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I got my lap band on August 8th and everything has been great. I had no complications, and I had a fill on Sept. . That went well, and I started having decent restriction, when (somewhat suddenly) I started having "the signs". Well, after a positive, but cheap walmart test was tossed, my husband and I spent $40 on 4 different tests, with 6 different sticks, all of them were the same. SO, then I went to the clinic out here, and they only did a urine test as well, but same deal. So, now go to see an obgyn on monday. Here's the thing, my husband and I are THRILLED, but surprised. This would be our first, and we wanted to, but I just got my band! I just lost 40 lbs. in the last year! And, you know, I asked 3 different specialists if I should get on birth control, and they all said, "no, you won't have no chance of getting pregnant" and I figured as much since my husband and I have not been using birth control for the last 2 1/2 years. I figured this was the least likeliest time possible. Like I said, I'm estatic, a bit perturbed simply because this means I'll have to unfill for the time being, but to have a baby is way more exciting for us right now, plus that's the beauty of the band, it's ajustable. I guess my confusion is how come sao suddenly? And how come the doctors rule it out so easily? (p.s. I know I'm goona get yelled at by my surgeon, I'm dreading calling her on Monday, I sure wish I had tape recorded them all saying "no, you won't get pregnant" ! Even her nurse did! Anyone else get pregnant so fast??? The doc says I could be anywhere from 2 weeks to four, that would mean we concieved 2 weeks after the band!!!!

I also have FFL and happened to stumble on this thread. I tried getting pregnant for about 4 years finally did but it was a scary pregnancy with the worries about clotting, high blood pressure, and gestational diabetes. One of my main reasons for getting the surgery is to hopefully have another baby with less complications and stress. I was comforted that my surgeon knew exactly what FFL was when I mentioned it but he didn't mention any extra medication. Should I bring it back up?? Sent from my LG-H820 using the BariatricPal App

You made the right decision. I am ready for restriction too. Bypass has way to many complications that could occur. Hang in there!

I am very computer illiterate. Do you have to hook this up to your computer to see results? I am not good with gadgets. When they talk about computer software, it starts sounding complicated to me.

I have an appointment with the PA at my surgeon's office tomorrow. I'm 7 weeks post-op as of tomorrow as well. I do not have any fill at this point. I'm consistently losing (average of 2.25 lbs per week, not including the liquid diet phase). I can definitely eat more than I could immediately post-op but overall I am fairly satisfied with small amounts of food. For example, 2 eggs and half a slice of toast, 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 4 saltines with Peanut Butter on them, 2 oz chicken breast and a few green Beans. It seems to me that the less Fluid in the band, the less complications people experience, so I would like to take a conservative route on fills. I know the PA agrees with that. I feel comfortable with not getting a fill tomorrow, but I'd like opinions from more experienced bandsters please. My overall weight loss since I began my pre-op diet (10 days prior to surgery) is 30.8 lbs in 8 weeks. Edited to add that sometimes I am hungry 2-3 hrs after eating but other times i can go 5 hrs or more. What I usually do is eat a small amount when I'm hungry 2-3 hrs after eating but after that I usually go a longer time without hunger so overall my daily intake averages out.

I cannot say anything about post-op, because my surgery is not until Dec.2, but I sure can about now. I am being weined off my antidepressant Celexa and boy did I have a few off days this past Sat-Tues. I will not go completely off my Celexa today as was planned. Now I will go down to 10 mg for the next 6 days, then I will have to go off completely the day of surgery until the doctor says I can go back on it. I was on 60 mg until the pre-op diet. They want patients to get weaned off of it so that the withdrawal will not cause complications or they won't be so severe if there is any. I guess right after surgery it is too difficult to swallow pills for a little while. I hope I don't have to stay off of mine very long. When had those off days I was on 20 mg a day, so I know that it is probably the effects of it being reduced from 60. If you are on any medications, have they let you start them again. I wish you all the best.

Yes, I would. I've had no complications at all. If I'd had complicatons, my answer might be different. VSG was not really around when I was banded, so that wasn't an option. I don't know how I'd have felt if it had been.

Hi Donna. Several of the other board members here have had their plications longer than I at this point, so they may have more experience to share. I only had my plicatino done June 6, so I'm just 15 days out from surgery. The only complications have been nausea for the first couple of days after surgery and having to adjust my sleeping position because I can't lie on my side/stomach now. I definitely feel restriction when I eat and need to eat slowly. I have to be careful and eat slowly. I've had a time or two where my brain was not caught up with my stomach in realizing that I was full. I'd eat an extra bite or two and feel like I might lose my lunch, but that's something I'm trying to get used to. I'm finding that I get hungry every couple of hours which is different from before, but eat in small quantities when I am. I lost about 12 pounds prior to surgery on the liquid diet and have lost about 8 pounds in the two weeks since surgery. I started at 290.5 and was at 269.6 yesterday on the scale. I've been walking most days at least 20 minutes. I was really worried about giving up soda (was a diet Coke addict), but it's been over two weeks and really haven't missed them. I do struggle to get in enough Water each day. I was actually better about drinking water before! So far, I don't regret having it done, but it's early on for me.

