kiz

With those symptoms, I'd be very concerned that the band had slipped. I'm sure there are other issues that could cause those symptoms as well, but you need to be seen by your doctor asap.

I would be conflicted as to what to do as well. I don't know how bad your having trouble with your breathing, and that, of course, has to be your primary concern. However, if it's manageable, how long have your anxiety attacks lasted in the past? Are you able to drink liquids? On the other hand, if you get the unfill tonight, you could probably start back right away with another fill, once you feel better. I hope things work out.

The band might be higher than you think. My doctor leaves a 4 oz pouch (upper stomach), so that small pouch is all that separates the banded area (stoma) from my esophagus. I'm sure the pain can also radiate a bit. When I've eaten something that feels tight in my band, I feel the pressure in the center lower part of my chest. I know this picture isn't to scale, but it sort of gives an indication of just high the band is in our abdominal region. http://www.minnesotasurgery.net/the-lap-band-system/the-lap-band-system

Boy, that stings, big time! Your band is so new, it's not as if you would be getting a new generation band if you had to have the whole thing replaced. You would think that there would be some sort of band warranty by the manufacturer if the leak wasn't due to mechanical error (ex. needle into the tubing during a fill). My surgeon did include a *very* short-term Blis policy that covered band problems such as leaks, slips, etc, but it has long since expired. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I totally agree with what the others have said, especially Elcee, as it seems I have a lot in common with what she posted. I have some regrets: I'd rather have my $13,500 in the bank (self-payer). having surgery (I had no complications, but still, I'd rather not have had it). and most importantly, I regret having gotten obese in the first place. I hazard to guess that almost nobody would be obese if they could keep the weight off on their own. Many of us can lose the excess weight, or at least lose a some portion of it, but keeping it off longterm, while fighting hunger, is a whole other battle. So, while I may wish for a lot of things, I'm grounded in reality. I absolutely LOVE my band, and I am thankful every day that I have this amazing tool (not an exaggeration...thank you band gods..lol). Rather than being 55 lbs lighter after being banded for a year, without my band, and at the alarming rate I was gaining, I would have been five or ten pounds heavier. So, in a nutshell, my regret was being obese. But regret having the band?...heck, no.

I'm so sorry to hear that you have a leak! I know that's better than a medical problem, but it's still bad news, especially for self-payers. Has your doctor given you any estimates to what you might expect to pay to get it repaired?

The first thing you should do is to get rid of all those temptations. Ice cream, Halloween candy, Cookies...yikes. That would hard for a sweets eater to ignore, even if you felt you had your eating under control. As far as curbing your night time eating, that's going to be a little harder. At least if you have healthy choices to chose for the evening, you're better off right off the bat. The next thing to do is to make sure you're eating enough food during the day, so that your night time eating isn't a result of hunger. Next, you might want to budget in a healthy evening snack, if your allowed. The last thing to do is to really get to the bottom of why you've been snacking on junk food in the evening. Is it boredom, mindless eating, hunger as I mentioned earlier, etc? Then, attack the problem. Personally, I budget a healthy snack in the early evening. It might be plain Greek yogurt with fruit, Stevia, & little Fiber Cereal, a few baby carrots, 1/4 banana, spinach, or a sf Jello (for examples). But, for me, the important thing was to get rid of the temptations and have healthy alternatives.

I agree with you Wendy. One remedy could be that rather than put it on the contestants to pick the most needy participant to stay regardless as to whether they pose a threat or not, they could allow the ones who were voted out to stay for the instruction but to be out of the running for the money.

I'm glad you're going in tonight rather than waiting. What you're going through sounds absolutely miserable. I hope the unfill helps you feel better.

I agree with frenchvanilla. That sounds serious and not something to wait until Friday to have checked.

I just did a search through the sub-forums and social groups and I couldn't find a group for self-payers either. I'm going to send a suggestion to the administration using this thread to ask for one to be added here--> Sub-Forums : Special Interest Lap-Band® Support Groups (NEW!)

