MerryHearted

Woohoo! I'm in. Sorry I'm a day late for my weigh-in. MollyMolly - SBMI 48.3 / CBMI 35.8 / C 222 (-77 lbs total, -4 this week)

For me it would depend on whether I was losing weight and/or hungry all the time. If I were still losing and maintaining fullness between meals, I'd just wait awhile. Are you feeling more restricted after the fills? Otherwise I'd be getting prices for a fluoro and/or barium swallow and saving my pennies I guess. Sorry this happened to you.

I never did end up using numbing cream. Regular ice cubes in a plastic bag (or double bag) turned out to be the best. Push it against your skin and hold it (use a towel so your hands don't freeze). Eventually the ice will stop burning and your skin will be pink & numb. Plus ibuprofen taken about 30 min prior to treatment. AND -- I found that having the tech go fast was much better than having her go slow. It's over quicker, if nothing else. Don't forget the bacitracin after the treatment. (after you've iced for a bit). Or at least put it on before bed that night. And/or wash with a good antibacterial face wash. Marisa -- I totally get the annoyance with the red tomato look. Is it possible to set the treatment up for a Friday afternoon and just plan to not go out on the weekends after getting lasered? I try to schedule mine on Fridays as showing up at work all red and swollen is more attention getting than the hair was to begin with. Or so it feels! I'm just so glad it's gone.

I'm so glad I had this done. My hair is pretty much gone now on my upper lip and chin. I don't have to shave at all. There wasn't even enough hair on my chin this last time to even bother doing a treatment, so we postponed for a month. So now I'm into "maintenance" phase where they charge a lot less and only hit the spots that need it. I'll only have to go in a couple times a year as needed. Oh, wouldn't it be great to have my leg, belly, and underarm hair gone too! But besides the pain, there's the issue of this being expensive. Maybe once I hit goal I'll consider doing my underarms. I don't know if they do bikini lines. One of my spa treatments I'll be trying at goal is a Brazilian wax though! :omg:

C 226 (-73 lbs total, -2 this week) And I'm retaining water (I can tell by my ring!) so I bet when it cools back down I'll drop another pound or two just of water weight. :huggie:

Here's how it was explained to me: the upper part of the stomach is where your pouch is, and also where the most sensors are for satiety. When you eat solid food it stretches your pouch, which causes the stretch receptors to send satiety signals to the brain. Soft food and liquids slide through without really stretching your pouch enough to set the satiety signals off, unless you are chugging a large quantity. Even then, it runs right through and doesn't trigger long-term satiety. Staying full for 4 hrs requires the stomach wall tension to be held for a little while. So getting more fill is not so much about restricting the amount you can eat at one time. It's about slowing the food exiting your pouch. The goal is to get to the point where it creates a few hours of satiety instead of you feeling hungry too soon - this is your "sweet spot". Our part is to eat the 2-3 oz of Protein and 1/2 C or so of produce at each meal and no more, regardless of whether the pouch "allows" us to eat more. That's how it was explained to me anyway. I just wish I was better at always making the right food choices. I *know* what I should eat but am still battling the boredom or stress grazing.

Oh my! Sorry to hear that. I've heard of it happening, but I thought it was kind of rare due to how much extra tubing they put in. Hope you have a speedy recovery and can start getting your fills soon!

Hope you come and join us in there!

Welcome! My wee bit o' advice: join the "Gone for Good Club" on this board for extra motivation & comraderie in your journey. Not to mention public accountability. It's in the "Lap Band Support" forum and weigh ins are on Wed. (here's a link, no idea if it will work: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=20375) I'm sure as you read posts here you'll see lots of advice. "SmartBandsters" Yahoo Group is also a great place for support & advice.

No advice for you, but a big HUG :hug:

I've never needed to crush, even for the huge horse pill sized fish oil gels I occasionally take. For those who are worried, try drinking a little hot tea or warm Water first to relax the stoma, then wash the pill down with some more warm/hot drink. Maybe your doc has had folks in his practice who have gotten pills stuck and he doesn't want to see someone else suffer through it.

I've heard of the forbidden straws too, but I think that's another personal thing. The first thing I got when I woke up from surgery was a glass of water with a straw to drink it! I've had no trouble with straws. (and I'm the one who hurts like heck if I have even the tiniest bit of carbonation. I tried Propel the other day -- that was yummy stuff! I might add a bottle of that every day since too much Crystal Light worries me (the aspartame). Propel uses Splenda.

Not silly, ask away! Honestly, I don't think anyone even notices the extra chewing. Since restaurant portions are so big and since you will only be eating a small amount, the extra chewing is quite useful -- you get done eating your small portion around the same time everyone else is done cleaning their plates. If anyone does notice, and you aren't planning to tell them about the band, you can just say that you're trying to slow down and enjoy your food these days. I've only told 3 people about my band (not counting other bandsters): husband, mom & dad. And I've eaten out quite a bit with others who have no idea. Regarding meal length, you shouldn't eat longer than 20 min or you can end up overeating. So there's no problem with your meals stretching out into infinity while you chew chew chew and everyone sitting there staring at you. At work I keep 2 things on hand: Glucerna chocolate meal shakes and Glucerna meal bars. They are there for emergencies: the meal bars for if I'm in a hurry or in a situation where there's no healthy food on hand, the chocolate meal shakes for if I ever end up PBing (haven't yet!) or am swollen after a fill and need a liquid meal.

