....I have something to add! After being banded for nine months now, I eventually have a tiny nugget of information to pass on to you guys! I have felt pretty impotent here without fill info, pain experience to share!

Well - here it is (ta da!)....

Does anyone remember me asking about shoulder pain? I was experiencing a LOT of pretty severe pain for AGES in my shoulder, just above my left breast - It left me pretty winded as it hurt when I breathed in deeply or coughed or even moved my arm... I was getting kinda worried about it and posted here - Donali (the big meanie...) suggested that I was overeating at meal times and the diaphragm was causing the gas-like pain. Ok, I went with that and stopped eating sooner that I had been. No go, still bad pain (Wake up! I'm getting to the good part....!) - ok so picture me in the car, driving down through france, well, hubby is driving, I am having my shoulder pain, moaning and whining away, hubby is completely glazed over pretending to listen.... So I turn to my big pile of gossip magazines, and am reading about poor Brittney having put on 1.5lbs and doing 3000 crunches per day to keep her lovely flat tummy - then I notice it says "Brittney avoids sugar-free gum as this causes build up of gas and can leave her tummy bloated and distended! Whoaaaaa stop the vehicle! What have I in my mouth 90% of the time? Only SUGAR FREE GUM! I constantly chew gum after meals, and well, all day long! I spat the gum out, and haven't had so much as a twinge of shoulder pain since! So there.

Now I am waiting for my tum to go all flat like Brittney's.... must just have been all that gum makin it hang down to my knees....any day now...................

Wow, Bright, that is fascinating! And you're absolutely right--this may be the nugget of information that saves someone else from a huge amount of aggravation, discomfort, and frustration.

And see, it's not the band!!

Good on you (and Britney) for figuring it out. Let's hear it for the blondes with flat tummies!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Whoo hooo!!! Congrats on the culprit! But I wonder if the gas the gum causes is from swallowed air? If it makes the tummy feel swollen and distended, that sounds to me like a similar effect that overeating would cause, so I'm sticking to the referred pain from the diaphragm theory - it just wasn't overfullness due to food...

Surely I'm right??

Regardless, congrats on being painfree!! And having a Brittney tummy! Whoo hooo!!

P.S. I miss you! :eek:

Wow, thanks for that info, Bright. I always have gum in my mouth. (some kind of oral fixation!) Of course it's sugarfree, as I

work in the Dental profession. I will have to do a trial to see if I can tell the difference without it. It will be hard for me, it keeps my mouth busy and I don't think I eat as much when I chew gum.

Interesting theory!

Yay thanks for the validation Alex, I feel so HELPFUL for once! And yup, me and Britney have SOOO much in common - 'cept of course I have orange hair....

hmmmm go on then Donali, you ARE right :rolleyes - actually you probably are - I presume the gas is caused by the air swallowing that must go on with incessant gum chewing... but apparently it's sugar free that causes the bloating, not regular gum so I dunno what that's about! I haven't tried regular gum because I really don't need to be latching on to another sugar filled product.... but perhaps in the interest of science and banded-kind I'll give it a go...

Neicy, I so know where you're coming from - I was dependant on my gum to help curb my appetite - I would pop some in to "officially" end a meal and between meals to just have something to chew! Since I've stopped chewing I have started to brush my teeth way more often which is a good thing I guess AND I look way classier not blowin bubbles!

Can we have NO vices!!! Bright, I love to read your postings! P.S. Be careful about swallowing gum. Claraluz had a problem with it getting stuck.

Bright, I just want to say I've missed you. In fact, I was thinking just this week about throwing a shout out into cyberspace to see if you were still there. Your new picture is beautiful!

And yeah, be careful with the gum. I accidentally swallowed some and it took it's sweet time getting down through the band.

Nancy

GORGEOUS girl!!! LOVE the new photo!!

Actually, if it's the sugar-free part that's the problem, must be one of those artificial type sweeteners that have a very mild laxative type side effect, like the maltodextrin (?) in some of the SF chocolates. Boy, the gas pain over over-consuming that stuff is a horror not be be repeated! I thought I was going to be the human blimp over San Diego!!

Not that I would ever overindulge in anything...

I haven't had any probs with SF gum that I've noticed, but then again haven't chewed any in a real long time.

You go, Brittney!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Bright, that is an AMAZING photo!! It looks professionally done. Was it?

Sigh, back to the drawing board...

oh my god - thank you so much for the compliments guys - tragically I excitedly got home from my vacation, shaking all over from withdrawal symptoms from my pc, and quickly hooked up the digital camera to view all the gorgeous photos - I looked VILE in all of them - you know when you are in the sun, (doesn't happen much to us Irish folk!!!) - and suddenly you feel all free and sexy - you stick on a vest top, skip wearing makeup - let your hair go free (ie don't bother blow drying it or *ahem* BRUSHING it) - you smile confidently at the camera, thinkin, this'll be a BE-YOOO-TI-FUL photo - well, I thought I'd look all californian hippy girl on the beach - I ACTUALLY looked like middle-aged irish woman abroad with red sunburn and v saggy boobs! Siiiiiighhhh.... So I picked up cruel unkind digital camera and, snap, took a photo sittin right there at the 'puter in my junk room with all my crap and rubbish behind me - I enclose the regular sized one for y'all to see - professionally done? Em, no, but I think the camera sorta knew this was his last chance....

see? This is me on the damn beach - this one is actually taken at night - wouldn't be fair to you guys to show you the swimsuit one....

Bright, you're gorgeous! How old are you (if you don't mind a nosey person asking)? You have great skin! Is there any way to lighten up your avitar? It really doesn't do you justice.

Bright,

You are a very pretty lady! Thanks for sharing your photos!

jeez.......I feel physically ill seeing that second photo again! Aaarrgghh!

New Hope - thanks so much! I am 34 and the great skin is courtesy of Lancome! If I lighten up the avatar, I will look more like pic 2! That's my biggest beauty tip - take photos with the flash off

Thanks too Leatha

**wolf whistle**

"That's my biggest beauty tip -- take photo with flash off.":laugh :laugh :laugh :laugh (I've been dodging cameras for years. If I'd only known that little hint!)