I had my band placed in 2007 and only lost about 50 lbs. I hated the band for the entire time I had it. With my band I could sit down and eat a bag of chips with no issues, but I could not eat chicken, steak, eggs, and many other high protien foods. I travel a lot for work and am costantly doing business lunches and my band hindered every part of this. My surgeon told me a had a very bad first bite symptom which I think is something he key termed him self. Basically everything I ate I would get the first bite of it "stuck". Stuck food will eventually go down or back up with the band but while it is stuck you end up spiiting up a lot flem. It is not throwing up at all, it is "preductive belching".
Actually with my band I couldn't vomit. I had the stomach flu one year and I busted the vessels in my eyes from dry heeving so hard.
My surgeon worked with my insurance company and was able to call my device faulty, they paid to have it removed and for me to be revised to a sleeve. My band was placed perfectly and my upper GI test showed that liquid moved through it correctly. When my band was removed it came out flawlessly and I have very little scar tissue. The day following my surgery was absolute hell. The area where my band was placed has a lot of swelling and the hospital staff could not control my nausea. They tried zofran, phenergan, and finally the combo of reglan with my pain meds did it for me. I am 2 weeks post op tomorrow and 12 lbs lighter since my surgery. 30 lbs overall with my preop diet. My recovery has been easy peasy, I was up on my roof 7 days out cleaning gutters and this morning at 13 days out I was back on my mountain bike.
My only regret is not having the sleeve done in 2007.
Matt Jones