dilated pouch question

I'm 6 years post op.   For the past month I noticed I was able to eat a lot more food.  I hadn't had an adjustment in over a year.   I know that anytime restriction changes like that I need to get checked out.   I was thinking either a slow leak in my tubing or pouch dilation.    
Either complication would stink because I'm a self pay.    

Sure enough I have dilated pouch.  I had 2.6cc's in my 4 cc band.   Dr. removed .6cc's and told me to come back in 3 months and we'd see how things looked.  

I'm just wondering how many people have had this happen and continued on without any more complications?     I know I've been blessed to have made it over six years without any complications.   

If I do end up losing my band, I'll revise to the sleeve.   I'll have to borrow from my 401K, but I'd rather be old and broke, than old and fat with money lol. 

Amy

I'm sorry to hear it. I don't have experience with this, but I hope the course of action rectifies the problem for you.



You are right... you're really lucky to have had your band six years without any complications. I hope this one is easily fixable. Best of luck to you!

I'm a little confused...  If you're able to eat more, would they not want to fill your band rather than remove some of the fluid?? 

It is my understanding that you should have a fill at least once a year...  Your band will leak some of the fluid on it's own, and/or the fluid simply absorbs or evaporates.  If you know you're "green zone" they should re-fill you to the proper cc when you go in, and things should be right as rain.  At least, thats what my surgeon told me.  I'm only a little under 3 months in, myself, so I don't have the experience to rely on.

Ever notice how you buy a snow globe full of water and a few years later, it's half empty?  It just does what it does.  I assume your band does the same, especially as you use it all day every day.

Hope your situation resolves itself.  Best of luck.  :)  

My band was too tight (without my knowledge) and as I ate the food "stacked" in my pouch instead of slowly going through the band, which resulted in the pouch becoming dilated.   I rarely threw up and didn't have any relfux which were signs that I had the one other time my band was too tight.  

I'm self pay, so as long as I had proper restriction, I didn't see any reason for messing with a good thing.   None of my fluid had evaporated in the 16 months since I had my last adjustment.  I still had 2.6cc's in my 4cc band.

Good luck to you on your weight loss journey.

Amy

Are you feeling OK now that some of the saline has been removed, I hope?

Thanks for asking.  I'm really not feeling any different.  I'm just trying to make good food choices and not gain weight in the next 3 months before I can get another adjustment.
Amy

You can do it. Keep your forward momentum... at the risk of sounding all Richard Simmon-sy. 

You don't have a pouch.  So you don't have a dilated pouch.

You might have esophageal dilatation.  Not a good thing.

I'll give you my surgeons number and you can tell him that. That's what he called it in person and on the medical records I have.

Generally, I don't waste my time with people (doctors included) who are that ill-informed or who are so arrogant tht they speak to non-doctors as though they are idiots.  So I don't need his number.

Doctors often "talk down" to people in the hope they will understand...but that doesn't make it correct.  It begs the question as to WHICH of you doesn't understand what's going on.   If you have developed a "pouch" above the band, you have a real mess on your hands. 

It could be that the area of your stomach above the band has stretched and looks like a "pouch" or it could be that your esophagus has dilated...two very different situations.

I hope his treatment is based on what you HAVE and not on what he's calling it.