STUPID f'n band! what is WRONG!!!

[shellyj. 0]

oh megan, i am soooo sorry to hear of yet another long term bandster having these problems!!!

i am at the same place you are. i am TIRED!

i am tired of waiting after the unfills for a refill only to have to get unfilled again.

i am tired of all the tests, poking and prodding.

i am tired of all the money i have spent on these tests and fills/unfills.

i am tired of the lack of information- no dr's knows what it could be, no dr's have heard this happening (yet here we are)

and most of all i am tired of all the emotion that goes into it- hoping it works *this time* only to be let down again. i am just sick of it ALL!!!

i know the bewilderment you feel at the smaller amounts of fill required. at one time i was at 3.4 cc's and had good restriction. currently 1.8 cc's seals me off to the point of choking on saliva. babs and i talked the other day about scar tissue that forms with each of these 'episodes' around where the band is placed and thats the reason you require less of a fill. however my dr said he didnt see any scar tissue.

i dont know what to say. the MAIN reason i got the band is so it would be adjustable for the next 10-15-20 years *whenever i needed it* and now i am faced with the facts that i will never have restriction again and adjustments are just a form of emotional and physical torture.

[leatha_g 4]

well put, shelly. that's exactly what it seems like... and it's only 3 years out..:faint:

[MeganA 35]

Thanks you guys...I was feeling so scared that I was the only one and that maybe I had done something wrong. I can't wait for the endoscopy so I can know the whole story. I am so scared to get another surgery but I am more scared to weigh 308.5 pounds.

Jack- I think the sadest thing for me through this whole "unfill" process is that I have learned that I have learned nothing and I know nothing about how to lose weight- without my band in working order. I thought after almost three years the habits would have been formed but the first time I could eat a whole plate of chinese food I remembered how goooooddddd it used to feel to do so. And just like a drug addict- I was hooked again. I need my band. I need something in place to stop me for I can not stop myself.

Megan

[Alexandra 55]

Shelly, first of all, that's great news that your band doesn't have to come out! I know exactly how you feel, that's how I felt when my doctor told me the same thing last month. So there IS good news!

It's so easy to put myself where you guys are...three years later I have a fill of .8 and I am as tight as I've ever been. Just at this moment I'm doing a coupla days of liquids to get myself over a hideous potato-chip-caused irritation, and it seems to be working, but I can very easily imagine that the tightness will get worse instead of better. Somehow, though, I'm not really worried...yet.

Fingers crossed for all of you...all of us. This is the no-man's-land of banded life that no one could tell us about before, since almost no one (in this country) had gotten here. Now we're here and we just have to find a way to make it work for us.

[shellyj. 0]

megan- please let us know how the scope goes!

alex- i hope your swelling continues to go down!

i am open to any ideas we can come up with, so far all i have is eat less and exercise more.

[fda1643 0]

I hope everything gets better for you. I can't even imagine how much this stinks. Hopefully a doctor can help you.

good luck,

Samantha

[MeganA 35]

Had the endoscopy and everything looks fine! I'm very relieved. This last fill seems to be a really good one and I am no longer driven crazy by hunger. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch but I feel like maybe I've reached a good place. What I have learned, though is that I need to maximize the opportunity and not let the band do all the work. Good choices and exercise here I come!

How is everyone else doing? Shelly? Babs? Leatha?

Megan

[leatha_g 4]

Had the endoscopy and everything looks fine! Megan

Woohoo! Good news! Do you get stop signs with this new fill??

My band is very subtle now. I know it's there, but my esophagus just doesn't seem to get the message. I'm still managing my portions and trying to stick with good choices MOST OF THE TIME, but I haven't lost in forever. I'm strictly maintaining.. which is still a Godsend, compared to being without a band.

[shellyj. 0]

thats great news megan! the endo gives peace of mind for sure. i can feel your enthusiam and i hope this is your sweet spot!

i am supposed to get a fill 10-3 i am hoping that i get a mild curb in appetite. after that i will wait a month or so and get the motility test and barium swallow. if it looks good then i am not getting another fill!

[NancySmiles 2]

when you go see your dr i would,

remind him that at 1.5cc you were to tight

tell him the kinds of foods you are eating NOW at 1.25cc where you are to loose.

*to me* if you were to tight at 1.5 then i would get a SMALL FILL around .1 that would bring you from 1.25 up to 1.35cc. when you are close (feeling some restriction but not quite enough) then the smallest amount can make ALL the difference.

what kinds of foods are you eating? when the band is restricted *perfectly* its SOLIDS that fill you up. if you are eating things that are mushy or to saucey then you can eat unlimited amounts. it is very easy to eat around the band. you can be doing it without even knowing it. sometimes foods that are technically a solid, if cooked properly is really a mushy. or you would think of them as a solid but once you have chewed the heck out of it it goes down fine.

Thanks Shelly !!! I haven't been on much but thinking the same thing....getting a .1 or .2 fill....makes sense!

Hope you're doing better!

Nancy

[pxburne 0]

Please explain the fill and the .1. Please put your complaint in layman term so that those of us that is considering the band will understand.

thank you