Alikat1

Hi all. I am new here, but not new to having a lapband. I have had mine for 5 years and have gone from 23st to 12 st...(14 lbs to a stone - you work it out, because my brain is mush!). I had a 'hiatus' of a couple of years...I have fibromyalgia, and take a lot of medications, that need to be eaten with food. And the only food that would go down and stayed down guaranteed was my old friends chocolate and ice cream. Anyways, I am back on track, and doing low carb. And have gone from 17st5lbs to the 12st in a year. Here is the issue... For the past few months I have been really struggling to keep anything down. Like yesterday, I had two spoonfuls of a lovely, gentle cream of vegetable Soup with a small bite of cheese. Nope. Up it came. With my meds to boot. I had a bowl of the same soup the day before without issue. Some days I can get things down, other days, even a spoonful of no sugar added Peanut Butter is a trial. The real issue is that I got the lapband done when, well, I had money. I cannot afford to go back to the private hospital to look at it. Some days are ok, but once again, it tends to be stuff like chocolate and biscuits that goes down easier (and obviously then I am off the low carb plan, but to be honest, by then I am so hungry I don't care!). I know that when you lose weight you generally need the band tightened. For me, it is tighter now than ever before, and the last time I had a fill was 2 years ago at 15st 5. I am a smoker, and know that this is bad...but I am just wondering if anybody else has had an experience like this? I am going to speak to my NHS doctor about it in a few weeks, but the thing is it could take me months to see a specialist - that is if she even refers me to begin with. Any thoughts? At the moment I seem to be surviving on steamed soy milk! A.

Hi there, I posted recently in regards to my struggles with food going and staying down. This is after 5 years of banding. I am living in the UK and initially went from 23 st (14lbs to a stone -work it out, because it is too much brain power for me right now to!). And went to 15st5. Then my fibromyalgia took over, and the need to eat food that would go down and stay down with my meds ended up putting me back up to 17st3lbs...due to surviving on the 2 things that would go down...chocolate and biscuits. January 15th I started low carbing. I have had my treats along the way, but have gone from the 17st3lbs to 12st11lbs (as of today). But I seem to have some days and indeed weeks in struggling with food to go down and stay down. Some days it does, no problem, but other days (and days and days) even a spoonful of yogurt can cause a problem for me. Somebody mentioned elsewhere that sometimes out of the blue a band can tighten - is this the case? I thought that as I lost weight it is supposed to loosen. As mentioned on my other post, money is very tight here, and there is no way that I will be able to get seen to privately anymore, which means reliance on the NHS. I was told it could be 6 months before I am seen by a specialist. The other day, I PB'd, and then vomitted...and really vomitted, and TMI here...but it was blackish. And I was wondering if it was some food that had been stuch for a very long time. Since then, I was able to eat my dinner the next night (yesterday) and am in fact voracious at the moment. Any light you can shed on this would be most appreciated, as it looks like getting any medical assistance is going to take a very very long time. The highligh though is I still seem to be losing weight! hurray! But eating Protein on low carb with a band I find I am struggling with as a lot of the time meats just won't go down easily. Thank you in advance for any thoughts. A.

The bizarre thing is like yesterday, I had a little bit of Peanut Butter, some warm soy milk, and my dinner was some ricotta fritters with tomato sauce...and it all went down. And then I was hungry afterwards. The day before, I had 1 piece of chocolate, and PBd that up. Then a few minutes later I vomitted, and it looked like something black came up...not the chocolate that is for sure. I am wondering, do you think food can just STAY stuck in there for a while? And perhaps that is what had happened? Going to the doctors next week but was told it could be up to a 6 month wait to see a specialist about this.

Thing is it isn't nausea. It is a PB (productive burp) that sometimes turns into full scale vomiting, although not often. I am worried what the signs are of a lapband slipping. Yogurt doesn't even go down - too thick.