Wheetsin

Medical expenses must be at least 7.5% of your AGI, not just your income. And you can only deduct the part of the expenses that are above the 7.5%. In other words, subtract 7.5% of your AGI from your medical expenses to figure your medical expense deduction. Deductions are not amounts that you get back from the IRS, they are amounts that are not liable for taxation. And it's only on out-of-pocket expenses - nothing eligible for reimbursement (meaning if something is reimburseable, and you just don't submit for it, too bad - you can't clain it) from your insurer or from your flex spending. Say your AGI is $80,000. To qualify for a medical expense deduction, you'd need to spend more than $6,000 out of pocket. So if you spent $6,010 you'd only get to deduct $10. And that $10 deduction would only reduce your tax liability by $2.50 if you're in the 25 percent tax bracket. If 7.5% of your AGI is $2000, and your suergy costs $4000, you could claim $2000, subjected to your tax bracke. You would not get $2000 back from the IRS.

Assuming you are your avatar, why would they give you prenatals? I've not come across a prenatal Vitamin. Please share the brand/name if you can. What usually happens is my PCP says "I don't know if there's a chewable available but I will tell them to use it if they have it." I get there, and they're regular non-chewables. This happens frequently. It was a nightmare to get liquid antiemitic.

NSAIDS should not be taken when you're banded. I was given an rx for Lortab when I went home from surgery and it worked quite well. After a day or two I moved on to liquid Tylenol. I've found it much, much more effective than regular/pill Tylenol. Speak with your PCP and surgeon about the NSAID issue.

See this thread: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/abbreviations-and-they-t7959.html

Tae-Bo. It gets the whole body.

A 10cc band does hold 10ccs. Well, let's say it's designed to hold 10ccs. And many people don't get restriction until they're filled to 8ccs or more. I know people who have to be 9+ before they feel anything. Maybe you're confusing cc with cm?

jaysd74 - try this thread for abbreviations: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/abbreviations-and-they-t7959.html AF = "Aunt Flo", a euphamism for menstruation.

I had two very bad PB's (one yesterday and another one today). Today's brought me to vomiting!! I am trying to eat small bites really slow, but obviously it's not slow or small enough. Also, I am missing the full signs. It's as if I go from fine to golf ball in one bite! Any advice... I don't have full signs. I will go from "fine" to "uh-oh" inone bite. I've come across many, many others who don't have full signs (also called "soft stops") either. I wish I did, but I don't. Also, it's not always a matter of how small or how slow. Sometimes here are foods bandsters just can't tolerate, regardless of how long they take to eat them. And sometimes there are just times when eating isn't going to happen (for me it's anywhere from 2 - 5 days before my period). If you're having a hard time, go back to the basics food-wise. Eat only the smallest bites, and put your fork down - foce yourself to wait about 5 minutes between bites, until you are confident that it's going to be ok. Drinking while eating. Maybe this is the problem. I have been really trying to not drink while I eat. Today, I didn't drink anything with my supper and that's where the problems began. I guess I need to get used to food consumption/restriction without liquid interferring. I drink with meals. Well, I should rephrase that. I sometimes drink a little with meals. It's really becoming less and less b/c I only really do it when I'm eating out (I've noticed this lately), and when I do go out, I drink so little that I get tired of paying $2 for an iced tea that just sits there, so I've stuck with water... which is tap water... which I hate... so problem almost solved. But honestly, for me, drinking with meals was never a problem. I never ate more because I took a drink. I was always full within the same amount of food. Worst case - I drank too soon or before something cleared. When you do that, you know it immediately. I AM STILL ADDICTED TO SODA!! Diet coke. I only had 5 oz of a 20 oz bottle today and I feel like I did well. The previous days I've had at least a 20 oz bottle, then maybe another can. I've tried iced tea, hot tea and coffee, which is helping, but I could use some pointers here too! Hmm, I gave up soda cold turkey after surgery, which wasn't hard since I was never a big soda drinker, and had already weaned myself down to caffeine free Diet Coke... and at that point, it was just about hte carbonation. Screw the soda, I wanted to feel the burn. Umm... something you could do (a RNY friend used this) is to flatten your sodas before you drink them... swish the bottles around or something. She did this in the beginning, and eventually it just wasn't worth it anymore so she quit.

Yep yep. You have to eat solid in order to poop solid. As long as you're eating through a straw, you'll be able to poop through one.

Yes, but it irritates me. I understand it, but it is still irritating. And it was the exact same way before I gained the weight, only I didn't process it as such because it had always been that way. It took being fat and very, very rarely getting any attention before I realized that getting the attention wasn't just "how it was".

