desertmom

Hi I have never had heartburn before the band and for a year after I had the most horrible hot feeling in my esophagus and stomach......I never got used to it...never...it is really the most horrible feeling that just felt like it sat at the front of my brain and I couldnt concentrate on much of anything while feeling like that..... It is gone now...we have prayed it away.....and they treated me for H Pylori and an ulcer and I feel that I can now deal with the pain I have abdominally and behind the band....I feel restored as a person since it has been gone.....

Hi It must have something to do with restriction and what I eat and dont when restricted.It has never spread.I had an endo a month ago and even my esophagus (whatwith all the heartburn and reflux I had in the last year) looks great...so,who knows....I do however take an inhaled crotico steroid for my lungs and that might also cause it....however I do rinse my mouth after using it. Good luck with your band.

Hi Since being banded I keep getting oral thrush on and off.....I either just use daktaren jel or mycostatin for a day or so and it is gone....I have no idea why this happens as I have never had it before in my life...also sometimes it starts I brush my mouth,use mouth wash and then it goes again....so it is ealily treated,just not sure why it happens....

Susan, You must have really good restriction.That seems like perfect "bandster's" portions...... Great going.

Change in behaviour with eating will only come through healthy eating habits....and even filled the band dont really allow that. And we still think that this is the long term selution to our problem with food? My cousin had an obscure duodenal bypass operation 6 months ago...before that this lady couldnt stick to a diet for 10 minutes.She ate huge amounts and always loaded her food with extra fat..(I often wonder how we could weight the same because I thought her habits were insane) One of the side effects of the operation is diaree when consuming to much fat sugar or carbs....it took her about 4 months to change all of her habits...the first 4 months she tried to fool the op...spent most of her time on the loo...mourned the loss of food,rebelled cried and what not.....now she eats differently....vegetables 5 serves a day...3 fruit...3 Proteins...3 healthy carbs.Low fat,no added sugar......and the behaviour modification is working because the pay off is good health and normal time on the toilet........ And I still struggle to have restriction so that I can lose more weight....and I have an ulcer and I know 100 percent sure they will have to remove this band at some point....so what will make us modify our behaviour and what will be the long term payoff to keep it like that? Why do we still cheer this operation?I'm just asking because here they are all of a sudden doing more of this operation than ever before and other dr's now specialize in complicated removals....all at the same hospitals,all making a killing financially off fat people's misery. Now again,dont get mad...I am battling seriously with these issues and sometimes asking relevant questions can change things for others,somewhere in the future.....

Hi No,no malpractice anything here......the dr.flies in from Europe does some operations and then goes home.....and the problem is they dont even admit that something is wrong.He told me before that he was happy with the placement of the band..... Anyhow,things will work out.Somehow they always do....I am just frustrated that I am not losing weight and still have all these issues....I started on a 1200 calorie a day eating plan and will stay on it for as long as possible and see what happens.......

Ok,lost my long post about the endo I had Saturday,the ulcer and the band placement....band is on esophagus,no pouch whatsoever.....have a prepiloric ulcer and biopsy have been done to see if I have H Pylori.....meantime Im on combination 2 antibiotics and nexium and the dr says maybe it will stop the abdominal and backache...:rolleyes wouldnt it be wonderful if it could be that easy?:clap2: Strange thing is that the dr didnt mention anything about erosion of the band but she did say my esophagus looks ok...no dilatation or scarring....Annd I must say,the hot feeling in esophagus and reflux have been really all but gone the past 2 months after I stopped the Nexium for a few weeks.... I am not going to remove the band even though I was advised that now would be a good time to do so......I need to lose 3okg and I need this band to help me do that......pouch or no pouch....it stops me from overeating anyway......so I am going to battle the fat until I win and then I will see how things are going.....:nervous If I had a different plan for losing weight or if I wasnt to scared of other surgeries I would have removed the band but I dont have a plan and what with eating and stressing this week(also band is completely unfilled..) I have gained nearly 8 pounds and I cannot live with that....dont want to,dont plan to....:help: So that is me with all my complaints this year....going for it for another year....hopefully to lose all the weight and be happy and healthy with no aches and pains in this band...(well, let no one say I am not optimistic...:clap2: .....) Hope everyone elses problems can also be dealt with....

Wish I could be brave enough for the other WLS.Still to scared of long term problems....

