elcee

I think you should go and discuss it with your Dr. What type of foods are you eating? Maybe with better food choices you could stay full longer without being hungry.I understand your concern with being too tight and there can sometimes be a very fine line between enough and too much. How many times a day do you eat? Does your Dr allow a planned healthy snack between meals? A lot of bandits have been told that they should only eat 3 times per day and not be hungry inbetween but for most this is unrealistic. It can be a very long time between lunch and dinner.

It never ceases to amaze me what people are prepared to share with a bunch of strangers on the net!

Sorry to hear that Stacie that really sucks. Elfie hope your holiday is going well. Christie glad things are going well and that you enjoyed your date. Too many posts to catch up on after being away so all the best to everyone else too. We had a great week in Tassie. We went up cradle mountain, down some caves, on a restored railway, on a chairlift over a gorge just generally had a relaxing time. The weather was cold but it didn't really matter. Ate all the wrong foods - do you realise how easily chocolate mousse cake goes down? But the quantities were small and I didn't gain any weight! I suppose that having cake instead of lunch makes a difference(before it would have been lunch and cake). Been busy catching up with the washing and cleaning. The weather has at last started to get warm and now that daylight saving has started we have nice light evenings too. Had to go and get blood tests this morning. Since my incident in March when I collapsed and got taken off my BP meds I have been monitoring it myself at home.It has been getting higher and higher. Saw my GP twice and he said it was high but not high enough to worry about. yesterday morning I was feeling dizzy,nauseous, shaky and my heart was pounding(I had eaten breakfast). checked my BP and it was 180/100!!!!!! Saw another GP at the practice and she has given me some meds and ordered thyroid,iron,Vit B, Vit D tests etc etc to see if she can find out what is causing it.Have to go back on Friday.

Wow that is a lot of fill.What size band do you have? Also 2 weeks on liquids after a fill is not what is normally expected. I think that you are probably too tight and need an unfill. You say you have never got the feeling that you are supposed to get after fills. May I ask what feeling it is that you are looking for? It may be your Quest for some feeling that does not exist that is leading you to be way tighter than you need to be. I for one do not get any special feeling after a fill. I have to eat slower and chew better etc but that is it. there is also no magic full feeling. It is more a case of recognising when you have eaten enough(of the correct kind of foods) and then not getting hungry again for a couple of hours. You will never feel full the way you did before you were banded. It is different. Generally there can be a fine line between having eaten enough and overdoing it and being uncomfortable. The signal to stop eating may need to come from your head rather than from your band.

Where does it feel like it is sitting? If it feels like it is in your stomach then you are not stuck. If something is stuck you will feel it at band level which is in the centre of your chest more or less between your nipples. If something is stuck at this point you can trying coughing it back up,waiting for it to pass etc. It all depends how uncomfortable you are. You may not be stuck but have some swelling from something that was stuck, the best cure for this is sucking on crushed ice as it helps to reduce swelling. If you are feeling it in your stomach then I don't think it has anything to do with your band and am not sure what to suggest.

LOL. Yes straight to hell for you. I discovered yesterday when I took my son to movies that popcorn is a slider food! I suppose the only good thing is that I ate it instead of lunch not as well as lunch. Love reading this thread but rarely contribute. Some of the things make me laugh as I have been there, done that. e.g. Having to urp on the side of the road. Not fun. I recently switched Dr's as I am scheduled for a hysterectomy at the end of Oct. 1hr+ drive each way is OK for an unfill but I decided it was going to be a problem to get refilled especially as I will be restricted from driving for a while. Was lucky enough to find a Dr that would take me on that is closer.He unfilled me to see how much was in my band and I was surprised , apparently I had 5ml but have no idea how. Previous Dr's didn't like giving total fill amounts but if I added up what they said they put in each time it should have come to less than that.He added another .5 so I am now sitting at 5.5ml. Pretty comfortable and can eat most things but at least I am not getting hungry as quickly as before.He is going to unfill 2 days before the op and will visit me in hospital to refill. It is school holidays here so we are going to Tasmania for a week with friends, we leave tomorrow. We have recently had some really good rain which is great considering we have had a drought for goodness knows how many years. Of course as they say "It never rains, it pours" and it did just that. Had nightmares that my house might float away. The dam in our front garden did join up with the one next door but luckily it didn't reach the house.Our local golf course was amazing though. the river burst it's banks and the course was turned into a lake. It was an amazing sight. All the best to everyone. hope the holidays, teeth, fills, marathons etc all go really well. Lynn

You were lucky it only lasted 5 minutes.

