Littleroo27

Just wanted to let everyone know that he updated this morning. Just be prepared for an "OMGWTF you can't stop there!" moment, lol. http://www.wcmessenger.com/losingbattle/2006-11-19.shtml

Also important to remember that both sugar and "fake" sugar cause cravings. If you're looking to limit intake, sugar free is not always better. "Fake" sugar can cause digestive distress as well as stronger cravings for more sugar / more food then the real thing.

That's a hard one - and one that I have problems with too!!! Honestly, the best suggestion is to just keep it out of the house. If it's not there you can't eat it. I know that sounds dumb, but I've greatly reduced my overall intake of food recently just by not buying the things that I binge on, like soy cheese sandwiches (yeah, I can hear you gagging from here) and sliced breads. If I don't want it that much, I likely won't work to prepare it and, thus, eat less.

Consider that no matter how you lose the weight, you will likely have about the same amount of baggy skin. You may have less if you lose slower, but it's not worth it for your health. I'm 5'4" and around 320lbs right now. I know I will have tons of baggy skin when I'm all done, but I'd rather deal with it and the reconstructive surgeries then die 20 years earlier and feel unhealthy the whole time I'm on this earth.

I just had a meeting with my HR department about some sleep problems I've been having (I have delayed REM sleep). In the process of the discussion I mentioned my hope that having the lap-band surgery and losing weight would help with my sleep problems, but that I didn't know when I could get it done since it was self-pay. Well, my buddy Ruth, in HR, told me that we are switching to a new medical insurance on 01/01/07 (Cigna) and that their HMO program covers the lap-band! Of course, I have no idea what the diff is between HMO and PPO and will need to consider that, but still - they cover it!!! *bouncy* The only bummer is that now I won't be able to have Dr. Ortiz do the procedure . I mean, the surgeon I was going to go to first is experienced and does have a very low complication rate, but it's still not what Dr. Ortiz has. Ah, for ten thousand dollars... Do you know what the cost is for OCC to do fluro fills on people who got their surgery done elsewhere? As I understand it, Scripps La Jolla only does fluro on the first fill.

I have not had the surgery yet, but I've done a lot of research so I thought I would answer your questions based on gastric bypass VS lap-band. - Are you in pain after the surgery? Most people say they aren't in much pain after - some don't even take the pain meds. I would say you will be in less pain then the gastric bypass, simply because they cut less things open. The biggest complaint is gas pressure/pain from the gas they pump into your abdomen during surgery. - Have you lost a lot of weight? and was it hard? It will be slower then gastric bypass. They say it evens out as far as total weight loss goes after about 3 years, though some people lose everything in as little as a year. It just depends on how fast your body loses weight naturally and how well you stick with the rules of eating post-band. Some people have trouble hitting their fill "sweet spot," but at least you don't have to worry about getting the runs all the time! - how often do you have the band ajusted? This is also a very personal thing. The Surgeon I talked to in La Jolla, CA said it's usually 1/3 need 1 fill, 1/3 need 2 fills, 1/3 need 3 or more fills to hit their sweet spot. The time to wait between fills also depends on you. If you aren't hungry after your first fill but are two months later, then you'll want to go back. - are you glad you did the surgery? I think I will be when I have it. I'm waiting very very impatiently to have the money right now, lol. - is the recovery tough? vomiiting, pain, tired? Compared to gastric bypass it will be a breeze. I met a woman who'd had her surgery a week previously and she was going on daily walks and no pain pills and not hungry at all. - are the scares bad? Tiny scars. They only thing I could think of as a problem would be if you naturally keloid. - can you see the port when you lift up your shirt? I can't really answer this, but I don't think you can. You might be able to feel it once you lose weight. Most people can feel the scar tissue there as you heal, but only if you poke it. - do you have alot of saggy skin? You might once you lose all the weight, but no more then gastric bypass, and it might even be less because you lose slower, giving your skin more time to shrink with you. As for how much, it just depends on how much you have to lose. As your doctor why he prefers one over the other. The gastric bypass does lead to faster weight loss, which is good for people with serious medical problems like diabetes that need to go away ASAP, but the overall recovery period is so much longer and it is not a guarantee of permenant weight loss. Not that the band is, but at least you can work with your fill-level.

Oh, man, no intubation would be soooo nice!!!

You can make them on a number of websites and can usually just insert the code into your response or your signature. The other way is to upload the image into a photo hosting place like www.photobucket.com and link from there.

Man, I'm sorry no one has responded to this. Most people feel that band is too tight when they cannot drink water, PB when they eat anything, etc. Sometimes bands feel tighter when you are under stress or sick because of swelling in the body. I also have a banded friend with athsma who has problems with her band tightness, probably because of inflamation near the band area. If you are uncomfortable or cannot stay hydrated or cannot eat anything, even if you chew to goo, then you are too tight. If you think this is due to irritation, try going to all liquid for a couple of days and see if that helps.

I'm not banded yet, but I did go down to see the clinic just a few months ago (I live in San Diego, so it was just a trolley ride away for me). The facility is beautiful and spotless. Dr. Otiz was very professional, kind, sweet, AND handsome (not that that matters!). I had a wonderful experience there and am very impatient to have enough money to go through with the procedure. I'm hoping for March of 2007 (birthday present to myself) right now.