Ugh, I'm so sorry you're going through this. In reading all the different studies and reports, it seems like Vitamin noncompliance or an inability to properly absorb is the main cause of peripheral neuropathy. How long have you missed your B vitamin compliance, and have you tried to get B Vitamins through shots or sublingually to avoid malabsorption? I wish I had answers for you. As for the headaches, while they are common after a lumbar puncture, if you are STILL having them days after, you need to get back to the hospital ASAP because you may have a leak that could lead to complications!

I am being banded tomorrow and I am so scared. The doctor made everything sound so easy "You'll have surgery, be back to normal in 3-5 days and then after the 4 week post op diet, you will eat whatever your family does, only in much smaller portions'. From what I have read on here, the process is much more complicated. I am so worried about waking up from surgery unable to drink any water and being in horrible pain. I have fibromyalgia and have no idea how that will be affected by the surgery. I am kind of second guessing my decision to do this (something I knew would happen) but have already paid for the surgery and done the entire pre-op process. I just feel completely sick to my stomach and I know tonight is only going to get worse.

I am so happy I did it I did not have any health issues but I did not want to have any either I was sleeved on 4/4 and have lost 38lbs I have not had any complications and have felt great from day one the benefits far outweigh the risks I think most people on here feel the same this is the most supportive. Kind group of people Sent from my SPH-D700 using VST

Sorry you are hurting:sad0: I totally identify with you though! There is a wide spectrum of after surgery pain and I was on the wrong end of the bell curve too. I was even worried about complications and a leak and had a CT at week 3. Call you doc. I went thru 5 bottles of liquid lortab with a liquid tylenol chaser every 4-6 hrs. My liver is tough. If you have a recliner plan on sleeping in it for a few nights. Again, call your doc. The pain may be normal, but you do not have to suffer!!! Mine felt like an apple corer coming out of my belly button. No left incision pain, no drain pain. As Tiffykins told me it should not last past 4 weeks and that's when mine almost totally stopped overnight. WARNING: On those good days, do not suddenly bend over to tie your shoes or pick something up:crying: Take it slow and easy.

This is very strange for me because I've been cruising along with my lap-band for 2 years now with zero complications. Now, all of a sudden, in the past 4 weeks or so, I've developed weird, nauseated like symptoms. I actually thought I might be pregnant, because it feels like morning sickness ... sporadic waves of nausea throughout the day. It doesn't matter if I eat or don't eat. And, no, I'm not pregnant. I've looked at the symptoms for band slippage and they don't seem to be me: I don't have reflux OR vomiting. Just weird waves of nausea. My weight loss has slowed ... but a lot of that is me ... I haven't been exercsing as much as I used to and I don't have very much left to lose. I actually felt mauseated like this before I had my band, but after I had my gall bladder removed. But, I hadn't felt like this in years. I'm bummed. I want to feel better. :smile2: Thoughts?

That's good enough reason to follow instructions and stay on that pre-op diet. Missing a little solid food is nothing compared with what happens if they do have complications because of an enlarged liver.

Dave once you get to the correct fill level after a band, then you are supposed to be satisfied or full with about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of food. This is how you are able to lose weight, but you have to follow the rules. The band is made to be a lifetime implant, and many have had them for a long time, but sometimes there are complications where they have to be removed, that percentage is pretty small though. On the excess skin issue everyone is different, it depends on your age and the elasticity of your skin, one advantage to the band is you lose slowly and this allows your skin to retract better than very very rapid weight loss such as you have with a bypass surgery. I believe I remember reading that about 20% of band weight loss paitients need a plastic surgery after they are at their goal weight. Hope this helps. Debbie

I am so afraid of the unknown and the potential complications. I just really need this to go well.

