donali

I don't think any of the recent problems here were with diabetics. I am not diabetic.

So glad you're doing well!! Please keep us posted.

Since no one knows for sure all the factors that may lead to erosion, do you really want to risk it? The band was not designed to restrict you to a liquid only diet. I would recommend getting a slight unfill, and let the band help you as you change your eating habits for the better. You never know when you might have to go "solo", and wouldn't you love to have good eating habits already in place if that ever happens? Being too tight definitely creates a risk for slippage, as people who are too tight tend to vomit, which is the number 1 cause of slippage.

The mid-band is a bigger, softer band. It has no hard parts. I think it uses a different fill solution than saline - a contrast solution, I believe. The mid-band tends to self-fill. I believe this is due to the type of fill solution used. So most mid-banders face a lifetime of unfills, as opposed to lapbanders who are generally getting fills until they reach their "sweet" spot. The lapband fill level generally stays constant as long as there are no leaks, changed only by fills/unfills. The stats I have read rate the mid-band at a lower erosion rate than the lapband. I believe the mid-band was French invented, and it is not FDA approved in the states, but many people here have gone outside the U.S. for their surgery and return with mid-bands, either through their own or their surgeon's choice.

I had to vote that I paid over $15,000... The banding surgery itself was only $10,000, but the removal was $5,500 and the port repositioning was another $1,500 or so (can't really remember how much that was...) Four fills at $100 a pop. Medication. Transportation. Altogether, my banding experience cost at least $17,500. Self-pay. Ouch...

(((Leatha))) So glad you got an unfill - did the doc say anything about prescribing something to increase your esophageal motility? I do think it is odd that the medical professionals are convinced that no one could be eroded/eroding unless they have a lack of restriction. A lack of restriction would really only happen once enough of the band had made it through the stomach wall - meanwhile, it's still there, creating restriction Glad you're having the endoscope done just to be sure. If nothing else it can reassure that there's nothing worse going on with your esophogus than mere irritation Sending good thoughts your way!!

Unfilled bands have been known to erode, as well. I don't know how tight they were empty, but... The thing is, eating too much and being too tight may cause erosion, but I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of bandsters have overeaten at least occasionally, and many have been "too tight" (how tight is "too" tight??). So if overeating and being too tight are factors, they still only effect a small percentage of those who overeat/are too tight - because I honestly believe there are lots of people out there that DO overeat and are/have been too tight who never erode. I MOSTLY did not overeat, and I don't believe I was ever too tight...

The big problem with both of those options is that they are temporary. As soon as the gastric balloon is removed, or you go back to eating solid foods after Optifast, any weight lost will more than likely come back on.

You need to be very honest with yourself about what you are eating, and how much. Use www.fitday.com to track your usual intake for a few days. Is it within the correct range? Usually 1500-1700 is low enough to lose weight. I wouldn't recommend going below 1200. If your calories are okay, and you're eating mostly healthy stuff, is there any low key exercise you can do? It may be time to have some bloodwork done and make sure there isn't something else going on, like thyroid, cortisol, etc.

I'm shocked - most doctors just remove fill, if necessary. This is the first time I've heard of the band being removed only because of pregnancy... Also, I would think that surgically removing the band while pregnant would be more endangering to the unborn child, with the anesthetic and all... Can you give us more information? Is this your docs standard procedure?

I posted this info on the last dental thread. Personally, it sounds as though taking antibiotics prior to dental work when you have some sort of implant would be the "better safe than sorry" approach. The DMD below says most implants are safe... If my doc said antibiotics, for sure I'd insist that my dentist complied. http://www.dentistry.com/pdentalupdates_05.asp Most prosthetic implants safe during dental care by Dr. Jerry Gordon, DMD People who have artificial heart valves are required to take antibiotics prior to certain dental procedures to prevent a sometimes-fatal heart infection called subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE). The reason is that bacteria in the mouth during dental treatment can travel through the blood stream and infect the artificial valve. Those who have other prosthetic devices may be concerned whether their knee replacement or pin in their arm, for example, is also at an increased risk for infection after dental treatment. Fortunately, most prosthetic devices are safe from infection and do not require antibiotics prior to dental treatment....

Newbie bump...

