Concerned about throwing up and band slips...

[Toddy 758]

I received a private message from a member that had seen a post about my band slipping after vomiting only two times. She was concerned about the details of what had happened to me and wanted more information. The following is what I sent to her and I thought it might be helpful to others as well:

Please don't worry!!! What you need to know first is there is a huge amount of difference between a PB (productive burp) where you regurgitate food that has not yet passed through the band (which can also include slimming) and actually throwing up. Throwing up is where the contents of your stomach below the band is forcefully expelled.

While PB's are not encouraged, neither are they harmful as far as causing a band to slip. The vast majority of banded people do experience PB's while they're learning how to eat properly. After each fill I have, I seem to have to go through a learning process of how to eat with the new fill, and that process can include occasional PB'ing.

Now, as far as my band slip... apparently it is extremely rare to have a band slip within eight months after surgery. My surgeon is a very good surgeon in Nashville who practices with three other surgeons in a Center of Excellence weight loss surgery clinic. He was absolutely shocked when the test showed that my band had slipped. It was the earliest slip they had ever had in their clinic. He questioned me several times about how much I had actually vomited, and I don't think he really believed that I had only vomited twice... I did ask him specifically if there was a distinction between vomiting and regurgitation (because I had regurgitated several times) and he said yes -- he was specifically interested in how many times I had actually thrown up forcefully. Both times I vomited were followed almost immediately by the most horrible pain I have ever experienced in my entire life and necessitated trips to the ER to have my band emptied. However, this is not the "norm" because my surgeon had never seen this happen to a patient before and he was as confused by it as I was.

So even if you do actually throw up, just go back on liquids and call your doctor and see what he recommends. Down the road, if your band does happen to slip, there will be signs. So if you're not having any problems and can keep liquids down, you're probably just fine. My doctor and I both believe that my case was just a "fluke".

[line-dancer 810]

mine did the same thing in 6 mos. he said next time the first time I have a forcefull vomiting to csll him and get it unfilled to provent the slippage. I will for sure because its a long 6-8 wks to get back to green and it is costly...hope my new insurance pays the bill just to check it out and take all out of the band was $900. but then having surgery.