As @catwoman7 said some of those changes you mentioned are just temporary. Like hair loss usually persists for about 3 months & your hormones settle once you’ve lost most of your weight (oestrogen is stored in fat so as you lose all the excess oestrogen is released into blood stream). Large weight regain can occur because of complacency & people slipping back into old eating habits. It can occur because how they were eating wasn’t sustainable &/or was too restrictive. It didn’t allow them to live their life as they wanted & hindered them doing what they enjoyed. Or they didn’t do the head work to understand & learn to manage their old eating behaviours & what drove them to eat. All things the surgery doesn’t do anything about. But it does give you the time to explore these factors. Also remember the average weight loss at about the three year mark is 60% of the weight that had to be lost. This can include the bounce back ‘resettling’ weight gain, complacency & adjusting to a more flexible eating plan. Or it could just be the weight your body is happier at. Sure there is always a chance to develop an issue that has to be monitored but it’s rare. Comparatively, there are very few complications from weight loss surgery. Some of the issues may not have anything to do with the surgery. I have a protein malabsorption issue. Not from my 3 yr old sleeve but from my gall being removed last year. (Malabsorption issues are very rare with sleeve.) I have low BP. I had a genetic predisposition before surgery now it’s all the time because of my lower weight not the surgery. Gerd is probably the highest risk after sleeve - about 15-20% I believe. But it can be managed or treated by a revision to bypass. Some issues may be revealed because you likely are being monitored medically more closely now then before or your weight & associated comorbidities may have been masking what were pre existing conditions. You’ll likely read & hear about people with problems because they they post to seek help & support. They don’t often post about what the cause was or the remedy. In comparison, people tend not to post or talk about their successes. I know many people who’ve had the surgery. No one has experienced long term or developed new issues because of the surgery. A couple regained most of their weight because they went back to their old eating habits. Certainly the benefits far outweigh any temporary side effects or the very rare problem.

Did everyone get a leak check? I was discharged yesterday afternoon but they didn't make me do a leak check. The nurse just said that if I DID have a leak, I would be having many more complications. So they just discharged me....something about that just doesnt sound right o me?

Hi everyone - I'm 10 days out from a lower body lift and inner thigh lift... I'm finally starting to feel human again. I knew this was going to be rough, but wow... Luckily, other than pain I've had no complications. I had 2 of my 4 drains taken out on Wednesday and am pretty sure the other two will come out next Wednesday at my 2 week checkup. I had my surgery with Dr. Shiffrin in Chicago. I think it was a little more than some of the quotes I've saw tossed around here, but I felt really comfortable with him and knew that I was going to get a good result based on feedback and pictures of the work he's done. He's just a really down to earth guy. I've been wearing really loose sweat pants ever since surgery. Today, I tried on a pair of jeans for the first time. They fit fine in the legs but were tighter around my waist than pre-surgery... but I had to laugh because I'm not really sure where my waist is anymore. I'm used to my pants going under my gut, but the gut is gone! Did any of you find that your clothes fit a lot different after surgery (or even go up a size), or is it just a matter of giving enough time for the swelling go down?

I just found out that patients have to wait 1-2 years before surgery at the clinic I attend. I've been waiting 10 months now and have all my requirements done. I have no doubt in my mind that I'm ready and all the prep is almost to the point of overkill. I think someone would be less anxious if they have had any other type of major surgery before. There are relaxation techniques that are quite useful during high anxiety moments, such as major surgery. I had a major surgery where there were numerous unexpected complications. I had brought my favorite painting and had it placed in view so that I could concentrate on it and drown out voices, sounds of surgical tools, and pain. I also thought about the young children at St. Jude that had to go through so much more than I was temporarily enduring. Everyone is different, but I think a little mental preparation will keep you from backing out at the last moment. The newer requirements that make bariatric patients wait so long before surgery are put in place so that we are more than ready and less likely to fail.

Performed through a laparoscope, Gastric Plication is minimally invasive. The stomach is folded into itself, limiting the capacity of the stomach from about 50 ounces to 4 to 8 ounces. No cutting or stapling is performed so the risk of complications are obviously much smaller than traditional gastric bypass operations. Lap-band surgery is unique in that it requires implantation of the gastric band around the top of the stomach. The fill port is also implanted and attached to the Lap-band by a tube. Some patients have very low tolerance to these implants and the band must be removed when rejected by their body. A very few patients don't deal well with the fill procedure. To adjust the Lap-band saline solution is injected through the skin into the fill port. The Lap-band fill procedure is easily tolerated by most patients. But every once in while a patient has problems with the injection. Gastric plication only requires simple sutures (stitches) that are typically never rejected by the human body. It requires no maintenance (such as fills). The advantages of Gastric Plication over Lap-band and bypass surgeries: No foreign devices are implanted (the Lap-band is implanted along with its fill port and tubing). No adjustments are required (the Lap-band requires the injection or removal of saline solution to adjust it). food is far less likely to become stuck (food can more easily become stuck with the Lap-band). Gastric plication offers more restriction than Lap-band surgery. Reports on Gastric Plication surgery show 60-65% excess body weight loss in one year vs. 45-55% for Lap- band surgery (although individual results will vary, this is the average). No cutting of the stomach or the intestine (all gastric bypass surgeries include radical surgical reduction of the stomach and small intestine). Gastric Plication causes no nutritional deficiencies. Bypass surgery patients can suffer anemia, osteoporosis, Vitamin deficiency and Protein deficiency because the small intestine is radically shortened. Few food restrictions compared to Gastric Bypass or Lap-band surgeries. Patients can eat most anything, because even though the stomach is drastically reduced in size, it is not surgically altered and functions normally. Gastric Plication can be reversed more easily than any other surgery. hope this helps

