QWINNER

I don't mean to freak you out, but that is how my problem started. I thought it was a sore throat that wouldn't go away. I thought it was a lot of different things before facing reality. I even got an endoscopy and the Gastro said my band was fine. They can't tell from the inside. If you are having these problems, go immediately to your band doctor for an upper GI and drink the liquid and watch it go in your pouch and down into your stomach. If everything is fine, great. If not, you have caught it in time. DOn't put yourself thru what I did. It was awful. Let me know how you make out. Good luck.

I apologize for not telling the entire story over again. I need to not think about it so much as I am hoping the situation corrects itself. Please read my past few posts for a more detailed explaination but here it is in a nut shell. After becoming too comfortable with my weightloss, I lost sight of how I got here. 80lbs doesn't come easy but sometimes we forget the challenges we faced along the way. I had a fill about 8 months ago and should have realized it was to much. I didn't though and went on for months and months and I began to push my limit, over eating probably more than I realized. A month or 2 back, I developed severe reflux that no medication would cure so I went to my band Doctor and a upper GI revealed that my band was too tight and my pouch was dilated. We are hoping that a couple of weeks of liquids and mush will reverse it. There was no damage or slippage of my band, so I am hopeful. This past few days have been hard. Like starting all over again 2 years ago, but I am determined not to lose my band. So, learn from me and treat you band with dignity and truthfulness and be kind to it so it can help you reach your goal and keep you there.

Congrats on your weight loss!!! You are absolutely right on what it takes to lose the weight. We all get off track, but the we need to renew our commitment to our band and do the things we did in the beginning, get a new goal and be accountable to someone. How did your pouch dialate and what were the symptoms? That is a good question regarding the pouch dilation. It may be different for everyone but this is how I believe it happened. I ATE TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN. Bottom line, I look back over the past year and I can put it all together now. I had become very comfortable with my "new" self. My husband and I were going out more, taking more vacations with the kids and I was very active with the Moms from my kids schools. Meeting for breakfast, lunch....very fun but not really realizing how much you eat while talking and each time I over ate, I stretched my pouch. I also ate very band like most of the time but began to notice that I had less restriction. Ha, I could eat chinese food again without PBing. That was my favorite. Long story short, I knew I had slipped into a bad place when I started getting reflux at night. So badly that I would almost choke on my own vomit. At the beginning, I didn't want to think it was band related cause then I might lose my band so I went to a GI and went on every reflux medication under the sun. Nothing helped. I finally found a DR. that took my insurance and went for a check up. An upper GI showed that my pouch was dilated and I had 2cc's in my band that it wasn't allowing food to go down so it would sit in the pouch for hours and not move. That was it. Being able to eat more and more, less restriction, very bad reflux that wasn't fixed by medication. It's been 5 days since my doctors visit and I have been on liquids. From the time she unfilled my band on Friday, POOF, reflux gone. I am hoping that a couple of weeks on liquids will correct the problem. I am willing to be on liquids for as long as it takes to save my band. I hope it will help. I feel soreness and tenderness and I am not as hungry as I was last Friday. Perhaps I am being overly optomistic but I don't want to lose my band. I learned my lesson and heed my advise....if you can over eat, it isn't a good thing.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

I posted yesterday regarding my pouch dilation and I was wondering how common it is for a pouch to go back to it's smaller state once you have the dilation. I think i caught it in time. My band is still well positioned and I am on liquids for the next week. What have your experiences with pouch dilation revealed to you. Is there life after dilation or have I caused irreversable damage. Thanks for your reply.

I am born and breed in NY. Got my band 2 years ago, PortJefferson, Long Island. I never even considered mexico. Don't know why, just didn't. Haven't had any problems other than the ones I created myself. See my post under complications. If you take care of the band, it will work for you. I have confidence in our medical care and NY rules. Good luck.

The beginning was hard for me too. I made up my own rules for eating. I measured my food, put it on a small plate and put the rest away from me. Cut everything up as small as possible before you start eating and talking cause that is when we forget to chew and eat slowly. If you go to a restaurant, share a dinner or order and appetizer, put what you can eat on your plate and ask for a togo container right away and pack it up. I did that for the first year and it was great. When you start losing, you will be excited and you will change your bad habits slowly but surely. The band is a tool, I repeat, a tool and it can be tricked. Weightloss surgery only works if you play by the rules. It is suck a struggle but I believe we can be stronger than the evil forces that push us to eat that icecream sunday or that 3rd plate of chinese food. No amount of restriction is going to make you lose 20 lbs a month either. We have to change our eating habits and stop focusing on food or the lack of it in our lives and find other things to occupy that space in our minds. I haven't found the answers yet but I now know that the band won't work if we don't work at it. Keep trying what you are doing. You can do it. Thanks for replying to my post.

