Jean McMillan

I had kind of a similar experience, except that my symptoms started suddenly. An upper GI showed my badly dilated esophagus; the gastro doc who did an EGD found food in the lower third of my esophagus (I hadn't eaten for 12 hours) and diagnosed me with an esophageal motility disorder called achalasia. My surgeon removed all the saline from my band and strongly recommended removing it. I decided to revise to the sleeve,but when my surgeon removed my band, she was unable to do the sleeve because of a stricture we didn't know I had. I went to a different gastro doc who said I don't have achalasia, I have stenosis (thickening of the tissues) from 25+ years of "silent" reflux. He dilated the stricture and I'm having surgery again in August to try to do the sleeve. My unfill greatly relieved my symptoms. I'm still taking omeprazole. My symptoms were like yours but I wasn't vomiting blood. That kind of thing URGENTLY needs attention. I would be concerned about ulcers or band erosion. I hope you get in to see a specialist at Hershey Hospital ASAP. Good luck!

My criteria (not necessarily in order of importance): 1. surgeon accepts my medical insurance 2. surgeon is located as close as possible to my home (because it's a pain to have to travel a long way for frequent fills and other aftercare) 3. surgeon's practice is at least 50% bariatric surgery 4. surgeon has done at least 250 bariatric surgeries 4. surgeon has done at least 125-150 adjustable gastric band procedures 5. surgeon and/or clinic offers complete patient education, aftercare and support program (with dietitian & psychologist available, support groups, nutrition classes, etc.)

As Cazzy says, it's hard to figure out what the real cause of death is in some cases. I know 2 bandsters who died, seemingly because of their bariatric surgery history, but I'd be hard-pressed to blame their deaths specifically on the band. One lovely girl died of an accidental overdose of meds she'd been prescribed for severe pain related to complications from her revision to gastric bypass. Another lady died from something that went wrong during her revision from band to duodenal switch. But I don't know of anyone who died solely because of their band surgery.

No, I don't mind you asking, but it's a long story, so I'm going to make it short. Early this year I learned I had a badly dilated esophagus and signs of a esophageal motility disorder call achalasia. All that resolved when we removed all the fill from my band, but my surgeon felt that adding fill back in would be asking for trouble and strongly recommended removing my band. I decided to revise to the sleeve because there is no way I could manage my weight for the rest of my life without some kind of surgical tool. After my surgeon removed my band, she couldn't do the sleeve revision because of a stricture we didn't know I had. I went to a new gastro doc who said I don't have achalasia; that my problem is stenosis (thickening of the tissues) caused by longterm "silent" reflux that I've probably had for 25+ years. He dilated the stricture, and in August we're going to do the sleeve procedure. I hate, hate, hate that I lost my band. I think the sleeve is going to be OK, but I can't expect it to work the way my band did. I'm just trying to make the best of the circumstances. Life is like that.

It must be making you crazy to see all the different surgeons' instructions on this as well as a million other issues. I've read all the responses so far (I think) and don't recall seeing this tidbit which came to me from my original and current surgeons and was confirmed by the surgeon who vetted my book (Bandwagon): Alcohol is a gastric irritant, and it can cause inflammation and (eventually) ulcers. Just something to keep in mind. My personal comments on this heated issue are: 1. Alcohol is liquid calories with no nutritional benefit. Yes, some people believe that there are health benefits in drinking moderate amounts of red wine, but if you have to use the health excuse to justify something you're going to do anyway, well....OK, go ahead! 2. Alcohol loosens your inhibitions and makes eating something stupid (or drinking a second or third glass of wine) seem like a really good idea. Finally, thanks for starting such an entertaining thread. I haven't seen so many irritable, rude, defensive, ornery, inflammatory posts on a single thread here in quite some time. I know what my excuse is: it's 99 degrees outside at almost 7 pm. That's enough to make a saint cranky.

If no one told you to stop eating and switch to liquids when you have an eating problem, you've probably gotten into a horrible and never-ending cycle of eat-stuck-irritation/inflammation-eat-stuck-etc. etc. I hope St. Francis doesn't assign you to Dr. Weaver's anti-band partner. That doesn't sound likely but it wouldn't hurt to call and verify it. The office staff there is very helpful and there are a couple of patient advocates (mine is Janell Gill) who can help coordinate your care and communications. After recommending Dr. Weaver, I have to add that I'm not sure she's pro-band, but she's the one who does all the band surgery at St. Francis, and she's smart, compassionate, and has a great bedside manner.

What your insurance will cover depends on your particular policy. My insurance paid for the removal of my band and will pay for my sleeve surgery because my surgeon was able to prove "medical necessity". In your case, the "necessity" could be the inability to tolerate fill in your band and frequent side effects (like stuck episodes, regurgitation, etc) when you try to eat with fill in your band.

One more thing...I live in west TN and your surgeon is infamous in this area for his lousy bedside manner. So it's not just you who has a problem communicating with him. I highly recommend Dr. Weaver at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, although her partner in that clinic is anti-band.

You should be able to eat solid food, including Protein, without all that struggle. When you're able to do that, the band does provide the early and prolonged satiety that you were hoping for. So, don't give up until you've gotten a 2nd opinion from the new doctor. In the meantime, I strongly suggest that each time you have a stuck episode or other eating problem, immediately stop eating, and follow a liquid diet for at least 24 hours to let everything in there calm down. After that, try eating pureed food, then soft food, before you try solid food again. Good luck!

I think most of us were very hungry and very sick of liquids after a very short time on the post-op liquid diet. It's no fun, is it? I think the only humans who enjoy a liquid diet are newborn infants. But this journey isn't all about fun. It's about your health, and that's worth everything (to me, anyway). Hang in there!

