chichigirl

Welcome, another newbie. Sounds like you've done quite a bit of research and yes your story is a very familiar one for the majority of us here. Many of us have true food obsessions, haven't been able to lose weight without the help of the band and keep it off and your fear of surgery is perfectly normal and understandable. I have had my band since 2/2002 without any problems or complications. Right from the get go the surgery was a breeze the recovery was really non existent for me and the only problem I have had on this journey, is an emotional one. After losing 120+ lbs I totally freaked out emotionally, had all of the fill removed from my band and a year later, after I resolved the issue with counseling, I went and got a new fill. That was in August and I have had two fills since then and have lost a total of 60 lbs so far. Not too bad. That's for me one of the greatest benefits of having the band. It will wait for you to come to your senses. As for problems or complications, yes of course there are some who have had many problems, to the point that a number of people have had to have there bands removed entirely. Unfortunately, as with anything foreign going into the body, there is a percentage of people who will have problems. As to why some do and some don't, I don't have an answer for that and doubt if anyone else has an answer either. But it does happen, it's a chance you have to be willing to take. The band is a miraculous tool to aid in weight loss, it doesn't lose the weight for you. It is not a rapid weight loss, like in gastric bypass, it's much slower and more controlled. You will have to make lifestyle changes, there's no getting around it. You will need to follow a healthy diet, drink lots of Water and get regular exercise. All those things we haven't been able to do in the past. The difference is with the band, at least for most of us, the hunger, real hunger is diminished greatly if not totally eliminated. With proper restriction, a couple of bites of well chewed food will fill you up for a longer period of time than it ever would have in the past. As for that fear of not chewing well enough and just gobbling down food, you will learn very quickly that this is not such a great idea. The band will let you know and believe me it isn't pleasant or pain free. You'll learn not to do it. Well, as ususal, I have gone on far too long. I hope that some the information I have given you is helpful. I wish you a smooth surgery and a speedy recovery as well as a long healthy life. Cindy

Welcome aboard. Always glad to have new friends show up. As you know, this is a great, caring and supportive group of people that really get into helping one another. Questions, fire away. There are at least 3 or 4 people who will totally understand and will share their words of wisdom. Sometimes you'll get even more responses than that. Take Care Cindy

I haven't been here long enough to know what your full story is, but I do recall you were having so really bad breathing problems at one point, quite serious as I remember. So the mere fact that you can walk and take a dance class and got to school full time and work and still not be below the 20 mark is pretty amazing to me.Those tests don't take into account any kind of illness or disability you may have been suffering from or are recovering from. Those are really important variables that need to be taken into account in order to be accurate. I'm not say you're ready to run a marathon yet, but you sure as heck don't sound as if you should be that low on the scale. BTW, I was reading one of your old posts from a while back and happened across the information on your hubby's movie. I went right into Amazon and ordered it, should be here early next week. I can't wait to get it, it really sounds interesting. I'll let you know what I think after I have watched it. Thanks for letting us know about it. Cindy

You know what, I am slightly over 300 lbs and consider myself quite the large person, but I love to move. There's nothing I like better than to put on some old disco music to clean the house. It's fun it's energetic and my work goes by in a flash. Of course the animals all think I'm crazy, but who cares, I buy the pet food around here, so they'll just have to deal. I always feel good when I dance around by myself, but you'd never catch me dancing in public anywhere. When I was a chubby teenager and used to watch an old show called Sha Na Na, I'd dance in the livingroom and tried to imitated the skinny girls with long, straight blonde hair, mini skirts and white go go boots prancing around and doing the Monkey. I know I'm old, but I wasn't then and my mother would come out and tell me to stop it. She said I was too big and clumsy and looked ridiculous and that she was embarassed. There was no one else in the house for pete's sake, but she had made her point quite clear, and I never did it again nor would I ever dance in public, even to this day. Dancing is most definately a great and fun way to exercise and if you can get those endorphins going, all the better you are, it's like a kind of high, but it's a healthy high. Glad you asked now? LOL Cindy

Sorry to hear of your loss. I'm also someone who sees and feel that my pets are my children. I have had to put a very beloved dog to sleep but as hard as it was, I couldn't bear to see her suffer, she didn't deserve that. I have found that keeping a picture in a place you can see it frequently as you move around your house can be helpful. I lost my girl two years ago and I still tell her I love her and miss her and everynight I tell her good night. They truly do steal a part of our hearts and again I am very sorry you have to go through this loss, but agree with Crystal, you did what needed to be done with love in your heart. Cindy

