Banded Bandit

First of all, VSG is Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. It is another form of WLS where they remove about 80% of your stomach (which includes the portion that produces your hunger horomone - ghrelin) and create a small banana-shaped (long tube) pouch as your stomach. You can't eat much, as this portion does not stretch easily, and you have no hunger due to removing the ghrelin horomone. It is VERY new. To Condanchri-- I feel your pain. I am VERY VERY lucky to have insurance that paid for my removal, otherwise I would be up a creek right now. I will say however, that even if they had not paid for it, with the problems I was having (constantly) I would have found a way to pay for it. Even if it meant going into credit card debt for a few years. I am not sure about the whole insurance thing as far as what they will cover when a Doc in Mexico does the surgery but it seems to me a lot of them will cover removal in "emergency situations." Mine would have been considered just shy of a true emergency. I didn't have any slip that could be seen or erosion, etc... it just wasn't compatible with my body anymore. I was getting sick so often that my teeth were affected. I couldn't eat healthy if I wanted to. It was awful and I couldn't continue to live my life in that state. I truly hope you are able to find the funds to have your band removed -- if that is what you decide you want of course. I know it's awful --I hate to be so pessimistic about it, but I don't sugar-coat well to begin with, and having been there, I KNOW it sucks! Please feel free to PM me any time, even if you just need to vent! I guess I should change my name to De-Banded Bandit!

I was scheduled to have the VSG Monday when I had my band out. I did the liquid diet, etc... all the way up to the end and was planning on it but I really began doubting myself. This is a very personal decision so I am NOT trying to talk you out of it whatsoever. But I will tell you why I decided not to have it done. Back when I had my band put in (2004), everyone was very positive about lapband. I couldn't really find any negative stuff and of course there was not as much info (message boards either) out there at the time. It was about as new in the U.S. as the VSG is now. With the VSG it just scared me how much of the stomach they remove and the fact that it is completely permanent. I thought, "what if I start having similar problems and I can't ever do anything about it?" I could NOT live the way I was living for the rest of my life. I think chances are more slim with that happening, but I think it was just the whole "once bitten, twice shy" thing. I was scared to death, so I told the surgeon I just wanted my band out and nothing else. I guess it is POSSIBLE that down the road I will change my mind if this has as much success long-term as it has in the short-term. I just don't know. I am not going into it thinking I will though. I am so excited to be able to eat 'normal' foods again. In fact, just last night, we did go and buy bagels and some fruit in the store. All things I love having for breakfast and couldn't even DREAM of eating with the band. I intend to get this weight off the old-fashioned way. I am so tired of the junk that I WANT to eat healthier things. Without the "control" of the lapband I feel like I have so much more control of my life now. Strange, I know....but it's like I tell everyone else in my life --you won't understand me unless you've truly been through this. Good luck to you. Please PM me anytime if you just need someone to listen -- I DO understand!

Well i am not the OP but I did have my band out this past Monday. Life is good now! I was exactly like you with the whole, "I'm so frustrated I can't eat real food, let's go get ice cream" I gained back 60 of the 90 pounds I lost because all I could eat was crap. The worst part was that I was UNFILLED completely for a year and a half and still got stuck all the time! To answer your question -- I didn't have my original surgeon take mine out. I went to a completely new doctor and explained all of the problems I was having and how I couldn't eat the way I should, etc... and they submitted it to insurance to be paid for (completely) due to complications. My suggestion -- if your surgeon will not do it, find another who will (if that is what you want to do, of course). Good luck!

I have a question for you. I cannot answer questions about being unbanded until tomorrow. I am having mine removed (after 3 years and lots of pain and vomiting) tomorrow afternoon. My question is -- what did your doctor tell you about eating after band removal? Do you have to do liquids mushies for so long or is it just a matter of going slowly and seeing what you can tolerate? I can see how the place in your stomach would be a little swollen after surgery but it seems like it wouldn't necessarily take as much time to heal or for the swelling to go down as it did, for example, after the device was implanted. Thanks!

