Boysaway

Hi, I was on the same regime for my mid-band. I survived the one week yogurt diet and it certainly worked as my liver was fat free at surgery. It's important as they might abandon surgery if they find your liver too fatty. You can have as many fat free yogurts as you like. I didn't touch yogurt for ages afterwards but like it again now!

WasaBubbleButt, as someone who has not yet 'come to terms' with the band I am interested to know why you would have gotten a sleeve instead. - please could you say why?

My fill nurse, who has herself been banded for seven years, has said that the 'new' feeling of fullness we should expect is nothing like the old full stomach feeling. It is rather a feeling in the back of your throat that if you take one more bite you will get stuck and have to PB. We must learn to stop eating at that point. That said, I too often get stuck on the first or second bite even when I chew tiny bites to death. I seem to be unable to eat anything until evening, and sometimes in the morning even drinks get stuck! If I get the timing right I can eat a full salad, although it takes me about an hour. I am losing again since my last fill so if this is my ideal restriction pattern then I will accept it and learn to adjust my eating accordingly. I am just pleased to have found some restriction at last.

Soft Bread Toasted bread Rice Pasta Banana Tablets Meat Fish Chicken Potato Lettuce Corn Tomato Spicy food Something else (specify in post)

Also, it's not saline that is injected but a viscose radio-opaque fluid, very thick and difficult to draw or inject.

Hi there, I had my second fill yesterday (1 ml extra to make 5 mls total). Last night I was able to eat soup without a problem but today I can't even swallow my own spit so have had no fluids for almost 24 hours. Is it likely to relax given that I was okay last night, or should I be panicking? Thanks in anticipation.

I have had no problem with lettuce and salads.

One more Orlistat story - don't take it if you have a septic tank/cesspit at your home, only if you have mains sewerage. My tank became totally blocked with the fat rising to the surface and sealing the outlet and it was the most embarrassing experience ever to have it emptied by the local farmer!

Thank you for all your replies. I ended up yesterday in a general hospital locally having IV fluids and after several failed attempts to withdraw fluid from my band, along came an Upper GI Surgical Consultant who managed first time and took out 2mls, leaving me with 3mls. The relief was immediate and now I feel fine. I think I'll leave it at 3mls for a while to settle down then go back to my fill nurse and go up to 4.5 as 5 is clearly too tight. I wouldn't like to re-live the last 48 hours! Thanks again.

Unfortunately I am away from home as my mum died at the weekend and I have travelled 300 miles to her home for the funeral, so I know nothing about fills/unfills locally. Is there anything anyone can suggest to ease it a bit (does red wine sometimes slacken it as I've read, enough to get water down?). I really want to avoid an unfill if at all possible. Who would believe 1ml could make so much difference! Any ideas would be appreciated.

Do be careful, I got stuck on chicken soup at 2-3 weeks post op, not a pleasant experience!

You need another fill - your band is not yet working with you so schedule another fill and don't be so hard on yourself. People need a different number of fills to achieve perfect restriction.

I suppose it depends on how strong your relationship is to begin with. I am lucky to have a totally supportive husband and we are now saving up for him to also have the surgery.

AudricIan, how do you hide your scars from your DH?? IMHO, my DH would have been much more aggrieved by the deception than by the act.

I think you will become friends with your band very son and this time next year you will be posting I LOVE MY BAND!!! Reconcile yourself to your fill date of 2 January, have a great Christmas and New Year and then knuckle down with your helping hand.

Did your surgeon suture your stomach up over the band? Mine doesn't do this as his view is that most erosions occur because of this and that it is unnecessary. He said there is no research that proves either way which is best but he has a very low erosion rate.

I told my kids, I couldn't have not done so. BUT my 13 year old daughter overeats and is overweight and horrified me last week by saying 'well, I'll just get a band when I'm older' - so there is a danger that the knowledge could cause them to think this is the thing to do in adulthood and that overeating in the meantime is okay. It should be seen as a last resort, of course.

I should have said mine is a Midband. The erosion occurs more in sutured stomachs (in my surgeon's opinion) because the join of the band is usually under the part of the stomach that is sutured, and with normal stomach movement and peristalsis there is a degree of rubbing goes on. I don't know which is best but I suppose you have to trust your own surgeon.

I got a 4ml fill (my first) into a 7ml Midband last Tuesday and initially had good restriction but could eat. Last night I got some white fish stuck after eating only about 2 ounces. OMG the pain! It went on for 2 hours before I was able to burp away the pain. If I could have PBed I would have but I don't know how! I have always been able to burp at will but last night I couldn't at all. Talk about aversion therapy - today I am scared to eat anything at all, and even fluids need to be sipped so slowly, but at least they are going through. Am I too tight, or should I wait a bit longer to see if it settles down? I don't want to go through that again, believe me it was extremely unpleasant. Any words of wisdom?

I have not experienced the feeling that you all describe as fullness yet. I eat a small amount and then I get stuck, most times.

Thanks for your replies, they all make sense. I will get some pineapple juice and stay on liquids until tomorrow to give it a chance to recover. You guys are great!

Three words: Jealous, Bitter and Twisted You don't need it.

Hi Turtle, I had this problem after following a VLCD (very low calorie diet). The hair loss happens not during the restricted diet but when you return to eating normally. What happens during periods of very low calorie intake is that your hair stops growing. When you resume more normal intake it takes advantage of the increased nutrition to regenerate itself, therefore you lose old hairs to make way for new growth. This is temporary and you will soon see that you have short new hairs growing in amongst the rest and before long your hair is back to normal. Believe me no-one else but you will notice that your hair is temporarily finer.

In the UK using this word is an absolute no-no! This summer one of the contestants on Big Brother was thrown off the show for using it, even though it was said in an affectionate way with no malice.

You could try Mr Morgan at the Spire Hospital (formerly BUPA) in Bristol. He did my band but you will have to pay.