I guess I fall into the low BMI club. I have to say that I feel people don't get us or why we got the band but I am glad I did. I am 5 feet tall and weighed 204 when I was banded two years ago this month. Honestly, I was the healthiest fat person my doctor had seen in a while. I had no comorbids but my dad has diabetes, hi blood pressure and heart issues. So, I was at risk but in a different way. What helped me was the fact that I was so depressed after my 3rd kid that I couldn't lose and keep weight off, that I had started seeing a therapist a couple of years before I got banded. Long story short, my insurance company approved it and here I am. 2 years later and 70 lbs gone, I now have pouch dilation. See my post under complications that I just posted. It is hard to stay on and get back on track once you are 1/2 the size you were 2 years ago. You couldn't tell now that I ever had a weight problem. This is the time when it gets harder and harder to stay on track. Regarding what you can do or eat to help you lose faster? THe answer, in my opinion, is as simple as this: you have to burn off more calories than you take in. You take in 1000 calories of healthy fruites, veggies and protein, and you walk 20-30 minutes a day, there you go. 2-3 lbs a week easially. I did that for almost a year and a half, then I got lazy. I began to eat a little more and a little more until I started having reflux.....and here I am today hoping I don't lose my band. I know that it is a tool to help lose weight, not the answer to every overweight person around. You have to work at it and it will come. I will, from now on, be on my best band behavior. That is if I dont lose it.

I hadn't been visiting the sight for many months but lately I've come on to see if anyone has had the same problems I've been having recently.I've been having bad reflux for the past 6-8 months on and off and extremely bad for the past 5 weeks. I have tried nexium, zegerid, you name it. othing helped. Funny thing was, I didn't have any heartburn during the day, just reflux at night. I had an endoscopy last week and the gastro told me that my band looked fine. Gastro's can't tell what is going on outside the stomach, only inside. They were pretty quick to prescribe the meds though. So, after suffering thru this, I realized I better go see a doctor To make matters worse, my original surgeon stopped taking my insurance. I found a Dr. that would treat me and went today. What I saw was eye opening. Before I say what that was.........a few points I want to make. For us bandsters who have gotten comfortable with our weight loss - I lost 70 lbs and am 30 away from my goal, we don't realize how easy it is to resort back to our old eating habits. We almost don't realize that we subconsciously find ways to "trick" the band like eating slowly but more and more and we push and push. Or things happen in our lives that prevent us from going to the gym or walking and we close our eyes to the fact that our eating habits have gone back to the old ones that we tried so hard to break. Anyway, after the reflux got so bad, i was vomiting every night from the reflux even after not eating for 5 hours. I couldn't imagine why the food hadn't digested yet. After every meal, i would have terrible pain in my left shoulder. DOn't know what caused it but it was always there. Today I went for an upper GI. It was very cool cause I never had one before aside from the day after surgery. I drank a small amount of liquid and i could see it going down, into the pouch, no problem, but then it just stopped. It was dripping out slower than an IV drip. I couldn't believe the size of my pouch. Yes, pouch dilation. It happens when we consume more food that we should and with that, i kinda folds down over the band, like a mushroom if you will. That causes the hole to get even tighter and all the food stays in the upper pouch. After the Dr. unfilled my 2cc's, i drank again and it went down much better. What does all of this mean? Well, I am now on liquids for the next week atleast. Another upper GI next week to see if the pouch shrunk at all. The good news is that the position of the band is exactly where it should be. It hasn't turned in the other direction which is a good sign nor has it slipped. Exact words from my Doctor. The reflux and shoulder pain are the beginning signs of pouch dilation. If that is ignored, the band will eventually slip, errode or the pouch will fall so far over the band that it will have to be removed. I got a rude awakening today. I would do this surgery all over again. If you are good to the band, the band will be good to you. Bandsters need to eat small portions at all times and not think it is great when you can stuff yourself and you don't PB. We need not eat the junk food which goes down so easially. If you can't tolerate protein or fruit or veggies for what ever reason, drink a protein shake. I am hoping I will not lose my band from the recent abuse I put on it. I can only hope that my pouch returns to a smaller state and I can eventually get a fill again. Lessons learned, obviously not to overeat. Also, if you get a fill and you know deep down that it is too tight, get it unfilled like yesterday. Being overly tight will not help you lose more weight. It is only the beginning of bigger problems. Hope this helps and I am sorry for rambling on but I am still amazed at what I saw. It was a slap in the face and I learned my lesson. I am going to treat my band and body with kid gloves from now on. Thanks for listening.:omg: :faint:

Hi Alex, I've been having the same problem as well. It can simply be the heat and humidity coupled with low blood sugar. OUr bodies tend to get funky in this heat and huumidity I'll bet it is nothing. My Dr. said that occassional dizzyness for a usually healthy person is quite normal. Good luck and get up slowly.

