Bettina

ugh....I hear ya....going thru the same thing!! I'm thinking the longer they take the more weight i am gonna gain.

Way to go Margo!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!! You are an inspiration!!!

So it's official...I have sleep apnea...and I haven't slept since I found out...only catnapping since. UGH. At this point, I am not even thinking about the lapband...I just want to sleep. I have checked out the horrors of sleep apnea...double ugh! I went to the sleep apnea online support site...not as user friendly as LBT..boo-hoo. Anyway, Tuesday is when I get fitted for my lovely "headress"..hey maybe I can glue feathers on it...LOL :whoo: I laid on the couch :couch2:the other night to relax...all alone in the livingroom...and my throat closes...OMG...sat bolt upright...told myself to relax and I'd be okay....hmmm not! Went to the kitchen to get cold water from the cooler...took a sip, and the swelling went down! Yay! Luckily that was the only time that has happened to me.....but honestly I do find myself holding my breath a lot...esp when I am driving...Its comical when I think about it...I'll be driving along:car: and start to feel faint...and I am thinking...crap what is this about...then I realize..."Dummy, you are holding your breath!!!!! I take a breath and immediatly feel better. :drama: ugh the drama!!

You only have to be concerned if "Cabin Pressure" has bothered you in the past.

:cry I am sorry I posted that :cry didn't mean to upset anyone....... its still a good wake up call to take better care of yourself! (and if we feel better for taking natural supplements....I don't see the harm)

I told my little sis first (she had gastric bypass) then my kids..then 2 weeks after making the initial appt, I told my husband. (that was May and he is still not ovrejoyed with the idea). Then came Mom, cause damn I can't keep anything from that woman!! I just told the older sis this week cause when little sis was having her surgery...she was "poo-nicky" on surgery all the way. The only reason I told her was cause I now have sleep apnea and since my BIL has it I called sis to talk to her about it, and she delicately said that if I lost weight----there was my que!! (I tried to tell her 2 weeks ago...but the words were stuck...lol) The rest of my family does not know...I find it easier to tell total strangers...less judgemental! Some of my college classmates know...and they are supportive! But after banding when I am on my way back to my previous self....I will certainly tell anyone who asks!

a monkey and a beachball!!!...that is so wrong on so many levels!!!! You crack me up...LOL over here and can't tell anyone why!!!!!! :pound:

Putting Cool-Whip on it helps too........anything sugary...like the filling of Cadbury Eggs (Happy Easter!!!):clap2:

One more thing: This is an awesome website!!!!! She is known as the "Cosmetics Cop" check her out!!!!! http://www.cosmeticcop.com/learn/reviews.asp

Hi HunnyBun! I sell Avon (but taking a break from it right now) ..and honestly, you can get good products at Walmart, Kmart, Target...and you don't have to pay lots of money to look good. I check the ingredients...you will see that they make store brand products with the same ingredients as the name brand! Avon does make some good products but you are talking paying $28 for a small jar. As a matter of fact, I was in CVS tonight looking for that miracle in a jar that will make me look years younger...lol. I too am on a tight budget, but I have found that sample size products make me feel wonderful....you pay a small price, you can get several varieties of product and it will make you feel like you are giving yourself the whole beauty spa treatment! Even Dollar General is my new favorite place to shop for beauty products. So by buying the trial sizes, you get to see if you even like the product...I think the worst thing in the world is getting all hyped up about a product...and get it home and its not what you thought it was! Oh...you know who has a really great trial size variety....Berts Bee's...they give you everything in a convenient pouch!!! I felt like a queen when I got home and did the whole regime!! (ha ha all this talk---I found St Ives makes a mask with the same ingredients as a facial peel....gonna go apply it right now!!! And guess what? I only paid $2.99 for it at Shop Rite!!!!!) Best Wishes to you!!!!!!! (and hugs!)

"WHY ON EARTH can't the scientists make something that works without the side effects?? Snap to, biochemists!!!" Exactly.....that is why I am turning to WLS. The last diet pills I took I found myself fainting while driving my car on the Garden State Parkway. I am certified in Sports Nutrition, Holistic Health, and Personal Training....so I don't trust myself not to take diet pills again, hence the banding. ..I took Meridia, Xenical, Phen-Phen (which honestly If I could find them I'd buy even on the black market), and various other over the counter pills..ugh I am done! That reminds me...did the rest of you have to have been on at least 14 diets:hungry: that failed to qualify for lap band? I did...and had to provide the dates I was on them, how much I lost..and how much I gained back!!!! Oh and what exercise programs I was on, when, and i had to list the tapes and/or fitness CD's I own. :faint: Luckily I remembered all of this..whew it was a lot to remember!:nervous

you absolutely have to change your eating habits.

