OregonHolly

I have terrible pain when my food gets stuck. It's right in the upper center of my back around the bra band area and just above it too. It feels like a professional football player hurled a football right into my back. It burns and aches so bad and it's hard to even sit or stand. I've been banded 4 years and have lost 82 lbs. It helps to sit on the floor bent over forward until my forehead touches the floor. Then I lay on a heating pad. Some days I'm still tight, after all these years. Other days I'm not. I just live with it.

I've had a lap band for 4 years, and have lost 82 lbs. I still have port pain intermittently. When you get pretty lean (I'm size 8 now) your port is pretty obvious. I find it's easier to bump, etc (not as cushioned.) It's never been anything of any big consequence, just something I've learned to live with. When I'm constipated, it's especially bad.

I was banded Oct 9, 2007. It's been an interesting journey. I started off at 207 lbs; today I weigh 157. The lowest weight I achieved was 149 - pretty far from my goal of 125. Well, not THAT far, but you know what I mean. I'm only 5 feet tall. I had many fills and unfills, I got completely obstructed 3 times where I was refluxing so bad I was aspirating into my lungs every time I lay flat. An unfill is a BIG setback. In the past 3 years I have joined a gym, then quit, then rejoined, then quit. Next I'm doing the HGC diet for 3 weeks. Then it's back to the gym. I turned a bedroom into a nice exercise studio and I use it for awhile, then it becomes a junk room, then I clean it out and exercise again, then start hanging laundry on the treadmill again.... It's a process. But I never give up. So the band hasn't resulted in complete freedom, but it's kept me from packing the pounds back on at an alarming rate, it's generally good for weight maintenance. It took a year until I had a good fill, and even then - it wasn't just an ongoing sweet spot, it varied from day to day. If it's tight enough to really curb my appetite one day, then I'm obstructed shortly thereafter. There's a very small margin of safety for me. But the journey continues, and I'm not done yet!

Thank God, Valerie. I'm so glad, you gave me some hope. I was so discouraged. It's constantly raining and snowing here in Oregon and I've been stuck indoors (except for going to work of course) and I had thought that by Feb I'd be skiing down the powdered white Oregon mountain slopes -- not wilting indoors depressed. I'm SO glad for your update. I needed to hear it. Congratulations!

Hi gang - I haven't posted in forever. Me, one of the original "tenacious tens!" I haven't been very tenacious. I'm glad to see so many doing well, losing weight and staying positive! I personally am not doing well. I've had 4 fills and no restriction yet. I begged and argued and complained loud enough that finally the doc agreed to fill under flouro, which will happen Monday Feb 4th. Waiting months for the "tool" to start acting like a tool has been discouraging to say the least. Frankly it broke my heart and my spirit. I can't even hardly remember what it was like those first few postop days when a small amount of food was filling. If it weren't for the 5 scars, I'd never have known I had surgery at all. It's just back to yo-yo dieting for me. I hope and pray that Monday I'll finally find out what's going on, and maybe they will fill it up until it's restricted. If you go over to the "fills" folder, you'll see many, many people who are just like me. Many people go 7 months before they are restricted, needing up to 7 - 8 cc's to notice their "tool" working, and when your doc will only fill you at 0.5 cc per month, it takes a LONG time to get there. I wish I'd have known this before I had it done. I did a LOT of research, but I still only expected to wait a couple of months or so to notice the restruction that I paid dearly for out of my life savings. I had no idea how LONG the wait would really be. The whole time I'm wondering "What the heck? Is something wrong with my band? Maybe they poked a hole in the tubing during a blind-stick fill? What's wrong with me? Why can't I stick to my 'diet'?" It's been hell gang, a very unhappy experience so far. I hope to find the light at the end of the tunnel, and get to posting again with regularity. Oh, I'm down around 22 lbs or so, give and take a pound. I haven't lost anything since..... I'd say the end of November. Everybody else, you're doing great and I'm really happy for you - especially you with aggressive doctors who are generous with fills! To those of you who have just lost weight because you're tenacious - well, that's what we came together to be I guess. I need to kick myself in the rear end and remember......... I AM A TENACIOUS TEN. Not a failure. Tenacious means that I won't give in to despair and give up.

Guess what Valerie, I took your advice and called the surgeon's office and raised hell. I said "If I can't get another fill until after the holidays, I will gain back everything I've lost." So they scheduled me for Dec 20th! Yay, persistence pays off! So this will be my 3rd fill. Fingers are crossed for SOME restriction this time. Thanks for the encouragement and good advice!

