brandyII

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.

Sondramoore35, Ditto!

See that came across much better to me, otherwise I don't care if someone disagrees with me, a lot of it has to do with how they come across. I like your colors better now, take care brandyII.

LizzyH, You'll see soon enough whether the diet pill is helping your or not. It helps me to talk to people who are also struggling with the same issues, so it's a two way street. I think we can learn from each other especially if the tone is good and not condescending which some threads tend to be! Especially if you're having issues with the band like we are. I wish you well, will be gone for a while as my daughter is having gastric bypass surgery tomorrow, something I probably should have done too:smile: take care brandyII.

Thanks Fanny, I"ll have to see how I do between now and the fill, it could over do it with just 1/2 a cc. My daughter is getting her gastric bypass tomorrow so I'll be out for a while take care, Nancy.

I still find the colors more interesting and less scary:scared2: Meatballsmom, when you reread all of your posts, complete posts do you not see how they could be construed as a bit angry and written too hastily? Or is it just me? I think you're focusing on the wrong points personally.

I find the colors more interesting

It's ok, I'm used to getting yelled at on a lot of threads!

Thanks Fanny, I'm still trying to focus on eating normal foods and not going for my "sweets"! I didn't eat any today, yippee! Anyway I feel as if I could get some more restriction but not too much so I'm thinking of going from 2 to 2.5. I don't think I should be able to eat as easily as I can with some foods although I fill up I don't have to chew chew chew like I used to. But I don't want to be too tight also. I don't get my fill until the first week of June. Plus while my in-laws were here there was a bit too much eating and drinking so that messed up any chance of weight loss but I knew that would happen. Anyway how about you, are you still in "wait" mode for the kink issue to have that fixed. Are you feeling okay? BrandyII.

Like I said I'm still working at it and it's not easy. A lot of people are bulk eaters and so the band is heaven to them. But there are the some of us who are a bit more cerebral or is it manipulative and seem to screw it up! Hey at this point I'd be happy weighing 200 pounds for the rest of my life but getting there isn't going to be easy. Good luck to you, it does help to talk about it! I'm sure someone out there will probably inspire you.

lizzyh I was on Meridia about 7 years ago and took off about 20+ pounds but had to go off my SSRI to take it and so it was a major ordeal for me. I then tried it again while staying on my antidepressant and it didn't work. You're not supposed to do both. Anyway phentermine did nothing for me, phenfen did but you can't get that now as far as I know. I did hear my endocrinologist say that she's had people on Meridia with either the band or the RNY but I don't remember which. So talk to your doctor and maybe they'll let you give it a shot to try to jump start you again. I know a lot of it can be mental.

This only shows that you use the computer for research also and you still appear angry:lol:

AJ..., That's okay we all screw up, don't beat yourself up start over tomorrow. I thought you had some fill and were going to tell me you ate the brisket and threw it up because that will probably happen the first time you eat that after a fill! Your teeth really miss chewing, that's one think I know I missed and so does my daughter! You'll get there and I'm sure you'll be a success, good luck brandyII:thumbup:

