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Good news. I hope for your sake that is a permanent change. I know from experience that blood pressure can go back up and that it is not always caused by excess weight. Sometimes the cause is unknown.

Even though a plication is regarded as temporary I wonder about this. I would have thought that adhesions would form where the stomach is folded and stapled and if this is true then that could cause problems and means that the procedure is not reversible. That is something you may want to ask your Dr as I am just speculating.

Glad to see that you have worked this out. It would be wonderful if we could do nothing and for the band to work like magic but unfortunately that does not happen. But if we recognise it as a very powerful weapon that will help us in our fight to win the weight loss war then it is invaluable.

Presumably you have seen your Dr now. What was the outcome?

I do not personally know Dr Huacuz but I have read stories both good and bad. BUT. There is such a thing as patient responsibility. If you have been having problems since your surgery you should have been back to your Dr before now.If your original Dr was unable to help then you should surely have found another Dr. It seems strange that you have not lost any weight since your surgery. Were you given any postop instructions? Were you told what you should and shouldn't eat? I do not want to seem unsympathetic but I have always had a bit of the sceptic in me. I find it hard to believe that someone would suffer from serious complications for so long and not do anything about it. The last thing I would be doing if I was in this position would be posting a message on an online forum.

I also think that sounds like a slip. The sooner you see your Dr the better.

I love coriander, can eat spinach,broccoli is Ok (so long as it is soft and the flowers only) but cannot stand the peppery bitterness of rocket. Pesto is great, I use it in mash as well as on pasta. Beetroot is yummy but I wouldn't really want to drink it. The other vegetable which is really trendy atm which I thing is highly overrated is fennel - I cannot stand the aniseedy taste.

I hate rocket which I believe is the same as arugula. It is so trendy these days you go for a meal and they shove a heap of it on the side and call it a salad. YUCK just shows we are all different.

I don't use a juicer.To me juice = high calorie. I have always been taught that it is better to eat the whole fruit than to drink juice. The whole fruit is more satisfying and you eat less than you would if you are drinking it. But I know lots of people do use juicers and they swear by them.

Yes too tight - not a slip. But if you haven't been able to keep any water down for a couple of days then you can become dehydrated which is an amergency. You should go to the ER, hopefully someone there will be able to do an unfill. At the very least they can get you onto an IV and get some fluid into you.

I had a similar issue for a couple of months and I swear I was not too tight. I could eat ANYTHINg and my hunger was not well controlled. I was taking Nexium and it was not helping. I ended up having most of my fluid taken out as I stupidly tried to eat steak and got horrible stuck. I am in the process of being refilled. Am now up to 4ml in a 10ml band - previously I had 6ml. I have no restriction and am struggling with hunger. I have had 1 episode of reflux in this time so I am not sure what is causing it. I hope you get yours sorted out. 3ml does not sound as though it should be too tight.

I am wondering if part of this might be psychological? I do not have experience with this but the symptoms that you describe when you say food hits your band sounds as though it could be a form of panic attack.I think maybe you need to talk to a specialist about this. If you can sort this out then you may find that you are able to work with your band.

I cannot understand any Dr wanting someone to gain weight to a BMi of 25. That is right at the top of the normal range and from there it would be far too easy too slip back into the overweight range. Surely it is better to aim for the mid to lower range!

If I was going to Uganda I would probably get my band emptied. They do not have the worlds best hospitals and I would be too scared that I could have an issue. I agree you are likely to be given fish but fish in Africa is not necessarily what you are used to. There is a possibility it could be dry and I find that some types of fish get stuck quite easily. Meat is likely to be goat and unless that has been slow cooked it can be very tough. They also eat things like samp and beans and maize meal porridge. These are similar in consistency to mashed potatoes or gluggy rice depending on how they are cooked so these could also be problematic. If you are not going to get an unfill before you go make sure that the RN you are travelling with knows how to take fluid out if necessary and take your own needles. Even if the RN knows how to remove fluid in theory she may not be able to do it in practice - I had a surgeon(not bariatric) that couldn't do it when I ended up in the local emergency dept here in Aus.

Constipation is normally a sign of a low fibre diet not of a slip. Post op your diet will be very low fibre. Anaesthesia also contributes towards it. Try adding something like Benefibre to your drinks as that will help to add bulk. Once you are cleared to eat normal food make sure you eat a variety of foods including veggies and grains. High protein diets can cause really bad constipation.

I have flown to South Africa from Australia a number of times and never had any problems. It actually surprises me that your Dr wants to take your Fluid out before you go as an empty band is more likely to cause problems in flight. The air in an empty band can expand in the air whilst if it has saline in it the saline does not expand. Where in Africa are you going? If it is to a 1st world country like South Africa I would not have the fluid removed. If it is one of the 3rd world countries then I probably would consider having the fluid taken out because I wouldn't want to risk having a blockage, their hospitals would have no idea how to take the fluid out and you wouldn't want to risk them using a dirty needle.

It sounds to me as though you are considering the sleeve because you think that it will be easier, that you won't have to make the good choices etc. Although I am not sleeved I believe that you will find that you actually have to make the same choices as you do with the band. The sleeve will not stop you from eating junk, it will not stop you from grazing, it will not make you exercise etc. If you are considering a revision because there is a problem with your band then I would say go ahead, but if you are considering it just because you think it will be an easier option I would say you should be very careful. Remember there is still no magic wand WLS - they all require work.

I agree that there is very much a one size fits all solution and that most practices have trouble seeing beyond that.They seem to be trained to deal with the initial banding but have not considered the differences when there is some kind of revision.

I wold just tell them that I was unable to do any situps.

No, they will still go ahead. Just let them know so that they can give you a pad or something.

Not sure how an ice pack would help. The pain is from what they have done to you internally, the ice pack can't reach that. if you are struggling with the pain you need to speak to your Dr and see what he/she recommends.

The gas x won't work as the gas is not in your digestive system. The gas is trapped in your stomach/chest cavity. You need to take the pain killers prescribed by your Dr.

Good luck, it will be over sooner than you know it.

You may have caught a bug. You may be pregnant. You've got an extreme hangover. Your hormones are out of whack. Those are the only suggestions I can come up with atm.

Stop being so hard on yourself. You have lost 85lbs in a year. That is HUGE. Appreciate what you have done and realise that if you don't get to 100 in a year it doesn't matter. It's not a race, there is no cut off date. If it takes 13 months or 14 months then so be it.