I've had 2 fills now and no restriction going on yet. The first fill the doc couldn't draw any Fluid back but said "I'm in!" and now I wonder........ The 2nd fill a new nurse practitioner did it and she worked VERY hard at it, making me lie flat and then lifting my head up to tighten my stomach muscles, which lifts the port. She poked for a bit with no success, and withdrew the needle and took a breather. Then she went to the opposite side of the exam table and looked at me and said "how are you doing?" and I said "GO for it!" This time she had success, and pulled out 2 cc. Then she put those 2 back in and added .7 to it. It's the APS band so I think it holds 10. She asked it I wanted Lidocaine because on the first fill I did have it, but she said it makes it harder to find the port, because it makes a lump under the skin. So this time I said "OK no Lidocaine, just do it" and guess what? No big deal at all, no difference noted between Lidocaine and NO Lidocaine. I'll never use it again. But now I have to wait until January for another fill, and I'm having a hard time being patient. I know this is all typical Bandster Hell stuff, but it feels like this was a bad joke and I threw $16,000 out the window and it's flying in the wind for all the people to pick up. I work at "dieting" since that's the only thing I can do right now while waiting. I want to join Weight Watchers, but haven't. I do all the other "rules." My weight is just stable, not losing unless I return to all liquids, which I attempt over and over. I'm reading a self-help book, and it says that many people are ambivalent about change - that it's intimidating because it's a journey into the unknown, so the committment to change is often wavering. The author says "people don't need to be 100% committed to change....... you only need to be at least 51% committed, because that will keep your momentum going forward." So I think of that quote a lot. When faced with a food challenge I say "Can I put something towards that 51% today?" and it helps me, because I can usually say "yes, I can do that today, at least for this meal." Maybe when I get some restriction finally, I'll be able to raise that percentage. But for now, it's only willpower and dieting pushing me on. We all know, all too well, how long that lasts. But I can go one more percent. That seems like a speedbump to climb - not a mountain. There is a lot of mind power needed when you have a lap band. I knew going in, that there would be, but I had no idea just how much would be required. Would I do it again? I don't know yet. Right now I don't see the point. Maybe that point lies somewhere in 2008 for me.

I posted this already on the thread "when is your first fill?" but I think this thread would have been more appropriate - for those who HAVE been filled. So here is cut/paste of what I wrote: I have just returned home after my first fill. The doc told me that all bands are "primed" with 3-4 cc of saline during surgery, and I checked Allergan's instruction manual (for surgeons, available online) and indeed these are the instructions that Allergan gives. Priming the tubing replaces all the "dead space" with Fluid. That amount shouldn't provide restriction. So today he put 1 cc in my band, no flouro - 1 poke but with a little searching. I don't notice any restriction. He said to call next week and we'll schedule another fill if I don't notice restriction. He doesn't wait a month between fills (he said "that just wastes time.") I'm all for that. I notice lots of people say they got 4cc or 3 cc or whatever, on the first fill. It makes you wonder - since bands are filled during surgery with 3 cc, if those docs are doing fills by adding an additional 4 cc,s or they add 1 cc to make a total of 4 cc.

I have just returned home after my first fill. The doc told me that all bands are "primed" with 3-4 cc of saline during surgery, and I checked Allergan's instruction manual (for surgeons, available online) and indeed these are the instructions that Allergan gives. Priming the tubing replaces all the "dead space" with Fluid. That amount shouldn't provide restriction. So today he put 1 cc in my band, no flouro - 1 poke but with a little searching. I don't notice any restriction. He said to call next week and we'll schedule another fill if I don't notice restriction. He doesn't wait a month between fills (he said "that just wastes time.") I'm all for that. I notice lots of people say they got 4cc or 3 cc or whatever, on the first fill. It makes you wonder - since bands are filled during surgery with 3 cc, if those docs are doing fills by adding an additional 4 cc,s or they add 1 cc to make a total of 4 cc.

I just returned home after my first fill. My doc put in 1cc which I questioned. He said it takes 3-4 cc's of saline to "prime the band" (fill the dead space with fluid) at the time of surgery. So he added 1 more cc. He said to call him next week if I don't notice any restriction and he'd schedule me for another fill.

That's a good idea, I'm gonna go look at the Oct 06 tickers. I love to look at the before/after pics too! Even though this stage is a bit tedious to endure, I'm still glad I didn't have a bypass. Bobble head Star Jones - that cracked me up!

Ben, you're so lucky!! Your doc must have put a little fill in your band during surgery or something, because you have some unexplained restriction. I'm green with envy! After I work out, I can't get enough Water. I'm guzzling it without nausea, pain or any feeling that it fills me up. By the way ...... I'm realizing how the pieces all fall into place when you start "working the rules"......... working up a good sweat during a workout really makes you thristy and crave that 64 oz of water - what a concept! Before I worked out regularly I just couldn't figure out how everyone managed to drink that much water. Now after I finish a workout I drink about 32 oz just in the next hour alone.