Fills & Slippage - REMINDER

[Yoda 0]

I merely offer the following as food for thought (no pun intended!).

I can't comment specifically for the other clinics.....but at TLBC, a patient receives a very detailed package of info along with a detailed eight page info booklet that they are required to read and sign (in front of them) (ie. they read it on their own time and then sign it right prior to the surgery - in other words, the "release")...among other things this package contains a complete listing of possible complications and how to avoid them etc etc.

I think that too often, those of us done at TLBC forget about this release package (with all it's incredible info)...read it, sign it, and then never refer to it again. As for those done at other clinics....either they may have done the same (or never received the info).

That being said, I would like to offer a reminder (a direct quote from this particular package) from the section entitled "Specific Risks of Laparoscopic Banding (Late Post-Operative)":

"REMEMBER: Slipping of the band may be prevented by slowly filling the band over nine months as opposed to rapid fillings in less than six months."

I thought it might be prudent to offer this reminder because lately I have read a lot of posts about how newly banded people are frustrated with getting fills and not having "restriction" or the "proper restriction" etc...and they want to go back right away and get a fill etc....don't get me wrong, I COMPLETELY understand the frustration and the sense of impatience that some people may likely encounter....but just remember that this is NOT a quick fix...(unlike the gastric bypass) and it is/was never billed as being the fast solution. People choose this type of surgery for a reason...so just be sure to work with it and not against it.

Be patient, is what I'm saying. It would suck to be back here a few months from now complaining about a slippage and then wondering why it happened....or worse having to be back under the knife to get it repaired or removed entirely...when it may have happened in the first place as a result of impatience and desire to get the fills quick quick quick and get to the proper level too fast. (Disclaimer: I am NOT saying that all slippages are a result of user error and getting fills to fast...only that it is one possible cause).

Again...just something to think about it; take it or leave it as you wish!

Honestly, the one thing I have learned is that Patience really IS the key to this entire process. And, people can't compare themselves to the progress of others: EVERYONE is different; there are sooooo many variables. In fact, the package I refer to above also states this (in different words).

So, good luck on your continued banding adventure!

[Yasmina 0]

Great reminder.

I think I will take out my package and read it again

[lizrbit 0]

thanks for posting that! i dont have a package like that, i have a lot of other material ive skimmed through, but this is the first time ive read that. I can tell you this, i will remember that.

im going in for my second fill in a few weeks, this post will help me remember to be patient.

I appreciate you putting it up. its more helpful than you realize!

[susansilver 0]

Thanks Yoda - I am sure that I have not read that part of the package - or skimmed over it and it is a very good reminder of the patience that we all need and most of us (me included) lack.

[Dame J 0]

Thanks for posting that Yoda. I have read my material through and through and I don't remember reading that so thanks. I think I am one of those frustrated people. I try to remind myself to take it easy and not expect a quick fix but I feel like if I am not loosing like others then I am failing. I know that is silly but there you go. Since reading this post I think I will stop expecting so much and just work with it. :biggrin1: Thanks again!

[Astrotoes 0]

Thanks Yoda....I really needed to be told that.

[susieq321 31]

Having had 4 slips and not filled fast or slow I can honestly say, slips aren't so much fun... you get over them and get on with your life they are a challenge.

I think there are so many people who expect to only eat a certain amount, and to find the sweet spot...

I don't think there is a perfect amount to eat.. or a sweet spot I think it is a myth. I think eating a reasonable amount, and fills change daily, weekly monthy...

I think there are people who fill too fast, vomit too much, eat too many soft calories etc etc... I think there are people who do everything wrong and when they have a complication I am not surprised. I think there are also people who do it all right.. and still have issues and those are the ones I feel for.

[Zannie 6]

Having had 4 slips and not filled fast or slow I can honestly say, slips aren't so much fun... you get over them and get on with your life they are a challenge.

I think there are so many people who expect to only eat a certain amount, and to find the sweet spot...

I don't think there is a perfect amount to eat.. or a sweet spot I think it is a myth. I think eating a reasonable amount, and fills change daily, weekly monthy...

I think there are people who fill too fast, vomit too much, eat too many soft calories etc etc... I think there are people who do everything wrong and when they have a complication I am not surprised. I think there are also people who do it all right.. and still have issues and those are the ones I feel for.

4 slips!!!!!!! Oh my gosh!:faint: Call me naive, but I didn't think it happened all that often if you were doing the right things...and certainly not to the same person! You poor thing!! How are you doing now? Care to share your experiance at all...? Like, do you have any idea what caused any of the slips? What was needed to "fix" them each time? I don't even know what else to ask, but I hope the worst is over for you!

[loriely 0]

How do you know when you have a slip Susieq321?

[lianna 3]

Great reminder. I personally hate the term "sweet spot", I think it leaves some bandsters wanting to get more and more fill/restriction looking for some magical place where they can eat "2-3 bites and be full"...which the band is not intended for. We SHOULD be able to eat small normal amounts of a wide variety of foods, and still slowly lose 1-2 lbs per week. I have read of people that are living on Protein Shakes because they are so tight, but they are unwilling to get an unfill because they lost 5 lbs in one week. I actually know of one person who says that they prefer to be that restricted......this is NOT what the band is meant to do. You are right on with the reminder to be patient and not view this as a "quick fix".