This is common. It's part trauma, part anesthesia, part recovery, and probably a pinch of psychology. I was banded almost 13 months ago and my appetite has never returned.

If we hit an adult, it's assault, even if it's a family member, even if it's open-handed, even if it's not with a foreign object. If I slap you across the face, I can be jailed. Why is it ok to then slap someone even smaller, even more defenseless? Honest question.

My father would hit me. All it taught me was to be afraid of my father. My father never really stopped to think what, exactly, he was teaching me. He hit me because he was hit, and he didn't know what else to do. He taught me that I should be afraid of him, and that when dad got mad, Wheetsin gets hit. It never taught me to do or not to do something. "I was hit and grew up just fine" and "I was not hit and grew up just fine" exist everywhere. So there is no "right way". Maybe there are kids who truly only respond to hitting (and then you have to ask why), but probably that's not the case. I think a lot of people don't know what else to do - they've learned that hitting get results, and have not been adequately trained or experienced in any other approaches. I'm not a parent so I can't say what I do or do not do with my kids, but I would certainly hope that they could grow up to be good people without having to be physically punished via hitting, swatting, spanking, or whatever you want to call it. As for the legislation - I would *like* to think that a society wouldn't crumble if parents didn't hit children. I would also like to think that anyone who puts themselves in the position of being a parent could find other ways that a fist or hand or branch or belt to get their point across. I can see the argument that, "They're my kids and I will discipline them as I see fit", and I see the argument that, "Hitting does more for the parent than the child" and I can see the argument that, "It is wrong for a 40 year old to hit a 2 year old", and on, and on. But is it something that government should step into -- I'd have to think a bit more before I cast my vote. *Edited - submitted accidentally, before I was done.

I definitely slowed down, and hit a stall at about 8 months out that I'm still not over. I've lost about 8 - 10 lbs since then, but that all came during a week that I was overfilled. The same thing happened to me on LC. I stalled about 7 - 9 months out, and the stall lasted about 4 months, and then I lost nearly 20 lbs (scale pounds) during the next 2 weeks. It's definitely easier to be motivated and do the right things when you're seeing some change in the numbers, but I'm sort of trusting at this point that this will break soon, and loss will begin once again.

What your surgeon told you is spot on. All of our organs are different sizes and even slightly different shapes. Since our sizes vary so much, there is no "one size fits all" approach, and the surgeon can't know until he gets inside what size band to use. He can guess what he will use, but can't know. Case in point - my surgeon supposed he would use a 10cc band, but I ended up with the 4cc. Since you know he uses Inamed, there are three possibilities, listed below. The first measurement is cm which is the band's length, and the second is cc which is its Fluid capacity. 9.75cm - 4cc 10cm - 4cc 11cm - 10cc

Our parents and in particular our mothers are behind about 96% of our neuroses. Fact.

just my 2 cents... Often when people experience complications of any kind, the first reaction is to blame them for doing something wrong. Something that caused the complication. To many people who haven't experienced complications, this has to be the only answer. (Afterall, they're doing just fine, so it can't be the band or a true medical problem). And a lot of people see their bands as part of themselves, and become defesnive when it comes into negative light. Because of this, there's a quick jump to defenses and blame. This can make it hard for people to share their problems, in hopes of getting help, because they become intimidated or afraid to post what's going on. I think LBT is very fair about this, but even here you'll notice that we have people who START OFF their post defensively, because they EXPECT the retaliation -- e.g. posters who start with, "I'm going to get flamed for this but..." or who start a note by listing every possible alternative under the sun and what they've already done about it (because the anticipate someone saying, "It's because you haven't done XXX"). I think it's virtually impossible to escape in an online forum and - in particular - an anonymous forum. Personally, I think LBT is one of the more open board (when it comes to issues like this) out there, whether we're talking about boards specific to LBT or making general statements about boards where people can voice unpopular experiences/opinions/truths.

My point was not to say that gossip = terror. It was to say that there are certain things that we just can't get rid of. That point seems to have been lost, and for that I apologize. I do not think that "war" and "giving up" are the only answers to problems. Perhaps I am a minority.

DH loves salmon. I hate it - can't even stand the smell. But when I make him salmon I do as follows: Slice the meat along the grain about every 3" (this is when I made him a full fillet). Cut cold butter into small bars and press into slits. If I have homemade herb butter I will use it, but I normally don't so I use regular salted sweet cream butter. Season with the good old "Salmon Magic" seasoning. Cover with fresh baby dill branches. Top with lemon slices. Wrap in foil. Bake at 450 for 5 minutes. Remove from foil, bake for another 10 minutes. Usually while the salmon bakes I prepare his favorite salmon side sidh - butter fill russet potatoes. Just steam the potatoes over salted Water until they are semi firm. Then melt half a stick of butter, add a pinch of garlic powder, about half a tsp black pepper, and the remaining baby dill (I buy the fresh packs and usually save 2 branches for the potatoes). Once melted and mixed, add the potatoes and cover at low heat until everything else is ready to go. When you serve, remove the dill branches and spoon just a little bit of the butter mixture over the potatoes.