No reflux here and I'm almost a year out. Age at surgery: 35 Gall bladder out: yes, 9 years ago Avoiding reflux: My doc's office says it can be related to being too tight, so I'm wondering if it's not a matter of how tight you are more than how long you've been banded. (although those sometimes go together, don't they?). I've also heard: don't eat within a certain amount of time before going to bed (2-3 hours?)

I can't drink anything with even the slightest bit of carbonation or I will be in MAJOR pain -- groaning, rolling on the floor pain -- from the gas. Really, it's that bad. So some of us do have problems with carbonation. I've found that the only thing I miss is that some of my favorite alcoholic drinks have Coke in them and I can't have them anymore. Since alcohol isn't exactly conducive to weight loss, that's probably not a bad thing. Otherwise I don't miss it at all -- there are plenty of other yummy things to drink. Lots of flavors of Crystal Lite. So if you're a bandster who hasn't tried carbonation since banding, proceed with caution.

My insurance would have covered either. I went for the band, and I don't regret it one bit. You can expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week with the band. That's a healthy rate of loss, and it adds up nicely over time. This is for life, so if it takes a bit of extra time that's OK. The time is going to pass one way or another. If you don't get your insurance to cover the band, make sure to pick a surgery center that doesn't charge ridiculous prices for your fills and/or other followup care. The center with the cheapest surgery price isn't always the best choice. Good luck!

Oops, I'm a little late with my weigh in. That's OK, you can just update me next week. C 228 -3 lbs (and *finally* out of the 230's -- that took forever!)

I think you'll be fine, just cut it into very small pieces across the grain. I haven't had problems with meat yet. I don't like mine burnt, so I can't really speak to that part. I have chewed and chewed on harder pieces of steak and then just eventually spit out the gristle. Not a big deal.

Good luck making your decision! I'm almost a year out and I'm not a bit sorry I chose this path.

The hunger is completely normal! It just means your swelling has gone down. Hopefully your doc's office allows you to get a fill at 6 weeks? Do your best to focus on Protein & veggies, and to stay away from the bread, Pasta, rice, etc as it will make you more hungry. I know, easier said than done! A fill (well, probably more than one) will make all the difference.

Welcome Gattica! I didn't use the Wish Center, I went with NWWLS. But congrats on getting banded soon -- I'm also an August bandster, but from last year (8/31/2005). 14 days sounds reasonable for liquid diet -- I'm assuming that's to shrink your liver before surgery. Trust me, between that and the after-surgery liquid & mushies diet you'll be ready to move on to solid food again when it's time. I wasn't required to do a diet prior to surgery but I did it anyway, figuring it would kick-start my weight loss. Which it did, quite nicely. Best wishes!!

Well, I'm up a pound. -C 231 But that's OK -- despite lots of walking, I did manage to make some pretty bad food choices and my weight went up several pounds and then down again. I'm doing better this week!

Both surgeries have potential problems; the RNY issues can be more serious and life-threatening. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do the RNY; it's a very personal decision and you need to do what's best for you. After all, it's likely that the co-morbidities of being obese will kill you if you don't do something. Keep in mind: the folks that come to this board almost all fall into 3 categories: New to banding and needing the initial support as they start the journey Struggling and needing extra support to exercise & eat right Have a problem -- erosion, slippage, reflux, etc. People who are well into their journey, losing as expected, and everything is hunky-dory -- well, there's not that many on the board as they are out living their lives. I imagine it's the same on RNY boards. Be sure to look at Band studies data that is NEWER -- the old way of placing the band resulted in a lot more slippage than now. And get data on both surgeries from different sources. I found an appalling set of misinformation on the Band at a website of a surgeon center that specializes in RNY & duodenal switch. (which is a third option by the way). Whereas you might find that a center who specializes in banding will use similar scare tactics with their RNY data. It's hard to find unbiased info. Good luck making your choice! (if you want references to the latest bandster studies, try joining the Yahoo group "SmartBandsters" and asking on there -- Jessie will likely have them handy or point you to the appropriate message archives)

I occasionally add it up, but mostly I try to focus on the content of the food -- Protein & produce + enough Water. Those foods make me feel better and I lose weight when I eat them and stay away from the pasta/rice/potatoes/bread/etc. I would probably switch to WW point-counting again before I switch back to calorie counting. That worked well for me when I was doing it.

I don't have anything further to add on the gas side of things as you've gotten great advice -- but CONGRATS on your banding!! :clap2: