rjo132

Hey I know your post is over a year old, but may I ask how they diagnosed it was your band catching on the diaphragm causing Vagus nerve reaction?
My band is actually sutured to my diaphragm. I have this off and on excruciating pain at my lowest rib and somewhat up under it on my left side. I can push up and under my rib with my fingertips and get some relief.
I’m just wondering how they diagnosed this for you?

May 2006, infilled for 18 mos now due to pouching, Maintaining 40 lb loss, initial loss was 65lbs at 5 yrs in. Still a daily battle. Only slight restriction at times. Need to get my head back on track.

I’m still out here, actually just back recently. May 2006! Basically my band had been infilled for 18mos now and maintaining but always fighting the food battle. Terrible reflux without my pantoprazole but trying to find something else that won’t deteriorate my bones!

Thank y’all for your responses. It’s nice to know how I’m seen by other ladies. I guess it is how we feel about ourselves. Like catwoman7, I’ve been big busted all my life and genetically have big arms from my mom’s side of women. I just always felt that I looked bigger than I was because of my bustline and always having to buy my clothes to fit “them.”

Anybody here more than 15 yrs out and still have their band? I’m at yr 13. It has been infilled for a yr due to pouching. My weight is stable but still would like to lose 20 yo be at my ideal weight.

Yeah here’s what they really look like

Please look my pics over and tell me what you think or would do. I want to have another breast reduction(2010-I think all I got was a lift. I had no cup size change) and a brachioplasty. I’ve always been top heavy and thought it makes one look bigger all over. And my arms disgust me. But I don’t know if I have body dysmorphia. Do y’all think I would feel better about the way I look if I do this. I feel like I would look somewhat altogether smaller if my breasts weren’t the focal point. I’m a 6 on bottom and a large/12 on top.

Has anybody had a brachioplasty that regretted it?

Hey sorry ladies I abandoned y'all! I got serious with Portion Control and have lost 17 lbs in 4 weeks. I went thru a chiropractor and am doing this program called Chirothin. There's another called ShapeReclaim that's very similar. If y'all are serious, you need to ck it out. I look at it like this, we already invested the risks of surgery, the out of pocket $$ and still have the struggle after all these years. So, I bit the bullet and invested more $$. BUT I'm back on track, my weird stomach issues are now non existent and I'm losing. And it has nothing to do with my band. Still glad I have it, just found this program to help me gain control again. Good luck ladies. I'm so happy with this that I'm actually going to delete my acct here. I am closer to my goal than I've been in 6 years. And I'll make it this time. Already back in my size 6's! What a feeling!

Het you two! Glad to hear from you both! I think checking in frequently is the thing to do to help us all out! It's a daily struggle at this point for a lot of us banders. Ilene glad you have your cruise to look forward too. Sometimes that can be a motivator. Keep walking like you're doing.

Sahm I'm with you on the exercising. I wish God would have given me that gene that makes people think about exercising like I think about brushing my teeth! lol (I'm a Dental Hygienist) I did good today on the eats and water/diluted green tea. Now if I can get on the treadmill for another 15 mins or so! Ughh! Tomorrow's another day! Nite

Well today was much better (except for the speeding ticket I got traveling back to my home state of MO.). I have a Health O Meter-stand up sliding kind. I invested in it nearly 20 years ago. Always on target with my docs though they've all gone digital now.

Anyway have a great weekend ladies. I know I'll do alright this weekend. I always do better when I'm away from home! Ha!

Well my day was a disaster. I got up and fixed my Protein Shake and put it in my work bag like I usually do (Just a tervis tumbler with a snap on lid and straw hole with a straw.) I drink my coffe on the way and have my shake during our morning meeting. I put my bag in the back seat today, I don't usually do that. On the way to work, some dude tried to meet me head-on on a near one lane bridge. Anyway, slamming on my brakes shifted my bag and my entire shake dripped out into the bottom of my bag. So no Breakfast and by 1 pm I was hungry. Got out a lil late for lunch so ran thru Arby's and got a kids ham melt and a diet coke. So no toooo bad. Got home from work and I've eat all night. Had 1 ounce of chips then later a single French bread supreme pizza-half at a time and just now 4 Cookies and a cup of milk. All that spread over 5 hours! I know.....to me it doesn't seem like much but I know it's the wrong kind of food and the wrong way to eat. And I didn't do any walking.

Just seems like my shake misshap set my day. On the positive, my Vera Bradley work bag washed up ok and is hang drying now.

Headed to bed. Off tomorrow and will start anew!

Ok, I'm with ya! I'm going back to counting calories and logging my exercise with My Fitness Pal. I've got a treadmill and elliptical-I've got to use them and get this under control. My first goal is these 6 holiday pounds! 2 weeks!

My exercise goal to start will be walking 20 mins 3 X week and 30 mins 2 X week.

Go!

Hey you two, I'll help! Maybe the 3 of us could be accountable to each other. I'm nearly 9 yrs out with my band and I'm struggling. In '09 I was 5 lbs from my goal wt (70 lbs) and lost my sweet spot from an unfollow and have not found it again. My lowest wt was 137 and I'm struggling to hold 160 now.

