Any old timers still around?

[myturn0421 0]

Hey Everyone! It's been awhile since I've been around too!! I am actually needing to refocus, badly!!!

I lost 65lbs and was well on my way, then I got pregnant. I did pretty good, gained 40 pounds (10 the last 2 weeks alone!) I have 10 more pounds to lose from my baby weight, then I still have 50 lbs more to go! My band is completely empty, but I've been getting stuck lately. I had a barium swallow 2 weeks ago, my placement is good, but I have a slight "lip". Doc wants to do an EGD to make sure everything is OK.

[Wheetsin 714]

HeatherO - you mentioned reflux. I'm curious what you're experiencing, if you wouldn't mind sharing. Here's why I ask.

In the last year or two, I've noticed (yet again, for the third time) a complete change in my band behavior. Reflux is one of them. I used to have 2 gears with my band:

1. "Good"

2. "Gonna yak"

(and then there was about a 30 minute buffer between the two, during which I might go from "good" to "gonna yak" or vice versa)

There really wasn't anything in between. Then I slowly noticed that I developed a 3rd gear, which was:

3. "Definitely not clear, but not hurting & not gonna yak either, just feeling kinda oogie."

#3 used to not bother me, and normally when I woke up the next morning I would feel fine. Then slowly this changed, and if I was in 3rd gear I had a few options:

A. Don't eat for a day, maybe two, and eventually everything straightens itself out.

B. Try to drink something, and if I could get a few swallows down it would clear up. Especially if I could drink something cold (cold drinks with an uncleared pouch used to be guaranteed yaksville for me).

If I need to sleep before A or B can happen, it's pretty much guaranteed reflux. Multiple times, all night long, and 2 or 3 times I've woken up having aspirated it - ouch & yuck. I can't really explain the sensation of #3 very well. it's subtle, but there. It's not uncomfortable, it's just noticeable. Perhaps a tiny pressure. But it's definitely not the feeling of a cleared pouch, and if I'm not feeling 100% clear/nothing's there, I KNOW I will reflux. And I haven't been wrong yet. But I wouldn't say it happens often. A night - maybe two in a row - every few months. But it gets to where during tight periods, I'll just not eat because I don't want to be refluxing all night. Tests show everything is fine, and I'm sitting at 0.25 cc. Just another chapter in "life with the band" maybe.

[moonandstarzz 0]

It has been a few years, just seeing who might still be around from the good ol' days.

i havent been on here in forever i had forgotten the site addy, but luckily i got a email because of this thread, i am here though

[tracew 2]

Hey there -

Interesting that I got this post. I have not talked on this forum for a very long time. I was banded on Jan 17th 2004. Coming up on that everluming 10 year mark. Back in the day of being banded we were told that this would last around 10 years, which seemed like a lifetime back then, now...not so much.

Nice to read and see how well people are doing....congrats everyone...keep up the amazing work.

xo

T

[5jacks 0]

It has been a few years, just seeing who might still be around from the good ol' days.

I'm still here.....and I still remember you from the "good ole days!!" I was banded in January 2007, lost 103 pounds in the first year or so and wanted to lose another 30-40 pounds. I had slowed on the weight loss so went to dr. and they said I has a stretched esophagus. Took out all my fill and waited for about 3 or 4 months and then started putting it back in. In that time I went wild and gained about 40 pounds! Not sure how many fills I've had since then (only a couple) but I'm afraid to keep getting them for fear that I'm going to stretch it all over again. In the meantime I've started gaining weight again and was starting to feel like maybe I should go ahead and make the appt. and face the music!! Had only started thinking about going back to the dr. a couple of days ago and then got your e-mail!!!! Guess that's my sign to make the call. Hope more of us oldies get on here, just like back then, it's always nice to know your not the only one going through it! Thanks for starting this thread!

[Angie38 1]

I am interested in this as well. I started having these reflux bouts this past year. I did go to my doc and get some reflux meds that have helped. I was waking up at least once a week "yaking" on myself and choking (ouch & yuck just aren’t strong enough words to describe this event for me!). I had no idea it was reflux I thought something serious was really wrong until I went to the doctor. Then for whatever reason I decided that I didn’t need my pills anymore and quit taking them. Of course the yaking started again and like you depending on what kind of day I’ve had would determine my course of action, possibly no dinner and for sure no eating after 7pm. I have an appt with my doc to get back on my meds and this time I will stay on them! I think it is interesting that we are experiencing the same thing as a result of our bands and neither of us initially had this “side effect”. Lol. I wasn’t totally sure that it was my band that was causing this because several people at work had said they have had reflux problems.

HeatherO - you mentioned reflux. I'm curious what you're experiencing, if you wouldn't mind sharing. Here's why I ask.

In the last year or two, I've noticed (yet again, for the third time) a complete change in my band behavior. Reflux is one of them. I used to have 2 gears with my band:

1. "Good"

2. "Gonna yak"

(and then there was about a 30 minute buffer between the two, during which I might go from "good" to "gonna yak" or vice versa)

There really wasn't anything in between. Then I slowly noticed that I developed a 3rd gear, which was:

3. "Definitely not clear, but not hurting & not gonna yak either, just feeling kinda oogie."

