KateP

Quote Specifically, overweight people have higher tooth decay levels, more missing teeth and fewer required dental fillings. They also visit a dentist less frequently, have more difficulty accessing dental care on a regular basis and are likely to visit a dentist only when they have a problem. I am not in the U.S., but here in the UK, obesity has strong links with poverty. I therefore wonder whether this statement is based on causation or correlation. People in socially deprived groups see the dentist less, are less educated in dental hygiene, they are also more likely to be obese. This does not necessarily mean obesity causes tooth problems.

Initial weight loss is glycogen, easily accessible, Water soluble fat. It is designed for the body's quick response to physical danger or, in the case of strict diet, the danger of famine/ malnourishment. After a couple of weeks, the body realises that this is not a short term thing, food intake is not going to increase. So the body needs to replenish the glycogen store, ready for the next danger. We store about 2lbs of glycogen but it requires as much as four times its own weight of water. So your body is busily restoring what amounts to up to 8lbs of water and fat. So stalling is not surprising! Neither is a gain at this stage. Kate

Not me!

Docs decide. Many believe it is not worth the risks of unnecessary exposure, however small, to radiation. In any case, the tightness of the band varies as the tissue it encircles is living tissue which can swell. For example, many people are tighter when denhydrated, stressed, TOTM, illness etc.. So any XRay just shows a snapshot of tighteness at that particular moment. In my own case, I am much tighter first thing in the morning. So if I had an evening fill which made me " just right" on an XRay, I would be too tight the following morning, and the opposite if I were filled early in the day.

I can! Some can't!

Hi, I used to post occasionally on here many years ago but spent most of my time on another wls board. That board has taken to transferring threads on to their Facebook site without asking or telling the posters. I don't like that so have left! So hi to any who remember me ( probably very few as I didn't post here much). I am almost six years post op, lost all my excess weight in about 16 months and have maintained every since at below goal. One major blip when I had a leak in the tubing about 18 months ago but it was repaired and all has been fine ever since. Planning on being a regular visitor here so will spend some time working the site out again, updating profiles, signatures etc.. The other site has put me off putting photos on though! Your mods tell me they don't put our stuff on FB but the other site has frightened me off doing that! Even after being banded for so long, the support of a dedicated site is still so very important. Kate

Hi I am new to this site and am being banded in Winchester on the 22nd May. Not NHS, I was told that you have to be VERY large (over 30 stones) for WLS on the NHS and if you are that big you are probably recommended to go for bypass not lapband anyway. I considered Belgium because of lower costs but opted for nearer home because of fills etc.. At the BMI hospital in Winchester it is £5,250 for everything including 2 fills (initial consultation is a separate charge). This seems cheap for UK. I have gained an enormous amount of support and advice from ObesityHelp.com. Would recommend it. It is American and so you need to think in pounds not stone and there are clear differences in approach but there are so many lapbanders out there that there is always someone who has experienced anything you want to discuss. If you go there, go to forums and then make sure you select lapband surgery under surgery type or you will find yourself bogged dwon in bypass patients! Kate

Eleda, £5,250 covers everything except intial consultation. So - consult with dietician, follow up with dietician and consultant, all post and pre-op care, overnight stay, 2 fills. It is the Sarum Road Hospital, Winchester, part of BMI group so may be a BMI nearer you. Mr Bryne has not done hundreds of lapbands but has done a fair number (he is a gastro-enterologist) and trained with Dr Fielding in Australia who invented the current type of lapband. He is an NHS surgeon at Southampton General hospital. Kate

Hi Eleda - there aren't many of us Brits getting WLS! In fact, I am beginning to sound like an American because I spend so much time on US messageboards. Can't help with your problem as my husband very supportive but thought would contact you anyway! Am having my lapband fitted 22nd May in Winchester - £5,500 for everything inlc. 2 fills. Have you been on ObesityHelp.com? Excellent messageboard (make sure you go to the lapband forum or you find yourselves with the bypass people! Kate

Just calling in to introduce myself as have only just found this site (am a regular on the Obesity Help Lapband Forum but new to this one). Being banded on 22nd May and very excited. WLS is not as common in the UK as it seems to be in the US (although as I am going on dedicated forums I am probably getting a biased sample!) so I don't really have anyone to chat to that is being "done" in England. Kate