5 years post op - pain, swelling and issues

[TrueFlame 0]

Hello All,

I had the lap band put in five years ago, and it hasn't been the best journey. I've had two revisions due to the band being punctured at fills, one in which it snapped and was poking me all over inside. We've never been able to find the sweet spot...it's either no restriction or so tight I can't get good Protein down.

So in the past 5 months or so I have had unexplained swelling in my feet, ankles and calves. My regular physcian says it's due to sitting at work. Long story short, I had my band released a little bit (like .5 cc) and it was so loose that I had no restriction. She put more in, no restriction filled it back to where it was too tight at one point and still no restriction. I am now scheduled for an endoscopy to see if I have band erosion.

Honestly, I feel like my body is rejecting the band. I'm holding Fluid everywhere...my belly feels like I have a bowling ball in it, my shoulders ache and my chiropractor today confirmed that he can tell my body has changed..he said my body is much tighter indicating to him I am full of fluids. My body hurts, my feet, ankles and knees are the worst...I can hardly stand to walk. I can't get comfortable when I try to sleep So I am wondering, have any of you been through this, and if you have, what did you do to help yourself? I cut out as much sodium in my diet to see if that was an issue, but it hasn't made a difference.

TIA!

[2muchfun 8,927]

Hello All,

I had the lap band put in five years ago, and it hasn't been the best journey. I've had two revisions due to the band being punctured at fills, one in which it snapped and was poking me all over inside. We've never been able to find the sweet spot...it's either no restriction or so tight I can't get good Protein down.

It seems as if every band failure is different. Sounds like you're heading to a removal? I don't really understand this first paragraph? There's no connection with the band and the port(except a long tube) so I don't quite understand the puncture? Hope there's no erosion.

I'm not too big on chiropractors. They'll say about anything to get a patient to sign up for a series of visits. But you know your own body so the inflammation must be real? Could be a reaction to the band or some other problem. Get a real MD's opinion. Good luck, it seems like getting straight answers from doctors these days can be so difficult with the status of the healthcare situation?

tmf