TheGh0st

Hey there Diva! Welcome to LBT, I'm glad you found us and congratulations on your upcoming surgery. Like you I was completely opposed to surgery for myself. It seemed too drastic except in the most extreme cases. But when I found out about the Lapband I was hooked overnight and have never had any regrets.

Good Luck Choopie and see you on the other side!

Fantastic! absolutely mind blowing! I so have to find a photographer as good as yours, my husband would love something like that for his B-day.

I know I've had a lot going on (even more than I'm posting) but Darn it I'm sick of all my whining and excuses no matter how valid. I really need to just tough it, get off my butt and start doing something. And I'm not just talking about the weight. My house has fallen woefully behind on upkeep and is looking more and more like that of some college boys rental than that of a couple married 15 years with only one child. Even the piles on my desk at work have been getting deeper and deeper. Something has got to give and SOON!

Hi all!:eek: Sorry I've been so quiet. I'm still with you all but worried I'm not going to make a dent on my 20 pounds near as fast as the rest of you. I've been having fill issues and still coping with the swelling issues post PS. Not to mention the stupid pituitary tumor and the hormone induced mood swings it is causing as well as some flu bug that made me naseaus & dizzy for the last week, and some rare thing called Erythema Nodosum I'm just starting to recover from which is some sort of infection in the deep fatty tissue causing painful lumps and sore joints. Oh and I just found out last night that my sister in-law that I was sharing drinks with last week has a bad case of strep and here I thought the sore throat I've been having the last couple days was just a residual from the flu.:sleep: But back to the fill issues. For months now I've been struggling not knowing if I needed a fill or an unfill. I have been able to eat more than I think I can/should but at the same time I was still having some serious issues with acid reflux nearly everynight unless I stopped eating or drinking absolutely anything from about 5pm on. I went in this week for a consult with my band doctor and had a long talk. He decided it was possible that I have dilated my esophagus and reccomended I have a aggressive unfill to give it a chance to go back to normal. He said I could have a barium swallow to confirm it but as a self pay patient that would be much more expensive than just unfilling it and starting over. So I'm going to be trying to lose these 20 pounds while nearly completely unfilled. UGHH! Well that's all my current drama, or at least most of it. :confused: Thanks Karey for sending me a PM Kick in the rear to get back over here. Reading through all the posts on this thread really makes me feel motivated to just suck it up and get to work. After all, All of us have been able to lose weight before the band I should be able to do it without a tight band for a month or two. Right?

I'm in Kansas so I didn't have Krahn, however, if you don't find someone on this thread that did have Krahn, you might try going to the top right corner of the screen (Above the banner) and clicking "Advanced Search" Then search for Krahn and make sure to click "Search for Posts" instead of the assumed "Search for Threads" option. I spotted several posts that talked about him including one from just a couple days ago by a gal that was the second patient he ever banded back in 2005. Good Luck

Anyone still watching GL and Caitlin's weight loss progress? She isn't getting a huge amount of air-time and the band storyline is still bugging me a bit. Its not that what they are showing doesn't happen to some of us but its like are making her come across as some mental case that isn't happy she got the band when that isn't the case from what I can tell. For those not watching in the little air time she is getting she has decided to break up with her boyfriend and has had a major row with her "thin" best friend and has been shown to get upset when at events that have food available that she can't eat. Individually I think each of these stories are valid and worth telling. The problem comes in with the lack of air time making it look like all she has are problems and not focusing on the positive changes that are happening as well. Like making it clear that the fact that the argument with her friend as well as the problems with her now ex-boyfriend may in part stem from positive changes that may be happening in her making her realize she no longer needs to allow her friends to treat her as the "fat-friend" that you can take for granted, treat like dirt, walk all over and still expect them to smile and tell you what you want to hear. And did any of you see the video of her at the recent Soap opera awards that was posted on CBS.com's GL page? She was wearing strapless black dress that looked great on her. Absolutely AMAZING! I am so happy for her. Caitlin if you are reading this "I LOVE YOU!!, and you are my HERO for having the courage to air this life changing and personal journey your are making." any comments I'm making are out of my love for what you are doing and my desire for more non-banded people to better understand what we are going through. Darn those writers, why can't they give you more air time??

