Hey there -- no, they didn't tell me how... funny I didn't think to ask... I think it had something to do with excessive vomiting from being filled too tight. I do remember my doctor saying early on that I wanted to avoid "retching" because that would make the band slip. But, so often, I thought my episodes were just an advanced form of PB'ing because it wasn't actually "retching." It was what was in my pouch. From what I understand, a slip can be asymptomatic.

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Elizabeth, did the doc tell you how you slipped your band? I've had major restriction for 3 days now following 3 days of bad binge eating. But I don't want to hijack Donali's post, so maybe you could start a new thread with that info? Thanks!

By the way, why would anyone vote for Bush or Kerry when we have Donali? Don, why stop at the porch - rebuild America! Woo hooo!

__________________

Libra, 41 yrs old

Banded 05/05/04 - Tijuana

Height: 5' 9.75"

313/259/A Constant Smile

-54

Some symptoms of slippage would be a sudden onset of reflux at night, pain and vomiting, especially when 'trying' to eat or drink. I've heard it said in bad cases of slippage that the stomach is prolapsed and it's almost as if anything that is taken in almost bounces on the stomach and comes directly back up. This would be the acute signs. However, there is a more silent type of slippage that seems to be sliding up and down the stomach, without such acute symptoms. That being said, I'd like to paste a post that I found to be most interesting from the 'slippedbands' Yahoo board.

****************************************************

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on my daughter's band

that we thought had slipped. It's been a while since we've posted,

sorry. Basically, we had just been doing our fills at a

radiologist's office, and he was the one that said the band had

slipped and we should get it taken out (quite a drastic response,

eh?)

Anyway, we decided to take a trip to Mexico to see our surgeon,

assuming she'd need an operation. In the meantime we took out all the

fill and she gained 20-30 pounds. When we got to Mexico, the surgeon

checked her band--xraying while she was standing up. Basically,

there was no slippage, the band had been filled too tight. He says

slippage symptoms are very severe, that what can be diagnosed as a

slipped band can just be a too tight fill. When a band is slipped,

he said the stomach basically bends over on itself and it is

difficult for someone to even swallow their spit--those kind of

symptoms. He thinks a lot of American doctors are looking at the

xxrays of the stomach expand like it is meant to (above the band),

clicking the xray, and assuming the band is has slipped down. SO,

we spent a lot of money to find out that the band was working

properly. SO, I'd be cautious when your doctor says it's

slipped...I'd have them xray it when I was standing up and remember

that the stomach is supposed to expand some above the band, but it

doesn't always mean a slip.

He said that the American doctors who haven't had as much surgical

training on the band often pull away alot of tissue or muscles or

whatever surrounds the stomach leaving quite a bit of room for the

band to move around, but some of the Mexican surgeons use a technique

where they just pull away enough tissue to thread the band around the

stomach in the right position. The remaining tissue that has not

been loosened up makes a channel for the band that makes it very

difficult for the band to move anywhere. He said has never had a

truly slipped band because of this technique.

Our surgeon also said that because our doctor was using only contrast

Fluid to fill the band, it somehow gets thicker and slowly causes

more and more constriction on the band. He says they (mexican

surgeons) have learned that they should use only half contrast and

half saline solution. He also mentioned that the saline slowly and

gradually evaporates or somehow is absorbed into the body and that is

another reason why people with only saline may need another fill from

time to time.

We all know the band is fickle--sometimes seeming tighter than at

other times. He said that people make a mistake by not switching

back to fluids and letting their stomach heal after vomitting or

PBing. There is swelling that occurs from this trama and that to

continue eating as normal only compounds the swelling. If a person

keeps vomitting that leads to more swelling, etc. and sometimes a

slipped band is diagnosed when it really hasn't slipped.

Sorry this is so long, but I thought it was good information and made

a lot of sense to us. He added fluid back to her band and she has

been doing great. I'm proud of her because I know this has not been

an easy go. It is hard to retrain yourself to eat correctly and chew

right and keep away from sticky foods. She has never been sorry she

got the band, though.

