AlysonRR

Thanks for sharing this, Shannon. I was on a long plateau after my last fill (9.6 ml in a 14cc band) in mid-May. I was bouncing around the same 3-4 pounds. I thought it was because I had reached a weight I was stable at for about five years - I thought my body got comfy there and wanted to stay. I was happy I wasn't gaining, but wondering how much harder I'd have to work to get the progress going again. Last week, almost 8 weeks later, I started to feel much more restriction and a definite decrease in appetite. Accordingly, I'm losing very fast again, just like I did at the beginning. Now this seems like a sweet spot - my eating behaviour is improved (no snacking), I'm getting good feedback about when I'm full so it's easy to stop, and I'm losing weight easily. Yea! I've always had delayed restriction - about a week after a fill I'd suddenly feel more restricted. But this is certainly the longest it's taken!

Colace was what my doctor recommended. It's available over the counter.

I used my tylenol with codeine at night quite a few times during the first few months post-op, then with 50 lb lost I didn't have as much knee pain - yea! I had another round of inflammation recently and my band surgeon told me I could take liquid ibuprofen and wash it through with Water. I'm interested to read that NSAIDs might not be as big a problem as they thought. I'll definitely keep an eye on that - I'd like to use ibuprofen or naproxen more frequently... Right now I'm just toughing it out, using a percussion massager, and losing weight to take off some of the pressure...

If you're recently banded it is possibly thrush - that's what happened to me. I didn't recognize it right away, but I had diarrhea and smelly urine, too. I could taste it going down, too - really, really yucky. It happens because the massive antibiotics you get before/during surgery knock out some of the bacteria that live on you all the time and the yeast that live on you take over. My band surgeon gave me a prescription over the phone, but that may have been because I sounded like I knew what I was talking about and it was a holiday week (between Christmas and New Year's). I started with Diflucan but my primary care doc gave me a mouth rinse that worked better - very quick, just a couple days treatment. I had ketosis during the pre-op Medifast required by my doc - thrush felt a lot different.

And if it is not? You believe abortion is the taking of a human life and should always be illegal. I believe that abortion before the fetus is viable outside the mother's body should be legal because, in my view, the life of an independent human outweighs that of a dependent fetus. I don't know why any particular woman chooses to terminate a pregnancy. I don't need to know - in my opinion that choice should be between a woman and her health practitioner. I also believe, because of the heartbreaking situations I have observed, that there are circumstances under which termination after viability (when less than 1% of abortions are currently performed, usually for serious medical issues) can be an ethically valid choice. I believe abortions should be rare and that making abortion illegal would not significantly reduce the number of abortions that are performed (there are statistics that back this up but I won't muddy the issue by sharing them again). I think the way to ensure that abortion is rare is by providing accessible, reasonably priced (or free) family planning information and supplies to anyone who chooses to be sexually active (there are statistics that back this up, too). In areas where unwanted pregnancy is frequent, more resources should be dedicated to ensure that girls understand their choices and that they have the self esteem and emotional support to make responsible choices about their sexuality. Men and boys need to understand their role, too - emotional pressure, violence, or rape are not conducive to healthy sexual or emotional relationships. I think you mean tenets. I don't think you get to decide who is a Christian or not. I know Christians who have no religious or ethical problem with abortion. Some of them hold their position in opposition to the views of their priest/pastor/church; others have support for their views within their faith family. Christians are no more unified on this issue than any other group.

I wanted to share (ok, overshare!) that after my surgery I had massive yeast overgrowth - not just skin rashes, but also thrush (yeast growing in the mouth and down into the digestive tract - white coating on the tongue, diarrhea). It was over the holidays so I phoned the band surgeon and asked him to phone in prescriptions for cream (for the skin) and pill (for the digestive tract) antifungals. I felt soooo much better a day or two afterwards. I wasn't told of this possible side effect, but I've talked to other post-band patients who had the same experience.