Hi Not that odd at all.....if you google lower esophageal junction and lap band there is a lot of sites that speak about placing the band higher to create a smaller pouch of about 130ml.Fixing the band that way (with the extra stitching and the pars flacid way..) actually all but eliminates slipping of the band.....erosion is also a lot less according to the dr's.....in a lot of European countries (0r more spesifically with European band doctors) the band is definetly fixed differently than in the US. I havent seen the band dr yet,will see him on Wednesday....but he and the surgeon that did the operation knows exactly where the band is and they have known about it for a full year...they never even suggested removing it for any medical reason. The only thing that the gastro-enterologist said that might be different was that sometimes with a ulcer the pain reseptors gets very sensitive because of the long term inflammation in the stomach and that might have caused me to feel the band,get pain in my abdomen and in my back... I dont know if this can be but I am on the antibiotics and still have get bad pain in my abdomen..... As for just placing the band in the right area.I am selfpay and the dr didnt even want to fix his mess for free (10 days after the operation)I refuse to pay him any more money for this band.Anyway,I have spend at least another 3000 dollars this year with fills unfills,xrays,endo ect.... I just cannot justify spending this all the time.Call me a cheapscate it you want but there is more important things in life than this....Its not that I dont have the money,but I have to be responsible in the way I spend what the Lord gives me. I want to be able to keep this band.....have it "pumped up" as much as possible and lose the last 30kg's as fast as possible and then remove the band...... As I havent lost any weight in the past 6 months I know that I can diet and work harder at this and that is what I am trying to do now.I eat less with the band so it does help me when I have enough fill in it.....

Hi I started with a BMI of 53 and I weighed 350 plus pounds.The pre-op liquids took care of about 20 of those and I am at the moment stuck at 240.....but keep a close eye on this space I plan to lose a lot in the next 2 months.....getting a personal trainer next week......and a big fill.......

O, I know how you feel.....I have actually gained 8 pounds since last Wednesday and I hate myself for it...but I cannot stop eating or thinking of food.That's why I'm hanging onto this band for dear life.......good luck a

Hi I went to theatre on Saturday.I was scoped and they took some biopsies of different parts in my stomach..... The outcome is not different than before (the fluro showed 10 months ago that the band was "proximally displaced" that means the same thing than it is not on the stomach.......the dr spesifically said she sees no pouch at all.......nothing......so the way the band works (or dont) for me is it just makes the entrance for food smaller and forces me to eat somewhat slower however,if I eat to much I get severe pain on my sides (both sides of my ribcage) When the band is empty I do feel it but really not at all like when it is filled some...(I physically feel the band around my insides...always have...always have to remove bra in afternoon ect ect..).and I can eat and drink anything and get some abdominal pain that the dr now says is the ulcer.......When I came out of theatre the aneasthetist came to me and said if he was me he would get the hospital to remove the band for free.....I asked him if they cannot just place it where it belongs and he said that in his opinion I already have to many adhesions around my stomach....whatever that might be......(I have a huge amount of scar tissues around my port that my dr also says does not happen to often) So,that is me with a band with no pouch (the European surgeon that did the operation said he makes a "micropouch" but the gastro-enterologist says no pouch),a prepiloric ulcer that might be the cause of all my pain (have been complaining for a year now and the dr's just point blankly ignored my complaints...) and optimism that I can still lose 30kg's this way.....

Hi Get sugarfree icecream.....nutrasweet makes icecream that has 70 calories per 100 grams and well you can have 200 grams a day which is a lot if you just plan for it...........

hi I sent you a mail to your yahoo adres last night,Debbie.Sorry for not responding before.....went back to check and your mail was just filed.....(had visitors for a long time in April..) There is no meetings (they say people wouldnt want that....confidentiallity)There must be a lot of bandsters here.....CdB comes here once a month and does up to 15 operations a weekend......so who knows.......Please do write Emirates...the dr that does the banding with CdB is dr Basha.....lets see what he tells you...... They also do banding at the American hospital,Belhoul Hospital and a few others....I dont think there will be a shortage of bandsters here.... As I say in my mail...I have wanted to start a support group here but I dont always feel to positive about the band.....some weeks things are just great and then for weeks at a time I feel like it is robbing me of my life.....so...... Again,will try to put you in contact with one of the girls here that I know has been very successful with her band. Greetings from Dubai......

