vluckey

I definitely agree....water....calcium, potasium and magnesium. You might want to get on a really great calcium/mineral supplement. The one I use, and it's the only one I've ever found like it is from AdvoCare. I can't remember what it's specifically called off the top of my head, but it totally keeps leg cramps away. I've also had good luck managing blood sugar and blood pressure with them.

Everyone considering getting a band should read this post. I am 18 months out, lost 60lbs, had a baby and getting ready to have a surgery for my band this Friday due to complications. I will have to start the program all over again, liquids, mushy's, etc. I'm almost happy about that. I had every intention of not getting a fill after I had my baby and doing a diet. My body had other plans. Just like I posted the night before my surgery, this is not a cake walk. But I had the option of taking this thing out, and decided it's still worth it. Good luck to all of us!

Everyone considering getting a band should read this post. I am 18 months out, lost 60lbs, had a baby and getting ready to have a surgery for my band this Friday due to complications. I will have to start the program all over again, liquids, mushy's, etc. I'm almost happy about that. I had every intention of not getting a fill after I had my baby and doing a diet. My body had other plans. Just like I posted the night before my surgery, this is not a cake walk. But I had the option of taking this thing out, and decided it's still worth it. Good luck to all of us!

So, if you've been reading the complications thread for the last few days you'll know that I've been lighting it up. If you want to read all about that, check my other posts. However, now my doc is saying he thinks we are going to reoperate. I'm out of town this week and so is he so I'm contacting him as soon as I get back. He says scoping is a waste of time considering my symptoms. We've been communicating via email so I've not had a long conversation with him yet. I want to get opinions as to what to do. I believe, because of past conversations, he's going to want to put the big band on me. I'm thinking yank it out because I'm sick of this. So, let me hear from you, especially if you've hit this rock before. I've heard from a few making both decisions. I WANT MORE! :help::faint:

Since I had my baby in March I've been super duper tight. Right now it's still tight, but kind of livable. Right after having my baby I literally lived on Protein shakes for 5 weeks. Couldn't hardly drink Water or anything else. So, I had a barium xray done and they said that my band had not slipped, but I was very tight and my esophegus was dialated. At the time, we had discussed putting the larger band in and I decided to wait a little longer to see if it let up. It did, a little. But all of the sudden I have bad reflux, that night time choking thing and I can barf by simply leaning over to toilet and letting it flow on out. I have a scope scheduled for the 28th, but has anyone had anything similar to this? (Especially the dialation) What do they do for it? Should I get the larger band? Could I have something else? Come on band experts!!!!

I'm having one on the 28th and I'm a little nervous. Can anyone tell me what to expect? I know I'll be sedated, other than that....what?

Txbbwstrwbry, I just reread your post.....HOLY COW! What a freakin mess. It really makes me frightened for all of these people who have flown to Mexico and/or self paid and don't go to the doc when they start to have problems. I mean, I know that their can always be problems, but it does seem like the longer you have it, the problems crop up. I hope you're doing much better. Thanks for following my posts. I'll be sure to consult with you from now on!

Thank you so much for all of your info and advice. As you are well aware, this is not fun and becoming scary. I'm just sooooooooo thankful that non of this started before I had my daughter in March. I'm pretty sure they will knock me out. I told them that when I was scoped for a vocal chord problem last year I had a really bad gag reflex. He said that wouldn't be an issue for me. I assumed that meant anestesia, but wasn't sure. I just wish this would be over one way or another.

Thank you both for this information it is very helpful. I'm sure that there is a major problem with my band, besides the enlarged esophogus. I am really undecided as to what to do. I'm half way wanting to go with the larger band, half way wanting it out. I almost can't wait for the scope to find out what is wrong. The worst part of this band is that they are now finding out things about it that would have been nice to know before.

I'm having some complications, and still in the process of finding out why and what. I'm curious to hear any stories of someone who had it REALLY BAD and was able to recover without losing their band.

Sorry, I forgot to mention, I've been unfilled since about last October due to pregnancy. However, I didn't have any of these problems until immediately after giving birth by c-section in March.

