BAND SLAMMED SHUT...AGAIN

[IrishRN]

Hi Pammie,

I remember you back when I had my band put in! Crazy how years later we can experience things that the newbies go through, isn't it?

Anywho, there was a question you were asking and I was waiting for someone to give you an answer, to no avail, you're still waiting on it. In regards to why all of a sudden your band can become too tight after a period of time, especially years post band, I have two theories for you.

Here they are:

1. As you're losing weight, your stoma shrinks. Therefore it doesn't take as much of a fill to tighten your stoma to the point of perfect restriction as it used to. Which means your fill becomes super tight.

2. You could have been too tight all along, but you've dealt with it with your band knowledge to the point where it never bothered you before. Then slowly but surely, the inflammation started which causes the acid reflux, and voila, you were inflammed to the point where your band closed.

These are just my theories, but I thought maybe one of them might make sense to you.

I have actually had an episode myself while I was at 3cc in a 4cc band for over a year. I ended up in the hospital for 3 days and the end result was a complete unfill. What would happen was my upper pouch had stretched to the point where I would never feel restriction. All the food I ate just sat right above the band. Not until the food tried to go down was when I was in unbearable pain.

To make a long story short, I am starting all over again. The scary part is, I have 1.2cc back in my band not only do I NOT get restriction, I don't get full.

Just when we thought we had this weight/band in the bag, years later we will have our reminders that it's still there!

Good Luck Pammie

2. You could have been too tight all along, but you've dealt with it with your band knowledge to the point where it never bothered you before. Then slowly but surely, the inflammation started which causes the acid reflux, and voila, you were inflammed to the point where your band closed.

I talked to Dr Martinez today about this and he explained this to me that i could have been slightly tight for a while. My band slammed shut in February and got better but then I started to eat slider foods and not losing wt. I went to the OCC today because I had a feeling I had been inflammed for a while. He said I had a slight pouching on one side and it was not so bad. He took out 1cc and I'm on full liquids for 3 days. I think I'll go down in 6-8 weeks and have it rechecked to see if the inflammation has gone down. I'm so glad I went to have fluid removed. I want to start eating again.. the slider foods suck!!!

[PAMMIE]

I WOULD AGREE WITH THAT IF THERE WASN'T SO LITTLE IN THE BAND TO BEGIN WITH. IF YOU HAVE THE SMALL 4CC BAND, YOU KNOW NOW MUCH DIFFERENCE .1CC CAN MAKE. WHEN I STARTED HAVING PROBLEMS, I HAD LESS IN THE BAND THEN THE ORIGINAL 1.8CC THE OCC HAD DONE MY FIRST FILL YEARS AGO. I'D HAVE TO GO BACK AND LOOK BUT I THINK AT ONE POINT I HAD 2.4CC AND EVERYTHING WAS GOOD FOR A YEAR AND A HALF. I'VE NEVER KEPT THE BAND VERY TIGHT AS 1. I LIKE TO EAT LOL AND 2. AFTER MY FRIEND HAD HERS SLIP, I NEVER WANTED TO BE IN THAT POSITION

DOLITTLE HAS BEEN WORKING ON GETTING OUR QUESTION ANSWERED, IT JUST SEEMS TO BE TAKING TIME TO FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE OR PERSONS AT ALLERGAN OR J & J TO GET THE MYSTERY QUESTION ANSWERED