Still getting stuck after 18 months

Is anyone out there haveing a hard time 'learning' their band? I have thrown up since the start - 1st time I got food poisoning 7 weeks after being banded - that seem to start the band bulemia that I have now. I cut my food, I think Im chewing enough and I really try to make sure Im not eating fast but every few weeks Im stuck throwing up. My band is lose now but my clinic fear to tighten it cause I get stuck so much - I have gained all my weight back - never really lost alot to begin with. Im so sad and depressed - I am a self pay bandster so I am even sadder that I used my life savings to pay for this nightmare. My health has never been worse. Its so depressing. Any advice would be great - I need to get back on track.

Thanks 

Some people think throwing up every few weeks is acceptable! I don't! So something is not as it should be. But if it is "only" every few weeks, then I  do wonder if there is a specific trigger. You have probably tried all these things, but here are a few suggestions.

(I am assuming you are chewing well and not eating too fast or taking great gulps of liquid immediately after a mouthful!)

Keep a note of every time you PB. Note the time of day, the food, how it was cooked, the time of the month, your stress level, your hydration level, the social situation. See if you can spot a pattern. 

If it was the sort of intolerance to the band some people get, for a variety of reasons,  I think I would expect you to be throwing up more often than once every few weeks. 

I do admit that in the first year or so, I did bring food back maybe twice a month. But I worked out why. Almost very time it was in a social gathering and I wanted to join in the conversation and swallowed too fast. 

Kate pretty well covered it but I would add the type of food was sometimes a problem for me like if it was too dry like dry chicken breast or fiberous like broccolli. With the chicken or other meat you can make a little juice or marinade out of the pan drippings an as for the veggies I just had to avoid some of them. Being upset about the band when you eat can cause the situation to just keep going on.

I was going to warn against dry chicken and broccolli too.  I also find very spicy food gets me stuck.  My band is tighter in the morning, then loosens a bit during the day, that is pretty typical from what I understand.  Bread, rice, pasta are also trigger foods for me.  You don't say what you are eating, these are just some things that trigger stuck episodes for me.  Keeping track and trying to see a pattern is a fantastic idea.  Save it, and bring it to your next dr. appt.  They will probably find the information very helpful.  Good luck!

You have received great info so far, but I would love for you to answer the following questions so I don't speculate.

 Can you give us a normal days eating plan that you follow.  We can give you some help on other food ideas.

1.   Are you throwing up after every meal?   If not is it always in the morning, Afternoon or random times of the day.

2.   Do you suffer from Allergies - I do and this really does a # on my esophagus .   When it is really bad - ie scratchy throat, itchy eyes, sneezing and runny nose.  These are the days that i live on soft foods    ie: Oatmeal , Tuna Salad, egg salad, Greek Yogurt.   I eat these very slowly and at room temp.   If the food is too cold it harder to get down

3.  Are you combining foods to make the meal?   ie  If I add fruit ( peaches, berries etc) to my yogurt it will get stuck.   If I eat the yogurt and then the fruit -  all goes down and is good.  I have tried chopping up a meatball and adding to soup, chili or spaghetti sauce.   9 times out of 10 this gives me trouble.  Once again if I eat the combination separately then I don't have any trouble.  I think the problem is that I do not chew the dense item if it is added to food.  When I eat it on its own I tend to chew better.

4.   Are you taking note of certain foods that give you trouble?   I can eat spinach but I cannot eat lettuce.  I can eat peas but corn always comes back up.  I can eat canned peaches but fresh get stuck.  I can eat raw apples with the skin without any problem.

5.  Are you listening to your body's soft stop sign that you have eaten enough.    After 4 years I still have the runny nose, small hiccup, or a sigh.  We tend to forget  about these the further we get out of surgery and take that 1 MORE BITE.   Yes I am guilty of that as well.

I have had a few health issues over the last year.   I had to stop exercising for about 6 months, and had my band completely emptied.  In the blink of an eye I gained back 35 lbs.  I had a good talking to myself and started from scratch again.  I wrote down what I did when I first had the surgery, and I am glad to say that I am back on the loosing side.I have lost 29 lbs so far in 6 months.  These are some of my tips that have worked for me.   Hope that they help you and others as well.

1.   Throw out all artificial sweeteners.  I was adding fake sugar to things that I have never eaten sweet in my life.  Once I started added the Truvia to food I was adding it to more and more things.  What I found is that artificial sugar just makes me hungry.   If I eat it I am looking in the cupboard 30 mins later for something else to eat.

2.  Eat as close to nature as you possibly can.  Real food.  Forget anything that says "DIET FOOD"  

3.  Eat as bland as you can.   You will be amazed how the added flavors will wake up taste buds - and make head hunger happen. For example I only buy unsalted nuts.   I love Macadamia nuts from Trader Joes.   1 serving is 8 nuts.   I can eat 8 nuts and 2 x prunes for a snack and be totally satisfied.  If I eat salted nuts - I can eat the whole bag and still be looking for food.  Add natural spices to food.  ie cinnamon, Lemon, Lime, Mrs Dash etc.  Anything that can sit on a shelf for a year is not good for weight loss.

4. Keep you sugar grams per serving at 5 grams and under.   If you  do this chances are the all the other stats on the food are going to be good for weight loss.  I do eat fruit -  no one ever got fat from eating an apple.

5.  Don't be scared of Complex Carbs.  We need carbs to function.  It is the white carbs that  will slow down weight loss and take longer to burn off.  I cannot go the rest of my life without eating cereal.   Wheet A Bix is the best cereal around.  I see that you are from Canada so you know what they are ( at least I hope you know - lol)  It has 2 grams of sugar per serving.  I eat this with a sliced banana and Almond Milk every morning. I then go for an hours walk so I do burn it off.  I am also not hungry until lunch so this is a very good choice for me.  