I'm so tired of all of this -- it's also irritating that no one understands what I am going through (in my immediate circle of family and friends). It's like I try to explain it but if you haven't been through it you don't understand. I guess that is why I am posting here. I joined a while back and posted a few times and then didn't come back to visit until recently. I need some advice, or a pep talk or something! Let me start by saying that this has been more aggravating recently because I am unemployed for the first time in my life, and I am having all these problems with my band and I have NO insurance! I have had my band for over 3 years. I started at 299 and got down to 213. I couldn't get any further. The band wasn't working for me. I started having all kinds of problems being able to eat -- ANYTHING -- sometimes couldn't even drink. I had this experience over and over and on several occasions I had scopes done, etc...they always said, "just go on liquids" or "your band doesn't look like it's slipped, we really don't know." It was awful, because I wasn't cheating....I wasn't eating the things I shouldn't be eating. Well, it got to the point where all I COULD successfully eat was the junk. I could eat sugary things and I started gaining weight back (duh!). I have had NO Fluid in my band for about 8 months now. My band would just get tighter and tighter -- to the point where when they had me drink the barium it wouldn't go down either! They took the fluid out and I haven't been back to the doctor since then. I'm tired of "just drink fluids." That isn't a long-term solution -- it isn't like I'm trying to eat STEAK! So anyway, my band is giving me problems again, DAILY -- and remember, I have NO fluid in it at all! I am really at my wits end. What do I do? I want it out of me! I want to act like it never happened. But I'm also scared because I'm gaining weight back (like half of what I lost). I feel so out of control with all of this and it isn't anything like what I thought it would be. I hate it! Sorry I know I'm just going on and on but I had to vent to someone who might understand because they've been through it (or something similar). AAARGH!:help:

So I originally started this thread back in April. I can't say that a lot has changed as far as what I can/can't eat. However, I have had insurance for a few months and I have been having tests done to see what is going on. I started with a new doctor as my old doctor just seemed to chalk it up to me not eating right. That is the most frustrating part of it all. I don't get stuck on BAD stuff I shouldn't be eating in the first place. I get stuck on all of the things I SHOULD be eating. So anyway, he scheduled the upper GI where they could obviously see that things were going VERY slow if at all. I then had an endoscopy this past Tuesday and he reported that everything looked "normal." He did take a biopsy and I will find out about that next week (after the holiday weekend). How can everything be "normal" when I am having such life-altering problems? I'm now back up to where I started before I had the surgery to begin with. I barely even TRY to eat the good stuff anymore because I KNOW it's going to bother me. It's like I consciously and subconsciously eat crap because I know I won't have to go through the pain and vomiting. This new doctor thinks that they can submit it to my insurance that I have to have it out due to difficulties and he acted like it shouldn't be a problem, but who knows. It's such a strange phenomenon that right now I would give ANYTHING to be able to eat all of the healthy "diet" foods that I loathed before. I'm actually TIRED of eating junk food. It never fills you up and it makes your cravings worse. It's a vicious cycle. What I wouldn't give to eat the healthy stuff! On the other hand, it's scary too! I've already gained back what I lost and I DON'T want to get higher! My soon to be mother in law had her band put in a month ago and has lost over 50 pounds. Her experience has been roses, which just confirms for me that this just isn't working for me at all. Mine was never roses. I had ups and downs with mostly downs. My Dr. did say that the band just isn't for everyone. I always take comments like that to mean that I am not doing my part to be successful, but I swear to god....I was like the poster child for lapband surgery from day one. Now I'm not because I can't be. I actually attribute my weightloss to a medication I happened to be taking at the same time I had my surgery! I need to quit blabbing on. Just wanted to update and say I hope to god I can get this thing out soon. I'm so glad so many of you have had great experiences. I wanted it to work sooo badly! I just can't even pretend to be positive about it now after all I have been through. Thanks for your ideas/advice. I welcome it.

Would a hernia cause problems on and off? I don't really understand how all of that would work. Also, this reminded me of something else I was going to reply before -- we REALLY don't have the money for me to go have a bunch of tests done at the doctor -- and if we did do that we CERTAINLY don't have the money for me to go have surgery of some kind with no insurance.....

