egh909

This is the wrong section but this site is impossible to navigate, I'm just trying to find a place to post regarding email options and the newsletter we get sent. I rarely come to this site, haven't been on in years, but I keep having to log on lately to sort my email options, i'm repeatedly getting sent stuff clogging up my inbox when I've set my notifications NOT to get emails. Who ever is in charge of the newsletter, please FIX the broken link at the bottom that is supposed to unsubscribe you. Here is what it says: 'If you would like to permanently unsubscribe and stop receiving ALL emails from our organization click (here)' --->the link is dead! It's extremely annoying to have to come here and ask about this. Stop spamming me!

Hello, over the last week I've come to believe my band has slipped, and after one night in particular of really intense discomfort, I called up the helpline and was told I would need to book an appointment to have an x-ray. I've paid £150 for this x-ray (I was banded with The Hospital Group). My appointment is this evening and I've been off solids for about a week, because I've been unable to keep them down & attempting to has been the main cause of my discomfort. I wasn't told whether or not to only have liquids prior to the x-ray, and I'm not sure about whether or not I can have anything to drink before the x-ray (I have had one x-ray in the past when I first got my band and I seem to recall being told not to drink anything for an hour before the x-ray?) I've been given no information about that this time. Just wondered if anyone with a slipped band who had an x-ray could tell me what happened after? I realise there's a chance it hasn't slipped, but I know my body, and the band, and that one night in particular where I was in pain and it remained, and how I've been feeling since, with a lot of nausea in spite of not eating, plus pain under my right rib-cage area, and down the middle of my chest - all of which I've never had before - has me feeling like there's something big wrong. Have never felt like this with my band before, even having been over-filled at one point. Quite a scary time atm, I'm no longer overweight and was working well with my band, I have had instances of vomiting with it, more-so leading up to this week where it's been terrible trying to eat even mushy foods. (Very sorry if I've posted in the wrong area mods?)

Hi, I wanted to talk a little bit about my difficulties with soft food vs. textured food and my recent experimentation with the Atkins diet. I’m interested to know if anyone else has had a similar experience to me. I’m also keen to hear some opinions on whether I’m using my band in the best way I can. I was banded August 2009, so coming up to a year ago. In the months immediately following the operation, I lost 2 stone without any problems. While I wasn’t restricted, I think the shock of having had the surgery and being very conscious of the band made me feel 'distanced' from food (I mean to say it made food a real thing for me again, I had to really think about it now, it couldn’t be this ‘off-switch’ that I could use as a way not to think). About 4 years ago I tried Lighter Life, kind of an extreme version of Slimfast where all you have is shakes and Soups to lose a dramatic amount of weight. I lost all my weight, but put it back on (and more! I know, should have known better). I think this brief success with Lighter Life got this unhelpful idea fixed in my head that liquids = weight loss. Still, I’d done plenty of research before getting the band and thought I had it firmly in my head that I needed to be vigilant to the danger of sabotaging myself with soft foods that could get past the band. After getting banded however, I lost 2 stone straight away, staying in the post-op phase of liquid/soft foods longer than necessary. This success I guess reinforced the liquids = weight loss idea I was still unknowingly holding onto as a hangover from Lighter Life. Eventually however, I started to get comfortable and seek out soft food that wasn't healthy, rationalising that it would be ok because I was still being so good with having Slimfast shakes and healthy soups. No surprise, I hit a plateau which has lasted months and months, with me swinging between trying to strictly stick with the healthy shakes/soups, then giving in and indulging in unheathly food I knew would get past the band. I have had only two fills since having the band fitted, my most recent being a month ago. It may seem ridiculous, but it took me up until recently for it to dawn on me that using shakes and other soft foods as a crutch to lose weight goes completely against how the lapband is intended to work (yes, DUH! indeed) When I went for the second fill (wrongly thinking that my problem was restriction) I had a talk to the nurse about my eating habits. I had the fill and went off to reassess how I’d been using the band. My problem wasn’t restriction, but rather that I wasn’t eating textured foods enough and as a result wasn’t allowing the lapband to do its job. It shouldn’t have been a revelation, I can’t explain how I didn’t come clean with myself sooner, but I think I’d sort of managed to blind myself to how I was misusing the band, telling myself "liquids work, I’m just plateauing because of my snacking, I can fix it with liquids", and using the band more as an unrealised threat to myself rather than actually USING it. I think also I was obviously secretly pleased that I could seemingly still have naughty foods without major repercussions, and I refused to see the pattern in what I was doing. My recent determination to stay off soft foods has certainly woken me up to the fact that I do indeed have a lot of liquid in my band, in spite of having had only 2 fills. I started a kind-of Atkins diet, having a lot more Protein and not eating carbohydrates – breads, biscuits/crisps(!). No soups or shakes either, nothing that will slip straight past the band. I started losing weight again immediately. Again, as I write this, it seems amazing to me that I didn’t work it out sooner – ‘no soft stuff’ is like the first rule of the lapband, I want to smack myself in the fact for being so self-deluding. I’d somehow got it in my head that I was a special case and some crazy combination of lapband + liquids was going to work for me – a result, I suspect, of my initial easy 2 stone loss using liquids, which put me back in the Lighter Life mindset. I’m back to losing regularly, but my problem may now actually be that I have too much liquid in my band. I find I’m getting stuck and brining up spit when I try to eat meat, except in the evening. I chew thoroughly and eat slowly, small mouthfuls, but it’s hard to have much more than a mouthful pre-evening before I start PBing. Is this maybe a result of the fact that I've never really tested my level restriction with meat? (Only with bread) I’m also wondering, could this be like the other extreme of my earlier misguided habits? While morning/early afternoon meals aren’t going so smoothly at the moment, should I keep the level of restriction that I have as long as I’m managing textured foods? Will the restriction ease a bit on its own as I lose more weight? To be honest, I am worried that having an unfill will mean I lose restriction altogether.

