If you've been banded for a year+ and having complications...Please share!

 If it seems that you are always tighter in the early part of the day and looser later, I would think it may be an issue of fluid retention. 

Iv had my band for almost 3 years and i have been soo lucky until now ive lost almost 140lbs. in 2 years and maintaind it until one morning i woke up not even able to drink water. For 2 days i had a burning feeling every time i drank. called my doctor and wanted to see me asap,did some test and noticed that i was almost shut complitly d weird part was that i havent got a fill in over 1 year and i had a small slip. so when it came time to take liquid off he noticed that my port was moved and that d stiches that was holding my port came undone:(. my port was over 1 inch. away from were it was to begin with. This was not d dr. who did my band i go to kaise now and he refuses to re-do my band he wants me to get d sleeve. im sooooo scared to get d sleeve i cant even sleep and i have major nerves:( i am so close to my goal im @ 160 i have about 10lbs to lose is it really worth having a revision for only 10-20lb? my dr. says yes cause hes sooo sure i will gain it all back. pls if anyone can give me some advise i would appreciate it i have d surgery date for august 2 so i have some time to think about it..

 Well, you have to be the to decide whether you want your band repositioned or to revise to the sleeve, but I would not advise just removing the band and going with nothing. Pretty much every study that's ever been gone shows that it is overwhelmingly likely that you will regain all of your weight, and possibly more. Most of the people who have revised from band to sleeve seem to be pretty happy, and there are also some who have had band repositioning and are happy. Do research on both and even consider getting s 2nd opinion, just be sure you make a choice you're comfortable with, not something you feel pressured into doing. 

I know I irritate people when I mention this, but I really have seen dozens upon dozens of bands fail in the past 9 years... through no fault of the patient.  I do believe that we're going to be seeing a more accurate picture of how "long term" the band really is.  A lot of people start having problems at the 2 year out mark...you're certainly not alone, Steph. I am sorry you're going through it. I feel sad whenever I hear of anyone having complications.

I had the lapband done in 2003, had emergency repositioning surgery 6 months later, suffered with chronic left shoulder pain, abdominal pain, constipation, inability to eat, gagging, throwing up... with NO saline in the band whatsoever.

Had it removed in 2005 in another emergency procedure.
I won't list all the other "treatments" I underwent in those 2 years because it would be a long, long list. Suffice it to say, I went broke and lost my job and lived in tremendous pain.

There is a lot about banding that isn't divulged by the advertising or the medical professionals who do the surgeries. It's up to those of us who have experienced it to try to help those who may be going through it now... or help prospective patients avoid it. That's my thought on it, anyway.

I'll try to make this as short as possible.  At 3 years out my band was causing scar tissue to form on the outside of my stomach which made my band get progressively tighter and tighter to the point where I was waking up at night every 20 minutes choking on acid.  At the end of my band my life was becoming hellish.

Instead of getting a new band I decided on a VSG, and I have never been happier.  The VSG works as I always thought the band was supposed to work.  I can eat any type of food without a fear of getting stuck and I find that without the issues of wondering how my stomach lining is feeling today or how tight the stoma opening is that my healthier options are more available .  I eat a very controlled portion size now of healthier food, no saucing or blending to make it easier to eat, I just eat it.

I will say the entire process has made me really appreciate how wonderfully evolved the pylorus actually is.  It's a pretty amazing part of the body.   The man made version just doesn't compare.

I am a little over a year out from having the VSG surgery now and so far no complications.  I havent had an episode of dumping and in looking at the VSG forums it's a pretty rare thing.  I also haven't had any acid issues, so that's nice.  If I do get "stuck" now it's when I eat way too fast and the episode last less than 30 seconds now. Over the past year this has happened about 4 times. One of those times ended up with me PB'ing up slime.

Last night for dinner I had 1/4 of a vegan club sandwitch, 5 baked fries, and three bites of a pickle and I was done. For a guy who is 6'4" that's not too bad.  The only other big difference is that I do want to eat 4 to 5 times a day now. I'm fine with that because I find ways to keep my meals within a certain calorie range and push those calories to be high protein.

Okay, so much for keeping it short.

 I am so glad to hear that you are happy with your sleeve.  I am strongly considering this, and praying that the insurance will cover it if it is meant to be.  

How long was your hospital stay and your recovery time?  Do you still have to refrain from drinking with meals with the sleeve?

I am not new to the post I do read however, I don't usually post.  I had surgery over 3 1/2 years ago and have had no problems with my band and there are others like me out there.  When people are not having any problems and are losing weight they usually don't post.  I have lost over 80 pounds and still losing slowly because of lack of exercise due to no fault of myself.  I am starting excising today to speed up my next goal of being under the 200 mark.  Yes, I do believe the band is not for everyone only you can decide.  Would I do it again?  YES!  The band has help me and in between losing to maintain my weight loss with no gains because of portion control.  I have been away from the board for a little while and can not believe all the negativity.  If you are looking for advice, my advice would be to not look at all the negativity,  Although I do feel bad for everybody that has had bad experience from their bands for whatever reasons, and do my own research on pros and cons of each surgery and what is good for you.  

 Thanks for yor post, Nance.  I thought my band was fine and the symptoms I was having were cardiac.  Just underwent weeks of testing and though my band only had 3.5cc in 11cc realize c band, my stoma was only letting a trickle of barium through.  Last Oct, my Esophogram showed slow emptying, but the fluid was going through in what appeared to be a normal sized stream.  Since October, I haven't changed anything, no fill, diet and eating habits, nothing.  Yet my band tightened.  This post isn't negative, it is informative.  Simply a sharing of experiences, so people who are having symptoms can recognize the band problems early on, before major damage is done.

~ This post isn't negative, it is informative~

Exactly! You can never have too much knowledge!

Now as far as your cardiac symptoms being possibly band related..........THAT REALLY SCARES ME! It seems that so much more is coming out now about complications we didn't hear about previously. Some that absolutely were NOT associated with the band at all.

First it was the left referring shoulder pain and Vagus nerve problem. NEVER heard that mentioned before and then Nic started telling everyone about that. Well it seems since she started getting her story out, that there are more that have the exact same thing. A few months ago there was an article about the band possibly causing pulmonary problems. And now as you have brought up, cardiac problems may be caused by the band as well! So even though I just have one complication in addition to the no restriction thing..............I worry about what damage it has caused that I'm not aware of, or might cause in the future! :-(

This link explains the Vagus nerve functions... stomach, heart, lungs...


http://www.innovateus.net/innopedia/what-function-vagus-nerv e

What are the Functions of  the Vagus nerve?

Some of the main functions of the Vagus Nerve include,

1. Breathing
2. Speech
3. Sweating
4. Helping in keeping the larynx open during breathing
5. Monitoring and regulating the heartbeat
6. Informing the brain of the food that is ingested and food that has been digested
7. The Vagus Nerve performs the major function of emptying the gastric region of food
8. Any damage to the vagus nerve causes, Gastroparesis which is losing the muscular function in the stomach and intestines. This results in food being emptied slowly, that leads to other problems such as fermentation of food  in the stomach and food getting compressed into hard pellets which can cause severe problems if the pellets get stuck in the intestine. Specially in people with diabetes, when sugar levels get high and are not well controlled, it can result in the vagus nerve damage.