Away2me

I am having (have been having for awhile now) serious issues with my band. For the past 1 1/2 years I've had a complete unfill because I was trying to get pregnant. Now my twins are 1 and I'm ready to get my band removed instead of filled. :sad: The complications are terrible for me. I slime so badly and I get spasms when the food passes through the band. The spasms are so bad, I can put my hand on my sternum area and feel them from the outside. Every meal hurts. I can't eat veggies and many other foods that are good for me. Lean chicken makes me puke 3 or 4 times. It seems totally counter productive for me to have this band as I end up eating band friendly foods that are bad for me. I had a fluro at the last unfill and had a second doctor reviewed the fluro (they did a video of it and put it on disk for me) so that I can confirm that my band placement is good. Second doc confirmed the band placement was perfect. Anyone else have excessive sliming and spasms while eating. I'm miserable.

I realize that, that's why I put in the post that I had the surgery done in Mexico. Fill center USA's closest location is 2 hours from me. It might be my only option, but I decided to come here first to check. Thanks.

I had my band done in Mexico nearly 2 years ago. I had a complete unfil prior to getting pregnant. Now my twin boys are 7 months old and I need to jump back on the "band wagon". The problem is I can't get to Mexico for my fills. I need to find a local doctor. Does anyone know a doc, who will do fills for a band done in Mexico, in the Palm Desert area?

Yep, that was my biggest struggle. That and choosing an "elective surgery" when I have a child and husband to consider. But I have no regrets. Good luck with your surgery! Update on me. I had a complete unfill. The complications were driving me nuts and we are about to start IVF for a second child. Knowing how little water retention can effect my band and given my other issues the docs and I decided to do an unfill and wait till either I have a baby or give up on it. At the unfill I had 2 cc's taken out. The doc said that considering all my complications I shouldn't have had that much in there. He was disappointed in his associate for leaving me that filled and disappointed in me for not coming back sooner for an unfill. He said when I do go back to getting fills they are going to start ultra conservatively, like 1/2cc to start with and then only give fills at 5 week or longer intervals. Conservative and slow to avoid problems. The other cool thing that you guys might appreciate is I got a video of my Fluoroscopy! I put it on my blog. (Pm me for password) It is really neat. It shows fluid passing my band when it was super tight and then after the unfill as it started to relax. Not a huge difference, but the doc said it will take awhile for the area around the band to relax, like 5 hours or so. The other good news is, I have a friend who's mom works for another Lap Band doc and she sent him the video of my Fluoroscopy for review and he said that my band position looks great, everything looks normal. He thought I had some serious pouch irritation coupled with the hyperactive esophagus. So taking a break from fills and going back easy when I start fills again was his advice too. Nice to have a second opinion that concurs with the first one! Hope everyone else is happily loosing!

Warning.... I'm pretty blunt and graphic about the description of my sliming episode:....... :biggrin: So here's the deal. I've been banded 4 months and I have to say, so far it isn't the way I thought it would be. My biggest problem is I get slime EVERY time I eat. Even if food isn't stuck I get a certain amount of slime which gags me. If I do get something stuck or tight, I get TONS of slime. And when I say tons, I mean to the point that I can gag up a least 3 times a huge handful of clear goopy slime. Sometimes the sliming occurs right at the time of eating, sometimes it is 10 mins later. Sometimes even longer than that. Any suggestions, anyone else go through this? Is it just a matter of being too tight maybe?

Yep, two fills and one unfill. I didn't think I was that tight, but I guess I retain more Water than I previously thought as about a week before TOM I get really tight. We have had some stress here too which I think is contributing to the tightness. I actually woke up in the middle of the night and could feel my band being tight. No food or drink and I could feel it. I drank plenty of water and within an hour or two I couldn't feel a thing. I'm pretty sure I'm chewing well enough. Sometimes though, even the tiniest bite, super well chewed will go down like someone is dragging a rake against the inside of my sternum. It hurts! The slime being "stuck" just creates more slime! Viscous circle.:biggrin:

As of this morning I'm down 21 pounds total. Slow but it is coming off. Because of my esophagus issue I can't be too tight. Certain days I can't eat hardly anything solid. Especially during TOM. :thumbs_up: Glad you are doing well.

You sound over filled to me. I did the same thing and had to go back and have a unfill.(Same doc as you) If you are having issues with cold fluids (if you can feel it going through the band) you are probably over filled. Be VERY careful. I actually didn't loose any weight during the 5 days I was over filled. My body retained water cause I wasn't drinking enough and my metobolism slowed down. You know your own body better than anyone, so maybe this will work for you and things will loosen up. Keep us posted.

No, not too tight. I had a unfill cause I was too tight after the second fill. I can still consume too much food if I let myself. The issue is with the esophagus. They have meds to help with it, but I'm hoping time will help and learning to avoid certain trigger foods will help. Actually it is mostly learning to relax my mind before I eat. But that is difficult with a near two-year-old to have meals with! :smile2:

For me, if that was the case, I would never be able to eat. Seriously, I slime badly over minimal things. Foods that I do great with one day, I can't even get one tiny bite down the next day and it isn't about my band being to tight. I have a fickle esophagus. Warning **** TMI **** TMI Ahead****** Yesterday I had tiny piece of chicken for a snack and for 2 hours I had issues with it. I barfed 6-8 times and nothing came up but slime and a bit of discolored or should I say, chicken colored slime. This type of thing, not necessarily this bad, happens at least 5 times a week. I've gone to liquids for 24 hours after an episode and it makes no difference when I go back to regular food or even soft foods again. It is hit or miss. Drives me nuts! :grouphug:

Yes, my doc told me about that. I have to go through a test first before they will prescribe it. So they said to try things for a month after the unfill to see if things get better.

