I've had the band for about three months now, and I've had one fill. Immediatley after my fill I had pretty good restriction, but it only took about one week before the restriction wore off. I've been on a plateau forever, I can eat a lot, I don't get full very fast like I did right after surgery or right after my fill, and I'm usually hungry within three hours after eating...so I'm thinking it's time for another fill. BUT, I've noticed something weird since I got my fill (which was about 3 and 1/2 weeks ago), and I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this........

immediately after I eat, I feel something way down in my lower stomach, almost like the feeling of being full, except it's more like something is pushing on my bladder, and I always have to pee. After I pee, it's gone, and I usually feel hungry again. What is that?!? Has anyone else ever experienced that?

That has never happened to me, and I have never heard of that.

My port will sometimes ache right after I eat, and I've heard some other people say that too, so my GUESS is that when there is pressure in the stoma from having eaten, it pushes back against the restriction in the band, which in turn tries to straighten out the tubing, which is connected to the port, which is fixed, hence the discomfort.

Maybe your tubing pushes agains your bladder when your stoma is full?

Again, this is just my own personal theory and has nothing to do with what is or isn't, but until I hear a better idea I'm sticking with this theory. :cool:

So you're telling me that I'm the only one who's experienced this strange bladder pushing phenomenon after I eat!?! I guess I always knew that I was one of a kind . That's actually a pretty good theory that you came up with there donali! If it is my tubing pushing up against my badder, I must have some long tubing in there. Well, what can ya do, I guess :cool: But maybe this will stop me from eating so much just out of annoyance from having to pee constantly!

~Amber~

Amber, there is no doubt in my mind that you are special but I am not implying you are the ONLY one who has/is experiencing this phenomonen - only that I had not heard that complaint yet. The next time someone posts that same question, I can tell them, "Amber had that same experience - check in with her!" lol

I think the tubing can be quite long. Diane in San Diego's tubing was so long it was poking her under her ribs, so she had to have a simple revision surgery where Dr. Lopez shortened the tubing.

Actually, now that I say that, I was experiencing pain way down low in the left of my abdomen. I asked Dr. Lopez about it, and whether it could be the tubing, and he said no, the tubing was deep in the abdominal cavity. But we know how things move around... :cool: Anyway, that feeling finally went away, and as you can see, I had forgotten all about it.

I also found myself hypersensitive/aware of every little thing that I thought was new - probably stuff that I felt everyday prior to being banded, but never noticed before because I wasn't paranoid about my new equipment. lol That, too, has faded somewhat over time, I am happy to say!

One last possibility... You're not pregnant, are you?

Donali, as I was reading your post I got to thinking about long tubing, and a new question popped up in my head...ok, ya know when we get a fill...well, how do we know that the small amount of liquid enjected into our port will move all the way through the long tube all the way to the band? Isn't it possible that it could get stuck in our tube somewhere? I know that's totally off the subject we were discussing before, but when I just had to ask. But back to my pressing bladder issue, I hope it goes away just like the pain you experienced in the left side of your lower abdomen. I'm tellin ya, this eat and pee thing is very odd and extremely annoying :cool: And if you do happen to run into a bandster in the future who has the same problem...send em to me , not that I'll even know what to tell them, but I guess I we can express our PEElings to each other (oh, aren't I funny!?)

Thank you for your responses, I enjoy talking to other bandsters. I live in North Dakota, and I bet I'm the only person within at least a 300 mile radius that has had this procedure done. I have to drive all the way to Scottsbluff Nebraska (which is a ten hour drive) just to get fills because that's the closest Doctor to where I live! So, as you can see, this is the only place where I can really talk to other bandsters. So I've enjoyed your words of wisdom! Thanks again

OH....I almost forgot to tell ya........negative on the pregnancy test!

~Amber~

I guess it is possible to get a kink in your tubing so that the saline won't pass through, but I doubt it is a common problem as I have not heard about it in 9 months... uh, maybe one time, not positive.

If your doc does fills like mine does, it would be easily apparent that the band was not tightening. I think it is likely that if there were a kink, the pressure from the incoming saline would straighten it out.

