I opened up a new topic because I think our fears are important to share. I know right now most of us are pre-surgery but I have a feeling we'll all be facing our fears a lot over the next several months. I hope you feel comfortable enough on here to express them here.

from my blog:

Fears

I've been thinking a lot about my fears this week. Probably because my friends on the forum are expressing theirs which is wonderful. One, I believe it's good to put it out there and secondly, it's hearing things from a different point of view. So this has me looking into my own fears about my upcoming surgery.

Will I be in pain? Of course, but I've dealt with pain before and as long as I know it won't last long I seem to be ok. Just leave me alone and let me deal with it. I'll have to remind my friend of "leave me alone" during of my recovery. When I'm in a lot of pain I don't even like being spoken to. Hopefully I will be able to sleep through most of it the first few days.

What if they screw up and I have complications? What is I die? Well how can I control that? I can't. I've done my research and even though I haven't met him in person yet, I feel pretty confident about my surgeon. Has great reviews all over everywhere and have been accredited by the American Medical Association. So I could make myself sick of him messing up but I think the odds are in my favor. What if I die? NOT that I have a death wish, but I'm ok with that too. If it's my time, it's my time. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.

What if I fail? Ok so I saved my biggest fear for last. What if I fail the lap band? I'm spending 5K on this surgery and it may not be the smartest financial move I've made but here's the thing. What if I don't? I fear that far more than I fear getting banded and failing. If I don't I know I will continue to gain weight. Get less and less mobile and will just spiral downward. I know myself well enough to know I will blame my weight on everything and will turn to food to help with my depression. I've been doing that for years. Yep, I'm an emotional eater. I can do really well all day and let myself get into my own head and eat an entire box of cookies, or a huge bowl of ice cream and then feel like crap for doing so. My eating is out of control and I'm a smart enough woman to know I need help. So I guess a better question for me is, what if I fail not to? What happens to me if I don't get banded? That right there is a scary future and that's something I can control!!

That's real!

j~

I'm afraid of dying - just updated my will.

I'm afraid of failing at this...like every other thing I have tried.

I'm afraid of complications that will make me have to remove the band and then I can't afford a revision surgery.

I'm afraid of being laid off and not being able to afford the payments for this surgery.

Lastly - I am afraid of spiders!!!!

How much biotin is recommended per day?

I need to get clarification on this, too.

On pages 65-66 of the Forest Park Medical Center Manual that was posted here on Springers, it states "Nioxin shampoo can be used to help and/or Biotin supplements (50 to 100 mcg per day)."

I finally was able to find Biotin today at Target. One tablet has 1000 mcg (1 mg). The directions on the bottle say to take one tablet daily, preferably with a meal.

I asked my surgeon's NP about Biotin when we had the small group meeting, and she said it's fine to take Biotin, but she didn't say how much to take.

Hopefully, Julie might be able to help us.

How much biotin is recommended per day?

I googled Biotin and found a lot of information. Here's a link what I found at WebMD:

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-313-BIOTIN.aspx?activeIngredientId=313&activeIngredientName=BIOTIN