Small clarification: Allergan is the current parent company of Inamed. Allergan bought them up a year or two ago. As mentioned they have several varieties of band on the market right now. As far as market share this is what I found from Allergan's first quarter 2008 earnings report: "The worldwide bariatric surgery market for band and balloon segments only is roughly 320 million, growing at a rate of roughly 50 to 55%, and Allergan has approximately 80 to 85% market share. And here is a link to the original source: Allergan, Inc. Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha It did mention that the US market had shown a slight decrease in growth due in part to the introduction of the Realize band as well as a percieved impact of the current economic times possibly causing some self-pay patients to be a bit more reluctant to spend so much cash out of pocket in the US. However the overall market share was unchanged from 2007 (this wasn't stated in the report but I found the 2007 report and the market share numbers were identical.) As far as which is better. I am no doc or medical professional so I'd rather not give an opinion. Both companies have been making bands for well over a decade (even if not in the US) and have proven track records. I will say that some of the literature being put out by Realize that implies it is "safer" than the Lapband is misleading as it is based on comparing FDA test results between the two. The problem with such a comparison in my opinion is that the docs doing the procedures back when the lapband was being approved were using older procedures at the time and less experienced than the doctors that were part of the more recent Realize FDA trials. Legally, both companies can only refer to the FDA stats on thier literature within the US but those results do not reflect in my opinion the most accurate and uptodate picture of today's procedures.

Deciding for or against the band or any other procedure is a very personal decision. I would never presume to tell you which procedure is the best for you. That said, I also have never heard of any valid studies showing "Failure" rates that high. I would strongly reccomend doing a google search for the names Dr. John Dixon or Paul O'Brien. Both of these Doctors have published (sometimes jointly) mutiple long term case studies on the Lapband. Some of these studies have been on groups of over 900 patients and lasted longer than a decade. If you are interested in reading some of the studies I have collected over the last 3 years I'd be glad to forward you the PDF's. Just send me a Private Message.

I am SO SORRY for your friend. I don't have any personal experience with Dr. N so you need to take what I say as being worth what your paying for it. However I have heard some other negative things both here on LBT and on Yahoo's KCBandster site. Everything from surgery induced infections to a couple years ago he was reported to be asking his patients to keep their fill needle so he could re-use it on their next visit. (Though that was stopped.) Another area doc I've heard bad things about is Dr. Opie out of Olathe. I have a friend who was banded out of state but was going to him for fills who just had to have a port revision because he punctured the tubing repeatedly while trying to giver her a fill. The two docs in town that I know well enough to reccommend are Dr. Malley and Dr. Hoehn. Dr. M is a proctor for Inamed/Allergan and has done over 1000 surgeries, he works out of New Hope Bariatrics. Dr. H has done well over 500 last I heard and the hospital he works out of (SMMC) was the first in the area to receive the Center of Excellence Rating. I was banded by H but now get my fills by M. I would trust both with my life as far as surgical skills go but if I were to start over I would have gone with M all the way instead, strictly based on staffing and program issues. Well that and the fact that I really like he has done the most in town and is the companies teacher for new docs in the region.

My symptoms and the bloodwork led my doctor to suspect the tumor but it was an MRI that confirmed it.

Amazing, Absolutely Amazing!!!

the stalk effect tumors aren't actually producing hormones instead they press on the "stalk" between the pituitary and the hypothalamus (sp?) which blocks the signals between the two telling the pituitary when to shut off production of things like prolactin. One reason they think this isn't a true prolactinoma is that my prolactin is only at 40 which is barely elevated compared to normal prolactinomas which can cause prolactin levels to be up in 100's and higher.

Ive been prescribed cabergoline (Dostinex) it is in the same family as Bromcriptine (so I've been told) but has a bit lower risk of side effects such as nasea and headaches. Still, there appears to be a 25% chance of both of those side effects from what I've read online. Has your husband had any problems with any side effects? And was his tumor a prolactinoma or a non-functioning stalk effect tumor? Everything I'm reading online seems to suggest the medication is for those with prolactinoma's but my docs all agree that I have the non-functioning stalk effect tumor so I'm not too clear on why they are trying the drungs. Don't get me wrong if it means I can safely postpone the surgery I'm all for it but I am doubting the chances of it working on my particular tumor. Thank you so much for sharing.