The way my doc does fills is under flouro. With the fill needle inserted into the port, he injects the saline, asking me if I can "feel" anything. When I am closed off totally, it feels as though an elephant is sitting on my chest and it seems hard to breathe. Then he backs a little Fluid out and has me drink barium, tracking it as it flows through the band, adjusting the restriction until he's satisfied. If there were a kink and the saline wasn't going through, he would be able to see that the restriction was not increasing with added saline, or the saline just wouldn't inject at all (I think the tubing is thick enough that it would not expand to accomodate saline, so the kink would either straighten or the syringe wouldn't budge).

I grew up in Montana, right next door to North Dakota, although I'm embarassed to admit that North Dakota is the state Montanans poke fun at. I guess every state has a favorite state as the butt of their jokes - who does North Dakota make fun of? :cool:

Hope you PEEling better soon! lol

Donali, I'm from Montana too! And let me tell ya...all of those North Dakota jokes...believe every one ya ever heard, it's bound to be true! Do you know what North Dakotans make fun of Montanans for?!.... They have fun with their stupid sheep jokes. I had never even heard sheep jokes before I moved here for college. I bet you didn't know that either, but let me tell ya, the second they hear you're from Montana, they ask if you have any sheep. After college, I'm outa here! I'd go back to Montana and hang out with the sheep any day! :cool:

But anyways, back to kinky tubes.....I wish that my doctor did fills the way yours did. He's an awesome doctor, but he doesn't do fills under fluoro, he just finds the port with his hand, shoots ya up, and gives ya some Water to make sure it's not too tight, then you're on your way. That makes the visit a lot less expensive though, it's dirt cheap!

~Amber~

Whooo hooo!! Montana! lol

Our sheep jokes were always about Wyoming-ites - lol

This post came up on the SoCal Bandster board yesterday - what a coincidence, huh?

***********

SoCalBandsters

Mon, 27 Oct 2003

Subject: My first fill - with an even bigger surprise!

So Friday I go for my first fill. I met with Condy and Elaine in the am - down 27 pounds doing well, blah, blah, blah. Then into the imaging center with Dr. Cunneen for the fill. It seems to be taking a really long time. Then I start getting this uncomfortable feeling in my chest and I tell the doc. He says, "It seems like the saline isn't going in - you must have a port disconnect. What you feel is the contrast I just put in which came right out the side. We'll have to bring you back in for surgery to correct it." And I'm thinking, "Melanie and I are living parallel lives!" Then I sit up and I feel a little nauseous. I ask for Water, which they give me and the water makes me feel worse. I tell the doc, "I feel like things are getting backed up here." "Hmmm," he says. "Maybe the saline did go in." They have me swallow some barium and they watch on the scope as it goes down .... and stops. At this point the uncomfortable feeling in my chest has blossomed into a dull throb and I'm starting to have little gurgling burps. So the saline did go in and now the band is waaaaaaay too tight - not even my saliva is getting through.

But the good news is no surgery - they just need to take some saline out of the band. They prep my stomach again and lay me back as far as I will let them - which is not all the way because the flatter I get the worse I feel. He sticks a needle in the port, attaches a syringe and starts to pull the saline out - and maybe a drop comes out. He keeps trying with bigger syringes. Meanwhile I am vomiting up barium and saliva. So after about 10 minutes he gives up and tells the nurse to switch his schedule around and I'm taking the next available operating room. By the time I get up to the operating room, I am begging them to give me something for the pain. Almost an hour later admissions finishes the paperwork and they put me out.

Emergency surgery over, I'm awake and back in my hospital room. Dr. Cunneen comes in to tell me there was a kink in my tubing - so he couldn't tell the saline was going in #1 and he couldn't get it back out #2. They removed my port, straightened out the kink and drained all the saline out.

Bottom line - no fill yet - have to go back in a couple of weeks. Dr. Cunneen also told me that's how a blockage feels - so if I feel that way again and it lasts more than 10 minutes, get thee to a hospital. I could be persuaded to never eat anything that even might cause a blockage EVER after that experience.

I am home for a few days - I felt pretty wrung out after that.

Clara

----------

I have known 2 people this has happened to. Sucks...but glad you have everything straightened out (no punt intended) and on your way to having your band work properly.

Let us know how things go.

Mon

**********

So there you have it, from the horse's mouth, so to speak!

Whoa, that is really ironic that she posted that the same day we were discussing it! Crazy! That poor girl, that sounded like it majorly sucked! Well, I hope that I never get a kink in my tube like that...no, my tube is just wrapped around my bladder! Thanks for sharing that post, it was interesting - unfortunate for the poor girl it happened to - but interesting to know.

~Amber~