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Sorry to hear what you are going through. I hope that everyone involved is soon on the road to recovery. I think your Dr should have cut you some slack. In circumstances like those a Protein shake would have been far easier. Its not like you were asking if you could eat steak and chocolate cake! As Jacqui has already said you will be able to eat in restaurants again . You must be really strong to have coped under the circumstances and I am sure that you will get through the rest of the lapband journey fine. All the best.

I haven't heard of fungal meingitis - only the viral and bacterial kinds. Both of these are pretty nasty. I doubt you have either because if there was any suspicion that you might have then it would be negligent of your Dr to wait to do the lumbar puncture - it should have been done immediately. Other symptoms that are possible with meningitis are:- feeling cold especially hands/feet sensitivity to light headaches nausea/vomiting flu like symptoms generally feeling off colour a rash ( but this is often not present and can be the last symptom to appear so absence of a rash does not mean that a person is OK). A stiff neck is one of the signs which is why generally when you go to the Dr with flu like symptoms they check to see if you can bend your chin down towards your neck. Hope you get this mystery solved soon.

It sounds like some kind of auto immune disease. e.g arthritis, lupus etc. It doesn't sound as though it has anything to do with the band. E.g you say you have stiffness in your neck - there shouldn't be any scar tissue from the band there. Be interesting to see what your Dr says.

I missed the boat with lots of clothing. Things I had bought and stashed away for one day when I lost weight.Many of them were too big by the time I remembered I had them. Now that's a great(if costly) feeling.

I've lived in a number of different countries. I was born and brought up in the UK. Can't really remember what the policy on shoes was there but I think it was fairly common for people to take them off or put slippers on. Then moved to South Africa. Generally in South Afrrica people don't take their shoes off. Didn't have an issue with it though. People drive everywhere they don't walk so shoes would not really have been dirty. Plus the majority of houses have tiled floors and lots of people have maids to do their cleaning. Now live in Australia where it is common practice to take your shoes off when entering someone's house.

I drove the next afternoon. It was only to the school busstop which is about 3.5km away from home.

Whether you get the fill or not you should go and see the Dr. Part of the schedule that you signed up for when you got the band is to see the Dr regularly - at least once a year.You should be discussing this with your Dr and he/she will be assisting in the decision to fill or not. Even if you were filled perfectly before it does loosen off over time and just a small topup may be required. I think the reason that you are PBing is because you are not as tight as you were so you are eating faster(complacency and old habits) and foods are then getting stuck.

Yep flagyl definitely causes a violent reaction if mixed with alcohol. I can attest to that as when I was younger I was taking it and went to a party. I figured the alcohol wouldn't hurt it would just make the mediaction less effective(thats why you can't drink with most antibiotics). Well I think I had 2 drinks and I have never been so sick in my life. It was awful. Flagyl is quite a common drug. Its prescribed for recurrent/resistant yeast infections amongst other things.

No this doesn't sound like restriction, this sounds like too tight.

I can't imagine being able to successfully keep the weight off without my band - I have never managed it before. Obviously there were really good reasons for having the band removed but did you have an option to have a revision to another type of surgery? If I had to lose my band for whatever reason I would be looking at all the options available to me as I never want to be fat again and i know I cannot do this on my own.

6 weeks of full liquid - ouch! That sounds really hard. The good side though is that it should really kick start your weight loss. Good luck

I have always been told that I look younger than I am but for the couple of years before being banded I was beginning to look and feel really old. Huge stomach, tuck shop arms , lots of chins and a puffy bloated face do not make a pretty picture. Now that I have lost the weight I feel and hopefully look great too.I have lots more energy. I feel good about myself on a daily basis and its great.I tend to really feel younger when I compare myself to others that are around the same age. e.g Susan Boyle is about a year older than me. Loving my band

Cold things commonly do this band or no band. Its just an extension of the ice cream headache.

MY BMI was 32 and I had surgery. It is the best thing I have ever done.I am now at goal and look good and feel fabulous. Without the surgery I would have just continued to gain - I tried to lose it on my own many times and never managed to keep it off. I think that if you are obese( which with a BMI of 33 you are) you should be allowed to get the surgery. It is better to address the problem early and makes no sense to have to wait until you are morbidly or super obese. Early intervention is always better.

How about contacting your friend and asking if it's OK if you bring a special dish to share and then take something soft/mushy that you know you will be able to eat. If that doesn't work then maybe explain that you are on a restricted diet for whatever reason and work from there.

YES! I passed out in a lift a couple of weeks ago and took a couple of minutes to come round. When they checked my BP it was so low they couldn't initially pick up the lower reading! I got taken to emergency and monitored. The only other thing they found was low potassium so I had to drink a yukky supplement. I went to see my GP a couple of days later and have been told i can now stop taking the high BP meds that I have been on for years. That is great but I am concerned in case it goes up again so I bought a BP monitor so that I can check it myself at home for peace of mind. Are you on any kind of BP meds or does it just drop by itself?

I can eat pancakes. So long as I eat them slowly and chew well they don't cause me any problems. I had some last week for Breakfast whilst on holiday with friends that don't know i'm banded! Just remember that any food can cause a problem it doesn't mean you can't eat it again. The band is fickle. For instance I almost always eat a poached egg on wholemeal toast for breakfast with no problem.This morning it just wouldn't go down. I got about half way and had to PB because it was so uncomfortable and had a drinking yogurt instead. That doesn't mean I can't eat eggs on toast anymore.

