Please read this with an open mind. It might just save your band and damage later on.

I've been trying to figure this out, since my Dx was confirmed last week. I kept my band loose, 3.5 cc in 11 cc Realize C band. I ate per my doctor's and nutritionist's directions. I didn't drink with meals, though drinking with meals might be better. I cut my food into 1/4 inch pieces, chewed 15-25 times. In fact, I was doing all this for 3 months prior to surgery. I ate 1/2 to 1 cup food, taking 20-30 min to finish. I stopped eating with the "soft stop" signs. I've come across some information that might explain what happened to me and why. So what's the problem?

The problem is that our pouch can only hold 1-2 oz of food. A half cup is 4 oz. If you're a little bit too tight, food will be retained in the pouch, putting back pressure on the gastroesophageal junction. Eating a cup of food a year or more out, isn't unusual and this would be 4-8 times the capacity of the pouch. As we're told not to drink at all with our meals, the food stays in the pouch, longer, which can be a problem. Any random tightening, a fickle band, can have disastrous consequences to the esophageal function. An ounce is appx 29 cc, my manometry test involved just 45 cc of saline (about 1.5 oz). It doesnt take much to cause problems. The esophagus is not intended to hold food at all. Continued episodes of this causes nerve damage and will present initially as heartburn or GERD symptoms. This is misleading and potentially damaging. How many times have you seen a post where someone states their heartburn had returned and their doctor puts them back on a PPI? What is needed is an Esophogram to determine if they've become too tight (if its been some time since their last fill) or a small unfill if they've had a recent fill. If there is any chest or epigastric pain, further tests would be in order to rule out esophageal problems. Manometry can pick up small changes indicating damage that cannot be seen with EGD or UGI, avoiding further damage by unfilling the band or removing it all together.

This sort of explains why the "rules" around eating and drinking with a band might result in fewer complications and that quicker pouch emptying might be a good thing. I've been drinking with meals again for a few months, but have noticed no difference in satiety.

Let me emphasize something here. This post is intended to educate and share knowledge in order to spare someone else the problems so many of us have had. Most of the time achalasia secondary to AGB is reversible with emptying or removing the band, but it is a contraindication to VSG, eliminating that surgery as an option for revision. Getting a band might prevent a person from being able to revise to their surgery of choice, eliminating all but malabsorptive options (RNY and DS).

http://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/AJR.04.0655

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1381%2F09608920677522200 5?LI=true

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22411570

http://www.searchmedica.com/xml-resource.html?c=pc&ss=defLin k&p=Funnelback&rid=http%3A%2F%2Fubm-search01.squiz.co.uk%2Fs earch%2Fcache.cgi%3Fcollection%3Dpubmed%26doc%3D61%252F21683 804.xml%26off%3D0%26len%3D-1%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fubm- search01.squiz.co.uk%252Fpublic%252Fpubmed%252F21683804.xml& t=pubmed

Wanted to add though that it does bother me when all possible risks are NOT explained to me. I asked my surgeon what seemed like 1000 questions about what might go wrong, PLUS I did a tonne of research. It was why it took me 18 months to decide to get the lapband in the first place - for a long time, the risk profile of the band wasn't worth what I wanted to achieve. But then one day, it did become worth the risk. So I had the surgery.

Again, now with the replacement, I've done the same thing. I've weighed it all up over and over, and decided that the risk is worth it. Of course, if the risks eventuate, that would suck, but I go into it with my eyes open.

And I think that's part of the problem - many people go into this without their eyes open. But that's not going to change. It's as valid a choice to choose to know nothing as it is to know everything you can find out. You can't make people behave the way you do, so all you can do invest in your own choices, and own them.

They make getting a band (and a lot of other surgeries) sound like a trip to the dentist. I was exhausted for about 3 weeks post banding.

SO true! I was told that my band, plication, gallbladder removal and hiatial hernia repair would be outpatient. Well....I stayed one night. I was also told that this would be a piece of cake compared to my total hysterectomy. WRONG! I'm a little over three weeks out, and just starting to feel back to my normal self. I still have abdominal pain where the port is, which seems to carry down to (what used to be) an ovary. I have my fingers crossed that all of this resolves in the next 3-4 weeks.

