Humming Bird

ethnic = white/caucasian Nationallity = American Dad = 50% Italian, 50% Irish Mom = American Mutt Me= Heniz 57 American Mutt with Italian last name

Betsy, I'm sorry to hear you are going through such a rough time. You have the best attitude about it that anyone could have. I have an e-mail that I have saved over the years for just this type of situation. I'll find it and paste it here. I always love hearing what you say here, so keep on posting when you feel like it. Mountain Stream Picture yourself near a stream. Birds are softly chirping in the crisp cool mountain air. Nothing can bother you here. You are in total seclusion from that place called "the world". The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity. The water is clear. You can easily make out the face of the person whose head you're holding under the water. Look. It's the person who caused you all this stress in the first place. What a pleasant surprise. You let them up... just for a quick breath... then plop!....back under they go... You allow yourself as many deep breaths as you want. There now.....feeling better?

Well said Betsy! I agree! :cursing:

The burping does get much easier with time. There will be a point when you can burp like normal again. The shoulder pain may last awhile depending the cause. If it is gas, it will be gone very soon. If it is pressure on the phrenic nerve it may take months to go away.

Try the protein bullets from walmart (and other places). They come in a large test-tube looking thing and are 26g of protein. They taste like very strong kool-aid. I like to add water and drink them when I'm on a long drive. I also like a few from Nectar. The roadside lemonaid is pretty good.

Loved this post! Thanks!

Those darn long lunch breaks are killing my pocketbook. Not only am I making zero $$ during that time, but I am spending money. It's a drag to have a 2-4 hour lunch break and can only eat 1/2 - 1 cup of food. I had not really planned on buying a car. I was going to keep my old one through this winter. Oh well, the little red RAV4 was calling my name. I was just killing time test driving cars to see what kind I would like to get this next spring. Then the shopping therapy feelings took over .... I was powerless against them.

Many bandsters feel tighter in the mornings. I usually can not eat food for breakfast. On days I work I drink a protein shake for breakfast. On my days off I can eat oatmeal or something after I have been awake for several hours.

OOPS! I think I may have taken shopping therapy to a new level for myself today. My schedule fell apart and I had several hours to kill ...........:biggrin: But look what I got during the shopping therapy !

Of course I don't know without looking at the tooth or an x-ray, but if you have good bone around the tooth, and a few other details come in to consider, it sounds like you need root canal therapy. Break out the checkbook or credit card. sorry. If you don't have good bone around the tooth or if the tooth is split beyond repair you may need an extraction, but we won't go there ...... root canal is better. I know nothing about probiotics or c.diff. Maybe the probiotics are helping it. Maybe if you had not taken the other antibiotics and now the probiotics, the pain would be worse.

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I am happy for you.

I wish you the best Patty.

Denise, If you had drainage you really do need the antibiotics. Sometimes the drainage does help the pain ease because it releases some of the pressure, but the infection is still there. It is not good to just leave it without taking antibiotics. Penicillin works well with dental infections (if you are not allergic). There is a chance the infection could be carried in your bloodstream and cause a bacterial infection in another part of the body. The most common places for this to happen is in the heart and in implant areas such as knee and hip replacements. (not sure if the band falls in there with those)

Another bandster here told me about Vitafusion Fiber Gummies from Target. They work great! The dose is 2 gummies a day, but I eat one a day and stay regular. They taste great and are a very soft gummie that are very easy to chew up.

I agree with Cindy. I eat soups and chili all the time. I have trouble with solid meat and chili is a great way to get in some protein for me.

It's great to hear from you Bobbie. It sounds like things are looking up for you.

I used Health One. The rates were lower than Care Credit. That was a year ago, so I don't know what the rates are like now.

For me the band has been very easy. There is nothing wrong with that. It has been the key to taking wieght off and keeping it off. Over the years I have tried every diet out there. The band is the thing that has worked the best. I kinda like that it was the easy way out for me. Why would I choose the hard way? The hardest thing about it has been the hit my bank account is taking (self pay).

I think he will come around. When you have more than 40 pounds to take off it is just too hard to take it off and keep it off. A year from now when you have dropped 100# and look and feel great, your dad will be happy you did it. After you cool down tell your dad you need his support with this.

I found that the ones that are not milky work best for this. I like Nectar brand roadside lemonaid. The one that I have mixed ahead like this and seems to work the best is mixing fruit punch protein bullets (walmart) in water.

NSV! had to share. I have not lost a pound in awhile, but must still taking off some inches. My size medium scrubs are very baggy now! Last week I went and bought a pair of jeans. St. Johns Bay brand size 12. They fit really nice. I wore them last weekend and every time I passes the mirror I was shocked at how thin they made me look. Yesterday after I pulled them out of the dryer I was sure they shrank up so much I would never be able to wear them. I held them up and they looked so tiny. I was thinking, "oh crap, I can't return them after I already washed them. I thought they were 'rinsed' and would not shrink." Well, I decided to try them on and see just how much they shrank. OMG! They zipped up and fit perfect! My brain just still needs to catch up.

Of course everyone will be different with weightloss. There are many things to consider like male/female, hormones, lapband/gastric bypass, activity levels, and so on. After thinking about this thread, I had to do the math. In my case I was 44 yrs. old when I got the band. I was morbidly obese. My metabolism was shot from yo-yo dieting. My hormones are a mess because I had a hysterectomy at a very young age ........ Here are the numbers after the first year of being banded. Keep in mind I do not exercise and do not count calories. My weightloss for the first year has been 90% all lost by just having the band placed and getting proper restriction. I would say the other 10% is food choices. I lost 88% of my excess weight I lost 38% of my total body weight I went from a BMI of 41.3 (morbidly obese) to 25.7 (almost normal) I will have to be more active to get the last 14 pounds off, but that's not a hardship considering the first 100 came off with little effort. I would say I am living proof the band works and it works much better than this Psychologist is telling people.

I had to go back and read my old post. Time for an update! I now wear size 12 street clothes and my size medium scrubs are getting very baggy! Bra is 36C.

It really sounds like she doesn't know much about the band. Maybe she should spend an hour a day reading here at LBT. I can only go by what I have learned by reading here and my own experience, but I would strongly disagree with that Psychologist. The band has been so great for me. I lost the first 100 pounds in 53 weeks with no exercise. I would say that is proof enough the band works great. Welcome to LBT. This site is a really good one to stick around for support and info. Good luck on your journey. You will take off more than 20%. Don't let that bit of bad info get you down.

Stacie, A classic Bandster moment. priceless. Bobbie, where ya been? I miss what you say. Anne, where ya been? How are you doing? Dottie, where ya been? Are you getting around well now? Are the PTs being nice?