brandyII

Well isn't the point of OA that it's anonymous, and that you don't have any records because they wouldn't be taken. At least that's from what I remember 26 years ago. What hoops!:wink2:

I want a magic wand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I think part of my problem with the band was that I like the poster above do more snacking than sitting down and eating set meals which is what you're supposed to do. Also you have to avoid the slider foods like the fatty/sweet junky type processed foods because they will go through your band. Being overly tight I was more apt to eat those foods but have loosened up a bit and trying to follow the rules a bit better now. Everyone slips up once in a while but if you're pretty consistent with eating the right foods as they say you should do well. I had second thoughts also but once I decided on the lap band I went in thinking positively. Good luck to you, brandyII.:wink2:

If it had been 9 months+ your surgery and you've been as unsuccessful as I have been on the band (back to pre-op diet weight) would you request a fluoroscope if you've never been checked in this fashion except right after surgery? I've also had plenty of bouts prior to getting my unfill from 4ccs down to 2ccs of PBs and the 10 hour long pb of the century. Just curious if I'm not being proactive enough. The last time I saw my surgeon and this was brought up he said "oh you'd know if you had a slip" and it was pretty much dropped. Any advice:confused: thanks, I see the PA tomorrow and I'm a bit doooown!!!

Thanks Frangi But on the other hand I was a bit disappointed when it came to the PA making those comments about the fluoro. I kind of wonder what percentage of lapbanders actually get them done. You bring it up and they're like where did you hear this????? If I really want one done I'd go to my primary and ask him to give me a script for one. Right now I'm going to not delve on that and hope that going to "lap band group" will help. She gave me some advice which was nice and said that the next time I have a craving for something sweet to write in my journal, anything, just to get my mind off it and my hands doing something else. So we'll see, I'm an old dog and maybe I can be taught some new tricks!! thanks brandyII. Oh and good luck with your PS, did I read you were getting it?

Readysg, What great pics and congrats on Marcie's degree!!! You need to put a new avatar pic up with your beautiful smile! brandyII.:wink2:

Hi all, Ok, went to see the PA today and was going to request the fluoro, so here's the good and the bad. The bad is "oh we don't do those" and I got a cc put in. Ok, and if this had been the whole appointment I probably would have cried and left more hopeless than usual but I think my guardian angel was sent there today, even if one doesn't believe in them I think you'll understand my meaning. Normally a nurse weighs you prior to getting to see the PA or the surgeon and takes your blood pressure. Well today was a "new" nurse who started actually talking to me about my issues and why I felt like a failure and told me that she's going to help me get on track and she's starting a lap band group beginning on Monday and I am to come and she also gave me other advice and was really nice. She has the bulk of her training with psychological issues and addictions etc... So long story short when I'm at my downest (new word) someone just happened to pop up at the time I really needed it. So anyway hopefully I can get things turned around, at least there is hope again!!!:thumbup:brandyII. Oh and I'm down a pound since the last time I was there so I'll have to fix my ticker someway somehow.

bamab, My mask covers my nose and sits above my mouth and I can't sleep without it either. I flip the hose above my head, it's now more like my "trunk". I put my hair in a ponytail too on top of my head and I sleep on my side. At one time I tried taking a large size hair clip and attaching the hose to my ponytail, but it's really not necessary. I go to CPAPtalk.com when ever I have probs with the machine and that seems to help.

I'm starting to see a pattern of people who like to be over-tight in their bands so that they can only consume very little and are getting their Protein in through their shakes. When I had gained weight I asked them if I could just go on shakes for a while and they told me no, that's not how you work the band. Well obviously what I was doing was also wrong. Now I see that's how a lot of people are working the band. This is coming from someone who has a hard time restricting her intake of sliders but was able to do the liquid phase of the diet prior to banding. It seems that every one works the band differently and I see a lot of extremes. Is there one way that we should work the band. Also what are the health risks of being too tight, is that how erosion happens? It's almost reminds me in a way of doing "speed" in the 70s, whatever kept you from eating you did. I'm too old and too far from that place to do that again but I still want to lose but not sure if the band is what's going to help me, brandyII.

