LuckyGirl

After having my band for 5 years, I had to have it removed in an emergency situation. The dr said there was a ton of scar tissue on my stomach and my port site. Now, one year later, I am still noticing pain in both places. My husband says it is from the scar tissue. I am convinced some of us handle foreign objects in our body better than others. My body obviously wasn't happy and fought it. Now, when I strain my stomach - doing sit ups or sitting up fast, i have deep pain at the port site. Not fun!

Hey Donna, I think the only reason we had pain was because our tubing got loose and was poking us in our insides - sort of like a sharp knife because the tubing is pretty hard on the ends. If you are not having pain your tubing must still be attached or in the same place - which is a good thing:) That is why you have to get it fixed quickly before it travels!

My doctor has never said anything about Ibuprofen and I take it often. I hope its just the port for your sake. Mine offered to fix it in the office for a reasonable fee but I waited too long and it started moving down into my belly so I had to go under and get it fixed. Yuck! Hope you don't have to do that! Good luck!

Sorry it took so long to respond. What happened? Did you get the surgery? I had surgery 1 day after we figured out my band was loose. Let me know how you are doing!

Hi TJ's Mama, Isn't the pain horrible?? I thought something major was wrong - like my appendix had burst! I feel great after surgery and there was no damage that I could tell. I think my doctors office thought I was lying about the pain but it was so intense I couldn't hardly move. It started on one side and moved to the other which had me all confused. I first thought appendix, then ovaries and because it was moving I thought colon.... crazy! Hope it gets better. No, my band was not recalled that I know of.

I do not have the realize band. I think I have the Lapband - is that made by Allergen... I do not know how these things break and we are supposed to be responsible...

Hey Gary, I had my follow up this week. All is well. I demanded a little more than he wanted to put in and found myself choking on my spit so I had to go right back in for a small unfil. It feels nice to have restriction again too! He said mine broke at the pin, by the port so he had to replace the section. I talked to him about sleeping on it and he said sleeping on it is fine - that the tubing is so deep in the stomach that rolling on it will not break it. I am just paranoid because I want it to stay good for a long time! Glad you are well. I was talking to someone with a sleeve yesterday and was wondering if I had done the right thing - having to maintain this thing and get fills often but I concluded that for me this was the best option. I never want the opportunity to stretch my stomach or get back to my old eating habits. The band seems to keep me straight! Take care!

Hi Gary, Glad to hear it went well! I should have done mine in the office right away because waiting a few weeks may have given it too much time to travel. He said mine was a break too. Sometimes it can leak at the port or at the middle pin but I think mine was just plain broken in the middle. I will find out more when I get my fill in a couple of days. I have a 4 cc band and 3.25 was good so I am hoping he puts at least 2.5 in this week. I have gained like 5 pounds so I am ready for a fill! I have been a freak about my port - not sleeping on it or anything... I do not want this thing to mess up again! Thanks for the update!

Hey Gary, It was just like the previous 2 surgeries (for the band and the slip). They put me under. I had to wait til the end of the day though so I went over 24 hours without any food or water! That sucked! The recovery was about the same too. About 4 full days of pain and then it let up. I just took it easy. I was given hydrocodone for pain which was great but found out it makes you constipated. So for a few days things were going in and nothing was coming out so I felt like I was blowing up and would pop! I don't know if that is true - you may want to ask your dr - if pain meds do that to you. All I know is finally stopped taking it and stuck to just ibuprofen and things started to flow. Plus, I had all that air stuck in my abdomen from the surgery which takes a few days to leave. My shoulder was killing me that night in the hospital because of that! Hope it all goes well. Are they putting you under? Please post and let us know how it goes! good luck! oh, i have a fill scheduled for next week so hopefully everything will be up and running again soon!

Hey all, Update: once we figured out it was leaking I was scheduled to have it repaired in office. I asked for a flouro so we could make sure we knew exactly where it was. It took 2 weeks for me to get the flouro and first they took a shot of my abdomen. Found that the tubing had completely come loose on one side and was floating around in my belly - like a snake. It was causing so much pain - poking me everywhere. I had to end up going in for surgery to repair the tubing. Insurance did not cover the repair - i had to come out of pocket quite a bit. sucks but hopefully this will be it!