Hi I just dont have anyone to discuss this with....my life is a nightmare at the moment and I smile,say nothing,help other people stay on their diets...(have a weightloss group that meets at my house...:faint: ) I actually wrote somewhere how I think I have been healed and to cut a long story short,my will and I suppose not the Lords will.....cause all my old symptoms are back in full force and tomorrow is one year after being banded.... I have to go for an endo and have been putting it off...(the dr that sees me is hopping up and down with anxiety about this...) I am terrified that this is it....this stupid band will have to be removed and I am back where I was a year ago..I am so depressed and so sad and I am petrified of having another operation.....I hate how this has turned out for me...Have worked really hard this year to lose weight and to get this band to not make me so sick the whole time....its been a year and I today feel like I did the first time I started having the symptoms that has been making my life a misery...I have chest pain,abdominal pain,heartburn....then just now I sit and read of people saying do I really have a band because I dont feel it....it just seems so unfair and I am really battling with all this at the moment.... I am bouncing ten pounds up and down and have been for the past 5 months...dont have restriction,cant get another fill (pain gets to bad) and just dont know what am I going to do? Well,this is a big whine isnt it?To get to the real reason for this threat....how was your bands removed? Lap or open....I dont even know who will do a removal as I havent seen the guy that did the op in over 10 months,just one of his side kicks.... Anyhow,please tell me how the removal op was...was it worse than the band (which actually was a breeze for me) how long in hospital?how long to recover? Thanks for info and ears....

hi Iv'e been on Nexium for as long as I've had the band.It really makes no difference to the hot insides (which I frankly doubt is heartburn)but it helps with the pain some...(thats the meds I stopped taking for a week and felt wonderful only for the pain to return so strongly that I thought I was going to die...)I'm permanently taking serevent inhaler and singelair for my lungs and I also take something for high blood pressure.....often thought it might be the meds causing the symptoms but cant stop taking them.....and that is also why I want to avoid having more anasthetics.....have a lung condition and it scares me the way dr's fuss about it pre-op.(I dont ever complain or get sick from my lungs....I as a rule just dont do sick..) I honestly have done everything I can to get better,to make the band work,to live with the effects of it....there is absolute nothing I can think of anymore.....the dr's have been of very little help.The surgeon that did the operation wanted to remove it 10 months ago as he didnt know what caused the symptoms and frankly couldnt care less..according to him these symptoms are jus not really possible...so... Having had a very difficult year with this and with all my praying friends telling me that they cannot get confirmation for any convertion operation I just am stuck at this...have been trying to just get along with this as best as possible but have to face the fact that well,this is just not working... I just want to say something about having Barrett's Esophagus.I must advise you strongly to go and read up on the causes,the fact that it might cause cancer and the fact that it cannot really be reversed.....but they can stop it from getting worse with meds and preventing acid and reflux. The research I did indicated that the band is absolutely contra-indicated if you have it and my dr said he would immediately remove the band if there is any sign of it......please weight the pro's and con's of this very carefully.That is just my thought on that.Please dont take offense as it just is something that should be taken very seriously. Thanks for your replies.In the light of day things dont look so bad and I will update if I've been for the endo. Again,thanks for replies.The last time I had such a dark moment as last night was actually before the band,stuck at weighing 150kg or 350 pounds,not knowing what to do about it ....I certainly dont hate this band.......

Lady in red. Really can understand your feelings as I am much in the same boat as you...only thing is I have not been healthy since this band,have prayed this year away and now have to face that everything might not go as I would want it to... The thing I am learning is this.....if we accept that God really loves us,I also have to know that He has my best interest at heart and will not allow something that I cannot cope or deal with.......(I'mnot saying something I WANT to cope with or deal with because I dont want to......)but He will make it a situation that will glorify Him in the end....ooooo,so hard to just hold on to that all the time...but well,I have to.My hope is in God....... After I wrote about being prayed for it wasnt a day later that I started having terrible pain again and all the old terrible symptoms are back...I am so sad but know that sometimes our way is not Gods way. The one thing that is different is that I can come on this threat and say....you girls understand because you also have a band....and fat issues....or rather food issues....please pray for me because this is overshadowing everything else in my life at the moment and I ask that you just remember me when you speak to the Lord...... I thank you all

