Jean McMillan

If you're getting stuck on everything for 3 days straight, it's time to put yourself on liquids so everything in there can calm down! I have fibro also (in fact, I tried to join your Fibro and Life group, but couldn't for some reason), and a few months ago I published an article in Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain LIFE magazine about the corelation between obesity and fibro. One doctor told me that weight loss can exacerbate fibro symptoms because of the inflammatory role of adipose (fat) tissue in the immune system. So it makes sense (to me anyway) that a flare up of fibro or another immune system disorder like lupus could cause inflammation in the digestive system.

Good for you! Donating all the junk food will help you a lot. I can't have junk in the house. If it's here, I'm too tempted to eat it. In fact, I start to obsess about it because I can't have it, and then I want it all the more. As for the skin thing...most plastic surgeons suggest that you wait until you've been at your goal weight for 6-12 months before having plastic surgery. I had a breast reduction before my band surgery, and since losing weight, I have some excess skin hanging over the old incision lines, but it's not awful. And I know a woman who regained about 40 lbs after her TT, has lost 30 of that, and her abdomen still looks great. I think your age is a big factor in this - as we get older, our skin loses resilience.

Thanks - those are great suggestions. Unjury's chicken Soup flavor Protein powder is tasty but you're right, very high in sodium. I'm going to try a version of your idea and try making a "cream of" chicken soup using half a scoop of unjury chicken soup powder (I have half a canister to use up)combined with low-sodium chicken broth and milk (the milk will up the protein content.

GREEN? It's green? But who am I to judge? My nails are medium grey with white tips right now!

Try not to get tangled! LOL! I hear ya! Just want to say that sleep apnea is only one of a variety of sleep disorders. Some are treated with a CPAP, some are treated with a BiPAP, and some aren't treated with a machine at all. I hope you find out what your sleep problem is and get it treated soon, because even if a sleep disorder isn't required for WLS qualification, poor sleep has been proven to contribute to obesity.

It's a very personal decision, but I'm a bit surprised that you won't go ahead with the surgery if your wife doesn't also qualify. If I were your wife, I'd want you to do anything possible to improve your health, even if it meant my own weight issues weren't being immediately addressed. But hopefully you'll both get approved and make the journey together.

Aw, c'mon. Taking that nail off won't hurt that much. At least they didn't make you take the acrylic off all 10 nails. And just think of all the benefits you'll gain when this sleep test pushes you that much closer to weight loss surgery! Edited to add: don't eat beans the day before. During my sleep study, there was a microphone on the head of the bed so they could hear me snore, fart, and ask to go to the toilet.

Click on your name at the top right side of the forum page Click on My Settings Under Profile Settings (left side of the page), click Signature Paste your ticker into your signature window Click Save Changes Then your ticker should show up in every post you make. And I believe that when you update your ticker at Ticker Factory, it will automatically update your ticker in your signature at LBT.

Whether you can fail it depends on why you're having it. If you need to prove co-morbidities to qualify for surgery, and sleep apnea is the only possible co-morbidity you might have, I guess you'd fail the test if it showed that you don't have apnea or any other sleep disorder. Other than that....? You might fail if you refused to remove the acrylic from that finger, or freaked out and had to be disconnected from the monitoring equipment....but otherwise, it's a hard test to "fail" because all you have to do is lie there for 6-8 hours. I've heard people say that they didn't sleep at all during their sleep study, but apparently the monitor showed that they did sleep in some fashion.

Ask any question, big or little, that you need to ask. As the old saying goes: the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!

How fast you'll recover from surgery will depend on a number of things, but if you're accustomed to a lot of physical activity in your job, I would think you'd spring back fairly fast. Recovery time is generally 1-2 weeks for people who have a sedentary job and/or lifestyle. A bigger concern is that in order to allow your body to heal, especially your port site, you're going to have to be very careful for 4-6 weeks after surgery. Low-level, steady activity like walking isn't a problem, but sporadic, short-term, high-strength activities could be a problem. Just because you feel OK doing them doesn't mean you should be doing them, you know? I had my port repositioned 2 years ago. I was lighter, healthier, and a LOT more physically active than I'd been before my original band surgery, so I assumed I'd bounce right back. I was wrong. The trauma to my port site and the sutures stitched in to my abdominal fascia made it extremely difficult to do even light-duty stuff. So I think you're going to have to talk with a bariatric surgeon about what to expect for your own recovery and return to work. Good luck!

