Clynn

The scars are minimal, especially once you start losing weight because they will shrink. The lost weight will overshadow your scars when you head to the beach.

The 6 - 8 week recommendation is to make sure you are all healed up before anyone starts messing with things. I'd err on whatever your surgeon says as they would have more education and experience on what you need. Since the difference is only two weeks, what's the rush?

"In an effort to help reduce forum spam, we are in the process of migrating the forum to a new server. We hope to have the site up and running again within 1 to 2 hours." Just HOURS after Kari's original post! Now that's service!!

The saggy skin is unfortunately a part of dropping the pounds. We're not balloons after all! There are many factors involved (age, environment, etc) but with exercise and time you may be able to get work it out. What doesn't adjust will probably need to be removed but only you can decide if that's what you want to do.

We're all tired of them but it's just a part of communicating on the internet in an open forum these days. The forum administrators have done a lot to try and prevent them. Some things you see, like banning links to external images, some things are behind the scenes. There are people who look through the forum and delete the obviously spammed posts but even that is not without it's problems. One of the monitors had his computer attacked by the spammer while he was deleting posts. It was pretty bad awhile ago, then the spam posts stopped but now they are starting up again. Anytime you deal with computer security you have to run as fast as you can just to stay where you are.

Wow, and there went all my sympathy

Ick how frustrating. I have a ton of questions floating through my head if you are looking for some help. With a little work you may be able to salvage this. First of all, when was your surgery? Have you had any fills? If so how many and were they at all effective? Have you spoken to a nutritionist? If you got banded at OCC you can talk to Dr Miranda anytime, and if you got banded somewhere else your doctor can probably get you a referral. Do you sometimes eat to manage emotions? What do you typically eat in a day? Good luck to you. I know it can get frustrating sometimes but feeling defeated can really work against you at this point. Best advice I can give is to get a good group of people around you to support you and get in contact with your doctor to discuss your problems and frustrations.

It sounds like you are over-filled. If you cannot get out of bed I would advise you to call the doctor immediately. You need to get this dealt with or your could cause some serious problems.

Perhaps she she is proud of you but does not realize or understand your desire for privacy in this matter. So of course when she meets an old friend she is eager to tell them about this wonderful thing that you did. Have you spoken to her about it?

Cut the pills up if possible. I don't have any trouble with aspirin sized pills. I've found pills are easier if I take them with as little water as possible to get them down.

If you really need to chew something try gum or sugar-free Popsicles. Helped make me a little less crazy on liquids. Just don't swallow the gum.

The vitamins I take I think are called Nutri-fem and they make several different varieties depending on various things such as gender or age. Go to your local pharmacy and ask what they would recommend. My doctor told me that since vitamins are not regulated very well, there are many brands which do not have all that is advertised. She told me specifically that anything bought from a grocery store is junk.

One thing I think that should be mentioned here is how important it is to get people around you who know and will support you through all this. The journey is loads easier when you have people you love and care about cheering you on. Yesterday my boss, who has a reputation for being a bit of a hard-ass, high-fived me over my weight loss. I spent the afternoon cheerful over what I'd accomplished whereas before I'd spent the morning bummed because I'm not loosing as fast as I think I should be right now. I'm not saying shout it from the rooftops but I am saying that if your friends or family really do care about you and respect you, they can be made to understand why you feel this is important and necessary. It may take some work but it really is worth having as many allies as you can.

I've head a few friends give me the same reaction . . . of course all of them were rail thin. With some patience and explanation they've all come around though and now understand where I'm coming from. Just understand that people see the world based on their own experiences and some people have never had to deal with a serious weight problem and to them the idea of "just eat less" seems perfectly valid. To me it is analogous to telling alcoholics to "just stop drinking," or telling meth addicts to "just stop using." Our bodies get wired in a way to tell us that we really really need something in order to survive and willpower alone is not enough to go against it. Life would be so much simpler if we could just say stop doing bad things and problem solved but unfortunately we see time and time again that humans don't work that way.