6. Get moving.  Get yourself a pedometer (step counter) and get in at least 10,000 steps per day.  You will be amazed by the extra steps you will make yourself do if you are wearing the thing.  I have a Fitbit One and just love it.

7.  Go back to the 30, 30, 30 rule.   (Stop drinking 30 mins before eating, take 30 mins to eat your meal. ( if you are not done at 30 mins then throw the remainder in the bin, Don't drink 30 mins after your meal)

8. WATER , WATER, WATER.  This was so hard for me to get back to doing.  I love coffee and found that I was drinking it all day.  Now I have 1 cup in the morning and another in the afternoon (decaf)   

9.  Never leave the house without a snack in your bag,   When at the supermarket checkout and the Heath bar is calling my name - it is easier to say no (even though I really want that chocolate bar) when I know that I have an apple or nuts or something in my bag to eat.  

10.  EAT ON THE CLOCK -  this is my secret to my success.  I eat at 8 am, 12 pm, 3 pm and 6 pm  - nothing after 7pm.   I don't care where I am .  If it time to eat then I do.  By doing this I don't allow myself to get too hungry.  It also stops me from  grazing.  I am not sure why but it seems that I am always hungry ( head hunger I am sure) at 2:30pm.   I make myself drink a large glass of water and it gets me thru to 3 pm.   

11.  Get on the scale.  I weigh myself Monday, Wednesday & Friday.  Even when I know that the number I am going to see is not the one I was hoping for.   Yes I still want the weight to come off over night. - I guess that is never going to change.

I am thankful that my band causes discomfort on certain foods.- bread & pasta.  It is easier to say no, when I know that if I eat a chunk of Fresh out of the Oven French Bread -  OH YUM- The it is going to hurt.  Things I can eat easier are things I can crunch down to nothing -  They are also high in calories and sugar.   The band does not help at all on this.  This is purely me having to say no to certain foods.  It sucks, but I have accepted that this is going to have to be a fact of life for me.  

I am sorry for blabbing on.  I kept typing some , doing something else - coming back on and typing more.  Before I knew it - it seems I have typed a small novel.

I wish you all the best and please ask for the help that you  need.  Look back on this forum for really old post.  This forum used to be so caring and helpful.  There are still people around who care and will help if they can.  The band is not all doom and gloom like some preach.  The band is only a tool.  We have to make the best choices that we can - if we want to get the weight off and stay off.

I am sorry you are having problems.  But I don't think it's a learning curve problem...meaning eating to fast or not chewing enough.  I think like Kate mentioned you just need to learn how your body reacts to different foods, times of day, times of month, emotions.  For example I tend to be a bit tighter when I am upset or stressed out.  I am truly lucky that I haven't found a food that I can't eat.  I can eat chicken, veggies and fruit. 

I also have been lucky that I have been quite successful with my band.  4 1/2 years out and I have lost about 180 lbs.  I did this with a combination of eating healthy and lots and lots of exercise.  I agree with almost everything Bubble says except I love my spices and use them all of the time and I eat past 7pm all of the time.  But I AGREE...get rid of the diet food, the artificial sweeteners, the processed foods, the frozen dinners, prepackaged convience foods the white carbs, stay away from fast food...these are the weight loss killers!!!

Do eat whole foods, make your food (this is easier than it sounds I can make meal in the amount of time it takes for people to drive to the fast food place and stand in line), for snacks eat fruit, nuts, yogurt, organic peanut butter, eat no more than 1-2 servings of red meat a week, eat only whole grain pasta and bread(I almost never eat these), if possible switch to organic dairy and meats (I know its expensive, that's why I said if possible).    And last but not least you need to get out and move.  At fir you may not be able to do much but as you build your endurance that will change.   I am a big believer in actually working out.  Which means sweating and huffing and puffing.  I would not have lost the weight I lost if I just took walks every day.  But belive me in the beginning thats all I could  and thats all it took to make me sweat.  But as I lost weight and did more I was able to step it more and do more.  And before you know it I was jogging and weight lifting.  I ran 5Ks.  Me!!!  I used to wiegh 358 lbs and I'm running now...and that motivates you to do more.  So get up and do it.... I also suggest to come up with hobbies that aren't so sedate.  Like I love to read...but lets face it...you just sit there.  So try to find things like bike riding or gardening, hiking, that gets you outside and moving.                                                                                                                  

Has Your Surgeon bothered to check if your Band slipped? Vomiting is NOT a good thing with the band, and I will tell you my experience I was banded for 3.5 years at that time I suffered with Severe food Poisoning as well Not just simple oh, I don't feel well and vomiting a little. I vomited violently, felt like I was ready to pass out and Die by the time the episode was done. After which I started to have Severe Left shoulder pain , Reflux, vomiting, inability to eat certain foods and not being able to have more than  9cc 's in a 14 cc band  and didn't know why. I went  for numerous TESTS. Endoscopy, Shoulder X-ray, chest X-ray, Spine X-ray. Cortisone shot to the shoulder ( they thought torn rotator cuff) All of which showed Nothing ..and my Surgeon telling me the Band was FINE. So after 6 months of Pain in my shoulder (Stabbing , followed by burning, and Limited range of Motion) I Decided ENOUGH! I had my band removed and my post-op report Confirmed a SLIPPED BAND. 

Check the link and bookmark it to your computer for reference, it may come in handy 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3038361/