John, I happened to watch that same show last night, it was called Never Too Thin. I just happened upon it as I was flipping through the channels. I always watch any shows that look into eating disorders because I believe they are all linked in some way, including obsessive complusive bingeing and obesity. They are truly just flip sides of one another. The anorexics use no food to calm them down when they are feel stressed, something about their physiological makeup, whereas obese people turn to food to calm us when we feel stressed. I found it very fascinating the work they are doing regarding the study of the neurotransmitters in the brain having an effect on them. Those very same transmitters, Seratonin, are responsible for depression and anxiety disorders. Interesting connection don't you think? I don't know if we will see it in our lifetime, but I believe the research they are doing now, will lead to an answer for resolving eating disorders in the future. In the meantime, I have to use the tried and true method of lower my calories by eating healthier foods(1,200) and moving more, better known as good old exercise. That's really neat you caught that and were able to watch it. Those poor girls were so very sad and they really didn't want to be that thin, they knew there was a problem and that they needed help. Very powerful and informative show. Cindy

I am also an insulin resistant diabetic and I have heard from docs that you have to take in a lower amount of calories as well. I agree that you don't feel well when you are starving yourself like that, however, for me, exercise has made all of the difference. Even something as simple as an exercise bike, with no resistance and done for only 20 minutes a day, I notice that my blood sugars drop like crazy after about two weeks of the exercise regime. I can eat between 1000-1200 cals a day and lose weight, not quickly, but at the average 1-2 lbs a week. I am so convinced that exercise is the key to battling our insulin resistance. As a nurse I know that you understand how diabetes works and the whole insulin resistance issue. By exercising, you are creating more receptors on the cells accepting the insulin, thereby, lowering the blood sugar. Insulin and the oral meds also cause weight gain, so it stands to reason the more of that stuff we need to take, the harder it would be to lose as well. The band has helped me enormously with this. I have been able to lower my caloric intake and still take in enough nutrition as to not make myself sick. Only you will know if the band is the way for you to go, but it can't hurt, it will only help you with all of this. I hope this information is helpful to you. Keep us posted on your decision and PM me if you have any other questions you like to talk about. Cindy

I agree you probably need another fill, but I would wait until you come back. There is phenomenon where when you fly, somepeople have their bands tighten, something to do with the pressurized cabin, I'm really not sure. It doesn't happen to everyone, didn't to me this summer when I flew to Illinois, but others have complained about it. I personally wouldn't take a chance, but that's of course entirely up to you. The other thing is sometimes it takes a couple of days/weeks for the fill to kick in. You wouldn't want to be at the beach and suddenly go into a tightening and getting really sick. That would totally suck! Hope this information helps. I am sure others will post as to their experiences as well. Enjoy your trip, wish I was going to Hawaii, never been there, but it looks so beautiful, maybe one day. Cindy

Wow Penni, you look fantastic. I don't know the other lady, but she is very attractive as well. I love looking a pictures like you posted, they're so inspirational to me. Thanks! Cindy

Interesting experience Glitterqueen, sorry you went through that, but your thinking was actually pretty solid. I appreciate that information as it does almost sound too good to be true, especially about the part where it increases the circulation in that area. Being a diabetic, there's a chance one day I will suffer from some form of neuropathy, a lot of diabetics do, so why wouldn't the medical personnel be using it for something like that. If it truly increased circulation, it could save a limb on someone suffering from this neuropathy. I'm gonna take a peak at the website though. It does sound interesting as I am not all that wild about going under the knife yet again for anything and I am quite sure I will need to once all of this weight is gone, I already have sagging skin on my arms and thighs, exercise isn't touching it either. Thanks for all the info Miro, always good to check these things out for ourselves. That's how most of us ended up getting our bands, was by checking out info on this new way to lose weight. Cindy

:cross-eye Okay, everythings crossed, even my eyes, hope it helps!!! I know you are really nervous, but the worst case scenerio is minor surgery to flip the port back. I wouldn't imagine it would be all that big of a deal, although I certainly understand you're not wanting to have to go that route. I will say some prayers that it's going to go the easy way and that you get your third fill. My goodness, you're really gonna drop weight with that, I bet you are so excited about that! You have done an absolutely phenomenal job so far and you are such an inspiration to all of us here on the board. Good Luck and God Bless Cindy

