Scorpio Girl

Since the band was approved by the FDA in 2001, where did you have your band surgery? 20 years is a long time to have a band...

You may have slipped. You prolly should call your doctor. The band can hold a little more than its capacity, so you still have some adjustment room. I'm concerned that you say you are eating more. Don't eat more because you can.
To prevent getting stuck and control your portions:
Measure your food. 1/2 cup total, 75% dense Protein, 25% low glycemic veggies.
Cut into m&m sized pieces. Chew each bite 15-25 times. Take 20-30 min to eat your meal. Stop when you get a soft stop sign, hiccup, runny nose, sigh or when your food is gone or at 30 min.
If you get stuck, do liquids for 24-48 hours, progress to solids slowly. Learning dietary discipline is difficult, but necessary with a band.

Since the band was approved by the FDA in 2001, where did you have your band surgery? 20 years is a long time to have a band...

You may have slipped. You prolly should call your doctor. The band can hold a little more than its capacity, so you still have some adjustment room. I'm concerned that you say you are eating more. Don't eat more because you can.
To prevent getting stuck and control your portions:
Measure your food. 1/2 cup total, 75% dense Protein, 25% low glycemic veggies.
Cut into m&m sized pieces. Chew each bite 15-25 times. Take 20-30 min to eat your meal. Stop when you get a soft stop sign, hiccup, runny nose, sigh or when your food is gone or at 30 min.
If you get stuck, do liquids for 24-48 hours, progress to solids slowly. Learning dietary discipline is difficult, but necessary with a band.

Tough lesson, but are you measuring your portions? At 2 weeks out, measuring everything is so important...most are just starting solid foods.
The vagus nerve and phrenic nerve are both easily irritated by the surgery and can cause pain.
Pay attention to your soft stops, runny nose, little cough, hiccup, etc.
Best of luck on your band journey!!

Tough lesson, but are you measuring your portions? At 2 weeks out, measuring everything is so important...most are just starting solid foods.
The vagus nerve and phrenic nerve are both easily irritated by the surgery and can cause pain.
Pay attention to your soft stops, runny nose, little cough, hiccup, etc.
Best of luck on your band journey!!

I've been away for a while, no Internet, but omg, girl, you are looking fine!!!

I've used it and its amazing to see documents that our ancestors signed. I paid $161 inc tax for 6 months. You can go month to month also. I documented my paternal granmother's lineage back to the 13th century!

If you're having night time reflux, you're in the red zone. Call your doctor ASAP. Let us know the outcome, please.

Your lack of sensation could be nerve damage from diabetes, stomach virus, surgery or even an unknown cause. Usually with nerve damage there are other symptoms, besides absence of sensation. Disorders like gastroparesis and other motility disorders cause pretty severe, quality of life altering symptoms and can be debilitating.
In the absence of these symptoms, I wouldn't worry too much, but by all means talk to your doctor (band, PCP or gastroenterologist) if you are concerned or are having signs of dismotility.
Hang in there!

Never should have qualified for WLS. Complete waste of time, money and other resources. Epic fail.

An experienced revision surgeon will have the skill, knowledge and resources to help you make a decision about what to do. Implanting a band around a virgin stomach is much different than putting a new band on a damaged and surgically altered stomach. Best of luck to you!

This wasn't something I was warned about in my pre op evaluations. There were discussions about reflux, vomiting, etc, but always within the context of eating habits, things like chewing too little, eating too fast or too late. Being less than 3 years out, this is troubling to me. Thanks for the heads up!

An experienced revision surgeon will have the skill, knowledge and resources to help you make a decision about what to do. Implanting a band around a virgin stomach is much different than putting a new band on a damaged and surgically altered stomach. Best of luck to you!

Lose 100, the criticism is telling me that my approach is wrong or I need to title my posts so people will know which forum they're reading, silly stuff like that.
I respect everyone's experience, good, bad or otherwise. Anyone who is finding their banded life to be what they expected and aren't having problems, I applaud you. My brother is one of those, banded 4 years this month and down from 325 to 185. He has no issues at all. We both followed the rules...I have problems, he doesn't. I'm thrilled for him and the rest of my fellow bandsters that are doing well.
I just want to save someone else the pain, anxiety and permanent damage I have. Recognizing danger signs early is essential.

Sorry Missy, but I'm not responsible for making you feel like doing anything. If you fail to check which forum you're on, that's not my bad. I'm only responsible for my own actions and I stand by them.
BTW...the person that was called my alt ID is no one I know and is not me. This rings a bit true to Nana Price's post where the first response to her thread was someone in an ape suit calling her ignorant. She hasn't been back, no wonder.
I'm proud of who I am and have no need to hide behind a facade ID.

