mmm

an excellent protien shake i use comes from my protien.com i will post the link to the one i use, its very low in calories but offers very good protien. Unfortunately if you read labels you will see that slimfast has very little protien compared but has a hell of a lot of carbs/sugar which gives it the nice sweet taste, take away the sugar and the calories are very low in slimfast therefore no real nutritional value, just a fad gimmick, god i could go on for hours on this topic. PM me if you want any info, i am reasonably knowledgable on this subject.

Isolated from Myprotein.co.uk

LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE you have'nt got reasonable knowledge on this subject youve got MASSIVE amounts.

Hows things going mate, hope all is well, I'm back in france till july so not on here much now but often look in to see whats going on.

Love to freckles too

I think you are very wise to just have a bit out, it took me 3 fills to get back to what I was before the de-fill Bobo.

This damn acid reflux is a real pain, anyone know why it happens?

I'm okay when I am just laying there reading but as soon as I fall asleep it starts, whats that all about?

Gonna see if I can do some research.

Hi Freckles, if you find anything out about reflux please let me know, I either have no restriction and no reflux or if I get enough fill to give me even a slight amount of restriction I get cronic reflux ( I really mean cronic) its as if I'm drowning, I need to be propped by 6 pillows and still I get it, its like mucus coming into my mouth, and nose, all through the night, I cough and spit up all night (sorry to be so grafic). I'm at the point now of putting on quite a bit of weight I'm now 1 stone heavier than at last autumn. I'm on double dose omeprasol 40mg. :ohmy:

Hey thank you!

Did your daughter have Fluid taken out of her band? How does it work when the baby is bigger, can you still find the port? I dont think i have a problem with my fill level at the moment but i am worried that i am not getting enough Water in comparison to how thirsty i am! I do my own fills which i know alot of people dont agree with but its my choice to do. Do you think i am better off taking everything out and just leaving it empty until after the baby is born?

Thanks for all your help xxx

Hi Carriejess, my daughter was seen monthly by her band surgeon and monitored quite closely having extra scans under nhs as well to ensure baby growth rate was normal.

My daughter had most of her fill taken out (not all) during the first 4 months of pregnancy, (3ml left in) then at months 5 6 and 7 was topped up a bit another 1.5 taking her to 4.5. Then for months 8 and 9 went back to have only 3ml in.

She breast fed so did'nt have any more put in untill 2 months post baby then went back and had 1.5 taking her to 4.5. Now she has 6ml and is fine.

The baby was a very healthy 7.7lb and born naturally with no problems at all

Hi MMM, i see you got 4mils taking out and you feel you have still good restriction how many mils are you left with now, i had to have an emergency de fill 2 weeks ago had 6.5mils in the nurse took out 1 mil which should have brought me back to 5.5mils i can eat anything starting to get hungry again before i couldn't eat bread or meat now its know prob starting to worry she damaged the port it be great if you let me know how much you still have in, if anyone else has experienced this

Hi Shoes I had 6.5ml in a 7ml band, and had everything taken out for 1 month, this then reset my system to react as if the band was newly fitted.

I then had 4.8ml in for two months then 1.1ml in which took me to 5.9ml, this was immediatly was too tight but I wanted it to work but the night cough and reflux came back. This month I had point 4 of a ml (not 4mls) out taking me to 5 .5mls. This level so far had given me restriction but without the night time problems however I dont know how long its going to last. Its really strange how 6.5ml worked for such a long time without problems, and then started to play up.

Hope this info helps mmmxxx

hi mags

yes throat seems to have settled, i went to docs and got an antibiotic as i hope it was an infection and not my band as i was reluctant to have any defil especially when i have good controlable restriction.

I hope to be at my first target by summer and hope when i get there that i dont want to loose more, i need to get the weight out my head and focus on inches as the training i am now doing is putting on muscle but my shape has changed imensely.

How r you doing.

Had .4 of a ml taken out which has eased the throat and stopped the night cough, and thank goodness I've still got quite good restriction, but am able to take in a bit more fluids, so all in all success at last, and with a bit of comfort.

I'm going to France Good Friday for a week and now feeling much better,

Hi Carriejess CONGRATULATIONS, I hope your keeping well, my daughter put on 1 stone during her pregnancy, but sprung straight back to her pre pregnancy weight within a week of having baby, and now that she is re-filled is lossing even more. Good luck on this next step in your life, when are you due?.

Heartburn and Reflux are killing me - decided to go back on clear liquids for a few days to give it a chance to settle - also read that liquorice root will help so gonna give it a go

I was suffering slightly pre-op however now 2 weeks post op it is getting worse every day - 10 days liquid and only in last few days I have moed onto mushy foods - mashed pots, carrot etc and scrambled egg - is this where I have gone wrong ?

Has anyone else suffered like this - how did you overcome it?

It is making me miserable - even drinking is uncomfortable as I can feel every single sip I take

Thanks

Kerry

Hi Scooby doo, it sounds as if your really suffering, have you contacted Dr Chris, or Fred, this is going on for a long time, e mail them or phone, theyre around the hospital all weekend and need to know that things are getting worse. Hope things resolve them selves quickly for you.

