MaryfromMI

I started losing my hair about 9 months post op and it was due to the stress on my body from the surgery even though I never really felt the stress. Initially I related my hair loss to stopping my birth control pills and I had my thyroid, hormones, and everything in between checked before I ended up at my dermatologist where he decided it was most likely the stress and shock of going through surgery. The bad thing about it is that I had very fine hair to begin with so my hair loss was starting to get noticable. I would have clumps of hair fall out in the shower everyday. My dermatologist has me on aldactone right now which helps prevent hair loss, I take biotin vitamins, and I am also on rogaine. I still have more hair fall out everyday than the average person but I do believe it has slowed down and I do notice some regrowth, so I think things are starting to turn around.

I feel like I have a lot going for me. I'm 23 years old, a nurse, have my own apartment, car, pay my own bills. I have lost 50+ lbs since my surgery and have more confidence now than I have ever had in my life. I do get more attention from guys, but they all seem to be douchebags or at least 20 years older than me (No, really, the majority of attention I get is from older guys and I don't really know why that is). I have been told by so many people to not go looking for boyfriend material in a bar, but I don't know where else to go! I just feel really lonely and feel like I am at a good place in my life and want to share all these new experiences I am having with somebody. So does anyone have any advice as to where I can meet a good, decent guy?

I actually just wrote something like this in my journal not so long ago and when I saw this post I decided to share them. Some are small and may seem insignificant to some but the small ones are things I never thought would happen to me! Some changes since my surgery: 1. Not having a "X" in front of my shirt size-I even wear size medium scrub pants! 2. Being able to wrap my hand around my wrist (I have always had huge wrists, couldn't even wear watches without extenders). 3. (Goes along with #2)-Can fit my watch strap comfortably in the second hole. 4. Can wear shoes without the "W" behind the size and can wear high heels!. 5. Not needing a plus-size graduation gown when I graduated from nursing school. 6. Seeing with my own eyes that I have collarbones without having to shrug my shoulders to see them (For a while I wasn't even sure I had collarbones because they were nonexistant)!! 7. My double-chin is almost gone! It still peeks out in some pictures, which I don't like, but I can now take pictures and not have to worry about sticking my chin out so the double chin goes away. 8. I can button up a pair of size 12 jeans! 9. I am getting attention from the opposite sex, which has never AND I REPEAT NEVER has happened before! It is almost strange to me because I do not know how to act at all. 10. My brother is getting married in June and I am really really close to thinking I am going to look beautiful on that day.

Stepped on the scale this week and it read 195.4!!! I had been at 203-206 for so long and 199 was just staring at me on the scale mocking me for so long and I finally am on the other side of 200! I am so excited :-) I feel like my body has been at a stand-still for a long time too, but this week I noticed my stomach looked a little smaller, so I tried on my American Eagle size 12 goal jeans and they are a little bit looser than the last time I put them on. Hopefully in a week or two I will finally be able to wear them in public!

I know how you are feeling and I see that we are close to the same age so I can really relate and to this day, the only people who know that I had surgery are my parents. I remember the day I sat both of them down and told them that I needed to change my life because I saw the road I was headed down. I thought they were going to try to talk me out of it, but they actually did the complete opposite and were proud that I decided to make such a big decision. They saw my struggles and how hard I had tried to lose weight before, so they saw the surgery as a good thing. I did have to educate them though about everything related to the surgery.

I don't think being on your TOM would be a factor in whether or not you get a catheter, because it's dealing with 2 different holes (if you know what I mean,lol). It is up to your doctor and what protocol they go by. I had a catheter in after my surgery because my doctor makes it mandatory to stay overnight at the hospital but I got it taken out that day because I was up walking around 15 minutes after being back in my room. I made sure to ask my surgeon about the catheter before hand so I wouldn't be surprised when I woke up from surgery.

I also have BCBS and my first doctor visit with my PCP to get my referral was August 21, 2009, and my surgery date was January 4, 2010, so it was a little over 4 months. I did not have to do a supervised diet because BCBS of MI allows the 6 month diet to be waived if your BMI is over 40, and mine was.

The only people that know that I had surgery are my parents. I haven't told anyone else about it because I really don't think it is anyone else's business to know and I also do want any negativity coming my way. Sometimes I want to tell everyone because I think it would be easier that way now. For example, I know it looks strange when I get up in the middle of a meal when family is over to go in the bathroom because I am stuck and I am sometimes in there for 10+ minutes. Because I am scared of getting stuck when I am around other people, I just don't eat much during those meals, and people have started to notice because they have made comments to me that I don't eat anything. I just don't want to be the "staple" or prototype for lap-band® failure or success for the people around me and I don't want to be judged for the choices I made. I also don't want my surgery to be seen as taking the "easy" way out, because it has been anything but easy and I have done all the work! So when people ask me what I have done to lose the weight, I just tell them I changed my diet and exercise BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!

