KateP

We all experience stalls, some can be brief, others go on for ages. But there is no magic answer, just the simple equation. If we eat fewer calories than we burn, our bodies have no choice but to use stored energy - fat. Calories from different foods do have different effects in, for example, insulin spikes, but the equation still overall holds true. If you are into serious training, muscle build up happens and inch for inch that is heavier than fat. But unless you are developing body-builder size muscles, the effect on the scale will be very small. And increased exercise will help loss but nowhere near as much as is sometimes claimed. We need an awful of 5ks to burn off much fat. So all you can do is cut back on calories! As far as the back is concerned, back pain is not commonly associated with banding as far as I know. Pulled muscle?

Sorry, I can't edit on my iPad! Taken over by the NHS 5 years ago.

Lots of people won't get how excellent it is to be taken over by the NHS as most are in the US. But I totally get it - I was lucky enough to be taken over but the NhS about the years ago, three years after my band. THG are taking the Mickey! Spire charged me £250 for an XRay wth dye injected into the port to check for leaks and the charge for a barium swallow was £240. But now, of course, the lovely NHS do everything for free! Hope this gets sorted for you. Band re-positioning is possible but quite a lot if NHS surgeons now prefer to remove, according to my NHS Consultant.

As the others say. You have accepted the problem, now get help to deal with it. Firstly, you wanted the band to lose weight so you must have really wanted that loss! Secondly, without any fill in your band, you may well have done no harm but that doesn't mean you aren't going to! This is serious stuff. Not just discomfort. If you damage the tissues round your band nasty things can happen. This is going to sound over-dramatic but it can even cause cancer. We can get reflux without even being aware of it and acid attacks the tissue in the throat which can cause oesophageal cancer! OK, very worst scenarios but, yes, I am trying in a way to frighten you! Cancer is unlikely but slips can be painful and can lead to further surgery. We can damage the vagus nerve which sits just above the band and is crucial for many bodily processes. With a loose band - none of this is likely. But it is possible. Silly to run risks like that at your age. See your doctor, see a nutritionist, see a therapist. Best wishes.

As the others say. You have accepted the problem, now get help to deal with it. Firstly, you wanted the band to lose weight so you must have really wanted that loss! Secondly, without any fill in your band, you may well have done no harm but that doesn't mean you aren't going to! This is serious stuff. Not just discomfort. If you damage the tissues round your band nasty things can happen. This is going to sound over-dramatic but it can even cause cancer. We can get reflux without even being aware of it and acid attacks the tissue in the throat which can cause oesophageal cancer! OK, very worst scenarios but, yes, I am trying in a way to frighten you! Cancer is unlikely but slips can be painful and can lead to further surgery. We can damage the vagus nerve which sits just above the band and is crucial for many bodily processes. With a loose band - none of this is likely. But it is possible. Silly to run risks like that at your age. See your doctor, see a nutritionist, see a therapist. Best wishes.

I wondered the same thing. I binged, I grazed, I ate enormous quantities at meal times. And as the band shouid never physically stop you eating, I also thought it might not help me. But it did! Dramatically. The first thing is, you have to eat more slowly. Most big eaters shovel food in very fast, chewed as little as possible. So your brain does not have time to catch up. So you can eat until you feel ill! The second thing is learned behaviour. You learn to listen to your body. I have just eaten dinner. It wasn't a balanced meal because I was using up leftovers, but to give you an idea of volume- I just ate half a small baked potato - about 2oz (I just weighed a same size one in order to write this), two tablespoons of chopped cabbage and three tablespoons of left over casserole (Small cubes of beef and chopped veggies). And I feel totally satisfied. I could eat more, but I have no desire to, some days, my mental "pushing" might make me feel like just carrying on, but so walk away from the table and do something, anything to occupy me. The thing is, if we don't feel hunger and keep busy, we don't think of food!

10lbs a month is optimistic unless you are starting from a very high weight or are male. If you are both, go for it, if you aren't, remember the average loss for banded people is 1-2lbs a week, so less than 10lbs a month. Averages hide the extremes. So even a fast loser might lose 4lbs one month and 12 the next. For me, setting a goal at the highest end of the likely would lead to feelings of failure. In fact, I chose never to set short term goals and my ultimate goal didn't have a deadline. But I know many oeople prefer goals.

Go for it! Surgery really has to be IMO the very last resort. Learn good habits and maybe you can avoid it! I couldn't because I could always lose (as much as 90lbs, then 60lbs, then 80lbs, many lots of 20lbs) but I could never keep it off. Best wishes.

Sorry, can't edit on my iPad. Just to add, had not picked up on the fact you have no saline in your band. So that is not the easy answer I made it sound!!!

