DonnaB

"Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip."~~A.H. Glasgow

Ya, I know it's gonna get gross if I don't do it, but . . . I don't want to wash my hair anymore. I lost a huge clump of hair in the shower yesterday and now I'm afraid to wash it, comb it, touch it, or look too closely at it! Seriously, I lost enough hair in the shower that it clogged the drain, and then, while I was rinsing out the conditioner, I felt something slide down my leg. I looked down and a huge clump of hair was on my ankle. I felt nauseated and dizzy - almost like I was going to faint. I totally freaked out. I've only lost 40-something pounds. I have another 90-something to go. At this rate I will be bald in a month. I get a lot of protein every day, sometimes as much as 150 grams. Never less than 65 grams per day. What am I going to do? I can't be fat AND bald. I can't believe I'm crying over hair loss. I'm so depressed. I really want to lose the excess weight, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it.

K-Cee, you need to post your surgeons name here so other people won't let him "practice" on them!

If you're depressed now, it's going to be a long tough road to your goal weight. 1 - 2 pounds per weeks is the AVERAGE weight loss you can expect to experience with a lap band. You've had 2.5 per week so far. That makes you a rabbit. I think you need to reevaluate your expectations of your new tool, and try to think in the long term. You didn't have a gastric bypass where you lose 60 pounds in 3 months. You had a gastric band, which allows you to maintain a diet and exercise regimen which will help you achieve longterm health. At 1 pound per week, you can realistically expect to lose 52 pounds during the coming year. It also means you can expect to lose 104 pounds during the next 24 months. Starting to sound a little better? If you want to boost those numbers, you can add exercise to your lifestyle and increase either the number of pounds you've lost or the number of calories you can consume to continue losing at the same rate. Either way, those are pretty good stats. Give yourself some time. Exercise some patience. I do understand how you feel. Some days I become frustrated and feel like I'm NEVER going to lose the weight. Then I go look at my log on www.FitDay.com and I see that I'm averaging 1.33 pounds per week - exactly as my doctor told me I could expect. The time will pass. There's no way around that one! lol It will pass, and you will lose weight.

"Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip."~~A.H. Glasgow

One band holds 4cc's, the other holds 10cc's. My understanding is that the doctor uses that band that fits around your stomach. If the 4cc is too small, they use the 10cc band.

My surgery with Dr. Rumbaut was also $10,600 which included everything but my airfare. Love Dr. Rumbaut, love Dr. Horatcio, love Dr. Sanson - pretty much everyone associated with Dr. Rumbauts office all the way to his stateside liason, Kathy, have all been amazing. If you aren't getting a response from the website, I suspect that the website is the problem. You can call Kathy directly at 1-888-456-1211. Best wishes on your journey!

How long are you staying on liquids following your fills? The surgeon's office I'm using for fills recommends a full week on liquids before moving on to solids. MY SURGEON says 3 days of liquids, 3 days of mushies, then on to solids. Is it possible that you're eating solid food too soon after the fill and irritating your esophagus and stomach causing swelling? That would make you progressively tighter till you couldn't keep food down. Just a thought. If that's not the problem, (this is a little "outside the box" but here goes) I think, if I were you, I'd try getting filled by another doctor or PA. It may not make a bit of difference but then again . . . it might. At any rate, you've got to try SOMETHING DIFFERENT if you want to get a different result. Sorry you're having this problem. Let us know how you're doing and what you decide to try.

