Slip or No Slip?

[Melanie1972 0]

HI all. I was banded 11/07, and I've lost 88 pounds to date. My last fill, Oct08, took me from 4.5cc to 5.5cc and was finally giving me decent restriction. I noticed recently that i felt a little tighter than usual on my "tight days", and I started to PB a bit, which had only been a very occasional problem. I tried to chew better, slower, be very careful, etc. Last week it got worse, could only drink Water, and very little at that, and went to Doctor yesterday. He took out 1cc and ordered a barium swallow. I could gulp down the cup of Water immediately after the unfill (that was impossible prior), which he said is a good sign, but I may have a slip. I am pretty close to my goal weight, but I want the band to continue to work for me. Anyone have ideas or similar experience? And, also, has the unfill technique worked to fix the slip for you?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Melanie

[kgloverii 0]

Melanie,

The constant PBing just irritates your stomach and makes you tighter and tighter, often creating a cycle you cannot get out of until you get an unfill to relieve the pressure. I went through something very similar and was unable to eat ANYTHING, only drink hot liquids. My upper GI came out just fine, I was just way too tight. I am betting that is what is going on with you. Keep us posted!

[Melanie1972 0]

Thanks for your comment. I will stay hopeful. I may be a tad nervous because the "S" word is just the last thing a banded person wants to hear.

Take Care,

Melanie

[Melanie1972 0]

Well hello again! Sorry for the delay in response, but I got the barium swallow, and the band is there, but it is not squeezing at all. The stomach is exactly as it would look w/o the band, shapewise, withe the band around it. I go to the surgeon again on Monday for a fill. I don't understand why there is no "squeeze" at all, but I need a fill badly!!! I've been struggling not to gain any weight, since I'm back to being able to eat ANYTHING! Looking forward to some restriction again.

Melanie

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

There should be some fill in your band unless they did a complete unfill instead of just taking out some saline. If they say that they only did a partial unfill, make sure they remove all the saline before they push it back in along with what they are adding that day. That way you know absolutely how much is in your band. Some amount of saline does "evaporate" (for lack of a better word) over time so when they did the unfill recently, you may not have had as much saline in your band as you thought. Now's as good a time as any to verify the level of fill.

The very few people who have mentioned slippage on the forums I read have pretty much all said that they had a complete unfil followed by a week or two of liquids only, and then re-start the fill process.

[Melanie1972 0]

Thanks for the reply! This time he only took out the 1cc he had most recently placed, but each time that I've had a fill he has taken out all the liquid and replaced with new. I can't tell you how relieved I was to see the band on the UGI moniter and to know there wasn't anything wrong with the band! I will definitely ask him Monday what the level of Fluid remaining was so we can consider this.

Take care!

Melanie

[kimlparker 0]

:tongue_smilie:Hi, I've been offline for a while and am having possible chronic slip. I appreciate anyone who can help me. I was banded 12/07. Did well for a while, then due to life complications, just kep steady through last November, too embarrassed to go back for a check up. I had no problem eating, just slowly and few pb episodes. On April 30 2009 I had an Anterior Cervical Discectomy with fusion and for the next two weeks had pudding, ice cream etc. due to esophogeal swelling. When I started eating sold food again, I found I could only eat mabe 1/2 of what I could eat before. Then it became that I had pb issues with every meal, even one bite of chicken. Finally I pb'ed after 1 bite of salad and called the doc. My doctor told me I had symptoms of a slippage (oh-also had pain from port area across stomach), removed saline from band, and he sent me for upper gi. That was Friday. The radiologist didn't say anything, but I saw the photo and the pouch seemed prety enlarged. Since I was in pain, the GI guy sent me to the ER at my local hospital with a CD of my study. I called my bariatric doc on call and he talked to my doc. Then he told me that my er doc said the barium was barely moving through at all, and with this symptom, plus the pain, and my description he said it sounded like Chronic Slip and he would try to get my ER to transmit the gi results to him in Hartford so he could compare. Apparently Hippa prohibited this, so ER sent me home.

Later that evening, the pain got intense and my whold abdomen got distendd and painful, like when you limp because of appendicitis pain. I was limping due to pain. My Bariatric on call doctor told me to immediately travel to Hartford so he could see the GI study and have me evaluated. They did a CT scan- surprise- it showed the barium from earlier in the day, so inconclusive. They never even looked a the CD. So on my cell, I called the on call doc again. He couldn't believe they didn't look at the disc and said he would have my bariatric surgeon call me asap Monday morning to discuss,. I was confused, wasn't the whole point of this getting the gi study to Hartford? ER docs gave me pain meds and sent me on my way. Also- the pain after I drank the ct constrast was like the worst stoppage I'd ever had. 2 hours lately It was gassy. I am still in stomach pain, like I've been throwing up or dry heaving for days and my abdomen is tender to the touch.

Please help- I am so worried- has anyone else ever had this happen?

Thanks,

Kim Parker kimlparker@earthlink.net

Edited June 14, 2009 by kimlparker
more info

[Melanie1972 0]

HI there. Since it's Monday, I assume you are already in contact with your doctor? Something is definitely going on, and I'm glad you are going back to the doctor. I don't have any answers, but you may just be inflamed from all the pb-ing and need to go back to a liquid diet. Keep us posted?

Good luck!

Melanie