StrawartS

But don't put it past the American docs to lose a cash-paying patient! I have a BMI of 30 and my Houston doctor operated on me no questions asked.

Why are you having open surgery?

Thanks for starting this thread! I gained 65 pounds in three months due to a horrible psychiatric misdiagnosis and being a guinea pig for every medication under the sun.

I have no psychiatric problems, just a 15 year undiagnosed case of RLS. And the meds that would have helped with that problem wouldn't have led to the weight gain.

And yeah, I DID say 65 pounds in 3 months. I went from 135 to 200 in three months. Then, almost immediately, I went down to 185, where I've been for the last 4 years.

Well, it depends on how low your girls hang or how high your doc places your port

I posted this trick on another thread, but I also eat a small piece of dark chocolate when I get a craving. I get the tiny bars like Hershey's Special Dark or Ghiradelli Squares, and one or two is all I need. I read somewhere that milk chocolate has an opioid-like chemical structure, which just makes you want it more. Dark chocolate cuts my cravings, and it doesn't take two pounds to do so!

Dr. Hekier, you are a blast!

Does anybody know where I can get a job that offers health insurance that covers this brain transplant?

CAN List:

-- Any ground meat - you can make awesome burgers/meatballs with ground chicken, turkey, pork, veal

-- Cold cuts, cheese, and wheat thins (my favorite snack)

-- Polenta (gotta get a carb somewhere)

-- Any vegetables (even the dreaded celery and asparagus)

-- salad all the livelong day

-- Sushi if chewed well (my favorite is spicy tuna, and my favorite restaurant in Houston does a dish called spicy tekka don, which is spicy tuna over a bed of rice)

-- Pasta

CAN'T eat more than a few bites for taste:

-- Anything heavily breaded and fried (i.e. all delicious appetizers)

-- Doughy breads, including pastries and my famous cupcakes

-- McDonald's...I drive between Houston and Dallas a lot, and in the beginning of my banded life, I would eat a happy meal on the way - not anymore! The fries are fine, but even one bite of that burger gives me the golfball from hell

I've found that I can eat just about everything if I chew it well. The foods on my can't list give me problems if I try to make an entire meal out of them. I have yet to encounter a food that makes me throw up after one bite.

I've never had a problem with sweets, I was always more of a salty gal. But you know how you start wanting things when someone tells you that you can't have it. So I've been craving chocolate lately, and I found the best solution (for me)!! I like dark chocolate, and it takes away my craving with a very small amount (I think milk chocolate has some chemical properties similar to opioids and just makes you want it more). I buy small pieces of dark chocolate, like Hershey's Special Dark or Ghiradelli squares, and one or two a day takes away my cravings.

Paula, I LOVE Kelly Pickler! She is so sweet and innocent, always talking about how much she loves her grandma and grandpa.

And, yes, The Woodlands is 35 miles north of Houston - I grew up there! I'm rooting for Bobby Brady, too.

But I was kinda disappointed tonight, especially with Paris. I want to see these kids dancing around and singing something fun, not Bette Midler!

Wow! I am SO impressed, Super Daddy! I love a man who can quote Friends!

My good friend and I have that entire scene memorized, and almost every time we talk on the phone we run through it. Hands down, best scene in TV history.

Sixteen pages...FRONT AND BACK!

All my neighbors and I use a squeegee on our shower doors after we take a shower. It keeps the Water spots from setting, and you don't have to clean as often.

I am ADDICTED to Bar Keeeper's Friend. It works magic on porcelain, too.

It seems that for those of us who have responded, the band ONLY goes off when you are selected for the additional personal screening with the wand. It has NOT gone off for me with the walk-through detector. Try not to look suspicious and you'll be fine :confused:

Oh, and by the way, Y-O-U-apostrophre-R-E is YOU ARE.

Y-O-U-R is YOUR.

--Ross to Rachel when they were on a break.

My doctor's office was very surprised that I beeped with the wand. And it's not that embarassing to tell the TSA about it - I only had to bring it up when I was selected for extra screening. Embarassing is when they stick the wand practically all the way in your special place.

Oh My God. DO NOT FOLLOW THE LINK if you don't want to see really really graphic poo.

http://drnatura.com/picture_gallery.html

One of the testimonials talks about finding stuff like fish-looking creatures, complete with scales and heads, sacs of larvae, worms, and so forth.

