HeatherO

I get stuck when I dont have a fill as well, but it is from not following bandster rules and eating something like chicken without chewing well enough.

See your doctor as soon as possible. Any infection at this point could be serious since you have had major surgery. Please let us know what the doctor says.

I didnt have this exact thing happened but I remember it was touch and go with the liquid phase. Thanks for sharing . . . I had a great laugh.

My husband was very supportive but he was also a little skeptical that it would really work. He said he would stand behind me as long as the personal risk to my health was not too great and that it would not have an effect on the ability to have a baby in the near future. He was with me all the way, could not have been better with the support. However, he has since told me that he was not sure if the surgery would really work but now he is convinced since I have had such great success so far.

I agree 100%. I notice people who are attractive and I notice people who are unatractive. I have always been a bit of a people watcher. I think it is just my nature. It happens even more when I am in an airport, foreign countries, etc. It is human nature, and other than being very discreet, I still catch myself doing it. As far as staring goes, most of us have the courtesy not to do this, or make catcalls or funny statements. As far as being noticed is concerned,nothing compares to time I spent in Turkey. If I go in a shop, or on the bus, or walk the streets it seems like 8 heads in 10 will turn and stare at me openly. When I mean openly, there is no diverting the eyes if I look back. It is completely disconcerting to be noticed in this way. I was told the reason this happens in smaller cities is because I have red hair, blue eyes and whiter than white skin. They can see I am a foreigner from a mile away. I get a lot more attention now from everyone. I now blend in as a much more normal sized person. Some of the attention is good, some of it is bad. It bothers me most when I am at the park running or biking and a passing car occasionally has someone yelling something out. I want to say something or do something to get them to have a little respect but in reality I usually blush down to my toes if you know what I mean. People are friendlier, more open, strangers talk to me more. Men are paying a lot more attention. I am not used to being approached by men I don't know. Even yesterday when I was at blockbuster I noticed a man kept looking at me, finally he came over to me and said "Are you Irish?" I could tell it was just an opening to try and get a conversation going, but instead of feeling flattered by the attention, I just felt irritated and quickly broke away. What kind of come on line is that anyone, are you Irish? That is a new one for me. Really, I don't even know how to feel about all this attention. In some ways it does irritate me that I had to lose weight for people to make more of a point to try to speak to me. On the other hand, there are definite benefits to invisibility. If I wasn't married, perhaps I would feel more flattered by the male attention but really it just annoys me right now.

Requirements seem to vary by doctor. Mine only said I could not have caffeine the day of surgery. So I was still ingesting several cups of sugar free coffee and diet pop before surgery. Day of surgery I had a terrible, throbbing headache and I could not take anything . . . reason for headache . . . caffeine withdrawal. If I had to do it all over again, I would have weined myself off caffeine the week before surgery.

Cottage cheese, refried beans with a little melted cheese and yogurt are great for something quick when you are already very hungry and need something fast. There are definitely a lot of great recipes as well.

I should be ashamed of this NSV but I am going to put it out there anyway :0) Please try not to be to shocked. It is time to renew my license and I go next week. I was looking at it and saw that my weight on the license was 180. Well I am sure I was well over 200 when I got the license, so obviously I was not truthful when I got it the last time (probably could just not bear giving some bored, middle aged women peering at me over her glasses something I was ashamed to even admit to myself). NSV - I weigh less in reality than the original fictional number on the license :0). What a hoot!!! So now that I have to do this again next week and I am losing so well, how much should I say . . . ? What an interesting dilemma. I just wonder how many of us who are overweight give the true number on our licenses. It is hard to do because you have to show it all over the place and it stays the same for years . . . .

Actually, I have hit a couple of plateaus . . . and even though I did not read of a plateau breaker, I was essentially following this plan on my own and it worked well. Lean healthy Proteins, tons of Water, up the exercise and withing a few days I was back on the decline. :0) It works, thank goodness for that. There is nothing worse than getting on the scale and seeing that it is not moving in the right direction. Thanks for posting it, Chrisann.

I dont know that actual statistics but I would venture to guess that most of us who have gone through wls are compulsive overeaters. I have been a compulsive overeater and I admit it. The band has helped me to lose a lot of weight quickly. My compulsions have gone away for the most part in that I can eat a bite or two of something I am satisfied . . . where it used to be I had to eventually eat it until it was gone :0). I think I have found success so far because I learned a couple of valuable things to help me along the way. I am a processed carb addict. I eat them and I can not stop. I have had to eliminate processed carbs from my diet. Apart from the initial difficulty, I dont crave them much now. The other thing that I am still learning is that I am an emotional eater and I have had to learn to find alternate ways to deal with my feelings. Your BMI is fairly low to begin with. If you are ready to commit to the lifestyle and analyze the reasons why you overeat, you can achieve great success. Best of all, you don't have to wait to be banded to get started. Best of luck to you.

