brandyII

Wow sounds like you went through some bad times! I hope you feel better soon, take care brandyII.:sad:

I think there are people that can't help it. For whatever reason. Maybe they're pmsing and they can't control their sweet tooth, there are 100s of reasons. But you must admit there is a bigger problem than just buying the junk food. The problem is that we know if we eat a bit of Protein it may get stuck, we eat a cookie it will go down. What person who is in a weakened state for whatever reason, wouldn't do that. I did not know all junk food went down the band prior to banding but once I realized that it went down easier than the healthy foods my brain did a 360 and now I'm trying to over come that by letting out a large amount of fill so that I can "fill up" on healthier choices. Before I couldn't because I was too tight and every time I went to the doctor and gained weight they gave me another fill to fix it! We're all very different. If it were that easy for some of us to give up certain trigger foods to begin with we would have lost weight without the band but that didn't happen and so here we are. There are a few of us who are not as disciplined and may need a bit of extra help to get through the hard times! We're human and we make mistakes, we also have lap bands and we want them to help us and be the tool we paid for and expected. It may help a person who likes to eat bowls of Pasta at a time but not the one that likes a couple or too many chocolate chip cookies! For me I did find out that if I was over filled and I was that I would compensate for the lack of healthy foods by eating the non-healthy slider foods that go right threw me and I don't think I'm the only one who has struggled with this problem, brandyII, (still recovering from Guiradelli brownie overload at Christmas):sad:

Thanks Patti, She seems to be doing well, first night but has a pain pump and I'm hoping she'll do well through the night. Left her sleeping around 9 and will go back tomorrow and help her get up and do that walking thing! She has an upper GI also to make sure no leaks, anyway thanks for sharing, there seem to be a couple of us who have the lap band and our daughters have the RNY! Go figure, thanks brandyII. We raised smarter kids?

Well my daughter is 6 feet and was 350+ when she started and lost 35 pounds. But the combo of being six foot and a girl and then overweight was just too much for her to handle even though she's a really great person and probably one of the nicest and smartest people I know. Okay I'm her mother what can I say. But she did well considering. I don't know anyone personally who has gone through this surgery. I knew it would be harder than the lap band but they also have her on more pain meds and treat her differently. She has the pain pump, I never had one, guess I probably didn't need it either. She still has a catheter in, I'm pretty sure mine was remove before recovery. She's been sleeping most of the night and I'm going there first thing in the morning. I was only physically with her from 7 pm to 9 pm but she slept the whole time and I wanted her to get as much as she could and we'll go tomorrow morning first thing and she'll probably start feeling some of the pain then. They'll also have her walking etc... She gets to come home Thursday but tomorrow they give her an upper GI to make sure the staples aren't leaking. Anyway thanks, it's been really scary for me. I'll tell you that it's really difficult dealing with a teen who has a weight problem. They're usually sad and or angry. You want to help them but whatever you say they usually end up taking it as some kind of attack or something. I really had to let her come to me and when she expressed how important this surgery was and since she was still young enough to be covered under our insurance and old enough for the surgery we had to do it. She's been in therapy for a few years, high school was not kind to her and if I had it to do over with I probably should have taken her out and home schooled her because of all the stress and anguish she was going through. To be honest I would have rather let her have the surgery then bury a daughter due to suicide. Wow what great choices but in the end hopefully this will work out, I really had no choice. But I wish you luck with your son, it's really not an easy thing to deal with because kids can be so sensitive at their age and boys as well as girls have body issues now. I don't think there is ever one easy way to deal with it! Take care brandyII.

Although I think that she (mstrina...) may not be posting in the right area because this is for someone who has had their lap band removed or looking to and trust me I'm not the happiest camper in the world when it comes to lap bands but I don't think there's any need to insult anyone on any forum and it's not Rants and Raves, brandyII, (just my little opinion)

Just the sweet spot in general, I don't know if I'll ever have one. I have a feeling that everyone has a different opinion as to what one actually is, or am I thinking too much! I can't help but be a bit too emotional about my daughter's surgery it really does break my heart and I let her do it anyway. I guess I feel like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. I guess in a way I think she might have harmed herself if she didn't. I know that's bad but it's true!