lizzyh, No you sound a lot like me except my band problems started right after the banding. I had lost 25 pounds and was down two sizes in jeans with buttons and zippers not stretchies. I'm an apple shape so the larger my waist the bigger the butts and legs in jeans so I end up in stretchy pants. Anyway so a lot of my problems are because of my own head and some unfortunate fills. The first two I got were very little, less than 1/2 cc all together for the first three months because the fill nurse thought I had a 4 cc band and I had the 10 cc band. So for the first three months I was chewing and chewing then realized I don't have to because I have no restriction. So that's the first screwup that affected my head when it came to the band. I lost no weight because I had no restriction. Then the surgeon gave me my third fill and took out everything that was there and that's when it was discovered that I didnt' have enough and he put in 3 more so I was up to about 3.5 and I was full. I think if things had happened the way they should have it might not have screwed up my head as much but at this point I was now really restricted and probably too restricted. I wasn't used to dealing with it because of my underfills so I was bping the whole time and then started eating around the band because it also happened to fall around the holidays so naturally if you can't eat protein but a Chirstmas cookie or piece of fudge goes down well what are you going to do? So the next time I met with the fill nurse I had put on probably about half of the weight and so if you're gaining weight they thought you weren't restricted enough and gave you another fill. Wanted to see me in two weeks to check on my success. Two weeks later I had gained another 4 pounds so I must need another fill. This fill was the killer. She put in more than she had thought and wrote down the wrong amount and I was puking on the way home and for the next ten hours was puking up my own saliva until I called the on-call service and one of the surgeons met me at their office 45 minutes away and she took out all my fill and that's when it was discovered the nurse had written down the wrong amount and she took out the excess 1 cc that was killing me. So about 4 weeks later met with the surgeon amd at this point I was close to have gaining back all 25 pounds and I begged him to take me down from 4 ccs to 2 ccs and he did after trying to get me to keep 3! So now I'm at the point where I'm kind of trying to get started again I have 2 ccs and I can eat regular food, still can't eat hard boiled eggs or hard proteins but I can eat a half of a sandwich. I wanted to eat the normal foods again in a normal amount so that I wouldn't compensate with eating the "slider foods" like I had been doing. My biggest problem is not buying those slider foods! It's going to take me a while to get this damn thing to work and as God is my witness it will work by one year or I'm getting it removed and going for RNY like my daughter is having this Tuesday! Sorry to take over and do the "enough about me what do you think about me" scenario but I just had to share story and I was banded just last August! I'm sorry you're having conflicts with your new doc/insurance company. I wonder if there was a way for you to discuss it with your doctor so that he does work with you other than giving you the BS that he has been giving you. Maybe you need an adjustment of having some removed. Look at me not losing, gaining, give her a freakn fill! It doesn't work that way. I see so many like to be really tight and not be able to eat at all hardly but that method does not work for all people. Sometimes we need a "big salad" you know? Anyway I hope you can get things worked out, I read your post late but wanted to get back to you. Take care and keep us posted, brandyII.

What are you saying in the end, I'm getting you put back on some weight and that sucks, automatically, but what is the relationship between your struggle now and your insurance company. I'm missing something, thanks brandyII.

Red is such an angry color:tt2:

Actually I meant it in a nice way, sorry, did you think I was being sarcastic, because I didn't mean to. I don't know about you but I had to sign a paper stating that I would not drink (alcohol) prior to my surgery and I don't remember if smoking was on there or not, I think it was. I myself smoked 20 year ago for about 10 years and know how hard it is to quit especially when you're expected to all of the sudden prior to surgery stop smoking, stop drinking alcohol, and I was put on a 5 week liquid diet, my daughter 6 six weeks prior to surgery. I'm wondering if they're just waiting for you to blow!:thumbup: Smoking wasn't an issue for me but I did have a drink or two prior to surgery, but from what I recall the document I signed was not "notarized" and therefore not legally binding. I also had ice cream or gelato once in a blue moon, which wouldn't surprise most people at LBT. Anyway I wasn't trying to sound sarcastic but I can see why you might take it that way. You made a comment about yourself not being perfect or something and I was just going along with your comment that none of us are perfect and that's kind of why we're all here. Alcohol I can still pass up, cigarettes I can still pass, but when it comes to that brownie, it's my biggest weakness and why the band is still a struggle for me, brandyII.

Julie C, If we were all perfect would we be here?

rch387, that's funny, now would the dentist know Derek and be married to a bizarre red headed steal her daughter's baby, raise it as her own, obsessive compulsive about her cooking/cleaning person who lost her house in a tornado lady or just any dentist?

If I choose to have children then I choose also not to hit them and to bring them up in a loving, nurturing, and safe environment. I'd rather a fetus be aborted than brought up as a child living with violence. I'm not stupid, I realize there's a difference between a tap on the bottom and a beating with a stick but I still choose to use my brain and not my hand. Abortion is not something that everyone will ever agree on as are many topics, spanking being one of them. I'm lucky that all my pregnancies were planned and I never had to make that decision myself. But it's not something people take likely and I really don't believe that most people who have abortions use it as a birth control method as many have stated previously. It's still a legal medical procedure in the United States.

Thanks, I don't have Sams Club but I assume Walmart's grocery dept. would have them too and I'll check it out. I love fish but I don't always cook it well myself! brandyII.