jewels41

hi i too was banded over 2 years ago. I now started body by vi protein shakes.. they are super good. some of our protein drinks were super grainy this is not.so check it out... i love it

buy the gas x strips.. they work the best

I was banded december 19th, hysterectomy four months after that, then I had heart spasms which showed up as a silent heart attack four months ago.. I am down to a size 9 pants from a size 20 pants, I have lost 65 lbs but still need to lose more, it seems that I have had many plateaus where IM not losing but I pick myself back up and try try again. I need a fill again as Im feeling not that restricted. Everyday is a new day thats for sure, one day I can eat something and the next I cant... food is more of a chore now on what to make for suppers ... sometimes its discouraging when I want to eat something but I know it would get stuck.. I havent had any bread and that is one thing that I can say I do miss.... just making a sandwhich and I do miss eating fish.. Im happy with the way I look now and my wedding is april 10th and Im so excited to be able to walk down the aisle looking amazing.. congrats to everyone on your weight losses.. Hang in there I know how tough this has really been!!

I have been doing excellent, and are you considering weight loss surgery, I am assuming that you are. I had my own medical insurance so didnt even see the bill. It was paid for in full. The first step is to go to a seminar and you can go to smdc web site to see when the next one is, and then you have to see the nutritionist as many times as your insurance tells you to. You wont meet dr. pitt until the end just before surgery. this process took me eight months from start to finish. any other questions just holler.. good luck...

My insurance took them only 1 day to decide which was totally awesome, i figured that it was the sign that I had been looking for that I was making the right choice. I will pray that you get your answer on monday. how long ago did the doctor send out your paperwork to your insurance company? I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted ...

I like it so far and the ratings were great on the gaming site that I check other games out on. My teens are huge gamers so they tell me to check the ratings if the ratings are horrible then I dont buy them.. for this you need a tape measure so that way you can find out how many inches u are losing in your arms etc ..

i have my fitness coach, I like it so far... but i do not have the other one that you mentioned. I look at the ratings of the game alot.. I have teens who are big gamers.. so they always tell me to check the ratings.. and normally they are right on the money.. goodluck

my band is a 10cc band..

I have no regrets about being banded at all. I am down 46 lbs and I only had the 1 fill in January so I think that I have done excellent. I had 2 surgeries since having the lap band so the only thing that I could do was walk for 10 minutes a day. I am just so proud of myself that I managed to still lose some weight. I feel so amazing... When I went to georgia to see my fiance in april and I came back with new clothes and me and my friends went out and I put them on they were like OMG you have lost alot of weight... that made me feel so good.. but I wont let it go to my head.. Im utterly happy.. lol I was filled yesterday they put in a half of a cc. I currently have 4.6 cc's in my band. I have the allergen band which holds 10 cc's. so I am on liquids for 3 days. that seems to have changed too.. My doc will not fill me if Im losing 1 to 2 lbs a week. But in 4 weeks if I havent lost then he will fill me again.

Banded: 12/19/2008 Starting weight: 215 Current Weight: 169 Total Weight Loss: 46 lbs. I just now had my 2nd fill and now have 4.6 cc in my band. I have had a super long road. I had 2 surgeries since my lap band so I havent been able to be filled nor do exercises, so Im really proud of myself for managing to still lose some weight since these surgeries. It sure looks like everyone else is doing a fantastic job as well. Keep up the awesome work everyone...

I have had 2 other surgeries since I was banded december 19th 2008. After my hysterectomy on may 11th I noticed that I had around 30 hairs coming out a day. I just upped my protein and we will see if that will help. I voted none of those options fit for me. Statistics say a person loses and average of 40-100 hairs per day so perhaps this is just normal. But I honestly think its because of the changes that my body has been going thru since my abdominal hysterectomy. My doc feels the same way.

I do not regret having the lap band at all. The sleeve was not an option for me. I now have read alot more here on the sleeve and I know that another surgeon at my hospital had the sleeve and he has done very well with this. He now tells everyone that the sleeve is the best there is now... If my band had to come out the sleeve is the way I would go.. Just my opinion

