Has anyone traveled to a developing/Third World country while banded?

[RainyDay 0]

My husband is from a very underdeveloped country (Bangladesh) and we need to visit there for a few weeks every year or two. I'm not yet banded, but I am leaning heavily toward it and hoping to have it done sometime in spring or summer.

When I visited Bangladesh last year, I lost 20 pounds in a month. The food is so different even than the South Asian food I eat here in the US, and I just lost my taste for food. Additionally, there is traveling sickness and extreme heat and accompanying risk of dehydration to deal with.

I do worry about going to Bangladesh and having some band complication that cannot be resolved there. I guess I'm wondering what would be your plan if you had an overseas issue? If I am 6-8 months out from surgery by the time I go, is it likely that any band-related problem I might have could wait a few days at minimum for me to travel back to the US?

I have been reading this forum a lot and it seems like a lot of people have a delayed reaction to fills. If I just made sure not to get a fill for 4-6 weeks before travel, do you think that would be sufficient?

I will ask these questions of the bariatric nurses and surgeon at my clinic but I'd like to hear what you all think and if any of you have experience with fairly extreme travel while banded?

On the plus side, I'm sure climbing in and out of a rickshaw at a smaller size will be a much more pleasant experience than it was last time!

[hijabigirl1973 0]

That's a good question! Well I'm not too familiar with things in Bangladesh at all but I know that sooner or later we will be traveling to Jordan so my plan of action is to research to see if there are any good band doctors there and contact them before I get over there and to meet with them once I do get there. Do you know if there are any band doctors at all there? If not what about neighboring countries?

[RainyDay 0]

I don't know but I will start researching. Amazingly, I did see an obesity clinic in Dhaka, Bangladesh, so it's possible there are band doctors. India has an emerging WLS industry but I don't know if we'd be able to just jaunt on over to Chennai if something serious went wrong. Things just don't move quickly over there, bureaucracy-wise. So that scares me a little! You are right, though, I'll need to make some contacts.

[stepoffaith 0]

You asked a question I was wondering about. I am just starting too and have been contemplating a trip to Africa in March but don't know if it will coincide with all my band plans so haven't made a decision. Wondering how safe it will be- thanks for voicing my concerns. Any help out there?

[new_me_2008 1]

My work requires a lot of travel and some to 3rd world countries. I went to India 4 weeks to the day after banding. In addition, I have been to all parts of Asia with no issue. I carry my dr's card, my American express (for their global assist program) and an intl cell phone just in case but I never had any issues.

Good luck - don't let anything delay you getting the band - its the best thing ever!

[RainyDay 0]

Thank you so much! I do have a world phone now so that should be a good option, as it's not always easy to get to a phone in Bangladesh and many don't have home phones (my ILs don't. They have a half dozen cells.)

I appreciate the advice!

[Allison925 1]

I've traveled to the Philippines, Egypt, Thailand and Southern Africa all since being banded. I think the most important thing is to just be prepared ahead of time. I highly highly recommend travel insurance anytime out of the country. Not only will they cover your medical costs if something goes wrong, but they will pay and arrange your evacuation to get you to a place or that can properly help/treat your banding problem if necessary, or simply get you home immediately.

Additionally, I suggest you get an unlocked quad-band phone from eBay. They're cheap enough, and then where you arrive in your destination you simply buy a SIM card for a local carrier (they're a few dollars usually) and load it with prepaid cards.This way you can always stay in touch, and not pay the $3.99 a minute that your US phone with charge you (if it even works there).

My last suggestion would be to get to know your band. If before you're leaving it's still finikey (ie pb-ing at random, etc), get a slight unfill before leaving. Obviously you won't have the same restriction, but it will lessen your chances of having a problem while out of the country. I'm not a professional, so take that for what it's worth, but that's how I go about traveling.

Hope this helps some! Enjoy your trip!

[Iluvcarbs 0]

Allison you had some great suggestions. Thanks for posting them.

[anonemouse 1]

I was actually interested in this, also, because I'm considering joining the Peace Corps and would probably be located in a third-world country.

[jjsmiles 3]

You would probably need to consider some of the following:

1. Travel Insurance - check into very carefully - most insurance will not cover "pre-existing" medical issues, particularly if you have had any treatment in up to the last year (and the insurance company would consider a fill a treatment and would likely consider a dr's appointment with a specialist a treatment)

2. Vomiting - I don't know about the rest of the world, but I can PB very easily, but I have not been able to vomit since being filled. I would be worried that if I ate something that disagreed with me or got a parasite or something I would not be able to get sick.

3. Is there anyone in the area I am visiting able to help me if I get into trouble? - if you are going to visit family, maybe they can help get you some information before you go.

I don't know - I think I would seriously think about getting defilled if I were spending a significant period of time in a third world country if I couldn't ensure that I could be helped if I got into trouble.

One thing to note (and it is kind of gross), but if you end up with a bowel obstruction or some other kind of gastrointestinal issue, if your lap band is filled, you cannot receive an NG tube (a tube they stick up your nose and snake down into your stomach and attach to a suctioning device) blindly. That is to say, with your restricted stomach opening they need to do the NG tube (a very standard treatment) with a flouroscopy or something similar. If the country does not have the equipment available or does not understand your issue, you could have severe complications, if they go in blindly, which is normal practice. I have an ileostomy and have had to have an NG tube a couple of times and I have to tell you it is incredibly unpleasant at the best of times.:biggrin:

[TulipStar 2]

These are some good suggestions on here. I travel a lot. Mostly to Europe for my current project but last year I spent a lot of time in developing countries in Asia.

I always take food with me. I pack food that I know I can eat like Protein bars and oatmeal packets. The oatmeal is great because you can just add bottled Water to it.

Also, make sure you are not having any problems with keeping down food at least 1-2 weeks before. Last week I got a fill on Wed, then liquids/mushies for 4 days which meant on Sunday I could eat again. Well, Sunday was the day I left for Europe and I couldn't keep anything down. It was pretty awful PB'ing every single day. So just make sure you can tolerate food well.

[RainyDay 0]

I forgot about this thread! I really appreciate all the info here! I was lucky enough not to have any major traveling sickness last time I went overseas but I'm scared about it happening in the future. Luckily most traveling sickness is diarrhea without vomiting. (If you can call diarrhea lucky!)

I talked to my DH and he said it would be pretty easy for us to go to India if need be for treatment so unless it was a dire emergency, we could go to Chennai and get things resolved (guess I have to talk to some folks who've been banded in India!)

[globetrotter 0]

I travel about half of every month to the 3rd world. I dont' usually think about seeing a doctor for a fill or anything like that - but I like to know that there is a reasonable hospital around in case of emergency. I haven't had any emergencies, though. both Dhaka and Chennai have good, clean hospitals.

[gingerbug 3]

My doc told me to let him know if I was traveling to remote areas, he will remove the liquid before and put it back afterwards.

[travel_anna 1]

Your other option is to look into medical evacuation insurance. I worked in remote Africa for a month last year and it cost me about $62.00 to ensure evacuation insurance incase of a medical emergency - I wasn't banded at the time, so I don't know if there are restrictions to that. The only restriction I saw was for things like getting injured while bungee jumping or white Water rafting (ie: you put yourself at risk). Typically, if it is a business trip, the company you work for will have some type of coverage for employees.

Anna