Band Slipage After Pregnancy

Hi there,

I wanted to see if anyone out there has experienced any issues with their bands after pregnancy. I had my baby 3 months ago and I reccently went to see my surgeron for my yearly follow up appoiment ( YOU KNOW THE USUAL ) and was horrified to hear that he thinks that my band might of slipped a little bit. He did a flouro and said that the opening for food was about the size of a coffee stirer. He also stated that my pouch looked a little large and could possibly be inflamed. This totally freaked me out because I am religious about my band and how to take care of myself. I have a 10 cc Lap Band AP system band and only had 3.25cc inside. Now, with the permission of my surgeron I left that fluid in my band during the entire pregancy and did not experience any difficulties until the last 6 weeks of my pregancy and delivery. I thought the trouble I was having was all pregnancy related and now I am terrified to learn otherwise. I only experience mild heartburn and after delivery some nitetime regurtation when I laid down to go to bed. This regurtation lasted only 3 weeks and then went away so I summed it up to major trauma caused by delivery.He removed the fluid from my band and said that he would see me in two weeks to check out if the band may go back to its orginial position. I am scared at all the crazy thoughts running through my head. 

I am in desperate need of council and would love to hear your thoughts, insight and experiences.


Your Humble Bandster,

Broom

3.25 cc's in a 10cc band is a very small amount. It's possible there could have been air in it as well.
Since you had all the fluid removed, it may fix itself. Did you have a lot of vomiting while pregnant? Even just one "bad" vomiting or "PB" session is all it takes for a slipped band. You probably should have an upper GI done in a couple weeks, to see where the postion is.
If it is slipped, you usually can have a revision to a new band usually.

Hi There,

Thank you for your time and post. During pregnancy I never suffered from any bad morning sickness and cannot recall any violent PB's or vomiting. It is interesting that you mentioned something about air for the reason that when my surgeon removed my fluid there was a comment about air but nothing was repeated so I am unsure. I have an appt in 2 weeks to see if things improved. My doctor has a KUB ordered for me before my appt.

Thanks Again,

Broom

HI again
I had a band for 6 years. The only one who would actually "try" to get the air out during appts was the surgeon himself. He became so popular and in demand that he was hiring nurses just to do fills/unfills and they were apparently not familiar with this procedure. He always took the fluid out during a fill, checked the color, put the empty needle back in and did "something" to pull any air out. The he always put fresh saline in. After seeing this, I only used him for fills, even if I had to wait weeks for an appt.

I had no trouble with mine during or after my pregnancy, but then I had a slip pretty early on and had it repositioned some time ago by a different surgeon, who I really think was better than my first. Slips are probably the most common complication we can have and it really cold be unrelated to the pregnancy.

Thank you for your time and post. I can't thank you enough.


Sincerly,

Broom

I'm sorry. I thought I may have had some issues with the band too but the doctor doesn't think so, he thinks it just took my body a while to get rid of the extra fluid that was causing my issues. I kept 6.5 cc's in my 10 cc band throughout my pregnancy and towards the end, it got really hard to eat. After I had my C section, not even water would get down so they came and completely unfilled me and I've had trouble gaining restriction since then. I have 6 cc's in right now and it's really only noticable to me in the mornings.
I hope that the unfill will fix the problem for you.

Hi there,

Thank you for your post. How long ago did you have your baby? How long before you went to see your doctor about your issues? Did they ever examine your band? I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Thanks again,

Broom

I had my baby in June and I went in for my first fill after the complete unfill in mid July. He put in about 4.5 cc's and I couldn't tell anything, I could eat super large amounts. So I went back and got it up to a little over 5 cc's in August. Still nothing. I thought maybe I had a leak cause literally I could eat such large portions even in the morning hours. So I went back in October a few weeks ago and got it back up to 6 cc's. The doctor always takes the fill out first to make sure there isn't a leak and it was all there so at least we know it's not leaking. I can feel restriction in the morning now, but still have a large appetitie. The doctor is thinking I just haven't reached the best fill for me yet. I guess it's possible. I don't have any reflux or heartburn at all so they don't think anything's wrong with the band, they think it's just me. I'm self pay, so it takes a while before I can get each fill which makes me angry as well. I seriously hope nothing is wrong with my band cause again, I'd have to pay out of pocket for it. Keep me posted as to what they find with your band too. I hope everything is ok with it.