Has anyone else tried this?

[Crazy Lady]

Having had my band now for 15 months I haven't lost any weight since January. I have 6.6mls in a 10ml band. I have had telephone consultations with the dietician and she has said 'oh well you have lost 40% of your excess weight' and wasn't really interested. The nurses at the clinic are lovely but are happy to keep adding fluid and saying the weight will come off when I reach optimum fill level. I have recently been on a 2 week all inclusive holiday and most days could hardly eat as it was so painful and everything seemed to get stuck which wasn't happening at home. So i lived on mostly soup so as to at least eat something. Also I have been really tender around my port.:cry:
So having scanned the Internet I have found that Streamline do a band assessment which includes a barium swallow, bariatric consultant appointment followed by a face to face consultation with a dietician. I have to go to Harrow for this and it is £600 which isn't cheap but have bitten bullet and booked for this Wednesday.
Just wondering if anyone else has tried this service?

 

[Summerband]

No I haven't, but just wanted to wish you luck.

Why have you not had more fills? If you only have 6.6ml in your 10ml could you not get your provider to increase it?

I know you were tight on holiday which is probably due to flying? But how are you now?

if your band is tight and restricting you physically and quite considerably, I wonder why you are not loosing?

What kind of food are you eating? When and how much?

Just wondering what is happening? Are you drinking enough?

Good luck with everything, and hope to hear back about how the appointment goes.

 

[flutterby1966]

are you not still receiving support from your provider?

 

[Crazy Lady]

Thank you Summerband and Flutterby.
Apologies for the delayed repliy but I have been on a run of nights.
I had the barium swallow and thankfully all was well there as I had concerns re slippage. I ate fine for the first 3 days of my holiday and then the band became really tight so I didn't think it was due to the flight.
I then had a face to face meeting with a dietician. We discussed my life style, working 12 hour shifts with no protected breaks and the fact that I constantly eat on the go. She was shocked to hear that I ate things such as crackers and cereal bars and also felt my band was possibly too tight.
Next I saw the consultant, the lovely Guy Slater, who after some discussion felt it best to remove some fluid from the band. I have to admit I was some what reluctant to let him do this. He completely aspirated the band finding just over 5mls in it, whereas I believed it had 6.6mls in. He removed .75 and then sent me back to the dietician where we discussed what is I should be eating.
Her thoughts are 3 ramekin dish size meals a day with no crackers, cereal bars etc. I have also been advised to leave at least 1 minute between mouthfuls. She told me she only works with 'real food' so it has to be protein, veg and a very small amount of carbs.
I also watched the 8 golden rules by Paul O'Brien on YouTube, which helped make sense of things.

Flutterby - yes I am still under the care of my provider but feel I have been left floundering by them. I have never had a face to face consultation with a dietician, it has been done by phone. The nurses at the clinic are lovely but when I don't lose weight they add a bit more fluid. I spent 3 days trying to get through to book a band fill recently as after 3 or 4 rings there is a message asking you to ring back later. I am not sure if this because of the area in which I live as others on here do not seem to have the same problems.
After discussing my issues with the dietician and consultant they both commented that I would have been a candidate for a by-pass with my previous dieting history and life style but I am now going to try working with my band following their guidance. The other comment that was made is that I may be in the minority which the band does not work for.
I appreciate all providers have different ideas but when I went for my initial consultation my life style and dieting history was never discussed and I honestly believed with a BMI of 34 the band was the answer and I was not advised otherwise.
I have never seen a consultant from the day I left the hospital. I am not sure if this is usual procedure.

Anyway, hopefully it will be onwards and downwards from here on. Except leaving at least a minute between mouthfuls means I am now getting used to eating cold food but at least I am eating!!

 

[Banderbird]

I'm glad you've finally had some proper advice, but it's a shame you had to shell out £600 on a barium swallow.

I suppose you at least have peace of mind that there's nothing wrong.

I hope you can now work with the band and get the results you're hoping for. Dry and crunchy all the way...

... which makes me wonder what's wrong with crackers?



Oh - and my BMI was 34 when I started and there's no way I would have considered a bypass. Too extreme for me.

 

[MazRob]

I don't know if you went somewhere warm on holiday, but I always find my band tightens in the heat. We had an all inclusive holiday a few years ago and all I ate was soup and custard!! Good luck xxx

 

[moomoo1]

im under guy slater and his team and they are great and know there stuff extremely well sometimes a defill is best because it does sound like you need to begin again with what your eating . good luck

 

[WeightlossDreamer]

Hope things get better for you now and you can start losing weight again! x

 

[Crazy Lady]

Thanks for all your replies.
I'm now eating my 3 ramekin dish sized meals a day. I'm not particularly hungry in between either thankfully but it's great being able to eat real food again.
I'm not going to weigh myself (I don't own any scales anyway) and will leave it until I see the team at Streamline again in 3 weeks time.
I will post and let you know the weight loss success after that and hope the scales have gone down by at least a few pounds

 

[Maphillips]

I found after flying it always took a couple of days for my band to settle down always happened
But was ok