Thanks so much for the information guys, it's very helpful.

Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it.

Hello! I know you made this post last year, but just wondering how your uvula is doing? I had my surgery a couple of days ago and I've noticed the same thing with my uvula, like it's catching on the back of my tongue. It's not painful, just uncomfortable when swallowing and when talking like you describe. Hope yours got better!

Has anyone been banded by the Hospital Group in Liverpool, or has anyone had any experience with them that they could share? I'd really appreciate hearing what people have to say.

Well, I did it, I'm getting banded on the 30th!! Part of me never thought I'd have the courage of my convictions, but I'm actually going to do it. I'm a bit scared I must say, I think it's the idea of the operation itself and the (very small) risk of something going wrong and me never waking up. It's a morbid fear I have that plays on my mind a bit. I'm 21 years old and my BMI is 32 at the moment. Is it like the higher your BMI the great the risk of you dying during the operation? (Again, sorry to be so grim, but it scares me, I've never had an op before and I don't feel like I can talk to my family about it because they're already nervous about me having this done) Did anyone else feel like this? Thanks very much for the info! I'm getting mine done at Bromsgrove as well, with Dr Super, and I'm really hoping that I'll feel as positive and confident about my decision later on as you sound. I went for the WGA option, and after reading what you've said I'm really glad I did! What you've said here is very encouraging. 4 fills sounds great, I'd be very happy if that was all I needed. Would you mind telling me how fast your weight came off? Was it sort of 1-2 pounds a week or more rapid than that?

Hey, thanks very much for the reply, it put my mind at ease and made it easier for me to get in touch with them and book a consultation. May I ask, did you go for the 'Simply Surgery' option, for £5,450, or the more expensive £6,900 one? I really don't have enough money for that one, but I'm wondering if it's worth waiting til I have enough for the more expensive of the 2 because with that one you get the 28 days aftercare and the four free fills? And did you get your surgery done in Bromsgrove or Manchester? Thanks so much! :thumbup:

Hi everyone, I'm looking into having lapband surgery and this forum seems like a really helpful and supportive place to do some investigation! I'm 20 years old, I'm from the UK and my BMI is 31. I've been overweight since late childhood. Like most people with a weight problem, I feel as if I've tried endless methods of weight loss, and all have failed. I'm at the stage where I can just see myself sliding deeper and deeper into this self-imposed destructive lifestyle with no hope of escape. I feel I'm missing out on the best years of my life. It is like being trapped in my own body, in a state of permanent discomfort and unhappiness. My weight and my relationship with food dictates everything I do in my life. But I'm sure that none of these feelings will be new to anyone who has struggled with their weight most of their life. What I am wondering is, does anyone know if I would qualify to have the surgery on the NHS? Many thanks

Thanks a lot for the info. I'm going to have to work out the money issue, £3600 is a lot, but of course I accept that this is an expensive procedure. The prospect of a 2 year wait isn't fun (supposing I'd be a candidate for the NHS) It seems like there's quite a few places where the surgery can be done. I'm a bit at a loss as to how to investigate where would be best. Psychologically, I'd feel better getting the surgery done in the UK. Was the Belgium option better than anything in the UK?

Thank you, that would be really helpful. How much did your surgery cost? And what happened with the fills, were you able to get those done back at home?