Momotrips

I thought that my thyroid was screwed up after surgery because I was cold ALL the time. I think I'm back to normal now. I never even thought about the anesthesia. I don't recall that happening any other time I have had anesthesia. Weird.

Gawd, me too! Banded on 10/20 and lost 11 pounds. I am on full liquids around 800 cals./day and I DON'T cheat. I wish it were faster, but it's 11 pounds less than before, so can't complain.

I had the juice from tortilla soup on liquid stage and I have had some thicker tortilla soup with veggies, etc. blended up on full liquid stage. When you get to mushies you can have mushed up beans & cheese. Just the little taste of Mexican was satisfying with the soups. I'm looking forward to mushies so that I can try the beans...I'm 19 days out.

Jacqui, the older you get, the more things seem to go all wonky with the period and the hormones. I have a heart arrhythmia that almost only bothers me right around my period. I keep telling my cardiologist and he says it's possible, because hormones affect everything, but he's never heard of that. Every other women that has PVC's that I've ever spoken to says that theirs only happen around their period or are worse then. My IBS sometimes becomes constipation at TOM - that's SO not my problem the rest of the month. However, IBS is funny, some have constipation, some urgency. Crista94, my husband cannot eat olive oil. It literally runs right through him every single time. It makes him instantly sick. He doesn't really have any other symptoms of IBS on a regular basis. This just developed in the last several years, too. Maybe that's what's happened to you, you just happened to develop this sensitivity around the same time you were banded. I'd go to your GP and ask about it. Perhaps visit a gastroenterologist. There are treatments if it is really bothersome. Otherwise, I'd just say you're lucky that your body is rejecting bad foods!

I'll go with the gallbladder theory - did your doctor remove your gallbladder during surgery? Did you have it removed at any time? PCS (post cholestectomy syndrome) happens after having your gallbladder removed in more than 40% of patients. It can happen immediately after removal or even months or years after. Most doctor's will only tell you about 15-20% of people experience PCS, but with practical information from patients, and asking patients months and years after their gallbladders were removed, a lot of doctors will tell you it is more like 40% if not more. It is a dumping syndrome - you can also have a type of dumping from IBS. Lucky me, I have both. My gastroenterologist gave me Librax to help combat it - it has a small amount of anti-anxiety medication in it, because anxiety is a big trigger. Funny thing is though, he also gave me Glucophage to help me clear my liver and try to lose weight. I told him that his humor was not lost on me! I will take my Glucophage at night, but if I am going to be somewhere out and about, I will NOT take it in the morning. No telling where you'll be when you just GOTTA go. The weird thing is you can feel it. Somehow, everything is liquified and all of a sudden just shoots through your intestines - you can feel it moving through back and forth. Very weird. So, you don't have a shortened intestines like in an RNY, but your body makes short work of whats there.

According to all of my doctors' staff, UHC is the best insurance with which to work and easiest from which to collect. Yes, there are many different policies, but WLS being covered or not is usually a stipulation of the employer, not UHC. I believe a company's policy is cheaper if they don't allow it. (Same with infertility - I got lucky on that one too. My former company changed the policy the MOMENT I gave birth! Hee!). I had no problems at all. I contacted all of my doctors and had them send my records to my surgeon, the surgeon's staff packaged it in the way UHC requests and off it went. My only snag came in that it floated around the UHC office longer than I would have liked. UHC was willing to let me get the surgery with just a phone call from my surgeon's office, but they preferred to get the official approval by letter. My surgeon loves to work with UHC - he has you pay the estimated difference up front and then they deal with UHC for the rest. Simple. I paid $600 out of pocket and may or may not get some of that back. Haven't gotten the hospital or anesthesiology bill yet, though. You never know with that stuff. I had a 39 BMI and co-morbidities. They ask for proof of a doctor assisted diet, but apparently it isn't really required. Especially since I checked off 95% of the list of recognized diets on the questionnaire for my surgeon! It was easier just to mark out the ones I hadn't tried! Good luck. Call UHC and ask them what your policy covers. I called one day just out of curiosity (and being sick and tired of being fat) and they said yes that I was covered! It all started from there.

I realize you are 21 and probably don't want to lose your uterus at such a young age, but do your doctors hold any hope of you ever bearing children? With endometriosis and cysts severe enough that you have to be on Lupron for four years, I would wonder whether you will ever be able to conceive. If they assure you that you will be able to have children and you truly want biological children you are in a bit of a pickle. Are you married? Is this something you have thought about at this point? You may want to make the radical decision to have your uterus removed or have uterine ablation (they kill the lining of the uterus with heat). As far as I understand, they don't have to remove your ovaries and you would then have the alternative of surrogacy if you don't find that distasteful or against any religious beliefs. Otherwise, there is always adoption, not easy or cheap, but infertility treatments aren't either. I've been there. Ours was eventually successful (we have 8 year old triplets), but it took 5 LONG, HARD years and lots of time, money, physical discomfort and tears. Stacked against adoption, it's very much the same, except you don't have to put your body through hell for years first. Same outcome if you're lucky - you become a parent to a beautiful baby (or babies as the case may be). Try another set of doctors to see if there are any alternative treatments/drugs, etc. without the side effects of Lupron. It's a nasty drug. Birth control pills usually are used to treat endometriosis fairly successfully. Perhaps yours is too severe. It's worth trying for another opinion, though. Remaining overweight won't help your fertility or your overall health. Perhaps you could try alternative treatments and suffer a little until the weight comes off and then start treating more aggressively again. Or try and on and off cycle. It may take longer and you may have to put up with some pain and heavy bleeding, but you would be losing the weight which in the long run will improve things immensely. I took Lupron as part of my infertility treatments and it was always the worst part of the cycle. Aren't you just angry and sad and crazy all the time? I hated that stuff. Maybe you get used to it if you take it long enough. Good luck. I know how frustrated you must be. Try to be as proactive as possible with your treatment to see what can be worked out to improve your overall health.

Perhaps Mr. Alex/LBT can implement a password protection feature for threads since some people are so proprietary. Sheesh.

The stalking accusations are what have driven me to "log out and lurk". I will only log in to post. Why should we have to defend ourselves against reading and posting in ANY thread as long as we aren't being ugly and we ARE following the rules? Why do we have to get our user names plastered in a post asking "WHY are you here"? So, if the definition of being a "stalker" is reading posts and commenting whenever and wherever we feel like it - as I said last night - stalk on LBT, stalk on. However, I'll be doing it "stealth". That is all.

No worries! About the beer, I mean. A little grass never killed anyone - did it? I'll have to add that to my siggy, DrewsLou!

Ah, I see, the fireworks are lurking around out there...

Well? When do those fireworks start? And more importantly, where is my beer!? It's the full one!

I second that emotion, NurseKathy!

Damn, I forgot beer!

Diva, that was HI-FRICKEN-LARIOUS! Exactly! - I can't help myself. I just know someone's head is going to explode :D and God help me, I just don't want to miss it. How far will they go? How low will it sink? Will that ever-elusive "TRUTH" ever come out? STAY TUNED EVERYONE! If you can't beat 'em then watch 'em self-destruct. I'm just waiting for the "grand finale" - will it ever come? Do we even care about Lap Band anymore? Yesterday I was angry and more than a little upset about the unrest and hatefulness. Today, what the hell, let loose the lions, roll out the chariots! A little holiday entertainment is coming right up!:pop2: :pop2: :pop2: :pop2: Really, no matter where I go on the board, this stuff keeps popping up. I guess this makes me a stalker! Stalk on LBT! :rockon: Stalk on!