Follow Up: The endocronologist wants me to try a drug therapy for 4 months that might shrink the tumor without surgery. He only gives it a 50/50 chance of working but it should give me enough time to try to get a breast reduction before I have to worry about possible brain surgery. I know I know it sounds so vain, but really the back pains and clothing issues are annoying me so much more than a few missed periods and a little breast milk. If the meds do work I'll have to take them twice a week for a minimum of 2 years before I can get off them and it seems many patients complain of nasea with them. Its also in the same family of drugs as phen phen was but there is no proof of it helping aid in weight loss or increasing heart problems but there are no guarantees either.

Grrr.... I just spent nearly 30 minutes typing a post here just to have Internet Explorer crash on me. Grrr.... I don't have time to rethink and retype the whole thing as elegantly as before but I still want to get out the gist of what I wanted to say especially to the likes of Watcher and BJean. You two are amongst my favorite LBT-posters and I always respect what you have to say though I'm often on the other side of the political fence. But I did want to say I was a bit hurt by BJean's comment below the other day: I do understand where you are coming from and COMPLETELY agree with the last paragraph. What hurt was the implication that this is a flaw strictly of the Republicans and that it was indemic in ALL republicans. I didn't want to come across as a mudslinger myself so I didn't spend anytime trying to find proof of any democrats attacking republicans with lies and deception but I'm sure we would all agree it happens. But I did want to point out that NOT ALL repbulican behave this way. For example just this morning I received an e-mail which came in two parts. The larger part was in support of McCain that upon research proved true but the second part was a deceptively false quote touted to be from Obama. In the end I spent well over an hour researching and debunking the portion of the e-mail that was against Obama. I wrote out a detailed rebuttal with links to sites such as Snopes.com to back me up and sent it back to the original poster along with every person I saw that he had forwarded it to. Pleading with them to stop spreading the lies. This is something I do everytime I see it. Wether it helps or hurts my candidate. BJean, Watcher, I love you guys, but please try not to fall in the trap of lumping whole groups of people together and accusing them all of the negative tactics of a few. It makes you start to look as guilty as the ignorant people who believe all muslims are either terrorists or terrorist sympathisers. And I for one know that neither of you have any right to be accused of being ignorant. (oddly enough the e-mail came from my democratic step father who loves to joke about locking my republican mother in the closet on election days, but yet plans to vote for McCain, but that is a long story for another day and not necessarily one that helps McCain's position)

Green, so good to hear from you. I've been sending good vibes/prayers your direction as well. I know you have so much more on your plate but I think I'd want to put a swift boot up the backside of whoever noted that you had a BMI that low and were slightly overweight at the same time GRRrrrr!

I'm a McCain supporter myself. Not because of skin color (or lack of ovaries) but because of his political views though I will say I'd much happier with the idea that if McCain loses it will be to Obama rather than Clinton. I just couldn't stomach her. That said. I thought the whole "Muslim thing..." had been put to rest. He says that he is respectfull of all religions but is adamant that he is not nor ever was Muslim. Infact he was baptised approx. 20 years ago in his mid 20's before he ever ran for a political office. There has never been any kind of "proof" given to show that Obama is lying about this at all. I'm not trying to pick on you. but I really wish that this particular rumor would disappear. Like I said I'm really not trying to pick on you. I have no idea if you concerns are a reflection of today's issues or some sort of religious bias. I prefer to assume the former rather than the latter as I myself have had simillar issues back when Lieberman was running for VP with Kerry. I didn't think that the world was ready for a jewish VP. My husband thought I was an anti-semite for my views, but it just felt too much like throwing jet fuel on a fire considering the current issues in the Middle East and other Muslim areas. I thought it would be an invitation to every extremist wether it be skinhead, neo-nazi, muslim, or whatever to hit the US with any and every terrorist plot they could think of. Obama on the other hand even though I don't support him seems more likely to be taken in a positive way by the majority of the rest of the world.

I remember loving cheese Soups. brocolli cheese, spicy cheese, beer cheese, cheesy potato, all blended ofcourse. In the pre-band days I would have considered them too high in calories but post band I thought they had a higher Protein count than most soups and I was eating small enough portions my daily calorie intake was still well under 1,000 cal/day. Good Luck.