I would wonder if you are having some regularity problems as well. If gas-x is doing nothing for you it makes sense that it is not the gas that is giving you problems. Perhaps you need a little extra fiber, metamucil or something similar. Are you getting in enough water during the day as well? It sounds like the classic symptoms of constipation.

Wow, you both are going through a lot. It is great that you are there for her. I would also have gone through the transfusion route rather than putting it off for months. I am surprised they did not catch the anemia problem earlier so that you could have started combatting in other ways instead of something so drastic a couple of days before surgery. I think you will find that your partner will not be bed ridden next week. In fact, the more walking she gets the better off she will be. The things my husband needed to help me out with the most during the first week was massage (there can be left shoulder and neck pain) and he changed all of the bandages when needed and he was there for moral support. It was not hard to get around for me, only I got tired easily and did sleep a little more than usual. Best of luck to you both :0) It is such a wonderful journey and sooo worthwhile.

I think it was 4 weeks as well but I waited longer. I also didn't stay in the Water very long the first time or two. There is some definite risk in swimming too early. There is also a difference in how well people heal. If you have ever had any indications of infection or any difficulty during the healing stage I would wait longer. It might be best to take this question to your doctor to get their opinion just to be on the safe side.

Go on liquids for a little while so that your stomach has a chance to recover adn if there is swelling it can go down. If I have sliming or pb, it is like I can easily continue to get it to keep happening by not going on liquids. I didnt realize at first that I have to go on liquids or it just keeps happening. I can't really tell you if my fill is what it needs to be until after the first week. It is always fickle the first couple of days. I also have found I have to work a little harder at chewing and eating slow with each new fill. As long as you can get liquids down, go a little softer and work your way up to more solid foods over a couple of days. You will know how things are shaping up a little further down the road.

I just started taking Zumba classes at the YMCA and they are awesome and fun. It is a great workout because you are so busy having fun you can forget you are working out :0). I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to really enjoy their exercise. I was taking step classes before banding. I stopped for about 4 weeks per doctors suggestion. The first couple of classes when I started again were very difficult for me. Pain was no issue, but I was tired really fast and felt a little light headed. I would typically feel the same after 10 minutes as I usually would after 1 hour. Just take it slow, weight about 4 weeks and you should be good.

Please don't be too discouraged. I think we have all been in the same place as you at one time or another in our journeys. I felt the same way for a time, then I went in for my second fill and the gods of restriction finally blessed me. What was a continuous, discouraging struggle every day became no big deal. Before I was restricted, it was just normal dieting as always . . . well I never would have become obese if normal dieting worked for me long term. 38 pounds is not too shabby . . . it is still a significant loss and you are still closer to your goal than before banding. Keep that in mind when you are feeling down. Can you talk to your doctor about more aggressive fills or going in sooner? It will continue to be a struggle until you have workable restriction. I got lucky in that my doctor gave me agressive fills 6.8 the first and 1.5 for the second fill in a Realize band which was just the ticket. I am not even thinking of another fill for another month or two depending on how I am feeling. Hang in there . . . it is only a matter of time before things become a little more workable.

Congratulations!!!! That is such wonderful news. I am looking to get pregnant at about a year out. Perhaps we will have stories to share if it happens near the same time :0)

Most places have the doctor attend. However, I am not sure it would make a big difference for me other than giving a couple extra warm and fuzzies. The nurse can probably give all of the basic information and you would still get the one-on-one deeper level consult with the doctor.

It seems strange to me. Talk to your doctor about it. Perhaps if you convert to self pay due to non-coverage you can work out a special rate that works for everyone.

I didn't realize but it is good to know. I am definitely going to pretty it up a little when I have some time. Thanks :0)

I would hold off on the fill. It is working just the way it is supposed to and you are not experiencing symptoms of being too tight. It sounds perfect to me. You may or may not want to keep the appointment or push it out. It is sometimes good to go in for a brief checkup.

Now that I have read a couple more responses, it does make sense to have friends but i think maybe I just did not really understand this feature. It appears that some people use it a lot and a some of us either don't really pay it much attention or understand it fully. Of course, I am new to the forum world and there is a lot I don't know yet. I do check up on people that interest me or I have had conversations with, but I usually check recent posts by them. Having them as friends might be a more efficient way to go.

I logged on the other day and found that I was friendless . . . it was a big surprise to me :0). I have been adding people with interesting posts but it has been a little sporadic. What happened to reputation points? We used to have those well . . . but I think I only had 1 point. So I have a bad reputation and very few friends . . . who woulda thunk it :0) Does anybody wanna be my friend??? I promise I don't bite or smell bad . . . :0)

Did you see your surgeon yesterday? Any results on being preggers? I am just curious how everything went yesterday. I hope it is going a little better for you.

It is funny you should post this :0). I was thinking the same thing myself the other day. I started requesting friendships with people who have great posts or intriguing writing styles. I am so happy not to be friendless now.