sweetsue

My story's below. I wonder if any of you have had similar problems. I'd love to hear your advice. I'm really getting discouraged. Thanks so much. Sincerely, SweetSue My first fill was .75 cc's - This was too loose. My 2nd fill was 1.5 cc's- This seemed to start out okay but eventually I found it became too tight. It got to the point where I couldn't even swallow Water. I suspect I may have had inflamation caused by acid-reflux and sometimes I was forced to throw up to relieve the pain in my chest. Unfill - I got to the point where I was unable to swallow water so I went for an unfill. The dr found I had only .4 cc's in the band. There was some sort of leak apparently, but the dr was not too concerned. That little bit of saline had my super tight - wierd. Spent 2 weeks unfilled and stayed on a liquid diet. In short time the swelling went down and I was wide open again. About 2 weeks agao I went for my 3rd fill. This time I got 1.2 cc's pumped into my empty band. I went home and for the first few days I thought I had found perfect restriction. I stayed on a liquid diet for the few week as advised. Before long I experienced bad acid reflux once again. (This occurs when one is too tight). I started on OTC Prilosec right away. Now I'm all swollen and back to being all super tight and unable to swallow water. I am throwing up a lot. I am super thirsty but can't keep the liquid down. I'm sure I am throwing up from my lower stomach and not my pouch. This is making things worse of course. In 3 days I have an appointment for an adjustment. I was banded in Mexico and have only one fill doc available locally. He doesn't use flouro. It's costing me $400 for every adjustment and I'm self-pay. He said people normally get 1.5 cc's on their first fill. I think my biggest problem is that the acid reflux causes me to get really inflamed and super restricted. I think once the inflamation is under control, I might have proper restriction. But I might die of dehydration before that happens. :help:

Hello, Perhaps you all can help me solve this medical mystery.... I found the restriction on my band gradually grew tighter and tighter over about 2-3 weeks time. I was often uncomfortable after eating and the pain was so bad that I had to throw up. I thought my band was too tight or maybe I didn't chew well enough. It worsened to the point where there were 3 days were I was unable to even drink Water because of too much restriction and the pain was unbearable for anything I swalled. I suspected I was dealing with inflamation caused by several bad nights of acid reflux followed by coughing. In addition, one night I hurled a forceful puke (which was not self-induced) and it was a painful experience. Fearing I would need to be hospitalized for dehydration, I got a complete unfill as soon as possible by my local fill Dr. (I was banded in Mexico.) I felt immediate relief. Here's the medical mystery..... The Dr found that the band system was not under pressure as expected. He had to pull out the saline out by drawing up on the needle (normally the saline would just sort of pop out under pressure). We expected to find approximately 1.75 cc's in my 4cc band. Instead the doctor found there was less than .75 cc's in my band, which is not much. Somehow 1cc leaked out in just a month's time. 1cc is a lot of saline to lose. I don't quite understand why was I growing more and more restricted and at the same time I was apparently losing both saline and pressure in the band system. Now I'm wondering if I have a leaky system and if this will require me to have more surgery to replace parts. I briefly spoke to Dr Ortiz in Mexico over the phone who said "don't worry about losing saline, there are a thousand possible causes for this, stick to a liquid diet for 3-5 days and wait at least 2 weeks before having another fill". He felt confident I didn't have a slip in my band because I wouldn't have been able to eaten lunch (without problem), which I did before I speaking to him. I forgot to ask him about the lack of pressure in the band. I guess I won't really know if I have problems in my lapband system until after my next fill. If I encounter further problems, I'll have to pay for an upper GI to investige I welcome your opinions on this strange phenomenon. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and for your support. This is a wonderful forum. Sincere regards, Sweet Susan

