More Things They Don't Tell You in the Seminar

Good morning, class! Raise your hand if you knew cold weather and elevation could cause your band to tighten up. See me? Over here, not raising my hand.

So my husband and I took a road trip to the West Texas mountains for a few days. It was beautiful and fun, and a bit colder than it's been in Austin. And it would have been a great trip, if not for the fact that I could barely eat a single thing while we were there. I've had some stuck episodes since my last fill, mainly on a cold weekend. I'd heard about people having issues with cold but never experienced it myself before. If I had wine before the meal, I could eat some of it, but would still get stuck - usually on the protein. Hot tea would also help me be able to eat, but again, the results were temporary. Of course, I had no problems with the chips and queso appetizer, or the cookies in bed. But I spent most of the trip starving or stuck.

We've been home for two days and I've still been getting stuck, even though it's much warmer in Austin. Luckily, I already had an appointment scheduled at True Results yesterday. I explained my problems, and they had me do the barium swallow under the fluoroscope to check out the band. The verdict was that the placement is perfect and that I "have good restriction". That's really good news. It would totally suck to have something wrong with the band. But then what's my problem? The fluoroscope technicion, who's also banded (and leads the lapband support group I attend) confirmed that elevation can be a problem. She said she went on a trip to Albuquerque and basically didn't eat for a week. She shrugged and said "That's life with the band."

Hmm... So mountains are out. Your lapband wants beach vacations!