Step away from the sodas!!!!!!! NOW!!!!! They were created to melt down your insides and pack piles of big yellow gunk all over your body. Then it gets into your brains and short circuits all of the wiring, taking complete control of you, causing you to want more and more and more and it never ends. Don't be fooled by the word 'diet' ha, they're even worse, they make you think you getting sugar but you're not and they have a special ingredient to make you crave pizza, egg rolls, fried chicken, and double cheesburgers with bacon and oh my, I'd better stop, this can be dangerous!!! Don't do it Lisa, I beg of you, please don't do it. It's really not worth it. Okay, I have warned you, that's all I can do for now. But one more time - STEP AWAY FROM THE SODAS!!!!!!! Cindy

Ignored, my goodness girl you have more threads going on here than a person can respond to. I mean, I absolutely read all of your threads without fail, never know what you're gonna come up with next. Not to mention, I can't shove food into my face when I'm laughing that hard. And you know, I have to wonder if you aren't the one behind all of these poor people complaining of left side pain or shoulder pain. All that laughing should have everyone in stitches, and that hurts, LOL!!! BTW, I need to know, did you spray the inside of the toaster oven like you threaten to yesterday? Don't disappoint me, if you haven't done it, then do it right now, before you forget. That one had me ROTFLMAO!!! A quart of ice cream? What kind and what flavor, I want details. You know it's possible that you may have to drink another can of liver juice if the ice cream was premium with extra goodies like fudge, nuts, brownie bits, candy bar pieces, etc. Well, I'd better go and watch the latest weather bulletin, I live in Miami and Wilma might be paying us a visit you know. God, I hope not, but that's what they're saying. Cindy

Have you had any trouble with shortness of breath upon exertion? Do you wake up frequently during the night, then feel sluggish all day long? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you may be suffering from weight related dyspnea or sleep apnea, both of which are obviously weight related. No one had ever checked me for it until recently. I was sent for a sleep study and I found out that I indeed suffer from sleep apnea. So now I sleep with a CPAP machine and mask. Another thing you may want to consider is having the new heart scan that's being done. It's a 64 slice CT scan that is now being called the best diagnostic tool for determining the health of a woman's heart. It shows early plaque, both soft and hard, as well as any hardening of the arteries. I don't know how old you are, but I was only 38 when I had a heart attack and needed a quadruple bypass. I too had normal blood pressure when it happened. Also have you had your cholesterol and triglycerides checked, just a simple blood test, but also considered to be obesity related problems. If you have any gynecological issues, such as irregular menstrual cycles, this too can be obesity related. I ended up with endometrial cancer at age 39 and was told it was due to my weight. Fat stores estrogen and the type of cancer I had was estorgen sensitve, as are certain breast cancers. I know I have thrown a lot at you, but just thought you'd want to know all of this so you can possibly use it to fight the insurance company. I know I didn't realize that a lot of the problems I suffered from were weight related until it was too late. Good luck, Cindy

You poor thing, nothing worse than a sick baby, and though he's 2 1/2, he will always be your baby. He sounds so sweet and is obviously coping with the whole situation with minimal problems. It was hard on you I'm sure when he had to have the other surgeries when he was so young, but the good thing about it was I doubt he will have any memories of it. I have a friend whose daughter was born with the same problem. She had 3 or 4 surgeries before 6 months of age and another at 3 years old. She's five now and everything seems to be going fine. She's in Kindergarten and is having no adverse problems, it appears they were able to completely correct the problem and build an anus for her. She's fully potty trained and doesn't seem to realize what happened to her. I will keep you and your precious family in my thoughts and prayers. Remember you can always come here to 'break down' as needed. Sorry that you all have to go through this at all. (((HUGS))) Cindy

How long have you been experiencing the pain? Have you had it all along since your surgery? Are you possibly exercising and maybe you aggravated the port area? I know I am asking an awful lot of questions, but sometimes we don't realize the things we are doing can effect us in certain ways. As for the dry heaves, no idea why that would be happening. Do you still have a gallbladder? I had mine removed a few years before my band, but I remember being so nauseous and constantly gaggin on my own saliva, yuk. A simple ultra sound will tell them if you have stones or not, you fit the usual criteria, fat, female and forty, forgive me for referring to you as fat, but that's the way they describe it. Nice, huh! Congratulations on the weight loss, you are doing a spectacular job with that. I am curious about why you doc mentioned adhesions? Any reason or is he just taking a guess? As for the slippage, you may well have caused that with the dry heaves. Sorry to not have any better answers for you, I hope you feel better soon and please, let us know when you do find out what it is. I'm so glad that you're under doctor's care, it's not something you should be taking lightly. I wouldn't freak out either, but you're doing what you need to do right now. Good that you came here for some support, always lots of that here. I say a prayer that it's nothing serious or permanent and that you recover from what ever it is quickly. Cindy