Thank you on all your feedback. Here's an update on my situation... After being unable to eat or drink for 3 days because of too much restriction I spoke to the on-call doctor later on that evening. I was growing concerned that I would be in the emergency room for dehydration over the weekend. I couldn't even swallow Water without throwing up & sliming. I managed to get an doctors visit for an adjustment the next morning. Now here's a medical mystery. The doctors notes showed that I had 1.75 cc's in my 4cc band. When he removed the saline only .75 cc's was found to be in the band. 1cc got lost in the last 30 days somehow. Also, the band had no pressure in it as would be expected. All the saline was drawn out and removed. Mystery - How was I growing more and more restricted with so little saline in the band? And what happened to the 1cc of saline? Anyways, I feel 100% better. No more pain. No more difficulty swallowing. No more slime. After the unfilled I had a small lunch - 1/2 a roast beef & cheese crepe (delicious!). After lunch I called Dr Ortiz in Mexico for his advice & opinion. He said don't worry about the leakage, there could be so many causes. He said because I was able to swallow that lunch without much difficulty it was unlikely that I had a slip. He also said I should stay on a liquid diet for 3-5 days and delay another fill for at least 2 weeks. I am sticking to my dr ortiz's orders. I love Ortiz & Martinez - they are the most knowledgable, professional and they make themselves so available for advice and support on the phone! Now, by the way.... Some of you have gave me grief over the self-induced puking. You are absolutely right! This is a bad-bad habit. I only did it because it was the only way to relieve the pain I was feeling. I believe it was a vicious cycle which was causing my inflamation and gradually made the stoma tighter and tighter and the food more and more difficult to swallow until eventually I ended up completely restricted. I still don't know what happened to the missing saline though. Also, regarding food choices... It's best to eat healthy. But when you are eating small portions anyway, I think it's ok to treat yourself occasionally. Thanks for your feedback! Sweet Susan

Hi friends, My 4cc band is currently filled at 2cc's. Dec 15th I had my last adjustment (a .25 unfill). I believed I finally was at the so called "sweet spot". :clap2: However, I experienced a few occasions where where it felt like I could eat almost like prior to banding :hungry: without much problem and I wondered if my band was restricted enough. Knowing there are tight days and lose days, I felt I was probably at a at a good restriction point. BTW, I'm down 25 lbs in 3 months and 3 adjustments. :huggie: Things have really changed for me this past week. :think I have been in pain and cannot eat or drink at all. The last few days I have been really sore. It feels like I am all burned up inside and swollen as a result of a bad habit of self-induced puking and from acid reflux. I feel better standing than sitting. My surgeon thinks this is the result of throwing up too often and recommends that I have a slight unfill. I have one scheduled but must wait 10 days for my appointment. This probably all stems from some bad habits that I developed. If I ate something that felt uncomfortable in my stomach pouch, then I would simply go off to the bathroom, put my finger down my throat and force myself to throw up. Then I felt immediately better. I did this at least once a day if not more. Most of the time I think the discomfort was the result of me failing to chew just 1 of those bites well enough. Or maybe I ate too fast. Or maybe it was just a bad food choice. My recent problems with pain seemed to begin right after this particular event.... Last Monday night, managed to eat half a bag of Smartfood popcorn :pop2:with no problems (bad, bad - I know). Later that evening I drank a shot of nightquil to help me sleep. :notagree I do this every night practically. The nightquil didn't go all the way down and just sat in my pouch and gave me an icky warm sensation. In an attempt to better wash it down I drank about 6 ozs. of aloe-vera juice. I made the mistake of drinking the aloe-vera juice it too fast and didn't consider the fact that it was cold right out of the fridge. The cold sensation made it feel like it was expanding in my chest. Moments later the pain - yowsa - major chest PAIN!!! I ran to the bathroom and purged out the whole nasty concoction. Later that night, matters were made worse when I experienced acid reflux followed by a coughing fit. The next day I found my band was too tight to eat Breakfast or even drink coffee, but this isn't all that unusual for me. I had a lunch date. I ate small meal of 4 little shrimp from the top of my uneaten salad. I came home feeling uncomfortably full and and increasing sensation of pain in my pouch. But I didn't purge. I haven't been able to eat or drink since then without major pain. :tape2: It feels like a pulled muscle in my chest. Not even Water, tea or Soup. This situation continues still today and it's now Friday. Besides puking, another nasty side-effect of my band that I should mention is this... After food or drink, I often will convulse my esophogus and then spit out slime. :spit: I know slime is not all that uncommon with bandsters, but this happens several times a day. I imagine this convulsion thing cannot be good for me either. Here's the thing, a week ago I felt like I was at the sweet spot. Maybe I don't need a slight unfill. Maybe I just need to heal and really work on improving my eating habits. I self-pay so it will cost me $150 for another slight unfill, so I hate to do it and then need a fill (another $150). What do you all think? :noidea: :help:Have any of you had problems with burning pain and inflamation similar to this? I know some of you are going to suggest that I might have slipped my band. Geez, I don't even want to consider that possibility. Thanks in advance for your advice and feedback. Sincere regards from SweetSue (who's lovin the smiley's)

