Changes Over Time?

[elcee 3,343]

It seems there is a real problem after a certain point where the restriction wears off but further fills then cause reflux. It would be good if someone could come up with the answer as to why.

I have only had 1 episode of reflux since my partial unfill months ago but I swear at the time I was not tight and would actually have liked more restriction. Now I am just desperate for any restriction. I want my band to work the way it did initially , without me thinking about it. Now I have to struggle not to spend the day snacking and am constantly pondering what diet I should start to get rid of the 3kg I have gained.

The scary thing is that it seems that some of the previous veteran bandsters encountered the same problem and ended up having revisions. At the time when it was happening and I was new I didn't want to believe what they were saying and was hopeful that it was just a fluke, yet more and more people seem to be encountering the same thing.

The problem with revising to a sleeve though is that i believe the long term success is still not known. How many people have had a sleeve for 3 years or more and what is their success rate?

The sooner they invent that wand the better.

[DizzyLizzy 21]

I know for some, being too tight is a problem. My doctor would always ask if I was having and reflux because if I was he wasn't going to give me a fill and would have to take some out. He says reflux is an indication of being too tight, because the food, although it may go down, it's not going like it should. I read somewhere that food doesn't just slide through, it goes down in a series of up and down motion and compression and your body makes acid to break down the food, and if you're too tight, your body will naturally make more acid and work harder to get that stuff down, causing the reflux.

Fortunately I wasn't having a problem with reflux then. My reflux came on as just eating too much too fast, stretching my pouch, and tilting my band, which was leaving me open for stuff to just come up, like a tilted pot with no lid!

[Kris150 29]

All what you are saying is not really promising... I know it's tilted thinking, but I could do with some reassurance that I'll be fine. I cannot wait to see my doctor - still a month away.

Yesterday we had shepherd's pie, which is normally an easy dish to eat, and it was ok yesterday. However, I tried the leftovers for dinner tonight (heated up in the micro) and ended up with a mighty stuck: all out now, but the unconformable tight feeling is still there and I've been "foaming" in the last 15 minutes.

I feel so depressed and anxious - that's not helping either: stress creates Water retention which makes my band even tighter...

Back to the shakes for a while.

[DizzyLizzy 21]

Does that have potatos in it? I know I will sometimes have problems with potatoes, especially left over because they seem to get "thicker" and more dry. Especially in the microwave because it can zap a lot of the moisture out.

Just like I had a fresh grilled hamburger Memorial Day and I ate the patty just fine. Ate a reheated one today in the microwave for lunch, and couldn't finish it because it was dry. And I don't even have any Fluid in my band!

[clibardoni 0]

I'm so glad that i know I'm not alone... and I hope that everything has worked out for everyone up to now!

I have a bit of a twist on what seems to be happening to all of us. My last fill was about a year or so ago, and since then I have had to get "unfilled" twice because of situations where I couldn't keep Water down or much of anything else. Things resolved themselves with a little tweak in the amount in my bad. But recently, some days I can't keep Water down all day, and others I can only keep liquids down after a good work out, and then the next day I can eat, and the following day I'm back to the regular vomiting routine 15 minutes after I put anything in my mouth.

I honestly have no answer for it... I have a job where I'm traveling a lot (sitting in hours of traffic or flying to places and sitting in conferences all day), and most of the time, I can't have anything to eat while at work because if I am not moving, anything I put in my mouth will come up in no time.

Please let me know if any of your answers can help me on this one. I'm thinking it's a slip or maybe a bulge of the pouch that has caused the band to tilt.

Either way, I haven't kept anything down in 3 days, and this "maybe i'll like it maybe i won't" game my band is playing with me has gone on for about a month and a half, which is why just when I feel like calling the doctor, everything seems fine again...

Please help!

[DizzyLizzy 21]

Go to the doctor anyway!!! Can never be too sure!

[Jachut 487]

It seems there is a real problem after a certain point where the restriction wears off but further fills then cause reflux. It would be good if someone could come up with the answer as to why.