I agree with the above posters. I have been on high BP meds for about 7 years. Banded last June still on BP meds. BP last checked at beginning of year and at that stage it was normal - GP did not suggest coming off meds. Went to Albury for daughters 21st 2 weeks ago. Went out for dinner all good. Hubby drove back to hotel, walking to the lift I had a pain in my stomach and was feeling slightly unwell. Next thing I know I am lying on the floor of the lift with my husband and son looking very concerned. I have fainted before but not for years and previously I have come to fairly quickly. Apparently this time I was out for a couple of minutes so the hotel called an ambulance! When the paramedics tested my BP was so low they could not initially get a lower reading. The next attempt it went up to approx 90/60! They took me to Albury base hospital where I was kept in overnight.They ran ECGs, bloods etc. The only thing they could find other than my very low BP was low potassium so they made me drink a vile tasting supplement.It was a bit like salty raspberry juice! I then visited my GP during the week who retested BP, did a repeat ECG and took more bloods(still waiting for those results). ECG all fine. BP normal despite not having taken my meds for about 4 days so I have now been advised to stop taking them. I am really pleased about that but the way I found out was not the best. Would far rather have spent the night in a nice comfortable hotel bed than a bright noisy emergency ward where you get no sleep. I was very impressed by the NSW health service though. The ambulance got there really quickly, the paramedics were really wonderful(only complaint is they weren't hot. LOL), my son and I both got our first ride in an ambulance and I was really well looked after in the hospital. So I would suggest getting your BP checked and also blood sugar, Iron etc. Being anaemic can also make you feel really horrible.

The answer is in your post. You should be eating before you get to that stage.Eating too fast always causes problems. Are you like this because you are sticking to 3 meals per day? Although this is what most Drs seem to like us to aim for most of them realise that for many it is not achievable. I normally eat Breakfast between 6.30 and 8 depending on whether or not I am working. I don't normally have a problem not eating again until midday but generally I only eat dinner when my husband gets home at around 7pm. & hours without food is a long time in anyones books so I have to have some kind of snack mid afternnon. Maybe try having a planned healthy snack in between meals(whilst still sticking to your daily calorie limit). This may take the edge of your hunger so that you eat slower and don't get stuck.

Who says sweet things are bad and savoury good. Who says we can't treat ourselves occassionally? I don't remember being told before I was banded that I could never eat cake/chocolate/sweets or anything like that again. No I don't think it was eating those foods that made me fat, it was eating more of these foods and other foods than was necessary. Having a band is a lifestyle not a diet. You have to be able to live with it and make choices. Some will be good some will be not so good. I much prefer the terms used by Dr Rick Kausman i.e. healthy foods and sometimes foods. The majority of our diet should be made up of healthy foods and we should eat sometimes foods sometimes! my diet so far today. Breakfast; oats cooked with Water and a splash of milk with added apricots and sultanas. lunch. 1 vanilla/custard slice. Basically a layer of pastry, witha thick layer of custard then another thin layer of pastry with vanilla icing on top. Shock/horror. I have a band and I ate that.Yes I did and I enjoyed every mouthful. It is school holidays and I decided to take me son for a treat.So does this make me a bad person, stupid or does it mean that I have failed my band ? I don't think so. It was a conscious choice that I made as part of a well balanced diet. I don't think we need the food police and yes it is good to call people when they are out of line on a post. i'm with you Leigha. Having said all that I find it very strange that the OP felt full after a few bites of those sometimes foods.I wish I was so lucky as for me those are the kind of foods that I can eat with no problems.

Everyone is different with what they can and can't eat. I eat onions all the time. I haven't tried celery but that is because it's not one of my favourite foods anyway.

I have no idea about the tubing cracking haven't heard of this before. The saline however would not cause any problems. Saline is used because it is the same composition as many of the fluids in our bodies such as tears. It is completely harmless. Saline is routinely used in first aid for cleaning wounds because it is so safe.

I am 8 months out and have had no unusual hairloss. I eat a normal well balanced diet that includes all food groups and do not focus on Protein. I take a daily multi Vitamin when I remember! Don't stress about hairloss - it does not happen to the majority of people.

I eat lunch yesterday, early as I was taking my son to movies. Thought I was fine. Got as far as our little local town and had to stop at the public toilets as I thought I was suffocating .Got in just in time and brought up a huge amount of slime. Carried on driving the 40km to the town where movies are and had to stop again - same thing. Thankfully after that it settled down. All I can say is I am so glad I live in Australia where we have plenty of public toilets and not somewhere in Europe(UK excepted).

I have never journalled my food before but decided to do it out of interest for a couple of days just to see approx what I am eating. I have tried using fitday via the lapband site but it doesn't work for me as many of the Australian foods are not listed. This is a pity as it seems to be very good and give very accurate breakdowns.So I have used calorieking.com.au as this lists local foods. The downside is it doesn't give very good info. I seem to be averaging about 1000 - 1200 calories a day.What horrifies me is the percentage of these that come from fat. It seems that about 35% of my daily calories come from fat! Does this mean I am stuffing my face full of unhealthy foods like butter, cream, cheese etc? No - I eat a varied balanced diet including all food groups. I am just amazed at the fat content of foods that you would think had little or no fat in them. E.g oats. I had oats for Breakfast this morning(cooked with water). Apparently 22% of the calories in oatmeal come from fat! With stats like these I don't know how it is possible to stick to a low fat diet. For those that low carb the figures must be far worse. For me this is a good reason to give up journalling, relax and just eat what I think I should be eating. If I don't I think I might become obsessive and stressed out trying to get my fats down to a reasonable level.