TQUAD64

Yes, the last time I had it checked it should normal, but nonetheless the symptoms were there, so I made the doctor increase the meds just slightly, which resolved the issues.

Yesterday: 60 minute treadmill 4% incline for 3.40 miles jogging and running.:cursing: Today: 60 minutes of slow walking 5% incline 2.68 miles. Really sore on my left hip. Lulu: Get back into the swing of school is so hard, but once you find your rhythm, I have no doubt you will complete your program. I just need to find my rhythm, so I can turn in my thesis and argue it in front of the oral board..so close...

I am not from VA, but my surgeon had done about 30 band procedures before me. She is new to the hospital that I go for my care. She is young, hip, female, very knowledgeable, agressive with fills, and let me really take control of how I wanted things to go, which I love. I am very anal about being in control, so this relationship works great for me. In return for all the benefits I was getting from her, she had the chief of the bariatric center in the surgery with her, plus a proctor from LapBand there too! So really, I felt very comfortable with her lack of experience. It really is a personal decision you will have to ponder. Good luck!

What's a sweet spot? I have an idea, but clarification is needed. The sweet spot is the point where upon a person achieves restriction that provides consisten weight loss. Usually you do not need further fills after reaching the sweet spot, however everyone has different results. How do I know if I need a fill or if I'm too filled? Some signs of being to filled are vomiting, sliming, bps, food being stuck, and/or the inability to keep fluids down. Is it painful if you eat too much? I hear lots about heart burn. I suppose it can be painful if you overeat. I have not had this experience because I don't over eat. I measure my food, track my calories, I eat slow and chew my food thoroughly. I am not distracted while eating, which means no tele, radio, car driving, or computer. I have never had heartburn pre-band or post band. Is your diet restricted completely to avoid certain foods once your back into the normal eating phase? I can eat any food. I have no diet restrictions. I do eat in moderation. And if I am going to have high calorie foods, I increase my exercise to compensate for my sweet tooth. My doctor states that I can eat any food types, but the thing is the band is very fickle. What goes down the pipe for me might get stuck for someone else. You just have to see what food items work with your band. Is there anyone out there who found the liquid portion after your LB surgery completely torturous? Yes, just plain and simple the liquid diet pre-band and post band sucks! But it does not last forever. Has anyone had a leak and if so, how do they treat it? Yes, I have a leak, which the doctor and I monitor every month. At one fill, I was missing .5 cc at another fill I was missing 1cc. If the leak is significant, then revision surgery will occur. How long is recovery time? I was planning to take 3 days off and go back in the middle of the week... is that too soon? It depends on your ability to recover and the type of job you have. Everyone's experience is different. I took two weeks off from my stationary job. I felt great going back to work with lots of energy. I like bulk fiber... is that a no no forever after being banded? No food types or off the list for me, but what works for me may not work for you. Really, you just need to play by ear and see what works with your band. What happens if you have a stomach virus and vomit? I know that vomiting, among other things, can loosen the band or displace it... is that indication for surgery? My doctor gave me anti-nasuea Patches just in case of an emergency...aka flu bug... Ask your doctor if they will do the same for you. Constant vomiting might make the band slip. Is anyone else in the same situation where they have kept it a secret? I'm not even sure if I will tell anyone afterwards. I have not told anyone, except my sister. And the only reason why she knows is because she was my emergency contact person for the hospital. My family, friends, and employer do not know. I do not lie; when people ask about my weight loss, I tell them the truth..I am training for a marathon and eating healthier foods. I do not lie; when I need to go to the doctor. I tell my employer I have a medical appointment and I do not provide details of it. I am on FMLA to safe guard my job, so I can attend medical appointments. I am very aware of my HIPPA rights, and I chose not to disclose my medical information to anyone. I have to go 1.5 hours away to attend my appointments, so yes people are curious, but they don't dare ask me why. Good luck!