I was a self-payer too, and if there isn't one, that would be a great sub forum so that there'd be one place to share the different types of obstacles we face and the hopefully positive resolutions to those problems. My biggest fear is a major band failure that affects my health, and how that would be handled through my insurance. I also have private health insurance, and I worry that I'll be axed if I have a medical problem as a result of my band. On the other hand, and on a positive note, I truly feel blessed that I have this medical marvel. I cannot believe the difference it's made in my life. I eat small healthy meals, and I'm satisfied for hours. I was a junk food grazer, and once I reached good restriction, my gnawing round the clock hunger was obliterated. For all my nagging worries, I would have the surgery again in a heartbeat. I'm sure I would anyway, but I take very good care of my band. I followed my pre-op and post-op diet to the letter. I wanted that sucker cemented into my stomach, so when my doctor said liquids only, I kept to liquids only, when it was mush time, I stuck to my mush. I've never had problems with a too tight band, but for me, I'd rather lose at a little slower rate then risk a band slip from too tight a band. Anything under my control that can help reduce band failure, I'm on it with a passion.

There is a bit of luck involved in the slimers/pb'ers vs the non-slimers/non-pb'ers. For whatever reason, the few times I've gotten myself into a sliming situation, I know darn well it was my fault, and it has been a lesson learned. As in, slow down and when in doubt, stop eating. Many people who have those problems have addressed them by adjusting their eating habits, having their bands a loosened a bit, etc. I've come to the conclusion that some people are just more band tolerant than others. There are some things you can do to help minimize it though. Don't try to wait out a too tight fill for more than two weeks (or whatever time period your doctor advises), even if you are losing weight. Of course, if you can't tolerate liquids, go back to the doctor asap. It's not good for you or your band and will almost assuredly lead to future problems. Eat at a slower pace. Put your fork down between bites, and chew, but not to oblivion. If you're having to eat pea sized bites or chew your food to a liquid mush to avoid sliming or pb, you're too tight in my opinion. You want your food to stay in your upper stomach so that you achieve satiety, so while you want to chew well, you don't want turn a good solid meal into a virtual liquid. (This has been what has worked for me so far.)

It's important that you realize that there might be things that you just can't tolerate after getting your band, and it's great that you're asking questions. I always think it's better to be prepared too. There are very few foods I can't eat. For instance, one is raw celery. I'm not even sure that I can't eat it, but I tried it once after banding, and the texture of the fibers in my mouth made me decide not to try it. The thought of swallowing it kind of made me feel gaggy. Often times, it's better to try a new food at home, just in case. But, as Cathy described, as long as meat isn't dry, I don't have any problems with it, and I never liked it dry anyway. It's important to try new foods slowly, and if you start to feel tight, and you'll get to recognize that feeling, not to push it. Actually, some people have issues that their tighter during certain times of the day or month, so it's always best to take those first couple of bites with a bit of caution, especially if you're prone to band fickleness. Pre-banding, not knowing what I was going to be able to tolerate, I decided to go into this WLS as if I was an alcoholic giving up alcohol. If I had to give up steak, for instance, to be healthy, so be it, however, I have been very lucky that most foods don't trouble me. I know you're saying the same thing too. For me, eating smaller portions, eating at a slower pace, taking slightly smaller bites, and chewing a little longer has allowed me to lead a very normal life with food.

I found that drinking sodas (mostly caffeine free diet coke) was just a habit for me. I've had some sips here and there, and probably part of the reason I don't find them refreshing anymore is not drinking them straight up and bubbly. I've had champagne on a few occasions since surgery, but it's not a chugging drink like a soda and it's not a 12 or 16 oz or more serving (at least for me), so the bubbles didn't come back up. I was never a two-liter a day soda drinker in the first place, but I generally drank one or two cans/small bottles a day pre-band. I don't miss them in the least.