Yes, it is bad to eat regular food before your surgeon or dietitian gives you the go-ahead. In order to digest regular food, your stomach has to expand and contract to mechanically break down the food into particles small enough to be handled by your intestines. That muscle movement can displace the band, which is still in the process of seating itself against your stomach. Also, your stomach is still healing at the places where it was sutured. Pop a suture, and you're in trouble.

You need a new surgeon. It's not normal to regurgitate on a regular basis. Doing that can lead to serious complications. You're not the only person with those symptoms, but most patients who talk to their surgeon about the symptoms get an unfill, not a fill.

2 more thoughts: The fact that you're asking a question about cheating tells me that you know it's not right, or not good, to cheat. And this super best friend of yours. A greasy Texas meal is nice for auld lang syne, but does he not love you enough to forego it for the sake of your health?

Hi, I'm Jean, the founder of GJTL (Genuine Jean Tuff Luv), and I'm here to do my duty as the official LBT wet blanket. Frankly, I'm surprised your surgeon's office told you it was OK to cheat on your pre-op diet, even once, and especially with the kind of food you describe. Like CarolinaGirl, I didn't cheat because my surgeon told me he'd bail out of the surgery if he didn't like the looks of my liver. Also, I just don't understand why cheating at anything is OK. When it involves your health, you're cheating yourself, and the last laugh will be on you. I discussed this issue at some length in this article: http://www.lapbandta...the-post-op-r78 Finally, despite all the arguments for and against drinking while eating, I must say that the most persuasive argument for me was the discovery that if I drink while eating, the Water comes right back up, usually in an extremely unattractive fashion. I guess that's OK if you're eating in solitary confinement, but doesn't work out well for my lifestyle.

What if it doesn't work for you? Hmmm. If the band and the surgery are free, it's not a huge risk, is it? Do you also get free patient education and lifetime aftercare and support services? Did you have to sign a waiver promising not to hold the program responsible if you have complications?

Mike, you can't post another thing here until you tell us the name of that darling puppy.

It's common for restriction to vary that way - tighter feeling in the morning, looser feeling in the evening. Have you asked your surgeon for suggestions for how to deal with that? What does he/she say? It's his/her JOB to help you lose weight!

Diet and exercise are crucial for weight loss by any means, surgical or not. After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, I finally decided I needed to get out the big guns. I was sick of dieting to lose weight, only to gain it back again plus more, over and over and over. My band worked very well for me because it made portion control so much easier. So the weight loss was easier, and the weight loss made the exercise easier. I had planned on having my band for the rest of my life but sadly, it didn't turn out that way, so I'm revising to the sleeve because almost 5 years into my weight loss surgery journey, I have learned one thing for absolute certain sure: I need a long-term tool for long-term weight maintenance. Bariatric surgery is the tool for me.

Yes, I think that a lot of surgeons are anti-band because the patient education, aftercare, and support is time-consuming and expensive. That's partly because surgeons are trained to approach surgery as a one-time fix-it thing. But bariatric surgery doesn't work that way. I would not have a band put in by a doctor who hates the band. I don't think you'd get the patient education, aftercare, and support you need from him (see above) to succeed. I hate that you've gotten this far and only now have discovered his true feelings about the band. If he or someone in his practice speaks at pre-op educational seminars, they need to make that position clear then so other people don't waste their time as you have. On the other hand, the sleeve is not as terrible as you might think. While it's scary to think of losing a big part of your stomach, people have been surviving gastrectomies for decades. Years ago I had a coworker who had lost most of her stomach because of ulcers and she was healthy and happy. And slim.

It usually takes more than one fill to achieve optimal restriction. And there's nothing about a fill that will magically make you lose weight. You lose weight by eating fewer calories than you consume. A good fill level will help you eat less by reducing your physical hunger and by causing early and prolonged satiety when you eat a small amount of food.

According to your profile, you've lost 28 lbs, so what arithmetic did you use to arrive at the 1 pound loss? Have you regained weight, or what? And once again, what does your surgeon have to say about it?

This has been going on for 3 years? What does your surgeon have to say about it?

According to your signature, you've got a dietitian appointment coming up soon. Tell the dietitian about your past & current eating, find out what eating guidelines your surgeon's program uses, and then work with the dietitian to come up with food choices that will work for you while still supporting your weight loss. In theory, no food should be completely off-limits to a bandster, but in practice, some foods may be difficult to eat from time to time. Deep-fried anything will probably cause you so much discomfort that it will quickly lose its appeal. I've never been a picky eater (just the opposite - I'm a true omnivore) so this may sound unsympathetic, but I think you need to ask yourself what's more important, your food preferences or your health. You're going to have to change your eating behavior (we all do) and at least some of your food choices to succeed with weight loss after any kind of bariatric surgery. If you can't pledge to do that now, maybe you're not ready for surgery. Finally, a small dose of sympathy: I too was a high-volume eater, and I think that's one of the reasons that the band worked so well for me. I hope it will work the same for you.

I'm not sure what you're asking/saying. What is sx? Surgery? Or what? Why are you afraid of your first appt? Are you expecting to have a fill already? if you feel full all the time, don't have a fill. How are you pushing it? What diet phase are you in? Were you not supposed to eat turkey breast? Why are you eating things you shouldn't if you feel full all the time? Did you know that failure to follow the post-op diet progression is the most common cause of band slips? As for the constipation - that's a problem when you're not eating much and especially when you're not eating fruits, veggies, and whole grains. You might want to use Benefiber or a similar Fiber supplement. And also ask your surgeon for a recommendation. Are you saying that your surgery gave you a UTI? That can happen if you're catheterized during/after surgery. Are you taking an antibiotic for it? Drinking plenty of Water?

My hunch is that the food didn't stay down because you were dehydrated from exercising outdoors in the heat. I have to drink Water frequently when I'm exercising.