I know this sounds stupid but is there anyway to prevent Band Erosion and Band slippage?????

I'm not sure there's any consensus on that. My instincts tell me tight fills are deadly. I think sneaking up on restriction slowly by tiny increments and not aiming for a sweet spot but a spot at which you have enough help to exercise self control and willpower to eat well without relying on tight restriction to do it.

And a huge dose of exercise to kick your weight loss along rather than a super low calorie diet.

I'm no expert though, that's just my feelings, not backed up by anything scientific.

And...pre-op testing, such as manometry. (This is for dysmotility problems.) Someone who has a weakend "lower esophageal function" pre-op is more likely (or so they think) to have dysmotility issues as a late complication and should probably be directed to a different procedure.

Another non-expert chiming-in.

I agree w/ the above....also not overeating and stretching your pouch is VERY important I was told!!! Avoiding vomiting to the best of your ability.... The complications are 1-3%....so my BEST answer is PRAYER!!!!!!!!!

God Bless,

Melody

Banded 3/20/06 -47lbs

If there were any hard-and-fast way to avoid complications, there wouldn't BE any! Some complications among the banded population are inevitable, no matter what. We can certainly take steps to minimize our own personal risk, but in some tiny percentage of cases that won't be enough to prevent problems.

hi ,....my name is ann, i personally didn't have a slippage with my band ,but i have a friend who did and dhe went through alot. what i could say is watch what you eat and don't over do anything that will help you and if you get any pain at all please i mean please call your doctor you don't need to give your self and really bad problems okay .

thank you ann ford:)

My band slipped and was removed April 2006. The advice I give is if you r throwing up, I don't care who else does and has no complications, have some of the fill removed. I have migraines, so throwing up from nausea could have been the problem. I just know I went 10 mo's. with no problem and when I tightened up (had a fill) to not being able to eat meat, it wasn't long before the band slipped. Now, I'm miserable!!!

HI DDEE,..... sorry if you didn't like my message earlier on the band slippage , i was just tiring to help you out. i don't think the you answered me was very nice and didn't care for your comment

hi ,....my name is ann, i personally didn't have a slippage with my band ,but i have a friend who did and dhe went through alot. what i could say is watch what you eat and don't over do anything that will help you and if you get any pain at all please i mean please call your doctor you don't need to give your self and really bad problems okay .

thank you ann ford:)

Ann, I'm so sorry I came across as being insensitive. I meant that a lot of my banded friends talk about losing their food during each meal like it's the norm. I thought that when my intake was more restricted that it was ok to also. I should have known better. Honestly, I appreciated your remark and thought I was warning others not to make my mistake of not consulting a dr. before it was too late.

hi ddee,.... that is okay . and i do understand what you are saying . i am at my doctors office every month because i have a bad stomach and they have to watch to make sure it is fine. but i hope your doing okay know. hugs ann38:)

Actually I agree with that. I dont think any degree of regular PBing is OK and I really really dont think it's OK to not be able to eat any form of meat or breads for long periods of time either - Ok if you cant eat steak for example, but you have to be able to get some form of red meat in unless you're a vegetarian and know what you're doing with substituting the nutrients. Not only does that tend to make me think "too tight" it also means its very difficult to get in a balanced diet.

But - if you had to have your band loose enough to allow for this, then for a lot of people, the band simply wouldnt work. So its a personal thing.

Actually I agree with that. I dont think any degree of regular PBing is OK and I really really dont think it's OK to not be able to eat any form of meat or breads for long periods of time either - Ok if you cant eat steak for example, but you have to be able to get some form of red meat in unless you're a vegetarian and know what you're doing with substituting the nutrients. Not only does that tend to make me think "too tight" it also means its very difficult to get in a balanced diet.

But - if you had to have your band loose enough to allow for this, then for a lot of people, the band simply wouldnt work. So its a personal thing.

True. I was discouraged by the slow weight loss and thought I would tighten the band, eat less solids, lose a little fast weight, and then loosen the band. Maybe that had nothing to do with the slippage...The band could have already started slipping. I don't guess I'll ever really know. Now, I'm dealing with the expense of the whole unbanding. My dr., who assured me he had sent the insurance co. a diagnosis of "removal of obstruction,"... now, his office tells me they coded my surgery as 'removal of lapband' and to cross my fingers that insur. co. will pay. Cross my fingers? Are they kidding ? Anyway, sorry you're having problems with your stomach. You r being so wise to keep a check on it. Good Luck!

