Elise

I'm glad that someone posted this issue, because it is quite pertinent to me. I was banded 2.5 years ago in the UK. Because I lived at the time quite far away from any doctor who did fills/band care I had many many complications, including a near-removal slippage and numerous fills and unfills. Despite this, I still managed to lose close to 50 pounds. After my last unfill in April, I gave my body a good rest up until a month ago, when I got filled again. So far, I have had no problems, even though my doc filled me quite a lot, and I thought I would immediately be too tight and experience those same problems again (mostly severe pbing - not on purpose!) Not so, as I learned a few important lessons in the half year I was totally unfilled: 1. THE GOLDEN RULE: know your body. I ignored so many signals that my particular body was giving me: being very tight in the mornings, which meant that I shouldn't shove some Breakfast down my throat just because I thought I needed to eat breakfast (years of mind training). Now I have a few cups of very hot coffee, wait an hour or two until my band is a little looser and have a small breakfast/lunch. I have the same problem with dinner: I'm very tight in the evenings. In the past I would try to eat Protein and cause agony as I either ate too fast, too big of chunks of meat, etc. etc. I now know that evenings are going to be difficult for me so I cut off eating no later than 6:00 p.m., and if I'm hungry later in the evening I have some Soup or sugar free jello/pudding. Please note, this works for me, other people know their bands work in different ways, but the most important thing is: know thy body, know thy band... 2. RECORDING EVERYTHING I EAT: This is a big pain, but if I don't do this (I use fitday.com) I am very liberal and imaginative with amounts/quantities of what I eat. I'm afraid that I am becoming too anal retentive by doing this, but I'd rather swap my obsession with eating, with an obsession of recording calories, carbs, etc. It is also quite eye-opening to see how much you actually eat, when you are convinced that you are eating itty bitty harmless portions or foods. Since I was pre-diabetic at some point, I really really watch my carbs, and try to stick to around 800 calories a day. Some days are easier, some more difficult but I try to be consistent. 3. ESTABLISH A LOCAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A FILL DOCTOR/SURGEON: I live in Europe and where I once lived in Poland there were no doctors at all who did this procedure, and every time I needed help I had to board a plane to London to get filled/unfilled. Obviously, this was not an ideal situation financially and when you're really ill from too tight of a fill, every moment you're not unfilled is agony. I have now moved to Vienna, Austria and have made contact with an American trained band surgeon who is 15 minutes from my house, and only does fills under x-ray. It is a huge relief to know that if I am too tight, or need some kind of an adjustment he is just a brief trip away. This is an extreme example (I know) but it is something to consider to those bandsters who go to Mexico and need to be treated by someone else in the U.S. Really think about your decision. In my case it was my only option at the time, I'm really glad I did it, but it hasn't been easy. 4. EXERCISE: Ugh, I hate it, really I do. So I'm trying to walk approx. 30 minutes a day as I can see a purpose to walking somewhere than sitting in a gym. I also bought an inflatable exercise ball that I use with various DVDs that I have bought via Amazon. This is the area where I need to see the biggest improvement. But I have noticed when I walk a lot the scale does move down if it's been a bit sluggish... My only regret is that I don't have a local (English-speaking) band community I can use for support. My husband and friends have been terrific, but I have to say that I learned all these very difficult lessons on my own. But the point is: I've learned and I'm losing again (10 pounds in 2.5 weeks). I'm so glad I kept my band. At times I thought it was my enemy... but the real enemy.. was ME! Hope this helps someone!!! (Sorry so long)

Alexandra, thank you for your response! I live in Europe, so I had my procedure/fills done in London by a very highly respected surgeon. He errs on the side of caution (hence the two weeks of liquid/mush after the fills), and I also had my fill done under fluoroscopy and everything was perfectly situated and measured. I think as this was my very first experience with eating after a fill, perhaps I ate the salmon either too fast, or didn't chew well enough. Salmon is pretty soft, so I didn't know how much more I could have chewed it ... and I know that I was feeling very good right up until I started the second half of the package. I just didn't get any of the typical "warning signs" that I had either eaten too fast or too much. This in a nutshell, is what is scaring me for the next time around. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I am a fast eater so maybe I really wasn't in touch with how slowly I should eat? ugggggghhhh....

Here's what happened and am still a bit freaked out: went for my first fill about 10 days ago. Felt fantastic after the first op (placement of the band) and as well after the fill. My surgeon told me to drink liquids for a week afterwards, and then mush for the 2nd week, and only after that attempt food. Well, after three days I felt so good and so hungry that I attempted a small package of flaked salmon. First half went down no problem. Waited an hour and tried the 2nd half. Immediately I started having some back pain (felt like food was stuck going down my spine, though I know that wasn't the case), followed by that choking/golf ball feeling. Nothing took the pain away and I started to vomit. Long story short: had to next day call the surgeon who took out 4 ccs (that's how much he originally put in) and he thought that would relieve the pain and pressure. It didn't. So the next day I was admitted to the hospital and x-rayed: from the pressure and vomiting of the salmon, my band had slipped and I had to have immediate surgery to replace the band. The doc said he might also have to remove the band, but luckily he was able to save it. I had immediate huge relief, and unfortunately face another round of surgery in 8 weeks to "re-buckle" the band. Then will be another period of 8 or so weeks until I can go back to the very beginning and go for my first fill. I'm trying to figure out the lessons I (should have) learned here. Obviously, I should have waited the full two weeks to have attempted to eat solids, but I felt so good on liquids/chunkier liquids after the fill, I didn't think that anything serious could happen eating some salmon. I was so wrong. Also, I didn't immediately have that pb feeling that everyone talks about, a feeling of "uncomfortableness" (that weird back-pain thing) only happened a few minutes before I was violently vomiting. I've talked to other bandsters who said they didn't follow the liquid/mush rules to the letter, and were just fine. Maybe I just wasn't "in tune" with my newly filled stomach, as it had just been three days. Obviously, the next time around I will follow my doctor's rules to the letter, but I guess my question (sorry so long-winded) is how will I know next time that whatever I'm eating is too much? I'm still a bit freaked out over the whole experience!

I am still pre-first fill but the way my surgeon explained it to me - and I hope that I have this right (why/how much fill we need/how frequently) has to do with weight loss itself. As we lose weight, we lose it from everywhere, including the stomach itself and all organs! The reason that the band seems less tight... is because it is as it has less to hold on to (so to speak)! The fill amount and frequency is therefore highly individual as it depends on the speed/amount of weight that you have lost. Did everyone already know this or does it help? - Elise

Hey Bright, congratulations on your fantastic weight loss! I will be in Dublin next week and have just PM'd you. - Elise (fellow European bandster)

Hello everyone, am new to this site. I live in Europe and am thinking about getting the lap band procedure done in the UK by a very experienced surgeon. My question is this: Have any of you bandsters had PCOS and received the lap band? Have you had any unique or unusual problems in losing weight? Is it slower than "normal" bandsters without this problem? I've read alot of debate between those with PCOS who prefer the lap band over gastric bypass, and vice versa. Could the info on PCOS perhaps adversely affect my surgeon's decision to give the lapband? Thanks for any info that you can provide me. This is a great forum for information!