Bell1138

I will be paying for my lap band out of pocket. My lap band surgeron said I will need clearance from my primary care physician. I will be doing all the necessary pre-op testing at the hospital and the hosptial would then fax over all the results to my primary. My primary says that she is not the one that needs to clear me for the surgery, so she will not do so. She says my surgeons office must be the one to clear me for surgery. Has anyone else had this sort of problem. I can't believe that if I am in good health that she will not clear me for surgery. I am so upset. I am having my surgeons office call her and explain to her why she is the one that needs to clear me. This process is grueling.

I feel that you have just discribed me. I have had my band since 2009, I have never been able to have a fill because my band is naturally tight. I have already had surgery to correct a slip. After the surgery I was doing good for a month or two, and then my band began to become tight. I have acid reflux all the time dispite the fact that I take Nexium everyday. I can't sleep because I spend the entire night choking on the acid. I have lost a total of 80lbs of the 90 I needed to lose. I have constant gastritis, and I don't ever feel like eating. I am so scared that I am going to get sick. I have not gone to see my doctor because I fear that the answer is to remove the band. I am so scared to gain all the weight back. Please keep me updated on your situation..

I am going through the same thing. I have had the band for about a year and a half, a few months after I had the band placed I started having intolerance to food and liquids, I could barely eat, some day were better then others. About a month ago, I woke up one Saturday, and I could not hold down food or liquids, I went to the ER, and they found that the band had slipped, I had surgery a few days later and corrected the slip, I felt great after the surgery, but now I am having the same trouble again. I have been feeling a lot of restriction and food get stuck all the time. I just want to let everyone know, I have not had a fill since day one with this band, I feel this way, with an empty band. I don't know what to do anymore, I really don't want to lose the band, I am so afraid of gaining the weight back. Any thoughts or input will be appreciated....

My band slipped and I had it repaired about a month ago. It was horrible, I could not get anything down. I went to the hospital on a Saturday because I was not able to keep Water down, I was operated on Thursday. It was the worst few days of my life. I saw the x ray of the upper GI, and my stomach had prolapsed over the band, it was very strange. We also found out, that my esophagus it a bit dialated. I have lost a total of 70lbs. with no Fluid in the band. Since day 1, I have had restriction with the fills. I don't know why, not even my doctor can explain it. The repair was very easy, and I recovered almost immediately.

Just wanted to update everyone, I did have surgery to fix the band, I feel really really good now. Come to think of it , may band must have been slipped for quite some time. I feel completly different than I did before, I was never able to eat solid food and now I can eat solid food just small portions. I am so happy that I decided not to remove the band, I know that in a month or so, I would have gained back all the weight. I never want to go back to being so overweight. If anyone is debating to remove the band or leave it in, I would advise them to seriously think about the consequences of removing the band, just remember how you felt being overweight, cause I am sure that with the removal of the band comes back all the weight issues. By the way the surgery to fix the slip was very easy and I recovery was very quick. If anyone has any questions I would be glad to answer them. Good Luck to everyone dealing with a slip, it is not easy.

My band also slipped. I found out yesterday after I did a barrium swallow. My stomach has popped up over the band. I can hardly swallow water. I am going in for surgery tomorrow. This is so stressful, I am debating wheather to have the band remove or just repair the slip. I have only had 1cc of fluid in my 10cc since I got it, one year ago. My esophagus is on fire and my stomach is also on fire. I am wondering if I made the right decision by getting this band. I am happy that I have lost 65lbs., but I don't want to risk my health for the sake of being thin.

Don't panic, that happens to me all the time. If I eat spicy food or I have a few drinks my stomach gets irritated and I guess it swells and makes the band tighter. I have days that it is hard to get Water down. I just take small sips of water throughout the day for a coupe of days and the swelling goes down and everything gets better. I am actually having one of those days today, it is so fustrating because I feel like I just want to throw up the water because it stays in my throat for a long time. Have you done anything that could have caused your band to slip? I don't think the band can slip for no reason.

The same thing happen to me, and I couldn't keep any fluid down. I was constantly puking white foam. After two days of this the doctor told me to go to the emergency room, when he arrived he checked the band, there was 2cc of fluid left in the band during surgery. He was very upset because he says that his surgical staff always needs to check that the band is empty when they are placing the band. After he removed the 2ccs, I instantly felt better. The swelling and the 2cc's of fluid were causing to much restriction.

I was reading some post online that say that the lap band might increase your risk or even cause esophageal dilation and esophageal cancer. Has anyone every heard this before? Also, has anyone experience difficulty swallowing because of the lap band.

Did anyone see this show What is eating you?, last night on E!. There was this lady that said she had the gastric banding done and has now become bulimic. I missed some parts of the story, if anyone saw the show I would really appreciate if you can fill me in. The ladies name was Mona, I did notice she was still overweight.

I had a hiatal hernia repair during my surgery. The doctor told me that just a hiatal hernia repair would give me restriction, and on top of that I had the band placed, and then add the 2cc's of fluid to that. He said that all of that together was why I was feeling so much restriction. He explained that no everyone is the same, he said some people with a 10cc band need to have 7cc or 8cc to feel restriction, and others need much less. I guess I am one of those people that don't need much fluid in the band in order to feel restriciton.

Mona I think you are brave for doing the show, and I think you have helped many by sharing your story. I was so worried when I saw the doctor tell you that you can rupture your esophagus by throwing up so much. I throw up a few times a day, not because I want to eat more, but because some foods get stuck. I really can't remove any fluid because I only have 2cc's in a 10cc band. My doctor had told me that my unusually ristriction is may be caused by stomach irritation and or the consequence of having my hiatal hernia reparied during surger. I thank you again for sharing your story.

One more thing I wanted to add, was that the Mona's doctor said she was at risk for her esophagus to rupture. Is this true for lap band patients? And if so does this mean that we are at risk for our esophagus to rupture if we are throwing up everytime something gets stuck. I find that I have to throw up at least once a day because something get stuck. It is the weirdest thing, I can eat a 2 cups of popcorn, but I can't get a yogert to go down; I don't know why this happens to me.

At no time did my doctor tell me that I could not drink carbonated beverages and he also did not tell me that I could not drink while eating. I have done both since day one. I drink carbonated beverages like diet sprite, beer, and champagne. The only thing that I would say that bothers me is the amount of restriction I have with such a small amount of fluid inside the band. I have a 10cc band and I have 2cc's in the band. I find that almost everything gets stuck, and there are some days that I could only intake liquids.

NO WAY, one of my favorite foods in the whole world is chesseburgers and subs, and I can't eat any of them anymore. I am 8 months post op and I have lost around 58lbs. I only have 2cc's in a 10cc band, I think I am a freak of nature, I can't eat that many things that others with the same fill can eat. I guess maybe that is good, but sometimes it can be so fustrating.

I know what you are talking about.. I can't stand when I am at a restaurant and the server keeps on asking me if everything is okay because I have not eaten much. Sometimes I order something and then realize that it is not going down that day, and I have to leave the entire plate, how do you explain this to the server; it is so confusing.

I am six months post op and I only have 2cc's in a 10cc band. I have lost 53 lbs. so far. I have so much restriction, the doctor doesn't understand why.

I have the exact same problem, it is so fustrating. There are days that I can't eat anything and some days I can eat a bit more. I only have 2cc's in a 10cc band and I have so much restriction, the only thing that goes down find is liquids.

Does anyone know of anything that I can take to reduce stomach irritation. I am taking Nexium and Malox, any other suggestions? I am desperate...