Coughing caused by acid reflux is a known side effect of banding. Especially a night time cough. It is very possible to have "silent" reflux which is basically when the acid rises into the oesophagus without us being aware of it, This can often be sorted out by even a small amount of saline being removed. If the cough IS being caused by the reflux, saline being removed is important as (worst case scenarios here, not usual outcomes!) acid reflux can cause damage to the oesophagus and even pneumonia caused by inhaling the acid (aspiration pneumonia).

Can anyone tell me how to edit a thread I have posted? Can't see any edit button!

Not at all. Sliming is not the norm! An occasional episode isn't a problem but not sliming doesn't mean you are not tight enough, well chewed food shouid pass through a correctiy adjusted band in about a minute. If it does this, you won't slime!

If you know it is your fault, it's no big deal because you can change how you eat! When I was newly banded and learning, I maybe had issues once every few days. But I always knew it was my own fault! Now I think I am being ridiculously careless if it happens once a month! I think the iast time was around two or more months ago. Of course, if it is not due to careless eating, then the band is too tight! I imagine everyone does it occasionally but if it is happening every day, there is a problem because it happens when food builds up above the band and into the base of the oesophagus and if it happens too often, over a long period of time it can cause oesophageal dilation or, even more serious oesophageal dysmotility (the oesophageal walls cease to make the movements necessary to push food along,

Thanks! Irritatingly, I never use a pc these days! Surprising it can't be done on tablets when there is an BP app! Never mind! I will try to remember to proof read before posting!

Ipad

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No, but then I think I may keep my band much looser than you do! When I got to goal, I just started adding in little things like butter on my veggies, an extra small potato etc.. My band has never stopped me eating, I just relaxed my choices a little.

OT question, see you edited. How?? I tried to edit a post Zi made and couldn't find a tab! Thanks! PS - quite agree about BMI!!

Best wishes -hope they can sort it. My own bariatric doctor sees reflux as a major warning signal and told me that if I ever had it for any length of time, i had to go for a check and small defill. But, as with so things, doctors seem to differ!

I think get this checked out asap. Burning pain sounds like heartburn/ reflux. Even an empty band can cause proboems if there is a build up if scar tissue. Ongoing reflux is not only a symptom of band problems, it causes damage to the oesophagus which, if untreated, can be irreversible. You need to see your bariatric doctor to get the band checked.

I cannot see how to edit my post, the iast paragraph was written for a different forum and does NOT apply to this board. If anyone can tell me where the edit button is, I will change it,

Please bear in mind that I am a very happy and very successful bandit now 8 years post-op. I do not regret my band, would do it all over again and if I ever have to have it removed, I would hope to have a replacement. When I was banded in 2006, it was a miracle surgery. And for some people, who accept that they will still have to work hard, it is just that. It was and still is for me. But over the years it has become clear that serious complications necessitating further surgery are much more common than originally thought, some of these are avoidable by careful eating and by not keeping the band tight; unfortunately others are beyond our control. We used to be warned about band slips, leaks and about ( very rare) erosion into the stomach tissue but it turns out that a build up of scar tissue round the band (causing it to tighten) is quite common. It can be very difficult to get the right level of restriction and some people are tempted to keep it tight enough to physically limit food, in fact it was once thought this was how it should be. But this causes food to back up into the oesophagus and that risks problems such as oesophageal dysmotility which may be irreversible. It can also damage the vagus nerve. We still need lots of will power. The band makes it easier by dimming hunger, but it does nothing for head hunger and, contrary to popular opinion, it does not and should not physically stop us eating. If it does it is too tight! Having said all that, I love my band, I know many successful long term bandits in real life. On this board, you will find more people who will put forward the case against the band than in favour of it and I do not for one second question their experiences. But my own experience has been good and so has that of almost all those I actually know and have met.

If OTC meds don't sort this out, get your band checked. If you are chewing well and eating sensibly (I.e. not just before going to bed or very indigestible foods), heartburn can be a sign of being too tight. Heartburn is a sign of acid reflux even if we do not experience the sensation of the acid rising. This is not uncommon several years post-op as scar tissue builds up and the gradually tightens. Usually, as in my own case, a very small amount of saline being removed solves the problem. I am paranoid about being too tight (maybe one of the reasons that I have my band still after almost 9 years which is pretty unusual!). When I developed night time reflux (very, very mild), I went straight to my doctor, even though I was having no problems at all eating. A barium swallow showed I was too tight and food was building up above the band -I had been totally unaware of this. Removing just 0.1 cc of saline made all the difference.

It may well be what is referred to as sliming. If food does not pass through the band and backs up into the oesophagus, our body produces thick saliva in order to help it go through. If things are already backed up, this sits on top of the food, making matters worse not better. So things are forced back up, and the bit at the top which is the first to come back is that thick saliva.

Very often, this repairs itself after a period without any fill. So fingers crossed! Then the trick is to make sure food doesn't remain above the band; if it is well enough chewed to go through within the one minute, then there is no pressure on the oesophagus.