NoMoBand

This did happen to me and symptoms are very similar, except that the symtoms appeared a few months after surgery for me. My doctor put in 3cc's in the band during surgery and I did fine at first and could eat very little, then hardly anything at all. Thus my first fill was a slight unfill. Turns out that some of us only require very little in our bands to reach that sweet spot. I can only handle 2cc's in my band without it being too tight. It sounds like a slight unfill will do the trick, in my opinion. Jake.

How's it going thus far?

Welcome to the banded side of the world. You will be sore for the next couple of days. Should you have the shoulder pain that some feel, walking around every hour or so helps this, but, don't overdo. Sip your Water and liquids. And yes, the popsicles really help. Don't hesitate to use your pain meds should you need them. Some people freak out shortly after surgery and question whether they did the right thing. Should you have thoughts of "What the hell did I do to myself", this is normal and is contributed to an anesthesia side affect. Congratulations and again welcome. jake

Oh Crap, I'm in trouble!!! I drink about 2-3 pots by myself throughout the day. Post op 5 years ago, I limited myself to several cups in the morning and 1 at night and now I just forgot that caffine was bad and let my habit evolve. I've never mentioned this to my doc and now It's time for a change thanks to this post. Wow!!!! What an eye opener!! As frustrated and mad as I sometimes become with some of the advice that's given on this site or how the advice is given, I just stay away, however, eye openers like this make me realize how much I need the support from here to keep me in check. Thanks! I will wean myself off of coffee again starting right now. I had just poured myself a cup of coffe at work and now I'm pouring it down the sink after reading this. Jake

October 4th was my 5 year anniversary and 120lbs. less of me. Transformed from a Blockbuster, bag of chips couch potatoe to a 2 mile jogger, 20 mile bicyclist, gym junkie and loving every bit of it!! The Blockbuster movie rental place went out of business because of me and the couch misses me! I take my 4 year granddaughter to different playgrounds and participate on the equipment with her. She loves it. Couldn't be happier! Life is good!!! Jake

Wow!!! With all the negativity about the band, I make it a point to ask my lapband doctor at every appointment as to how her patients are doing. Unless she's not telling me the truth she's done very few removals and has been doing bands for at least 7 years. I know she does lots of deflates for different reasons and said that she has seen some slips, but, few removals. Her office is always full at my appointments and we all start talking during our wait. I have yet to hear of one patient that is there for a serious issue, unhappy or wanting their band removed. Maybe I just go on good days. Just food for thought. I don't know your doctor's credentials or experience with installing the band, but, with that many failures could it be that the band was being placed incorrectly or maybe keeping the band too tight? I'm really not being judgmental, or defensive about the band, but 5 years and only a handful that have been successful doesn't sound quite right. I have experienced abnormal reflux before and got small deflates only to discover that my drainage from my allergies was causing this. To remedy this, I get a Kenalog injection every spring and have not had any problems since. Jake

Definitely call your doctor, however, IMO it sounds like you do have swelling going on when you mention that "During that time anything I ate either wouldn't go down or came back up." If you are still trying to eat, you are making the swelling worse. I would go on Clear liquids for one day, Protein liquids the next, mushies the 3rd day. This happened to me one time and I freaked. Someone on the forum suggested the 3 day suggestion and sure enough I was swollen and was back to normal after the 3 days.

25 lbs. is actually on schedule being out 3 months. 2 lbs. a week is the average loss for a banded person. I tend to be more of a visual person and I offer a suggestion that will give you something to Celebrate. Take 2 or 3 10 lb. bag of potatoes and carry them around for a couple of minutes. That's how much stress you've taken off your legs and knees. You are doing great and there's much more to come. Remember those fad diets we all tried in the past? Lost weight quickly only to gain the weight twice as fast and then some. Losing weight slowly is the successful way to lose. As you continue with your fills, if that's the case and becoming more active, the weight loss with speed up a bit. Keep up the great work! One day at a time is my motto. jake

Initially, I was looking into the gastric bypass and had my initial visit with the doctor. Weeks after my consult, I found out that lapband was done in my city and insurance covered it. Next month, I'm four years out as a bandster. Even with my share of complications, I am very content with the band and lifestyle and hope to be a bandster for many, more years. God willing. Would I have WLS again, if something went wrong with the band? Absolutely!!!! My choice would probably be gastric sleeve. I have a big problem with my plumbing getting re-routed. God help me that I never have to make that choice. Jake