I just posted a new video answering why I chose the Sleeve over the Lap Band. I have a friend that had the band about 2 years ago. It was only a temp solution for him. He quickly learned to eat around the band and gained all the weight back. He also has had complications from the band rubbing and causing scar tissue on his stomach. It wasn't long after the scarring that they had to deflate his band and may have to take it out. It may be a few minutes before the vid is available. It's still uploading.

I was afraid. Not sure I would get approved and also afraid of complication. I am 9 days post op. went back to work after 6 days( only 5 hours) I am resting knowing my limit getting all protein vitamins and walking. Go in with confidence and know this shall pass. I had never had any kind o surgery. I'm 47. I was afraid. Never let fear stop you. Do research follow Instructions on recovery to a t. I jut went for a walk with my 11 year old and after 9 days I feel great. Yes it isn't easy ( major gas, insicion pain!) bur think I expected the worse and it is ok. Good luck.

This is kind of long... I suffer from autoimmune disease and have heard that the band can be good or bad for it. Some docs won't touch you if you have it. The only article I can find linking it to autoimmune disease in a quick search is the one below http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/sites/entrez We report 2 patients who developed sarcoidosis after the implantation of adjustable silicone gastric banding (GB) in Germany. Before implantation, no pulmonary diseases were evident in the medical history of either patient. The 1st patient suffered sarcoidosis 12 months after GB. He has been treated at a hospital specialising in pulmonary diseases. Because of the treatment with corticoids, the patient has regained weight after the initial weight reduction. The 2nd patient developed signs of pulmonary infection on the 7th postoperative day (after GB). Pulmonary sarcoidosis was diagnosed 4 months later after consultation with a pulmonologist. On the other hand- this article states that it helps: Bariatric Surgery Improves Asthma, Autoimmune Disease WASHINGTON, D.C., June 2008 — Obese people with asthma, osteoarthritis or autoimmune diseases who undergo bariatric surgery may be able to say sayonara to their steroids and/or the other immunosuppressing drugs they use to treat these diseases within about 18 months of their surgery. This is according to new research presented at the 25th annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic amd Bariatric Surgery. And that's a good thing, as long-term use of these drugs can have harmful effects on health. Precisely how bariatric surgery can help resolve or improve these diseases is not fully understood, but losing weight may decrease certain inflammatory markers that are known to be elevated in autoimmune and inflammatory disease, according to study author Elizabeth A. Dovec, MD, a bariatric surgeon at Western Pennsylvania Hospital, a teaching hospital of Temple University School of Medicine in Pittsburgh. The new study comprised 49 morbidly obese people who were taking steroids or other immunosuppressive medications to treat co-existing chronic autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), myasthenia graves (a neuromuscular disease characterized by weakness of the skeletal muscles) and lupus, or inflammatory diseases like asthma. In autoimmune diseases, the body engages in friendly fire against its own organs or systems. More than 50 percent of the study patients were able to discontinue or significantly reduce the use of oral steroids and immunosuppressive agents within 18 months. Specifically, 89 percent of people with asthma who underwent bariatric surgery were able to discontinue their steroids. What's more, 33 percent of patients with the inflammatory skin disease psoriasis and 25 percent of those with myasthenia graves were able to stop taking their medication. In addition to improvements in autoimmune and inflammatory disease, the study participants lost 65.2 percent of their excess weight, and 80 percent of the study participants showed improvements or resolution of many of their other obesity-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea and high blood pressure. "Patients with compromised immune systems [such as occur with autoimmune disease] or taking steroids for chronic inflammatory disease [like asthma] may have been excluded from bariatric surgery because they are at higher risk for complications related to their disease or immunosuppressant medications," said another study author, Daniel J, Gagné, MD, director of bariatric surgery and laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery at the hospital. "However, this study shows not only that these patients can safely have bariatric surgery, but they can achieve significant improvements or elimination of many diseases." — Denise Mann

Also if you haven't already you can go to the FDA's MAUDE site and look up lap band and realize band. It will give you all the reported cases of side effects, complications and etc associated with the band. MAUDE - Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience Hope that helps you!