Hi everyone, I am too familiar with the pain you are speaking of. I was banded in January and the pain in my left shoulder was worse than my son stepping on my port incision. lol. Although you may not believe it, gas is a possibility. There is very little you can do to get rid of it and it could take up to 6 weeks before it subsides. As for the horrible shoulder pain, hamu, I had the same thing. I had my hand on that shoulder for weeks and would rub it on every door jamb I could find. I thought it was bursidis (sp) but my doctor said this.....Sometimes, after surgery, when we are totally dead weight, we are moved very roughly from the Operating table to the recovery room bed. Often, the caring staff may not be too caring or not realizing how we may land should they put us down the wrong way. Many times, a pinched nerve is the culprit of the shoulder pain. I stuck it out for weeks and finally couldn't take it anymore. It ached 24/7. Atleast it took the focus off of my incision pain and hunger. lol. Anyway, my doctor gave me a script for inacet which is a pain killer but it contains tylenol, not motrin. You can take them if you break them up in half. It didn't make it go away, but it was tolerable. I am now 5 months out and have no shoulder pain. Well, some times I feel a small ache but that is if I have eaten too much and I think it is gas then. Good luck and time does heal all wounds.

Nykee, As you can see, people who are losing weight, with or without restriction, are not eating junk food. They are not eating junk food on a daily basis because they are making healthy choices. I can eat a shit load of junk all day long without a problem and I am pretty well restricted. I have to fight the cravings, the urges, the emotional eating to make the right choices. Perhaps you should start to cook and not use that as an excuse. What do your kids eat if you don't cook? It sounds to me like you are hoping that having restriction willl prevent you from eating junk. That is not going to stop you from eating fast food all day. You have to change your lifestyle if you want to lose weight. Again, the band is a tool for all of us. It lessens our appetite so we can eat less food. Less healthy food in moderation, not junk food or anything we impulsively choose to put in our mouths. It is apparent how much effort people put into preparing and making healthy choices to work with the band and make the right changes and choices to lose the weight. Many bandsters have lost close to and over 100 lbs. Some do it without restriction, others have less restriction but the main thing is that they have committed themselves to a new way of eating. It is alright to have a junkit day once in a while, but not processed, hi fat/hi calorie foods each and every meal. The only way the band works for people is if they work the band.

I didn't want too many people to know because I didn't want to feel like a freak show. I felt like people would constantly be watching me - how much I eat, why aren't you drinking, eating chips and salsa? OR if you have a band, how can you eat that?, Can you have that? I only told my immediate family, my 2 sisters and 2 close friends. For the most part, only my dad asks food questions but I think he is secretly thinking of WLS. I am glad I didn't tell many people and when they ask how did you lose 36lbs in 4 month I say "I eat right and exercise every day" and that is not far from the truth I just have a little help from my band. I am sure you will make the choice that is right for you.

I have a question that I have been thinking about since I got my first fill. If there is a smaller stomach on top of the band and our original stomach part below the band, and if the food we eat so slowly and chew so well is supposed to stay in our smaller stomach pouch for a few hours and slowly filter down, then what makes a PB. That big chunk of food is trying to go thru the smaller pouch, thru the band and into the lower stomach?? Does the stop, stuck and go feeling work the same way??? I haven't had many PB's. Actually only 1 and that was from a piece of shrimp, but I always feel the food going down. Does that mean that it isn't even staying in my pouch, that it is going directly past the band?? What do ya think??

Nykee, Maybe they want you to be eating the right foods before they fill you. Perhaps showing them that you can make the right choices (Protein, veggies, salad) they will consider a fill. Getting a fill won't make you eat the healthy foods. You can't lose weight eating cheetos and KFC even with restriction. You will stay fuller longer if you eat protein. Try adding Protein powder to your milk if you have to drink it. Atleast it will boost up the protein. From what I see, you are not eating a lot, just not the right foods. With the proper food choices you could be eating more, more often and still be losing weight. Try to plan a menu and add eggs, meats and Protein shakes to replace the milk. I'll bet you would feel pretty full then. Don't give up.