I've had nothing but problems since I had my baby. My is totally unfilled and I'm having the same problems you are having. I have a scope scheduled on June 28th. Some days, I just do liquid and live with it, other days I get so upset that I'm ready to yank it out. One thing I know for sure, I will gain all of my weight if I yank it. I think this band just doesn't agree with some people. I keep trying to deny that I may be one of those people, but for all of the reasons mentioned in the thread above this one, I need to get real.

By the way, I wouldn't make any decisions about revising your band until you're totally done with babies and I would give it at least 6 mos if not more. My doc had thought about putting the larger band in. That might be another option...

I've had my band for a year and a half now. I got pregnant 6 months in, after losing 60lbs. Had the band unfilled over the coarse of time during pregnancy. After pregnancy my band was tight tight tight. It's still too tight, and I'm getting a scope in 2 weeks to find out what's up. However, I know I'm breaking "the rules" and quite frankly I can't really remember a lot of them. Can you guys give me a refresher coarse???

I'm not breastfeeding, but I have polycystic ovary which screws with my hormones. I've always had hormone issues. As a matter of fact, this posting reminded me that I just got off my period, which explains why I had the horrible tightness recently. It had me back to the point of horrible reflux, which I had prior to pregnancy because I was too tight. I was barfing every night and was having the waking up in the middle of the night choking thing too. My whole thing is I want to get this thing back to "normal" before I even begin to think about refilling. I actually was thinking about forgoing fills for a while and see what I could do with diet, exercize and supplements. I had thought this before I had these problems. I'm just so glad to have come across someone who has had the same experience. When I first had this problem, I was so tight I could barely drink Water and NO ONE, not even Dr C. (who is my doc, by the way) could explain it. I have found that really hitting Protein shakes, like one in the morning and on at night, really helps. I read that the number one cause of inflamation in your body is a lack of protein, which made sense to me. But, it still remains weird.

I'm so glad to hear that about your pregnancies. When it was really bad, I was sending out threads trying to get info from other women who'd had babies. It seemed like I was the only one who had this problem. How long did it take to resolve? It's been almost 14 weeks since I've had her. I had hormone issues prior to pregnancy, so God only knows. I've had a barium swallow, which showed me very restricted, but no slippage. I had improved enough to live with the tightness, but then all of the sudden I had BAD reflux. That's why we're doing the scope. PLEASE tell me EVERYTHING! You're my first hope that this will get better! HOLY COW, I just noticed you're preggers again! You don't mess around! My DH went to see Dr. SNIP SNIP last Friday, so we're OH SO DONE.

As a follow up to the post I left earlier, my band issues have completely resolved. Please try doing what I did for 8-10 days before any decision. You might find some relief.

You can't go wrong with taking 7-10 days and going protein crazy to see if it helps. I'm a true believer now.

For anyone struggling to get their daily intake of Protein in, or anyone who doesn't take protein seriously, here's my story of what it can do to you. I gave birth to my daughter on March 8th by c-section. (She's perfect and beautiful). Up until her delivery I had no problems with my band. I had gained 35 lbs and was eating without too many problems. Right after giving birth all of the sudden my band was swollen to the point where I could barely drink Water. After several weeks of dismissing this as post surgical swelling I began to be concerned. I talked to my doc who basically said give it more time. I put several threads on LBT to see if anyone else had dealt with this. Very little response, nothing that really helped. I finally had an upper gi done and sure enough, I was really restricted. No one could figure out why. My doc could only suggest replace my current band with a larger one. I told him to wait a few more weeks. By now, I'm living on water and what Protein shakes I could get down. When I went for my 4 week check up with my ob/gyn we talked about my band issue. When I told her what was going on she told me that she had noticed "edema" (swelling) in my organs when she did my c-section. I believe in wellness and nutrition, so I went to Wild Oats and talked with a nutritionist about swelling. He went to a nutritional book and it gave several suggestions with the number 1 reason given for edema being protein deficiency, the second being a B6 deficiency. This made sense to me because toward the end of my pregnancy I had gotten lax in getting protein in. So, I got some more protein shakes (that was easier for me to drink) and a B6 supplement. It took about 10 days before I felt a significant difference and I basically had to suck down 2-3 shakes a day, getting 65-100 grams of protein. Some days I would nurse a shake for 2 hours. Now its been 8 weeks since she was born, the last 2 I have returned to almost normal. Here's the thing, had I not talked to my ob/gyn who had done my c-section I would never have known about what she observed. How many of us are walking around with swollen organs and don't know it. How does it affect us if our heart is swollen or our liver??? Of course, I'm not a doctor, so this is only the opinion of someone who doesn't trust doctors. (although I love my lapband doc). BUT, we never know what the effects of some of our eating habits are until we have symptoms. Had I not had a baby, I would have not known this for a lot longer. Please please please get your protein!

