desertmom

Knowing now that complications do happen (not only with the other WLS ops)and that the posibility of re-operation or losing the band is much higher than I thought pe-op,and the fact that I have lived with heartburn and a lot of pain since getting the band......no,I wouldnt do the band again....would have WLS though,just dont know which operation.....

Hi I just want to know if anyone uses corticosteroids (inhaled) daily after having the band? Thank you.

Jo Ann Good luck.I hope your dr takes this seriously. If you know anything about my "history" I have had the band placed and it also showed proximal displacement from day one......meaning it is placed to high....I get the most horrible reflux,heartburn,pain and backpain (behind the band) spasms in my esophagus....ect ect ect... My dr refused to do anything saying that is the new way they band to prevent slippage....short and long,I have had this band for 10 months,live with a lot of pain and heartburn,reflux back ache....am always scared of erosion.....feel the band squeezing the daylights out of my insides all the time......I sometimes now feel as if my esophagus must be dilated because everything sits on top of the band but I dont BP anymore.Anyway,I will have to have the band removed soon..... What I'm trying to say is I know how you feel and make him fix it...:angry ..it is a very big effort living like this...every day. Please keep us updated as to what your dr says.......

Amanda, Its the first time I have heard of this.However I have had a compromized immune system from a very young age....have had several series of treatment for it.Have had severe allergies and asthma all my life. But I also have had some sort of auto-immune problem (something attacking my joints RA factor negative,no signs of osteo arthritis...)it comes and goes and ....who knows what it is... Have had problems with the band from the beginning and still have a huge amount of pain...some days more some days less.......other symptoms more under control now.I get good restriction with fills but my fill dr is now also pushing for endo..... Would be interesting to know what the Inamed people say.I have the cousin band though. Vinesqueen,I can physically feel the band (where it is around my stomach..)even when I have 2cc in band (takes 9)My dr says they dont know why some people react like that..he also told me my body rejects the band but I am sure it was just so that he doesnt have to be responsible for cost of removing (he never carries the cost even if the band fails after a month or port problems after 2..)it or he doesnt know or care what else to say.... Sorry for high jacking the post but this caught me on a bad day when I was already wondering again what the heck is going on with this band inside me....but not enough to lose it yet..(still have some weight to lose..)

hi Yip,its a catch 22 situation isnt it?I'm in exactly the same situation at the moment as my surgeon is pushing to test and remove and I say wait.....need to lose more weight or have plan B in action...... But what will plan B be.....?

Hi I wish I had the option (and guts) to change to something else after the band is removed.....good luck with your choices.......and weightloss.....:clap2:

Hi My band has beens squeezing the living daylights out of me from day one..that doesnt mean I have restriction though.Its just I can feel the band around my stomach and late afternoon the restriction is physical to the point that I have to remove my bra because nothing can touch me in the area just below my breasts.With that I get a pain in my back directly behind where I can feel my band.With that I have had hearburn and reflux from day one.I can almost always feel the band,sometimes painful sometimes just squeezing.....never had the endo yet so dont know if its eroding....its just been that way since day one. I will not remove the band if the endo doesnt show erosion.Still want to lose some weight and I am now use to having pain and discomfort all the time...one can learn to live with anything over a longer peroid of time....I need to lose another 30kg. Am going for a fill tomorrow.........

Hi I had an unfil (only 2cc left in 9cc band..l in the beginning of December and reflux left immediately.Had a fill up to 5cc's 3 weeks ago....very little reflux,some heartburn, no restriction and I eat to much all the time.....am going for another fill this week and hope to not have to much hassles with the reflux afterwards....I still have a lot of epigastric pain and back pain though...

Thanks for all the replies......I thought a gastroscopy was the test..... I will have one of those soon......thanks.

OK,no response to the difference between upper GI and endo,so lets try this.... How do they do an endoscopy? Anyone know?I am a RN but I am not English speaking.The terms are confusing to me and I would like to find out if it is a gastroscopy we are talking about when one says endoscopy. Help please....

I wrote this long post about how I believe I went against Gods will by hearing what I wanted to hear when I wanted this operation.....and then it disapeared.....so in short.... I didnt listen to the Lord...heard what I wanted to....and after the operation when I was so sick and someone suggested I needed to take all this back to the Lord and confess doing what I wanted rather than what the Lord wanted I was furious....(The Lord had previously closed the door on surgery after I asked Him to be clear about it...also a lot of conformation from friends after prayer not to do the operation...) However, after praying about it the Lord really convicted me of my sin in all this....I have had to take al this back and put it back under the authority of the Lord....it was so difficult but hey, sometimes if we dont listen we will suffer the consequinces..(spelling!!!!) Now,when I have heartburn and reflux and pain that I dont know where it comes from.....I have to leave it with the Lord,trust that ultimately He has my best interest at heart,that He is in control and that He will show me the way until this journey with the band is over......and I know that even after I have gotten my signals a bit crossed(after confess and repenting of it)the Lord still takes that and weaves it into the bigger plan for my life and makes it work according to His will,because He is my loving Father and He does have my best interest at heart..... Well,not taking it back is the daily challenge...so as Beth Moore says:lets clap for the Lord....:clap2:

What is the difference between and upper GI and the Endoscopy?How do they do and endoscopy test? Thank you...

Hi I consider myself young (my teenager might differ) and I do have complications.Sometimes I think high bmi or bad luck....who knows....

Hi I am 9 months out and still get portpain for no reason.Sometimes it is food related (gas definitely affects it)sometimes pants pressure on port,sometimes no reason......sometimes I can feel my band when the port is painful and sometimes when I have eaten even a little to much it aches....it seems to be a fragile thingy as my dr keeps telling me this is normal......

