Hi everyone. This is my first post. I was banded on 5/23/06 - everything went great. The only issue I am having is my stomach is Greatly distended. I am on the verge of looking like an ethiopian kid in some TV ad for sponsoring the children. My stomach was rather flat before (believe it or not) and it really poofs out ALOT now and is rather hard to the touch. It is very uncomfortable. I have had a few bowel movements so that is not the problem. Anyone else have this?? The nurse said some people get this and it can last a few weeks... ugh

Thats one of the single worst aspects of the laproscopic surgery is that they blow you up like a baloon...

Took about a week for me for the air to disipate ... was very uncomfortable at times ...walking helps a lot .. . hope it settles

Althought the surgical approach was via laparoscopy, the fact is you had major surgery that resulted in a lot of manipulation of internal organs. The body requires 6 weeks to heal and, during that time, you can expect to feel and look distended. As the sutures heal around the band and port, you'll look and feel better but it's gradual.