Hi Thanks for the replies. I am affected, on a daily basis, by the band and not in the sense that I have restriction and will lose weight. I battle severe abdominal pain,back ache directly behind the band (late afternoon when I get tired) heartburn and what I now call a hot esophagus that is just this fire in my insides.....well,sometimes I do have a day or 2 when it is not that bad but at least 4 days out of 7 this is a really big issue in my life.. I just cannot learn to ignore the physical discomfort in order to just get on with my life.....I can never predict what a day will be like and it has really affected my everyday interaction with people......When I feel awfull it really stops me socially and well,that sucks.... I'm just at a point where I really believe that I cannot be having these symptoms and nothing is wrong.....only way I will know is through the endo but that to me is really facing the reality of the band....one being something is wrong and I will at least know I wasnt a total hypochondriac but might lose this LAST CHANCE that I took,or 2.......it is ok I am a total hypochondriac but the pain is real and thus the band doesnt work for me....I am on a total low carb diet most of the time and that is how I lost the weight.the band did make me stay on the diet in the sense that I cannot accept the failure to not lose weight.....I diet....... So,maybe after giving this band a year of my life (in every sense of the word) it may be time to just be done with it and to move on .....it is the move on to what that I am having a huge problem with....I really need to feel fine again...just be....not lose my voice halfway through the day because of the acid or just walk around half wistling all day to kind of cool my throat down.Want to be able to really exercise seeing as I am now able to after losing all this weight.... But in all honesty...if the dr tells me the band is ok and he cannot find what is wrong I dont see myself removing it even for all the reasons I give myself......I still have 60 pounds to lose and I can most days now deal with the issues....especially if I know it is not forever....The band still makes me more consious of the issues at hand thus dieting is a little easier because people know I have the band and I have a terrible fear of failure.... I am sorry it is late,emotionally I am just flat and my English just deteriorates the faster I try to think.....maybe tomorrow I will be ashamed of complaining again......Anyhow,it is good to know that the ops can be done lap,that it isnt that bad,that it might not be neccessary.:clap2: Thank you for the encouragement.....Photonut,the Lord really knows whats best and needed and well,as I've said before....my way is not always His way just as His time for something is not always the same as my time.........I'm sure there is a lesson here....still fail to see it somehow...:bananadoggywow: Still feel this should have worked......

I need to tell someone this and it seems an appropriate place.... As some would know I have been having a huge amount of problems since being banded.In the past 6 months I have hardly lost anything.I suffered from heartburn,reflux and a hot esophagus a lot.I also got this pain in the middle of my back every afternoon....and some pain where the band is....I have hardly any restriction because I have to keep getting unfilled because of the symptoms..... I cannot drink Water because it makes it a lot worse.....2 cups of decaf and one 330ml water is all I can manage a day...I can eat a lot of junk and constantly eating seemed to help for the burn.... My friends and I have started a weightloss group.I am the only one with the operation but all battle with the weight problem....we weigh and then we pray... First thing we prayed for was healing for this band.I didnt think much about it but I did stop the Nexium 40mg I have been taking every day....because I have to stand on Gods promise. I am also due for a endoscope in the next week so I did think if there is damage then stopping the Nexium is good they can then see the full extent of the damage.... Well,since the first day I stopped taking the nexium I have had no hotness,heartburn or any such thing.....strangest is I can drink tons of water,diet coke (somewhat flat though) coffee anything I really want....I have got a little bit of pain in front of my stomach but nothing that a panado cannot take care of....I havent had any back pain... After telling everyone that stopping the meds have actually cured me I remebered that we prayed about this and the Lord must have heard my pleas.....:speechles I know that Gods way is not our way and I still have to go for the endo.I just needed to share this because why can I accept that stopping meds might help but find it difficult to share what the LORD has done for me?:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: (Thats me clapping for the Lord.) Thanks for listening.

Well, I am the person that while I have restriction I think I have learned and when I dont I eat as if the food will all be gone tomorrow......(which is usually true when I diet....) My cousin with her strange duodenal bypass have actually learned....she is too scared of the smell...so she doesnt eat wrong things.....she buys it...chocolates and sweets and give it away... I have stopped smoking 3.5 years ago.....took a drag of someones sigaret the other day and if I didnt get a chest infection after that I would have kept on taking the smoke insisting that I am now a non smoker.BUT ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS SMOKE... It seems that some people get it, and some dont.....I just dont seem to get it, do I? (lots of I's in this?????)

Hi As I have said before.I have been getting pain in the middle of my back directly behind the band since the third day after my band.It is almost every afternoon and rather than food related I now feel that it is more related to when I get tired physically.....or something like that... ok,I dont have a clue what it is and the dr dont have a clue and if you find out please let me know.....

