MsMontelimar

Hi noza, sorry to hear about your difficulties. You say you're still vomiting even after having all the liquid out of your band? And the way you talk about having the liquid out 'once and for all' - have the doctors recommended you have your band removed? It really can't be good for you to have a slipped band sitting low around the top of your stomach, stopping you from eating right (are you eating slider foods at the moment?). I know it's awful to contemplate, but having no band is better for your health than going on with a slipped band. I think you need the band out. I'm personally concerned that the way I'm using my band may cause it to slip or already has to some extent - I vomit probably once a week when eating, and I have the same pain under the rib you describe, though under my right rib. I'm going in for a fluoroscopy soon to see exactly what's happened, but if I find out it's slipped, I'm going to have to have it out. I've lost weight on the band and have like you hit a plateau with around 3 stone still to lose. It'd be a blow to have to give up on the band, but there are other ways to lose the weight. Keep strong, hope you're managing ok, let us know how you get on.

I've been having a very similar experience - I won't have anything for an hour after I get up in the mornings, can't even have a cup of tea immediately after waking as it seems to take a long time going down, lots of gurgling and the unpleasant 'rising bubbles up the throat' feeling. From then on until about 4 in the evening I have very little appetite and tend to have small portions of softer things, definitely couldn't manage something like chicken or Pasta. But then, come evening, I can start to eat a lot more stuff, and I do feel like I want to eat and eat - and at this point even if the food's not going down so good and I have to take a break, I'll pick up again once the food's gone down past the band. It's pretty depressing as I had thought the band would give me a feeling of fullness, but all I've ever had close to that is the stuck feeling, which can be as mild as needing to wait for the food to go down amidst lots of gurgling, or as bad as needing to vomit, with the thick saliva being the precursor to that. Like others have said, obviously not a case of needing more restriction. It's unfortunately all too easy to slip into a bad cycle of eating with the band, going for softer foods for the majority of the day, then binging in the evening when you know you can get more down. It's terrible really, I never ever thought I'd be doing this when I first chose to get the band done, but I was working on the assumption that I'd have a very distinct full feeling after just a couple mouthfuls of a meal. I know I must not be using my band correctly, but I also realise now that I have pretty big issues with food and needing to binge eat, and I have been able to work out how to eat around my band in order to fulfil my compulsions. Also wondering if people do this thing I do sometimes - if I have to go for a meal out at a restaurant or something with people who do not know I'm banded, I will tend to eat some stuff in preparation, like start with something soft, then have something a bit more textured, sort of 'warming up' my stomach? Then when we're eating out, I find my stomach can handle the meal much better. Does this sound like a total abuse of the band? I've just found it's yet another way you can eat around the band if you're really determined to. I don't feel happy about it, but there it is.

I've had my band for a year and a half. I've been coming on here to read about people's experiences with their bands since before I was banded, and reading so many of the positive stories people have to tell was part of what helped me make the decision to get my band. I'd like to say before I go on, I did a lot of research before getting banded, it was not something I rushed into. I believed myself to be very well-prepared for getting banded. I saved to pay to have it done privately. I spent a long time coming to the decision and talking to worried family members, convincing them that I knew what I was doing. In a sense, the band has partially worked, I lost some weight immediately after the operation, and I do believe I would have continued to put on weight had I not got the band, whereas as I am now, I've reached a plateau. I remain overweight, and honestly, I'm still in agony over my relationship with food. I knew the band would only be a tool and that a lot of the work would need to come from me, but I believed that I was ready to completely re-assess what food meant to me. I see now that no such change has happened. I have restriction, I have discomfort when I over-eat, but such has been my compulsion to eat that I've forced it down or sought out softer foods, falling into a pattern of eating that allows me toundermine what the band's meant to be doing. I haven't been able to shake my fixation with food. If there is food in the house, I fight and fight in my head, driving myself to distraction, it's like something continually nagging at me that I can't ignore, I feel helpless with it. Giving in brings no relief, I really don't enjoy eating, it's a crushing thing to keep losing to this compulsion. I knew as well as anyone that the band alone would not cure this problem, but hearing about other people who got the band and managed to overcome it made me think it could help me do it. At this stage, I wish I never had to eat again, I wish I just didn't have to deal with food at all, I wish it was like cigarettes or alcohol, something where at least there would be the option to stop altogether, rather than having to keep on with it, but in limited amounts. It's there, day after day, and I feel like it's ruling my life. I know that for so many people on here, the band has worked and has somehow forced a change in the way they relate to food emotionally, I just want to know how many people there are like me, and I'd like to know where they went from here – did you decide to have your band removed? Did you turn to counseling/therapy to deal with your eating problems? Did you work out a way to work with your band? [i'm starting this discussion here rather than in the 'Support' section because I get the impression more people will read this here, and also it would be nice if there was a sticky post in the general section with accounts of why the band maybe didn't work for them or how they struggled. There are plenty of success stories here, but I think for people still wondering whether or not to get banded, reading a balanced account of people experiences means seeing both sides, when it works out and when it doesn't]