minidriver

oooo, I'm probably gonna' get myself yelled at here, but I just want to throw out one thing here . . . and please understand that this is not coming from a judgmental stance but purely from a scientific one. There is a lot of new (credible) research suggesting that smoking pot can trigger schizophrenia in certain people . . . specifically those with a specific gene variant. I am a neuroscience professor and this is what I tell my students . . . IF you have anyone in your family with psychotic problems, I would probably stay away from pot as you may be at higher risk for a nasty gene x environment interaction. It's not a whole lot different than the role of genes in obesity. Some people can eat whatever they want and never get fat (my husband) and others can eat the same things and just get bigger and bigger (me). So, just a word of caution and please don't read it as scare tactics or judgment. :thumbup:

My son receives an injection of long acting naltrexone every month. It has worked wonders for him . . . decreases the desire to drink and prevents the alcohol from having an effect when he does drink. I think the brand name is "vivitrol". It also comes in tablet form that you have to take daily. Good luck to you.

Hey Lotza! I just realized that you're in SLC, so am I. This is great. We can share our SLC-Denver experiences.

miss dee - I meant to ask if you were feeling some restriction from your fill?

Hi Deb. I am staying at the Holiday Inn Select. It is apparently quite nice and very close. I got a suite so that there is a refrigerator in the room.

Hi Dee. Paula wants me on the same pre-op diet - just longer. Dr. K said one week, she said two. Interesting about the morning eating . . .do you work shift work? What a nice post you made to Shelbi and to Bahot. How lucky we all are to have you as a cyber pal.

Night time is my problem time as well. I am fine fine fine during the day, but at night I just want to stuff myself with food. I read a study one time that linked depression and night eating issues. I found that kind of interesting.

Hello all you darlin' ladies. WTG adorkable and brandymom. Woohoo!!! Shelbi, sorry about your hubby. But what a good thing that they caught it! Hope you can get your appointment moved up. Paula called yesterday to set up a consultation, and also told me that she wanted me to do the pre-op diet for two weeks, not one as suggested by Dr. K. That's actually okay . . .I'm getting excited to get started. So I'll start on June 18th. In the meantime, I"ll just continue eating all my favorites with abandon. I went to my rheumatologist yesterday and she is 100% behind me having this done. I was really happy about that. I keep waiting for someone to tell me that I just need more willpower, but so far so good! Have a great day, all. Remember - feed your pouch, not your head!!:thumbup::frown: Easy for me to say . . . .

I'm scared too. I keep thinking that I won't succeed and then I will have spent tons of money for nothing.

Have a nice night at work, missy dee!

My name is also Lesa - there are so few of us. Nice to meet you!

I've been having my last supper, breakfast, lunch, snack, cocktail, dessert, etc. etc. Not so good.

I've been dreadful since scheduling my surgery. It's like I've lost all sense of self-control about my food. I keep feeling like it's my last chance to eat this, that, or the other. So then I start thinking that there's no way I'll succeed with the band. Sigh.

Oh no . . . . first Oreos, now Pringles. You guys are scarin' the newbies here.

Hey Deb. If you click on the place that says Ticker Factory above my little countdown thingy, it will take you to a place where you can make a ticker. Then you copy and past it into your signature at the user CP site here. I know there are detailed instructions on some thread, but it wasn't very hard. Congrats on your consult and surgery date. Woohoo!!

wow, that's incredible! How awful about your broken arm though. Have a great time tomorrow in your new suit!

I hear ya. We have a perfectly lovely pool at my college and I have tried to swim laps a few times but the thought of my students seeing me in my swimsuit is just more than I can bear. I know I'm being silly . .. but I can't seem to help myself. And I really LIKE swimming. It's one of the few forms of exercise that I actually enjoy!

Wow, a public swim suit outing! Good for you! Sounds like you got some fun stuff.

The self-pay thing is totally worth it. SO much more valuable than a cheap used car. Where in Oregon are you? I used to live in Eugene. Oh, and it's never too late . . . .You still have lots of years ahead for a whole new you!!

Hi Deb. Well, I just had my pre-op consultation on the phone! So I didn't even need to fly over. I think most out of towners do it over the phone. However, my surgery will be at Crown Pointe surgical center so I'm staying at the Holiday Inn across from the hospital. The office is in a different place though - when you talk to Natalie she'll be able to give you suggestions. Is there a reason you want to wait till the end of August? I first contacted Dr. K's office in mid may and was able to get a surgery date of 7/2! Anyway, welcome to this thread. It is THE BEST!!!

you do a three mile walk/run? Oh, my. I am so impressed. That's fantastic.

Well, I talked to Dr. K about this very issue . . . we have a Fill Center USA in our city and Dr. K is going to check on its reputation. I am hoping that it will turn out to be a good place. Otherwise I will just travel to Denver (I'm in SLC so not all that far).

swim suit shopping? You go girl!!! That's awesome. Do post pics. that would be fab.

Shelbie - I think that your doctor may have been referring to the idea of personalized medicine based on genetics. The idea is this: Let's say that there are a group of people whose depression responds well to Zoloft but not Effexor and another group who respond to Effexor but not Zoloft. They would then do genetic testing on both groups to see if they can identify a gene that differs consistently between the two groups. They can do this for all kinds of medicines, conditions, etc. Then every person could eventually have their own genetic "map" that is encoded on a little card. When you have something wrong, the docs could look at your genetic map and say "oh, you have depression variant xyz that responds to Effexor". While it's not going to happen anytime soon, I think that it is definitely on the horizon. As for hurtful comments, I certainly can't add anything that would mean more than what dee said. I will say, though, that after having my mother make hurtful as hell comments about my weight for 30+ years (along with many other topics) I finally told her that I didn't want to have a relationship with her anymore unless she quit criticizing me all the time. That was 2.5 years ago and she hasn't spoken to me since. Sometimes I think I should have tried harder, been more patient with her, etc. etc. but it reached a point where she really was toxic to me. Should I try to reconcile with her? Probably. But I don't think I have the strength. Sometimes you have to do what you need to do to survive. dee: I can't believe that someone said something like that about your pictures. That's really inexcusable and so incredibly hurtful. I just have two words for that person: karma police. You better watch out, because you get back what you give. Well, on a lighter note: Bookholder, Moab is my home town! Isn't it gorgeous? How fun for you! Lap: your conversation with self was hysterical. I'm gonna' remember that next time head hunger hits. I tend to talk to myself though. Hope DH doesn't think I'm talking to him!