My band was to loose then to tight Dr. Kuri loosened it and said he thought it was to lose, but I still cant eat Pasta, bread, most meats, cereals, grains and a lot of vegies like broccolli, carrots no salads at all or I PBing..Ive been drinking juiced vegies and boiled chicken thighs and sometimes they wont go down..I cant eat eggs no matter how they are cooked. I had kidney stones because of the band also....Ive lost 17 pounds since Dec. 2004 and fight to keep that off....I joined curves and go 3 times a week, haven't lost any inches, and Im having a problem with my heart beat now..because of electrolites...if it didn't scar me more Id have the band taken out. ..I feel like my last hope of a easier way to lose is gone now....I realize it was a tool to help me lose, but in my case the tool didn't work....I'm so happy for the ones that it did work for...maybe Id been better off with a bypass..to late now...I spent every penny I had on the band.........Guess I'll just be a big girl and keep doing the best I can do with a very low metabalism its going to hard.....Good luck to everyone and God Bless..

Actually I agree with that. I dont think any degree of regular PBing is OK and I really really dont think it's OK to not be able to eat any form of meat or breads for long periods of time either - Ok if you cant eat steak for example, but you have to be able to get some form of red meat in unless you're a vegetarian and know what you're doing with substituting the nutrients. Not only does that tend to make me think "too tight" it also means its very difficult to get in a balanced diet.

But - if you had to have your band loose enough to allow for this, then for a lot of people, the band simply wouldnt work. So its a personal thing.

See, that would indicate to me that there's something not right and i'd be having it checked out. When the band is working properly everyone will have certain problem foods but it shouldnt be like you are describing.

My band was to loose then to tight Dr. Kuri loosened it and said he thought it was to lose, but I still cant eat Pasta, bread, most meats, cereals, grains and a lot of vegies like broccolli, carrots no salads at all or I PBing..Ive been drinking juiced vegies and boiled chicken thighs and sometimes they wont go down..I cant eat eggs no matter how they are cooked. I had kidney stones because of the band also....Ive lost 17 pounds since Dec. 2004 and fight to keep that off....I joined curves and go 3 times a week, haven't lost any inches, and Im having a problem with my heart beat now..because of electrolites...if it didn't scar me more Id have the band taken out. ..I feel like my last hope of a easier way to lose is gone now....I realize it was a tool to help me lose, but in my case the tool didn't work....I'm so happy for the ones that it did work for...maybe Id been better off with a bypass..to late now...I spent every penny I had on the band.........Guess I'll just be a big girl and keep doing the best I can do with a very low metabalism its going to hard.....Good luck to everyone and God Bless..

Sounds like you're having a hard time of it. I'm so sorry. I can identify with the frustration, but let's keep trying. I passed by a Curves this afternoon and considered joining too. They have a special right now. At this point, being there, losing weight or not, gets me out of the house and away from temptation for awhile. It would be nice to lose inches though. A lot of the teachers where I teach have had their ears stapled to lose weight. Have you heard of it? Don't think anyone has been successful. I'm one who's tried every diet, diet pills included. Looks like it's going to be a lifetime struggle. I am upbeat right now though. Just got a bill from the surgeon for $2,860 for removing my band and found out, in spite of his filing with the insurance stating "lapband removal," the insurance is paying all but $290.00 of the bill. I had $450.00 docked from my teaching salary this month and will be billed from 3 hospitals for my care during the ordeal.

God is being good to me right now. Maybe I wasn't meant to keep the band,but paying 100% of its removal would sink me. God Bless You and All who read this.

Hey there! I wanted to add my two-cents worth. For the past month or so, I'd PB a lot. If Breakfast came up, everything else -ALL day- would come up. Over the Memorial Day weekend, I was out of town and I PB'd after almost everymeal. Tuesday after M-day, there was a little blood w/lots of acid in the PM. I called my Dr. Wed. and went in for a berium swallow (yum!) and discovered my stomach has prolapsed. Because of PBing a lot I suppose, part of the stomach has come above the band.

Well, long story short... All the Fluid was removed -- I'm on liquids for a week and mushies for a week. They say it fixes itself most of the time. Cross your fingers and say a prayer. I don't want to go through surgery again.

Lesson learned -- Eat slower, smaller bites, chew & chew & chew!!! Don't try to keep eating the things I know will most likely make me PB. Hopefully, I won't have to go through this again.

Take care and God Bless.