Congratulations on starting your weight loss surgery journey! This is a great place to get answers to your questions, especially on life with the band.

You are so right: we shouldn't take no as an answer, though even the best docs may not be able to immediately figure out what's going on. I think patients need to be assertive in dealing with health care professionals. I'm glad you finally got your tubing problem fixed.

It's normal for me.

Possible causes: EROSION - immune system response to the presence of the band; trauma to the stomach during band placement; stomach ulcers from medication or the pressure of the band against the stomach; aggressive over-filling of the band. SLIP - vomiting, overeating, failure to follow the post-op diet progression, poor eating skills, over-filling of the band; untreated hiatal hernia; suture failure or surgical error during placement of band

LOL!

Elysabeth, with the doctors, PA's and nutritionist, you might be better off saying, "You could be right," then smile serenely and go on eating. Or say, "That reminds me" and go on to talk about something entirely unrelated.

When I was choosing a WLS procedure, I was uncomfortable with the permanence and higher risks with the sleeve. I chose the band mainly because of its adjustability. I love my band, but now I'm revising to the sleeve because of esophageal motility issues from my band. All other things being equal, I think the sleeve might be a good choice for people who can't afford the time and expense of getting band adjustments (fills and unfills). The common belief that the band is better because it's reversible is ill-founded. Yes, the band can be removed, but not easily, and it may leave scar tissue behind. And if you don't revise to another bariatric surgery procedure, it's all too easy to regain the weight you lost. Edited to add: Also, the "foreign object" argument against the band seems blown out of proportion to me. Why is one silicone & titanium medical implant a lifesaver while another is an evil foreign object? The band is made of the same bio-compatible materials as artifical joints and other medical implants that have been used safely for decades. Unless the patient has a history of autoimmune disease, it's highly unlike that the body will "reject" the band the way it would reject an organ. Rejection of transplants that consist of protein (like a liver or heart) is a serious concern but it doesn't stop patients from getting desperately-needed transplants. The band contains no protein, so it's not subject to the same "foreign body" reaction as a transplanted organ.

I have the old 4 cc band that's not used in the USA any more. I had a band slip that was cured by a complete unfill. Two years later, I had another complete unfill to treat eseophageal dilation and motility problems. My surgeon refuses to re-fill my band now because she says that my band is too small, even without any fill in it. So your surgeon might be thinking the same thing of your band...that you'll do better, and be safer, with a bigger band. Apparently smaller bands cause too much pressure on the stomach and lower esophagus. I'm going to have my band removed and revise to the vertical sleeve gastrectomy because I'm afraid that even a bigger band can eventually cause problems.