I'm in the same position I'm now on my 3rd unfil, I get some taken out and the weight starts to go on, but if I increase my fill to a level where I start to loose weight I start the night time coughing, I'm so tired from not being able to sleep but I'm due for an unfil in two days, but dread the fact the band wont be filled enough to influence my weight. I need to loose 26lb but its just not happening. Sorry to moan but its so frustrating. mmm

WOW shoes you've done amazing so pleased for you.

Gary, hows your throat now, hope its a lot better. its great to hear how well you weight loss is going, at this rate you wont be long getting to your chosen weight :thumbup:

Hi Mmm I will be at the clinic in Newport on 26th at 11.20 am hopefully sipping Water, will say hello, it will be nice to see someone in person lol....:frown:

Great see you there then, I'm the one with the baby (granddaughter), cankster and baarb and some others were there last month, but I have'nt yet heard if they'll be there this time. Just noticed your ticker congrats you are doing fab

hi all

its nice to read all u newbies re moving along nicely on your path.

I have question for experienced guys with tight restriction, has nyone had a really sore throat, it may just be coincidence but its been sore roughly the same time as my last fill, i am eating very little and having to supplement a little as i am a bit drained at night due to lack of food, i mean 2-3 spoonfulls and its game over, even std tin of Soup takes 30 mins to eat, but my throat is really sore. anyone had this.

gxx

Hi mate, me too, with the throat thing,and also at night I start coughing, so I'm going for a tiny bit out week next Fri on the 26th 11.30 Newport, just so that I'm a bit more comfortable, I'm mainly still on liquids since my last fill. I'm loosing weight (7lb) in 2 weeks, but I'm off to France for Easter and need to be able to socialise and to eat some solid foods. Hope your throat gets better.

The last thing you need to do is get stressed, as long as your bank has sent all will be ok, remember a lot of people have been and are going to be banded over these few weeks, so dont be overly concered about not having a reply from Fred. One lady who was banded the same time as me only had 2 days notice and paid her deposit the same time as her balance. All will be well I'm sure.

hello all

I have a 2.5 mil in the band that Dr Chris fitted and I am nto feeling any resistance at all. Will this change when I am up to 4 or 5 mil? A little dishaearten to be honest as i was hoping that would have loss more weight but i am at standstill.

Any advise is apprecaited. Roll on the 12Mar for my next fill...

Hi Jenny, some people feel restriction with their 1st fill but most take around 3+ good restriction for me is around 6ml but you might find yours is a bit different, next fill will possibly have an effect for about 2 weeks and then wear off, but thats good because you know then your not too far off, take advantage of the few days post fill when your on fluids/mushies because these are the days you can have a good weight loss, I know it seams a long time in establishing a good weight loss but it will come as long as you go for regular fills. Hope this helps. mmm

Anyone booked for surgery on 9 March? I already have a band, but Dr. Chris is taking my gallbladder out that day. Hope there will be someone from this thread in hospital with me. -T

Hi Tamisu, great to hear from you again, I did'nt know Dr Chris did gallbladder ops, I would be interested in your story.

Thank you i have popped a pic of me pre weightloss on my profile x

WOW that a really big difference.

I'm a bit cross with myself, because I thought I'd put on 9lb whilst my band was empty but the scales said 14lb today. It just goes to show how much I rely on this band, and now I've got yet another stone to lose :cursing:

Yes thats it, I went form nearly 25 stone to 13 and a half about 18 months ago. Since then its been steadily creeping up so decided to do this proactivly before it became a big problem.

Nice to put names to faces, very small room wasnt it.

i'M SOOOOOOO impressed with your weight loss journey, and yes it is a very small room, but friendly and its easy to make friends.

Well the fill went well got 6mls in my 20ml band. The Protein Shakes are definately gurgling down slower. Also got told by fred that the lump under my port was a bleed. He reckons its not a problem and will disperse of its own accord over the next few months. Fortunately it did not effect his ability to find port (although he thought it would). Very painless and simple.

Great to meet Cankster, Baarb, Janey and Juliep today at Newport fill, Fred was there this time instead of Chris Deprez, who was assisting CDB in Belgium.

Fred put my band back up to 5.9ml (6ml too tight) so hopefully will restart my weightloss. It feels very tight and the dreaded hiccups have returned (last time they lasted 9 days). But I'm hoping to get a few months of steady weightloss now. Fred did say that he expected the reflux to return but I should be ok for approx 6 months and if/when the reflux comes I must get an immediate defill. I'll have to be really good now to get to target within 6 months.

Cankster, am I right in understanding that you lost 10stone before you had the band fitted, I think thats what you said but its only now its sinking in.

Hi, I'm in for 12.00 as well in Newport, dont know how we got the same time, but I'll be the one carrying the baby (granddaughter), Baarb and cankster if you see me make your self known.

Hope your new fill works well for you Gary.