These kinds of discussions remind me of the people who think that people who get WLS are taking the "easy way out". Everyone has their own opinions and some maybe anti drug, some anti band, anti RNY, anti anti. No matter what you do there's going to be someone who can tell you that it's bad for you and give you statistics to back it up. People get the lap band and gain back the weight, it happens. Same with RNY, we all take these risks for the same reason. No one wants to hear that whatever they choose to do can have bad side effects or possibly fail in some way. It's human nature. Do you think if there was a pill that I thought my daughter could have taken to make life better and not be obese and depressed and have panic attacks that I would have let her go through RNY surgery today, hell no! It's extremely upsetting to me that my 19 year old just put her body through that hell and what will I do if the freakn pouch stretches etc. or it doesn't work out. But I had to do it for her own emotional health and physical health and I can only hope and pray that she will be successful. Did I hear correctly on the news today that 6 out of every 10 children in the US are overweight? You'd think there could be less drastic measures out there to solve this problem. I'm probably a bit too sensitive today in my own personal life to post in a normal manner but it does anger me. brandyII:frown::eek::sad:

I was going to jump in the middle and ref but I'll step aside and let you two have a go, I'm too tired! brandyII

BJean, My daughter went to university in Germany last year, and she said the kids were really well behaved over there! Coincidence, maybe, maybe not....:sad:

That sweet spot thing has now confused me even more. I actually was a bit stressed and broke down today and bought ice cream on the way home from the hospital after my daughter's surgery, which so far so good with the RNY! But today is only her first day actually she had surgery at 12:30 and didn't make it up to her room until 7:00. Anyway typical me stress, and tired I went for the ice cream and one portion filled me up. Is it a miracle, I don't know? But it is a first! And no smart arses, one portion was not a gallon:sneaky: brandyII.

Thanks Lizzy, I appreciate it. Of course I'm still worried but I'm trying to think positive thoughts. I should go to bed now so I can be awake tomorrow. Thanks again, Nancy.

Okay, Once I moved up to NY no more Dolly Madison Zingers, now Walmart sells Zingers, but I haven't bought them yet!!!!!!!!

Lizzyh, Sounds like you're starting to feel better. I think we go through down times anyway. My husband is a nail biter, mine just break on their own, it sucks! But I hate acrylics, can't type! Anyway good luck to you. We all have stuff that can screw us up a bit but we can deal with it and probably have been for a few years. I went away to school and low and behold there was a pharmacist in the dorm room next to mine and made it easy to lose weight then! I don't think I could put my body through some of the stuff I did at that time of my life now and so it's much harder to lose weight but health is my main focus and getting into my jeans doesn't hurt either. Take care brandyII.

For $30,000+ I want pretty and successful! lol.jk

Thanks so much PattyU, I think the same thing but then again who knows, I probably would have found a way then too. I'm sure I'd be the person who didn't get dumping syndrome! Anyway it's a totally different focus when it's your child and she's just starting out her own life, 19, for c's sakes! Her weight has really affected her in a terrible way and it's the only thing we could do for her and so far she's lost 37 lbs since her preop diet and she even looks like a whole new girl. And smiles! She's suffered with depression also and it's not a good combo. Anyway I only want the world for her as I'm sure you do for your daughter, thanks for the well wishes her surgery is noon tomorrow so I probably won't sleep tonight. Thanks again, brandyII.

thanks mstrina27, brandyII

linesj, When I'm at my weakest point and have brought junk in the house, and mine's not chips, they can be in the pantry for weeks, it's sweets I have done a major house dumping and it's awful but sometimes it's the only way not to eat them. Does anyone remember a Seinfeld episode where George was caught getting a chocolate eclair out of the trash and eating it by his girlfriend's parents. Haven't done that yet, well maybe if was in a box, I might. But keeping it out of the house is the hard part, I don't know if I'd ever be at a point where a chocolate cake could sit on the counter and I not ever touch it, just being honest, brandyII.

I've been up to 5 in a 10 cc band and now down to 2ccs and while it's not the "sweet spot" or the "g spot", I'm not pbing and I can eat a "healthy" amount of food. I'm trying to avoid the "sweets" as they are my downfall and am losing probably too slowly for even a snail to see but I think things are definitely changing for the better. If I'm too tight I want to fight it now because it's just the way my make up is. I'm also on antidepressants and other meds that may not help me with weight loss but would much rather be on my meds than off of them and a crazy a** "B":w00t: It's true, I really haven't had the right amount noted unless a surgeon has done it, that's not a good thing is it? All of my band fill screw-ups were done by "fill techs or fill nurses" and it wasn't until the surgeon got out all the saline out that I ever knew the exact amount and the problems then resolved. So what I've learned is 1. get your surgeon to do your fills, 2. if you can eat a couple pieces of pizza you're probably not filled enough, 3. if you can't swallow your own spit, you're over-filled, if you can eat ice cream and Cookies, cakes and brownies you're not going to lose weight:blushing:

Even though I respect your wisdom MacMadame, I do think it is a bit more drastic to go through the procedure of having WLS even if it's done laproscopically usually as in the lap band . The only medication that my doctors were concerned about was that I had previously taken phenfen (sp) and did an echocardiogram to check the condition of my heart. I had success on Meridia and feel that someone may need an extra tool to jump start her success again on the band. The band is a tool and has been found to reverse it's success on some people and once you start putting back the weight what toll does that take on one's heart?