With me, once it starts it doesn't stop until I put antifungal cream on it... I'm not sure if that's always true, but it sure is for me. Good luck with treating the rash, and with your band recovery and progress :-)

Before the upgrade I could select forums to ignore, and I really appreciated that feature. Is it still possible but I can't find it? Thanks -

Erica - When Alex sets it up again there will be a drop down menu (I think it's in the Edit Options menu) where you can select forums to ignore. I ignore all the state and monthly support forums (except mine), as well as other forums I don't identify with (support groups men and for specific religious groups, etc.). So when I click "New Posts" I only get posts from the forums in which I'm interested, which decreases the number of new posts I have to scroll through to find those I want to read. My method is to click "new posts", scan through each page, open each thread of interest in a separate tab, do another quick "new posts" scan to catch posts that were made after my last "new posts" click, then I select "mark forums read" in the Links drop-down. Hope that helps!

I love ignoring forums in which I have no interest - I wish the other (non-Lap Band) board I frequent had that feature activated. It really helps keep the "new posts" return small enough to review. Thanks! ETA: I'm sure I'm missing gems in the forums I ignore, but with limited time I have to be selective!

Alex - did you have to take this capability away again? I miss it!

It could be a yeast infection. Does it itch? The massive dose of antibiotics you get before/during surgery can cause an imbalance of your normal body flora (the bacteria and yeast that naturally live on your body). That can allow yeast to grow, particularly in areas where skin presses against other skin. If it's yeast you can treat with lotrimin cream - if it's really itchy the doctor can prescribe an antifungal with steroid. HTH!

Jill - I don't think you have to count calories. When I first started I just made sure my portions were ~1/2-3/4 cup. I started getting more interested in meeting nutritional requirements when my hair started falling out. I thought I probably needed more protein, or perhaps other nutrients. I have days (weeks) when I don't track my eating, but I make more progress (ie., have greater weightloss) when I'm tracking my food.

I didn't worry too much about carbs until I was eating solids. Some people don't concern themselves with carbs at all. For me, the time on liquids then mushies was a healing time, and refried Beans with a little sour cream is a good source of mushy Protein that wouldn't slow the healing process. HTH!

I try really hard to meet my fiber needs with whole foods. It's a rare day that doesn't include a high-fiber Cereal with added ground flax along with servings of vegies and fruit. I do add a fiber powder to at least one glass of Water or Kellog's K2O (a protein/fiber drink that I enjoy in ice tea flavor) because I can't seem to get over 15g with whole foods - the combo of fiber powder and K2O brings me up to the 25g I was told is a good goal.

Even with mild restriction I haven't found sushi goes down particularly easily. I can eat it, a piece or two, but it just doesn't feel right. I eat sashimi and I pick out the fillings of maki, but the rice and seaweed just don't taste particularly good. I haven't PBd or gotten stuck, but some foods just don't feel right. It's weird. I absolutely loved eating sushi and bread and Pasta, etc. But after banding I'm just not that interested. Really. It's amazing. I wouldn't worry about how your eating might have to change. You might find that your tastes are completely different after banding. If sushi moves down in your preferences, something else will move up to take it's place.

If it's a yeast infection (and I agree that's what it sounds like, and I unfortunately have lots of experience with external yeast infections) cornstarch will make it worse. You can treat with over the counter Monistat cream if you can't get into the doctor right away. Good luck!

B: 1/4c eggbeaters omelet with 1 oz cheese and 1/4c sauteed mushrooms L: The insides and half the wrap of a bistro steak sammy from Quiznos D: 3oz turkey kielbasa and 1/4c sauteed pepper & onion S: 1 oz peanuts, 100 cal south beach bar

I found similar information when I had to eliminate dairy from my diet to accommodate my nursing son's milk allergy. I was left feeling there was no other choice when someone recommended Earth Balance (Earth Balance). It's an excellent butter substitute for those who can't (or don't want to) eat butter. After seven years of using it (my second child was allergic, too) I can't stand the taste of butter any more, though what appealed to me initially was that it tasted enough like butter to be a good substitute. Now butter has a strong animal aftertaste to me that I really don't care for. I'm glad I found Earth Balance!

B: tiny cheese omelet, bacon L: 1/2 apple with 1T almond butter S: Special K iced tea D: 2 oz chicken in a very small taco salad (lettuce, avocado, olives, black beans, onions, shredded cheese)

I saw an interview with her a while ago and she admitted to having become a "raving alcoholic" (her words) after her surgery. I've seen other articles saying that seems to be pretty common in gastric bypass patients. She went into treatment and recovered before having her baby - in fact she said that was her main motivation for recovery. It's very sad, but I'm glad she's gotten through it. Glad I got a band, too.

