elcee

If you have an empty band apparently it can cause problems. If you have a band with fill in it should be fine. I have flown long haul a number of times ( Australia - Africa) and not had any issues. Just keep hydrated, be careful with what you choose to eat and eat it slowly and chew well. There would be nothing worse than getting stuck on a plane and having to PB in one of those tiny cubicles.

Each and every fill makes a little difference. I do not believe that there is one that will bring you to some perfect level. You need to recognise what each fill is doing for you and don't get hung up on some notional "sweet spot'. You have a fill, you eat less and you feel fine for a couple of weeks and then you realise that you are getting hungry sooner or eating more than previously, that is when you know it is time to go back.

Half a cup will probably never be enough, that is a myth. Most bandsters do not eat like birds they just eat a lot less than before. It is physically impossible to get all the nutrition you need on 3 meals a day that are only 1/2 a cup in size.

It is a terrible term and it should be outlawed. What it means is that you can eat a smaller portion of food than previously and that should satisfy you for a number of hours afterwards. It does not mean that you will stop wanting chocolate and suddenly start craving lettuce. It does not mean that you will eat 3 spoons and not be hungry again until your next meal. It does not mean that you won't ever have head hunger again. What you should be aiming for is to eat the recommended portion of the type of foods that you have been told to eat by your Dr. You need to eat slowly, chew well and wait between bites.You need to be aware of your body signalling that it has had enough and these signals can be different for everyone. Some may hiccup, sneeze, have a pain in their shoulder.................. Some people find that they are no longer able to eat certain foods but this is not the aim. In fact the more restricted you are the harder it becomes to eat healthy foods and the easier it is to eat soft/slider foods. If you are hungry a couple of hours later then eat a small healthy snack. Most bandsters are not able to eat 3 small meals a day with no Snacks even if that is what a lot of us were initially led to believe would happen. HTH

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. I only have 2ml atm and am going back to see my Dr next week.

5' 112lb and an Aussie size 6 or 8 which I think is a US 2 or 4

Cheri you need to find a Dr that listens to you. Muscle pains can be an indication of rhabdomyolysis and this is really serious. http://www.medicinenet.com/rhabdomyolysis/article.htm If you are in lots of pain then it should not be ignored. Statins may and probably do save lives but they can also cause severe side effects, your Dr SHOULD NOT just be writing this off.

You know my opinion on it already.

Every Dr is different.

I think our parents may be related although I never ended up still at the table at bedtime. There were times when they would threaten to serve me anything I hadn't eaten on my plate for Breakfast. I often wonder how much being forced to eat everything on my plate even stuff I didm't like contributed to my weight issues.As for the starving kids in Africa - I offered to put my food into an envelope and send it to them , I wasn't sure how me eating the stuff was going to help them.

I don't understand how they are "selling" the sleeve as a solution to reflux issues. If you go onto the vertical sleeve board you will discover that every sleever has to routinely take acid reducing medication.I am not sure how long after surgery they have to continue taking them but I think it is at least for the 1st year. As there are very few people that have been sleeved for any considerable length of time then I would have also thought that it was impossible for them to know if the reflux is something that could recur at a later stage.

Do not drink it from the bottle. Pour it into a glass and let it sit for a while before you start drinking. Sip it slowly and see how you go. Some people handle it fine, others don't . Just make sure that the 1 beer doesn't lead to 2 then 3 then a bowl of chips, peanuts, chicken wings etc. The problem with alcohol apart from the empty calories is that it often causes us to make poor food choices as well.

In a restaurant I often choose a Pasta or rice dish. I find they go down easily and do not cause me problems. A starter size portion of something like canneloni or pasta with a tomato based(not cream based) sauce. Fish can be a good choice but you still have to be careful - I have had problems with fish a number of times so it is not guaranteed that it is safe. For breakfasts I do bacon and poached eggs or ceral and yogurt. If it is lunch then I would go for a quiche or veggie tart or something like that. Sometimes when eating out it is better to go for the option which has higher calories but which will go down without causing problems. We all know that grilled chicken and salad is low cal and healthy but postband if I was faced with a choice of that or a high cal creamy pasta dish I would have to go for the pasta. The chicken just has too much potential to cause problems.

It amazes me that veggies that you hate are actually palatable juiced. To me the thought of spinach and cabbage juice is just too horrible to even contemplate. If I have to eat a veggie that I don't like I would rather hide it in with other foods and eat it or cook it till really soft, cover it in gravy and then swallow. My most hated veggie is peas. When I was a kid my father used to make me eat them so I would cover them in tomato ketchup and swallow them whole. To this day I still hate them but if they are served to me in a stew or savoury mince mixed up with something I can cope . The thought of them turned into juice is gross - you are braver than me for doing this!

No I don't think it would be good. It has Cookies in and if a bit is unblended it may get stuck . Although the postop diet is more about healing than about weightloss you still need to try and setup good habits at this early stage and blending cookies obviously isn't good. You will have just put your body through a major op to try and get your eating habits and your weight under control - do not set yourself up for failure so early. If you have to search for recipes then make sure that you are searching for ones that reflect the change in eating habits that will be needed for success.