I know that my doctor told me that I should go on liquids for the next day or two after I get foods stuck. Everyone does try different things when foods do get stuck. My doctor told me he would unfill me to get the food unstuck if necessary. He said 30 minutes is way too long to be " stuck" . So this is helpful as well. You can try pineapple juice but with that sore throat that would burn like heck. I think just go on liquids for now and see if that helps .. Other things I know personally if I were to eat the day after would also not go so well. so liquids work very well for me.. keep us posted

yes its very normal to think that you want to eat what they are eating ... When you get to eat solid foods be very careful and chew chew chew. I am sure that we all get sick of hearing that but its really true. Congrats on your weight loss of 20 lbs. And yes you will know when you are full, perhaps not until after your first fill, at least for me it was that way. I could eat alot of things before I had my first fill, then I felt the restriction and did get stuck 4 times. each day is a new learning experience. What you could eat yesterday you may not be able to eat tomorrow. It is frustrating at times when you could eat chicken and the next day its a no go, or perhaps broccoli ... its odd on what you can eat one day and not the next. I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

I sure have had alot going on since I have had my lap band on december 19th. I currently weigh 169 lbs on the clinic scale, we all know that our scales at home are different but Im so proud of myself. I wouldnt change this surgery for the world. I started out at 215 lbs. so a total weight loss of 46 lbs. I FINALLY HAD MY FILL YESTERDAY.. I can now exercise more since my surgery. I can ride my bike again and use my wii fit but if I get sore I have to stop. And I can do leg lifts.. lol and I can go for longer walks and I can lift 15 to 20 lbs. My goal that I set for myself was 140 lbs. so not that far to go. But I should really be 128 or less. But we will see how it goes. Thank you everyone for being so supportive .. Nice to know that I have friends here who are going thru the same thing. Oh and Im going to be having a support group at my clinic here in town and the doctors are going to give me the list of patients who have had the lap band etc... will be super nice to be able to share our experiences with one another.. :wub:

I sure have had alot going on since I have had my lap band on december 19th. I currently weigh 169 lbs on the clinic scale, we all know that our scales at home are different but Im so proud of myself. I wouldnt change this surgery for the world. I started out at 215 lbs. so a total weight loss of 46 lbs. I FINALLY HAD MY FILL YESTERDAY.. I can now exercise more since my surgery. I can ride my bike again and use my wii fit but if I get sore I have to stop. And I can do leg lifts.. lol and I can go for longer walks and I can lift 15 to 20 lbs. My goal that I set for myself was 140 lbs. so not that far to go. But I should really be 128 or less. But we will see how it goes. Thank you everyone for being so supportive .. Nice to know that I have friends here who are going thru the same thing. Oh and Im going to be having a support group at my clinic here in town and the doctors are going to give me the list of patients who have had the lap band etc... will be super nice to be able to share our experiences with one another..

Great Job!! Keep up the good work...

Hi, I started my journey at the end of april of 2008 (orientation first). They told us that it could take up to 1 years to be banded, insurance requirements etc. Well for me I went to see the nurse first where she explained the whole procedure to me and asked If i was still interested and of course I said yes, then I seen the dietician and spoke with her. They told me that I needed to have a psyche eval at the orientation which that was done in june and I passed it.. it has 500 questions on it its called MMPI 2 test. I had to see the dietician a total of 6 times thats what my insurance required. I completed all of those things and they sent out that info to my insurance company and i was approved in 2 days ( super fast) I was excited when I got the letter from them that I was approved for surgery, I met with my surgeon and he asked what type of surgery I was having ( lap band) and I signed some papers he had, then I met with his nurse and I got my surgery date which was december 19th. So it took me nine months and it was well worth it to me. this is not a speedy process, i do have friends who only needed 3 dietician visits as well and they had there surgeries a little sooner than mine. You can only see the dietician once a month... i thought perhaps I could do it all in one week..lol Im not a patient person at times. But hang in there I wish you the best in your journey.. keep me posted And I didnt need to lose weight before the surgery at all. Some people do if they are over 450 lbs.

we all have our reasons of having this surgery but Im sure that it was due to your health problems and wanting to lose weight. I know that this was the best decision I made and I dont have any regrets. You can do this I know you can, I know that its tough when ppl are eating around you just leave the room or walk away from them or ask them to leave the area. You can do it.... keep up the good work. Julie

