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GAS X won't help because the gas is not in your digestive system.It is left over gas in the chest cavity that was pumped in by your surgical team to expand the area enough for them to do the surgery. You need to take the painkillers that your Dr(hopefully) prescribed.

A lot of people tell me I'm skinny but I can't see that. I think their image of what is normal has been affected by all the years of seeing so many people that are so hugely overweight. Yes I have skinny legs but when I look in the mirror the first thing I notice is my "fat" stomach. Maybe my stomach isn't fat, maybe my expectations are too high having seen too many perfect photoshopped pics in the media. Even my Dr told me it's normal and healthy to have some fat in that area. So I'm not sure who is right - them or me.

FANTASTIC.

I was told that if you drink before then you may not eat as much as you should and may get hungry sooner. However I find it hard timing 15 or 30 min before eating so sometimes have a drink just before I eat. I would rather do that than be thirsty and have to wait the recommended time after eating for a drink as not drinking with or after eating is more important than before.

For a lot of people it is not possible to go for 6 - 7 hours without food. Although we all hope that we will be satisfied on 3 small meals a day for a lot that doesn't happen. I can usually go from Breakfast to lunch without a snack but there is no way I can do lunch to dinner. Maybe you need to factor some Snacks into your plan. So long as the snack is planned and healthy that is fine. The problem arises when you just grab the nearest whatever as that could be high cal, low nutrition etc. And make sure you are eating because you are hungry and not out of habit or because it looks good etc. Getting tighter won't actually help but could in fact make the situation worse.

It is good to see a supportive spouse. In answer to your questions. 1. A port is the part of the lapband through which fills are done. It sits under the skin somewhere in your stomach area. It is attached via tubing to the band . The Dr fills it with saline to increase the pressure within your band which then helps to make you eat less and remain satisfied for longer. 2. It is designed to stay in for life and will only be removed if there are problems. 3. I think the actual surgery takes about 45min but as I wasn't awake at the time I'm not really sure. I think you should visit www.lapband.com as that has lots of info and also read some of the threads on this site. You may also want to go into youtube and look for videos of how the band works. Doing all this will raise more questions which is fine we are happy to answer them. At this stage you probably have no idea what there is that you don't know.

Erosion and slippage may not have anything to do fills but it is possible for an infection at the port site to be a sign of erosion. Also infections at the port site can travel up the tubing to the band and cause major problem.

You are 6 years out I would have thought that you would be quite comfortable by now with they type of foods you can eat. It doesn't really matter what country you are in the basic ingredients are still the same. If you can eat rice in the USA then you should be able to eat rice in Europe and vice versa. If you stick to your slow cooked moist cooking methods you should be fine. I am sure France has lots of different versions of beef stew............. In italy skip the pizza and eat the lasagne or cannelloni. In Germany stay away from the strudel etc. I am sure you are worrying unnecessarily. Just relax and have a great holiday.

If you are able to drink I would wait a couple of days to let it settle. Have a couple of days of liquids, then soft foods then see how you go.

That's annoying but as you say it is in your best interests. I'm actually surprised that this hadn't been scheduled as a routine part of your preop process.

Now you are a real bandster! Horrible as these episodes are they are a good reminder to slow down and pay attention. I think once it has happened once we all swear that we will take extra care so that it won't happen again but I think it's a bit like being drunk and having a hangover.............. Either that or I am just a slow learner!

Have you ever stopped at 1 gummy bear?

I went to my Dr last week and asked what signs should I look out for that would indicate a possible slip. One of the ones he mentioned was pain in the shoulder. It happens because the band has shifted and is rubbing on the diaphragm which is then felt as referred pain in the shoulder. So crystal I would go and see my Dr and get checked to make sure that my band was still in place.

Make soup and freeze it. You very quickly get tired of everything you eat being sweet. Soups taste like real food and are more satisfying than Jello and shakes. They also helped resolve my nausea.

No we haven't, that is why we are all part of this community. Had we been able to lose and keep weight off without surgery we wouldn't have needed to get banded.

Yes exactly. But what strikes me as strange is that the Op has obviously had a really terrible experience with the sleeve yet kj was able to post a positive encouraging message. When anything even slightly bad happens with the band she just gets stuck straight in. Weird isn't it.

Just reading through some threads on one of LBTs sister sites. I found this one particularly interesting. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/28467-gastric-sleeve-surgery-complications-of-every-sort-am-i-nuts-please-help-long-sorry It just verifies for me that all though sometimes we are led to believe that the "grass is always greener on the other side" it is not always so.

I have no idea how long you have been banded but it is definitely a life long battle. Having a band doesn't mean that we can surrender and wave the white flag , it just gives us the tools to keep fighting.

Time of day, what clothes you were or weren't wearing etc. So if you have been weighing yourself at home , the same time every day and your scale shows a loss then you probably have lost. But as your Dr says it doesn't really amtter because you haven't gained. Everyone hits a plateau at some point. So long as you stick with the programme you will start losing again.

Try sucking on crushed ice. The stuck item has probably caused swelling and ice will help to reduce this. The stuck item should then be able to move. If that works you need to baby your band for a couple of days - back to liquids, then soft foods and take it slowly. After a fill you have to relearn how to eat. What food did you get stuck on?

1300 - 1500 calories is still a lot for weight loss. Whether they are good or bad calories doesn't make any difference they are still calories. The old recommendations for weight loss used to be 1000 cal per day. I would suggest you cut your calories and see what happens.

Are you stuck? Are you in pain? Are you able to eat? More importantly are you able to drink? These are the questions you should be answering before considering an unfill. Stomach noises are a non issue. Post band my stomach makes noises all the time and I think a lot of other bandster's stomachs do too. A noisy stomach does not signify that you are too tight, it also doesn't signify that you are hungry which is something a lot of people still seem to think. In fact I am sitting here having just woken up, drinking my first cup of tea for the morning and my stomach sounds as though some monster has just woken from it's hibernation!

I also couldn't stand the fact that everything was so sweet. My nausea finally went when I was allowed proper Soups. They tasted like proper food and weren't sweet - far better than shakes. I had made a batch of soups in advance and frozen them. Various veggies e.g broccolli or pumpkin or cauliflower and I added chickpeas, lentils etc for extra Protein.Some I spiced up, others were more plain.

Aren't you the lucky one! LOL I think for most people getting stuck is far worse than this, especially the first couple of times.

It is good to hear from someone that has been banded for so long and is still doing well. We need to hear the positive stories like these as it seems that too often it is only the people who are struggling that post which gives a very skewed negative portrayal of life post band.