Ok, I don't know if there's already a thread like this but I know for one thing that I would like to band together (pun intended) with those of us who have had our bands for over 3 years and have gotten complacent.

I've always had it easy when it comes to maintaining, but now have a small slip and a leak, and very little restriction, so have decided to recommit to the bandster lifestyle to try to ensure that my weight is maintained.

Whatever your motivations for recommiting to the bandster lifestyle, you're welcomed to join me here.

So here's me:

• Banded Aug 2008
  
• Lost 85lbs
  
• now have a small slip and a leak, and no restriction, and found I could eat more
  
• As a result, I gained 5lbs in a month, pulled myself up, returned to eating well and exercising and have lost it.
  
• Looking to maintain and redevelop good eating and exercise habits.
  

I seem to be motivated best by being part of a support group, and I think it's fair, when I'm not trying to lose, but to maintain, to keep that separate from those who are trying to find the right mindset for the first time. I'm trying to reconnect with the mindset that helped me lose in the first place, so I think that's a different kettle of fish.

So, who's with me?

Ok, Elcee, that is the best stuck story I have read in a long time! OH MY GOD!!!!

Oh, and chocolate cupcakes are gross coming back up when one is stuck on them as well. Lap Band Karma got me on that one!

And it got worse. Couldn't sleep as I kept getting reflux, I was lucky to make it to the bathroom a couple of times. It is now nearly 5am , I am feeling like crap, sucking on ice and hoping like hell that my band hasn't slipped. I still have a major pain in my back between the shoulder blades and it feels like there is a lump in my throat.I don't think there is still anything stuck - i did way too good a job of throwing up and that is what has me worried.

Gallbladder? Is liquid getting through?

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.

Oy! Will be thinking of you. Call your doc if you can't get liquids down!

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

Elcee=smart bandster. Of course, I always knew that.

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

Oh pashaw! It was the millipede's fault! I eat steak. I just have to eat tiny bites and chew like a fool. I get bored chewing before I get full.

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

What happened? Been thinking of you.

Hi everyone,

I'll be calling the doc tomorrow to go in for an UNfill. Stupid reflux! I feel like i have a fist in my throat. My throat is so tight. It gets worse when I eat. I can hardly eat anything. I feel exausted because I'm not getting enough food. :-(

elcee and heidib,

that's crazy, both of you. elcee, I hope it settled and you're ok now. Heidi, I hope a slight unfill helps you. I personally couldn't remember being so tight I couldn't hold anything down, so when mr dr put 8cc in just before my op and I could barely drink, it was a trippy feeling. I am now reluctant to ever get that tight again.

I got sorta kinda stuck on rice last night. I did the chicken dance and it went through. But I only have 5cc in my band now, where I didn't even feel anything previously until I had at least 6cc. I seem to be feeling it faster this time around. Which is weird. Good, but weird.

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.

OMG Elcee!!! thats terrible! glad it worked out!!! how do they do fluoro???

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.