Well the thing is that ever since I had all of the Fluid taken out, YES I could eat more (in quantity and in choice). By no means am I blaming ALL of my weight gain on not being able to eat the right things, because some of it is me eating the wrong things. However, lately, I will get "stuck" on the first bite of something. There is really no rhyme or reason to what I can and can't eat. I don't even TRY any type of plain meat (no sauces or anything to make it really slippery) or bread or anything like that. I was on vacation last week and we went to a mexican restaurant to Celebrate someone's birthday. I had one bite of my fiance's burrito -- which was smothered in cheese) and I was stuck the rest of the day, actually vomiting 8 times before it finally became "unstuck." It was miserable. I have never had that bad of a problem -- and I literally had one SMALL bite. I am now to the point where I have problems eating every day -- sometimes more than once a day. After getting back from vacation I was mostly eating Soups and "mushies" because I thought maybe my band had been irritated. I could feel it going down but it didn't get stuck -- it just felt like it was moving slowly. So I slowly worked my way into eating "normal" foods and NO....wasn't happening. The thing is that it's on and off. I can eat popcorn one day and the next, I can't even eat yogurt. I made some chicken salad with the canned chicken and some low fat mayo -- had problems. I tried to eat some fruit --had problems. But I could eat popcorn and of course any type of sweets. I could always eat salads and soups in restaurants but salads have been giving me problems....and any kind of Soup with anything in it besides liquid. Believe me, I have been through this long enough to know how to chew, know how to swallow even....I know what I should and shouldn't be able to eat. It doesn't make sense! And, I have no fill.....that is what makes it ridiculous to me! Thanks for your all's input....

oops! I think I've hijacked ShellyJ's thread! Sorry that wasn't my intention! Pam -- that is an interesting concept! I hadn't ever heard of that. I wonder how you know what kind of band you have. Obviously by asking the doc, huh?!? I will have to look into that as a possibility. All I know is there seems to be no rhyme or reason and I seem to be o.k. now that the solution has been removed. health1st -- Please don't think I am trying to be negative about the whole experience. It HAS accomplished a LOT for me. I am so much happier even where I am now than I was when all of this started (and for so many years before that). I just haven't had the best experience with the band. It never restricted my eating the way I THOUGHT it would. Yes, it restricted me -- I think really I ate less because I was scared to stretch things out and I wanted to be the perfect patient -- but honestly-- 2 ounces of food NEVER filled me up. Something in my brain clicked somewhere along the way though. I am having awful problems now with gaining a bit of weight back and hating myself for it -- but I KNOW what I have to do to get it back off.....it's a matter of DOING it! I wish you so much success in what you're doing. This band has been a blessing for me in so many ways -- just not without some pain along the way!

Oh, there's DEFINITELY something to be said about needing to figure out the difference between being mentally hungry and physically hungry! 100% agreed! That is a battle I will ALWAYS fight -- probably MOST of us will always fight. The band only controls the physical stuff. Sure, our mental attitudes change toward food as a result because it's all habit -- but having a band doesn't really make you STOP wanting to snack -- and believe me, this is something you HAVE to get in check early on....because you want to revert back to your 'old ways' more and more the longer out you are. We all have to have some self-control. I wish I had more of it sometimes. Right now though, I am just at a fed-up point with my band. I can't completely decide to try to have it taken out - no -- because it has done wonderful things for me -- but it's also caused me tons of pain and days/weeks/months of worry that as far as I can see is no fault of my own. As I said previously, my MENTALITY about portion size has changed. My band does not restrict me AT ALL right now with no Fluid in it. My mind says, "that's enough" before I even start. I often wonder if it's served its purpose for me. If it isn't going to help me at this point -- which I really don't feel it PHYSICALLY is....why have a foreign body just sitting there inside me....ya know?!?! :noidea:

Hey guys -- just wanted to post here because I experience this STILL on OCCASION and I am almost 3 years out from my surgery. It doesn't happen all the time and I haven't related it to anything in particular (eg. eating certain foods, getting something stuck). I generally take a gas relief pill/chewable and it helps. Sometimes it will last for a couple days and is bothersome. The only other thing that can grant some relief for me if it's bothering me really bad is the same thing that generally helps me to get food down when it's "stuck" and that is to bend forward. I stand and then lean forward placing my hands on a chair or the bed or something. Your abdomen has to be tilted forward I think, moreso than just parallel to the floor. That generally helps me get SOME relief. We're all different -- who knows! I'm sorry to hear you guys are in pain -- hope you find something to make you feel better!