RUNNING TO THE PANTRY FOR ALMONDS!!!!!! If my hair stops falling out in 2 weeks I AM BUYING AN ALMOND FARM! Or at least shares of stock in some almond producing company ! ! ! ! ! Just after I went back on solid food I was having a problem with constipation (once again I find myself right in the middle of the completely normal range for lapbandsters!) and raw almonds helped with that. I was eating 1/4 of a cup of them every day for awhile but I decided to go off of them when my problem was pretty much resolved, and because those yummy little almonds pack a huge calorie punch! Honestly, I'm not holding out much hope for this remedy, it seems too easy. 5 almonds? Even bumping it up to 1/4 cup of almonds? No smelly chemical treatments, no foul tasting homeopathic something-or-other! :huggie: Probably, Gwinky, you were just at the end of your hair loss cycle when the doctor suggested the almond cure, don't you think? But I'm still trying it! LOL It's easy to see how people in need can be duped into buying miracle cures, huh? When you feel desperate you'll do or buy anything at any price. So sad. So, anybody have a ground unicorn horn remedy for weight loss? I hear it really, really works. :huggie:

All three of you: RUN, don't walk, to your doctors and get an unfill. You don't have to get a complete unfill, just enough so you can eat solid Protein like chicken and fish. Being too tight is miserable and it won't help you in the long run, but it might hurt you. You don't want to develop esophagitis or burn your esophagus with stomach acid from reflux. Additionally, most doctors seem to agree that being too tight can cause erosion. You really don't want that. Get an unfill and work on learning what your band is trying to teach you. Don't make your band do all the work, it wasn't meant to be used that way. Best wishes to all of you, let us know how you're doing. (LOL Mousecrazy! I was typing this when you posted your message.)

I just started using a liquid Vitamin from Glacial Milk. I don't know why it's called that, there is no milk or lactose in the product. In fact, it's citris flavored and has no sugar, no carbs, and no calories. I've only been taking it for a few days so I'm not really noticing any difference yet but their label shows the nutrient quantity and their percentage of daily value. For most of the nutrients listed it's 100% or higher. It smells pretty 'vitamin-y' but it actually tastes OK, not the way it smells AT ALL. I was going to say it tastes pretty good but . . . lol, it's a vitamin! I'll put it this way: It's way less offensive than any other vitamin I've tried. No vitamin-y burps either - blech! If you really can't tolerate it, it would probably all but disappear in a small glass of juice. I'm usually a big baby with how things taste and smell and I'm fine with this stuff. I can't make the label info show up here without it spreading out all over the place and making NO sense so, check out their website for the nutrient information and their daily percentage values, www.glacialmilk.net.

Hey Hopes Place, How are you doing today? Did you call your doctor for that unfill? I log my food on FitDay.com but it won't let me copy the log to paste it here. I'll just give you a couple of days' logs here without all the extra stuff that FitDay shows: Hot tea, 9 calories Fat free Half and Half, 40 calories Cottage cheese, 220 calories Hard boiled eggs, 210 calories Mayonaise, 90 calories Triscuit Thin Crisps, 91 calories Cheese slices, 257 calories chicken breast slices, 46 calories Kettle Corn popcorn, 100 calories No sugar added ice cream, 270 calories Total calories for the day = 1,334 Protein for the day = 85g coffee, 21 calories Fat free Half and Half, 60 calories Cottage Cheese, 275 calories Hormel precooked bacon, 210 calories Watermelon, 195 calories Chicken breast 183 calories Mixed salad greens, 18 calories Tomato, 13 calories Caesar Vinaigrette, 140 calories chocolate pudding, 160 calories Total calories for the day = 1,275 Protein for the day = 92g Some of these foods are very specific. For instance, the Hormel precooked bacon slices are only 70 calories for 4 slices. If you eat 4 slices of regular bacon you fry up at home, the calories will be much higher. Same with the pudding - it's SF FF pudding made with skim milk. And of course quantity makes a big difference. So watch what you're eating and journal it in www.FitDay.com for YOUR totals. If you're not logging, go to FitDay and give it a try, it really helps. (The $20 downloadable version works much better than the freebee but try it out for free to see if you like it.) Some days I take in more calories, some days less, but I try to keep it between 1,000 - 1,300 calories per day. That seems to be my optimum weight loss range - without exercise. If I would exercise I'd lose more - or be able to eat more! lol Once you get yourself in your optimum range, do everything you can to not go over it. When you go over your range, you're hungrier the next day and you want to eat more. It makes it much much harder when your body and brain are urging you to eat. Let us know how you're doing, OK? Get the unfill. P.S. Cottage cheese is a great source of protein within reasonable calories, and it's soft enough that it shouldn't be a problem to eat. But if you don't like cottage cheese, this doesn't help you much!