Give the store you went to a quick call. It's possible when you were paying for your items, you may have missed your purse and it fell on the floor without you realizing it. Can't hurt to give them a call to find out. Is it possible your little boy may have picked it up and put away somewhere? There was an old episode of I Love Lucy where Little Ricky took the train tickets to keep them safe, hey don't laugh, you never know. Well, so much for my help and words of wisdom. Sorry must be another off day for me, I have so many of them lately, LOL. Good Luck, Cindy PS If anyone comes up with a voodoo ritual to stop the rain, find out if they have anything that'll stop a hurricane!! They are still predicting for Miami to be hit my Wilma!!! Not a happy camper, don't like hurricanes. CS

Liiiiiissssaaa!!! I know you're getting into the sugar again, you are about as loopy as I have ever seen you. HAHAHA!!! Are you calling us Baboon faces? Too funny and that thread you started about psychotic ramlings, did you ever think you have so many followers? RTFLMAO!!! Girl you are just too much, I don't know how anyone can possibly keep a straight face around you. Do you do this to everyone, or are we the special ones who get to share in you warped humor? Cindy - Wiping the tears from eyes and blowing my nose from laughing so hard :-]

You may want to consider more liquids than mushies for a day or two, at least until the swelling has time to go down. If you aggravate it anymore the swelling will just take longer to go down. When you do eat mushies, it might feel better if they were warm, it seems to be more soothing, at least to me anyway. I am impressed with how well you did with your little food feast yesterday. Ordering grilled chicken, good, whole wheat bun, good, fries and lemonade, not so good, but you already now that. Could have been so much worse!!! We need to stop apologizing for eating when we get famished. In situations like this you did what any one would have done, go for the quickest nourishment you could get your hands on. You even managed to make wise choices on the biggest diet killer, the sandwich itself. I think you did great and remember, we don't change our lifestyles overnight and we can only do it step by step, which is exactly what you're doing, WTG!! Instead of feeling quilty, you should be proud of yourself, you are off to a great start. Cindy

Nykee, I am not a doctor or a psychologist, although I have worked in the field for several years. But what I am hearing from your own description on how things were before and how they are now, it's like you're describing someone going through withdrawals. food was your drug of choice and when you needed a fix, nothing mattered but that fix. You were irritable, miserable and feeling like crap and you would do and say whatever it took to get your food fix. Since you are focusing on losing weight and have taken a very drastic measure to do it by getting the band, you've gradually lowered your need for food naturally so you don't feel that insane pressure of I have to have it now. I understand because I have been there too. You deserve to take credit, because you are the only one who has made the neccessary changes to take control over your life, starting with the decision to have the band done. You have made the decisions for every step forward you have made, no one else, just you. You also reached out here to the wonderful, caring and understanding support group to give you the additonal reminders of how really wonderful you are. That's what support is all about, to be their for someone when they are not feeling so good about themselves, and to remind them how special they really are. All of us struggle with many of the very same self doubt issues you suffer from. Coming together and helping each other is a perfect way of not only helping another person but ourselves as well. This may sound crazy, but if you can, try a little experiment with yourself for one week. Every day when you go into your bathroom, close the door and look in the mirror at yourself, look yourself in the eyes, smile and tell youself out loud something you like about yourself. Like you have beautiful hair, so smile and say I love my hair and stroke it, brush it, comb it and talk about how soft it feels and how pretty it looks framing your face. At the end of all this smile again at your reflection and say I love you, you are a wonderful person and deserve only good things always. I know it sounds silly, but try it, you have nothing to lose, no one has to ever know if you even did it. But if you do do it, it will be for yourself, helping you to learn to love yourself as the worthwhile, loving, caring person you are. I am sharing this exercise with you because a therapist had me to start doing it and it has helped me immensley. You'll be surprised at just how good you can make yourself feel and there's no better feeling than that. Keep up the great work. Enjoy the real you that is coming out from under that fog of food obsession. Life is good and it can always get better. Cindy