Regarding the issues in your post; they concern me a great deal. I'm going to demand screenings once a year as a proactive measure. I don't want any of this silent sh-it going on, only to bite me in the ass down the road. I'm happy that I'm losing weight, and that I did the procedure. But I can't honestly say that I'm skipping through the garden without a care in the world. I have concerns (and fear) that something might backfire. I'll just take it a day at a time, but I WILL make sure that I'm screened for these things you mentioned, at LEAST every 12 months.

Thanks so much for the info.

Getting my band was the best experience and I've had no complication in going on 2 years. Dr. ORTIZ But that's me and I can't speak for anyone else.....I need more fills but so far so good!

Kitti thank you for sharing in a nice manner. Mrsinto that's what it's all about sharing information. I'm 25 days post op and I'm not feeling well yet. I think that it will get better and I am doing everything the right way. But I'm also concerned. And we make our decisions based on the information that we have. Hope you feel better soon.

Kitti thank you for sharing in a nice manner. Mrsinto that's what it's all about sharing information. I'm 25 days post op and I'm not feeling well yet. I think that it will get better and I am doing everything the right way. But I'm also concerned. And we make our decisions based on the information that we have. Hope you feel better soon.

I'm right behind you at 22 days. I did so much research on the bypass and the band; close to a year before I actually pulled the trigger. I read many online forums; heard all the ups & downs, complications, read studies ad nauseam, etc. Though my doctor favors the bypass, I didn't want to rewire my plumbing. I knew that I had to do something, but didn't want anything so.....permanent.

These online forums can be very helpful, but there is also a downside. I was forewarned to be careful what I read online. I try & take what I need & leave the rest, and know for a fact the the percentage of people without major issues, is far greater than those with the types of problems we've been reading, lately. As terrible as some of the issues are for those who are experiencing them, it doesn't mean "the sky is falling".

I hope you feel better soon, too. It's a lot to take on, and we can only hope that we get to where we wanted to be when we set out on this journey.

Mrsinto yes I agree with you 100 percent. The way you worded it makes a huge difference. We just must be vigilant in our after care, and pray that if something goes wrong our doctors don't hesitate to help us. Enjoy the journey and follow the rules. My hardest one to follow is to eat slower. I write down and repeat it constantly even if I'm not eating. Have a good night sleep.

Mrsinto yes I agree with you 100 percent. The way you worded it makes a huge difference. We just must be vigilant in our after care, and pray that if something goes wrong our doctors don't hesitate to help us. Enjoy the journey and follow the rules. My hardest one to follow is to eat slower. I write down and repeat it constantly even if I'm not eating. Have a good night sleep.

You too.... It's 8:20pm here on the west coast, and I feel like I'll be sound asleep by 9 :-)

You too.... It's 8:20pm here on the west coast, and I feel like I'll be sound asleep by 9 :-)

PS: Writing is a great tool. Keep doing it until the "action" becomes a normal part of the way you eat. Not easy, but changing old habits never is......

SO true! I was told that my band' date=' plication, gallbladder removal and hiatial hernia repair would be outpatient. Well....I stayed one night. I was also told that this would be a piece of cake compared to my total hysterectomy. WRONG! I'm a little over three weeks out, and just starting to feel back to my normal self. I still have abdominal pain where the port is, which seems to carry down to (what used to be) an ovary. I have my fingers crossed that all of this resolves in the next 3-4 weeks.

Regarding the issues in your post; they concern me a great deal. I'm going to demand screenings once a year as a proactive measure. I don't want any of this silent sh-it going on, only to bite me in the ass down the road. I'm happy that I'm losing weight, and that I did the procedure. But I can't honestly say that I'm skipping through the garden without a care in the world. I have concerns (and fear) that something might backfire. I'll just take it a day at a time, but I WILL make sure that I'm screened for these things you mentioned, at LEAST every 12 months.

Thanks so much for the info.[/quote']

I don't know of one single clinic anywhere around my area (North Carolina) that will give you all these tests on a yearly screenings you mentioned? With ObomaCare encroaching on all of us I think your dreaming of a Perfect World. Perhaps your self-pay and can afford it, but most of us can't. I can just hear them now telling me, if I demanded all those tests, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" At present my insurance pays for fills @ $100. A crack. It's coded as maintenance. and I am pretty sure my insurance will cut the weigh ins and fills out. No one knows, especially the Government, what they will do a month from now. Right now they are hurriedly spending money from this budget, so that they can get more for next term.

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