KateP

Sorry, didn't really answer the question! Make sure foods are not too dry, a little bit of sauce might help with chicken, for example. Fish should work well.

You should be able to eat most foods, although some need care. The most common "difficult" foods are steak, fibrous veggies like celery, doughy white bread. But there are differences between individuals. If you can't eat a balanced diet you are either eating too fast and not chewing enough or you are too tight.

It is very common to find that after being emptied, the original amount of saline has a different effect. It may, as you say, be resolved with meds but heartburn and reflux are among the most common symptoms of being too tight. I have twice had tiny amounts removed (just 0.1cc) to relieve reflux nowhere near as bad as you describe. Both times, it was JUST the mild night time reflux, in the day I could eat without problem. Both times removing saline sorted it out.

Sorry about typos above. Can't use the edit tab for done reason

TBH, if you are resorting to slider goods, you are too tight! Even when stressed, and my band akways feels tighter when I am stressed, you shouid still be able to eat normal goods, just with extra care. It is fairly common for bands to get tighter over time as scar tissue builds up and it may be this has happened to you. So if this tightness has lasted more than a few weeks, you may need a tiny amount of saline out. As little as 0.1 cc can actually make a difference. In your shoes, I would not be resorting to Protein shakes - if you NEED to, you are too right and if you CHOOSE to, you are not using yor band as it was designed to be used. The most common cause of band complications is being too tight. I admit to bring oaranoid about being tight? But that na be why I gave my band still after almost 9 years - there aren't that many of us around!

I do now, at almost 9 years post-op. I didn't the first Christmas! I was about 7 months post-op that year and allowed myself a taste of everything but was able to control my overall intake. But knowing you lost control helps you work out how to handle it next holiday! And you may not have good restriction yet which makes it harder.

Basically, the "right" level of restriction. You can eat most foods, unless you eat too fast or don't chew, you don't bring food back or feel discomfort or pain. If you eat a sensible amount, starting with dense Protein, and then walk away, you will not feel hunger for several hours. The red zone is too tight. The band physically stops you eating, which it shouid never do. Or you get bad reflux.

Tightening due to a build up of scar tissue is increasingly being cited as a cause of band problems. And is beyond our control. Lucky ones, like me, only need a tiny amount of saline removed to deal with the problem. Hopefully you are one of those and will be able to get gradual refills. I have just realised this is an old thread - so fingers crossed that your problems have been sorted by now.

When I was banded in early 2006, we were told it was for life. This now seems less likely as more and more get removed. However, removal is rarely because the band is "not fit for purpose" in that the band itself should not degrade. Removals are usually because of slips or the build up of scar tissue. So theoretically, it can stay there. And if it were removed, your chances of regain go back to that of non-surgical dieters - very high. So I hope mine is forever! I have had it for nine years and it is still doing just what it is supposed to do. I do everything in my power to minimise risk - mainly by never keeping it so tight ur makes eating difficult. But it has become clear over the last decade that to keep your band fir life is far from certain. Even keeping it loose is no guarantee of longevity.

Just seen the 2nd part of the Q. If by going back to ore-op you mean liquids - no! The band is designed to work with dense solids not liquids, so that would be simple masochism! But going back to good band eating, yes. Appropriate portions of dense Protein, followed by crunchy veggies with complex carbs at the end if room. Eat and walk away. Count any Snacks in the daily total, avoid liquid calories. Getting out of bad habits can be done. I have had to pull myself back on track many times in my almost 9 years. And I have always managed it!

There is no "should"! Tell them all that the average loss is 1-2lbs a week and that means some people may be losing 3lbs a week and some less than a pound, that's how averages work! The band is not about fast loss They may not have taken on board the fact that we don't have any malabsorption and mist banded oeople eat around 1000-1200 a day. Just like someone following WeghtWatchers. So we don't lose any faster than a WW dieter would lose!

This is actually not all that unusual! Some people are more prone to develop scar tissue than others. In extreme cases, it can necessitate band removal but more commonly it just makes the band slightly tighter and can be dealt with by a small amount of saline being removed. It gas happened to me twice. Once at about 4 years post-op and once at about 6 years post-op, both times I had a tiny amount out (0.1cc) and the orbiemroblem was sorted. The iast time was almost three years ago. If it carries on at that rate, I will be around 100 by the time it is totally empty! But for some people it is a major problem. It now ranks high as a band complication.

Slider finds like lemon pie pass down with no problem, steak is fibrous and cannot be chewed to a mush. So it doesnt slide down. So you can eat the pie relatively quickly, bite, few chews, swallow and off it goes! But the steak, however well you chew doesnt break down That doesn't mean you can't eat it, on the contrary, dense Protein is good "band" food. But it means you need to take a tiny bite, chew, swallow, wait before the next bit, Well chewed food should pass through the band in about a minute. The pie won't take that long. The steak will! We really do need to try to avoid PBs. They are a major risk factor for us. I bring food back maybe once every two or three months and it is ALWAYS because I was eating too fast.