I'm sorry to hear you are going through all this mess too. I too, have about 50 more pounds to lose. It's like...things were going great and then I reached this huge wall and all this stuff started happening -- now I feel like the "tool" I was given to help me has been taken away! If I could just lose the weight and keep it off I wouldn't have had to have the surgery in the first place! I do feel like I view food and eating in a different light now. A LOT of food to me is different than a LOT of food used to be -- portion size has definitely changed in my mind -- COMPLETELY! But yes, it gets easier to rely back on old habits -- especially when all you CAN get through the band is the 'junk' stuff. I actually got to the point where I lose MORE weight with NO Fluid than when I had fluid in -- because I could make healthier choices....crazy as it sounds!!! As far as I know --the slippage or prolapse or whatever they are calling it -- is what they looked for and said it didn't appear anything was wrong. As for the esophageal spasms -- I seem to be o.k. now that I don't have any fluid in my band -- if I had spasms in my esophagus, would they be ALL the time, or would they be caused as a result of the band being tightened, etc...? Thanks for any input on this. As for those of you in this boat with me -- atleast we aren't alone or crazy, right!!! Not that it makes it any better! I am questioning if I should have it removed if it isn't going to do anything for me...

Hello everyone -- oh how I wish this forum was around 2 years ago when I initially had mine done. I am having some serious issues/questions with the lapband now and wondering if it was the right thing to do or not. I found a post by someone who seems to be going through the same thing as me -- I think I will post my situation over there. It's so great to find you all though -- I hope to get to know some of you better!

Hey -- I am brand new (today) but the reason I went ahead and joined was to reply to this post I feel like I could have written exactly what Shellyj wrote here. I am in the same situation. I had my lapband surgery done around 2.5 years ago. For the first year I did great. I lost about 90 lbs. over the course of that time. Then, I went in for a fill one day and it was too tight -- that's when it all went downhill. Of course I went back to have him take some out and thought everything would be fine! -- WRONG! I have had nothing but problems ever since. I have been filled/unfilled and over and over again. The first time he put a little more in I was FINE for 2-3 months and then all of the sudden -- for no apparent reason -- it started getting tighter and tighter and I could get less and less down. When I say less, I don't mean less quantity -- I mean there were less TYPES of food I could get down. I pretty much had to start sticking with mushies and then it got to the point over the next week or so where I couldn't even get liquid down. It was awful. I went in and they did the thing where you drink the barium (I guess) to watch it go down. Sure enough, you could see plain as day, it going down my esophagus, but as soon as it got to the band it just sat there and trickled down. So, my doc did an endoscopy but found nothing wrong. Nothing indicates it has slipped and nothing appeared to be wrong on the inside so what the H*#@($#%& is wrong? He took the Fluid out completely -- I told him I couldn't deal with this anymore-- the pain is awful and it was really wearing on me. So I went 10 months with no fluids in my band. I could eat pretty much anything but I was really good about it....I still wanted to lose more weight (about another 40 pounds). I maintained my weight with no fluid for about 10 months and then decided I wanted to give it a try again. In June, I went back and asked him to put a LITTLE bit in so I could see if we could start from square one on this. Everything was great -- I had a little bit of restriction now-- this lasted about 3-4 weeks and then the SAME thing began to happen. Gradually it got tighter and tighter to the point where the only thing I could get down was liquids (not even soup with stuff in it). I now have the fluid out but I ask myself....WHY??? There is no reasonable explanation -- atleast not that I've gotten. Now I am questioning if I want to leave this "thing" in my body -- this great THING that helped me in the beginning -- but now seems to be all screwed up. I think my doc has run out of ideas -- I don't think it's anything I did. In fact I always felt stupid going to the doc and saying I was having problems because I know so many people who eat the wrong stuff and end up with problems -- I figured he'd just think I was one of them -- who did this to myself -- but I really feel like I was doing the best I could. It is a little comforting to know I am not the only one, but DANG -- what do I do now?