I haven't reached my 3 month anniversary yet - that'll be Mar 18th - so I didn't answer the poll, but I'm down just over 50lb right now. I seem to be a little more restricted after my fill last week - nothing stuck yet, but I had a bite of garlic bread and it seemed too bulky. My next weight loss goal is to total a 62.2lb loss, which I think I should reach by my 4-month bandiversary in April. That number would represent 30% of my excess weight lost!

We went to the Japanese restaurant a couple times while I was on soft foods, and I had either miso soup with lots of tofu, or teriyaki tofu. I like the teriyaki tofu - pre-banding I would have gotten yakisoba which is much higher in calories and fat, but I actually think I like the teriyaki tofu better. I made a meal out of the insides of lasagna at an Italian restaurant. I may have had a little noodle, but mostly I ate the filling - yum. While flan or custard would be higher in sugar than my typical meal, they might make a good choice if you were stuck out and didn't have many choices. Some restaurants have a "light fruit meal" that combines fruit with cottage cheese. I couldn't eat much fruit until later in my band journey, but sometimes they use canned fruit cocktail which is pretty mushy compared to fresh fruit What about tuna or egg salad sandwich without the bread? Hash or an omelet or scrambled eggs at a place that offers Breakfast. It does get easier! Now that I'm eating solid foods I don't have too much trouble finding something to eat when we're out - I typically order a meal that has solid Protein and vegetable, like a shrimp appetizer and a side salad, or edamame and sashimi (we eat Japanese a lot).

My family approaches education as a lifelong pursuit and I'm not at all concerned if my child reads late, or learns the times tables by rote, or knows specific dates in history. I think it would be difficult to gauge my children's progress via a standardized test because they don't follow the public school curricula upon which the "standards" are set. I fully expect my children to become productive independent adults with as many (or few) academic degrees as they choose to achieve in order to meet their personal goals. While I'm sure there will be tests in their future, I don't really see the point at age 6 and 9. Like a Montessori teacher, I see all their work and know whether they understand a concept or not. In my state a parent can exempt their child from the compulsory attendance laws (effective on students between ages 8 and 18) in order to homeschool if they either (1) have at least 45 credits of college work, (2) take a homeschool qualifying course, (3) work under the supervision of a certificated teacher, or (4) are deemed competent by the local school superintendent. We also must file a declaration of intent each year, cover the same eleven subjects as public schools (though not use the same curriculum or scope & sequence, nor use a particular educational method) and keep annual records including immunization records and either (a) a standardized test or (:blushing: a non-test assessment by a certificated teacher. All our records are privately kept - they would be requested if a child was being enrolled in a public school, but we don't show them to anyone, so there's no oversight in the sense you mean it. For my 9-y.o. I choose a non-test assessment - I basically write a paragraph for each of the eleven subjects telling what he has done that year. A teacher reviews it. I file it. I don't have to do any assessment for my 6-y.o. - the compulsory attendance law is only in effect for children ages 8-18. It doesn't mean she's not learning - "Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns" (John Holt) - she's been learning every day she's been alive. But I don't have to jump through the state's hoops in order to keep her from being treated as a truant until she's 8. Sorry so off topic to the original post - you're asking some interesting questions and I hope I've helped answer them.

I read lots of anecdotal information on the homeschooling lists I read. Here's an example: Colleges That Admit Homeschoolers FAQ (Learn in Freedom!) Homeschoolers can be such an independent lot - one arm of the grassroots homeschooling movement came from the crunchy granola left liberal hippy counterculture, and the other from the ultra-conservative fundamentalist Christians who wanted to protect their children from the influence of secular schools and their denizens. I don't really know if it would be possible to study homeschoolers as an entire group. Homeschooling families are divided in educational philosophy, educational method, the appropriate balance of academics and practical knowledge, the importance or irrelevance of faith, whether their children have special needs or not, etc. NHERI (National Home Education Research Institute - Home) has reported statistical research about homeschoolers. NCES, a government group that collects education statistics, has done some research into homeschooling - use homeschooling as a keyword to search their website: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education Though there are estimated to be over a million homeschooled children in the US (NCES), that is still just a small fraction of the 50 million school-age children in this country. How to find a representative subset, and methods that would work regardless of the family's chosen path - it's difficult!