Don't be scared some people get cranky when they're losing weight, but I'd stay away from this section for a while, it can get kind of freaky!!!!!

I not a good example in a lot of ways because I put back the weight I lost on the pre-op liquid diet which was around 25 lbs, 10% of my body weight at the start. Actually I was around 253lbs when I started. Today I got on the scale and it was 245. something, no shoes though! Anyway a lot of my issues have been "head" related and not everyone has that easy of a time. But I refused to give up, jeese, after $30,000 for a little band I'm not going to revision because I haven't worked out all the "kinks", that's figuratively not literally. As many know I've had a few "fill" issues and are probably different for everyone. There have been some mistakes made in my fills which cost me some of my motivation. I'm also on some meds which tend to slow down my metabolism. I'm also almost 50, enough said. I have to move past this and even if I don't get down to what most bansters want as their goal weight, I'm looking at 200 lbs and am 5'6", I still am going to give it a try! Now if brandyII can get the GD scale moving on the down side instead of the wrong direction for a change then you guys can too. That hunger thing, is it around PMS time? I know it's my hardest time and I also have PCOS. It's the worse and when I want sweets which we all know miraculously go through the band like water!!!!! Or are you hungry all the time. I still get hungry and I think it's good to know what hunger feels like and if you have a band and eat food the hunger should go away. If this isn't happening I'd discuss it with your doctor and none of that I'm too embarrassed to see my doctor crap because I'm a failure. He gave you that band and he should seeing this thing through with you not against you! He's not the one that has to live in your body though so it's up to you to be proactive and get whatever help you need from your doctor. Fills are tricky things, believe me I know, getting one doesn't always help, it can work against you. Those that have hit the perpetual "sweet spot" are very lucky people because I myself don't necessarily know if it's possible, I believe they can change for many reasons anyway especially with weight loss it's going to change. Anyway we're here to support you, don't want you giving up by all means and if you need to talk and open up more about what you think is going on this is the place to do it. But don't forget your doctors are there to help you and I don't want anyone afraid to go discuss the weight gain/no loss issues with them because you don't want to face them. If they do have really, really bad bedside manners then I'd say get a new doctor but otherwise take control and tell him what you expect from your banding, you didn't go through this for nothing, brandyII.

m...27, I don't think anyone wants to begrudge people who have had good band success, that's what we all intended prior to surgery. Unfortunately there are a few of us still struggling with many, different issues. We are all so different and there are many factors which can affect the success of the band, it's not always as simple as "eat less, exercise more". If it were we wouldn't need the band in the first place. I'm a member of that forum you mentioned and it's funny because it's a wonderful site for people who are currently, had or may think about revision surgery. For every action there is a reaction. For every WL surgery there is someone who may not do well and a lot of those people are given revisions as an option. So as I'm sure you've seen yourself, there are people going from lap bands to DSs, RNYs to lap bands an so on and so forth. It's not that people haven't researched enough but unless you can actually clone yourself and send that clone through the exact surgery one may not necessarily know exactly the effect it will have on them. No one is bashing the band, well I'm not, but people need a place to feel safe to discuss their issues once they've encountered any number of band failures and there are many and a lot of them are not necessarily mechanical in nature, thanks brandyII, (one who does not want to pick a fight and also who's 19 year old is getting her RNY tomorrow morning so wish her luck!)

Wow BJean, they might hire you to write the show! They still need to work on Hahn's personality, I find it a bit too drab in comparison to Callie's. Am I the only one who has noticed that Hahn has no personality?

I also tried Alli (sp) while on the band because I thought it might counteract that fat/sugar that I was ingesting. I think I may have actually gained weight on Alli but it did keep me regular:lol: I know Meridia only makes promises of about a 20-25 pound weight loss but if that's what it takes to jump start your diet again I'm sure there are a lot of people who would try it. Major surgery is a risk also and we all took that or will take that risk. You're talking to a woman who was injected with the urine of a pregnant woman in 1979 because some quacks were doing it I think it was supposed to speed up your metabolism! Hey I was only 19 and it was $10.

Apples2, I'm glad, just was worried that's all. Like you said if he's able to express himself and has people to talk to, especially a caring parent like you, I'm sure he'll get through it, take care brandyII.