I think your WISE in waiting, I personally waited for 12 weeks before my first fill ,even when they said 6 weeks was the norm. I just started having reflux after my last 2 fills so I have been back to 5cc from original 9cc fill. I haven't gained, but have had "other issues" to contend with that are more important right now. good luck... balbuque

I think a lot of the problem is due to the changing views on how the band works. When I was banded , almost 4 years ago, I was told and all the available information stated that the band was designed to allow the food to pass from the top part to the lower part of the stomach very slowly. That is should take at least 20 minutes but could take longer. In Australia we were never told to measure in cups but rather use a small plate as our guideline. We were told to eat slowly but never told that we had to wait a minute or more between bites.
Somehow over the last 4 years the thinking on how the band works has changed.I'm still not sure if the new thinking applies to all bands or if it is only the more recent surgeries that have had a different placement that it applies to. I know some people with 4cc bands that will swear blind that food does not pass through their pouch quickly.
I think that the misinformation has caused a lot of confusion and it may also have contributed to a lot of the problems.
Achalasia is a possible complication.About a year ago my Dr told me that it was something that they were seeing an increase of but they weren't sure why.

If our band isn't too tight, food can get "packed" in there by eating too fast, for sure. For about 15 months I was fine, only stuck once when we were on vacation and I tried to eat tuna w/o mayo. :-/
What I'm speaking of is the reported "self-tightening" or "fickle" band. Yes, you might get a sign that it's time to stop, or maybe not. My band would seem to be fine, no unpleasant feeling, meal seemed to go down fine. A half hour later, boom, up it would come. It was as if someone squeezed a bulb syringe. I found out it was spasms.
My warning is really meant for those who start to have heartburn or reflux that had "resolved" with banding. It's a very early sign of damage to the LES and if dealt with ASAP, further damage can be avoided,
It's important to note that my situation deteriorated after a complete unfill. Prior to that, the band had actually tightened (15 months after my last fill) to the point that barium would only drip thru the stoma. I have a feeling that when I have the band removed, there will be a lot of scar tissue under the band.

Sorry, didn't mean to quote Terry.
Yes, 4 people said no. Two had really serious complications, one was a month post op and missing her food addiction, one lost her marriage. The one factor in VSG that scares me is the types of peri postoperative complications; leaks, infection, etc, are higher than banding (1-2% vs .5%), but the long term complications are greater with the band. Since close to 100 people took the survey, the #s are pretty representative of the stats. The recovery from sleeve is longer and more difficult, requiring more time off from work.
It's a dicey situation, but being in my place, would you wish you had just done the one other available restrictive surgery in the first place? I'm no spring chicken and I'm dealing with some pretty massive issues right now...20 months out of 35. It's unlikely I can revise because of the band damage...there are cases where it would have been better to deal with a 1-2% complication rate early on and then go on with your life, rather than spending precious time, resources and suffering trying to figure out what is wrong and then more time, resources and suffering treating it.
Like I asked, just curious as to your point. Its important to read all the posts on both sides of this and for those deciding on WLS to make a fully informed consent. Thanks for posting this

I'm so with you on this! I made the same decision, and hope that if or when the time comes, I'm at goal weight. At 57 years old, I feel that this is my last chance. When I get this weight off, it will be a cold day in hell before I let it come back. Amen!

I'm 25 days post op but I already made the decision that if any complications occur, I won't revise or replace anything. Just take it and I will use every ounce of will power to continue to eat healthy. I hope that you make the tight decision for you and your family.

I wish I could tell you what to do but I can't. It's such a personal decision. I think you need to do a lot of fact searching and soul searching. Some questions I'd be asking both myself and my doctor if I were you:
-If you get a band replacement, are you at higher risk for another slip?
-What caused the slip? Was it preventable and if so can you prevent it from happening again?
-If you get the Sleeve, what are the possible complications?
-Being as your BMI is only 27, do you really want to have 3/4 of your stomach removed?
AJ was right about Jean. She had a revision to the Sleeve and has been very vocal about it. Have a look at her blog, she talks about it considerably: http://jean-onthebandwagon.blogspot.com/
I hope you find the info you need to make the best decision. Remember, it's your body and your life, you have to be honest with yourself and do what's best for YOU.
((hugs))

The sleeve is great if you don't have achalasia (esophageal) damage. Jean has achalasia, which is most likely why she's had a difficult time with her revision. I know of several who have revised to sleeve despite having it with varying results from a quality of life perspective.
I want to revise, but I also have end stage achalasia, damage from my band, so probably no revision for me. Be sure to consult with a revision surgeon...better outcome and fewer complications. Best of luck to you!

An experienced revision surgeon will have the skill, knowledge and resources to help you make a decision about what to do. Implanting a band around a virgin stomach is much different than putting a new band on a damaged and surgically altered stomach. Best of luck to you!