I looked into the Omega 3 and 6 supplements. I don't think I can manage the size of the capsules - they're huge! Anyone know of Omega 3 and 6 available in smaller caps? I could take 2 or 3 smaller caps but a single HUGE one is too scary. The LAST thing I needs is hours of vomiting fish oil. Not to mention the amount of additional stress THAT would cause! Yikes. BTW, I haven't lost another huge clump of hair. Lots and lots of single hairs falling out all the heck over the place, but no big clump again - or should I say yet? Jeez. I went and paid my tuition and bought my books today and if THAT isn't enough to make anyone's hair fall out, I don't know what is!!! LOL

LOL cashley! Funny you should say that . . . www.YourDreamWear.com

I haven't ever watched the show but I might have to tune in next week and see what I've been missing. Has everyone on this season had WLS? I know Carnie Wilson has, and I know the guy from the Soprano's has (can't think of his name right now), but . . . Seems like the people on the show who have had WLS would have a major advantage over the others. Even if Carnie can eat more than she did following her surgery, she'd still lose more weight than the Soprano's guy (wish I could think of his name) because she has malabsorption with her surgery and he doesn't. Not sure how this works on the show. I guess I'll have to watch it and find out! lol Is there a prize for the biggest loser? Besides that they lost the most! lol

Afternoon ((((hugs!))))! Thanks for starting such a nice thread Susan! I just got back from paying for my classes and buying my books. Yep, at 44 years old I'm finally going to college. I don't know if I should be happy or institutionalized! Since my husband and I have finally faced the fact that we're not going to be able to have kids, I decided that I better find something that I like to do with my time. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging around the house and doing this, that, and whatever, but I need to find a purpose - or at least a goal - to keep me active and outgoing in the world. I've spent so much time hiding from people (myself) that I feel like I've almost disappeared. Time to become visible again. My husband and I are going to a little resort in the Texas Hill Country this weekend with my sister and her husband and their two kids. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them but . . . The Hill Country - in August!? What were we thinking? Oh well. It'll be hot but fun. Now all I have to do is get the house picked up so our house/pet sitter won't be apalled! Thanks for the hug - chat again soon!

Best wishes for a simple surgery and a quick recovery Patti! Be sure to check in when you can to let us know how it went. See you in Bandland.

Sorry Penni, this isn't a slam on you (or on anybody for that matter, but . . . ) I'm surprised when people say they would have done better with a different choice. What makes them think so? I'd be thinking, I had a problem with the choice which was repairable - thank God I didn't have the problem with the choice which could have been life-threatening. Half empty vs. half full. Unlucky vs. lucky.

Are they renters or do they own the home? If they're renters, you should contact the owners ASAP. If they're the homeowners, do you have a neighborhood association you can talk to? It's your neighborhood too. Do you want other people like those neighbors moving in and bringing the rest of the neighborhood to their level? I'd call the police if you don't have a neighborhood association to turn to. Those neighbors won't know who called them. Your home is a HUGE investment and you really don't want bad neighbors bringing it's value down.

