Humming Bird

If my pouch is full of food for several hours I have trouble drinking enough. It isn't that the band restricts fluids for me.

Personally I would stay in the states. If something goes wrong down the road ........ There are some really bad stories here on LBT about going to Mexico. There are good ones too, but you really have no recourse if you go out of the country. Cheapest may not always be best. I went to Denver ($9950) www.lapbandrockies.com

I agree....focus on fluids. Work your way back through the stages slow ....fluids, then mushies and so on. Yogurt smoothies are good. Make your own with added protein or get the lite pre-made. Cream of wheat now has one with added protein. Chili is a good mushie and has good protein.

I take a protein shake or a protein bar. It also helps if I eat just before I go.

I think you may be wrong on that one. I have had 4 suregries and the time I needed to take off was longer with this one. Of course everyone is different and our jobs are different. Best of luck to you.

If I were an RN and worked those shifts I would take 3 weeks. I am a Dental Hygienist and took 1 week. My job is much more physically demanding than most people think, but the 12 hour shifts would be very bad. The first week back I was so weak and exausted. Pain really had nothing to do with it for me.

I waited over 6 months before even thinking about drinking alcohol. I had a glass of wine at that point and I have had a couple more since. It is just too high cal and I have enough trouble getting all the good fluids in anyway, so a drink is very rare with me.

I guess I must be one of those "ignorant" "idots". I do think it is the easy way out and it is no where even close to the hardest thing I have done or been through in my life.

LOL ! Thanks for that tip:lol:

I don't know, but I just do not trust what goes on in Mexico. I have seen so many messed up Dental cases over the years. I've seen so many very bad pictures and stories about messed up plastic surgeries. I personally would never have anything done there.

I was always one of that 95% who gained back weight after programs and diets. The sad thing is I would always gain back at least 105-110% of the weight I had taken off!

People have died from getting their wisdom teeth extracted, but that has not stopped those who need it done to continue with that procedure. I have not died from it. I may have had a shorter life as morbidly obese as I was. I guess I will never know exactly how many years the weightloss will save for me. I had my first surgery when I was 25. I was really freaked out about going under general anesthesia. I had heard of people dying during all types of surgery. I had the beginning stages of cervical cancer. I asked them If I got pregnant first and had surgery after I had the baby what would happen. They told me I would die before the child was 5. So, surgery it was. The lap-band was my 4th surgery. The first 3 surgeries were not optional. Lap-band may have saved my life or at least given me more years............

I did take the easy way out. This journey has been very easy so far and I hope it stays that way. The hardest thing about it has been the blow to my bank account as I was self-pay. I could care less if someone thinks I took "the easy way" as if that were a bad thing. I am down 85 pounds and that is what really matters to me.

I just ran across this about sleeping positions....interesting: What does your sleep position reveal about your personality? - Healthy Living on Shine

Le Anne, My thoughts are with you. I am happy for you! See you on the banded side! Let us know how it goes.

I think hairloss is one of the things they don't tell people about enough. I went to a support group with a friend who was thinking about getting banded. She was going as part of her pre-op research. There were other pre-op people there and one of them asked the lady who was running the meeting about hairloss. The lady told her that only happened with gastric bypass patients. The rest of us in the meeting who were post-op all one by one stated that we all had lost hair.

I don't think the protein had anything to do with it. I think my body was in shock from the rapid weightloss. The first 75 pounds flew off with no effort on my part. I also think it has much to do with the type of hair I have. My hair is baby fine and very straight. I used to have a lot of hair, but each strand is very fine. It is now driving me a little crazy with all the areas of shorter hair that is filling in, but at least I don't have so many areas where scalp is showing.

I used Protein shakes, shots, bullets, bars........ Biotin Nioxin shampoo & conditioner silica Nioxin Vitamins Rogain there are more things that don't come to my foggy mind at the moment

I have 2, but they were short lived and I am past them now. 1. My left shoulder pain from pressure on my phrenic nerve lasted a very long time. I used pain Patches to ease the pain and it went away after some good weightloss. 2. Hairloss/thinning. No matter what I tried, and I tried everything, I lost a lot of hair. The hair is filling in nicely now.

I agree ..... if they told anyone it would be a HIPPA violation.

I agree, Sunshine needs to grow up. She is 24 and acts like she is 15. Makeover week is next week!!! I got choked up when that last lady crossed the finish line of the 5K.

I agree with the above poster. I have not been able to eat Pasta of any kind for 9 months. It is one of the things I just accept will never cross my lips again.

No I don't regret getting banded. There is no way I could have taken off this much weight without the band. I had tried so many different diets over the years. I have had no real complications. My hair did thin quite a bit, but is growing back well now. If I had any big complications my feelings about regret would be different I'm sure.

I chew gum often. I really think that if I were to accidentlly swallow it, something like pineapple juice would break it up well. Just like the trick with rubbing in peanutbutter if a child gets it stuck in their hair. Have you ever eaten food with gum? It breaks up the gum. I think taking pills is much more dangerous than swallowing gum.