HCG shots or liquid

HI ! I am interested in getting HCG shots or liquid to jumpstart a long weight loss plan.  I wanted to try one last step before surgery.  Does anyone know of how I can get these shots in Philadelphia or any surrounding city ?


Thanks a million
Dana

I have a girlfriend, in Colorado sorry not PA, who had been doing the HCG shots, everything was great for a while.  She started having heavy bleeding and had to have a D&C and an ablation, very sad because she wanted more kids.  Be Careful!!  I am not to fond of injecting myself with a hormone that makes your body "think" you are pregnant, how could that work if I remember correctly pregnancy makes you gain weight??? Plus, she said she could only eat 500 cals per day, so you will be starving all the time, I guess that is how you loose that weight, skip the shot eat 500cal, save yourself the side effects.  Plus I know 100% HCG shots are not FDA approved, last I checked.  So who is watching them? you will be a guinea pig, for FDA approval.  Sorry, I hope this is not viewed as harsh, I just know if she could go back and not to the HCG shots she would.  Good Luck!!

Thanks for the insight but I am getting very frustrated - borderline desperate ! 

Dana,

I understand the feeling of desperation and wanting to find that "perfect tool" that will help you get where you want to be.  I'd like to add a couple of thoughts that might help you clarify things a bit...

First, don't let emotion pull you into a decision that could wreck your health in some significant long-term ways.  HCG is not something to play around with lightly and is a decision that should be made with qualified medical advice and a non-emotional mind.  Just like any major decision that could have long-term consequences.

Second, HCG - just like weight loss surgery - will NOT address the issues that got you to the weight you are now.  It will not fix the underlying eating issues, but may well mask them in some fairly nasty ways (think about the hormonal swings of pregnancy, made worse by estrogen release in weight loss, chemical imbalance of blood sugar swings, etc.).  Yikes!  

If you haven't yet, try a good WLS-friendly counselor who can help you figure out the underlying issues, while working with a nutritionist and physician to design a food plan that will work for your lifestyle.  That's the first step to long-term weight loss that will be successful.  Not a quick-fix that might hurt your health. 

A good book - one that helped me tremendously as I started on this journey - is "Anatomy of a Food Addiction" by Anne Katherine.  She explains very clearly how various food substances chemically act in many of us as addictive substances.  Eating even small amounts of them can trigger out-of-control eating, binging, etc. Helpfully, she takes you through how to figure out what those foods might be for you, what other underlying issues might be influencing your eating choices, and some tools to work through and start healing.  VERY powerful book and one that I continue to work.    She does NOT promote surgery, diet plans, or any specific food plan - it's focused instead on an addiction/recovery understanding of overeating disorders.

I hope these thoughts provide some extra tools that you can investigate so you don't feel so desperate and alone in your journey.  Most of us have been exactly where you are - ready to do ANYthing to get the weight off, and having tried everything out there under the sun and failed at them all so far.  For me, addressing the emotional and addiction aspect of it has been key to success after so many failures throughout my life.

Karen

Thanks for the insight ! I appreciate your kind words - I will try to pick that book up tom.

Hey Dana, another Dana here..
   I just moved here from FL, and I did the HCG shots along with an 800 calorie diet while I was on them, and while they did help me lose, it did not help with the mind/mental food issues. I was able to follow the extremely strict diet for a while, then I would give up and binge, then I would try again, I was in the most vicious cycle ever. So, from my experience, don't bother with the shots-it's a huge waste of money.. I have tried every single diet on the planet, cabbage soup, juices, WW, slim-fast, Phen-Fen,  but NO DIET has ever allowed my mind to rest and not focus on food. Unfortunately, the mental part of food addiction is serious, and very hard to deal with. I went to a few counselors, and some were helpful, but I never found one that "clicked" I would still love to find one I can mesh with-maybe one day. In the end, I had surgery, and it has proved to be an invaluable tool for me, I am not hungry, I don't have sugar/carb cravings and I've lost 43 pounds in 2 months. Now..the head hunger is REAL, it sucks, and it rears it's ugly head every time I get stressed, worried, happy, anxious, mad-whatever, so I struggle with that monster almost everyday. I second the therapist approach, if you can find somebody to talk to, it will make all the difference. I knew sugery wasn't a cure all, but it certainly has helped me not to be able to stuff my emotions that I need to feel.
I wish you all the best!

Dana

Hi Dana ! 

Thanks for sharing your experience ! 
What is the procedure you have had done ? VSG ? It obviously worked - Were you in alot of pain afterwards ?