#3 used to not bother me, and normally when I woke up the next morning I would feel fine. Then slowly this changed, and if I was in 3rd gear I had a few options:

A. Don't eat for a day, maybe two, and eventually everything straightens itself out.

B. Try to drink something, and if I could get a few swallows down it would clear up. Especially if I could drink something cold (cold drinks with an uncleared pouch used to be guaranteed yaksville for me).

If I need to sleep before A or B can happen, it's pretty much guaranteed reflux. Multiple times, all night long, and 2 or 3 times I've woken up having aspirated it - ouch & yuck. I can't really explain the sensation of #3 very well. it's subtle, but there. It's not uncomfortable, it's just noticeable. Perhaps a tiny pressure. But it's definitely not the feeling of a cleared pouch, and if I'm not feeling 100% clear/nothing's there, I KNOW I will reflux. And I haven't been wrong yet. But I wouldn't say it happens often. A night - maybe two in a row - every few months. But it gets to where during tight periods, I'll just not eat because I don't want to be refluxing all night. Tests show everything is fine, and I'm sitting at 0.25 cc. Just another chapter in "life with the band" maybe.

[OH Juli 15]

WOW I just realized that today is my 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY to getting banded. WOW again.

I was in a hurry when I posted earlier so a little more story now. I love my band. I lost quickly and easily with my band. I rarely have had to get adjusted. I lost most my weight and had complete body lift too. That will be two years ago in May.

I've also finished two degrees and got kicked in the pants at work. I'm lucky that I have a job still but it was super hard. I think the stress of that had me going to my old comfort-food. I'm up 40 pounds from my lowest and I really need to knock that off again. I'm hoping with the spring I can.

Like someone else said, I spent so much time on this site, before, during and for a few years after surgery that I'm surprised I ever left.

Everything changes though, right. I hope to hang around here more. This site was so helpful before, I'm sure it will be helpful again.

[GE Mom 0]

Well, I'm the lap band failure. I am now about 13 pounds less than the day of surgery. I have been filled to 10.5 cm in an 11 cm band since about 3 months after the surgery and cannot lose even one pound. I am hungry all the time.

I can eat far too normally -- except for occasional esophogeal spasms, you wouldn't even know I have the band. By normally, I mean that I eat what people of normal weight eat. I've had several people (who have spent a lot of time with me) tell me I don't eat nearly enough to weigh what I do.

I've been xrayed several times, and the band is in place, and filled as it should be. I finally quit going back to the doctor after about 6 months. They couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing.

So, if I knew what I know now, I wouldn't have done it. It's been a total failure for me. Any advice would be welcome.

[the best me 6]

Back to my low self-esteem and avoidant personality disorder.

Okay, that was funny!

I actually wanted to start researching VSG, which is how I re-happened upon LBT.

Cheers! Good to see you, Wheetsin.

I got an email, I guess that makes me an old timer? It's been a while. I was banded in 2005 and lost about 70 pounds, felt great, but still had another 30 to go. Took the opportunity to finally quit smoking, then lost my ever loving mind for about a year. I gained back everything I'd ever lost. When I finally got my wits about me, I discovered that my tubing had a hole in it, so my trusty band hadn't been working at all for me for a long time. Got it fixed and now I need another fill, but I'm still struggling to lose again.

If BCBS paid for it, I'd totally get sleeved. In a second.

[~Trixie~ 0]

It's funny. The timing of this thread is perfectly ironic as I had my band completely emptied last week because of awful pain when drinking mere liquids and awaking at night with vomit in my mouth. I am having an endoscopy tomorrow morning and will hopefully learn the fate of my band shortly after. The GI Series that I had last week was not promising: the flow through the empty band is too slow and my esophagus is "playing" with everything that enters it. I'm contemplating a sleeve revision because I fear I will continue to have these issues even with a new band. Have any of you "Old Timers" had a revision and if so, what was your experience like?

[TxArcher 2]

Don't know what to say really. I had my band in November of 2007. I went from 400 pre-surgery to 272 at my lowest. Since Sx I have been in 3 different jobs in 2 different states. My wife and I have had 2 more children... moved 4 times...

I am still below 300... currently sitting at about 290. I blame my 15-20 pound weight gain on the 6 months my family lived with my parents. I was laid off and had to move back across the country to Texas to survive the situation. I then found out that I could "stomach" beer again. Hmmmmm lots of empty calories i guess. I have been off the beer for a month now and low-and-behold... i think I have lost a few pounds!

I am somewhat annoyed with my band. I have NO insurance and have been experiencing a lot of "first bite syndrome" I am beginning to think I am either too full or my band has slipped.

SUX.

I miss the community I once had here on LBT. Seems as though most of the other Nov07 bandsters have drifted away as I did. Thanks for the email and piquing my curiosity to return to the site.

[TheCascadian 1]

Hello all, I got the email and figured it would be nice to stop by and say hello and give a long-winded update. Feel free to skip the boring parts!

I got my band on 03/28/07; four years ago this month! Feels like I've had it longer, actually.

