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Mine sounds like water going down a drain. Generally it doesn't mean I am hungry. The funniest was last week when I had to go for fasting blood tests, it was so loud the phlebotomist could hear it!

I think you must be referring to the sleeve. It is the first part of the bypass op so could be referred to as a mini bypass but it is now used as a stand alone surgery. This procedure is available in Australia.

What is the mini lapband? I've never heard of it?

Just had a seriously weird moment whilst grocery shopping. Some guy looked at the stuff in my trolley and asked if I was feeling hungry. I said no I have a teenage son so he replied that he was wondering how I managed to stay so slim! Yes it may have been an NSV but it also felt a bit weird and creepy.

1.30am OMG! Wasn't it darker than normal. Or quieter - no birds singing etc? Are you jetlagged or something. I agree with Elfie - that is funny. Are you sure it's not the band's fault? Maybe you didn't eat enough so you woke up hungry - or it caused reflux or something! LOL. I thought once you had a band that it was responsible for every problem thereafter(or at least if you read some threads then you would think it is)! In my house I blame my husband for everything!

Restriction - sweet spot whatever you want to call it is not about seeing how much or how little you can eat before you feel full. To test to see how much you CAN eat would be dumb(your words). Ideally with a band you should be able to eat ANY food.Yes some foods are more difficult than others and some people find they cannot eat certain things but you cannot test restriction by whether or not you are able to eat something. I think a lot of people believe that they will hit a point where they have a lightbulb moment where they suddenly think wow this is it. In reality it is not like that at all. With a band being full is different. You should not be aiming for full you should be aiming for satisfied. If you can eat a small portion of the correct foods e.g protein/veg and maybe carb and feel satisfied and not get hungry again for 3 - 4 hours then YOU HAVE RESTRICTION. Most bandsters need to eat more than 3 times per day and that is fine so long as the snack is planned and healthy. If you are looking at restriction as only being able to eat a couple of bites of food , 3 times per day and not feel hungry in between then you will end up being too tight. When you are too tight you cannot eat properly so you resort to high cal slider fioods that do not fill you up and you PUT ON weight. It is also dangerous to be too tight as you can slip your band, get reflux etc. Hope this helps.

Elfie maybe it is the high protein diet? Maybe it doesn't suit you. Not everybody responds to every diet the same way.Are you doing low fat as well - if not maybe the calories are higher than you think - or maybe you are still eating too many carbs for a high protein diet. Don't know what else to suggest.

Relax - I am sure your band is fine. It probably means you need an adjustment. Not sure why you say you can't afford one. In Australia they are covered by Medicare and you only end up with an out of pocket fee of around $20.

Good luck If it was me I would get the band replaced, just because it slips once doesn't mean it will happen again. Or i would revise to a sleeve. I know that there is no way I could maintain without some kind of help. Why did you go for the upper GI if you had no symptoms? What made the Dr think that the band had slipped?

It's just another diet. You shouldn't need to do this.

You should still see your Dr at least once a year.

It sounds as though your band is working fine. Even when it feels like you are doing the work it is something that you probably wouldn't have been able to do preband.Having a band requires permanent diet and exercise changes - the band just helps you to stick to that because it helps to reduce your hunger. When you say you have no restriction what do you mean? If you eat the recommended amounts of proper food do you feel satisfied(not full) and are you able to go 3- 4 hours without feeling hungry?

The simple answer to this is YES. In Australia fluoroscope is almost never used except when there is a suspected problem. I have been banded since 2 June last year and have never had a fluoro. In all that time I have only had one small overfill. It should be pointed out though that Dr's here prefer to fill slowly they do not use the aggresive approach that a lot of Dr's in the US seem to prefer.

I can eat all those things just in small quantities.

It could be that you can't get or keep anything down. Sometimes it is a sudden loss of restriction. The ability to eat a lot more than previously. It all depends on how badly it has slipped.Sometimes it can be fixed by unfilling the band for a couple of weeks. Sometimes it is necessary to replace or reposition the band.

__________________ There seems to be a lot of pressure for people to resume sex before they are comfortable with it because of the poor partner, the above being just one example. If you are ready for sex 2 days after surgery great, if it takes you 2 months or longer that is also great. I believe that you should be making yourself a priority. Believe it or not no man ever died from a lack of sex and if he is "suffering" he can always go and visit Mrs Palmer and her 5 daughters. have sex when you feel ready - not when you feel obliged to because your poor partner is suffering!

