band itself because my chest feels tight. Do you think it's just swelling and irritation that will go away? I sure hope I didn't make my band slip? I hope somebody out there has felt this way and was able to get over it with no problem after a few days. I've had it so good up until last night. What do you do to feel better from reflux? I'm half laying now and it hurts to breath. I'm not dying of pain but it is more than uncomfortable. I need to sleep tonight or I'll be a waste tomorrow. It's 9:48 and I had a protein drink at 6:00. I don't know if I should even take a sip of water before I tuck in. I don't dare drink anything with calories.... Should I? I am 6 days out of the original surgery.

Don't cha just love Ortiz & Martinez Karen! I'm glad you mentioned them because I was just banded a week ago by Ortiz and was beginning to worry as I read these posts. I wondered how I would do because I hate needles.... I am so tight with the band alone that I can't imagine ever needing a fill : ) It makes me hurt just reading about multiple pokes that some of you have had to endure.

At 11 days out, I am supposed to still be on liquids (protein shakes, creamier soups, etc.) or he said that if I can do it, do 2-3 weeks of mostly clear liquid and then got to the thicker drinks. How long did you stay on clear liquids? I'm telling you, I had the fear of God put into me about my band slipping and one of the causes was eating thicker foods too soon, so I vowed NOT to vary from what I was told one bit. Fear is such a good motivator for me. I just have invested way too much of my own cash to screw this up.

Oh my gosh Jack, you are funny....But it hurts to laugh still....but I can't help it!!!

I also tried Topamax and it made me soooo sleepy that I could hardly drive a car without feeling like I needed to pull over and sleep. I slept every time I stopped the car. I remember going to Sam's Club to shop, but instead of going right in, I was so sleepy I took a nap in the car and then went in afterwards. I was unable to function on it. My family needed me and I was in La La land. I couldn't tell any weight loss affect, except that I was too sleepy to eat maybe. My friend was on it for a year and had lost about 30lbs. She is still on it and not losing any more. We had the same MD and he sure was not shy about the dosage! I was really worried about her. He then tried me on a similar drug called Zonagran and I got hives and he was afraid I might have gotten a disease from it called something/johnsons disease. I read about that and it scared the living crap out of me. I said "NO MORE DRUGS FOR ME!!" I HATE DRUGS!!! It kinda made me mad that he was so pro drugs with side effects....what did he care, it wasn't gonna hurt his brain and body.

Ooops! Lots of spelling errors! Forgive please : )

Hi HL. It was sort of like that for me too. I heard about lap bands the last of June. When I read about it, I knew that this was the answer to all of my prayers. I had wished for years and years that somebody would invent something like this. The more I read and researched it, the better I felt. I told my husband about it and his initial reaction was to poo poo it. I told him (with my most serious face) that I was serious about this. I told him to look into it himself and let me know what problems he saw with it (He is an MD). He did so and came back with the opinion that It was a very simple, non invasive procedure. He thought it was similar to tubal ligations. At one point he sort of hesitated again. I told him he was not my friend in this then. I told him how people go out and get boob jobs and lipo and all sorts of elective surgeries that were far more dangerous. I told him that if I had to, I would sell my horses(which I dearly love) and horse trailer and would do it without his blessing. He wrote me a very sweet letter and he agreed that he had no good reason to appose it. I promised him that I would pay back every penny to him. I called and made the soonest appt. for the best MD I could find (Dr Ortiz in mexico). So I heard about it the end of June and had my surgery Aug.5th and I'd do it again in a minute. There are reasons why MD's in the States choose bypass over lap band, but none I've heard are very good. I predict that this is going to be the BIG thing here soon too. Sometimes the FDA and things make simple things so difficult. It works well. Its a very effective tool to help in weightloss. It's not an "easy way" out! For people like me, it was the only way. I had tried everything else. If your husband says that it's the easy way out, ask him "Why then, would anybody prefer to take a harder way?" Why does he want things to be hard for you? Doesn't he love you? Life is hard enough without deliberately choosing a harder road for no good reason. If you/me could have lost this on our own, we'd have done it by now. It's not like it's a sin or wrong or illegal!!

Hi all! I am now 5 days post op. I cant get in more than 400 cals a day with clear liquids. It's usually right around 325-350. It's the weirdest thing to feel incredibly hungry yet full. At night, I am awakened so hungry that it is incredibly painful. I'm afraid to drink anything because I'm going to lay down again. So, so far I'm up at 3AM starved every night and then again at 6AM. I kept some gatoraid by my bed last night and took just 3 sips and it worked, and I was able to lay right back down since I didn't take in much. Am I going to be okay for another few days at this low cal? I guess I will.