babykins529

Just out of curiosity, why are you having it as an open procedure verses laproscopicly?

@@honeysmash I'm glad you'll get to have a revision. I get my band removed and revised to gastric bypass all in one surgery in January 2016 (soonest insurance will approve it). Keep me posted if you don't mind. Take care!

@@honeysmash I'm glad you were about to get the surgery and have it removed. I'm still sorry you had to go through that. Best of luck on your recovery!

There is an actual forum for pregnancy with the band, that might help answer your questions better. But yes, you can still have fluid in your band and go the whole pregnancy, some decide to be unfilled or partial unfill especially in the early stages because of nausea/vomiting (if you've never had the stomach bug while being banded, you're lucky...you go through the wretching, but nothing comes out, it's painful, and I don't recommend it...) also, in the later stages when the baby is so big it pushes on you stomach and diaphram and could cause reflux (this can happen without the band as well). Best of luck!

PS, slimming and getting stuck are NOT fun. Chew your food and be careful!

I'm sorry you have to go through this. Maybe you can get Care Credit and put the OOP on that so you can get your surgery? Maybe the doc should start at the port site and make a small incision to see if maybe the port is just flipped?? Then if that's not the case, go for the bigger surgery to look at the band. There has got to be something else he can try if you can't get the money, CT maybe? There could be a kink in the tubing?? I hope you can get it figured out soon. I've had multiple complications with my band and will be having it removed and revised to RNY in January 2016. Best of luck!

You know what I've noticed after looking at the before and afters? Is that most of the before's don't have smiles, but almost all of the after's have big smiles! That makes me happy :-) So proud of everyone!! I'm looking to get RNY over Band by next year due to complications...surprise, surprise...

I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. Have you had a barium swallow done to see if the band has slipped? I had left rib pain, mostly after I ate, and extreme left shoulder pain (I've had since the moment I work up from surgery 2 years ago). I did the swallow and my band has slipped, not much, but enough to cause pain. I went in and had it un-filled (I wasn't even very full because of fear of being stuck) but I still have the shoulder pain. The rib pain is gone, but my stomach hurts every time I eat something solid. My doctor said that the shoulder pain was caused by either the diaphragm or the band pushing on the vagus nerve which makes my shoulder hurt. He said that despite being completely un-filled, I'm still having issues and it's time to take the band out. I would be opting for a revision surgery since I am just one of those people who can't have the band in but still need to lose weight, however I have to wait a year because of insurance having a rule of needing to be enrolled for 24 months prior to bariatric surgery. You might have to bite the bullet and go somewhere else and pay the money to get it taken care of. I'm guessing your insurance won't cover anything? A lot of insurance now will cover bariatrics. Might be something to look into if you haven't already. Unfortunately, places go out of business or the hospitals have to close and then you're stuck with having to find a different place. I feel for you.

I've heard that bandsters who have severe reflux shouldn't get the sleeve and are usually steered toward gastric bypass since it's a non restrictive surgery like the band and sleeve. I have to have my band removed after 2 years. I don't have reflux just a bunch of other issues and am considering a revision. Best of luck!

When I started my supervised diet, I was told it's my first weigh in that they count, so I could lose weight afterward. Plus, a lot of the times, you have to do a pre-op diet (I didn't have to thankfully) but you could lose a lot of weight with that, so it makes no sense that the insurance won't approve based on what you weigh before surgery. And if for some random reason they do, you appeal it. Sometimes insurance will deny you just to see if you will give up and go away, but if you appeal it, they will usually approve you. I didn't have this issue, it's just from what I've seen other people on these forums go through. Best of luck!

A week out from being un-filled and I'm still not much better. I see my doctor next week to discuss revision surgery. The kicker is I have to have the insurance for 24 consecutive months before they will do the surgery. I've only had it for 13 months. I have to do 6 moths of supervised dieting (but I can't lose anymore weight or my BMI will be too low), which I get to start in July of this year so I'll have it all done by January of 2016 when I can finally have my surgery. The other twist is I only get one bariatric surgery per life time, and they consider removing the band as a bariatric surgery, so they might not cover the revision. I might have a better chance of them covering it if I can get it all done in one surgery, but we won't know if that can happen until she gets in there. This is good news (that I have a light at the end of the tunnel) but bad news that I have to wait 10 months and be in debilitating pain and I might not even get to have revision surgery. I told the lady in the office that I'd rather go through 10 months of Hell if it means I will have a lifetime of being pain free. She told me I was a strong and determined young lady. That made me smile.

Thank you all for your responses. My surgeon wants me to hold off and see how things settle for right now, but says we can get the process started for insurance purposes. She wants me to try to stick it out I guess...but with all the issues I'm having, granted they aren't life threatening, but they are very discouraging non the less. I cried the whole way home after being unfilled for the 2nd time in a year. Though I did nothing wrong to make it slip, I still can't help but feel like a failure. I was hoping she would be more on board with having a revision like she sounded when I talked to her the day before. What a roller coaster! @ I hope your surgery goes well for you, and yes, please keep me posted! My surgeon says she has done more band to bypass vs band to sleeve...