{hijack}HI TERESA!!!!! :waves wildly: How the heck have you been??? We've missed you!!!! {/hijack}

This is everything I know about erosion: http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthr...&threadid=2250 http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/showthr...&threadid=2256 http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2274

Teresa, this would have been my first response, as well. There is no way for KT to know that you "know" this based on your initial post. I read many frightening posts where it sounds as though people have gotten banded with absolutely no prior research, because they ask some of the very most common and basic questions. There ARE people who, in spite of a lifetime of obesity, do not seem to understand the basics of nutrition. So when basic nutritional questions are asked, one assumes the poster is one of those. Just my two cents.

Okay, here's the big difference between the band and the bypass. MOST bandsters do not need to take a bunch of supplements/vitamins. ALL bypass patients MUST (to maintain their optimum health, anyway). The protocols for bandsters vs bypass are very different. If a bandster can't get in all the Vitamins etc that they need, and are NOT meeting their caloric requirements on a daily basis once they start back on solid food, then THEY ARE TOO TIGHT. Bypass patients, however, WILL have a major caloric/vitamin deficiency, because their surgery cuts out some of the small intestine. The caloric deficiency usually resolves itself after about two years, as the body learns to adjust. However, the Vitamin deficiency is PERMANENT It is unfortunate that some medical professionals still seem to be unaware of some of the major points of departure between the band and the bypass.

My fur babies - missed every single day.

Patti - Please note: The erosions on this board are from Mexican doctors that PROCTOR for Inamed - YES, THEY are teaching the U.S. docs how to do this procedure. Hence my rhetorical question above... If you can't trust the docs INAMED uses to teach other docs, who can you trust? We DID our research, and went with who we felt were the very best surgeons.

I was pretty sure that Lopez uses the pars flaccida technique - but I understand that technique is to reduce/eliminate slippage. I have never heard of it in connection with erosion prevention. And I have to disagree that Inamed has no control over what the surgeons who place their bands do with them. Inamed will NOT sell bands to docs that haven't been trained, and they could institute a policy that they would NOT sell bands to docs who don't report, or who have a significant deviance from the norm in complications. They could remove a doc from their "approved" list. Like I say, there's a lot they COULD do if they wanted to. But they don't.

I just posted on Lisa's erosion thread that I find it interesting that the U.S. docs are using a different placement technique from the Mexican docs, who proctor U.S. docs. Apparently there is not a standardized surgical procedure, and apparently these new techniques aren't passed on to ALL docs... ????

Heal up quick!! Truly amazing tubing pics...

Best wishes - may everything go smoothly and you heal up quickly!

(((Lisa))) I find all the comments about "new" techniques interesting, as well as speculation on the band itself. As far as I understand, Lopez and Ortiz are proctors for placing the Inamed band - they're TRAINING stateside docs how to place the band. So how the heck is it that the U.S. docs are doing a different "better" technique?? And these other docs who are doing it a totally different way, with extra "skin" between the band and the stomach - uh... What, once you've been trained how to place a band you're allowed to make up your own techniques? I don't think the original lapband model has been changed/improved since I was banded in 1/2003, so these "newer" bands shouldn't be softer/smoother/better than the ones we recent erosions received. I'm not talking about the advent of the Vanguard band or the new smaller port - I'm talking about it's little original brother band itself. This is all very concerning, and frustrating as well when it seems unlikely that we'll ever know WHY exactly so many of us have eroded recently, and why we seem to belong to a couple of Mexican surgeons. I personally have to believe it's technique, but can't help wondering who passed on special info to the U.S. docs that their proctors don't have, like making sure there are layers of fat between the band and the stomach. :shakes her head:

(((Jane))) - so sorry to hear this.

I only just saw this post today. Complications: Port revision 10-11 months out. I had torn the sutures holding my port flat, and it flipped sideways and would not remain flat after physician manipulation. So I had to have it surgically returned to flat and resutured. 40% Erosion diagnosed 17 months out, resulting in band removal. I still have residual restriction 17 months out (band removal 7/2004) which mostly manifests itself as a slight "stuck" feeling if I eat too fast, or drink before food has passed all the way through the old banded site. I don't regret being banded, and if I knew 100% for sure that I wouldn't erode again I would get rebanded. But I don't want to risk another erosion at this point, as I consider myself lucky that I didn't suffer worse stomach damage than I obviously already have.