derocas

Has anyone out there experienced the "tired face" after being banded? I was banded in December of 2004 and I am very happy with my size. I have a lot of extra skin but clothes hide it well. What I can't hide are my deep nasolabial lines in my face. I'm only 32 but I feel these lines make me look older. My husband says I'm crazy but I do see it. Plastic surgery is out of my budget. I've been looking into fillers such as Juvederm and Restylane. I'm even considering making an appointment with someone to check out my options. Has anyone else gone through this?:thumbup:

I had my surgery in December 2004 and I've been doing very well with my band. I weighed 205 when I was banded and I made it down to 124 lbs. Over the summer I experienced severe restriction without having a fill. My doctor removed the fill and waited a couple of weeks then gave me a very small fill. This was in Sept. After my small fill I never felt the restriction. I started to put some weight on. I went back to the doctor, scheduled another fill and went in today. It was under flouro and we both watched as he filled me up and I had no restriction. He thinks my band erroded and now I have to an endoscopy. I'm so worried because I finally reached my goal weight and my doctor doesn't seem like he's willing to have me rebanded if my band erroded. I still don't know for sure but there really is no other explaination. I'm just devasted. :thumbup:

I really have no idea. I have an appt with a GI on May 5th. I guess after that we can set up an endoscopy and I'll get some concrete answers. I just don't understand it. I was so successful with the band. When I lost my restriction back in Sept I complained but my doctor wasn't concerned because I was at goal weight. He gave me a small fill but I never felt it. Now I'm wondering if this could have been diagnosed earlier. I just can't imagine losing the band. My weight has been up and down my whole life. I finally found something that I thought was the aswer and now that is probably NOT the case.

This is just an update. I went to my doctor today and he completely unfilled me. I have relief from the restriction but now I have some slight heartburn. Things aren't looking so good because all of these signs are pointing to a possible band slip. I won't know until Sept. 13th which is the earliest appt. I could get to have upper GI barrium test done. I'm just planning on taking it easy over the next few weeks but I have to admit I'm VERY nervous. I am now at a healthy weight and I don't know if my insurance will cover to have the band replaced if it needs to be:cry.

OK I've been lurking for a long time. I was banded in December of 2004 and have never had any issues until now. My last fill was a year ago. I recently ( about two months ago) started having A LOT of restriction. I called the doctor and they wanted me to come in for an unfill. The restriction improved before the appointment so I cancelled. The nurse suggested it was probably because of my period (It made sense at the time:confused:) Now I'm back to being very restrictive (most of the time). It's very inconsistant!!! Sometimes I can get more down then others. Other times when I eat or drink I'll have to burp alot with or without slime. I don't have heartburn or acidity. It doesn't really hurt it's just annoying and gross. I have an appt. to have an upper GI x-ray in about a month. I'm not in pain or anything so I don't want to have an unfill until I have a better idea of what's going on. Does anyone have any guesses as to what it could be??? Could it be a blockage over the course of 2 months?? Could a bandslip cause restriction??