me1234

has anyone else had any problems with flying and their band and diving and their band? i've had my band for 5 years and this year i have had two big problems and all of the 'professionals' i have talked to about this have dismissed me and not given me any answers. In april of this year I went to France. On the flight back, durning take off, i noticed a pain in my side, the pain began increasing to such an extreme pain I practically started screaming. When i reached to see where the pain was, i noticed it was my port. As we ascended, the port began to pull itself out and away from my body. I have a mini port and i could grab a hold of it, it was that far out from my stomach wall. As we leveled off the pain subsided. I have never had that happen before and it was extremely painful. Im glad it stopped once we leveled out because there was no way i could take that pin for an 8 hour flight. When i returned and told my 'profesionals' about this, they all siad well ive never heard of that happening. sorry. The best I could guess is that it had to do with the pressue and altitude on take off. Also, when i came home, I had it checked out and wound up needing to pull out some of the saline. I had that same fill up until my newest airplane incident. At the beginning of the month I flew to california. I was able to eat before my flight and as i said i have had the same fill level since april and have had no problems eating. I had some food on the flight, i got there and then i was unable to get any food down for 4 days. When i got home I was so fed up I had them pull all of it out. i go on vacation to relaz and regroup and all i can do is puke up food. im tired of not getting any answers for this and feeling like i am the only one who has this problem. i would like to hear if anyone else is having these problems. when i first got my band i was told 'you can do everytying you used to be able to do. dont worry about flying and diving." In 2006 i went on a diving trip - week long on a liveaboard. I was told that i did not need to adjust my band and that i could dive normally. After my first dive, i couldnt eat most of the week. The dives completely shut my band down. Being on a boat in the middle of the carribean for a week is not really a great place to not be able to eat. I'm really tired of this and im really tired of the non answers i get from the people who are supposed to be helpful. And please if you are just going to say suck it up and fight through it, please dont bother responding. Thats not an appropriate answer.

well this is a interesting new symptom. I have had my saline pulled out completely several times in the past. This time around I have noticed that it feels different. Its like restriction but not, more like a lump maybe. its most noticable in the mornings. and i am having way more hearburn that i have ever had. im guessing that i will have to go in for a barium swallow. jsut wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem with more hearburn after a complete unfil.

What a great thread. I have had my band for 5.5 years. i have continually complained of my band tightening up on its own. i can have a fill that works great for 4 months at a time and then it just shuts down. I don't think i have had a fill this year. every time i go in, its for an unfill. I have never been able to get a straight answer from anyone as to why this happens. This is the first time i have found others like me who have this same problems. My hormones seem to affect the band if im pretty tight. I had a problem which flying which caused the whole thing to shut down on me for 4 days. When i got back home, i had them pull it all out. It feels different this time. I have never had restriction when i am totally empty, this time there is. now i am having reflux which of course is a sign of something bad. today is the first day for this so im going to have to keep an eye on it for the rest of the week. the surgeons office is never any help. true results is never any help. I have no help and i have reached my limit. i want this thing out before it does more damage. when its too tight i tire of the sore throat from continually trying to swallow. i feel like i am damaging my esophagus. i had the egd done last year and they said every thing is normal. no damage. im just so tired of all of it and not getting any answers.

ok so i started a weight loss contest this week and i've had my hunger pretty much under control until today. I'm freaking starving. I have had easily 120 oz of water already this morning and i have eaten almost 700 calories. I cant get another fill because then my band shuts down on me and im in constant pain. if i eat fruit that makes me more hungry, if i eat meat that doesnt help fill me up like everyone says it should. complex carbs usually keeps my hunger at bay, but today not so much. any ideas for putting something in there that might just keep me full but wont breat my caloric budget for the day?

I get mine at a place called Sprouts up here in Dallas however I have seen that more of the regular stores are starting to carry it. I want to say that i saw it at the kroger signature stores and maybe even supertarget. I would think Whole Foods has it as well. This is the one i use: Agave nectar - Madhava Honey - Pure and natural sweetener IMO you should still watch how much you use since its 60 cal for a tablespoon. However, if you arent taking in many calories, then i wouldnt worry about it. I have heard good things about xylitol however I havent found it in any stores yet. Its supposed to have a lower calorie count and its supposed to taste better than stevia and its natural. :thumbup:

I completely agree on the solid food vs liquid calories. The problem is that solid meat doesnt fill me up and keep the hunger away. I am well aware of how the band should and shouldnt work since i have had it since 04. jodi, that is great that you have had sucess without having to count calories, however there are many people who do still have to count calories and watch what they eat to get in a balanced diet after they have been banded. I understand about having a balanced diet which is why I see a ED shrink on a regular basis. This keeps me on task for moderation rather than all or nothing. I have much more to say however, i will restrain myself since this isnt the post that I would like to give that info out in. :thumbup: 123Crod, thanks for the advice, unfortunatly i dont do artificial sweetners. Not only do they taste bad but there are terrible for your metabolism. :wub: However, i do have some agave syrup which is a natural sweetner and low on the GI so that the sugar doesnt hit my body like a freight train. The fat free creamer, that i can do! I'll see if that helps this afternoon.

yeah... i hate coffee. but i like it with sugar and fat! hehe. i havent tried that so maybe i will give that a try later today.

today i had a double fiber english muffin with 2 tbsp's of hummus and some lettuce. right now i am snacking on sunflower seeds in the shell because that occupies my time and i dont think about eating other random crap while i am playing with those. im going to go work out in another hour for lunch and then we will see how hungry i am after that.... any other ideas would be awesome...

unjury has artificial sweetners which is why they taste so bad. I usually drink a protien drink without the artifical sweetners such as Onwhey. Problem is, they dont keep me full. :thumbup: im thinking maybe ill just stick with eating heads of lettuce, its wrong i know and my shrink yells at me for doing it based on my eating disorder past. but as long as im getting nutrition from somewhere else maybe she wont yell as much.

I'm shooting for 1000 per day which i actually expect by the end of the day to be between 1200 - 1500. :sneaky: if i were to actually shoot for 1200 or 1500 i would wind up closer to 2000 by the end of the day. I know that i eat extra at night so I always try to shoot for lower to get an appropriate balance. hehe

I just got mine a week ago but I gotta say this is the piece of the puzzle I have been missing. When I am working hard at weight loss I always log my food. The part that i couldnt ever figure out was how much am i really burning. I always obsess over ALL of the numbers and i think this helps me to obsess way less. I lost 3.6 lbs in the first week. I do not think that will continue as a constant however I now I feel like i have more flexiblity now that I can SEE the actual numbers. I do not think this device will work for people who do not log or keep a realistic log of their food. I do not think their web app is as good as it could be. It's a bit klunky and could be improved on. However, I am just sitting patient to see what happens when they release the next version. I do wish it would take the heart rate, however I have heard that will be in the v3 model. I am a swimmer so it would be fantastic if i could wear it while I swim. I read somewhere that they are having problems with that feature because of the usb port. I also saw a thread where a guy had a waterproof sleeve made so that he could use it with his water sports. So I may look into doing that. I have been wanting one of these since last year but because of the cost, I didnt want to buy a new toy that i may not use. I got lucky because one of the guys here at work was selling his used one, so i got it for $120. We based that number on the numbers we were seeing on Ebay. Apex has the subscription right now for $99 and that included a 3 month subscrition to the site and 1 session with the coach. Then after that you can renew for a much lower cost. They also have different eating programs that you can select from. Which gives you more options when you hit different goals. Anyway, for having used it a week, I gotta say this was totally worth the money and I love it.

I just wanted to add comments about my new super fabulous toy. I have been wanting one since last year when they were shown on biggest loser. I was hesitant on buying a new one because of the cost. I was afraid it would be another weight loss toy that i would use once or twice and then give up on. So last week i bought a used one from a guy at work and i gotta say, this is the greatest thing i have ever bought ever. I'm a data freak so if i cant see the numbers then i dont pay attention to what i am doing and i lose interest. this tells me exactly what i have to do. I have been logging my food for years so I have no problem doing that with this product. Now i get an accurate measurement of what i am burning and finally all of the pieces have come together. this is the puzzle piece i have been missing to go along with my band and my therapy. I have used it for an entire week and and logged all of my food and even with eating some bad things and not execising like i normally do, I still lost 3.6 lbs. now i know that some of that was water weight due to girly stuff, however I am pretty sure that this will help keep me on track even more. The downside is that i am a swimmer and a diver and i can not take it with me in the water. :biggrin: boo. hopefully in the 4th version of the band the can figure a way to make it water proof and diving proof.

you need to find a doc who actually knows what he is doing with the lapband. your doc obciously does not. see if you can find a doc that specialized in just the lapband not someone who does all bariatric surgeries. see if you have a fill center in your area. you can typically have swelling up to an hour after an fill. it is important to to drink water for 30 min in their office after getting a fill. yes what you described is the absolute worst pain ever. good luck.

Yes you can still take xenical if you can get the pill(s) down. I do it when i cheat on my diet.