anniedub

I get all those workups done pretty regularly, as I have severe Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Nothing's been unusual with my testosterone lately (well, nothing unusual for ME. Would be unusual for someone without PCOS). Might make an appointment and get it checked again though, thanks for the heads up. ha ha HEADS up. That was unintentional, I swear.

I was thinking about Rogaine, but the problem would be that my hair would then be at SO many different lengths as it was growing back, it would look all feral anyway - with normal bits and short tufts every so often. So I think it's easier just to shave it and start from scratch again, if need be. While shaving off my hair would be embarrassing and very sad for me, if the loss gets much worse then it just seems like the smartest option. I've always been proud of my hair, it's one thing about me that (normally) looks good, no matter what weight I am.

Annie Croft: Fridge Raider Ha ha ha that's all that comes to mind now when I look at those photos. Thanks for ruining it, Fenton! :tongue2:

The dark side of weight loss...... In case the pictures didn't make it abundantly clear, I'm having problems with hair loss. Ugh. I've lost about 40% of my hair. I have a handful of it at the end of every shower. It's disgusting, and rather disturbing. When I "lift away" some of my hair, as seen in the pictures, I have some almost-bald Patches underneath. There are some places on my head where there isn't a visible effect, but a lot of places where there is. Anyway, at the moment I'm wearing hair extensions, but if it gets much worse (like if it gets to 60% lost) then I've decided I'll shave it off, and wear a wig for a year or so. Britney Spears-style. :tongue2: just kidding, I won't go nuts and have a nervous breakdown THEN shave it off. It's NOT a Protein thing. I've talked to my surgeon as well as a trichologist (hair and scalp specialist). It's basically your immune system concluding that you're in a famine due to the drastic difference in food intake, and therefore shutting off non-essential processes like hair growth in order to conserve energy. My fingernails are also growing much more slowly. It's a PORTION SIZE discrepancy, nothing to do with what you're actually eating. Anyway, the doctors both said it is NOTHING to do with not eating enough protein, and my surgeon and nutritionist reassured me that I am eating enough protein. Basically, I just have to wait it out, and it will grow back. So enough of my follicular sob story, my main point in posting this is to ask have any other Shamrocks started to lose their hair? They say it generally only happens three months or so after surgery, so we are starting to see it now. I first noticed I was shedding a little more than usual about 3 weeks after surgery, but I never had fistfuls of hair until the last two weeks. Is anyone in the same boat? Or am I just going to be in the baldy boat all on my own? Ha ha ha if I didn't laugh, I would cry.

Woohoo scrappy, great work! I'm going to read up on all my paperwork from the Doc again, as I honestly can't remember how much he ideally wanted us to be eating at each meal. I have a feeling it was 1-1.5 cups, but so many people have been saying that their doc wants them eating no more than 1 cup, so i think i'd better check! I booked in for a fill tomorrow but it was with a new fill doc at my surgeon's practice, and I was like "hmmm... ok". THEN I was talking to my friend Bel (she posts here - you might know her - 22, banded 6 years, the tagline under her username is *Slap That Fat*) and she was telling me about her HORROR week last week. She has been at goal for around 5 years, but she has decided she wants to lose some more. She said she stupidly went to the new fill doc at our practice, instead of the normal fill doc who she's had her whole fill history with, and the new fill doc WAY overfilled her. She couldn't even keep down Water or her own saliva, and had to go to hospital in the middle of the night and they had to call in the normal fill doctor to unfill her completely! Now she's sore, swollen and miserable. So, needless to say, I cancelled my fill appointment tomorrow with this new doc RIGHT AWAY! I'm just going to wait 2 weeks and go to my normal doc. This new fill doc sounds like a LapBandit - and not in a good way! Anyway, I'm going to check out my doc's literature about how much I should be eating at each meal, then decide whether or not to get a fill.

Yep, i definitely add the frozen berries, yum. I've also tried Fenton's suggestion of freezing the banana, I'll do that with my Breakfast shake in the morning and see how it goes, in lieu of adding frogurt! Ok.... time to log off here and go write some more of my paper........... GO! GO! ....... go?

Hey Sarah, I haven't heard of anyone being banded at the PA, and I haven't heard of Dr Ian Martin. Is this through medicare? Cause if I were you, I'd go through a surgeon who is better known, with a good reputation. But if it is through medicare, you may not get to choose a surgeon, right? Annie x

Wow, the trapeze! I did that when I was about 13. I went with the family to Club Med in New Caledonia, and they had a "circus school" for teenagers where you could do the trapeze. I absolutely loved it! Of course, I haven't been able to do it again due to being too much of a hosebeast. However, I might try to find somewhere I can give it a go, and make it one of my goals! Every time I watch that episode of Sex and the City, i think "I need to find somewhere I can do the trapeze again... sigh...". Now you've motivated me! Woo!