Sadly our backyard is completely covered in concrete. (Very small area, previous owner paved and put in basketball hoop) Sorry all, things have been pretty hectic around here, I haven't had much time online with everything going on at home and work. I also didn't have any new information until just this Thursday. My appointment with the Neurosurgeon was just over 3 weeks ago now. When I left the appointment they wanted me to see a special Neuro-opthamologist and a Endocronologist that specializes in Pituitary Disorders. I was told the Neurosurgeon's nurse was going to set the opthomologist's appointment but that the endocronologists would call me with an appointment time. They said I wasn't able to call directly to make the appointments myself but that they would put it in as a rush. Even at a rush they said it would take nearly a week before I'd hear from the endocronologist. Well...I waited and waited but no word. Finally after calling the neurosurgeon's nurse 3 time in 3 weeks, they were able to get me an appointment. I guess they had made an error when they first put in the referral request and didn't mark it rush so the endocronologist's office had it in a pile of patients they were planning on getting in sometime in the next 3 months instead of rush. Even now my appointment isn't until June 19th. But to be honest. Unless some new information comes to light I am really wanting to postpone any surgery until next year for several reasons. Mainly because I really want to get my breast reduction surgery done for both asthetic reasons as well as the back problems it causes. I was also told by several nurses that my lung function should improve substantially after the reduction surgery. Which could help with the recovery from the brain surgery. Every past surgery I've had there have always been minor complications afterwards with my blood oxygen levels. I know it sounds like a bit of an excuse to go with the plastics but the "girls" annoy me much more than this tumor at the moment. The only thing this tumor is doing to me right now is causing my TOM to be every 90 days, what a hardship (She says eyes rolling!) The other benefit to waiting until next year for the surgery would be to give me more time to research and make sure I'm really comfortable with this neurosurgeon performing the operation. She's does this surgery a couple times a week but has only been doing it for 3 years so it wouldn't hurt for her to get another year of experience under her belt. Sorry if I've rambled, I hope this post makes sense. But, I don't have time to review and edit what I've written and I wanted to give you all an update.

Absolutely FABULOUS!!! I am so happy for your BBK

Alex, I was wondering if you could merge the monthly forums for bandsters out a couple years. I love the monthly support groups for those that have been banded for the first 12-18 months but by the time you get to 2+ years so many have disappeard that the monthly groups get quite lonely. I'd rather there was just one forum category for all of 2005 where we could start a thread for all of us that were banded in 05 and are still around. And another forum for those from 2004 and earlier. - 2008 - jan - feb - mar - etc. - 2007 - jan - feb - mar - etc - 2006 - open to posting non-monthly threads (depending on how active this area still is) - 2005 - open to posting non-monthly threads - 2004 and older This isn't to say those in the 2006 or older forum groups couldn't start a thread titled with a month just that we weren't confined to going to our specific month.

Hey there Sweetie I am so sorry this had to happen to you. I'm glad you're back on track for 6 weeks from now. Keep us all posted. It's sad to say but you may just have become the poster child for LBT as to why other pre-bandsters should pay more attention to their pre-op diet. Let me clarify that comment. I am NOT suggesting you didn't follow your docs diet. From what you told us he just didn't have you on it long enough. What I'm referring to are the pre-bandsters that are out there posting legitimate questions about wether or not it is OK for them to "Cheat" on their doc's pre-op diet since they have heard of others that had less restrictive diets or those who had no problems in surgery after cheating. I have no idea what the stats are but in my book even if only 1 out of 1000 patients get closed up without a band because of thier liver. I'd rather do everything within my power not to be that 1.

I am not a doctor or in the medical field but my band doc who is a proctor for Allergan disagrees. He does not believe the pounch can be streched by pop or mashed potatoes for that matter. His stance is that you will burp or pb as the case may be long before anything stays in your stomach long enough to strech the pouch out. Now if you don't pb the mash potatoes and just sit there with them in your esophogus (sp?) can cause problems. But again take my advice for what you paid for it. The best advice is to always follow doc's advice and it never hurts to follow the most strict advice you hear. Taking the old "its better to be safe than sorry" stance. - Personally, I have drank the occasional soda as well as mash potatoes. But, am I advocating you follow my example? No. And as to wether or not my doing so has caused any damage yet I can't say. The only reason I'm even telling you I ate them is so that you don't think I'm just some perfect bandster that is talking from some high pedestal.

I've also had issues with the comparisons between the surgeries but my problems have been with people assuming that the LB carries the same surgical risks as well as the post surgery health risks. They start asking about issues such as dumping or malnutrition and say things like they would never take such a drastic & dangerous irreversable step. I try to treat it like an opportunity to educate but sometimes it is hard not to get annoyed.