jorsuss

I was banded in November 2008. I lost about 80 pounds and then all of a sudden I got swollen and couldn't eat or drink. I hadn't had a fill for almost a year at this point. Dr. Removed all fluid (8cc) did a swallow test and the band didn't slip and was fine. Gained a bunch of weight back and started the fill process all over again. Got back up to 7cc and was losing slowly. Then it happened again, swollen and couldn't eat or drink. Removed 2cc this time and I am gaining. I would like to get the revision but does this qualify as a complication? I feel like my body does not allow the band to be as tight as I need it to lose weight.

I'm not very hopeful. My doctor submitted a request to the insurance company but they also said that it usually has to be a pretty solid complication for them to approve this. I guess I'll have to try harder with the band or pray for a small malfunction.

Has anyone had their band completely unfilled? I had to get it completed unfilled about a year ago and have been gradually getting it re-filled. Ever since the unfill, I have this weird feeling in my stomach. It's hard to explain but it's like a nervous feeling and I feel like I have to go to the bathroom constantly. They took out 8cc's and now I am back up to 7.5cc, so I am almost as tight as I was. With this latest fill on Thursday that weird feeling is gone I think. So I am wondering if the unfill could have caused this feeling.

Thanks for replies. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis almost two years after getting banded. There is no evidence or reason to believe that this was from the band or the surgery, even though "experts" in my life suggest otherwise. After I got the unfill I was able to eat large meals and gained back a nice chunk of weight. As this was happening the colitis symptoms got worse with little improvement. Now that I'm starting to feel better after the latest fill, I'm thinking that at least some of the problems I was having were from the band. I'm glad I am starting to feel better but it's difficult not having answers.

I got my second refill today. They took 8cc out, waited a month. Put 4cc in. Gained at least 20 pounds because this gave me no restriction at all. Today she put 3rd in for a total of 7. Thank god I am finally feeling some restriction with liquids.

I had irritation above my band and could keep down less and less food. I didn't have a fill in over 8 months but it just got irritated one day. I just did liquids in hopes that this would go away. It did not go away and eventually I was having a hard time keeping just liquids down. After 4 days of no solids and hardly any liquids I called the doctor. It was the weekend so I was trying to wait until Monday. He told me to come into his office first thing Monday morning. He completely unfilled me. Took out 8cc's of my 10cc band. Took a barium test to make sure there was no damage. He said everything looked ok but I just needed some time to heal. He told me to come back in a month to start the fill process all over. This was not good for me. It took a long time to get to the place that I needed to be to really start loosing weight. I needed 7ccs to even start feeling and good restriction. I went back after the month and he would only put 4cc in. That did nothing for me. I have no restriction. I am going back in 2 weeks for my next fill. He said we can do 2.5ccs. Hopefully I can convince him to give me more because I have gained about 20 pounds and very discouraged. I'm hungry all the time and having a hard time controlling myself.