Hi , I can only say from my experience with living with someone with severe depression who stops taking there medications its a rollercoaster all the time. I was with my partner who had severe depression and he would take his meds then stop taking them. They think that they are fine and that they dont need to take there meds. But they really honestly do need to take them and go to counseling as well. I was with my boyfriend at that time for over 7 years and he kicked me out 3 times and I was stupid enough to keep going back for more. He didnt take his meds nor did he get the help that he needed. If your wife gets the help she needs and takes her meds and continues this then perhaps counseling will work for both of you. But I can honestly say this its a tough road living with someone with depression and I was being brought down alot too. And the fights are with herself and not you, they blame people alot for the things that are there own mistakes. So stop blaming yourself its not your fault trust me on this I learned in my counseling sessions and there were many of those. I could talk for hours on this topic but this is just my experience, there is of course more to my story but I got out finally and now I am happily engaged to someone else. In regards to child support, here in wisconsin and even in minnesota you contact your child support worker and they give you the packet to reduce your child support this will take time but it will work. You can request this every 2 years for it to be updated. Goodluck to you and if you ever need a friend let me know Julie

hi sunshinekissess, I too was nervous about eating solids, and for my first fill. but you really dont need to be nervous. golden rule for food" chew chew chew and concentrate on eating. Everyone can eat different things but I can tell you this I can eat chicken, tuna, salmon, hamburger , watermelon,fish, grapes, banana's, potatos, broccoli, carrots cooked,potato salad, egg salad, I dont eat rice, bread but do eat some noodles ( the bigger noodles) I dont eat spagetti ones at all. Your appt for your fill goes like this: they have you lay down on the table ( ours is low and closer to the ground) the doc feels for your port ( i can feel mine ) they have you puff out your tummy with air and hold it, they put ladocaine on your port site to numb it a bit then he puts the needle in your port filled with saline) my doc adds 1 cc at a time. Then you sit up and you drink 2 cups of water and you burp ( they want you to do that). Then you go home. Took a total of like five minutes to do... and it didnt hurt.. One word of advice while eating ( dont talk on the phone, dont read a book, dont talk to others while chewing , just concentrate on eating, it should take you 20 minutes to eat your food .. dont rush and all will be well. If something does get stuck you will know it and if it does pineapple juice will help ... If its stuck quite awhile then call your doctor and he will unfill your band a bit so that way the food will pass thru the band. My doctor asks me everytime what was the longest you had something stuck I told him 45 minutes and he goes call me if that happens again, and I said ok... didnt matter what time of the day or anything... goodluck keep me posted

It is getting better everyday but tomorrow I see my gynecologist to ask why Im having the pain on my left side so much. But I can say today was a great day.. Congrats on graduating my fellow hystersister.. lol

I felt better after 3 days, but my friend lisa was feeling better at seven days. Have you been walking enough, did you use the gas x strips or chewable tabs and did you take your pain medications? But the total heal time was four weeks for your body to heal from the surgery. I think that if you are still walking over hunched up that perhaps you should go see your doctor to see whats going on with that..

I say explore all options, lap band, gastric sleeve ( mini bypass) and the gastric bypass. There are alot of things involved in all of them. With the lap band foods get stuck at times and at times you have alot of saliva coming back up. Those moments are unpleasant but most of the time its my own fault that something got stuck such as not chewing enough, talking to others while eating, just plain not concentrating. Now the new gastric sleeve Im sure has some complications as well, I do not have this nor did I have this option when I was looking at weight loss surgery, for me the gastric bypass is super invasive nor did i want that at all. I know that if the band has to come out I would choose the gastric sleeve, ( my surgeon had this done) this is done laproscopically as well ( just like the band) . So check all your options out first before you make your final decision. sounds like you need to ask your friends if its because there food is getting stuck happens perhaps alot to them due to them doing something wrong. I have learned the foods I can eat and the foods I cannot eat with my band. The band is a tool and if you use it incorrectly then it wont work for you.. I am very happy with my decision and would do it again .... I am down 50 lbs thus far.. goodluck to you

I had my abdominal hysterectomy on may 11th 2009 and Im still in quite a bit of pain yet but I know that it will be a long healing process 6-8 weeks. Once I heal I can then finally be filled and Im excited about that. I have only had 1 fill and that was in january. I have lost 45 lbs now and Im happy with that. I started out at 215 lbs and I cannot complain. I have bought new clothes and I am totally pumped that my pants are no longer in the plus sizes. My tops are an xl still but once im healed from this surgery will be able to exercise again and continue on my journey to reaching my goal. If anyone else has to have a hysterectomy give me a yell because I understand what your going thru. there is a web site called www.hystersisters.com but nobody there seems to have the lap band but thats ok, I can post it here and share that journey with everyone here. they took my cervix and my uterus but left my ovaries because my ovaries are healthy and Im young yet and they want me to go thru the normal menopause stage, which is an excellent idea. It will be odd not to have my period though but at the same time a blessing as well. I would have my period for a month at a time and it would wear me down. goodluck all in your lap band journey I have no regrets at all, it was the best decision I could have ever made for myself...