Elizabeth_07

Hello, I had my lapband surgery in November of '07 and the band has progressively gotten tighter on its own since June of last year. I had the remaining saline (3cc) removed about a month ago and it actually made the tightness worse. I have to push 2 bottles of Water through the band (feeling horribly stuck the entire time) before I am able to get any other fluids/puree foods down. I had a barium swallow done and the surgeon said there was NO SLIP. He said I could be having random slips with the band going back into place on it's own? Yet I am ALWAYS horribly tight. I am having surgery in May to try to fix the problem (or remove the band), but I am concerned because they don't seem to really know what the problem is. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this or has any idea what is going on. Thanks!

I was banded in Nov '07 and still get that pain at least a couple times a week, most times after eating too much. I never really thought much of it so I'll be curious to see what you find out. Good luck!

I'm being re-banded on May 14th (if the surgery goes as planned). I'm looking at this as my second chance with the band and I'm looking forward to it. Good luck everyone!

arrangrl - I'm sorry to hear that you're going through the same thing I am. Hopefully yours will resolve itself unlike mine. Wasa - Yikes...I hope that's not what it is but I guess I won't truly know unless I try again. I paid $16000 for this surgery plus the cost of flying back and forth to the clinic, and I feel like I didn't use the band properly so I'd like to try again. That statistic sucks though....but I'm willing to give it a shot. I just hope the surgeon doesn't decide to remove it.

It sounds to me like you're just getting stuck, and drinking the Water after eating is making it worse. I'd suggest either chewing your food better, choosing food that is easier to chew into a puree (shrimp wouldn't be my choice), or getting a defill. Hope that helps and good luck!

Thanks for your response. The day I had the barium swallow it actually went down quite well, although normally I get stuck just trying to drink Water. My surgeon is one of the best in the country (Canada) and he just said that the xray showed that my band is fine and there was no slip and everything went through it ok. When I spoke to the nurse I basically had to try to convince her that what I'm experiencing is NOT normal (she was trying to say it was just stress...yeah right). Basically my surgeon said when he goes in he can either reposition the band, replace it, or remove it. So it's up in the air right now. All I know is that I can't live like this, it's absolute torture. I'm finishing up my nursing degree and have to work 12 hour shifts on no food or liquids because I just spend my entire break getting stuck off of water. Not fun. Anyways...it was nice to vent lol.