Marissa you are so not alone in this!!! I am a nervous wreck over here. I have had all my tests, insurance paid for most of everything so far (with the exception of $30) I just found out I have sleep apnea so Tuesday I have to go get fitted for that lovely headress..lol. I won't know if insurane approves me -oh and by the way my husbands insurance does cover lap banding---I won't know until I am scheduled and the doc gives insurance the whole package to see if they will cover it. I am told that even though insurance covers it, they may not cover every single person for various reasons!! OMG shoot me now! This has been so crazy that I have only been able to eat one meal a day --not even snacks---and I have lost 6 lbs in the last week and a half! But if we do get denied, we can just appeal it to our insurance ( a friend of mine told me this) eventually they will get sick of hearing from you and hopefully cover the procedure. I have mentioned this on another thread and someone mentioned to me that if I look around I will notice that most people on LBT pay for their own procedure. I am in NJ and I have met many people that have banding or gastric bypass done (my sis is one) and none of them have had to pay out of pocket!!!! While I am crosssing my fingers for myself, I'll be crossing them for you too Marissa!!!!

I would just go with what makes you feel comfortable. When I did Phen-Phen I stopped at 143 lbs...the doc whipped out a chart (which was by the way written by an insurance company not by a doctor!) and told me I could go down to 123. Okay at 5'6" 123 would be totally yucky. I was 143...and my size 8 jeans were falling off...everyone asked me if I was "sick" my clothes were size "medium". According to that chart "link" it says I should weigh 163...and don't get me wrong 163 is sure gonna look and feel way better than 238....but yikes that is a little high for my height. And going down to 123 as suggested by the life insurance companies is out of the question. I will know how much I want to weigh when i get there. I will be the only one who will know how much I weigh and I am the only one I have to please (just like we ALL do!!) lol...getting off my soap box now...

I like Designer Whey. But then again, I have been on so many diets, I can eat just about anything now and the taste is no big deal..lol. Gastric Bypass....hmmmm.....I totally supported my sis when she had it done. (her surgeon didn't do lap band at the time) At that time I was not heavy enough for the same surgery..which was okay because I was not a fan of having my stomach cut thru. But if need be then I agree it should be done. Her surgeon trained with Carni Wilson's surgeon..superior doctor. He is now my doctor and he trained for the lap band with the man who invented it. I spoke to the doc about the difference between the 2 -even though i wanted the band only--he told me that gastric patients lose the majority of the weight in the first year...because of healing-you are on limited food. After the healing...you are able to eat a little more therefore allowing the stomach to stretch to larger then when cut. With the band, you will always have the same size pouch and that is why weight loss can last up to 4 years after surgery. You have that opening into the larger stomach so the pouch doesn't need to stretch. So she lost 70 lbs immediately but now tells me that she needs tucking here and there.....I cannot afford that and want to lose the weight at a lower pace so that I can exercise and keep up with the firming of the skin while losing the fat. The part of the stomach that gets cut away controls your absorption of proteins...my sister had hair thinning and had to by hairpieces. But it grew back really nice!! She still dumps on occasion and she is 4 yrs out. She has even gained a little bit of the weight back, but if you ask her, she'd do it again in a heartbeat. So what all this means is do the research and do what works for you. :eek:

I have lost 6 lbs in the last week and a half. My husband thinks this will convince me that I can do this without the band....I told him if approved I am still being banded. I don't have eating issues per se, what I have is a husband whose mercy I am at who cookes like a gourmet...lol. The band for me will be my internal diet pill...in no way is this a cure...its my crutch. Once banded, I will have the ammo i need to flatly turn down the homemade goodies he makes. The scars will be my constant reminders of why I allowed myself to be scarred. I too am the type that when I lose the weight, I keep it off. (and I am talking a serious attempt at losing weight such as when i took phen-phen) (which ---I looked pretty good apparently because 9 months after losing the weight I got Rachel -now 9.) I will have the excuse to tell my boss "excuse me, I cannot be chained to my desk as I had WLS and I am required to get up-its my right". It will be my excuse to make time for me for a change--I will be able to take a guilt free walk even if I have to lift my shirt to show the scars..and say "ahem...remember why I did this?"...lol Its time for me for a change. In the past I have taken diet pills...somethimes will ill effects...I am no longer willing to injest drugs into my system that I am not certain will not do harm. Yesterday I found out about my sleep apnea...now more than ever I want the band. With that, and all the supportive and honest feedback from this forum,...I have no second thoughts about being banded. I am so glad I found out about LBT...(ha ha I found out from reading someone's MySpace profile...go figure!) Thanks again! Best Wishes to everyone!!!