I'm ready to help!

Just an update. Since my last posting, I've had xrays, a gallbladder ultrasound and an upper GI again. Everything still looks good they said. My band position was still at the proper placement from nearly 9 years ago. My heartburn is unbearable, even with just a Protein Shake. Ranitidine helps but it's only 2 doses per 24 hours. I feel like I need it every time something goes down my throat. There are times when I feel like I'm gonna pass out from not being able to get a deep enough breath and the chest pain makes me worry that it's my heart! Seriously, this past year, sometimes I think I'm really in bad shape to only be nearly 56. And to have had the stamina and strength I had before getting the lap band and losing the 65 lbs that I lost. *note here-I've gained back 20. I guess I'm just out of shape aerobically!

On a positive, the pain under my left rib is much better. Honestly it's bearable right now. I don't even think about it. Oh it flares up on occasion but it's very strange how it has settled down. It may be coincidental, but I've been on a 3 month regimen of oral Lamisil (one big toenail that was getting numb from a fungal infection that I couldn't get cleared up to save my life!) But it does make me wonder if my intestines could have been over run by candida??? I've got 2 weeks left. I'm anxious to see if the pain returns after a period of time off the Lamisil. I need to investigate a diet that will deter intestinal yeast growth. I know the Lamisil is hard on your liver.

Anyway, I've rambled but that's it. I did let my doc take 1/2 cc out to see if that would help my heartburn/chest situation. It hasn't. I had gained 6 lbs over the holidays and I'm having heck getting it off. Uggggh!

Hang in there everybody! We have to be our own advocate!

Peace and blessings!

Hey thanks everybody for your comments and suggestions. I found a new GI doc and he cked me from the outside in. CT scan and repeat colonoscopy were normal. He, like my other GI, does not think it involves my band. Gave me a couple meds 1) Glycopyrrolate for stomach acids and hyoscamine. The Glycopyrrolate is to reduce stomach acids, slow movement and peptic ulcers. The glyco seems to have helped but it's side effects are as "almost" as bad as my stomach pain. I take it awhile, then I bk off. Anyway, I'm gonna hang in there with my band. Started my walking program again and gonna do my best to get these 15-20 pounds off, and pray this pain is gonna stay under control. I'll post if anything new develops! Prayers to everybody struggling. It's a constant battle, it seems. Even with this "tool."

Jackie, I was diagnosed with IBS-C in '01 when an episode of ischemic ulcerative colitis landed me in the hospital for 3 days well before being banded in '06. Thing is, I've dealt with this episodic disease/disorder as far back as being 17/18 yrs old and never knew what it was or had the mind to have it checked into. I just remember dealing with the pain, being curled up in a ball. It has just gotten more frequent as I've aged. I have colonoscopies every 3 yrs and then as needed such as during one of these extreme bouts. I had a couple polyps removed during the colonoscopy before last. Not to give TMI, but before being put on Miralax daily, I've gone as much as 24 days without a BM. My whole system was toxic. Now with these episodes, I'm in the bathroom all the time. Ok, that's over.

Anyway, I'm going to try a new GI doctor. Hope you get answers with your CT. Not to be negative, but my brother lost about 6 inches of his intestine due to a ruptured diverticula. He did not have to have a colostomy but HAS to watch his diet, so it's serious stuff.

Good luck, keep me posted on what you find out!

May 24, 2006; In June '09 I was 7 lbs from goal and my doc insisted I had lost 17 lbs too quickly from March to June. He insisted that I get a slight unfill for the long term health of my band and I've never been that close again.

I've done well till lately. Since Dec I've been having lot of pain and can't get answers but will keep posting on what I find out.

Well I've had another bad week y'all! I'm going to call another GI doctor and go from there. @Dragonfly-my port sits just to right of the midline of my abdomen. I'm at a loss as to what to do. Nothing that I do or try seems to help. Missy, I'm going to insist on a CT scan with contrast. @ChezNoel....Thanks

Well, I would have thought with the barium swallow and EGD they could have seen but nothing was mentioned about a hernia. I get spasms in my intestines but that goes along with the IBS, I guess. I think I'm gonna find another GI doc to look everything over again or at least look at all my reports. ? Anyway thanks for the prayers Missy. I would hate to lose my band.

Thanks John!

Hi Missy. They cked my gallbladder by ultrasound. (Funny thing, my mom had to have her gallbladder out and never had a stone.) And my primary care doc has never mentioned elevated wbc. (I never thought of that)

My band doc was really eager to do a sleeve revision when he told me that I may be rejecting and seemed a little put out when I told him I may need a second GI opinion? He was ready to get going on the insurance approval. I don't know what to do at this point. I'd like to ask for CT or MRI of my midsection to ck everything. I get this knotting and bloating with distension when this pain is at it's worst. I've been miserable tonight since about 6:30, to the point of thinking of going to the ER. But it's starting to subside now.

Thanks for your input!

I've had my band since May '06. My family suspects but I've never comfirmed to any of them and just recently shared with a co worker I have one. I just didn't want anyone to know. It's a personal thing to me. Don't feel bad if you don't want to tell. Good Luck!

Has anyone ever heard of your body rejecting the Band? I have a history of GI problems (pre/post band.) I have battled colitis, been diagnosed with IBS and latest episode of gastritis treated with 2 weeks of super strong antibiotics for h. pylori bacteria. I have been having pain since November, usually under my left rib area. I have not had any vomiting or pb's. My reflux has subsided since taking the anitbiotics and a month of Prevacid.

My GI doc says it is unrelated to my band. Scoping shows band is in correct position since banding 05/06. Barium in Dec showed slight dilation. Was completely unfilled for 6 weeks, recked, looked good and refilled slightly less than before (2cc.) Haven't lost any weight and still having episodes of extreme pain. I've had my gallbladder cked for stones and nothing. My band doc says he thinks my body is rejecting my band and wants me to consider removal and revising to the sleeve. I hate to do it. I'm at a loss and don't know how much longer I can deal with this intermittent extreme pain. It gets bad enough, I don't want to move, twist the wrong way or even breath too deep. During these episodes, I hold my midriff if I feel a cough or sneeze coming on.

Anybody have any thoughts?

Hi All, it's me, Grumpynonna, again...haven't posted to this thread for about a year, and it still appears to be the one that I need to being sharing on.

I am feeling cranky and fat and really don't want my FNP to tell me [again] when I see her week after next that I need to exercise and eat less and that it's really about not eating around the band and following the rules etc etc etc.

Harumph. Just because I ate all the leftover cookie-butts [the ones I couldn't possibly put into the Christmas cookie gifts, and they looked so left behind!] and have to have dessert after every meal [hey, I eat my Protein and veggies, how can dessert be a problem, if I have ROOM for it!?!?], I should still be able to lose weight, right?

Harumph again.

As you can probably tell, I am in Pity Party hell, especially since I was at 200 lbs yesterday, the first time in several years. To summarize what I said when I posted here last year, I was banded in November 2007, lost 100 lbs of the 130 I needed to lose in about 1 1/2 years, and was doing really well, was down to about 173-175. Then in summer of 2010, started having symptoms of being overfilled [pain, lots of regurgitation of meals, couldn't keep Water down,etc], so was mostly unfilled for a couple of months to give everything time to unspasm/calm down/let swelling and inflammation go down. Started being refilled early 2011, and about the time I last posted I was on my way in the struggle to re-lose the 20 lbs I had gained while being at a lower fill. All well and good. Found Happy Spot. Lost about 15 of the 20 lbs, hopeful of maybe losing the rest and continuing with weight loss. Lost Happy Spot. Symptoms started again, couldn't find the Happy Spot, had fills/unfills, yadda yadda.

Basically, was pretty much unfilled from just before Thanksgiving [oh, yay!] until last month, had to slow down re-filling because I had the Virus-from-Hell in December, and who knew what my innards really needed? [Anyone who says that throwing up with a lapband when you need to throw up because of stomach flu or whatever is just like throwing up without a lapband....well, not in my experience!]. Then had cataract surgery twice in January [very successful!] so just not focused on what I was eating or not.

ANYhow, am now about 1/2 cc short of the Happy Spot of Summer of 2011, but I feel very little restriction. I eat what I want when I want it. [Oh, don't start, yes, I know better.] Dessert makes me happy. If one piece of something is good, then two must be twice as good.

Sigh.

I do know what the "rules" are, I do know what worked the first time around, but I can't seem to get going again. Anything that occurs to me to try just feels like another diet....and I know in my heart of hearts that diets of any kind don't work for me...been there, done that. It seems that I have lost that "spark" that I had when I first started this whole process, that time of preparation [physical, mental and emotional] pre-op, and that whole first two years of success.

I just can't quite find "it"...and I can't bear the idea that my clothes are getting tight again, and I can't bear the thought of buying Big Clothes with X's in the Size again.

So thought I'd share/vent with you all, as you are pretty much the only ones who have a clue what this is about. And if anyone knows what might work to get me going again, it will be much appreciated. [Do you have ANY idea what happens to a body over 60 years old when it loses 100 lbs? Sagging? Ha! Never mind double chins [[now just double flaps!]], I seem to have triple knees....do they do knee tucks?]

Thanks to all of you for support....hopefully I can at least slow down the process and get through a summer without a repeat!.....Diane

Diane, how are you doing? Just thought I'd ck on ya. I don't get on here very often, usually if I get a notification on this thread. Wondered if you've tried to do liquid Protein for about 3 days? I'm sure you've heard it before.

Anyway hope you 're still hanging in there......Rhonda

Hi all! It's been awhile, since my last post. Thought I'd ck in. Happy to say I've got my mind working with my band again and have lost 10 pounds. It's slow but it's working. Now I need to get my mind working with my body to get high on exercise again. That's my downfall.....motivation to exercise!

I will say I've been in the pool 5 of out 7 days this summer and I do about 30 mins of exercising, which has helped.

Hope everyone is having a good summer in spite of the drought and high temps! Take care and just do your best to love yourself!