I am slowly coming to the realization that I will never hit my "sweet spot," and here's why: I have 7.75cc in my 10cc band. I have "restriction" in the AM and early afternoon, meaning I get stuck very easy with any food that has any sort of substance. All I can really eat at those times is soggy Cereal (which I like so it doesn't bother me) and mushy foods like pudding and applesauce. My band is looser in the evening, but I do get stuck if I don't chew well, which is usually my first bite. The problem I am having is that I am not hungry for around 4 hours like I am supposed to be, but I can eat WAY more than 1 cup of food, and I never really feel full or "satisfied." I am either able to eat way too much or I get stuck on the first bite, I have no in between. I find that I only get a "full" feeling sooner if I eat some sort of carb, like bread, which I try to stay from anyway. For example, today for lunch, I ate a taco, and wasn't able to eat the whole thing, because with about 4 bites left, I was "full," but I also got stuck on the first bite because of the taco shell. But for dinner tonight, I had a piece of fish, 1/2 a baked potato, and about 5 pieces of asparagus and I could have ate so much more! I'll admit that for dinner I have even been able to eat a whole hamburger, and not feel full unless I eat the whole thing! I shouldn't be able to even eat a bite of a hamburger with all that bread, let alone the whole thing! I just feel like I have no other options because I know I don't need another fill because I get stuck too much as it is already, I probably actually need a little unfill, and I don't know what to do. My weight loss has also come to a complete standstill as well. Has anyone encountered this, especially having so much Fluid in my band and still being able to eat so much?

Hey Trixie-I had surgery at Covenant in Saginaw. After reading everyone's responses and seeing that what I am going through is "normal", I called to make another fill appointment because the good restriction I had for the first 8 days after my fill is now gone. My doctor does fills every other Friday, with this Friday being the next appointment. They told me there was no openings for this Friday and I can't go the next fill day because I have clinical (I am in nursing school) until later in the day and have to drive 1 1/2 hours to get the fill, and couldn't get an appointment late enough. On top of that, my insurance starts over in June, so I wanted to get all my fills in while I had my deductible paid, and don't really have the money right now to pay the $120 for a fill, so I put my name on the cancellation list for this Friday and hopefully I will get a call! If not, I guess it's back to pure willpower, which has gotten most of my 28lbs off in the first place...

I had my third fill just over a week ago and have a total of 7cc's in my 10cc band. I admitted to my surgeon that I was getting a little frustrated that I have to have so much in my band and am still not at my sweet spot. I asked how can some people be restricted at 3 or 4 cc's and I am at 7 and still not at my sweet spot? He said that it was because I am not as big and don't have as much weight to lose (even though my goal is to lose close to 100lbs). Does anyone know why this is, or have you experienced this yourself? I feel like my band is going to have to be "topped off" before I even get to my sweet spot!!!

So, I got my 3rd fill on April 30th, just over a week ago. I have 7cc's in a 10cc band. I finally thought I found my sweet spot, and I was so happy. I would only take a few bites and be full, and I was getting stuck more often when I didn't chew well or when I overate, so I assumed I was where I needed to be. Today, when I ate though, I noticed that I wasn't getting the same "full" feeling that I was with the same amount of food I have been eating for the last week. I feel like I am where I need to be when it comes to how long I am full between meals, but not when it comes to the amount I can eat at a meal. So do you think I need another fill? My insurance starts over again on June 1st, so I am trying to get to my sweet spot before then, so I don't have to pay for the fills. Thoughts please!

Did you ask your Dr.'s office why they thought you didn't have to do the diet? I was in a similar situation. I have BCBS of MI and every time I called them to find out information, I was told I would have to complete the 6-month diet. Then when I went to my surgeon's seminar, the insurance coordinator said that because I had a BMI over 40, I did not have to do the 6-month diet. She said that the 6-month diet rule had been changed for over a year for my particular insurance. And still, even up to my surgery day, if I would have called BCBS of MI, they would have told me I would have to do the 6-month diet. The insurance coordinator said that a lot of times with insurance companies, their information they are going off of is out-of-date, and the surgeon's office actually has more up-to-date data than the insurance company.

I had pain similar to this and I asked my doctor about it at my follow-up appointment. I would get a stab of pain between my port incision and the incision close to my belly button. My doctor said that it was the tubing of the port causing that pain.