Well blow me down!!! I guess I did cause my Bands demise. Thanks for the reminder

I had lots, & lots, lots of issues with my Band straight out the gate and I've explained that many, many, many times.  What I did know was that I was NOT vomiting food.  Residue (People would not listen in that post, but it was not "food" per se, but thickened saliva) would return to my upper stomach hours after I ate.    This forum was right, there was something wrong with my band. 

From a recent post on the main board.
My Lap Band began working during my 3rd year after a dilated esophagus (symptoms were night cough, choking at night, reflux) then complete unfill, I for the first time received some real restriction.  My Band shockingly worked "as advertised".  I could eat everything, even healthy fruits and veggies  in smaller portions so my Band was never too tight. I did however have the beautiful benefit of the Band dimming my hunger in a way that felt like "magic"

I remember when I would come here and would get turned away for putting it out there that I wasn't having a successful Lap Band Journey.  It was always the banded persons fault.

Sometime after that post, I was completely unfilled due to an esophageal dilation. It wasn't from pouch stuffing or a too tight Band.  I never got the chance to see how the Band worked, I did not know.  2005 - never had restriction, 2006 never had restriction, 2007 got some (not tight) restriction and had the adverse reaction I described.  Could be I had esophageal dismotility and the muscle wasn't working as it should but there was absolutely nothing wrong with me pre-op, I just got too fat after a dance injury. My esophagus hated the band.  I state over and over again throughout my postings on OH that my esophagus may have experienced "trauma" as I had a flipped port straight out the gate (I did not flip it myself for fun times!), then a cracked port with punctured hosing (I did not take to myself with a chisel), then 5 mos later I had port revision - all the while, a non-working Band.

Sept '05? - a month after port replacement, I got my first fill - nothing
Oct '05 - 2nd fill.  the fill turned on me, my doc was out of town and on contract negotiation with the CORI Center (anyone remember their advertising **** storm?).    I was left pleading for medical help and obstructed for 8 days.

I was sent "upstate" for a traumatizing "unfill" (there was still not a Lap Band craze at that point and many people weren't experienced).  I felt like I never wanted to try the Band again.  It was horrible, so horrible under that fluoroscope with a doc who still couldn't find my port.  Until this day, I am traumatized by this  machinery.

Dr. Roslin made all of this happen for me.  I could have died from that obstruction.  Later, I was to ask him to be my surgeon - this too unheard of then.  He took me in.  Through the years I had absolutely no success, no restriction that I could keep,  and I saw my surgeon regularly.

Feb 2008 - I went to Weigh****chers, while waiting on an approval for the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.  I was denied!  My Band was on it's way out of my body because it was not working and never worked.  While I am completely unfilled, and my surgeon has submitted an outside appeal for the "sleeve".  While I am walking out of the office in desperation I say - lets try the Band one more time (March 2008).  He puts in a teeny drop.  I have no issues at all, none of the thick saliva, nothing.  I am obsessed with Weigh****chers by then.  I am losing.  We put another drop in the band and then my next appointment another.  OMG this was how the Band was supposed to work, OMG!!!  I am deliriously overjoyed. I am not hungry, I am not coughing, I am not choking, I AM NOT TIGHT!  I AM NOT AND NEVER HAVE VOMITING.  I AM NOT BURPING PRODUCTIVELY.  My Band is working as advertised.  Just like magic - how could it be?  I keep questioning my doc - what do you think happened?  Do you think the band has repositioned itself?  It was question after question and we weren't sure what had happened.  It just worked.

Vomit, I did not.  I took in every single calorie I ate.  I went to Weigh****chers every single week sometimes 2x's per week, I weighed in, kept a food journal, counted my points.  I cut down my carbs tremendously.  I learned to knit to keep both hands busy so I would not eat.  I read "the Dieters Prayer book" morning and night.  I rolled off my bed and onto my exercised bike, I did free weights every other day.  I walked and biked miles.  I lost 62lbs in 2008 and I worked for every single pound.  I mindfully ate.

No one on this planet can take that away from me.  There are plenty of things I can say about this crazy Naomi.  It is quite lucky that she still has her band.  She is a danger to anyone who crosses her path ESPECIALLY in "real life".  You got what you got woman and I don't want it.

I will say it again.  I am not sorry I chose the Band.  I loved when my Band worked.  No regrets, but the Band will not last long term.  For giggles and **** look at that post you just referred to, many of the people that have replied have been revised or have had trouble.

Good day, I am done.

1. You have too much time on your hands

2. Why do you keep justifying yourself to us on OH - your experience is your experience period.dot.end. when someone asks your opinion by all means give it and your experience with the band but really these long drawn out posts are getting redundant.

3. Thanks (for being done)

4. Good Luck

Don't read my long drawn out posts!  Block me by all means and have a nice life!

who are you trying to convince...?? us??  or yourself?