Hey Gary, Well I went in and he attempted to pull out fluid and got none so he said def a leak. Basically, insurance, although it paid for my band and slip, will not pay for a tube repair so I have to pay 500 to do it in the office. If I wanted to go to the hospital it would cost 5k... no thanks! really sucks but what are you gonna do - gotta fix it! oh well, kind of like expensive tires! let me know how yours turns out. oh and port doesn't hurt when I lay on it but its uncomfortable, i can feel it. I just wonder if all that laying on it for 4 years made it leak... who knows!

Hi Gary, Let us know how it goes. I go in tomorrow to talk to him about the leak. Something is going on but you know I sleep on that side and I am always dealing with positioning my pillow so that I am comfortable by my port - maybe I knocked it loose... who knows but I am like you =- I love my band and it's sort of like a car that needs maintenance. I will continue to do what I have to do to keep it!

I will have had my band 4 years in December. I did slip in the first year and had it fixed but all has been well since then. I went in for a fill the other day and the doctor could hardly get any fluid out. He said, "uh-oh!" He went ahead and gave me more fluid but I can eat just about anything. I wonder how I am going to have this fixed... is it a real surgery or in office? I was insurance pay so it should pay for this too. I said as long as insurance keeps paying for the upkeep I will keep the band... sucks though!

My band slipped after about 6 months. Pretty sure it started when I threw up Pad Thai... had problems for a few months and had it repositioned. All has been great since then but now I think I have a leaking port. My husband asked if it was worth it.... I said, heck yeah, I am still 50lbs lighter than I was.

I do not know of a way to have it paid for but 40k seems excessive to me! I think they are doing them for around 10k-12k here in Texas...

From those of you struggling and needing support - I can tell you I slipped my band a year after getting it. Mostly from eating the wrong things and drinking with my food. When I thought I would lose the band forever, it kicked my butt back into reality. I got the band fixed and I have tried very hard to take care of it. For any of you who have had an unfill - you know that the cravings come back immediately and that old feeling of no control comes right back. The band is my friend and I will love it and protect it so I never lose it!! Just wanted to mention that to anyone struggling!! When the band is tight enough - you have control. If you don't it's not tight enough...

From those of you struggling and needing support - I can tell you I slipped my band a year after getting it. Mostly from eating the wrong things and drinking with my food. When I thought I would lose the band forever, it kicked my butt back into reality. I got the band fixed and I have tried very hard to take care of it. For any of you who have had an unfill - you know that the cravings come back immediately and that old feeling of no control comes right back. The band is my friend and I will love it and protect it so I never lose it!! Just wanted to mention that to anyone struggling!!

Hi everyone, I have a good friend who has had her band 7 years this month. Her weight has fluctuated a little over time but for the most part she is still super skinny. she doesn't eat much and she has had some plastic surgery. So for long term results it is possible to still do well with the band! I am 3 years out. Lost 70 + and gained 15 to 20 back. I have found that my thyroid was not working at all and so that explains some of the reason I stopped losing weight. I am getting that back on track and trying now to lose the 20 lbs again. I find I have to keep my band pretty tight. If there is the slightest relief I eat too much and find myself forcing the food. It,s better for me to be too tight to try too much... I still love the band and wouldn"t change a thing. I did slip it after 1 year and had to have it replaced but felt awesome after that surgery...

Hey Ej, You might want to keep an eye on your discharge... I know that's gross but that's when you are usually ovulating - when you have a slimy whitish discharge. You can usually see it on your undies or on your tp when you wipe - I know - gross and tmi but seriously - that's what I look for and it's easier to see that than use an ovulation kit! Read some of the baby websites about this..