Hi I must say that I only realized that this wasnt going to be the answer to my problems about 2 months after being banded...I am also good at dieting.It is keeping it off that actually seems impossible to me...sometimes I wonder what the hell I was thinking?My cousin had stomach stapling years ago that caused restriction and it was a total failure...I always said I would never do this op.Got scared of "complications" of the other ops...how wrong can one be? Anyway,what's done is done,isnt it?Now I just want to lose the weight,have the band out and maybe get my metabolism stabilized and my exercise levels up to a point where I might not gain the weight back...also suffering like this might make me think twice in future when I want to eat like a ....... Good luck to you..

hi Well,lately mostly I dont get enough fluids.The payoff is no heartburn.The price is slower weightloss,constant thirst....I would kill for some Water sometimes.... I have 2 cups of decaf per day.In the evening when the day is almost over I drink about 500 ml's just to not die from thirst....then if the hot feeling comes I dont much care as I will be going to bed and then all my symptoms disappear (I sleep well with sleeping tabs..)Then,on the days that I have heartburn anyway I drink water,chew icechips,it at least cools it down while I'm eating it...On these days I drink a lot to compensate for the days I cant...lately I have been having heartburn only about 2 days a week.If it works and I dont have the hot feeling I just dont drink much at all...on these days I usually dont eat much at all as I think the band is tight if you dont drink.... Crystal light,flat diet sprite,milk,soup...all of that makes the hot feeling worse.....so if you think about it, it is when I drink stuff... Anyhow,it really has made a huge difference in my life since I stopped the water though..it is so hard but well worth not having that feeling.My weightloss is so slow because I dont drink enough water,dont get fills anymore and well,diet and exercise which I do really well now doesnt give the fast results a fill does,even if you fast..... But I tolerate all this day by day until I cannot anymore and then I will have the band out.... As I've said before.For most people there is that something that relieves the symptoms.You just have to find what it is and you will be ok.But it takes some experimenting to get there. Hope your feeling ok.

hi Dr. I like the fact that you are on the forum. I really dislike this band.And I deeply regret I got onto the internet that convinced me that the band is safer and easier to do than the other operations. If there was forums like this one....for complications.....before I had the operation and people speaking out about it I never would have considered it....(I got so scared of the "higher mortality rate" of the other ops) And I am one of the people that will honestly say that if this band is removed and I dont diet everyday of my life I will regain this weight in a flash...... After battling the issues I've had,the other operations really lost their fear factor for me too. Not that I'm going to do another one.After this one is gone I need to be back in a life without this constant issues.....diet and exercise sounds very acceptable to me now... I

hi I know that your experience will be different from mine but a lot of the issues you bring up I have dealt with in the past year...and more or less successfully otherwise this band would have been gone already... 2 Things are jumping out at me at the moment... You are having to take antacids all the time...now seeing as you are only on fluids my advice might be a problem but I am going to give it anyway....(it took me 9 months to realize this by myself) Water CAUSES HEARTBURN in me..(I was a 3 liter a day girl all my life even when at my fattest,love water).even sipping it very slowly......now,room temprature water, 25ml in half an hour sipped as if it is drops your'e licking (lol) goes down ok.....cold water makes it a lot worse...drinking water in the morning makes it a lot worse. Do yourself a favour and test this....reduce the antacids (and the water of course) and see if it really makes a big difference.....to me the tumms or whatever gives instant relief for about 5 minutes and then the old burning feeling comes back...now,after a year I dont think this is what regular heartburn feels like (never had hearburn before op wouldnt know what it feels like)I just call it the hot esophagus... 2.The symptoms you describe sounds like it is your esophagus reacting to the stimulation of the band....I had,and still have,the pain in the esophagus,the spasms,the discomfort when I breath in,the funny fluffy not able to swallow it (dont know what "IT" is) away feeling in my throat at times....A dr recently said to me that my LES (lower esophageal sphincter) is somehow affected by the band....I get a type of vagal stimulation and then of course everything that goes with that... I live a very careful life as far as eating and drinking are concerned....2 cups of decaf coffee per day..(yes,they say one shouldnt even drink that) 500ml water sipped in late afternoon or when I am bold I eat Ice chips for 2 hours before bed (a lot of them) and then go to sleep...my problems all disapear magically at night....no discomfort,no reflux no heartburn....not before sleep,but when I actually fall asleep...... Eating very little at a time also helps.....I mean very little.... Cathy gave me that advice right at the beginning and I thought they were mad....one cannot eat 2 spoons of food only,but it really works...mentally it is very hard for me but it works...... OK,I should pm you with this rather than write this long post....the thing is I know how awfull it is when you expect thing to go right and well,it doesnt....keep expecting that it will all clear up and I am sure it will..... I am rooting for you not giving up on the band to easily....hey,we have some weight to lose first..... good luck,I'll be tracking your progress.