Bless your heart Donna, those were beautiful words. Perhaps if I read what I was writing before I posted I wouldn't end up with my foot in my mouth.

My aim in pointing out that this was a support forum was so that you would know that the stories here were not always a balanced view of people's experiences, but rather leaned towards when things were going wrong. You are absolutely welcome to post here if you are upset about something or just want information. Oh dear, now I feel terrible.

I'm always fascinated by the ideas surrounding our body issues. On the one hand we are told we are beautiful whatever size we are and that we should accept our bodies no matter what, but on other hand there is no denying that being 100 + pounds overweight is bad for your health in the long run and bad for your quality of life in the short run. And let's face it, society is less than kind to those who struggle with their weight. As I think back to what it was like being an obese 14-year-old myself, your daughter may be struggling with that dichotomy as well. Little girl's sense of themselves are modeled heavily on their parents and suddenly you have decided to make a major change which can be a little scary. I truly do believe that the real cheating is choosing to stay the same and do the same things over and over again because we don't want to step outside our comfort zones. Getting banded is no more cheating at loosing weight than an alcoholic going to AA or a sick person getting anti-biotics. There is something about ourselves we would like to change and as my mom said above, surgery really is the only effective long term weight loss tool for people who have a lot of weight to loose. The best advice I can give for working with your daughter is to be open, be honest, listen to her fears, and address them. And of course, you can always come to us when you need some advice! Good luck

Good luck on your journey. If you are willing to work hard and keep your expectations of the band realistic, it should be very rewarding. As you read through people's stories, please keep in mind that this is a SUPPORT forum - meaning people tend to come here when they have a problem. Going to the seminar is a great step. You cal also try looking around in your area for a support group to talk to people who have had this done and get an idea what their experiences have been like. You specifically mentioned the gas pains as being something that frightened you and they really shouldn't as it is not a crippling pain. To me it was more like having a sore muscle. Walking around to move the air out and the pain meds they give you at the clinic are enough to get through the worst of them. Again, good luck. And you if have questions about anything you can always post them here.

Dr Ortiz would be the best person to answer this question. This is exactly why he gives out his cell number to patients.

Different surgeons will give different post-op diets so it is easy to get confused. The diet Dr Miranda gave me said clear liquids the first couple of days, and then full liquids for three weeks after that. Basically, if it cannot got through a straw then I could not have it. Some doctors have a mushy stage where the patient can eat things like cottage cheese or mashed potatoes so that is probably where the confusion is coming from.

Different doctors will say different things but mine always tells me three days.

The reaction is not unusual when somebody starts a new diet, particularly a dramatic one. How much protein are you taking in per day? Upping it might help. As I understand this is a temporary situation and once your body adjust your hair will come back thicker than ever. If you search around the forum a bit you'll find posts from other people who have had the same thing happen to them. You can always call the nutritionist and see if there are any other changes in your diet which can combat the hair loss.

If hiccups could make it slip, I think we'd all be in trouble Seriously, 6 weeks after my surgery when it was time for my first fill, I went to Disneyland and Universal Studios and spent three days doing the roller coasters many many times. I asked the fill doctor before I did any of that and he said it would be no problem. Sure enough, I had a great time being thrown all over the place without any problems.

Woah, whole lotta energy there! Everyone's nervous about that first bite and it's still almost two weeks away for you. Liquids shouldn't give you any problems whatsoever so long as you are adhering to the post-op diet. Just take it slow and easy as you go back onto solids. I started out with fish as it is soft and comes apart easily. You'll be fine and if a slip does happen, you will KNOW.

For everyone in the Kitsap & Gig Harbor area, the new Gig Harbor YMCA is now open. I just got back from there and it is a beautiful facility with plenty of different types of exercising equipment, classes, an indoor track, and two pools. Enjoy!