BOBO -- Congrats its great to hear about you success, I'm so pleased for you. love mmm xxx

About that list what you can or cannot eat, I think it is vague for a reason, we can all eat different things at different levels of fill. My example is at 4.8ml I can eat every thing, meat, fresh bread. However at 6ml fill level, I cannot each bread or chips but any meat as long as its well chewed is fine. At 6.5 I can only tollerate chocolate, cake and soft foods. Although it seams strange I get a better weight loss at just under 6ml, because I'm not relying on slider foods (chocs, cakes).

The round dutch crispbreads are also available at ASDA by the crackers and biscuits.

Hope this clears things up a bit, but each person on here will have diferent results with different foods.

I've got a question for anyone, when I'm getting up or sitting down I'm still in a bit of pain but I expected that. I'm starting to worry a bit though because I keep getting a "popping" sensation along with the pain, around the area where the port must be (not sure which bandage is over the port and which is over the main scar where the band was inserted). I'm panicking that something has come loose, and I feel like something isn't secure, like I have to hold my hand over my bandages if I need to cough etc. I sneezed earlier and it was agony. Is this normal?

Hi JOJO, quite a few have had a similar problem, Gillian suggested bridget jones type knickers with support stretch which helps to hold everything firmly inplace, It might help, hope it eases soon. :biggrin:

Hi Freckles, thinking about you, I hope mum will settle in easily for you.

Dear MMM,

Thank you so much for sharing your information with me and all the other bandsters and pre-bandsters that have the privilage of using and sharing this thread! After reading your last entry I just spent an hour reading all the entries for the last God knows how many days! and eventually found the offensive entry you were talking about, this person was very rude to you, so I am even more grateful that you took your time and effort to reply to me, as I know that an offensive entry like that could be enough to put anyone off sharing anything. My husband thinks this is a fantastic site and that we all need to put all our experiences , good or bad, on here as the information we get from Belgium is limited. Well they do give info if we ask the questions but I would just feel like a nuisance e-mailing with questions all the time. I keep thinking someone should make up a booklet with info. they could get it all from this thread!

£160 is fantastic for everything you got. I remember when I phoned a private hospital to ask if they would give me a fill they said it would cost £200 just for a fill!!!!

You say that you have to wait 4 weeks before a partial refill, well i phoned Fred yesterday and told him everything and he told me it would be fine to have a partial refill on the 25 February just 2 weeks after being in hospital, I have to say I was very surprised, I wonder if I should check with Chris.

Thank you Homecare & Carriejess for your kind words and thoughts.

Takecare everyone

Fatpants :thumbup:

Hi Fatpants, the £200 most probably covered the fill under x ray and would cover everything I had they just dont say all the tests they need to do.

I'm not surprised Fred said you could have a fill so soon, because the reason I had to wait was because my gullet had become irritated and swollen because I did'nt get enough of an unfill soon enough, I only had small amounts removed, it took a total defil for me to return to a stable situation. So In the same situation I would be quite happy to take Freds experienced advice.

I'm going for a fill on the 26th Feb it'll be interesting to see how much fill I'm going to be given, I will be taking all the advise and not pushing for too much too soon, although I have put on 9lb over the last months I'm now going to take my time and do it in a health way. Best wishes for the 25th and your fill, dont forget to let me know how it went and how you feel after it. mmmxxx :biggrin:

Bon voyage pre bandsters, looking forward to hearing about your experiences on your return.

MMM I was just wondering how did they manage to find out your specific levels of fill for your restriction. Who did this for you? Was it on the NHS? I just thought if they can do this for you, surely it should be something that is done for all of us so as to prevent these problems.

Takecare

Fatpants :rolleyes2:

The fill level and rate it passes through is determined when you swallow the barium and this can be seen under xray.

The consultant fills the band at different levels and then times how long it takes to pass through the band, you can see it clearly when you see the xray.

the rate at a fill level of 4.8ml was normal (as if there was no band) for me. Then he filled my band to 5.5mls, I then had to swallow more barium and the xray showed the rate it passed through the band was slower, at 6ml, hardly any barium passed through the band and just backed up along the gullet, taking ages to eventually pass through the band. This level I was told had caused the reflux. These times and ml measurements are specific to me now and might change in the future.

I payed to have this done at my local bupa/spire hospital and the price of £160 included consultations; xray; and fill or unfill as required, it also covered a health check on the band to check for corrosion, slippage' and correct positioning, a check on the port was also carried out.

The consultant during the xray was very complimentary regarding the band used and the way it had been fitted.

In a previous post it was mentioned (gary I think said) the xray at Belgium cost £50 but when you add the flight cost and accommodation on, I was quite pleased with the £160 I paid.

Having a fill was most interesting to watch under xray because you could see all the Fluid in the band being sucked out and then being refilled at different levels and the different rate that the barium passed through the band. I was also shown how health my gullet and surrounding areas are.

I should have passed this info on earlier it may have helped all the reflux sufferers, and I appologise for not doing so, I am of course still intimidated by the negative feedback given last week, and if this info offends or worries anyone then of course I am sorry.