Just my personal opinion, but I believe it is more about an overall modification of our lives, which helps makes the band a success. Although portion control is part of the equation, the other factors influencing success are healthy eating habits, exercise, aftercare, and support groups. Maybe some people can be successful with implementing just one of these factors, but that is so not me. Every day I struggle with appropriate food choices and exercise. The band is not an easy tool, but I knew that before I had it inserted. So every day I work it. I wish your daughter the best. :cursing:

You can only have so many lines in your signature box. I tried to put more data, but was not able to. So I deleted my old information pertaining to the dates of my pre-op requirements and just put fills, weight, and surgery date. I think you can only have 10 lines of information. I can't remember the exact number of lines.

It is getting worse for me. With in the last 4-weeks at the same time I started to incorporate jogging into my workout, I started losing clumps of hair in the shower. It is so bad that I wash my hair every third day now, so I don't go bald. But it doesn't stop there, because during the day hair just keeps falling out. Next Thursday I see my PC doctor. I am going to have him increase my thyroid meds up just a little, especially in-light of my joint pain and my tiredness all of a sudden. I have been on thyroids meds since 2001 and only had to adjust my meds once, because I exhibited all the same symptoms from above. Just by increasing the meds very slightly, the symptoms disappeared. So I am hoping for the same results.

The only person I told was my sister. She know exactly what procedure I had done. I was not planning to tell anyone, but the hospital insisted that I provide an emergency contact person, so that got me to thinking...what if something happens? What if I don't wake up from the surgery. So I did the grown up thing and told my sister where to find my life insurance policies and how best to help my adult kids get through the worse should the worse happen. My brother was the one who actually dropped me off at the hospital and picked me up from the hospital, but he does not know what type of procedure I had done. :confused:

She wants to start her masters degree, well I just completed a three year full-time masters program in the area of public administration. And it was hard to complete it!!!! My masters program offers no classes on line. I had to attend class twice a week; with each class being three hours long, so 6-hours of night classes, which I went to after I worked all day at my full time job! Plus, each class had three to four text books that I had to pay for and keep up with the reading assignments. Weekly reading assignments involved at least 10-15 hours of reading and comprehending. Plus, I had to do the weekly assignments, mid-term paper, and tests, plus the final. Not to mention that each class required that I be in a team group assignment, which required a team group project, which required meeting with the team after class hours on weekends at week-nights. How the heck does she plan to do that with 8 new borns and 6 other kids at home. She is crazy! Does she have three nannys?

My girlfriends do not know I was banded. They know I am training for a marathon, which is causing me to make healthy food choices and not drink alcohol, which is all true. It is always best to talk to your doctor about what you can or cannot consume. My doctor asks that we limit our consumption of it, because it is empty calories. Personally, 4 ounces of wine puts me under the table now. I am a total light weight now.

Fills and the band are fickle. It is different for everyone. There is no one size fits all story. My first 3cc fill at surgery gave me no restriction. My second fill gave me restriction for about two weeks. During that two week time, I could eat and saty full for 5-6 hours. Eventually that faded and I was eating every 3 hours and was eating more too. My third fill was a total flop. I recieved 1cc and I did not fill a darn thing. I was just plain hungry. My fourth fill, 1.5cc, gave me really tight restriction. I could not physically eat a lot, but was hungry every three hours. I am losing lots of weight with this fill. But this fill is way different than any of the other fills I received. Right now I have 5.5cc in a 10cc band and I have great restriction, which I hope it lasts.

I love my girls day/night out. We having been doing this for over a year and it is a monthly ritual that no one or anything comes between. I had my surgery in November and girls night out was the first week in December. And you better believe I was so there for it. Did I drink, no. Did I eat food, yes, but it was very limited. Part of girls day/night is the sharing of life; our joys, failures, tears, and laughter...and really who needs food and alcohol to do that? All you need is you Best Girl Friends BGF.

Actually, you sound like your on targert. You are losing 1-2 pounds per week, which is the average. Please remember when increasing your exercise activity you lose fat, but gain muscle. Muscle weighs more, thus you might not move the scale down. But I bet you are losing lots of inches. Additionally, when exercising it is important to keep your Protein levels up. Protein will help make you feel full and will help with muscle. You might want to increase your calorie intake to 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. I know it sounds odd, but when you are working out and consume more calories it helps with weight loss. Good luck!