Hello :-) I just found out that my band has slipped and I have been having issues with it for the past year. I've just passed my two year mark of being banded and everything went well the first year. Then it all changed. Multiple ER visits for gastroenteritis, being stuck so bad afterwards do the the swelling I couldn't even swallow my own saliva...so after this last issue and not losing weight for a while now, I think I'm going to get a revision. I have different insurance then when I was banded, and my BMI is still high, so my surgeon (still the same one who banded me) said I have a pretty good chance of being approved. She said it will take 6 months of jumping through hoops like I did before (I only had to do 3 months before though) so I have time to think about which revision I want to do. She also said she wants to get a scope down me no matter if I want revision or not just so she can see better on what is going on with my band/stomach/esophagus. Then she might be able to guide me in a better direction as far as revision. I'm leaning towards GB. I don't have GERD or reflux (until my band slipped that is) so the sleeve could be an option. I have done a lot of research into both, but I was really wondering how long is the recovery phase? It took me 3 weeks to go back to work with the band, but that was mostly due to the shoulder pain from my band pressing on the vagus nerve (a pain which I STILL get all the time). I know it's a longer hospital stay, but I'm curious. I sit at my desk all day at the hospital, so its very sedentary, but I do a lot of walking/stairs. Thanks for any advice!!

I am not sure what the prognosis of this was, but I started having pain in my left rib cage after I ate, or took a deep breath or laid on my right side. I also had pain in my left shoulder blade area (which is from the band/banding rubbing against the vagus nerve, and I have gotten off and on since being banded 2 years ago, but more so now with the rib pain). After dealing with it for a few days I call my bariatric surgeon's office and told them what was going on. They immediately got me in for a barium swallow eval and some x-rays. My surgeon called me later that day and told me my band has slipped. Back in May 2014, I had bad gastroenteritis which sent me to the hospital because I couldn't throw up, yet I was wrenching and super nauseated. Two weeks later I got stuck...and I couldn't get it out. After hours of trying and not being able to swallow my own saliva, I went to the ER for an emergency un-fill by my surgeon. Since then, I have take my fills very slowly. The last one was in August 2014, and I am not in the green zone for fear of getting stuck again, so I honestly don't know what, how or when my band slipped. Since yesterday I have developed severe reflux and nausea. I go in today to get un-filled yet again and let my band settle hopefully. I also asked about getting a revision to either the sleeve or bypass since having this band has caused me a lot of pain and multiple ER visits and once it slips, it has a high chance of it happening again, so if I'm going to need surgery to fix it, I may as well try something that will work better...I hope you all figured out what the problems were and got them fixed. Best of luck!

Thank you, I am feeling better today. A little sore and weak but better. I can start getting my fills again toward the end of the month. It's like having a new band all over again. Just glad it wasn't worse. I got very lucky.

I got to spend Mother's Day miserable and in the ER. Now, I'm not new to the band, I've had it for 15 months...but what I learned is the rules are in place for a reason. I don't usually eat breakfast because my band is tight in the morning. I drink my coffee and later I eat something. But yesterday my husband and I went to the gym early because we had a lot of things planned for the day. Needless to say I was STARVING by the time we were done. Two hours in the gym will do that. He took me out to lunch and I ordered a salad with small steak cubes and a corn mixture from Chipotle. Now, I've eaten this before now problem. What I ran into was I didn't CHEW it well enough because I was so hungry. 3 bites into my meal and I knew that feeling. I was stuck. Went to the bathroom and got it out. Went back to the table. Still felt stuck, went back to the bathroom and got more out. Still felt stuck. Which was weird cuz it's never taken me more than a couple times to get unstuck. I went back to my husband and told him we have to leave...now. All the way home I was "throwing up" and spitting in a cup. Got home 25 minutes later and tried again to get it out. No success. Hours go by and I try EVERYTHING I've read about and still nothing. I had to cancel all my plans. I called the doctor and she said come in for emergency unfill. So I made the trip with my husband back to the city. She took all 6cc's out of my band. I immediately felt relieve. I could swallow my own spit finally. But I was still in pain so she sent me down to the ER for a CT. Pain meds, anti nausea meds, a KUB, and CT later I was okay'd to go home. They said that the gastroenteritis I had 2 weeks ago that sent me to the same ER for violent vomiting and dehydration caused a lot of swelling in my band area and I still had some lingering in my bowels and that plus me not chewing caused me to get stuck that bad. So chew your food and don't waiting until you are starving. I knew better but I didn't follow the rules.

Thanks everyone! Great feedback I'm going to try a little of everything to see which one works the best. Trial and error!!

Congratulations on the baby!! Great job on the weightloss as well!!

Very nice! You look great!!

Reaching one year for a lot of us...how are we doing thus far?? I'm down 55 pounds and finally started working out lol!! I'm a gym rat now :-)

Oh goodness. I just keep my back straight, butt down/straight and go up on my toes and elbows with forearms on the ground. I didn't realize there were many versions of planking! Good to know, thanks a bunch!

I will try squats tonight, thank you. I've been planking off and on for a month now and it hasn't seemed to bother my port so I'll plank more often, thanks!!

Hi all, I'm looking for abdominal strengthening exercises that won't bother my port (I'm banded). I've been using the ab machine at the gym and it feels like the port is sliding down my ribs like a cheese grater as I do the crunches. Then I'm sore fir a few days afterward. Maybe there are non-machine exercises I can do? I have my one year follow up so I'll ask my physician more about why I seem to be experiencing this. Thanks!

Thanks Jean. It went away after a couple days and I haven't done crunches since. I need to find a way to work the abdominals without pulling my port. I can't see my doctor yet because I had to switch insurances (don't even get me started on that) and I'm waiting to hear back if I'm covered to continue seeing her. Its funny cuz I now work for the health system who did my band, but I might not be able to see that doctor? Makes no sense to me.