I'm still overweight, but my weight is very steady around 300-310lbs (6'6" tall) for years now. This is down from my all-time high of 420+ lbs., although constant Atkins dieting and exercise were keeping me well below that weight in the years prior to the surgery. I think I was bouncing around in the 360-390 range in the months before surgery, but I tell people I lost over 100 pounds with the band because without low-carb dieting and running that would be very true.

The band did what I wanted- it stopped my ravenous hunger and stabilized my weight so I wasn't CONSTANTLY gaining pounds or dieting back down. Ironically, what it changed most was my mind, not my body. I feel like a normal person now, somebody who should really hit the gym and drop that beer gut, instead of somebody haunted by a fatal metabolic disorder and a love/hate relationship with food.

I'm at 9.6cc fill on a vanguard, reasonable restriction. I never got the hang of eating without fluids and in fact I drink lots of Water with my meals. I know I'm flushing the band but it works for me. I can and do eat normal-sized meals, just very slowly. This is a big change from my pre-band diet where I would eat a meal for two- or three- and still be hungry after.

I'm a bit picky about what I eat now; my friends and I joke that I have "surgical bulimia" on those bad-band days (no, we are not very p.c. and I do understand that's a serious eating disorder), but I have had a couple of somewhat-comical upchucking/spewing events that won't be described here, usually after trying to down some tasty but heavy / glutinous food. For some reason hamburger patties and hand-tossed pizza crusts are utterly intolerable to my band no matter how much I chew them. Thankfully about a year after surgery I found lettuce/spinach/salads could finally go through the band just fine. I do not religiously avoid sweets. I just eat these things in normal amounts now.

As far as band side-effects or issues go, like I said I have very occasional bad days where I hurl most food up. These days are always solitary and they never prevent me from taking Water in, there is no associated pain with this other than hunger. I don't think my band has ever slipped. I don't have any heartburn issues. Sometimes I bump by port and it gets sore but overall I would say I've had no serious complications and I'm very happy with my band. I've had the flu twice, promethazin suppositories kept the retching to a minimum.

I do have a standing arrangement with my surgeon that if my band ever messes up and needs further surgery, he will take it out and revise me to a vertical gastrectomy.

[TxArcher 2]

Hello all, I got the email and figured it would be nice to stop by and say hello and give a long-winded update. Feel free to skip the boring parts!

I got my band on 03/28/07; four years ago this month! Feels like I've had it longer, actually.

I'm still overweight, but my weight is very steady around 300-310lbs (6'6" tall) for years now. This is down from my all-time high of 420+ lbs., although constant Atkins dieting and exercise were keeping me well below that weight in the years prior to the surgery. I think I was bouncing around in the 360-390 range in the months before surgery, but I tell people I lost over 100 pounds with the band because without low-carb dieting and running that would be very true.

The band did what I wanted- it stopped my ravenous hunger and stabilized my weight so I wasn't CONSTANTLY gaining pounds or dieting back down. Ironically, what it changed most was my mind, not my body. I feel like a normal person now, somebody who should really hit the gym and drop that beer gut, instead of somebody haunted by a fatal metabolic disorder and a love/hate relationship with food.

I'm at 9.6cc fill on a vanguard, reasonable restriction. I never got the hang of eating without fluids and in fact I drink lots of Water with my meals. I know I'm flushing the band but it works for me. I can and do eat normal-sized meals, just very slowly. This is a big change from my pre-band diet where I would eat a meal for two- or three- and still be hungry after.

I'm a bit picky about what I eat now; my friends and I joke that I have "surgical bulimia" on those bad-band days (no, we are not very p.c. and I do understand that's a serious eating disorder), but I have had a couple of somewhat-comical upchucking/spewing events that won't be described here, usually after trying to down some tasty but heavy / glutinous food. For some reason hamburger patties and hand-tossed pizza crusts are utterly intolerable to my band no matter how much I chew them. Thankfully about a year after surgery I found lettuce/spinach/salads could finally go through the band just fine. I do not religiously avoid sweets. I just eat these things in normal amounts now.

As far as band side-effects or issues go, like I said I have very occasional bad days where I hurl most food up. These days are always solitary and they never prevent me from taking Water in, there is no associated pain with this other than hunger. I don't think my band has ever slipped. I don't have any heartburn issues. Sometimes I bump by port and it gets sore but overall I would say I've had no serious complications and I'm very happy with my band. I've had the flu twice, promethazin suppositories kept the retching to a minimum.

I do have a standing arrangement with my surgeon that if my band ever messes up and needs further surgery, he will take it out and revise me to a vertical gastrectomy.

Wow man... Except for the Hurling part and the revision surgery, I would say that yours and my stories are nearly identical...

I will just have to say DITTO on most of yours.

[Wheetsin 714]

Hmm a bunch of "old" people hanging out.

If this forum were real life, this thread would totally be Old Country Buffet (local social mecca of the AARPers).

That's awesome.

[ronwifey 0]

Hi I havent been here in ages. I've had no problems with the lap band EXCEPT that I learned what all the bad food that can fit through the band. I'm starting HCG drops to motivate and boost weight loss.