These are classic symptoms of hypoglycaemia(low blood sugar). Have you been tested for things such as diabetes? I cannot see that the band will stop you feeling like this. It will still be important to recognise when you need food and eat appropriately.It is also very important not to let yourself get too hungry as what happens then is that we tend to eat too fast , take bites that are too big , not chew properley and we get stuck which can be painful or at the very least extremely uncomfortable. It is a good idea to carry a healthy snack in your bag to avoid getting too hungry. What the snack is will depend on what your Dr recommends. I normally have a muesli or nut bar in my bag.

I agree that most 14 year olds are not responsible for what they eat. It is their parents that plan,shop, cook etc. I would imagine that the whole family need help in instances like these in types of food, cooking methods etc. To band a 14 year old would probably make no difference as her parents would still be buying and cooking the wrong foods. It would make banded life really hard.

I do belly dancing classes but I am not a belly dancer.Too unco! Bit confused as to what you are concerned about? Can you explain further?

I can't feel mine either! It's not generally something you can feel. But once you have had some fills if you eat too much,too fast,take too big a bite etc you may get stuck or feel uncomfortable. other than that not feeling it is normal.

I have also lost more than 100% of my excess weight. I am now sitting somewhere in the middle of the healthy weight range.

I would make an appointment to see your Dr urgently. So soon after surgery it is possible that it could be a DVT and that if left is serious. Hopefully it isn't and is something really minor but just in case see your Dr ASAP.

I subscribe to realage.com who have some really interesting articles. I just received my newsletter and it has an article in it on a carb that you should be eating as it is really good at helping to prevent strokes. Eat This Carb to Prevent Strokes - Health Tip - RealAge No prizes for correctly guessing which carb it is!

I take OTC medication. Pills not liquids.

I'd be a bit concerned about Dark chocolate being a green food. I know its supposedly good for you but i still don't think you should be able to eat this freely! i think they need to revise that. What works best for me is eating something from all food groups. My dietician actually recommends that you should have protein/carb and fruit or veg at each meal if you can. Breakfast can be hard but the others it isn't generally a problem. Foods tend to be more satisfying when eaten together rather than seperately anyway. Curry and rice rather than curry then rice. Eating Proteins with carbs lowers the GI load of the carb food. Eating carbs with proteins helps to satisfy you longer than eating proteins on their own often for less calories. An egg on toast is more satisfying than multiple eggs or eggs with added cheese/bacon etc. The most important thing is to find out what works for you.

I just did a quick search for the satiety index. This is a list that has been scientifically developed which shows which foods keep you full the longest. The higher number foods keep you full longer than the lower numbers. Obviously when it comes to nutrition and science it seems to change from one day to the next so there are probably studies out there which prove something different. Satiety Index The foods with the highest satiety rating (by far) are potatoes.The second most satisfying food is oatmeal.

In Aus we don't focus on Protein either. We focus on a normal balanced diet. The required 70 - 80g of protein are easily obtained from normal eating as even "non-protein" foods contain protein. Foods such as bread,oats etc all have protein in. If you are able to eat a balanced diet it makes it easier to fit in with other people and it makes it feel less like a diet. I got banded so I could eat like a "normal' person(whatever that might be). If i had been told that I would need to follow a modified Atkins diet after banding I probably wouldn't have bothered. I don't eat lots of potato, rice etc but I do still eat them. And I always have a slice of wholemeal toast with my egg in the morning.

Everyone is different. I was fine within a couple of days.

Not having a fluoroscopy is not really as bad as she fiancee thinks. In Australia all fills are done without them unless there is some kind of problem. I have never had an issue. I understand that she wants to be sure everything is still in place but there is no real reason that it shouldn't be. Hope it goes well.

I'll remember that next time LOL. Better make sure i am well out of earshot of anyone else or they may send the men in the white coats.................

Tried this and it did nothing for me.

I like that.

Unless you have a leak the fill should still be there. Small amounts can dissapate over time but most of it stays there. It does sound as though you have not been given proper info on how the band works, the importance of aftercare etc. I am glad that you are going to see your Dr. The sooner the better. Losing insurance is a major problem but sometimes we have to realise that our health is really important and find the money somewhere. A big part of the band process is the continued aftercare. Have to run - got an appointment at my son's school. if i can be of any more help please feel free to PM etc.

Yes we can give you support and advice. GO AND SEE YOUR DR NOW. I cannot believe that you have been going through this for 6 months and that you are now looking for answers on a website instead of going to see a Dr. Sorry to sound harsh but this is your health that you are playing around with. Not being able to keep Water down is extremely dangerous as it can lead to dehydration and death. It is possible that your band has slipped. To confirm this you will need to see a Dr. If it has slipped sometimes it can be fixed by completely unfilling the band. Sometimes a further surgery is required to reposition or replace the band. The longer you leave it the worse (and more expensive) the problem is likely to get. remember the old adage " A stitch in time saves nine". I hope that your problem is not serious and that it can be fixed easily. Keep us updated. Good luck.