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It is possible. The likelihood is that without the restriction you will gain weight again but if that happens then you can get your band refilled. The problem is that unfilling and refilling can sometimes mess with the delicate balance and it can be harder to find a comfortable level of restriction again. Why not wait until you hit goal and see how at goes. I have been at goal for about a year and haven't had any Fluid removed. In fact I went for a slight top up the other day. To me it is not about knowing how to count calories and keep track it is about the hunger that I had preband. The band helps to control that. If I had an unfill chances are I would be a lot hungrier again and would struggle to keep my weight here.As it is I have found that I can eat more now than when first banded anyway. Having said that though I only have approx 5ml in a 10ml band and I am not and never have been on some kind of weird or very restrictive diet. I eat everything but in smaller quantities. That includes very small portions of rice, Pasta, bread etc. I am happy eating the way I do and see no reason to want to have my band unfilled.

I find that hard to believe. I am a total wimp when it comes to rollercoasters and the fear i am sure is in my head not my stomach!

The worst is the ad's on the side for donuts, burgers etc. I understand that the site needs advertising revenue but surely it should be able to pick where it comes from. Fast food offers on a banding website is ridiculous.

I don't focus on Protein, I eat a normal, healthy , balanced diet with food from all food groups including SHOCK HORROR - CARBS! No I do not intend having my band removed . That would just be plain stupid as I am sure without the help that my band is giving me I would quickly be overweight again. It is not designed as a temporary fix - if that is what you want you should rather get a gastric balloon or the new endobarrier.

Can we have a new threads function as well? I would much rather see how many new threads/topics there are than see a full list which includes new posts made to threads that may be years old.

I am having a problem with my subscribed threads. I am getting the email notifications as per normal but when I click on the link in the email to take me to the thread instead of taking me to MY FIRST UNREAD POST it takes me to the first post in the thread. This is extremely annoying especially when the thread is pages long. It never used to do this. Alex can you please fix it?

I think that Drs that tell people that they will only be able to eat 2 - 3 bits and won't be hungry should be rounded up and shot. OK joking but at the very least they should have their licences revoked. It is not possible to get all the nutrition the body needs from 3 bites of food 3 times a day. The head hunger would be overwhelming as you would be looking at all the yummy foods that you were "too full" too eat and be craving them anyway. The body would be screaming out for food and nutrition. You would starve and end up looking like an anorexic or a famine victim. Not a good look. I swear that the majority of problems where people are unhappy with their bands are caused by Drs that market it incorrectly and give all this misinformation before the op. Those that have researched and/or been given the correct information tend to do a lot better.

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I would also never be game enough to order a steak out. I might have one bite of my partners but to order one for myself - NO WAY. A bagel is also not a very good idea. They are very dense and doughy. If you want to eat bread stick to the grainy varieties they are a lot easier. As to Papaya enzymes , they have never worked for me. Generally the only way I can handle it when I am stuck is to try and bring the offending item back up. Unfortunately this normally involves repeated trips to the bathroom plus lots of slime and coughing. On the positive side it really is nothing like being sick and if you can get rid of the stuck item you get that feeling of relief. Waiting for the stuck to go down is not an option for me. It hurts too much . Also you get to the point where you are producing so much slime that you have to go and chuck it up because otherwise it feels like you will drown! If I am out I tend to eat things such as Pasta, quiche, risotto etc. All the (for me) easy to eat foods. I will order a burger sometimes as well and I eat that very slowly minus the bun. Strangely fish often causes me problems. Not sure why as it would seem to be a soft easy to eat choice but last time I ate fish out I spent half the night running back and fore to the bathroom. I always find that the thing that helps me after I have been stuck is sucking on crushed ice. It helps to reduce the swelling( Ice is the first thing that they give you after the surgery for this reason), a warm drink helps but only before you eat to help relax muscles etc , drinking when you are stuck will only make it worse.

Do not drink if you are stuck. It does not help it normally makes it worse.

I don't know how you can have been told you need to get your nutrition from liquids. The band does not work with liquids. The majority of Dr's say that liquid calories should be avoided. Definitely time for you to get a new DR.

I keep a very tight band, and get stuck pretty often. So much wrong with this but I am sure the OP knows this!!!!!

That is really bad news. Hope everything gets sorted out.

Although most Dr's don't like to treat each others patients in a situation like yours where you are moving country I don't think they have much choice. I am flying today from Melbourne , Aus to Jhb, South Africa. The trip is really long and horrible so I am hoping that my band won't cause problems. I have actually done the trip before approx 6 months after I got my band. I asked my Dr about the possibility of problems during the flight. I was told that if my band was empty or close to empty it could cause problems as the air in it could expand. She also said that so long as I had saline in the band it should be fine as saline cannot expand. So theoretically it is better to travel with a filled rather than an unfilled band. I was also told to be careful what I chose to eat and if I did get swelling not to worry too much as it should resolve once the plane was landed. If your Dr believes an unfill is better you should do what your Dr says but from what i have been told the opposite is true.Obviously having the anxiety disorder adds an extra element to the situation. You are lucky that it is a much shorter flight. Good luck with your move. I hope it all goes really well.

