lapband for constant travelers!

Many things can cause your band to tighten. A cold,stress,higher elevations,pain etc. During a family trip to visit my sister in Utah, my band unbeknown to me had slipped and obstructed. My husband and I along with my three kids made the tough decision to drive the 13 hour car ride home back to California ( after a full day of skiing ) through the mountains while it was snowing. Because I was in incredible pain.

I didn't know it at the time that my band had slipped. All I knew is that I was in extreme pain and was unable to swallow my pain medications because they wouldn't go down. On the way home we ended up stopping at an ER about 2 hours away from my sisters house, yet still 11 hours away from home. We pushed the On-Star button to find the nearest hospital because I was in  very bad pain and having an anxiety attack from all the pain. It became increasingly harder and harder to breath and I actually thought I was having an asthma attack. I feared I wasn't going to make it to the hospital in time and that my airway was going to close up.

We made it to the ER where they hydrated me and gave me something for the pain. They were unable to do anything about my lap band because there was no one in the entire hospital who had any knowledge of how to unfill a lap band.

Had I driven myself, I wouldn't have been able to drive myself anywhere due to the narcotics I was given for the pain. We got to my house in CA. early that morning and I was admitted to the ER where my band surgeon removed my slipped band and repaired a hiatel hernia.

I remember another time before the band slipped that I was at home and in terrible pain because of the band and I had gone into my local ER and they were also unable to do anything for me. They told me that I needed to go to the hospital where my band was placed.

It's a bad idea because if you are traveling and you need help, you may just be out of luck because not all hospital emergency rooms are equipped with knowledgeable staff that can help you out. Over the years,I've seen countless post's on here from bandsters who were out of town on vacation and they were asking for help because they were out of town and no where near a lap band surgeon who could help them.

Obviously if you travel for a living then you are putting yourself at a higher risk of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When I travel, I am talking about worldwide so I have full travel insurance which means I would be flown to appropriate medical care if needed. So if the local hospital didn't know about bands as the Pumpkin went to didn't, they would take me somewhere else.

It is interesting to note that my insurance company does not see the band as a risk factor as they don't charge me extra.

Pumpkin is talking about within the US for American citizens. I don't understand your system, but I think (??) it can be more complicated to get specialist care from docs other than your own. And if I had problems in the UK I could go to the nearest NHS hospital and be sure of care. If they didn't have a band on site, they would have a duty to contact one for me in an emergency.

So it would be foolish to deny that being banded does not pose a potential risk. But it is not unique in that!

Kate

 Since being banded I have flown to New Orleans, LA, Chicago, NY. Driven To Atlanta, NC, Miami. No problema, since you eat less, you spend a lot less on food, and I stay with healthy choices, and plan on occasional splurges. To me a splurge is one glass of wine or a shared dessert. I usually bring protein bars as a back-up plan.

It's a crap shoot.

MANY people who have no other problems with the band, travel with no problems.

HOWEVER...a die-hard, pro-band, LOVELY and INTELLIGENT woman (a judge, actually) I knew from another site could hardly roll out of her driveway without a trip to the ER.  EVERY vacation was sprinkled with ER visits...the band would slam shut and she could swallow NOTHING.  We figured it had something to do with how her body reacted to changes in altitude and--maybe---airline cabin pressure.  She got to the point that she traveled with everything needed to make sure the ER doctors would know what they needed to know and have (maybe even a Huber needle, but I'm not sure on that one) what they needed to have to allow her to drink WATER and eat food.  But she was not, last time I heard, ready to revise to another surgery.

(Now that I mention this, Nicci may remember her as well.) 

*I* wouldn't want to live that way...but she found it acceptable.

I DO know this lovely and intelligent woman. I think the world of her and she's one of the 3-4 people out of dozens for whom the band has worked. Well, when I say, "worked," I mean she doesn't have chronic pain issues. The traveling issue IS something to be concerned about, however. I only wish the best for her... she's truly one of the most sincere people I've ever met, wouldn't you agree?

I know that *I* traveled a lot BECAUSE of the band. I remember a time that I tried to have a little teensy tiny saline put in my band to try to change the position in the hopes that the chronic pain would dissipate at least a little. Just enough to allow me to continue to want to live, you know? I drove the 3+ hours from my home in WI to downtown Chicago, got a fill from a qualified specialist, got home and found I couldn't swallow my own saliva. I simply got in the car and drove BACK to Chicago to have it unfilled completely. The pain didn't go away, I still couldn't eat solid foods and I had no saline in my band... not that I needed it for restriction, anyway. Ah yes, fun times... I sure *miss* those days.

Most hotels now provide an in room fridge.  That will be yor saviour.  On business trips load up the fridge with healthy protein choices like cottage cheese and yogurt.

Another thing to think about, a lot of bandsters have issues with flight.  my last vacation I spent pretty much getting stuck at every dinner.  I actualy needed to get a small unfill after returning home.