juliek

I, for one, think it is a great idea!

Excellent!

Ok, I had both the cortizone shots and the sugery. I did not receive CS when I had the injections, they just numbed the area. My herniated disks were at L5 and S1, low back. Guess it depends on the dr and maybe the spot? My dr had a setup with the flurio in his office. Feel free to PM me if you would like a first hand account. Good luck whatever you decide.

Hi Jacqie, I also wasn't quite that high, my highest was 366, however I too want to lose 200 lbs. My weight loss was fairly slow until I had my 3rd fill, then it was restriction city. 51 lbs is a great start! Wow 550 calories for a Protein shake? What kind do you take? You may want to try Isopure - the 20 oz bottle has 40 grams of protein and counts as Water. I have a problem with chips, too. Hard to limit them because they go down easy - just get rid of them. If you crave the crunchy stuff, I can recommend Asian Rice Crackers - they go down really well, come in a variety of flavors and are only 120 calories for 18 crackers. I can only eat about 10 at a time.

I use Lady Speed Stick 24 hr gel and never had a problem. Smells nice and goes on clear.

Congrats and hope you have a speedy recovery!

Excellent thread - I hope to be on your list very, very soon!

LOL!!!! Yeah, me too - sitting I could do anything!

Welcome, fellow techie (aka Geek - LOL) :biggrin1:

Hmmm, like most here I have been extremely overweight my whole life (I have a baby picture where I weighed 30 lbs at 9 months old - , talk about a big baby!). And I have tried every diet on the planet, some 2 or 3 times. By my actual realization came when my husband had to have heart surgery! He is fit, small guy (we looked like Jack Sprat and his wife - LOL) who has more co-morbidities than I do! He has high cholestral, high blood pressure, diabities (sp?), etc and only weighs 148! I, on the other hand was only fat. Sooo, when he had to have the heart surgery, I got very scared for my 3 beautiful daughters! We are older parents (I am 44, he is 49) with a 9 yr old and 4 yr old twins and one of us has to be healthy to be around for them as they grow up!!!!! God Willing it will be both of us, but I wanted to stack the deck in my favor! Plus as someone else said, I am just sick and tired of being sick and tired! I painted my daughter's bedroom the other day - something I would have never tried before (I wasn't going to put my 355 lb body on a latter with a 250 lb weight limit!!!). That made me stop and think, wow! this is really working for me! Great thread, thanks for starting it!

Ok, so I have been having problems on and off for almost 2 years with what I was convinced was gall bladder problems. I basically have some form of pain with it daily, sometimes just a mild burning, sometimes severe. My GP also thought it was the gall bladder because of the symptons and location of the pain. Every time I had a severe episode and ended up in the ER, the ER dr would just shake his head and say, you don't have gall stones, so no problems. I had the gall bladdar emptying study and it showed the bladder operated at just 39% efficiency, but that was considered normal, huh? The last episode, a couple of weeks ago really upset me. The dr just acted like I was a nut case!!! Anyway, I had all the test results faxed to my bariatric surgeon, saw her today and she said, girl, you need your gall bladdar out! There are polyps (sp?) in it and sludge. Not good at all. What a relief! Not that I want to have surgery again, but I am so glad she was able to see what the ER docs did not. Anyway, she is going to take it out for me on April 10th. She said I could go to a regular surgeon, but she preferred to do it since she knows all about the band and can check it at the same time - ALL GOOD! Just needed to get that off my chest!

Thanks, Mandy, that was very helpful! I can not wait for my surgery (how sick is that - LOL).

Hey Carrie, I have had the injections, they actually don't hurt at all - tiny little pinch when they numb the area. They helped me some, but did not relieve all the pain. I ended up with spine surgery, which ended up being a Godsend! Made a world of difference. Good luck, hope the injections help you!

Awesome! Best of luck with the surgery, can't wait to welcome you to bandland

I have the same experience with hot liquids. I always have a cup of tea now a little bit before I eat. Helps alot.

Very Nice! Congrats!

:biggrin1: Back at ya!

Yup, I totally am - feel like I am 16 agan (YIKES!). Bummer about your friend, mine went the opposite way and now visits like every 3 to 4 months. (so totally not complaining there!).

It is totally normal! She is still in the healing phase where recovery, not weight loss is really what is going on. Tell her to remember that she has probably been on a liquid/soft diet for the last 3 weeks, adding in normal food is going to change this a bit. Plus, if she has been exercising and working out, some of that could be muscle gain. Tell her I said good luck and welcome to bandland!

Sooo, what you are saying is that you changed your life for 2006 by exercising and eating right and in 2004 your lived on Evil sugar, carbs and fat - you store this information on UNIX in an Oracle database ... - ok I admit it - I am also a professional geek - LOL.

Wow, that is pretty interesting. I too, would love to hear the reasoning. I have redish hair (more brown but with red highlights - it was much redder as a child). However, I have never had any problems with anesthesia.

Thanks, everyone. I am really just so relieved that they finally figured out what was going on.

Good for you. I didn't really feel much restriction until I had my 2nd fill, but it is hard to tell when you are on liquids. Keep up the great work! 3 hours, yikes, that is as bad as me. Except, I have to drive for an hour, then take a train for 2 hours to get into NYC, worth it though, I love my dr.

It is natural to be apprehensive before such a life changing experience. You will be fine. And think how much better you will feel once you start losing! Sorry about your period, that just stinks! I have found since I started losing weight that mine have gotten much better. Hugs ...

I like to snack on Asian Rice Crackers - the bbq and cheese flavors are yummy - 18 (count em) 18 crackers are only 120 calories, but I can usually only eat 5 or 6 at a time. So it is a good low calorie snack that satisfy's the crunchy sensation I sometimes crave.