Tony, check with your doctor about moving on to mushy foods. Different doctors, different schedules. Others on the forum have consulted their doctor's when they've felt ready to move on to the next food stage and have been approved (not always though), but I wouldn't do it w/o my surgeon's okay. You're healing now, and if you're like me, I selected my surgeon because I trusted him and his education and expertise and longterm success rate with a lower than average band complication rate in his practice. Here's a medical/technical answer to the likely cause of your shoulder pain: shoulder pain following a laparoscopy

I have two brands of Greek yogurt in my fridge now. Brown Cow, which food Lion carries, and Oikos, which I've found at Whole Foods, Kroger's, and Walmart. Both brands come in fat free. They both have 6g of sugar and 15g of Protein in their small 5.3 oz container. I buy the plain, and sweeten it with a pack of Stevia. I also might add some fresh or frozen berries with a dash of vanilla extract. There's a whole thread with Greek yogurt recipes, that you might want to check out if you get the okay from your dr.

Shay and Daniel both looked good on Leno. I believe Shay has lost approx 50 lbs and Daniel has lost approx 30 lbs since being sent home. Shay has six different trainers that concentrate on different types of exercise. She has a different one every day (I don't remember her saying now, but I would think that means she takes one day off a week). On days she works, she exercises four hours, and on her day off, she exercises six hours. I wonder if the extra work outs the "young" team was doing in their room after hours ended up backfiring on them. I've read time and time again that proper rest is very important to weight loss too. Speaking of the "young" team, Shay and Rudy are only one year apart in age. Shay is 30 and Rudy is 31. I would have thought she was much younger given her personality. I'm pulling for a Rudy win. I like Allen and Danny too, in that order. I can't believe Danny's only 39. Liz, who is 49, looks ten years older to me too. Of course, referring to herself as Grandma doesn't help. (I think the makeovers will be very dramatic for those two). I don't mind Rebecca, and I hope Liz and Amanda are the next to go. I'm so tired of Amanda talking about how she's America's choice and Bob's drooling over her. After Bob's and Jillian's side bar on how much Shay needs to stay, Bob added that Amanda needed to stay too. I can see that Shay needs the support, but Amanda more than some of the others? Bob is under some kind of Amanda spell.

Shay and Daniel better be worth sitting through this..haha

No, they didn't show Shay, but they're both going to be on Leno shortly.

1. I keep papaya enzyme on hand in case I have a stuck or too tight episode with meat, but I've only used them two or three times. The time I used them when I was stuck, I believe saved from a full out PB episode. I had already started sliming, and I chewed three pills, and everything settled down. I bought mine at Trader Joe's (Papaya/Pineapple Enzyme), but others have found them at Vitamin shops. 2. You can potentially have gall bladder problems with rapid weight loss, but my problems developed during my third pregnancy (long before I had WLS). I've read that because people with lap band generally lose at a slower pace than with other WLS, that they tend to have gall bladder problems a little less often than those that have other WLS's, but I've not seen an actual table showing that to be true.

They flush the band with saline during surgery to be sure there's nothing leaking, and a little fluid can stay in the band. Also, some doctors put a fill in the band during surgery. I hope you're feeling better now.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!!

If you completely lost all restriction, there is a chance you have a leak. I know someone that this happened to after several months of good restriction, although you generally expect it to happen soon after a fill (if there was a puncture). She was able to have it repaired. I think she had a leak in her tubing, but I can't remember for sure now. On the other hand, maybe you just need a fill adjustment. It took several fills to get me to where I have long lasting restriction. I would have decent restriction for awhile, and then it would diminish after several weeks. Since you've lost a good amount of weight, maybe you've lost all the fat stores around your stomach, and your band just naturally loosened.

Yes, I would say you need a slight unfill. It's not natural (even with good band restriction) to be having to spit up saliva when you're eating or drinking. I would think just a very small unfill would do the trick.