Hello all! It's been a long time since I posted.

I quit posting because I have a stalker friend and she will probably get this because she is probably linked on to me but what the heck ~ She is SOOOO psycho ~

Sarah you are a PSYCHO!!! Mind your own business...:thumbdown:

Anyway

I think I may have a slipped band.

I was banded 8/6/05 by Dr Ortiz.

Thoroughly happy with him and everything until recently.

Things have been good up until the last 2 months.

Lots of bping because I can never tell if it will let me eat or not and so when I try and it won't then I have to throw up.

Sometimes it would let me eat, other times not but if I had the band set any looser it would let me eat all day anything.

(I had about 1cc in it)

So I decided to leave it tighter rather than looser.

When it's tighter, I could only eat or drink between noon and 6pm. This was working great for me. I was losing about 3lbs a month. It could have been more had I cut out the carbs that I love : )

I got sick around Christmas twice and that was bad. I think that THAT throwing up screwed my band up.

After that I could only eat solids occasionally.

Now it's worse.

The past two weeks it's been only some types of mushies and Protein drinks. Still just between noon and 5 or 6pm to avoid reflux as much as possible.

I got very dehydrated the end of Dec - early Jan to where my eyesight was blurry and my eyes were sunken, I was weak, dry mouth, thirsty, my urine was very dark, and I was literally dreaming at night about drinking lots of water!

But I eventually figured out how to fix that.

Get all my Water in through watered down Protein Drinks eating no mushies or solids until after I have had ALL my liquid, otherwise the mushies or solids would plug me up for the day.

During Nov till just a couple weeks ago I would joke that I was like a snake. I could eat solids and have a regular meal and then not be able to eat much for a couple of days. The band would just tighten up a lot. The bad part about that is that when I would try to eat I would throw up if it wasn't ready for food that day and so it began to be a lot of bping. Sometimes 10 times a day or more. I was hungry though.

I have also had bad reflux the past 3 mo.

I had all my fill taken out 3 days ago and rather than feeling open, it felt more swollen in my esophagus. I thought this would fix it but NO!

My reflux is worse because whatever is in the lower stomach comes back up into the upper and then sits in my esophagus when I lay down to sleep until I have to throw it up. Even when I havent had anything after 6pm. I still cant eat ANYTHING.

I think I have a slip. The only thing I can keep down is watered down protein drinks.

I tried eating after the fill was taken out and it went down but some came back up. I was so thirsty I drank a lot of water and while I was asleep it came up and even came out my nose! I tried one more time to eat soft solids yesterday and all of it I thew up.

So I only dare drink the watered down protein drinks. It's good enough to keep me going and I feel really good as long as I don't eat.

I can't drink water alone.

I need to know what I should do or who to see to get it checked.

Someone said get an upper GI. Who does that?

I'm not worried if all it is is a slip.

I am worried if there is erosion.

I started out at 179 and now I am at 156.

If I have to take it out, I'll just have to lose that next 20 myself.

I have loved the band though and I will be sad if I lose this tool. But I don't keep ALL the rules. If I did, I wouldnt be here in this situation.

Who do I call?

Have any of you experienced anything like this and it just been an inflamed stomach?

I don't think I'm gonna be that lucky here.

I'm pretty sure it's slipped.

Anybody know how much it costs to have it taken out?

Here in USA?

Mexico?

Hi Needto and Marsha,

Thank you for your replies. I was so baffled by all this weird abdominal pain. so good to know i'm not a lone. my GP referred me to the GI specialist because my band dr. didn't think it was related. I am so glad this forum is here.

My revision surgery on Tue 3/3 is being planned as a fix/reposition my existing band or worst case removal. I still don't know if my insurance will approve it or not. I find out on monday i guess. My surgeon says that another band or the gastric sleeve would be a viable option for me as a replacement in the future if they end up having to remove it... ugh. Now i'm worried that wouldn't be approved, as someone mentioned... I'd have to gain 100lbs back to qualify or something crazy.

Anyhow... I am trying to get used to the idea of life without the band and all my fears with that. I've made some pro's and con's list that have helped. If it does get taken out, there is less chance of more complications down the road or while i'm pregnant (would like to start trying this year). But i've grown to be friends with my band. I pleaded to my surgeon about how I've really adapted to living with it as a tool and working with it. I rely on it to keep me in line.

good luck gals, keep us posted.

Hi Morningoasis,

I'm glad you're going to get this taken care of. I forgot to mention that some of my pain was very simular to yours...I couldn't take a deep breath either.

I'll be interested to hear if your insurance will pay for this. I looked up my policy with BC/BS and it states: "No coverage for bariatric surgery including reversal, revision, repeat and staged surgery, except for the treatment of sickness or injury resulting from such bariatric surgery, or unless required by law." I'm hoping they consider abdominal pain when eating sometimes a "sickness" . If not, then I'll have to go back to Mexico and I'm not looking foward to that with all the killing going on there. Ofcourse, I could always wait until the band causes me a "sickness" :thumbup:

I am also worried about living without my band. Although I never got to goal, my band has kept me from gaining it all back. I hope that repositioning is all we'll need.