I just wanted to push this back up for the new people to see. There really hasn't been any activity in the community yet, so I hope that I can get some more of you over there and talking to each other!!! Go take a look and let me know if there is anything I can do to make it better / more interesting / more informative.

Yikes, I keep picturing it "tenderizing" my esophegous at the same time, lol!

Ever tried a completely bizzare diet that left you wondering where you'd placed your brain the day made that decision? Then come join the OCC_Forum and tell us about it! This Live Journal community was created as a venue for members of lapbandforum to chat and keep in touch with each other outside of the structures of surgery and fill specific talk. Once you have joined the community you can add your own posts about anything, send a shout out to that woman you met on surgery day but haven't heard from since, or boast about your weight loss, job promotion, or the A your kid got in math! It's all about you and this community is nothing without your enthusiasm!

Thanks to those of you who showed such an imediate interest in this. I have spent the past several hours creating the community and trying to get a decent color sceme going (and managed to totally mess up my own LJ!!!) and am now happy to introduce Live Journal's OCC_Forum! This is a community for lapbandforum members to post non surgery / fill specific posts. Whether you're keeping in touch with fellow banders or looking for new clothes in a smaller size, or maybe diet tips, this is the place for you! I will be moderating this community with a light hand, only removing rude and spamish posts or posts so off topic as to be completely inapropriate. If you have any questions on how to create a live journal account or friend this community, please feel free to PM me. http://www.livejournal.com to create your account http://community.livejournal.com/occ_forum/ is the community web link. I look forward to seeing you there! Please post an intro post when you join so that we know a bit about you

Try Pharmanex.com they make an AWESOME supplement for women. I even have some extra here and could mail you a month if you wanted to try it. PM me with your address if you want to try it.

By a show of hands (okay, by a show of comments), how many of you would be interested in a community off of here that would be specifically for "off topic" discussions? I know a lot of people make good friends through this board and also with those they meet on the day of surgery. This would allow for more open discussion of life events, daily trials and tribulations, and just a general atmosphere of enjoying being able to chat with people in the same boat as you. If you were losing weight and wanted to know where to find new clothes for cheap, or what's a good diet cook book or really anything, you could post it through this "OT" community. We would obviously continue to use OCC for all surgery and fill related discussions. I would be willing to create this community within Live Journal and moderate it if enough people are interested. Some benefits of Live Journal: Can create individual posts and also comment to individual posts, just like here Can "friend" those people you know and check all of their entries at once through your friend page Can create polls for your friends to fill out Can post pictures using an offsite link such as photobucket

I was told 20 minutes. Water goes through pretty fast, so you don't have to wait nearly as long before as after. If you do 15 you're probably fine unless you drank a whole lot right before eating.

A lot of people require 2-3 fills before they feel true restriction. Remember that some air will probably leak out after the first fill and reduce your restriction level.

Park Manor Suites That is where my dad stays when he comes to visit. It is an old hotel, small and very personable. They have HUGE rooms and a fantastic view of Balboa Park. It is also minutes from the airport. The rates are very reasonable. The only warning I would have is that you should be gay friendly to stay there as I believe most of the staff is gay. But so is most of San Diego, if you go to certain areas

The nutrition facts for the Asian Chicken Salad (grilled) with the Ginger Dressing are: Calories: 380 (30 percent from fat) Fat: 13g Sat Fat: 1g Carbs: 37g Protein: 32g The crispy version feature fried chicken and will add to 7 grams of fat per serving. Taken from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/3...an_chicken.html It doesn't seem so bad - 380 calories. But then you look at the fat content OMG! And 37 grams of CARBS! There's your sugar!

Hi there! I was loaned the book listed above (by Kay Sheppard, M.A.) last weekend. I'm only on page 39, but the ideas in it are intriguing. I wanted to see if anyone else on the boards had either read the book or tried the suggestions in it. Basically, Ms. Sheppard explains that there are addictive foods that act as alcohol does to an alcoholic. And, like an alcoholic is not addicted to all liquids, food addicts are not addicted to all foods, but only certain types of food. She suggests cutting out all sugars (this includes sugar subs except for sacharine), wheat and flour products from the diet, as these processed carbs are what give us a nice high and make us want more. She gives a very specific list of "absinent" foods, which I would be happy to post here if anyone is interested. She also gives a list of foods to avoid, which is so long as to be quite terrifying - I think there is some form of sugar in everything I put in my mouth!!! Has anyone ever tried this "absinent" diet? Is anyone interested in giving it a go?

Lori, This might be a really dumb question, but how do they pick where they put your port site? The reason I ask is that I am super duper ticklish and am a little bit afraid that I won't be able to stay still when they get within 3 inches of my skin during a port fill unless it's placed in a less ticklish spot!!!

I watched that several months ago - it's a great documentary and really does show how horrible fast food is for you. Even the salads have like 1200 calories!!!

If the vomiting is due to the band (PBing) then you need to see your doctor ASAP. If you have are forcing yourself to vomit then please consider seeing a therapist or other specialist in eating disorders. This is another form of addiction just like overeating. You obviously know that it's a problem so the next step is to ask for help. Bulimia on its own is very dangerous, but bulimia with the band is even more so as you are vastly increasing the chances that your band will slip and you will end up back in surgery. Also, esophogeal erosion is fairly common in long term cases. Please keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. We are all here to help each other through our failures and cheer on our successes. I wish you the best of luck. Beth

Go to this post to read it from someone who's band DID slip.