Kando

My surgery went very smoothly. Dr. Debruyne is one of the top lap band surgeons. The nursing aftercare was also excellent. I feel like the postsurgery aftercare/patient ed at Emirates could be improved greatly. Not that it is "dangerous" in any way, just minimal. I was grateful that I had spent so much time educating myself so that I knew what to expect. I haven't had any problems other than the normal ones like being too tight or eating too fast, etc. I have lost over 90 pounds and am still losing so very pleased all in all. You are in good hands with Dr. Chris. Kando

Saira, If 0 is not hot and 10 is the hottest, I eat up to a 7 since my banding 13 months ago. BUT I haven't eaten whole hot peppers (cooked or otherwise) because I am a little worried about what they might do to my slowed digestive system. So the spice is either from ground hot pepper in the curry or whole pepper cooked with it - and I just leave it on my plate. Eventually, I may give whole pepper a try, but not now. If I do eat whole pepper, I'll be sure there are no pepper seeds for reasons which you can understand. Although I am not Indian, I find Indian food very band-friendly but I just eat small, small amounts as a bandster. I live in the Middle East (Abu Dhabi), so the Indian food is the real thing and I assume that Indian and Pakistani food are similar. Hope this helps! Kando

I eat authentic Indian food all the time - spicy, too. No problems. I can't really eat a lot of rice so I just spoon a little bit of curry or dhal into small bowls and enjoy. Couldn't live without Indian food. So delicious.:hungry:

I also had what I thought was a heart attack three weeks ago. Went to the hospital and they did a complete heart work up. All was well. It was an esophageal spasm. I too had been too tight and had just gotten an unfill the day before it happened. It was frightening. The heart doctor said that it was a side effect of the band. I have had no repeat.

That's really great news! I am sure that things will go smoothly for you with one of the larger, softer bands. It just makes sense.:fish:

Fingers are definitely crossed. Toes, too. Let us know.

I am really sorry to hear about your slip and hope that your surgery and its outcome will be what you would like. Good wishes to you! Kando

don't grab a quick bite of something "unknown" just before class. I am a college teacher and on some days, I don't get a proper lunch break. One day I stuffed an uncertain food down between classes as I was starving. Whatever it was didn't want to go down and I had a major slime. I was also worried that I would be late to my class or might not be able to make it at all. In the end, my slime resolved itself just before my class and all was well. Lesson to me was to always carry a safe snack and to never eat anything before class that I wasn't sure would go down easily. Hope that helps! Kando

I may be mistaken, but I think that studies done on the Swedish Band show a significantly lower complications rate than the Inamed bands. Kando

Veteran Bandsters, Is sliming (which I do more often than I would like) the same as PBing, and therefore dangerous?:phanvan I know it is to be avoided and is unpleasant but I just don't know how serious it (sliming) is in the bandster scheme of things. Please explain the difference. I read it somewhere before but am still not clear.:help:

Hi, I just wanted to add my two cents: it is very possible for a sore throat to be related to a too tight band. Because the band is so tight it may cause acid reflux when you sleep and this can cause the sore throat and laryngitis. Think you might want to talk to your doc about a slight defill. Good luck.