STUPID f'n band! what is WRONG!!!

[shellyj. 0]

banded bandit- you hijacker you! i appreciate all the info and conversation started. i am surprised at how many people there are banded when i was that are all having these similiar issues.

vera- thats what i am trying to find now is my *happy medium* with the band!!

[Robert Nixon 0]

OK Shelly I wonder if you are getting fills under flouroscopy? I would also wonder about eating too fast and causing irritation which brings on swelling and consequently a tighter and tighter band??

It seems that lots of folks have the self tightening band experience. I did. I was making bad food choices and mu portions were not much better.

Robert

ok guys i am about ready to pull the plugs on my optimism with the band. this (insert curse words) band is giving me problems AGAIN and i really dont know what to do!!!

i had been partially unfilled since may when i recieved a tiny fill that was fine for a few weeks but got progressively tighter to the point of closing me off. the dr took out .4 cc's SWEET RELIEF!

so i waited 3 months till after the wedding to get a small refill. .1 and 1/2 but definitally NOT .2. (my dr said a .1 fill is so small its hard to give one that tiny so it was a smidge more than .1 but not more than .2.)

so i go home things are great. eating solids no PB's this goes on for a few days. i do notice that my meals are getting smaller and smaller. yesterday my caloric intake consisted of:

BREAKFAST: yogurt

lunch 4 bites of mushy mexican (barfed up)

NEW lunch slimfast

dinner 2 bites of mush cooked veggies (barfed up)

NEW dinner yogurt and a 90 calorie juice

i am SO DAMN FRUSTRATED i dont know what to do. before my fill i was WIDE OPEN. i had no restriction on portions and none on textures.

HOW can a .1 - .1 1/2 fill SEAL ME OFF????

if i cant EVER get restriction again how can i be successfull with the band? in november it will be 2 YEARS that i have gone WITHOUT restriction.

i have had so many fills and unfills its RIDICULOUS. my Fluid level is constant. i have never had them draw out less than they thought should be in there. my band hasnt slipped. WTF IS WRONG THEN???

ok enough complaining. i have to figure out if i can wait a week till my scheduled unfill or if i will have to in sooner. (MORE CURSE WORDS!!!)

****** for newbies...this is not a typical problem. usually the answer to being overfilled is to get an unfill wait a few weeks and get refilled slowly.

[shellyj. 0]

hey robert,

i have to self pay on fills so they arent under flouro unless the dr says i need it. usually after being to tight. i have paid 1200 a piece for 2 'swallow study /fills-unfill under flouro. the last i think 6 months ago.

i am really trying to 'evaluate' my eating. obviously i struggle with this. i *know* how to eat healthy. i dont know Portion Control. i just want stable 'moderate' restriction! i would be sooo happy with that!

[shellyj. 0]

well since i never did post about my dr appt. ya'll have probably guessed that i didnt go. i was REALLY busy at work and decided i would see how things are when he gets back from vacation.

i STILL havent PB'd since my original post. and i am SOOO pleased to report i am eating solids 1 meal a day.

b: yogurt

l: slimfast

ll late lunch: cup of split pea Soup with ham pieces and carrots

dinner: 4-6 oz piece of solid MEAT! and a veggie on the side.

at lunch if i were to eat a mushy first i could techinically eat solids after i ate the mushy first. i feel that the slimfast gives me a little energy then the Soup in the later afternoon gets me through till dinner but its pretty low cal. and low sodium since i made it at home.

i went through a bad spell for about a week where i was 'overdoing' it with chocolate. i think i got a little depressed seeing so many others going through the same problem and realizing there isnt a *fix* just that we have to adjust our bodies and mind with whatever level of restriction we can get. anyway i ate a butload of chocolate, gained 5 lbs, THAT snapped me out of it (haha) and now another week later i have got of the smack...err chocolate and lost those 5.

if anything changes, you know i will post about it!

[MelodyJ 0]

YAY Michelle....good for you!!! So glad you are getting around the band!! It sounds pretty healthy too me!!!! Keep up the great work!!

God Bless

Melody

Banded 3/20/06 -78lbs

[j_war06 0]

ok guys i am about ready to pull the plugs on my optimism with the band. this (insert curse words) band is giving me problems AGAIN and i really dont know what to do!!!

i had been partially unfilled since may when i recieved a tiny fill that was fine for a few weeks but got progressively tighter to the point of closing me off. the dr took out .4 cc's SWEET RELIEF!

so i waited 3 months till after the wedding to get a small refill. .1 and 1/2 but definitally NOT .2. (my dr said a .1 fill is so small its hard to give one that tiny so it was a smidge more than .1 but not more than .2.)

so i go home things are great. eating solids no PB's this goes on for a few days. i do notice that my meals are getting smaller and smaller. yesterday my caloric intake consisted of:

BREAKFAST: yogurt

lunch 4 bites of mushy mexican (barfed up)

NEW lunch slimfast

dinner 2 bites of mush cooked veggies (barfed up)

NEW dinner yogurt and a 90 calorie juice

i am SO DAMN FRUSTRATED i dont know what to do. before my fill i was WIDE OPEN. i had no restriction on portions and none on textures.