[susieq321 31]

Don't cry for me.. it is just something I got through. Truthfully I think I had a faulty band, when I was banded all over North America there was a series of slips and disconnects etc etc.

I did exactly what the docs told me and I still had every problem you could have. I want to stress I am a rarity not a common thing...

I was banded Jan 7 2022

I disconnect and my port flipped March 7 2002 (first fill) at the same time this was happening to a ton of other people including a few other Joffe and Yau patients and it had never happened to any of the surgeons before. Tubing disconnect was an undocumented complication when I was banded.

then Sept 9 I was diagnosed with a slip (total de-fill)

then Jan 2 2003, diagnosed with another slip right after I filled with a small fill)

Jan 7 2003 the band was re-positioned

March 2003 (height of the sars crisis) slipped again total defill again)

December 2003, Port flip was fixed during plastic surgery

May 2004 band slip while I was defilled and after over a year of being peachy keen, this time the band came out for 6 months conventional wisdom at the time they don't do this anymore.

October 2004 a new band went back in

Now important to know.. I had a 4 cc band, never was filled over 1.5 cc's because at 1.5 cc's I could barely get through a bottle of Water. I didn't vomit a lot, maybe once a month or so.

I lost the majority of my weight de-filled because I had perfect restriction with the 4cc band with no fill and I didn't realize that until I was de-filled and couldn't be re-filled. I had the Quest for the perfect fill.. and mine was constricted by travelling for work and only have certain days to fill etc etc.

I lost my weight over 18 months, and I did work out and eat properly didn't touch a ton of different food until my band slipped the last time never drank pop didn't want to risk problems etc.

I think that filling too tight and too fast and keeping it that way has a ton of issues, living on liquids, including soft calories like ice cream etc it is not living. I want to be able to eat a small amount of anything sushi, beef, pork, turkey anything and be full and live my life just eating lighter than most people.

The band is a head game and the sooner people realize wrapping your head around all the good and really around the bad, the sooner the start working on issues and overcome them daily. I still have food issues after five years but I had a lot of time to think and read and work on them too.

Keep in mind everyone is different I knew there was something wrong because things were happening that never happened before. You have to have a fluro to diagnose a slip there is no other way. With that said every time I slipped it was the same symptoms. Acid reflux, sudden vomiting (I would have a sip of Water and vomit) vomiting foods I ate the night before, suddenly I could eat two bites or I could eat a ton of food and there was no predicting if it was going to be a lot or nothing. I knew there was a problem and talked to my doc about it.

Now on a slip they go in and fix it right away the band doesn't come out for 6 months usually.

Good luck remember I am a rarity, but because I am I have an amazing relationship with my surgeon. I am so glad Patrick Yau is my surgeon because he knows how to fix things.. really knows how to fix them.

I do think it was a faulty band because people who were banded around the same time with the same band had the same issues. This are some people with surgeons who at the time had done 1000's of bands. I don't think it was my surgeon, I think with a less experienced doc I would have been in trouble and not done nearly as well.

[Zannie 6]

SusieQ, thanks for sharing!

In my "I've got a date" stage, I discovered an acquaintance was banded -- around the same time as you, actually -- and had an RNY revision. She really wanted me to reconsider RNY because of all her complications. She’d been part of a study where they offered to remove the band or switch to RNY after the problems started in so many to of the participants. My grandma, who knows her better, was freaked! So, having heard her horror story in addition to what I’d read & been told at the informational seminars (6!), I went into this with a little less “safest procedure” thinking than some. I just kept reassuring myself that both the band and the procedure have changed since that time…

But 4 slips, and a band replacement! Egad! You really had a rough road to get where you are now.

[susieq321 31]

It is only as rough as you make it.. I am really not one of those poor poor pitiful me people, I am more this is my challenge lets get on with it and go go gadget go.

I think there are people who ask for problems and people who do everything right and still have some issues. There are risks but there are great rewards. If I had the RNY and similar complications to what I had with the band I would be dead now I have no doubt in my mind.

Keep in mind again I am a rarity not the average bandster. I totally trust my surgeon, he is great at what he does.

[Gaffer 1]

Yoda, Thanks for the info. I think I might be one of the newly banded that you posted this for.

I know for me I am impatient to get to a better level of restriction, but I also think that I am able to be more agressive with my fills having the larger band. One of the drawbacks of having the larger band is that there is not that level of restriction without fills that can come with people who have the smaller bands. Also as a male I carry virtually all my weight in my abdomen, and I have alot of fat surrounding my stomach and other organs. I am sure that I have lost some of the fat between my band and my stomach, if that makes sense, making me have even less restriction.

I am, and will continue to follow the guidelines set out by my surgeon and will be in touch with them the whole time, but I do want to get to a point of some restriction. My last fill was just a teaser, and the restriction did not stay around.

I know from my past weight loss attempts that my resolve tapers off so I want to get some restriction to help me with my efforts. I have been strong up to this point and the quick weight loss has helped me stay on task, but as it starts to taper off I want some of that restriction there to guide me in the right direction.

Andrew

[susansilver 0]

When is your next fill Andrew?