My doctor decided which size band I would get, which was a 10cc band. This is based on my inside anatomy and what my doctor deems best for me. The 14cc band holds more Fluid. It is really hard to know how long it takes to completely fill the band. But remember the goal is to not completely fill the band. Your doctor wants you to have restriction with the least amount of fills. I am not sure what will happen when you reach full band fill capacity without restriction. You can always have the doctor take out fill from the band if less restriction is needed. Good luck!

Well, I gave birth two babies and stretch marks are all over the place. I live with them. They don't bother me. Plus, I never found any magical cream to make them fade. Now, I don't have lose skin as of yet. I never has lose skin before. But I am older now, with more weight to get rid of, so I am not sure what my body will look like when I reach a normal BMI. I am definitely planning to have some type of breast lift augmentation, but I just cannot get my hear wrapped around the TT scar. I will just have to cross the bridge when I get there. Good luck!

Hello Poma and welcome to LBT. You have definitely have come to the right place for support. I believe everyone's emotions are all over the place with WLS, primarily the fear of the unknown. Continue your research and learn all you can as it well help diminish some of your fears. Good luck!

Hi Shane, welcome to LBT! You know I never set any band goals for myself. To be honest, I am afraid of failure. You know when you have been on 20-something diet attempts you get kind of afraid to set a weight loss goal. Like you, my goal is to live a long healthy life. So good luck on your journey!

LaniernCats, your concerns ar reasonable. I had the same concerns as well. The same fears. I wanted to have healthy weight loss. I did not want to be malnourished or become anorexic. I did not want to be on a long term liquid diet and I wanted to fit in at social occassions with regular food. I did not want to be the odd girl out whipping out a liquid Protein shake, while everyone else ate solid foods. Talk about awkward. I really did voice these concerns to my doctor, nurse, and nutritionist, which they all assured me that the band would not cause me to become malnourished, but that a daily Vitamin regiment would be necessary. As far as band issues, yes some people do have issues with their band, but there are many more people who do not have issues with their band. I have 4 fills and I have never been stuck. I have never slimed, vomited or bps with the band. I eat regular foods, but a whole lot less of it. Good luck with your decision.

I had to present several years of documented weight loss attempts for my insurance company too. I believe a majority of insurance companies have this requirement. There are so many insurance requirements for WLS procedures that one has to suspect it is a tool utilized to weed out potential patients for this these types of procedures. Personally, I had been seeing the same primary care doctor for over 15-years with most of that focused on weight loss. I had phen-fen, merida, and so many other weight los RX meds with my doctor for several years that it was easy for me to provide the documentation. If you have any type of documented weight loss attemps with your pc, then this will help bolster your case. As far as a supervised weight loss diet, I had to do 6 consectutive months within the past 12-months on top of the several years of previous weight loss attempts. I know insurance companies can be frustrating, but if they will cover the procedure 100% or at a reduced rate, then it is well worth your extra effort to complete their requirements. Good luck!

Yep, she will need a bus to shuttle 14 kids in 14 car seats. If the 7-year old does not weigh at least 60 pounds that kid will need to be in a car seat to. I believe the law state 60-pounds and/or 6-years old.

Yeah right, take 8 premies to day care, plus her 6 other kids. That's real smart. A premies immune system is not full developed, so what is this whacko going to do, take them to a day care center where every runny nose kid will be at in the fall. What on earth is she thinking?

Hello alyciaboo. Come join the November Banders thread. November 2008 Bandsters - Lap Band Surgery and Lap Band Discussion Forum

Great job!!! That is so awesome! :confused:

No I did not see it, I was at work, but CNN has info on it. I cannot wait to see the interview. But here is her picture on CNN. Octuplets' mom: 'All I ever wanted' - CNN.com Who the heck is going to watch all those kids while she is in school. When can she go to school? Even if she does Internest classes, how the hell is she going to study, do homework, and support her kids? Yeah, we know how she is going to support her kids...$$$$$Cha ching, sell her story.

The band is so fickle. Tightness comes and goes at its own leisure. People can have a fill, drink the Water their doctor gives them with no problem, and then go home or back to work only to discover they are too tight. I would not allow this to go beyond tomorrow. Call your doctor to get a slight unfill. By the way, how much fill did your doctor give you?