Ha ha Fenton. Don't make me call you an old geezer who doesn't understand young people these days. Then again, that's pretty presumptuous considering I don't even know how old you are. If you look carefully in the belly photo, you'll even see one of my tattoos poking out! She's a scary subculture member, quick, light the flaming torches! Seriously guys, thankyou. It's good to know that someone else can notice the difference. Annie x

Ha ha it is quite the Lara croft pose, now that I think about it. How typically MALE, that your first thought when you see a picture like that is Angelina Jolie in lycra. Ugh, she's such a tool. Made a great Protein shake! Skim milk base, with strawbanana flavoured whey protein powder, a banana, some Fiber powder, some frozen berries and a teeny tiny bit of frogurt. YUM!

The frogurt was more for a thicker consistency, but I see your point. Don't really need a flavour explosion in the mouth! I haven't even done it yet, i've been too busy...... drumroll please..... posting progress pictures in the March '08 progress pics thread. As somewhat of an explanation, this is a big F**king deal for me. I swore that I would never let my fat photos see the light of the internet. But there's no going back now. Be gentle, fellow shamrocks..... :smile2: I know you will. Considering i'm not even half way to goal, the fact that I'm taking pictures at all is a big deal. And i'm doing it in black lycra (pause for shudder). I'll look at it every time I couldn't be bothered going for a walk, then i'll be motivated to go. So get to the progress pics thread. It's open season for commentary!

Phew! So there it is. Be gentle!

One more black lycra photo from today, plus a picture of my scars at 3 months post-op. You can hardly even see them in this pic!

Hi Shamrocks, Well, i've finally decided to HTFU and post some progress pics! First off, let's start with something positive. This is me P.P.O.P. (pre-piling on the pounds), about 5 years ago. This weight that I'm at here is my lapband goal weight. (Pic in red dress). Then, here are two hideous ones from my highest ever weight. These were taken in january (blond hair, black top). Now, here are some pics from today, in unflattering black lycra. This is down 16kg (35lbs). Phew. That was therapeutic!

Well, i think it's the tube! It feels totally bizarre! I started off suddenly discovering the port one day, about a month after my surgery. So anyway, I was intrigued, kept on feeling around etc... and I start to feel this "thing" coming off the side of the port! I can only feel about 1cm of it, then it disappears to somewhere I don't want to imagine.....

Well done Christine! It's tackling challenges like these that give us the confidence to move on to things we never dreamed we could do before! Keep on rollin! :smile2:

Sounds good, I'll give it a try. I might also try one from scratch, using half milk, half Water as a base instead of optifast. Banana, sugar free choc syrup, peanut butter, whey protein powder, frogurt. I'll keep you posted!

Patience is a virtue, Fenton. :smile2: Do you have cable/ADSL/broadband/whatever the hell you Americans call high speed internet?

Ha ha I love playing around with my port! I know that it's probably not advisable, which with the number of people who've had port flips and so on, but I can feel my port and the tube, and I have this somewhat unnatural fascination with touching them! Yeah yeah, I'm a freak.

I know that optifast is meant to be "nutritionally complete" so I'd use half that and just add extra bits, Water it out with some milk? Maybe i'll just have a play around. I've just woken up, and as usual I'm nowhere near hungry. I need to go grocery shopping and stuff. 'Sall good.

Wow, sounds good! We don't have this slimfast optima business though. Is it kinda like Optifast? So I would get a similar result if I made a shake on, say, half a chocoltae optifast shake, plus banana, peanut butter, whey protein powder etc?

Yeehah, BrandNewLisa!! Congratulations! And don't give that doctor all the credit honey, YOU did the heard work and no-one else! Annie x

Glad you watched it, Harley! He (and in fact, that very program) is the reason I now have the lapband. I had been contemplating it for some time, and I was very keen, but my parents (well, my mother) was absolutely against it. As soon as you said "weight loss surgery" to her, all she thought of was basically having your stomach cut out (RNY? :smile2:), and she wouldn't hear otherwise. Then one fateful night, we were watching the TV and on comes this program about Mikey Robins. My family have always been a big fan of the shows he's been on (Good News Week, Live and Sweaty - very satirical humor). So my mum sees this thing about lapband. At the end of the show, she goes "You know, maybe you should look into that rubber band thing". Hello? Have I not been talking about this for 6 months? So anyway, it was that program which educated my mother about the lapband. Before this, anytime I talked about WLS she was virtually crying, begging me not to do it as it was so drastic and dangerous and I would probably die on the table blah blah blah. And of course, it's my MUM. I'm not going to just go and do something if she's having a nervous breakdown every time I suggest it. So thanks, Mikey Robins. Thanks. :smile2:

And so when you say a "protein shake", which I know a lot of you do, are you talking something like an Optifast? Or is this your own concoction? If so, please share the ingredients!

Very sage advice, Fenton. Anyway, I've made an appointment with my fill doctor for tomorrow and i'll discuss it with her. She's very sensible, not just gung-ho with the fills, and if I don't end up getting a fill it doesn't cost me anything. (Even if I do get a fill, it only costs me $10). So I'll see how I go! I'll keep you all updated!