Please don't leave this. It is probably not this but one relatively rare complication is erosion where the band eats into the tissue of the stomach. That sounds painful but for some reason, it often isn't. Sometimes the only early symptom is if an infection builds up which can travel along the tubing to the port area which becomes inflamed, possibly swollen and very sore to the touch. As I say, this is rare. But health is too important to risk.

Some pills are specifically designed to dissolve in the acidic environment of the stomach, so if one dissolves above the band, at the base of the oesophagus, it can be quite corrosive. A good friend of mine was assured by a pharmacist no damage would be done if her anti-bio capsule dissolved above the band, he was wrong! She ended up in ER unable to swallow even saliva. So your tablets may have irritated the tissue. I, like many other banded people, take enormous care. I only take very small pills, anything else I get in soluble or liquid form or, unless time-release, chopped into tiny pieces. When I take meds, I take them with large amounts of iquid and take one at a time so that if one did come back up, it would only be the last one and I would know which it was! I always take morning tablets after my morning latte. This may sound like paranoia on my part. But although I am in no way tight - I can eat all foods without any problem - I have several times had pills which did not go down and I feel that it is not worth the risk. I have had my band for almost 9 years and don't do anything to put it at risk!

Bruce, I am very sure that the modern view is the one quoted by me and by others. But none of us are surgeons (I assume) or qualified as bariatric experts. Your doctor is both! But my understanding is that the pars flaccida technique has been in use since about 2005. The implantation method does not change the way the band works. The idea that food needed to stay above the band was the orthodoxy until about 2008/9. After that, it was not the method of implantation that changed but the understanding of how the band worked.

I asked my surgeon prior to surgery how he does it, and how the band will work on me, and he distinctly told me that the band will create a small 4-6 oz. pouch, and once that pouch fills up, my meal is done. In essence this means that I can only eat in one meal, the amount of food that fits in to the pouch. This is obviously completely different than what the doctor here says in the videos. My surgeon added, that there's only one way to do it and everybody does it this way, so now I'm really, really confused. When I was banded in 2006, that is what we were taught - that food was retained in the pouch and exerted pressure on the vagus nerve. Research (for example by Monash University, Australia) carried out then and subsequently demonstrated that a well-adjusted band allows food to pass through within a minute. Retaining food above the band risks damage to the vagus nerve and the diaphragm. A band should not be tight enough to keep food above it for long. As a long term banded person, I have an annual barium swallow to check all is well and one of the main checks is that food moves through quickly and never pools above the band.

Oh indeed! All info for paramedics is useful. I carry a multi-language card in my wallet. It was given to me by my doctor, My point was simply that in a life-threatening emergency, we can be intubated and the paramedics will do so. Better tissue damage than death! I was really trying to reassure people that having a band would not increase the risk of death in a serious accident. I have been told this by doctors and paramedics. Indeed, I know personally a paramedic who has inserted a ng tube into a banded person,

Sorry, not used to this site. Duplicate post.

Sorry, this is just not correct! If we are in such a serious condition that we cannot tell the paramedics we have a band, they will check any medical details but they will go for saving our lives rather than worry about damaging our tissue! If we need emergency intubation, they will do it! The end of a ng tube is rigid and will go through the band. If may cause bruising, it may be more difficult to do, but if there are life threatening levels of fluid pooling in the abdomen, they will intubate us! And a tube for breathing doesn't go anywhere near the band! It goes into the lungs!

I have now received THIRTY FIVE newsletters, identical, TODAY. I have unsubscribed and MORE arrived!! I don't want to mark them spam as I will lose other BP messages. HELP. Two more have jusr dropped into my e Mail inbox. So now 37. What do I do? Can't see a contact tab to beg for mercy. Have tried replying to newletters e mails and they don't bounce back but neither do they stop coming.

And more. Now over 60. PLEASE STOP!!!!!!!

Well not sorted for me! another 15 have now arrived. Losing count but think I am now over 50

Another five arrived. Now 43

pills are funny things. I am not, and never have been, tight. I can eat all foods, and if I PB it is always my own fault for eating too fast - and it happens very rarely. My band is much looser than many people like. But I have never been able to take any pills larger than a very small pea! Well, I could for the first six months, but then one day, for no reason, my tiny bp capsule dissolved above the band. The only reason I realised was because waves of nasty taste kept coming up. It didn't hurt. But since then, only tiny tabs go down. So I take all meds in soluble, crushable, cuttable forms. So far there has always been one available although sometimes the doctors have had to do a bit of research to find one. One problem is that we may not realise a tab is dissolving above the band and that can cause problems. They are designed to dissolve in the large and acid environment of the stomach. So dissolving more slowly (no acid) and always on exactly the same place (immediately above the band) may cause long term problems. A friend of mine ended up in ER after her pharmacist assured it her it would do no harm if her anti-bio dissolved above the band. He was wrong. The tissue swelled so badly she needed an emergency aspiration. It is for that reason that I, and many others, choose to avoid swallowing any other than really tiny capsules.