I lost weight on a 5 week preop diet, 25 pounds, liquid Medifast but after my first fill they thought I had the small band, 4cc one and I had the large 10 cc band and so my first two fills totaled less than 1 cc. So like I was taught before to chew chew chew I was doing that but then one day I found out that I had no restriction and didn't have to chew any longer. That's when I met with my surgeon and he withdrew all the saline and found the mistake and then put in 3 ccs and so I was full at 3.5 around Thanksgiving time. So for the first three months it kind of messed with my head thinking I had restriction then boom I had it. Then the holidays came and along that time Cookies and because I finally had restriction I'm pbing all Protein and finding out that Christmas cookies and fudge go through the band. So I put on probably 10 pounds from surgery through the holidays. So probably around January I go to the PA and I've gained 10 lbs so their reaction is to give me a fill. Come back in two weeks see how you're doing. Two weeks later I've gained five pounds, give her another fill she's gaining weight. Mind you I hadn't gone to the forum yet. That fill was a mistake somehow she put in one too many and wrote down the wrong amount and I now had over 5 ccs and that's when I was vomiting for 10 hours straight my own saliva and met with my daughter's surgeon who took out all the saline and looked at my chart and found the mistake and removed the one extra leaving me with 4 ccs. Since then I've gone from 228 to 248 and at my last appointment which was with my surgeon I begged him to take out 2 ccs so that maybe if I didn't have as tight a restriction I wouldn't eat the slider foods and eat healthier and start losing again! He didn't want to but he did and so far I've been adjusting, haven't gained but haven't lost stayed stable. So now I don't know what to do. Tomorrow I meet with the PA, the one who gave me three bad fills and I'm going to ask for a fluoro, and thanks for the warning but it's one of those risks we take that we try not to think about, and I still don't know whether I should get a fill or a partial cc or not. Sorry to lay it on you and you may have read this before but it's just been pretty frustrating. In some ways I wish there was something wrong with the band so they'd remove it and I could get an RNY like my daughter has!! I did want this to work initially but I just may have been the wrong candidate and these other mistakes just made it worse, who knows. But anyway you've done very well on your band so congrats to you and I wish you well and if anything comes of this I'll let you know, thanks brandyII.:thumbup:

So far the only way they've really been able to tell how much was in me was by withdrawing all the saline in the band. There have been some mistakes made by the PA but the surgeon has done it twice. I've had at least 7 or 8 fills/unfills since 8/07 but I'll say something to the PA tomorrow and hopefully they'll agree to it. I still don't know if my failure with the band is all me or partially the fill issue. Thanks brandyII.

That reminds me when the first and only Krispy Kreme opened up here and then the big "Atkins Diet" came back around again from the 70s and then the Krispy Kreme died it's natural death and is no more here. There were lines causing all sorts of traffic jams at the time. I did finally get down there, it was a few years ago and they were good but not worth the hassle and not a choice anymore anyway. The one sweet I can't tolerate! yahoo!!

Thanks guys, I wonder if they even have one in their office, they're kind of an offshoot of the hospital so I kind of doubt it. But my fills have been screwed up 3 times already (2 thinking I had the smaller band and giving me very little) and (1 thinking putting in an extra cc by mistake) so hopefully they won't give me any trouble when it comes to it. I'm starting to lose faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, my port has always been easily accessible so maybe that's partly why no fluoro but I'm going to ask tomorrow, I'm sure it won't be done tomorrow but at least I can have peace of mind like you say. thanks brandyII.

As one who was always fat as a child but lost it all at 20 and gained it all back and lost it again and gained all back I've been on both sides of the fence. Won't mention my present condition but at a family reunion during one of my thin phases I actually had an older cousin come up to me who hadn't seen me in a while tell me as she saw I was thin at that time that my mother had told her on her death bed that she had said that her one wish was that I be thin! Maybe it's just me but I would have rather she said "be happy" or "do well in life" or something that wasn't so superficial. brandyII:frown:

Have you all had these done since you were banded?