omg FunnyDuddie, you crazy woman....get that Christmas countdown off your signature! ROFLMAO...isn't there enough stress without the reminder that I only have 159 days to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas!!! LOL :eek:

You guys are so awesome for sharing your stories with me!!!!!!!!! I am so glad I posted this topic! I felt so alone yesterday (which i know is crazy) but between the sleep apnea and telling me I may not get the banding...I was devastated! To make it worse, I was a zombie all day (didn't do my Spanish homework at all-and DH came home and wanted to know why i didn't get the dishes done...ugh!). I was trying not to sound like a whinner on this thread, it was just a truly bad day. I didn't sleep all night but managed to get in 2 hrs this morning. I am much better today because of all of your kindness. I am actually looking forward to getting real sleep again, its been awhile since that happened. And today I am also better about getting the date pushed back for banding. I just hope it's covered after all this. (the funny thing is because of all the stress of this process...I have been losing weight!!! I am down two more lbs...LOL)

:phanvan The pulmonary doc called today to tell me i have sleep apnea (moderate to severe-I stop breathing 15 times an hour!) Okay so i know that knowing is better than not knowing and one day just up and stop breathing. But yikes! I really wanted my banding done in August...now they can't make the appt until they know my sleep apnea "number"! The machine they showed me before was like walking nose first into a wind tunnel (no pun intended):notagree So okay I resigned to this fact. I am not fond of looking like Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street but oh well. So okay i call the surgeons office and that was when the receptionist told me they need my sleep nunmber first before they can schedule my surgery. Oh joy! Then she tells me ( and honestly I have know this all along but I think today was just too much of a bummer for me to take) :think She told me that in really really rare occasions, people do get rejected from surgery......omg nothing like salting the wound.....i know she meant well and she was really sweet about it, but yikes, one bad today is all I can take. So here I sit mildly depressed. And my husband (who is usually very nice but was working in the 102 degree weather roofing today) came home and said "oh you were too upset to do dishes??" Okay I was just told that I stop breathing 15 times an hour, and that 159 times an hour i go into really shallow breathing. And the sleep apnea mask blows air like a leaf blower.......ugh....just put the pillow over my head right now and call it a day. :omg: I am embarrassed about whinning about this when I do know that there are others who are clearly worse off than me:o , its just that i have been "up" for so long --I am not dealing with the mental crash so well. I told the sleep lady that there was no way I was gonna get any sleep over the next few days because this was overwhelming and how could I sleep knowing ahead of time that I stop breathing during the night! :cry Does anyone else have sleep apnea? :notagree I am in desperate need to get out of my "funk" :paranoid

Oh no really !?? I am sorry to hear that. I know not to take it lightly like i said better to know than not know...I think the timing was bad today. Actually the whole process has been somewhat of a joke...always smacking into walls trying to get banded! Thank you for responding back to me..I realize its not an easy thing to talk about ...and I appreciate you sharing that with me.

Imagine, thank you sooo much for replying! I have walking around all day like a beaten dog feeling like I was all alone in the world. Haven't eaten all day because of it...lol something good has come from it! Its good to hear that there is good from it- well yeah i know breathing is good...lol...you know what i mean! Banding tomorrow huh! Wow I wish you all the best! Let us know how you feel as soon as you can! Take care!!!

Hi Rachel ( I like that name I have a daugher Rachel) I have tried meridia....not worth going on, lots of money and you could do just as well on slim fast. Carrots...another bad idea...full of sugar, harder to burn. Weight Watcher meals...are you talking prepackaged? They are full of sodium...even the WW ladies at weigh in don't condone them. Actually...South Beach Diet works very well and its not all fatty like the other diets out there. (ex. Atkins) Don't get me wrong, Atkins worked very well for me, but the fatty food part was freaking me out so I stopped. When is your surgery date?

Hi! I was just wondering if anyone was near me. I am in Ocean County. About an hour north of Atlantic City......where is everyone else located?

Hi Livvy, I wish I were from London. I was there last year (during the bombings-ugh scary). What a beautiful country, I'd live in England in a heartbeat! Hmm if I lived in London, I'd be able to get my fav hair care product, I can't get it here in the States! Gonna drag my husband to London/England in a few years...that is where his ancestors are from. Take care!

Hi, glad to hear you are doing better since your revision! I also wanted to say thank for mentioning the Walk from Obesity - I never heard of it- I just looked it up and found one near me. I def will be walking in September!