Been silent for a while so I thought I would share what's up. I've been having unusual symptoms since I started getting fills in January of last year, mainly consisting of pain with the first bite, sip, nibble, whatever. I would be in pain when I put anything into my mouth. Once the pain would subside I was able to eat almost anything without restriction. At first I thought it was normal, or at least looked at it as a penance of sorts for bad eating habits. Surgeon was convinced it was first bite syndrome, so who was I to argue. My weight loss stopped dead, thankfully I didn't gain at all during this period, but because of the plateau, I was told to keep filling.

Fast forward to January of this year, my spirits were defeated. There were times I just wanted the band out, but I didn't want to give up on that. Surgeon had started believing that this wasn't my doing, that perhaps there was something else going on causing pain. After a few tests came back normal, we decided that perhaps I was one of the lucky few that just wouldn't tolerate the band. I asked what my options were and was basically told revision is my only recourse. I asked if we could try removing all the Fluid and see what happens (this option was always taken off the table quickly by the surgeon or his PA because of the huge risk of gain).

I'm happy to say that once the fluid was removed, I'm back to where I was after initial placement, no pain, also no hunger, no feelings at all from my stomach. Now I have to adjust to not having mechanical restriction, I can eat anything and almost any quantity. It's the first time the surgeon has seen this, the intolerance to any fluid without there being restriction, and he's still willing to do a revision if I want, but I have concerns about any revision since I'm not tolerating any fills whatsoever.

I'm not dogging the band in any way, I think it's a great tool. It's done wonders for my wife and my mother, but just want to put out my story and my complication. After all the more information that's out there the more informed someone can be when deciding which way to go.

I'll try to keep this updated as I continue this journey, but I'm horrible about remembering to update.

--Josh

Your lack of sensation could be nerve damage from diabetes, stomach virus, surgery or even an unknown cause. Usually with nerve damage there are other symptoms, besides absence of sensation. Disorders like gastroparesis and other motility disorders cause pretty severe, quality of life altering symptoms and can be debilitating.

In the absence of these symptoms, I wouldn't worry too much, but by all means talk to your doctor (band, PCP or gastroenterologist) if you are concerned or are having signs of dismotility.

Hang in there!

Josh, I too, can eat whatever I want and as much as I want. As I read through all the reply posts, I realize I had the wrong interpretation of what the band was supposed to do. I thought it would stop me from eating; I thought I would get some signal (i.e. pain) that I was full. But as some of the responses say, it's supposed to make you less hungry and satisfy you longer. Well then, in that regard, I think it is working. But that then gets me into another issue which is that I might not be hungry until the next day and have started only eating one meal a day. Again, I know that's not right either. I've had 5 or 6 fills and have the average amount of fluid in the band when people are in the green zone. Now I know I haven't really addressed your question/concerns as originally posted but does that really matter at this point? :-) Good luck to you... with or without fluid.