I'm with Cindy/Mousecrazy. If you've been having problems all along, why did the doctor give you another fill? You need to be able to eat solid protein - chicken, fish, etc. If you're living on shakes (you didn't say milkshake so I'm going to assume you meant a protein shake) and vomiting something soft like mashed avocado, you're too tight. The band wasn't meant to work like a bypass, which does all the work for you. It's meant to work like a tool that HELPS YOU to make better choices and reduce the quantity of food you ingest. You need to get an unfill, maybe not complete, but certainly low enough that you can eat chicken and other solid food. After you've been able to eat normally (meaning normal for a bandster) for several weeks and given your stomach, band, and esophagus a chance to unswell, and heal itself completely, THEN you should get a SMALL fill. Make sure you can still eat solid food with that small fill. After another month, have another small fill. Make sure you can still eat solid food with that small fill. Repeat as necessary until you reach a level of restriction you can live with, which also helps YOU to reduce your food intake. If you keep going the way you are, you're going to cause damage and lose your band. Not to turn into a phychiatrist here but, is that maybe what you want to happen?

My port is above and to the right of my scar.

Yikes! I would certainly have told him to go get someone else - make HIM feel bad? !! You must be crazy. How bad did he make YOU feel? I won't hesistate to tell the surgeon I'm using for fills NO if he tries to give me a fill himself ever again. If it's not going to be his PA, Arlene, I'm leaving the office without a fill. (Read my LBT Journal to understand WHY!)

Hi Donna, Read through a bunch of threads here on LapBandTalk, but do yourself a favor, don't stay on the "complications" threads for too long. They'll freak you out unnecissarily. Yes, complications DO occur and it IS a good idea to understand what they may be, but try to remember that complications with the lapband are actually quite low - my doctor has a fewer than 1% rate of complications - and when complications do occur, they are usually minor and can be counteracted, and even with severe complications (really, really rare) the band is completely reversible. There have been virtually no deaths attributed to the lapband. Another thing to remember when reading the the posts on LapBandTalk is that most of the people here are new to the process, like you, or are new to the band. The longtime residents here, spend most of their time looking in the lounge (area for off topic discussions) or are having problems that they need to talk about - which means you'll see a disproportionate number of complications here, and on any lapband support message board. The average successful lapbander doesn't spend as much time posting about it as the ones who are having problems. Having said that, I'll tell you I spent hours reading the complications threads! LOL Scared the pee out of me! I almost talked myself out of WLS because I did that! Happily, I went forward with my plan and was banded on March 7, 2006. I haven't experienced any complications - though I did have one bad stick/vomit (also known as a PB) incident (scrambled eggs are from the devil! ) and have lost 43 pounds so far. An adjustible gastric band is not a magic cure. You still have to diet and exercise. The big difference is that the band keeps you from completely blowing it and giving up after a few weeks. It keeps any binges to a minimum. It helps you to recognize when you're overeating, and it keeps you from scarfing your food so fast you don't know when you're actually full. You can do those things, but you will regret it and you'll be less likely to do it again once you've experienced the dreaded PB/Golfball. Good luck in your research, and on your weight loss journey. Let us know how it's going. P.S. I had United Healthcare several years ago - they're great about covering stuff other insurance won't.

Good for you for having a sense of humor through all of this. Having a tampon in isn't "very gross" it's very NORMAL. I think it was a good and valid point that you were able to rule out vaginal bleeding as the source because of your tampon being in place. Stop worrying about offending our sensibilities and concentrate on getting better. We're all worried about you and sending our thoughts and prayers for some answers and a quick recovery. Let us know how you're doing so we won't worry so much.

Can anyone say "Bullsh*t"? Anesthesiologists monitor your blood pressure and heart rate during surgery to be sure this kind of thing doesn't happen. They know when you're too close to awareness because you are being monitored. If you start to awaken, your heart rate increases, your blood pressure rises and your anesthesiologist increases your meds until you are completely under. Another cause for suspicion: Usually during surgery, the patient's eyes are taped closed to protect them from drying out and causing corneal damage. This story, it's single posting author, and lack of information smells completely fishy. Like the alley behind a sushi restaurant in August. BTW, not being snarky here but, why on earth would you think this kind of thing can happen, but NOT in the U.S.? Like negligence or errors NEVER happen in the land of Uncle Sam.