Take Care,

Marsha

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> I noted the smoking, coffee, chocolate, mint and articicial sweetners as triggers. This week I am going to cut out these items (coffee has already been reduced to 2x's per week from daily.)</o:p>

Just curious...are you saying these things caused a slippage? I know smoking & caffeine are on the 'NO' list, but I hadn't heard anything about the others causing problems for banders (I know artificial sweetners cause some problems for RnY patients). I'm a chocolate fiend and have been collecting recipes with artificial sweetners.

Hope you all come through this well. Best Wishes.

I think I had your symptoms (fluid in the mouth in the middle of the night)...I went in & had 1cc removed. New problem is that now my throat makes all these weird noises & I have a dull pain betw my shoulder blades? What was it that you took to take the swelling down? THKS!

I think I had your symptoms (fluid in the mouth in the middle of the night)...I went in & had 1cc removed. New problem is that now my throat makes all these weird noises & I have a dull pain betw my shoulder blades? What was it that you took to take the swelling down? THKS!

I wish I had a good answer for you! But, I was not lucky enough to have an ufill fix the problem. I went in for surgery tue 3/3 and had my band removed and replaced. So I am almost a week post op. I had my old band 4 yrs. This new band is a Realize band. I am not sure if there is a difference yet. So far, so good. I haven't had any reflux, but am still on liquids.. Good luck!

I had almost identical symptoms in that my band appeared to be getting tighter with each unfill and even totally unfilled I struggled to get water down in the end. Anyway to cut a long story short I had surgery fully expecting to lose my band but they found the problem was caused by adhesions from the original op and were able to snip them away and release the stomach, which had been twisting under the tension from the fibrosis. My band survived intact and I have now got to follow the original regime and give it six weeks to settle down.

Needless to say this was a huge relief and apart from gas pains I'm doing much better now. So there are other reasons for symptoms other than slippage or erosion.

Kind Regards to All

Just curious...are you saying these things caused a slippage? I know smoking & caffeine are on the 'NO' list, but I hadn't heard anything about the others causing problems for banders (I know artificial sweetners cause some problems for RnY patients). I'm a chocolate fiend and have been collecting recipes with artificial sweetners.

Hope you all come through this well. Best Wishes.

I am not banded but just been looking into all the options and reading a lot. This is the first I have seen about coffee and smoking. What does that mean? I do both regularly:scared2:

If you look above my post she (morningoasis) had a list of things she thought were triggers and my question was; triggers for slippage? She hasn't answered yet.

My doc told people to give up smoking (for reg. health reasons, I'm not a smoker) and most docs don't want you to drink caffeine at least initially because it's a diuretic and they want you not to get dehydrated, some also say it increases appetite. I'd never heard of any of these being related to slippage, so I hope someone can clear this up.

Edited March 10, 200917 yr by Band_Groupie

I too am so sorry you are having to remove the band. I have just gone through much of the same. I just returned from a four day hospital stay after having to have my band removed, but then replaced. The band had slipped quite a bit, but the worst part they didnt find out until they got in there, and that was that my stomach had fused to my liver. I let this go on for a LONG time. I didnt want any one messing with my band. I went from 286 to 126 and have no desire to return there. The dr thought it was going to be a simple surgery putting the band back in place. However, a one hour surgery, turned into over hour hours and four days in the hospital to recoop. I asked the dr what could have made it slipp and he said anything from loosing alot of weight to binge eatting. I did throw up ALOT and OFTEn the first couple of years, but didnt tell anyone. I wanted the weight loss more than life itself. And it came to almost my life. So, my advise to everyone, please follow the dr. orders on what to eat, the amounts and how often. And just as importantly communicate with you dr all and any problems you have!!!!! My best to everyone!

BTW...why Mexico to have the band removed?

If you look above my post she (morningoasis) had a list of things she thought were triggers and my question was; triggers for slippage? She hasn't answered yet.

My doc told people to give up smoking (for reg. health reasons, I'm not a smoker) and most docs don't want you to drink caffeine at least initially because it's a diuretic and they want you not to get dehydrated, some also say it increases appetite. I'd never heard of any of these being related to slippage, so I hope someone can clear this up.

Caffeine really isn't a diuretic. It is when you first start consuming it but not after you are used to large quantities.

Caffeine changes the lining of your stomach so that it empties faster and that defeats the whole purpose of the surgery.

Caffeine and smoking.... not sure how either one could be related to slips.

Caffeine changes the lining of your stomach so that it empties faster and that defeats the whole purpose of the surgery.

Wow! I'd never hear that! Thanks.