WATCH OUT! The Food Police are watching you, and if they catch you misbehaving, you’ll be dragged off to prison, where you’ll have to subsist on stale melba toast and lukewarm water. The Food Police are every dieter’s nemesis. They’re relentless and sometimes cruel, and they surround us. You know them. They're the friends, relatives, and coworkers who watch as you eat a meal and say things like, "Should you be eating that?" I actually enjoy dealing with that kind of comment. Depending on my mood and the circumstances, I might give a mind-your-own-business answer ("What's it to you?") or I might say, "So, where did you get your degree in nutrition science?" The existence of Food Police implies that there are some hard-and-fast Food Laws that the Food Police enforce as they prowl the weight loss community, maintaining order and detecting crime. Although I wouldn't want the job of a police officer, I know the police are necessary, and I believe that without them, chaos and anarchy would probably ensue. But in the world of weight loss, there are at least a thousand sets of Food Laws, and they change by the moment according to whatever new scientific discovery or not-so-scientific fad is being publicized. If you listened to every member of the Food Police, you'd probably end up feeling like a citizen of a Police State, where the police not only enforce the law but create it. That's truly a scary thought. I can snap out smart-aleck responses to Food Police interrogations all day long, but I'm not always so clever at dealing with the special squad of Food Police who live inside my brain, monitoring every bite of food, every minute of exercise, every food choice, every ounce on the scale. They've been there a long, long time. The summer I turned 14, when wearing a cute bikini was the most important goal in my mind, I kept a food log and graded every bite of food I took. I knew that a chocolate donut had 310 calories, and since that was one-fourth of the total calories I had allotted for each day, that donut got a low grade. I knew it was a "bad" food choice, so I decided to eat only a quarter of a donut (77.5 calories) for breakfast at 8:00 each morning, but since I'm a notorious Food Criminal, I'd end up eating another donut quarter at 8:30, and another at 8:45, and the last at 9:00, at which point I would view the empty donut box with deep regret and the three empty hours until lunch time with deep dread. That was not a happy summer for me and the cute bikini I sewed for myself would have caused the Fashion Police to arrest me if they'd been out cruising our neighborhood. FOOD CHOICES: GOOD, BAD & INDIFFERENT The Food Police can make us miserable, it's true, but can we live entirely without them? One of the lifestyle changes I committed to when I had bariatric surgery was to make a sincere effort at making good food choices from now on. Since I don't have a degree in nutrition science, I decided to follow my bariatric nutritionist's Food Laws. I think highly of Susan but as the months went by, I realized that succeeding with the band actually involved several types of "good" food choices. The two most important categories for me are: 1. Food that's nutritious. 2. Food with high satiety value. The pre- and post-op nutrition classes Susan conducted emphasized food choices and behaviors that would support good health ("nutritious") and prevent eating problems (like stuck episodes, PB's, sliming), but I don't recall any mention of eating for satiety. Susan is a smart lady but she's not a bariatric patient, and I learned gradually, through trial and error, that food consistency could turn a "good" food into a "bad" one in the satiety sense. For example: 1. An apple is "good" while applesauce is "bad". 2. Baked chicken is "good" while chicken salad is "bad". 3. A bowl of chickpeas is "good" while a bowl of hummus is "bad". 4. Hard cheese is "good" while cottage cheese is "bad". 5. A granola bar is "good" while a bowl of cooked oatmeal is "bad". Provided that all of the foods mentioned in the examples above are prepared in a low-fat, low-sugar manner, all ten of them are nutritious, but only five are good food choices in terms of satiety. How so? Solid food has the greatest chance of triggering the nerves in your upper stomach to register satiety and send a "had enough" message to your brain via the hormone called leptin. Soft and slippery foods, no matter how "healthy", can't be relied on to do that job. FOOD LAW AMENDMENTS I've also learned that appropriate enforcement of band food rules needs to be adjusted on almost a daily basis, because on Tuesday morning I can eat 2 cups of cottage cheese while on Wednesday afternoon I can eat only 2 tablespoons of it. As a result, I not only have to constantly monitor my body and my eating (which is not such a bad thing), I have to continually amend my Food Laws. The variability of restriction is one of the most perplexing things about living with the adjustable gastric band. It can be downright infuriating. But consider the alternative. The alternative is the way I ate and lived pre-op. I could and did eat anything I wanted, in any quantity, at any time of day. Three chocolate donuts every morning, three pounds of shrimp every afternoon, a gallon of ice cream every night. The price I paid for those food choices was obesity and all the painful, humiliating, and frustrating side effects and limitations caused by 90+ extra pounds on my short body. YOUR ASSIGNMENT, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT Do you have Food Police in your life? Who's wearing that uniform? A spouse, parent, coworker, friend or neighbor? Are they truly qualified to judge your food choices? How do you respond when they try to force a food law on you? And what about the Food Police inside you? What are they telling you every time you take a bite of food? Do they chastise you, or do they sometimes give you a good citizen award? Do you listen to them, heed them, ignore them, defy them? Make a list of 3-5 Food Laws that structure your post-op life. Are they serving your health and weight loss needs? Or do they need amending? Can you do that by yourself, or do you need the help of a professional, like a nutritionist or a counselor? At almost 5 years post-op, I still have my own in-house (so to speak) Food Police, but they're not as strict and punitive as they used to be. I keep them on the job because I'm so good at justifying the worst eating behavior and I sometimes need them to say, "Hey, hey, hey, little lady! What do you think you're doing? You know better than that!" The Food Laws that structure my life are: 1. Eat for good health. 2. Eat for good satiety. 3. Eat for pleasure. Did I really say "eat for pleasure"? I sure did. But that's a topic for another article!

It could be gas, but you should never ignore chest pain. Call your surgeon and go to the ER.