I've had 2 fills and an unfill since surgery. Let me tell you, it is not fun to be too tight, especially when we have to drive all the way down to TJ. Currently I am having issues cause I have a hyper active esophagus. Which means anything feeling tight or stuck causes me to throw up. So I can not make any mistakes or it is awful. I don't even attempt bread.

Oh what a bummer. I'm so sorry you have a leak. I think the weight loss is really slow for us lower BMI'ers. I had surgery Mid Dec and I'm only down 9 pounds. I swear I'm eating 1/2 to 1/4 of what I used to eat, but it is still slow going.

Thanks for the sympathy. After talking to my doc yesterday and paying more attention to how I eat and what happens when I eat it seems like his theory that I might have a hyper active esophagus is correct. I do chew well and no matter how well I chew or how I slow I eat at the beginning of every meal I get a spasm and pain. Hopefully with time my esophagus will learn this is our new norm and stop. If not there are meds I can take that will help. It isn't terrible but it certainly hurts and gets my attention right from the start.

Well I had to go back today for an unfill. The fill I got Friday was waaaay too much. I feel so much better. There is definitely a learning curve to the band. I'm a bit disappointed that I've only lost 6 pounds since the surgery which was 8 weeks ago, but it is better than gaining.

It isn't a matter of it hurting after eating more than a bite or two. It is eating or drinking ANYTHING that hurts except some tea or Water. This isn't a fill issue. I think the fill just made it worse because now there is very little room for anything to pass by. The bowtie Pasta episode was bad. Sliming for more than 10 minutes, feeling nauseous but not able to pb, because it was so stuck!

I think I've irritated the lining of my stoma with a bad episode with a not-nearly-chewed-enough piece of bowtie Pasta. It wasn't bad until I got a fill Friday (about 4 days after the bowtie episode) Now I feel serious pain every time I consume anything other than clear fluids. They did a fluro with my fill, everything looked good, added .4cc. I was having first bite pain before the fill which I mentioned to my doc. He said it should NEVER hurt if I chew my food well. So he was a bit concerned. Anyone else have this issue? I'm sticking to fluids and maybe a few very bland foods tomorrow. Today a well chewed poached egg hurt so badly I was holding my breath and white knuckling it. I'm not having anything come back up and I certainly can feel it as it passes through the stoma. I even feel tea go through, but it doesn't hurt with tea.

Renee, I'm in the same boat as you! I had my second fill yesterday and I don't know if it is too tight or not. I could hardly get milk down last night. Things are a bit better today so I think I'm going to give it a week or two before I consider an unfill. I think I've irritated the lining near the stoma, cause every bite hurts, anything, even liquid hurts right now. Doc said to drink Mylanta twice a day and I'm going to prescribe myself bland foods for awhile and see if that helps. He told me it should NEVER hurt to swallow if you chew your food well. Getting used to not gulping liquids is going to be a learning curve for me.

I do well with meatloaf? I go back tomorrow for fill #2. My first fill last week, didn't do a thing for me! Now you have to have birth certs to go across the border or a passport and my passport isn't back yet.

The reason I thought the aspect of removal should have been mentioned more is because they were saying that children who have the procedure done can't make the choice about the long term effects. With the lap band a child can reverse things when they are an adult if they feel that is in their best interest. I totally agree though, that behavior modification at that age should be the number one "fix".

Two of the teens had the band, the dark haired girl went to Dr. Ortiz in Mexico and the young black teen went to Illinois. I felt Oprah's feeling towards WLS surgery came through as pretty obviously negative as did Dr. Oz. I thought the kids and the parents of the two teens who had been banded did well in their explanation. I would have hoped they could have explained more how their eating habits had changed. I'm sure it would have been a real eye opener on how the band really works. I also thought they should have explained how it is reversible, unlike gastric bypass. They did mention it, but they sort of made it sound like it wasn't really an option.

I'm still learning how to live life with my new band. I had my first fill on Friday and I really didn't feel any restriction. I'm experiencing food getting that stuck feeling, but not so bad as to cause a PB. This can happen eve after I chew really, really well. But I'm still able to eat more than I should. I've been very good about eating my Protein first then veggies. I'm following the rules. No drinks with meals, not for at least an hour after I eat. Is it normal to have stuck food feelings and be able to consume 2 or more cups of food at sitting?

That totally sounds like me. The first bite hurts and then the flood gates are open and I can enjoy my food!

Thanks everyone for the help. I've tried to slow my eating down even more. Which to be honest, is extremely difficult when I'm hungry. I still think I'll need a new fill sooner rather than later as I can consume much more than I think is ideal with the band. But the good news is I'm down 1.4 pounds since Saturday!

The stuck feeling happens early on, not later on. Sorry for not being clear on that. I am trying to eat slowly. I put my fork down between bites. I'll watch myself a little closer though! Thanks.