Education is key.

I haven't been actually avoiding most WLS/LB places for the most part, but I'm really going to now. I got so annoyed just now.

Someone posted in one of my LB groups asking if we thought she was too tight. She gets things stuck a few times a day and vomits a few times a week. She can't eat meat unless it's shredded and can't eat most vegetables, cooked or raw. She said she can eat, but very, very, very slowly (her emphasis). A barium swallow took 30 minutes to go through the band. She said that her weight loss had slowed, which she attributed to stress and not exercising.

So I replied (helpful me) and said yes, you're probably too tight. It's not normal to get stuck that often, unless you're not following the rules at all. I asked if she meant PB instead of vomiting. She had an appt with her doc on Monday, and I suggested that she should try to get in sooner.

So apparently she'd never heard the term "PB" before. I know it's not really a burp, I agree it's screwy, but it's not the same as vomiting. She said she was a pro at following the rules. She also said she saw no reason not to wait until Monday, because she's been this tight for six months. What? So you thought that having your meals come up on you a couple of times a week was normal?

People like this scare me. People who don't bother, apparently, to educate themselves all about the band and the lifestyle that goes along with it. And they get kind of miffy and act offended when you suggest that maybe they've screwed up. Then they end up with a complication, because they weren't paying attention and didn't go to their doctor when they noticed a problem to begin with.

In the end I just wished her well. What else could I say? I don't know why anyone would ask for help if they're so sure that they know it all already.

I know everyone is not like me. I read everything I could get my hands on when I was trying to decide whether to have this surgery. I wanted to be informed. From websites to journal articles to books, I read it all. I was not going to just rely on what my doctor told me -- I wanted to learn for myself.

But come on, this is life changing surgery here.