I felt fine. A month later you should be able to work, drive and go about all your normal daily activities with no problems. The most important thing is to plan your trip and take food with you that suits your postop diet at that point. And DO NOT attempt to eat anything whilst driving, it can result in you being stuck as you are not paying attention to how you are eating. Not fun and not pretty. Take Protein shakes, lots of Water so you can keep hydrated and do not advance your diet beyond your Dr's instructions.

You need to look at what you are eating and how you are eating it. Are your bites too big? Are you chewing properly? Have you been waiting between bites to make sure it has gone down. Are you eating dry tough foods or fibrous foods or foods with skin as these often cause problems. You may already have some fill in without realising it. You also need to talk to your Dr about what is happening so that he/she can assess why it is happening.

The noises are food ,liquid and digestive juices moving from the digestive tract. they sound louder because the tract is no longer continuously filled. Pockets of air bubble up through the digesting food as it makes its normal path through the body. So it is perfectly normal and not as many people think, an indication of hunger. (info from gastric band guide , Trudy Williams)

Lie you on a bed in the Xray dept. Swab your port area. Check the position of the port with the special xrays. jab you with local anaesthetic. Stick a cannula in. Recheck the position then attach a tube/needle to the cannula and draw some liquid out. It was really easy heidi hope you get some relief soon too. It is awful when you can't drink anything and you can't even swallow your own spit.

Well at about 7.30am yesterday morning I decided I couldn't stand it any more so i drove myself to Ballarat Base Hospital - emergency dept. About 30 minutes away. Was the second person there but still waited an hour before I was seen. They weren't sure what to do with me although I did suggest Xrays etc. They did obs. Then they put a cannula in for blood tests and a drip, it only took 3 different people and 4 attempts! Apparently I have very thin, wonky veins and I am sure being dehydtrated didn't help.They got me to drink some antacid and some other local anaesthetic. Not a very good idea as hours later I was still spitting it up and it didn't taste very good. They also called my Dr. Apparently one of the other Drs was on call yesterday so he came to see me just before lunchtime. He apparently doesn't do bands so we had a discussion on what to do. I said I thought he needed to do Xrays to check the band and he agreed that was one of the things he was planning. He also said we should aspirate some of the liquid. Unfortunately as he hadn't done it before when he tried he wasn't successful! At least he only had 2 attempts! So he then said that he would send me over to have it done via fluoroscope. He checked my notes and I apparently have 6ml so 4ml got taken out under fluoro. It is amazing how you feel immediate relief. I was lying on the bed with a Vbag in one hand and a cloth in the other as I was unable to lie flat without reflux when the urge to hurl just disappeared. I then had a glass of Water which tasted great and proceed to go to have a CT scan. The downside is I had to drink 2 glasses of the contrast Fluid. You have to wonder how when it was invented how they decided on the flavour. Surely there can't be too many people that like licorice ? My theory is the inventor was Greek! Ct was over quite quickly and then it was back to Emergency. I was told that the scans looked fine but that the Dr would come back and see me at 5pm. By 4.30 I was starving and complaining to the nurses but they didn't know if they were allowed to feed me or not! Dr came at 5.15. Said the scans looked fine although the fact that the band had just been aspirated would have made a difference. He also asked If I had Gall bladder problems.I told him i had some suspected attacks in the past but the tests they had done were inconclusive. He did say that CT is not the best way of picking them up but he suspects that I probably do have an issue. He wanted to keep me in overnight for obs but I managed to negotiate going home at 7.30pm if I was keeping food down. I hate trying to sleep in hospital plus my excess would then have been $450 and I don't have that to waste at the moment.I have also been told to make an appointment to see my Dr this week. So I eventually managed to get some food - jelly, yogurt and then a bit later icecream and some pears. Maybe not the healthiest choices but in hospital you take what you can get. Was able to leave and come home and had a fabulous sleep in my own bed.However poor hubby didn't sleep as he has bad toothache and today being a public holiday means he will have to suffer at least until tomorrow. That is probably par for the course as we seem to be having a run of really bad luck lately. Hopefully that will come to an end soon- whatever it was I did in my previous life I am sure I have now learnt my lesson, unless of course I really was Attila the Hun! I was quite impressed by the hospital. I went to the public one as I didn't realise that the private hospital next door also had an emergency dept.They were really busy but the nurses and Drs were all really nice and helpful. Even though they were unable to solve the problem i was sent to the right depts so that it could be resolved. Now to see how I cope for the next few days with only 2ml. thanks for the concern, I appreciate it.

At this stage high calorie drinks like shakes and smoothies are NOT bad. I was told by my Dr that I could have high calorie things at this point that I should avoid eating later on. Custard, ice cream, milkshake etc. That is because this stage is all about healing not weight loss. So to CHEAT by having high cal liquids as fine - they are still liquids. To CHEAT by having solids , even if they are healthy and low cal is not fine. They could cause damage and ultimately be a factor in your band slipping, not now but later.

I hardly eat fruit these days. A lot of it is too slimy and it slips past without me being able to chew it properly, a pity because good fresh fruit (when you can get it) is wonderful

If I was that smart I wouldn't have tried to eat steak.

Thanks. If it hasn't improved by lunchtime then I will have to do something.

Not really. I am sucking on ice and still have to keep running to the bathroom. I am hoping I am just swollen and irritated and that the ice will eventually reduce the swelling.