I just did a google search and this was the first site that came up .http://www.obesitysurgerycentre.com/ I would think that if you emailed them they would be able to offer you assistance. I am also sure that you have the time to research further prior to your move. With the internet finding info can be really easy. I am sure there is no need to get your band unfilled. The UK is quite advanced - it's not like your moving to deepest darkest africa !

Not quite sure why the tone of this post seems to be attacking me. I was merely pointing out that when you have a band if you are somewhere remote it can cause problems. I am glad that you have done your homework - being well informed about the process makes a huge difference. It is good that your dad has the funds to get you help should you have a problem , the actual logistics and time taken to get to help are probably more of an issue than the money. As you live in Australia it is likely that your Dr will be conservative and fill your band slowly. That is the usual protocol here and that way you are less likely to have a problem than if you were being filled aggressively.In your position I would make sure that I was patient with the process even though at first it may seem slow and like it will take you forever to get to a reasonable fill level. Do not ask the Dr to put in a bigger fill so that you don't have to see him as often as that might backfire. Also it might be a good idea to arrange to stay in SA for a day or so after each adjustment rather than flying straight back home so that you can make sure that the fill is comfortable and that you are not too tight. Good luck with your surgery . Soon it will all be over and you will be on the road to losing weight and looking fab. I still can't believe that I have had my band for 2 years already.

Correct You don't remove a pacemaker, prosthetic knee, hip, heart valve etc etc. They are put in to do a job that the body cannot do itself. If something goes wrong with one of them they are replaced not removed. The same is true of the band - it is there to do a job that the body does not do well itself. i.e control hunger. If something goes wrong with it then normally they would replace it or revise it to another surgery as without it the person is not "cured" and the illness (obesity) is likely to recur.

That is a very rare very unusual allergy. Saline is basically the same composition as the tears your body makes naturally. Are you sure the pain is related to your fill - that could just be coincidence. Have you been checked for problems of the bowel? It could be severe constipation, a mass or something else. Your Dr should be running tests to try to determine the cause. Next time it happens make ote of the time, place, what you were doing beforehand, what you ate etc. These things could help to identify the problem.

The very fact that people are complaining on this forum means that they DO have access to the internet! I do think there is a lot of misinformation out there. People should do their own research before deciding to go ahead. So although the "whining "is bad it may also be good. If they read these posts prior to surgery then hopefully they will realise that the band is not a magic wand and that it requires effort on their part. What does concern me is that people often present the sleeve as the perfect , no fuss, no effort WLS. What they need to do is remember everything has its good points and its bad points. If they visit the sleeve board as well they will discover that it is not all a bed of roses over there. That people with sleeves also have issues, that they still need to exercise, make healthy choices etc. The bottom line is that there is no miracle cure that enables you to sit on your butt and eat what you want when you want and lose weight. People have to take responsibility for their health and their weight loss journey. If they are not ready to do that then they are not ready for surgery and will probably end up being one of those people that is unhappy.

Gotta be careful. Here in Aus our PM is trying to introduce a carbon tax(actually it's really a CO2 tax) - imagine how much we would have to pay. There was also a proposal that they kill all our feral camels as all the gas they produce is increasing global warming!

There is a definite difference between thinking you can do it without the band and knowing that you can do it without the band. After a long period of time many of us become complacent and think the band does nothing - we do not realise how well it really is helping to control our hunger.To have the band out thinking it was doing nothing only to find out it was in fact doing a great deal would be a very sad outcome. One very successful bandster on this board is Jachut. I seem to recall reading that she thought her band was not doing a lot and that she had everything under control. She has had to have all the Fluid removed from her band for a number of surgeries and other medical treatment and now posts that the band was in fact making a huge difference. I suggest that those who are contemplating having their bands removed as they feel they no longer need them look up some of her posts and read them - they are very interesting.

One question. As you are in such a remote area how easily will you be able to get back and forth to see your Dr to get adjustments? It could be an issue if you get stuck/are too tight etc and need to see a Dr urgently. Have you discussed with your Dr how you would handle this type of situation? If not I would contact him/her and have the discussion prior to going ahead with surgery. Whilst the band is an excellent weight loss tool it is not thought to be the best solution for someone that cannot easily access their specialist. In these instances the sleeve is often recommended instead.

I did read on a nutrition website newsletter that I get that the food bounces three or four times before going through which sounds the same as what Prof o Brien explained to your DH. Interesting that I did not get a more educated answer from Allergan when they called me after I put the same question to them. I don't think that most people thought the food was sitting in"the pouch " for hours but did believe that the process was fairly slow. Which was one of the reasons given for not drinking for 30 - 60 minutes after a meal. It would be interesting to know how long this process does take and what effect if any drinking soon after eating has.

Try making your own soups. Then you can get the flavours you want. I stocked up the freezer with homemade soups before my op and they were great.

I also avoided photo's as much as possible, I am a scrapper and very few photo's with me in would find their way into my scrapbooks. However. Now that I have lost weight I love having my photo taken. I think I am making up for all those wasted photo ops. It feels really good to look at yourself in a pic and think wow I look pretty good.