HOW can a .1 - .1 1/2 fill SEAL ME OFF????

if i cant EVER get restriction again how can i be successfull with the band? in november it will be 2 YEARS that i have gone WITHOUT restriction.

i have had so many fills and unfills its RIDICULOUS. my Fluid level is constant. i have never had them draw out less than they thought should be in there. my band hasnt slipped. WTF IS WRONG THEN???

ok enough complaining. i have to figure out if i can wait a week till my scheduled unfill or if i will have to in sooner. (MORE CURSE WORDS!!!)

****** for newbies...this is not a typical problem. usually the answer to being overfilled is to get an unfill wait a few weeks and get refilled slowly.

You may not be overfilled, you may have first bite syndrome, which i just recently learned about. I submitted a post JUST like this a few months ago, now I drink HOT coffee a few minutes before my meal and if that doesnt work then i order a small cup of hot (low cal) Soup and slowly eat it first, but the most important thing to remember is that you have start drinking about 30 minutes before the meal to sooth the band, just try it. I found out that that was the problem, and also it turns out I was throwing up because a small piece of food from like a week before was caught in the tube of stomach that the band is around, now Im doing great. Just watch wat u eat and try to drink 64oz of Water gradually throughout the day as well as drinking something warm before meals, and try not to eat anything that you think will get stuck. You may think that certain things didnt get stuck, but they may have and you think that the food you are currently eating is hanging up but its the food from before is actually caught in the band

[Bettina 0]

Curious??? Do your doc's automatically give you a fill??? My doc doesn't do fills unless you are not losing. So i guess what I mean to ask is are you asking for the fills, or does your doc tell you? My doc told me that many people never have fills. All sounds pretty scary to me....lol

[LindaV 0]

Bettina,

My doctor trusts my judgement on whether or not I need a fill; I trust his judgement on how much of a fill to give me. So far it's been a win-win situation! That is a great question to ask your surgeon about before being banded.

Even with little restriction I still tend to lose because I eat more lower calorie foods like vegetables to fill me up. He knows that I know how much I should be eating and when I tell him my portions are getting too big he gives me a fill.

[Bettina 0]

Bettina,

My doctor trusts my judgement on whether or not I need a fill; I trust his judgement on how much of a fill to give me. So far it's been a win-win situation! That is a great question to ask your surgeon about before being banded.

Even with little restriction I still tend to lose because I eat more lower calorie foods like vegetables to fill me up. He knows that I know how much I should be eating and when I tell him my portions are getting too big he gives me a fill.

Its cool, I was just getting nervous about all the fill horror stories. My doc seems to do it different than most I've heard ...odd that no one else has my doc, i would think that with all the hundreds of members here that I would find at least one other...lol

Thanks for your input.

[shell04937 0]

At the last support group I went to the women all said that if there is any kind of stress around dinner time they can not eat due to increaded restriction. They also said that they have to be on liquids for a full week or they throw it back up....Just my 2 Cents worth...

[shellyj. 0]

Bettina,

My doctor trusts my judgement on whether or not I need a fill; I trust his judgement on how much of a fill to give me.quote]

this is pretty much my dr's stand. i tell him what and how i am eating and he tells me what he wants to give me. usually a larger fill and i say no thanks .1 cc for me! (thats just because of all the fills unfills)

as far as the losing part of it. i am 20 lbs above my lowest with the band. so i definitally havent been losing.

shell04937

i should have been on liquids the night i made this original post. i havent pb'd since then and i hope i dont anytime soon! for me its not so much stress at dinner but distraction at dinner. i want to talk while eating.

[shellyj. 0]

i am getting an unfill asap. my band has been getting tighter and tighter and now i am not getting my yogurt down (or drinking) till 2 in the afternoon. i am in constant misery all day with the pressure and the desire to have a GOSHDARNED DRINK OF ANYTHING WET.

i am officially THROUGH with my band.

i will be having it tested for erosion through a 'scope'. after that the dr will see if it has to be removed or can stay in me empty.

i have lost 68% of my weight so i am considered a 'successful' lapband patient.

i do not think i would recommend the band to others at this point. there needs to be more longterm studies. the esphogus doesnt seem to work the same after 2-3 years and now i am right back where i started as far as diet and exercise being my only tool for weight loss.

michelle

[leatha_g 4]

I'm sorry Shelly.. I'm at the exact same point and that's exactly what my dr said to me. You're considered 'successful'. From here on out, it's a matter of staying 'just a little hungry' all the time.. lol. And yep.. I think the esophagus has taken a beating. I've been 'maintaining' now for 2 yrs - which is still a miracle, but getting harder everyday. Please keep us updated!

[LapBandit 5]

Shelly, I'm so sorry. I hope things work out for you. Keep us posted.

[Bettina 0]

Yikes, I noticed that they were both banded in 2003....I am hoping the newer bands are better.