I was told by someone today that there are actually urban legends on here about side effects and complications and stuff. I just can't believe anyone would tell stories about those things. What do you all think? I choose to believe that most everyone here tells it like it is the good along with the bad.

I don't know about "Urban Legends", but I think that everyones experience with the band is different. Some people have complications, some don't. Some folks have a hard time with the band (PB a lot), some don't. I think that it's up to each and every individual. I would hope that folks don't come on here and tell untrue stories, but...we can't be blind to the fact that there are people out there that do such a thing. Good luck!

What is PB?

PB is productive burping. At lease that is what I am told. I am not banded yet so I am not sure but that is what I believe it is.

PB is productive burping, when you eat too fast, too much, or the wrong thing and it cannot pass through the stoma, or small opening to your lower stomach that is created by the band. It is sort of "mini-vomiting" as you bring up the excess food and mucus in your upper stomach. Gross, but not as bad as real puking.

"Trolls" are people who like to get in a message board and post messages that alarm, offend, or frighten the regular users of the board. You can usually tell them because they make the one post and are never heard of again. They like to spread fear and havoc and then stand back and watch the "fun." They show up here just as they do on a lot of other boards.

There are contributors who have truly suffered complications with their band, and I'm not talking about them! The band is surgery, and a small percentage of people do have serious complications with it.

Okay, there are two things you need to learn the names and properties of:

PB = Productive Burp (Who the hell came up with THIS term?)...This is when food goes down too fast or is not chewed enough and gets caught at the opening into the pouch. When it gets STUCK you get a knot-type feeling in mid-chest which indicates that the food isn't going anywhere. Sometimes you can suffer through it and it will go down slowly. Sometimes you need to go to the bathroom and "get rid of it" for relief. It is like a vomit without some of the accompanied "nastiness"....the food somes back in the same condition it went down in...just chewed...there is no stomach acid with it (like a regular puke...that nasty sour stuff)...and it is often NOT accompanied by full stomach contractions like with a regular vomit, more like it comes from the throat up. The PB food coming up can be accompanied by sliming....

Sliming = When the stomach sense that food is coming, it releases mucus into the mouth and esophagus and stomach in order to help facilitate the movement of the food down the canal. When food is stuck, it's like a backed up toilet. The stomach goes "Oh, here comes food!": and starts secreting, but when the food doesn't move, the mucus backs up into your throat and mouth. You wind up have a huge mouthful of thick saliva (oh the bubbles you can blow! :-) )that must be spit out. Sometimes sliming precedes a PB, sometimes the food is just slow going down and you slime a little. Suffice it to say, it's worth a trip to the bathroom to spit it out.

WORD OF CAUTION: NEVER NEVER NEVER try to "flush" stuck food down with a liquid. It works on a regular body, but not the way we are constructed now. It is a recipe for disaster. Like throwing a gallon of Water into a clogged up toilet, it's gonna do nothing but sit on the clog and come back up.