LOL! Sounds like your PCP is cut from the same piece of cloth as my ex-PCP! "No, Jean, you don't need something as drastic as surgery..." "Jean, if you would just exercise...." "Jean, here's another diet to follow..." "And here's a refill for your cholesterol medication..." I did indeed prove him wrong, and I also found myself a new doctor. The only exercise I've ever seen the original one do was lift his fork from his plate to his mouth at a Mexican restaurant. He's morbidly obese himself...so if his approach doesn't work for him, why would it work for me?

Of course her opinion is bothering you....she's your friend! Avoiding her is OK, but if truly value her friendship, at some point you may want to ask her how she feels and if there's something you can do (besides sabotaging your own weight loss) to help her and to renew the friendship.

If you're following your surgeon's instructions and feel good, no, you're not losing too fast. Your weight loss will probably slow down eventually as your body adjusts your metabolism, but there's nothing wrong with a quick start like yours. So your weight loss is not the problem here. The problem is your friend's negativity, which I suspect hides some envy of you. If she keeps on making critical remarks, I'd have a heart-to-heart talk with her, or at the very least, tell her, "I appreciate your concern about my weight loss, but my doctor says I'm doing great, and I feel great, so could we not talk about it any more?"

I began my weight loss surgery journey with very nebulous goals. Happiness wasn’t one of them. I knew I was miserable and frustrated and unhealthy, and mainly wanted to neutralize all that so that my future would be not-unhappy. As far as I was concerned, the words “happy” and “weight” didn’t even belong in the same sentence. In his book, Ultimate Lap-Band® Success, bariatric surgeon Duc Vuong (who is insightful about obesity despite being naturally as slender as a blade of grass) talks about identifying a "happy weight" versus a "goal weight". He says your happy weight is the weight at which you are no longer struggling with your relationship with food. You feel good, look good, are confident & active. Me? I have a happy weight, but it keeps changing. When I got to within 20 pounds of my goal weight (which I had casually grabbed off the high end of the BMI chart for a woman of my height), I thought that if I never lost another pound, I'd still be happy and consider my surgery a complete success. I did indeed feel better, look better, was more confident and far more active then than I ever would have dreamed, so I suppose you could say that my Happy Weight was 152 pounds. A few months later, I reached my goal weight, which was most certainly a very happy place. So I suppose you could say that my Happy Weight was actually 132 pounds, not 152. The problem is that my Happy Weight keeps changing. When I regained 20 pounds after a complete unfill to treat a band slip, the 152 pounds that had pleased me earlier was not a happy weight any more. My skinny wardrobe was too tight, my fat clothes were long gone, I tired more easily, my cholesterol went up, and I avoided looking at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t as miserable as I was at 221 pounds, but I wasn’t happy either. I knew I’d get back down to the 132 pounds again (and I did), but in the meantime….I was not happy! What about you? Do you know your happy weight? How do you even define it? Choosing a weight goal, whether measured by your BMI (Body Mass Index), a certain clothing size, reduction or elimination of a medication or the need for a CPAP machine, is fairly concrete. But how do you know what will make you happy? How do you measure happiness? I hate to tell you this, but achieving a certain weight goal won’t necessarily flip the Happy Switch in your brain. It’s quite possible that your happy switch will get turned on well before you reach the end goal, and also that achieving that goal may not yield the results you expected. If you believe (or at least hope) that being a certain body weight will make your partner fall in love with you all over again, things will get messy when you both discover that your slim new shape makes your partner insanely jealous every time someone else gives you an admiring glance. If you believe that a certain body weight will get you the job promotion you long for, and you get laid off instead, what becomes of your happiness? So my advice to you is this: keep your mind and heart open to the kind of happiness that takes you by surprise, and remember that many small NSV’s (non-scale victories) can add up to a huge improvement in your quality of life. There’s one aspect of Dr. Vuong’s definition of a happy weight that illustrates something that’s difficult for him (or any other never-obese person) to understand. That’s the part about your happy weight being the weight at which you are no longer struggling with your relationship with food. Bariatric surgery affects our brain and body chemistry to different degrees depending on the procedure, but it doesn’t cure obesity and it doesn’t forever vanquish our eating demons. That’s why weight regain in bariatric surgery patients is so common, and that’s why I highly recommend counseling, both pre- and post-op, to help us gain the insight and tools to conquer or at least tame those eating demons. Your bariatric surgeon should be able to give you a referral to a therapist who’s experienced with bariatric and/or eating disorder patients. Seeking counseling doesn’t mean you’re crazy – it just means that you recognize that you need help and are willing to give therapy a try.