You can justify it anyway you like. YOU are the only one who knows how YOU worked your band.   The band doesnt WORK for you... its the other way around.  

its a tool.. not a cure.

Would you defend yourself if someone was posting blatant lies about you?  I am not trying to convince myself -  I know! 

This really is a senseless endeavor BUT it feels so wrong to be blamed for a Band gone wrong and unfortunately many over here usually takes that stance until . . .

"everyone over here"?  Painting with a wiiide brush,IMO.  Many many people here support you and your right to speak here.  You were't one of the ones mentioned that ppl complain about either.

I *think*  people were just trying to say you don't have to defend yourself, especially considering where the attack came from, you know? 


Just my two cents. 
Peace. 

~
This really is a senseless endeavor BUT it feels so wrong to be blamed for a Band gone wrong~

Yes it is COMPLETELY wrong to be blamed for being problem......not the band.



~and unfortunately many over here usually takes that stance until . . .~

Yes this is true also. U were one of those ppl too. Do u happen to remember a nasty post u wrote to me when I was complaining about my band not working??? I remember you said I was bitter.

Yes, Maria I thought you were bitter  . . . I  think you are bitter still .  I mean come on- admit it, you hate your fricken' band or at least that is how you come across. You are pissed because you put your money, a lot of money down on this thing  in which you believed would worked out much differently.  I get that, I'd be pissed too. I just don't stay angry.  Nothing good comes out of it for me. I can't function in that energy.  You however seem to do very well because it seems you are comfortable with it.  My sis is like that.  She is no joke but in the end there is a great deal of accomplishment and progression.;

Now Michelle and I have had our little challenges in the past too and guess what,  I always admired her - she knows her stuff.  If it weren't for her I'd probably be plicated right now. 

There is no way that I ever thought the Lap Band was perfect.  There is no way that I insisted that it had to be the person 100% of the time and not the band when issues occured.  I didn't have a place on this Lap Band for a very long time because I experienced complications which were not of my doing.  I hung out on the DS forum for years.  I didn't belong here Maria - not with a complaint, I didn't belong here.  So I would not turn someone away  or immediately blame someone for having "issues" at all.  I mean how could I of all people not understand?  I needed a revision before I had begun.

I've learned to like you Maria, I get you.  I understand that you mean business and that is very cool.

 

Yes I will admit, I am bitter. However I feel I have every right to be since I had reasonable expectations that if I worked WITH the band that it would work for me the way it is "advertised". I put every effort into making it work. I wasted a lot of money on this band, and that makes it even worse.

But out of my bitterness I try to help those that pre-op to see what the band can really be like! I also help those that are having issues with their band, when they are NOT able to get support on the band forum.

So essentially we are both working toward the same goal now.

I am going on my third year of the band and I am needing to get it removed.  I have had a complete unfill since last September and I am constantly getting stuck on solid foods.  I can return to liquids for days and progress up as I feel better, but I will always end up getting stuck back on solids.  The most I can do is maybe a couple of days on solids before it just seems to "close up" and I have to revert back to liquids. I am completely unfilled yet I still have the choking and coughing at night and acid problems.  Eating, for me, has become quite torturous and taking my daily meds is a bit of a chore when I am "swollen" (as I am now referring to those times when I am too tight).

My level of restriction now, unfilled, is not the same level of restriction unfilled that I had the first or second years of my band. I DO NOT HAVE A SLIPPED BAND.  The last upper G.I. I had back in December shows that the band is placed quite well.  In fact, the barium used in the upper G.I. was made quite thin because of my issues getting fluids down and I was still having problems getting the barium through the band while open.  It's almost as if, over time, my stomach lining has gotten thicker around the band.  I will not know for certain what the inside of my stomach looks like until I have a scope done, and that will be in the next few weeks.  The last CT scan I had did show that the lining of the stomach shows the signs of a slipped band, but again when looking at the actual band during an upper G.I. the doctors agree that the placement is perfect.

My band is a 10cc band and in the early days I could get my restriction up to 4cc.  Anything over 4cc and I had issues like I am having now.  The past year and a half I could never get above 2.5cc. My last actual fill level was 1cc before the very last unfill and that was as tight as I remember the 4cc being in my first fill.  Now, completely unfilled I may have periods of time where I feel like I am at a 4cc again and there are times when I feel like I can eat solid foods. It is driving me absolutely mad.

I'm not band bashing because I CAN NOT SPEAK FOR ALL BANDS.  The only thing I can speak on is my experience with the band. I do not think someone is foolish for choosing the band because of the experiences that I have had, but I think they NEED to understand what complications may happen.... and they need to understand that those complications may not be avoidable even if they "follow the rules".  If it worked for you then I think that is great and I wish you many more years of success with the band, but I don't think that a band without complications is a gleaming example that it can work for everyone if... "You just follow the rules".    It's just not the case.