Does the Band have an expiration date? Things got bad :-(

Hi Everyone....

OMG... it has been soooo long since I wrote my last blog *badme* Please forgive me :-(
How is everyone? I hope life is treating you well and that you are happy and healthy :-)

I would also like to say "Hi" to my new followers and that I am very happy to meet you. I will soon be following you as well... I just have not been on here for a while and will need to work my way through Lapband-Blogland for the next couple of days. Please bear with me :-)

I was just checkin in here and decided to leave a little update.

On the weight front all is going okay... I am still in the range of 166-171 lb... I have some good phases and many not so good phases. My main problem is finding some kind of a sweet spot or at least a restriction that I can live with.

It all began last May when I suddenly got extremely tight (without a fill, just out of the blue) and suffered from very bad reflux and was not able to eat any solids at all. So I went for an unfill... and I gained 9 lb. :-( Of course I went for a fill again and at first everything seemed to be fine... but after a month or so I again got extremely tight and suffered from the worst reflux ever, especially at night. I woke up choking almost every night. I had chicken noodle soups for dinner and even though I stopped eating and drinking at 7 pm the noodles and the tiny veggie pieces form the soup were still sitting in my pouch (and worked their way up while I was having my morning coffee, sorry) Very bad.

So all of this has been going with me since last May. There are now only two extremes for me. I either have very little restriction and I gain weight easily (slowly but surely) or I am so tight that I can't eat and suffer from extremely bad reflux. My restriction fluctuates by itself, out of nowhere it changes... I am fine one day and the next day I can't even drink water.. the next day I am lose again and could eat a double bandster-portion. I charted the weather, my menstrual cycle, the barometric pressure... there is no pattern that any of it plays a role in my restriction (or lack thereof).

I have NO idea why this is happening... everything was fine for almost 2 years and I have lost almost 130 lb. and kept it off (with a couple of ups and downs).

The most disturbing thing is, that  when I searched the internet I found sooo many other bandsters that are having the same issues with their lap-band and most of them are having (or already had) a revision to the vertical sleeve (or bypass) because they can't take those unpleasant side-effects from the band any longer... and I don't blame them... it's horrible. It also affects weight loss. The weight I have gained when I got the unfills was the hardest to get rid of. I truly miss the good old times, the beginnings in Lap-Band-Land when everything was working well, when I was happy, made good food choices, drank enough liquids, etc.

I wonder if anyone of my followers has those problems? Are you still having sweet spot restriction? Are you still losing weight? Have you reached your goal weight and is it easy for you to maintain?


My biggest question is....

Does the band have an expiration date? Is it just not designed to keep us happy for a life time? 

Please do not get me the wrong way... I do not want to spread any negative energy on here and I do not want to ruin any weight loss journey of happily banded people... I just want to know if anyone is having similar issues?

I am kind of disturbed... and deep inside of me I know I can't go on like this :-(