I think it's easier for people to support war when they don't understand what really happens or what war really looks like. I too believe that if more people understood this, the cries of outrage would be deafening. But many people don't know what it's like to have to gun down a little child because the opposition strapped a bomb to it and sent it walking in your direction. A friend of mine serving in the war on terror knows exactly what this is like because he has had to do it three times. Oddly enough, I also had an uncle in VietNam who had to do the same thing. Some things truly do never change. I do not see how people think we can ever win a war on terror. Terror will never go away. A war on terror is like a war on gossip, or a war on jealousy, or a war on hate. ToomyO - you're spot on. I have family that is not American and does not live in America, and they don't understand why we do what we do anymore than WE do. But, fortunately, they do understand that Bush does not equal America, and are comforted somewhat in the knowledge that even the country's own citizens hate having to sit here and watch what is happening.

I eat tilapia all the time. Very, very high in Protein. These aren't exact recipes because I just kind of make them, but here's an idea of what I do: Spray metal pan with Pam, season bottom of pan (I often use "Salmon Magic" - it's a combination of sugar, salt, garlic, mustard seed, etc., or "Cavender's Greek Seasoning). Place fish, spray top of fish with Pam, season top, bake at 450 for 10 - 15 mins. Always comes out moist and perfect. Mix mayo, parmesan, asiago and sour cream. You can use Lite versions if you prefer. Put fish in a baking dish, top with mixture. Bake 450 for 10 - 15 minutes. Marinate in a Thai sauce (I make it as I go, generally it's a bit of brown sugar, orange juice, peanut sauce, soy sauce, chili oil and just a pinch of masala), grill. I do veggie and fruit kabobs with it - onions, mushrooms, pineapple, tomatoes, corn sections, etc. Pan fry in Pam lemon, optionally add lemon pepper, or satuee in butter with garlic and lemon zest.

Oh, and to address those numbers specifically... I lost about 30 lbs my first week, about half of which would have been water. By month six I had either hit or was close to 100 lbs lost. Since month six, I've really slowed down. I have a friend who was banded 3 weeks after me who has lost 9 lbs total. And I have another friend who lost almost 150 lbs in 8 months. So it just depends. If it's something you're considering, just go into it focused on doing the best you can, and -- my own advice -- really take advantage of your first 6 months.

Well - that's not guaranteed. I've lost 2 lbs in the last month and a half or so. The average loss runs something like 50% - 60% of your excess weight with an average sustained loss of 1 - 2 lbs per week. This means you may lose 20 lbs in your first week, and then nothing for 10 weeks. It does not mean you will lose at the rate of 1 - 2 per week, every week. It also means nothing other than "that's the average". YOU may lose a whole lot more, or you may lose a whole lot less. But it's important to realize that, unlike malabsorptive procedures, the band doesn't "hand over" weightloss, it's still up to you to lose it. And, as any time this is the case, you are going to lose as much or as little as YOU are able to. This means there's no reason you can't lose more than the average if it's what you decide to do and if your psysiology will allow for it. It also means there's no reason you can't lose less than the average, if you don't make the necessary changes in your lifestyle. In other words, you - not your band - will determine how much weight you can expect to lose.

If Hillary doesn't get elected, I don't think it means American is not ready for a woman president - I think it means America is not wanting Hillary. And see - I focus in on "feeling a little bitter". That would make me sad.

When you're talking addicts, there isn't much recognition of $300 over $3000. Either will get them what they need right then. There's a part of the rational brain that shuts down during addiction. Think of children... and you put a piece of a candy bar on a plate in front of them, and then you put three candy bars on a plate behind the first plate. You tell them they can have the piece of a candy bar now, or if they wait 1 hour, they can have the plate with three candy bars on it. Not many wait for the three candy bars. Moral of the story being - the addict doesn't care. If you tell them they can have $300 now or $3000 in a week, they're probably going to take the $300 because, for the most part, it isn't about an amount of money, it's about what gets them their next fix right now. Sure, $3000 will keep them high for a lot longer, but they don't care. And if your goal is to get them sterilized, neither do you -- bring 'em in, move 'em out, and go cheap because then you can do more.