How many long term sleevers are there out there? I think the answer is not many as sleeving is still a relatively new procedure.So I think if you asked the same question on the sleeve board you would have the same difficulties. Most of the sleevers seem happy but remember there are a relatively small number of them and NONE of them have been sleeved long term. I am not knoocking the sleeve surgery just pointing something out if you want to compare apples with apples. And there are people who have had a sleeve that have had complications. Plus there seem to be a fairly high number of them that have issues with reflux. Funny as reflux is often the reason people switch from the band to the sleeve. Hope you manage to work out which surgery will be best suited to your needs.

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to continue using it. Most stomach ulcers are caused by the H Pylori bacteria so presumably you have been tested for and are receiving treatment for that.

Hi, welcome and good luck. FYI Hypertension is high blood pressure!

I probably don't qualify as long term but here is my story anyway. Banded June 09, BMI 32. No problems after surgery except minor pain and nausea which were easily handled. Lost weight on a decreasing basis e.g 5kg first month, 3kg the second month etc with no major effort on my part. I eat a balanced diet with food from ALL food groups.There is no food that I cannot eat but sometimes some foods won't go down. This is because the tightness of the band can differ from one day to the next. So don't cut a food out of your diet just because it gives you problems once. I now have a BMI of 21.9 which means that I have lost more than 100% of my excess weight. My band is not overly tight (5.5ml in a 10ml band). I feel great and I think I look pretty good too. People are constantly making comments about how skinny I am. I do not think I am skinny its just that there are so many overweight people that our perception of what is normal is warped. I do not have issues with reflux or anything like that. Yes I PB sometimes but that is not a big deal. The only thing I regret about my band is that I didn't have it done sooner. I would do this again in a flash. Hope this helps. And remember support groups such as this one serve the needs of people having problems. That is why you will find a disproportionately high number of people with issues. People that have been banded a while and are happy are busy living their lives and don't post.

That is exciting because if you can tolerate it you will have a headstart. But you do need to be aware that a number of people cannot tolerate the additional restriction on top of the post op swelling. There have been a number of people here that really struggled after surgery, hated their bands, couldn't get anything down including water etc and when they went to see their Dr's it turned out that their bands had been partly filled at surgery. Being aware of the potential problems is probably the best defence because you will know why they are happening and that you need to go back and get some of the saline removed. All the best, hope it goes well.

Laparscopic means that they use a laparscope to see what they are doing. It used to be referred to as keyhole surgery.It means the Drs make small incisions to do the surgery as opposed to an open procedure where they make a large incision and you are left with a large scar. You are confusing it with the SILS procedure. Single incision via the bellybutton. There is no way it can be done through the mouth. How would they get the band around the outside of the stomach. the only thing done through the mouth is the procedure where they implant a balloon in your stomach.

It's a bit worrying that you are finding EVERY man attractive. There are lots of ugly guys out there(yes I know beauty is only skin deep)! i actually thought that the engine said IKNOWICAN..........

You need to remember that the band restricts the quantities of food that you can eat not the calories.Compare a cube of cheese with an apple. the cheese is smaller but much higher in calories. It would be fairly easy to eat a large quantity of cheese wheras apples would be more difficult. The band is a tool that helps to control your hunger you still choose what you put in your mouth. You need to choose your calories wisely. Pick foods that are high in nutrients and dense so that they will fill you up for a long period of time. Proteins are generally the best e.g meat, chicken, eggs etc. Avoid "slider" foods. Slider foods are foods which are high in calories, low in nutritional value and slide through the band easily. things such as chocolate,cookies,cake, icecream,milkshakes. The band will not stop you eating these you have to have the control not to eat them.

WOW!!!! I'm gobsmacked. Cannot believe that you are basing this decision on how many scars you may or may not have. On the one side the op should seriously improve your health, your longevity, your fitness and definitely the way you look but you are prepared to throw that away because of the possibility of a couple of scars. Are you hoping to become a bikini model or something once you lose weight? If you are then you will probably need a tummy tuck and that would give you further scars! Plus they use this thing these days called airbrushing. Seriously how often are you going to be getting your stomach out and do you really think scars would be worse than fat??? Most people have 4 - 5 holes at the time of the surgery. 3 - 4 of these are tiny poke holes approx 1cm long. They are often situated under the bust where they are not seen and they fade so much that they are hardly noticeable. If you have a tendency for your scars to become keloid then obviously they would be more noticeable. The biggest scar is the one where your port goes and this can be in various places. It fades to a fine line which again is not really noticeable. I know everyone is different but I don't think you should be jeopardising your future health over this. You should base your choice of surgeon on experience , aftercare etc. If the more experienced surgeon does the surgery with 5 holes that to me would be the better choice than the less experienced surgeon that uses 1.