Good points on both sides, but, 2muchfun nailed it when he says that the band requires much attention and rules must be followed, else you become a statistic on the negative side. Here’s a great example: Let’s say a successful gastric by-pass or a sleeve patient is years out with no complications, everything has healed, they are losing weight, happy as can be, then the food head games come back and they slip into old eating habits, which is very easy to do. The long term repercussion is that they will stretch their pouch and the weight starts coming back on and life goes on. When this occurs with banded patients, we not only gain weight, but, the stretched pouch will cause band slippage or worse. Not to mention the other complications that can occur to our esophagus. In all honesty, before getting the band, I was in denial of the rules. With all the research that I did before surgery, in my mind, I had found the equivalent to the fountain of youth for weight loss and regardless of what I read I was determined that this was “the magic” that was going to do it for me. The “band rules reality” kicked in for me after my head hunger woke up from its nap and I ignored the most critical band rule of eating slow, small bites and chewing well. Had I continued without a checkup my stretched pouch would have evolved and I would have ended up with slippage and possible band removal. Another consideration is the amount of weight you need to lose and how active you will be with exercise. LapBand weight loss is much slower than other WL surgeries and will eventually come to a halt at which point it is all up to you, then you really realize how the band is only a tool. Future band patients really need to understand what they are getting themselves into before proceeding! With that said, in most cases, we fail the band, the band doesn’t fail us. My advice for those considering the band – do your research, but also, attend lapband support groups, talk to bandsters and better yet, get to know someone successfully traveling the band journey. The band saved my life and am grateful for it! Jake

Hey Sombra, we have the same doctor. Dr. Sanchez is awesome! I'm 4 years out and she has really taken care of me. I've stretched my pouch twice due to a combination of major drainage from seasonal allergies and eating too fast and not chewing my food well. First, time I was deflated for 4 weeks and did 2 Protein shakes a day and Soup for supper. My pouch did shrink, but, remained a little larger than it should be. The second time, Dr. Sanchez didn't deflate me, but, recommended that I measure my meals consisting of 1/2 cup. This did the trick and took a bit longer to shrink my pouch back down. I think that once you've experienced a stretched pouch you are prone to it, so, you must be careful by not overeating. As of today, I continue to measure my 1/2 cup meals and in addition every 2 months or so, I'll put myself on a preventive maintenance where I'll have the 2 Protein Shakes a day (Breakfast and lunch) and a mushy supper for 1 - 2 weeks. This seems to be working really well for me. Know that stretching your pouch is progressive and cannot happen with one or two episodes of rules breach. Hope this helps. Did you stretch your pouch or are you just curious what happens? Jake

Good to see New Mexico on the list. I'm sure the deductibles will be thousands of dollars per person. The deductibles will probably be more than going to Mexico to get it done. That sucks!!!! Not, that I have anything against Mexico, for I started investigating there first, before I found out that my insurance did cover it, however, it's the after care that many Bariatric doctors here in the states won't cover you. Thanks for the input Alex.

The previous poster said cold liquids. My doc's tells me warm. All doctors are different. At this point I would contact your doc.

Not sure about the tinge of blood. Keep an eye on this. Stay on warm liquids the rest of the day. Take in small sips, if you feel pain. Rule of thumb on stuck episodes - If you are stuck for more than an hour you should do liquids for one day, mushies the next day or so depending on how you feel. What's happened is you've made everything swell with the stuck episode and intensified it with the throwing up and have to take it easy for a few days to allow the swelling to go down. I doubt you tore anything, but, you should call your doc just in case. jake

You are closer to the green zone if not there as of this fill. Yes, this will last. A fill always makes things swell a bit, after the swelling comes down you will know if it is your green zone. My fills always had me in suspense for 3 weeks, then I knew if this was it or not. It's awesome to finally reach this point. Congratulations! jake

Started gaining weight, able to eat much more and was hungry 2 hours or less after a meal. In addition for me I would feel restriction after a couple of minutes into my meal then would feel a thump in my pouch and could eat another banded person's meal after that. I no longer had to chew my food well and I think that this was the main culprit to my pouch dilation.

I'm back and of course with issues and need your input. In October I will complete 3 years of being banded. Two weeks ago I have had pain in the port area that comes and goes. The pain is like a stabbing needle and soreness and is at its worst when I come up from a sitting position. Pain is absent when I'm laying down. There is absolutely no redness or warmness to the area, which eliminates infection. I have been applying ice and heat to the area which helps, but, as I said comes and goes. I had this occur once and lasted a few days and out of the blue felt a subtle pop in the area and the pain went away never to be felt again until now, 1 year later. I talked to my band doc about this the first time and she examined the port and found everything to be fine. I have reluctantly placed a call with the doc, but, may not hear from her for a day or so. I say "reluctantly" because I've had my tubing come thru my skin and my port dislodged in its entirety once already and ended up in a 2 hour surgery to get another port installed and band tubing disinfected. I am terrified of what the doc may tell me. Until I hear from my doc, can someone please give me hope and tell me that this is probably just a stitch or a nerve or something minor that you may have experienced. I just had back surgery 4 months ago and don't want to do the surgery thing again. Hoping for good news! jake