By the way, I had never heard that 25 grams thing. It would make more sense the other way around. (eating too much at a time might cause it to not absorb).

A company called Agel was coming up with a gel form of Protein that was like 20 grams in 1.75 ounces of gel. I know they had run into problems with the packaging when they were launching it. Check www.agel.com. Other than that you might want to look in to amino acid supplements and research that. I believe those are Proteins in the most basic form. The one I take is from www.advocare.com called Catalyst. I take it for muscle mass and fat burning. It's fabulous right before a workout. You might want to call a really good local health food store and speak with the owner. They are a bevy of good information.

Travelgirl, (by the way I used to be a travel girl. I worked as a leisure agent for 5 years and a corporate travel administrator for 5 years.) You might want to try getting a protein powder that is pre-digested. Go to a local health food store and ask about it. There is one that I have used you can check out online at www.advocare.com. It's called perfect meal I think. They also have a plain protein powder in their sports line. It's pricey and it's sold by distributor, but it's a really good product that's easy to digest and full of nutrition.

Thanks for your responses. Louise, your post is exactly why I posted my long thread. I'm so glad you took it seriously. I guarantee you will not lose weight if you don't get your Protein in. What weight you would lose could be muscle mass. Here's the thing, it only took a few weeks of me being lazy to get myself in that mess. I am normally a protein freak. Find a Protein powder you really enjoy and find as many ways to drink it as you can. Add with Peanut Butter, banana's, strawberries, frozen mango, instant coffee, almond extract, mint extract, etc. Make it like a shake or a smoothie. Add vanilla yogurt or heck, ice cream! Get it in get it in get it in! fabfatgirl- congrats on another baby. I knew I'd get preggers when I had lost 60 lbs. I figured I have the rest of my life to lose weight, only so long to have babies. It took me 10 years to get started because of my weight!

One more thing. Antibiotics are one of the biggest causes of constipation. Not only from our medicine, but also in our milk and meats. Antibiotics kill ALL bacteria, including good bacteria which helps digestion. Pro-biotics restores the good stuff so we can digest correctly. It's always recommended to cleanse after antibiotics to get that out of you and restore digestive health. I know it sounds a little "tree huggy", but natural wellness is for real.

Well, now you guys know how I felt in October. NOBODY had posted anything about this. I had to figure it out all by myself. Even my band doc didn't really know. I'm glad I was able to get it together to help you guys. I had my unfill done not because of my voice, but for my pregnancy. It took about 5 months before I realized I could sing again (I had totally gotten out of the habit). Keep in mind, I had an undiagnosed vocal polyp too, so my problem might have been a little worse. Be sure not to sing while recovering. You might also want to check with an ENT. They can give you vocal exercises to do. Also keep in mind, if being too tight is damaging your voice, imagine what it could be doing to your internal organs? We have to be wise about what price we're willing to pay at the altar of this band. As for constipation.....try ACTIVIA yogurt. It really does work. It has Probiotics in it which I've been using for years for colon health (way before the band). Eat 2 a day until you start to see results. If you want faster results, go to a local Health food store and ask for Probiotics. The brand I use can be purchased at www.advocare.com and it's called probiotic restore. You might also try doing an Herbal Cleanse (purchased at health food store or advocare). They REALLY work to get you going right. Advocare has an unconditional money back guarantee if you're not satisfied. You might be able to find a local distributor. It's great stuff. I can't stand to be even a little bit constipated. It's a major priority for me. (weird huh?)