Legallyblonde, can you elaborate on your experience?

Glad to help! Here are a few more tips regarding the Fleet's Phospho-Soda:

1. Try to mix it with cold Sprite since it tastes so bad

2. Do not leave the house! You won't have any pain or cramping, but once you realize it's time again, IT'S TIME! Expect it to start working in about an hour, and the effects will last about six hours.

3. I got an awful headache from it, but 4 advil took care of it.

4. Drink TONS of Water during the process. The first two or so times you go will be close to solid, but everything after that is pure liquid. You will dehydrate in a hurry.

Good luck!

Oh, the airport. Let me tell you about the airport. I've never set off the walk-through detector, but during my personal TSA molestation, the wand beeped over my port site. And don't even think about saying LapBand, because your personal feel-up artist is not interested in learning about your new-fangled surgical procedure. Just say yes when they ask if you have an implanted device.

I got a little card to carry in my wallet with a picture of the device. It's good if you get into an accident so ER docs don't go around endoscoping you without knowing about the band.

Supposedly it gets you discounted meals at restaurants, but I'm not too crazy about announcing my surgery to everybody on the planet just to save a few bucks.

Voted! I could eat him up with a spoon!

Some of us RLS sufferers have figured out by accident that pain meds, such as Vicodin and Ultram, are some of the best treatments for RLS. Only within probably the last five years have these drugs been acknowledged as effective treatment options. Most docs are afraid to prescribe pain meds because of the fear of addiction.

In addition to the lack of movement after surgery, you might have been taking Vicodin or liquid Lortab. I always try to stay away from any pain meds because the RLS gets worse after I stop. Your post-op episode of RLS may be considered secondary and an effect of withdrawal from any pain meds you were taking.

Everybody mentions the lack of movement post-op, but I haven't heard anyone talk about abrupt withdrawl from pain meds. Even if I just take one dose, I have trouble sleeping the next night because my body has already gotten use to the RLS relief provided by pain meds.

Maggie, when you have a colonoscopy, the doctor makes you do a VERY thorough cleansing the day before. You can use about half the dosage of the same method for Constipation. Walgreen's sells a little bottle of Phospho-Soda, made by Fleet's, for about $5. If you can swallow about 1/4 to 1/2 the bottle (only about 5 teaspoons), all your problems will disappear. But don't plan on leaving the house for the rest of the day. Oh, and it tastes like crap times a million - it's pure salt (600 mg of salt per teaspoon!!!). I would definitely try an at-home remedy before I tried to poo in front of some colonic administering hippie

Thanks, Anne. I didn't think to do a search until after I posted my own thread. Oops.

Well, never mind. I've done some more research and have decided that I am not ready to be a guinea pig. Here are some other great resources for RLS info:

RLS Discussion Group

Southern California RLS Support Group (go to treatment page for extensive list of treatment options)

WeMove.com Discussion Forum

Does anybody else have Restless Leg Syndrome? If you've never heard of it, I know it sounds nuts. But, it's totally legit. Here's how the sleeping pill, but I still struggle with the symptoms until the pill kicks in. And if I'm not very tired when I go to bed, it's worse.

There's a new drug made specifically for RLS called Requip. I'm wondering if anyone has tried it. I'm probably going to ask my doctor for it, but I wanted to know how others are dealing with it. From what I understand, one of the side effects is something like falling asleep in the middle of the day.

Anybody know anything?

Oh my. Who would have thought we'd see the day when our sweet Paula knows urban slang better than us less classy broads?

From urbandictionary.com:

Acronym for "Fat Upper Pubic Area"; common misinterpretations include "Fat Upper Pussy Area," "Fat Upper Penile Area" and "farting Under Pelicans Asses." Also, often confused with FUBU, an overpriced brand of clothes that suburban caucasian adolescent males wear to impress suburban caucasian females who associate the clothing with large genitalia.

And because we haven't quite beat the horse to death yet:

Causes: Fupatitis P.

Only know cure: Fupandectomy

"She's bigger than the Fupapottomaus, she is a FupaSaurus Rex"

I love it! I replied on that thread - thanks again!