I have only had 1 episode of reflux since my partial unfill months ago but I swear at the time I was not tight and would actually have liked more restriction. Now I am just desperate for any restriction. I want my band to work the way it did initially , without me thinking about it. Now I have to struggle not to spend the day snacking and am constantly pondering what diet I should start to get rid of the 3kg I have gained.

The scary thing is that it seems that some of the previous veteran bandsters encountered the same problem and ended up having revisions. At the time when it was happening and I was new I didn't want to believe what they were saying and was hopeful that it was just a fluke, yet more and more people seem to be encountering the same thing.

The problem with revising to a sleeve though is that i believe the long term success is still not known. How many people have had a sleeve for 3 years or more and what is their success rate?

The sooner they invent that wand the better.

haha, yes! A magic wand is just what I need. I too never listened to the naysayers who warned the honeymoon would end. And to be totally honest, a lot of it is ME. The band is there, it does give restriction but my behaviours have overridden it a lot of the time. Unfilling really derailed me, and although my band has never been the same, neither have I. And I truly believe that the treatment and resulting menopause has played havoc with my metabolism, those sugar cravings came outta nowhere, and were SO strong. I lived on nothing but coffee and biscuits for the last part of 2011, until I went onto HRT and testosterone. That's when I regained all the lost "sick weight". Since then, I have struggled.

The trouble is, people think after eight years banded and five years at a BMI below 21 that you're 'cured'. All of my specialists (not my lapband doc) have expressed the belief that I shoudlnt need it anymore. So have my family and friends. What they dont get is that my body has lived on 1500 calories or less a day for the last seven years. I cannot EVER eat what I shoudl be able to eat. With the help of the band, i have starved my body into a depressed metabolic state - that is what we are all doing and why weight loss is rarely permanent without weight loss surgery. It is insane that I can weigh 145lb by eating so little and exercising so much, i should be emaciated and skeletal. I eat way less than everyone I know. Life has to be a diet for EVER more to keep this weight away.

I would not hesitate, not even for a second, to have a new band or revise to a different surgery - although my clinic does bands and bands only. That does not mean I could not go somewhere else, it would just cost me a lot as I am entitled to revision surgery with no out of pocket cost where I am. I dont regret the band for a second either. Afterall, hard as the last year or two have been, I'm still only 65kg. I have not regained weight and am close to the bottom of my healthy weight range. It just used to be so easy. But it would be way harder without my (not so well functioning) band. So I guess we struggle on and accept we were put on this earth with bodies that want to be cuddly and it is just our lot to work hard to be the way we want. I dont really know many people that can absolutely eat what they want and not exercise and stay thin into middle and old age.

The ones I actually envy are my myriad of friends who are fat and happy, live the way they want, dont beat themselves up over their weight, see it as normal. yes, they are prone to certain health problems, but I have seriously created a mental monster for myself over this. I cant tolerate a 2lb weight gain without feeling disgusting,fat, disappointed in myself. I restrict my eating every single day, i exercise like a fiend, its a pretty hard job. In a lot of ways I wish I just didnt care. But I would even choose to live with heartburn than be fat again. Sad but true.

[DizzyLizzy 21]

I totally get that. You see the people who can eat and eat and eat and never gain a pound. Or can drop pounds at the drop of a dime. I think a part of metabolism can be trained, and part is just hereditary.

I've heard some doctors just fill you right on up and you get this sudden reduction in calories, where as my doctors will only do a 1cc or less every 6 weeks. They are firm believers that slower is better. And I'm thankful for that because it seems the slower you get your body adjusted to eating properly the more long term success you will have at getting the weight off and keeping it off in a healthy manner.