****************************************************

This makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Wow, I think I am going to take that article into the Doctor's on my pe-op and ask him about this. Thanks Leatha for the article.

Betty

Thanks for the info, Leatha. It sounds very much like the surgical description that Dr. Rumbaut explained in my pre-op discussion.

I think it will be a while before the details of gastric banding is more fully understood and accepted by American doctors. I'm glad your daughter didn't have that band removed needlessly.

My daughter is also banded since Nov. '03. She has lost 65 lbs. I am proud of her , too.

Actually, this was a letter posted by another bandster on a Yahoo board. I just found the explanation quite sensible as even though I've been re-banded there was never a true diagnosis of 'slippage' by either of my surgeons. I know that I got way over-filled at the time my film was taken that appeared to be slippage and I speculate that this is exactly what happened to me. I think I was a victim of circumstance. I could be wrong.

Either way, it wasn't my daughter who had the problem. So far, my daughter is still a size 6. I pray for her constantly, that she'll never have to face this issue.

I'd read that post on the slippedbands site at Yahoo as well and agree, Leatha, that it has good info.

It inspired me to go see my original surgeon to have him check my band. (I haven't made the appointment yet.) Another surgeon who diagnosed my slip said it wouldn't slip back...but I'll tell you what....despite not having a fill, sometimes it sure can feel like it's working okay.

Elizabeth

My band has been filled quite a few times now, but all of a sudden my appetite seems to have increased. could this just be one of those things and do you reckon it will go back to normal soon?

Ooops, don't know where the last reply went, but I wasn't through posting.

I wasn’t going to do this, but I figure it should be documented- somewhere. I had my band for 3 yrs when it slipped May 09. The last year with the band was anything but a cake walk. I could feel it all the time especially when I tried to sleep on my side and it seemed I was always going in for unfills & fills. It was generally uncomfortable most of the time. Then when I was actually making progress on the weight loss part of this deal the d_ _ _ thing slipped. I was at work, around 9:30 a.m., working on a dry erase board. Coffee had gone down great all morning. I became hungry and all I could find to eat were those small round tortilla chips. I ate 3 slowly chewing tiny bites. They had never bothered me before and 3 was always my limit. Next thing I know I'm bent over double with the worse abdominal pain you can imagine. My doc was on vacation. I called the office any way and the receptionist told me it was a wedged tortilla chip and not to worry it would go away. Well, it didn't go away and I was in the ER by 9pm that night. I went into emergency surgery at 2 a.m. and wound up having a small part of my stomach removed due to the circulation being cut off to that area. My ins. doesn’t cover lap band installations nor did it cover some of the removal surgery. I told the surgeon that when he got in there to take it out! He said what about if he could repair it and leave it in. I told him no. I had been through too much the past year with it and was tired of paying for fills and unfills out of my own pocket and that I was done with the band. As it turned out he couldn't repair it and now it's gone. I'll probably try something else if my ins. decides to cover it; however it won't be a band again. I'll go for something more permanent. Now I'm back to where I started with diabetes only now I'm out a cool 22-25 thousand dollars. At my age I would have been better served to put it into my retirement plan. This surgery wasn’t a hair brained, spur of the moment idea. I researched it for the better part of 6 years. After all this the only thing I can say is that I know I worked the band plan as instructed. I have friends who were very cavalier about the whole thing and wound up having the procedure done over again (their ins. covered it). I'm not the adventurous type, especially with my health and my money, I was careful about everything that even remotely applied to the band. Out of the 4 of us that had it done one still has hers, 2 have had redo’s and I lost mine. I believe the moral of my story is if your surgeon is as big as the side of a barn then don’t buy into this procedure.

Good luck to the rest of you and happy holidays.

F

Wow, you had a run of luck there. I am sorry it didn't work out for you. I hope you find what you need. I wish the insurance companies were required to pay for WLS surgery or cover treatment. Even the best plans may not work out. I am hoping it works well for me as it's the only thing that has controlled my GERD at all.

Of my choices my surgeon was slightly overweight and the one I didn't choose had never been overweight a day in his life and had no clue what that was like.