How quickly I forgot. It's been years since I've dealt with fills. I recently had surgery and had to get a complete band deflate. 1 month after surgery I went in to get my fill back, which, was the same amount in cc's before I had the surgery. I did the 1 day clear liquid, 1 day shakes, 1 day mushies then full meal as I've done in the past for every fill. One week later and I feel very little to no restriction since the fill. Yesterday, I tested the fill. I had a hotdog with bun and had no problem eating the whole thing. Should I be concerned or am I being inpatient? I will place a call with my doc today, but, until then any feedback would be appreciated. Jake

Thank you all for the responses. I ended up feeling more restriction today, thank God! I just don't understand this fickle band sometimes. I will share that there is a little bit more to my issue. I got my call back from my doctor this morning and she tells me that my pouch is bigger that it should be. I seriously stretched my pouch once already and had to be on liquids for 6 weeks - man it was awful, but was effective!!!!! This time my doc tells me that the pouch is not as stretched as last time and to correct it she told me to measure my meals (1 cup and preferably less) and I should be good in 4-5 weeks. She mentioned it at the fill, but, didn't seem to be as concerned. If I can be of any help to anyone, I know how I stretched my pouch. I know I've posted this many times, but, just one more time if it will help even one person. I keep a loose band because of my severe seasonal allergies. Because of the loose band, I rarely have stuck episodes, which is nice, but, I can also get away with eating bigger bites and not chewing my food well. Chewing your food is one of the critical golden rules for bandsters that can get you in trouble if not compliant. My meal volumes were never larger than a cup, but, my bites were rarely small and I did not chew well enough. Small bites and CHEW, CHEW, CHEW!!! A stretched pouch can be corrected if caught in time, but, trust me it is harder than the 2 week pre-surgery Protein diet. Be careful. Jake

Well, I had my fill under floro. I had 2.4 cc's in the band before my surgery and I asked the doc if we could go up to 2.5. Doc tried it and said that 2.5 was too much and I was way too tight. I'm a bandster that requires very little cc's to get to my sweet spot. I'm wondering if I need to wait and be patient. This morning I had 1 scrambled egg and feel satisfied, but then, it's early in the morning when the band is tightest. I'm sooooo confused!!!!

That's where you've been B-52. You offered some really valuable advice and inspiration. Really miss some of your posts. jake

I don't think this site allows us to put in the links to other sites, however, do a google search on "lapband support groups". The best site with the most caring people is band2gether. They are like a family there. I have never ever experienced any rudeness there and most all participants are seasoned bandsters and are the most compassionate people I have found. The moderators there make sure they intervene with sensitive subjects gone astray and are very experienced bandsters and make sure that advice is in line. As I said earlier I like this site, but, when I get bugged I'll stay away from here til the the attitudes calm down.

Sparkplug Well said Sparkplug! This site is a gold mine of information and reminds me of things that I have either forgotten or have become complacent with. It also keeps me informed of issues that may arise and how to handle them through peoples experience/posts. I very much appreciate this site. I've be on this site for over 2 years and have seen different personalities come and go and have to admit that there are a few bad rude apples amoungst us right now. I offer words of encouragement to the newby's and those offended by other's intentional or unintentional rudeness. Don't let these people rob you of accessing such valuble information and help. Trends show that these people will drop off soon and get on with their lives and come back here to get help when they find themselves in trouble. Only then will they realize respect and compassion or the lack of. Be patient. I also belong to a few other lapband support sites and find that the moderators to those sites do an extaordinary job at keeping peace. Just wondering if this site has moderators?

I use Musinex in liquid form. Seems to help with drainage most of the time.

With Shirley's passing - God Bless her and her family, I am really concerned now about emergency lapband care. After reading Shirley's story and also due to my employer changing insurance companies my current insurance coverage does NOT have a local bariatric program or doctor(s), nor will they accept the only local bariatric program and doctors located in Albuquerque New Mexico and are forcing us to switch over to their bariatric program located in El Paso, Texas. A lapband emergency would require me to get myself down to El Paso for treatment or wait til the El Paso program sends one of their doctors once a month to hold a clinic that is always jammed packed. Basically, until I switch over, which is complicated process, I am without a bariatric doctor. I was recently admitted to the hospital for a NON-lapband issue, where I had lost alot of blood due to a complication from a surgical procedure. I had lost so much blood that I was passing out and was totally disorientated. A very scary experience! I was almost certain that my emergency was not lapband related, however, I wanted to take every precaution that everything was ok with the band. My band was never checked and the only thing I was asked if I was experiencing stomach pains. A GI doctor came to talk to me and his response to the band was "What do you want us to do?" Yeah right! Are ER's and medical staff well prepared enough to handle emergencies with lapbands is my greatest fear right now. In mine and other people's opinions, Shirley should have never been released from the hospital and WHY was she? Would like to hear your opinions and would very much welcome feedback from people working in the medical field. Jake