Hi I am so sorry you are battling like this.That said,and a lot of people are going to shout at me again,I think a lot more people will have band removals in the next few years....complications are just starting to show, really......I am just glad that they picked up that you had the erosion....I still walk with a lot of pain every day,never had an endo or upper GI for that matter and the dr still says no pain no gain..... so good luck and I hope you can make a plan that works for you.....just dont give up fighting this......

Nykee,I feel the same than you about this but I am so ashamed of the fact that I had wls and that I might not lose weight.....that I will lose weight at all cost now......I will do all the things that I couldnt do previously.....I might still not be good at them and I still hate the exercise and I still suck at dieting and I still want to eat all the time,head hunger is killing me, but when I realized that I had wasted all that money,I started working this band for sure.....self pay is good for that....all the band did was made me realize nothing really can make you lose weight (maybe the DS or RNY,lol.....)but yourself....and if I want to really lose weight I have to do it myself.....I still have 80 pounds to lose but less that a year ago I weighed 350 pounds...I am now 250 by hook or by crook....maybe trying all those suggestions will be a good thing ....part of the hook and crook that might just work.... Forever battling the bulge....desertmom...

please,what is the difference between an Upper GI and an endoscopy?????I havent had either so.....what's the difference?

hi I have had reflux and heartburn since a few days after being banded....over the past 8 and a half months I have been treated,filled very conservatively and unfilled and nothing helped....nothing made it better....I had a huge amount of upper abdominal pain and upper back pain that went with this.....I never had proper restriction and had to low carb to lose weight......Also,I hardly ever BP'd and almost never had anything get stuck..... Have been unfilled for 5 weeks now and I feel like my old self....no pain,heartburn,reflux,nothing.....normal....only I have gained 5kg's....(have been on holiday abroad though.....) I have been low carbing again for 2 days and lost 1kg already.Thing is what now???????? Hope the issue resolves itself for you.....I myself might even try a fill again next week.....(the mind forgets so fast...cant even really remember all the discomfort I suffered to clearly.... Glad you feel ok now...

Hi I read your post and decided to not read all the answers before posting my own...my opinion is purely experience...not affected anymore by what I should be feeling like of what it should have been like or what it is like for others.... Being scared stiff of dying was the biggest reason I went for the band and not for the GB or rather DS (prefered surgery)Got the impression that 1 in 200 people actually die from the other ops.......also that the long term complications are a lot more in the other operations than with the band.... After all the trouble that I am having with the band and the money I have spent on tests and dr's and the fact that they can do nothing but remove it again I doubt that the problems is any worse with the other ops...I wonder what is worse.....having you insides rearranged and then having problems (but you do know why..)or having a foreign object inside you and never knowing why I am having so much pain,reflux,heartburn back pain.....never knowing what is happening at the site of that foreign object because I have a lot of pain....a foreign object that inevetably will have to be removed again......and I am still 30kg's overweight. I will be more than 20000 dollars out of pocket.....and when the band is gone the weight might come back (without a change of habit it will)...it works out to 500 dollars per kg.....if I knew that I would have gotten a private trainer and a nutritionist and a life coach and I am sure I would have lost all the weight what with all the positive motivation and lifestyle changes.... Or if I could get courage from somewhere I would have gone for the duodenal switch and it would have been harder to recover and I would have been sicker in the beginning...but I would have been at goal now,drinking my Vitamins...eating my Proteins.......not wondering if I am a total fool for going on holiday before doing the gastroscopy and not freaking out because I will have to have another anesthetic (have a lung decease that makes it very high risk...) wondering what the long term complications will be after the band is removed...just going through all this everyday of my life tells me that the medical centre that doesnt do the op anymore needs a medal....... MY OPINION.....EVERYONE IS ENTITLED......

hi Just an opinion.The band is a foreign object fitted tightly around the stomach.Anyone that has worn a ring or bangle or something that fitted tightly must have noticed how an indent is formed at the site.I think what happens is that some people get a slight inflammation at the band site or that the band just irritates the stomach and it starts eroding....interesting enough a lot of people with erosion reports "port issues" or port pain and I think it is inflammation....that is what the body does when it is trying to protect or reject..... Penni,what port issues did you have? I have always had a lot of port pains....sensitive to the touch and deep stabbing aches around the port area....I thought that is "normal" as people are always saying it is ok to have port pains....(combined with the increase in stomach ache between boobs under ribs where I think band is situated...cant wait to go for the endo after holidays....)

Any of the newly unbanded members have an answer for this maybe?would be good to know this....

I have heard of a few,I think.There must be some.....show yourselves please.......

hi Reading this has really made me so sad. I am battling so many of the same issues with NO VISIBLE REASON for it.....pain,severe portpain(dont complain about that though,people said it is normal..)severe reflux and heartburn.....pain that goes through to my back all the time.....severe restricted feeling around my ribcage....and on and on.....not always the same but something all the time...At the moment the band is empty,no reflux or heartburn just the stabbing pain between my breasts and the chestpain and back pain.......and I will mail my dr now to book the endo....I dont want to....want everything to be fine and all these stuff to just go away....but reading this post made me sure that one cannot just leave it to sort out by itself....who knows what the outcome might be..... I really hope that things work out well for you now.Good luck.

hi Paula, I also think it might be something fixable.It might be something like a stitch in the wrong place or a chronic gastritis or eusophagitis....or something....but it took me until now to get them to look at it seriously......so will update next week.....

hi There is the wlsinfoforums.org.uk that is great.I think you will findmost of the UK bandsters there.....