lilith

Is she thin or overweight? I could take the comment if she is overweight but if she is thin I would probably sit on her, lol.

Hi Dr. Schulman, Does laser treatment help with stretch marks? Either red or white? Thank you!

You're right. We have remote controls for everything from the TV to the garage door but for some reason WLS is ridiculed for being "easy". I think (hope) it will be viewed differently in another decade. Why can't people understand that it's just another weight loss tool and not a magic cure? We still have to eat right, exercise and everything else that someone without WLS would have to do, PLUS we made the decison to have surgery on top of that... I want to know what the easy part is???

I nursed all three of mine, the first one I covered up, the second one, I tried to cover up, by the third one, I really didn't care! But by then I was good at hiding it, and I wore shirts that made it easy. Most embarrassing BF moment - I was in home depot and had my son on my hip while I talked to the saleman about a storm door, I look down and realize my son has unbuttoned my shirt and removed my breast from my bra without me even noticing... I slowly backed away while keeping eye contact and got the heck out of there as fast as I could! He got weaned right then! Worst BF moment - same kid, I was breastfeeding him when we, him, my oldest daughter, and myself all got the chickenpox! I wanted to stop nursing but the ped convinced me he needed it more then than ever..... it was miserable! I remember crying while I nursed him, poor little guy, he was as gentle as he could be.

Hi Donna, Yes, she is. And she says she's jealous, but I think she's convinced herself that since she is being honest with me and saying she's jealous it's okay to say any nasty thing to me that pops into her head. She keeps telling me not to expect people to pat me on the back, what she doesn't get is I don't expect her to pat me on the back, but I do expect her to respect my decision and support me as her friend.

This is sooo true! I just had this conversation with my "best friend" yesterday. She told me she doesn't care what I say I'm taking the easy way out, which I think is crap but I couldn't win that argument with her so I said fine, let's say it is easy, so what?! It's just like child birth, the first time you think you want to go natural because it makes you less of a woman if you take the drugs, but guess what, no one ever shows up with a trophy! If you can find a tool that makes your goals easier to reach GRAB IT! And as for Oprah she should do a show on the positive outcomes of WLS, a few years back she did a show on it that scared me out of thinking I would ever travel down this road. She actually looked like she was really interested in it, I think if she weren't in the spotlight she would have done it already.

Thank you for your reply. I guess I'll hope for the best! I spoke to a friend yesterday who lost a good deal of weight without WLS and she still ended up with loose skin. So I guess it doesn't matter....

I haven't had my band yet but I have had several surgeries for endometriosis and a hysterectomy, I had a lot of shoulder pain after each, it was due to the gas they use to "float" your intestines and other organs out of the way. They always told me to sleep propped up so the gas wouldn't settle under my shoulder blades... Hope you are feeling better soon!

Thanks, again! Life should be easier, eh? lol

Is there any way to tell how elastic your skin is? I know this is sort of a silly question... but I was really set on this surgery until I had an hour lecture from a friend about how I'm going to hate myself when I have hanging skin vs the curves I have now, I'm 33, I've had 3 children and most of my weight is in my bottom and legs, I'm 5'5" and 254 currently. Thanks for any advice...

Well, two things don't help - one she's been skinny her whole life and really doesn't get it... two, I had told her that lapband patients lose slower therefore don't have as many skin issues as bypass patients and when the doctor addressed that he said it really doesn't work that way, that it just depends on the person so that lit her fire to think I'm wrong and she's right... blah. Anywho, I appreciate your response!!!

Thanks, Slim! Now I'm being bumbed out because I just came home from my info session (have not seen surgeon yet) and the whole way home my friend (who is a nurse and attended with me) gave me a lecture about how if it was her she would rather look like I do now vs having hanging skin... she has two friends who have had the bypass surgery in the last year and are having horrible skin issues. So I guess I'm just bummed out at this point.

I don't think my Spanx are crotchless... oh geez, now I have to go look! lol

How the heck do you pee with them on???? I usually wear underwear with them.......

I use Spanx all the time, they are great! And they don't rip like panty hose so you actually get to use them more than once! I have some that I've had for a few years (... of course they are too small now!). I would go to Lane Bryant, they can help you pick the right size, they sell them on a rack by the socks and what not. If you don't have a Lane Bryant I would just go by the chart on the back, if you are worried about it you could buy a size up, they are REALLY elastic so I wouldn't worry about them being too big. I haven't used the ones with toes, I only use the traditional ones with the feet cut out.

I'm so jealous! I'm still on month one of my supervised diet!!! 5 and a half more months to go!

They just called me and told me I have "mild" sleep apnea and I had to schedule an appointment with a sleep specialist to go over the results - I couldn't get an appointment until November 14th though... I hate waiting for everything! My husband and I have shared a bed for 15+ years - and he can't tell me anything other than I snore... he's a lot of help! lol

So they just called and said I have "mild sleep apnea" - they said I have to go over my results with a sleep specialist as it's not bad enough to warrant a second sleep study, at least not yet... whatever that means! All of my blood work came back great (I should be happy about that right?! lol).

Okay, this will sound stupid, but has anyone ever lost too much weight on the pre-op diet? I have to do the six months supervised by my PCP - she put me on phentermine (again) which does cause me to lose weight, but it never stays off. I've actually lost 6 lbs in the last week and I'm scared I'm going to lose too much and not qualify... I think I'll still be fat enough but if the insurance company sees that I can lose weight on the phentermine will they deny my lapband??? Help!

Be careful though - my insurance wants the diet supervised by my PCP - not a dietition or a nutritionist. I would check first!

Good luck!!!

I'll start with the second call first, the nurse from my PCP's office called and told me all my blood work was GREAT! I can't believe I don't have high anything......lol - I mean really, I should be happy but so help me if I wasn't trying to have this surgery it wouldn't have all come back horrible. I had gestational diabetes three different times, I figured at least my blood sugars would be off, I'm 130 lbs overweight! Still waiting on the sleep study results... Okay, other phone call, my friend "the nurse" called me with more info about the lapband (like I haven't read it all already, lol), but bless her for caring! She doesn't really get that the band is safer, she thinks I should go with the bypass - actually she thinks I should go with nothing, but if I have to do it, than the bypass. Of course she's never weighed over 120 (probably not even when she was nine months pregnant!) so her interest in WLS is min to none! But she was telling me all about the band growing into your stomach, and the band slipping, and the port, etc.... she said you have to always have it adjusted and how much it hurts.... why did I tell anyone?

I'll start with the second call first, the nurse from my PCP's office called and told me all my blood work was GREAT! I can't believe I don't have high anything......lol - I mean really, I should be happy but so help me if I wasn't trying to have this surgery it wouldn't have all come back horrible. I had gestational diabetes three different times, I figured at least my blood sugars would be off, I'm 130 lbs overweight! Still waiting on the sleep study results... Okay, other phone call, my friend "the nurse" called me with more info about the lapband (like I haven't read it all already, lol), but bless her for caring! She doesn't really get that the band is safer, she thinks I should go with the bypass - actually she thinks I should go with nothing, but if I have to do it, than the bypass. Of course she's never weighed over 120 (probably not even when she was nine months pregnant!) so her interest in WLS is min to none! But she was telling me all about the band growing into your stomach, and the band slipping, and the port, etc.... she said you have to always have it adjusted and how much it hurts.... why did I tell anyone? :eek:

Congratulations!!!

That just stinks! I'm so sorry!!!!