I know one thing I am going to do when I can start getting fills again is try to cycle my calories... switch between low calories, say 1200 a day, and "normal" say 2000 every other day and see if I can still lose. That way my body's metabolism won't adapt to the "starvation". I think it's already kind of working as, I wasn't really tracking my calories before I had to have my Fluid taken out, but I know with tracking now averaging about 2000 calories, it was more than 2000 calories. But, over the last 5 weeks, I've been eating about 2000 calories a day and burning about a 1000 3 days a week with exercise, and I think I've lost 5 lbs! I'm waiting to use the doctors scale to confirm. No that's not a huge loss, but here I was gaining before! And I know last night when I did zumba, I felt the best I have in a long time, was able to keep up just fine, felt light on my feet, so I think my body actually need more fuel to up my energy and metabolism! I hope I'm right!

[sweetheart181 10]

I've had a problem with this before but my circumstances started a little differently. I filled my band too tightly about 2 years ago, this made it hard to drink Water and i had acid reflux really badly. I waited till the next day to see the doctor because their office was already closed. By the time I got to the doctor i was puking blood because the acid reflux had hurt my stomach lining. I got an unfill and that's when it all started. 2 weeks later I still felt way too tight and it felt like my band was getting tighter. I was going to go to the doctor but I ended up with the stomach flu and kept needing to puke but my band was too tight and nothing would come up. I went to the ER and they unfilled some more (at this point I had taken out 1.5cc). I felt a lot better for the first 2 or 3 months but then it started to snowball again. I felt like my band was slowly getting tighter and tighter even though I wasn't getting any fills. I decided to go to the doctor and get another unfill. We decided to take out another 1.5cc and it was great, although I could eat a ton and I did gain weight I finally felt OK. My doctor explained to me that the reason I had this snowball effect was because we never really let my stomach heal and my stomach lining kept getting more and more irritated and kept swelling over time. Now I feel much better, I just got my first fill in 2 years and after 3 unfills. They kept looking for slippage but that was never the case, my band always looked fine. I know it's hard to get an unfill and gain weight I think in the long run it would have been better if I had just had a large unfill in the beginning but I was too stubborn to do that.

[elcee 3,343]

With the help of the band, i have starved my body into a depressed metabolic state - that is what we are all doing and why weight loss is rarely permanent without weight loss surgery. It is insane that I can weigh 145lb by eating so little and exercising so much, i should be emaciated and skeletal. I eat way less than everyone I know. Life has to be a diet for EVER more to keep this weight away.

This is so true. I am beginning to believe that the kind of weights that we aspire to and want to maintain are not achievable without some kind of intervention. I think that for most people, especially once they reach a certain age , their metabolism combined with general slowing down of exercise means that most are going to get heavier.

I dont really know many people that can absolutely eat what they want and not exercise and stay thin into middle and old age.

The ones I actually envy are my myriad of friends who are fat and happy, live the way they want, dont beat themselves up over their weight, see it as normal. yes, they are prone to certain health problems, but I have seriously created a mental monster for myself over this. I cant tolerate a 2lb weight gain without feeling disgusting,fat, disappointed in myself. I restrict my eating every single day, i exercise like a fiend, its a pretty hard job. In a lot of ways I wish I just didnt care. But I would even choose to live with heartburn than be fat again. Sad but true.

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[Jachut 487]

I've jsut gone on lite n easy, because I feel like rubbish, I have to see a dietician in a few weeks to try to get my bowels in order and I want to be able to say hand on heart that I have been eating well - I am now totally laxative dependent because the pouch the colorectal surgeon created for me when I lost my rectum will not empty - a combination of physical size/position, pelvic floor dysfunction and poor stool formation. The lapband has definitely made me lazy - cant be bothered eating the foods I know I need - the whoelgrain breads, cereals anything like that that's full of soluble fibre to give bulk to what comes out.

Everyone in my family has freaked - I dont need to lose weight, i have an eating disorder, what am I doing this for?They dont get it. Its three healthy meals a day, full of the foods I need, it will get me eating regularly, particularly lunch, and with a skinny latte and maybe a bikkie or two or a yogurtthrown in for good measure, it'll be 1400 calories or so a day - MAINTENANCE, not weight loss! I wont lose weight on this and am not intending to. Yet to "normal" people, its diet rations, to me it looks like a banquet! I have o split the meals - just had my muesli and fruit and will have the toast when I get to work! That's how much less we eat than normal people.I can remember doing this pre banding and had eaten all the food in three days, lol.