A lot of bandsters cannot eat chicken. This is because chicken is often just too dry. But I found that McDonald's salads with the grilled chicken are easy to eat because this chicken is really moist and goes down easy. Just thought I would share this little tid-bit with you all.

I've been drinking a "Smooth Move" herbal tea every evening sweetened with splenda. It's good and it helps. Found in supermarkets.

I too am experiencing jaw pain. I'm probably clenching my teeth in my sleep at night due to stress. But maybe it's my jaw musles from t chew chew chewing. I'm taking chewable tylenol go tabs for the pain which has persisted for 4 days now. It's really pretty painful too.

I truly believe you guys know more than the doctors so I'd love to hear your opinion. 8 weeks ago - banded in Mexico w/ 10mm band 3 weeks ago - first fill 1.5 cc's (not enough restriction, little weight loss) yesterday - 2nd fill .75 cc's And now - wow, I am really tight! Before the fill I tried to talk the doc into considering .5 instead of .75 but he said, no - lets do this instead, this will really help you lose the weight. Now I find I can only swallow pureed Soup and it gurgles really slowly through my band and feels like a clogged drain going down. No solids will pass thru. My doc told me not to worry. Just drink soup for a few days, then try apple sauce, then move on to mashed potatoes. Things will losen up a bit in a few days he said. He said "You want to see progress in your wieght loss, right?" His office will be closed for the week of Christmas, so I'm a bit nervous that I can get an appointment if I need to. It's pretty easy to pb the soup back up too. But it's been only 1 day so far. Is this normal? (By the way - no fill xrays were done.) Thanks for your support! SweetSue

This morning I swallowed 2 tic tac sized pills (perhaps bigger) and completely forgot that I had a lap band. Luckilly, they didn't get stuck.

Hi Chrissy, I was also banded on 9/29. You're ahead of me. I'm only down around 9 lbs. I just got my first fill on 11/6. Before my 1st fill I was able to eat anything. Now I am just trying to get used to the restriction. I've experienced that tight very painful feeling in the stoma after eating certain foods. I don't know what my procrastination is but I must start my exercise regime. Also, I must get serious about beginning a healthy diet. I do okay but I could do better. This band thing - it's so wierd. I read so much about it and then now having it, it isn't exactly what I expected. I don't understand why everyone loves it. I was just thinking, I am never going to eat in front of other people ever again. Because when food gets stuck, the discomfort isn't something you can easilly hide. I wish you continued success in your weight loss. You are doing good! Sweet Sue

I am also a binge eater. Here's my theory about why we do it.... We distract our minds with thoughts of food. While consumed with thoughts of food, we push away other thoughts - thoughts that are perhaps too painful to deal with. So focus is on food and eating instead. There's the pre-eating thoughts of food ..... What will I eat next? What's in the house to eat? Where can I get some food? There's the active-eating thoughts of food ..... This tastes delicious! I want some more. Yum, yum. Then there's the post-eating thoughts of food.... I'm such a fool. Why did I just do that? I can't believe I ate all that. Why am I so weak? The problem is not just happening in the moments when we are eating, food is on our minds all day. My theory is that we push out the difficult real-life thoughts and replace them with food thoughts. Just like an alchohalic clouds thoughts with the hazy feeling of booze. Sweet Sue

Hi all, I have a question for you. I was banded around 6 weeks ago. I had my 1st fill 3 days ago. I find that when I swallow certain foods, I experience a scratchy sore feeling as it passes through my stoma. It's actually painful. This doesn't happen with all foods, just some foods - for examples crackers, crust, etc. Also, I still don't feel as if my pouch is filling up - I think everything is still going right through, and I can actually feel it going through. Is this normal? Is there a point of adjustment where the food feels like it's actually sitting there for a while and not just squeezing right through? Thanks! :cheer2: Sweet Sue