My surgeons picked out our psych docs and we couldn't use the ones we already had. Mine probably wouldn't have let me have one, lol!

Thanks, I figured I couldn't be the only one out there and a lot of people were kind of afraid to talk about it as it was seen as a neg when we were just trying to fix ourselves. I see so many people get the fluoro every time they get a fill even and I've never needed that. By the way I love your avatar I'm assuming it's a Simpson's fishy! Good luck to all of us strugglers:smile:

When I was in a similar situation after an overfill the on-call surgeon met me at the office after midnight and told me that if you're vomiting liquids or your own saliva you shouldn't let it go on past 2 hours. I waited 10 hours before I called. brandyII

I'm happy for you, one less thing to check off the list! keep me posted, Nancy.

I don't know why but it seems to be the one we all worry about the most!! Congrats, I'm glad you're moving forward, brandyII.

I was telling my nurse practitioner just yesterday how I just don't have the energy level I used to have. I didn't say prior to the band it just seemed like it had been a long time, banded 8/07. Anyway I guess it could have something to do with what types of food I've been eating but switched to a different anti-depressant anyway because along with the drop in energy I feel more depressed too, could be hard to differentiate between the two. I haven't been taking vitamins which are so important for my daughter to take as she's is RNY now that I think I'll start too and see if that helps. I don't like feeling like this.

I'm a sweet craver, partially due to my medications (anti-depressants) and partially due to my diabetes II and basically "ME". I have had the band over nine months and due to gaining back most of the weight I lost on the pre-op liquid diet (25 big ones!) I decided to get a partial unfill to stop or help control the urge I have to "eat around the band" with sweets. It has not been an easy journey for me but I see my doctor tomorrow and may get a partial fill to tighten my band a bit again. I was afraid to get gastric bypass so changed at the last minute probably because I knew I was a sweet eater and was afraid I'd get dumping syndrome in a place it wasn't appropriate, meaning anywhere besides my own home. I guess either I was misinformed or not informed enough to know that most sweets (except donuts as they're doughy) will go right through the band because of the right amount of fat and sugar ease through. Also chips do too as one poster stated but not an issue for me. My daughter had gastric bypass because she researched and found it to be right for her even though she is not a sweet eater like her mom. She is only post-op one week + one day so I really can't speak to you about her success but has in the past 7 weeks taken off more than 40 pounds. I myself am still wavering and won't change my marker until I get weighed at the surgeon's office. Hopefully it will go down. that's not an angry face but a down emphasizer. Anyway it's probably one of the toughest decisions of your life, as there usually are many but I wish you luck with it. I'm still trying and don't know what will happen to me in the future if I'll live as I am or if I'll revise or what. It's all up in the air but I have recently changed my anti-depressants to see if this new one will affect me in a more positive way when it comes to sugar cravings. Good luck to you and learn as much as you can from the people here as they know more than most books will tell you and they're a great group of nice people!!!brandyII:smile:

See froggi, I knew you had "star" potential when I first chatted with you!!!! take care brandyII:thumbup:

Jachut et al, My surgeon did tell me that my lap band would last a lifetime. Whether that's true or not or whether I was dumb for believing him is another matter. Then after surgery I believe I started reading where people had to have them replaced every 10 years or so which I guess is similar to breast implants. I really don't want to think of the bad side effects right now with the gastric bypass as my daughter just had a week ago! But of course I'd worry no matter what procedure she had done. I think no matter what WLS we choose there is always the chance that we can gain the weight back, or not do well from the start, as I have or have a major complication. I've heard of people getting all sorts of revisions and from RNY to Lap band and Lap band to RNY, there are tons of combinationsout there. But I hope there is a lot more work done on all WLS in the future so we don't have to be "guinea pigs" for the next generation. God knows what there will be in 10 years, it could be a whole different ball game and this might look almost barbaric or crazy to people. I wish us all health, luck and happiness brandyII.