[Kris150 29]

I have a strong feeling the Sarah (Sweethear181) might just wrote the most important thing about it - at least in my case.

She wrote above: "My doctor explained to me that the reason I had this snowball effect was because we never really let my stomach heal and my stomach lining kept getting more and more irritated and kept swelling over time."

I had a really bad episode on Wednesday with the re-heated shepherd's pie and I draw the line: this is it! I need to do something to survive until mid July! So I decided to do a 5 day pouch test (as per Kaye Bailey at 5DPT), starting with 2 days full liquids. So that's what I've done yesterday and today - and I feel great for the first time! (meaning: no heartburn, no pain, no daily mini-burping). So tomorrow is soft Proteins - including a fab tuna and parmesan patty which actually tastes really good. Probably with mashed cauliflower or sweet potato.

I did this once just before Christmas when I had an allergic reaction to some strange food I ate at our company Christmas party - it totally helped back then.

And it seems to be working again. How great is that!

In a worst-case scenario, I can keep it going until my appointment. At least I still have all the nutrients I need and not feeling hungry all day. Not to mention the fact that I might just "heal" myself by going back to post-surgery basics... Did I tell you I suspect that lack of attention to detail in what and how I'm eating are the core reasons of all these troubles?

A year ago, in the months following my surgery I was so disciplined: with measuring everything, not EVER going over a cupful of food per meal, eating lots of Protein and not even thinking of putting any non-helpful food in my mouth. I've lost that sometime ago... I got lax and complacent with the rules. This weekend I will re-read a few of my WLS related books and will do everything to get back to the disciplines I used to follow last summer.

I do not believe I have a slip - at least not at my stomach and band.

I do have a slip in my head: all my priorities have been tilted because I lost over 60 lbs and I think I rule the world. I don't. And all the rules I was told to follow post-surgery I still have to follow. And I will have to - forever. If I want to keep my band. And I do, that's for sure.

So that's my standing point now. And I'm committing to it 100%.

Apart from re-reading books I will also revisit my food diary: see what I used to eat which did not give me grief and let me lose weight.

By the way, I'm reading Dr Steven Peters' book The Chimp Paradox about mind management. Just this morning I've stumbled across this line:

"If things go wrong, or you have failed at something, all you can do is to start from where you are and what you have got and then begin again."

Amen

[jms462001 9]

All what you are saying is not really promising... I know it's tilted thinking, but I could do with some reassurance that I'll be fine. I cannot wait to see my doctor - still a month away.

Yesterday we had shepherd's pie, which is normally an easy dish to eat, and it was ok yesterday. However, I tried the leftovers for dinner tonight (heated up in the micro) and ended up with a mighty stuck: all out now, but the unconformable tight feeling is still there and I've been "foaming" in the last 15 minutes.

I feel so depressed and anxious - that's not helping either: stress creates Water retention which makes my band even tighter...

Back to the shakes for a while.

Leftovers have always been a problem for me and sure to bring on a stuck episode especially chicken or meat of any kind. Good luck to you!

I don't have any night reflux problems or heartburn, but like many after having complete unfills for surgery gained some weight and I am having trouble getting back to that just right fill again. I am having discomfort by the port area when I twist, bend, or turn my body, sometimes any movement. My Dr is not sure it is the port thus we are trying to determine that before doing a port revision. I had an extended TT last summer and he thinks it could be related to that as well. I know it's very frustrating not knowing what's going on when there is a problem and I'm self pay like many and that is very concerning and scary!