Wow, that's so great, I will say prayers that things will go in your favor. I had BCBS of Florida in 2002 when I had my surgery. They originally turned me down until the docs office presented them with all of my co-morbidities and I guess they finally decided it would be cheaper to pay for my surgery than for me to have another heart attack, more cancer, or surgery on my knees. Not to mention a lifetime of meds for blood pressure, cholesterol, insulin and on and on. So there is hope they may approve you. Keep us posted on how things go. If you need more information on insurance, appeals, etc, use the search option at the top of this screen and search for that information. There have been a lot of people who have had to fight their insurance companies and won. So one of those threads may really be helpful to you. Good luck and God Bless, Cindy

Congrats on the new record for cycling!! That's so fabulous, I have just really started to get into the exercise myself and I am really enjoying, yes, enjoying it. I get so pumped, kinda like the way you sound today!!! I love it. Just remember with the new fill to take things slow and easy in the beginning or else, the dreaded PB will rear its ugly head. Congrats on the 33 lb too, that's great especially without the proper fill to help you out. Don't be surprised if you stall or even gain a litlle with all of this exercise, I know you know this already but it's true, muscle weighs more than fat. Hey, do you ever take Landry out for a jog? It's good for her to get lots of exercise too. I need to walk my chihuahua more because lately she has become a bit of a chubby chihuahua, LOL. The vets going to have fit with me but it happens. I feed her good dry food and I even get the light version, she's like her mama(me) gains weight just thinking about food. Enjoy your new restriction and keep up the great work. Cindy

Nykee, I just finished reading your post to me and I have tears rolling down my cheeks. You are actually proud of yourself, I never thought I would see you admit that, it's incredible!!!!! You have every right to feel proud and then some. I wish I could express into words how much you are helping me and I am sure countless others. You were so sure that you could not do this, that you could not change your lifestyle, and I thought, how awful, she's not going to succeed with that kind of thinking. I really felt sorry for you, but I certainly don't anymore. My God did you prove me wrong, and I couldn't be happier about it. It obviously was extremely hard for you to make this lifestyle change, as it is for all of us, but you have done it and done it well!!!! What an inspiration you are to me. I love hearing your postive thinking. I'm glad you're trying to figure things out in you own mind, that's what all of us need to do, because that's probably the biggest reason we all have weight problems, is we are emotional eaters, most of us anyway. Sure I think all of us love food, but it is so much more than that, it's very complicated. I am so glad to hear about someone who is pushing past what they've always done in the past and doing something they never thought they could. That's you, that's exactly what you are doing and you are helping me to follow your example in my way of thinking. You are doing so great on your weight loss and I can't wait until you can finally feel the difference, I know it won't be much longer, because you've already lost so much. You are going to be thrilled. Take Care, Cindy

It's late now and I am getting ready for bed, when I come across your thread. How beautiful and perfect, I had tears rolling down my cheeks and warm fuzzy feeling inside. Thank you for sharing that very special message with all of us. Cindy

Well, I agree with Crystal on this one. I would definitely go with option #1. Not only is it the most cost effective, but it will give you the time to prepare yourself for the change in lifestyle. The 8 months you would have to wait is not all that long compared to the rest of your life. The PPO is not an awful decision, but $5,000 is an awful lot of money and if you don't have to pay that, why would you? Not to mention, they don't cover the aftercare, which I assume would be the fills. I would be very careful about ruling this one in as you don't need an excuse to not get a fill when it's time to get one. We all have really good intentions, but let's face it, something always comes up financially, that will take a higher priority. If you are spending this much on an elective surgery, you want to be able to at least not have to worry that you can't use the band the way it was intended. The final option of $10,000 is so cost prohibitive for me that the only way I would do that is if there wasn't any other way. You may possibly have the same aftercare issues as with the PPO plan, but you'd being paying twice as much if not more. If you chose option #1 you can always start by following the rules of the bandsters, menu - lean meat, veggies and if room, good carbs. Drink lots of Water and get some sort of exercise regularly. Also remember that lean muscle weighs more than fat, so if you need to gain weight, that's the healthiest way to go about it. As Crystal also pointed out that it will help you in the recovery stage, something that would be really beneficial for you. That's my opinion for what it's worth. I hope that you are helped by everyone posting to this thread and that you are able to make up your mind comfortably. There's a lot to consider and of course you are the only one who knows what's best for you. Just hope we've given you food for thought. Good Luck and let us know what your decision is. Cindy