hello, i am sitting up in my recliner at 1am in the morning because my band has slipped and i have surgery in 8 hours. i have reflux so bad i can't lay down so i am just going to sit straight in the recliner til the alarm goes off. here's my story: I got the band a year and a half ago. Last fall, i started having problems. threw up really bad and started having this terrible reflux. I call it my "gurgling" because when i lay down it constantly gurgles and if i relax or fall asleep this liquid shoots up from esophagus into my throat - choking me and getting into my lungs. not fun! i went in for a barium swallow and saw that my pouch had dilated but that the band was still in place. they took all the fill out and everything returned to normal. month or 2 later - gurgling is back. take out all fill. i never could get back to 1.5 in my band like before. i could get to .6 and that was about it. all of a sudden last week- my enemy mr. gurgle is back and it keeps getting worse. i met my dr. at the hospital yesterday for an unfill and it didn't get better. went back today and he made me do a swallow. x=rays showed my band is slipped way down. i start crying and thinking its all my fault. he insists that it wasn't me but I still think it is. he says he had another patient with the same thing and she had lost a bunch of weight and the band can slip down and throwing up or putting pressure on it adds to this move. anyway, i am scheduled to h6ve it repaired in the morning. i am scared to go through this again and even more scared that there would be a complication and i would wake up without my band - that would be terrible. i have lost 75lbs (current weight 168)and have about 15 to go. if all goes well, i hope to lose these next 15 pounds and then stay at a restriction that allows me to maintain - not gain. this is my story, hope it helps!

I recently found out from a nurse/bandster/friend that when they secure your port they sometimes also tie up nerves. It sometimes takes these nerves months to die or whatever so that explains why sometimes we feel port pain for months after surgery and then all of a sudden it disappears. This may not be what you are feeling now but a lightbulb went off for me when i heard this so i thought i'd share!

oh, and the part about feeling it passing through the band - with restriction you have such a small hole that when the food finally passes through - you feel it! sometimes it feels like a kerplunk.... and if you raise your arms or stretch your stomach different ways you can feel it fall though too! a while back i started feeling it going through much too easy so i thought i needed a fill - even though i was still tight at times. i was wrong - my fill was way too tight and i had a nightmare of a time getting normal again. i plan on waiting till it gets to where the food is going down easy all of the time - not just sometimes - then filliing it just a little bit.

welcome to the real band. i too thought that i would feel pleasantly full and then the band would slowly feed my stomach. not so, with good restriction, i have found that i am not comfortable when i have food in my pouch. only when it has moved through and my pouch is empty do i feel good. truthfully, the band itself is not so much fun, but the weight loss rocks... a trade off i guess. i hurt more times than not when i eat - unless i eat liquids, mushies, or crunchies, i usually feel so discomfort. if i eat a sandwich i eat teeny, tiny bites - but i have had maybe 2 sandwiches in the past 6 months... maybe you'll get better news from others but this has been my experience!! good luck!

Hi Butterfly, Congrats on taking another step in this journey. It will be scary at times - but well worth it in the end. I have had my band 8 months (lost 54) and love it - not every moment - sometimes it's not so fun, but when I look in the mirror each morning and see a skinnier person it is worth every hard moment. Take care and this is a good spot for support!!

Hey all- i was banded 12/19 and have lost 50. I too sometimes feel like I slow down but then all of a sudden i'll drop 2-3 lbs in one week and then nothing for a few weeks... very frustrating. at my support group this week some people were talking about going back on the pre-op diet every once in a while to kickstart weight loss again... I'm just happy adjusting to my new body but i can definitely see how i'm going to be addicted to weight loss for the rest of my life. you know some people turn to alcohol or other addictions when they give up food - i think i am getting addicted to losing weight. i constantly think about it. if i'm sitting still for too long i start doing leg lifts or something to excercise. on vacation last week i had to swim in the pool or walk on the beach every day in order to feel good - i was deathly afraid of gaining 2 or 3 lbs on my trip as it takes a few weeks to usually lose that much weight! one of the girls in my group who has lost over 100 lbs in 4 years with her band said she got like that too. when she got to a size 10 she was happy but then and 8 and then a 6 and then she would aim for a 4. it becomes an obsession. i think after all the weight comes off i'll probably be wanting surgery to make my body better. it all seems weird to me as all my life i have obsessed about my weight but now finally the weight is coming off and i don't want it to stop anytime soon. i'm sure i sound like a crazy person but i am so happy that i have this band and for the first time in my life i can see that i might one day actually be a skinny person - what will that be like?!