[paisleypea 1]

Wow! I must agree with everything said here...........my story:

I had a stuck episode on Thursday May 31st. Went to bed, hoping I'd be ok in the morning. I was okay with liquids, but not much food. Continued on thru Saturday I was able to eat some "easy" foods......Greek yogurt, soft babybel cheese etc. then Sunday night I took a bite of my husbands quesadilla, while on the phone with my sister and bam! Stuck! Ate way too fast, I know I did. Well, ended up not being able to eat OR drink the rest of the night. All night, had reflux. Then I couldn't eat or drink the next day Monday. I called and made an unfill appt with my surgeon. But then I was up all night that night Monday. Tuesday came and I just wanted to die! The horrible feeling of an elephant sitting on my chest (esophageal spasms), back pain too and now dehydration! I was starting to panic. My appointment wasn't until Thursday, his usual day in the office. Well, by 6 pm I realized I could not go another night, let alone 2 more. My husband was out of town/state for business and my kids were both at sports practice. I called my dad to come take me and then I called the surgeon. I left him a message on his cell phone. My dad lives 20 minutes from me and then I am 40 minutes to the hospital he is at. Doctor called me and said to go to ER, get IV fluids and he'd meet us there.

I'd had a stuck episode before.....Nov 2010. The ER folks knew what to do, got me hooked up on IV fluids and called my doctor. This visit ...... NOT exactly the same. They didn't "have any experience with lap-band, not sure what to do". Seriously? I told them I needed IV fluids after 48 hours of not being able to drink or eat anything, even Water. They ended up running all kinds of tests.....EKG cuz I had "chest pains", even though I knew what they were, (and it was normal), a chest x-ray, then a barium swallow/IV contrast test. My nurse was thrilled I got down about 4 oz. of the bottle, and I was then "stuck" and my chest was killing me! But the tech doing the contrast thing kind of yelled at me about not drinking any. I explained it was now 50 hours without being able to swallow even water!

I kept asking them to talk with my surgeon. He had called a few times the doctor running the ER. Well, they ER doc waited for results........and still NO pain medicine! I was furious. They gave me Diladad - and it made me nauseous and my head zoomy and never touched my pain. Ugh! Results came back - I had a slipped band.

Dr wanted me admitted that night and a revision the next day. He would be by that night or next day. Finally I got morphine and into a room at 12:30 am!

Had troubles, like the nignt doc put Diladad on my chart so I didn't get new pain meds until 9 am! Surgeon emptied my band of all saline left (4 cc) and that helped!

Anyway, had revision surgery on Wednesday when a cancellation in the OR happened at 11 am. Turns out.......the band did NOT slip, but with all the PBing from Thursday before and on the next few days.......the stomach came up through the band, a hernia. But he was able to fix it all, plus keep my band inside me! Yay!

My biggest fear was losing it! My original banding was 06/15/2009 and after 3 years I am down 88 pounds. I'm 5'8" and at 150. I cannot imagine life without the band. I'm finally "normal" and feel sexy-ier than ever before.

So......I'm back at ground zero, starting over. No saline at all right now and he wants me on full liquids for 2 weeks. I'm determined not to blow this 2nd chance, so am back to reading my books on what to do, stages etc.

Dr. says that being stuck and PBing, aggravates the esophagus and stomach. They swell and need time to go back down. But I kept trying and trying hoping it would work but it didn't and made it worse. And yes, stress is bad for it. And dehydration. Triple whammy baby! Also, doctor said reflux is a definite sign of being too tight.

So........in my stubbornness to not get an unfill cuz I didn't want to gain, I will likely go 6 weeks with no fill! Ack! Hope to maintain.

Lesson learned........don't mess around! If I have reflux.......go to the dr for a sleight unfill. If I have esophagus spasms, go to liquids only! And if more than a day, call the doctor!

I came home on Thursday and realize I have lost a whole week to this! Wow!

Off to find a Mix-1 Protein shake and I hope to keep my stomach from rumbling too loudly. Day 4 almost done!

[elcee 3,343]

Sorry to hear all that. I had a similar experience earlier in the year and am busy in the process of being slowly refilled.

the band did NOT slip, but with all the PBing from Thursday before and on the next few days.......the stomach came up through the band, a hernia.

This is what a slip is, the stomach moving up past the band, it is very rare that it slips the other way. Often slips like this can be fixed by emptying and resting the band.