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I have had my lap band for nine years now and for the last 5 years I have slowly been regaining my weight. When I initially got my band I was a regular exerciser (4-5 days a week) and watched what I ate. I got out of both habits when I was having some personal issues and slowly the weight started to comeback on. I don't want to make this a long diatribe but long story short, here I am 45 pounds heavier. Did I ever think I would be back here, no! In fact I swore this would never happen to me. However, a few hard times and more than a little emotional distress and it did happen to me.
That leads me to wonder.......My band is still in working condition although I have had my issues with it over the years. It did what it was supposed to. Or did it? Was it the band, the lifestyle change or a mixture of both? When hard time came to my life I ran right back to what I knew would give me comfort, food, and right back to terrible habits. No excuses can hide the truth of weight gained.
That makes me wonder if the revision I was considering would really be in my best interest because the old saying, the surgeon fixed my stomach but he did not fix my head. I think I finally understand the wisdom this statement reveals.
This post is mostly me rambling and trying to come to peace with what I have done to myself and wondering if I have the strengh, courage and wisdom inside me to finally fix my head and get real about my issues with food.
Humbly
Doxie
I am very glad you found a solution. As for me, I have a terrible time with salt. I retain water so bad when I salt things like my watermelon etc.
Doxie
Just curious what problems with the band finally caused it to be removed? I wish you the best of luck with your future surgery. Doxie
Ok, here's an update:
In 2009, Dr. Herrera couldn't find my port, so he told me that it had flipped and I needed to go in and flip it back over. He said he would wave his fees, and I could do it at a surgery center so that it would cost less, since I'm self-pay. Well, when he got in there, the port had not flipped, it had just shifted and he had never noticed it - then again, he never had never scoped me or used any other diagnostic equipment to see if it had really flipped. Still, I was out $2k and a day of surgery to find this out.
Then, in 2011, I really started having problems with the band. I had frequent heart burn and reflux and I could barely eat anything. If I ate more than a few bites of food at a time, I would either cough it up or my heart would start to race. Dr. H scoped me and said it was a "small slip" and that he wouldn't fill my band anymore - that I needed a revision (at the cost of several thousand more dollars with the newly hired revision specialist). He wasn't even willing to go in and fix the slip.
So, I found a new doctor who told me on my first visit to him when he scoped me that I had a hiatal hernia. During the fluoroscope he pointed to the screen and said "see your stomach here?" "That's your chest." Then he pointed to an area farther down the screen and said "it's supposed to be down here."
He performed surgery on me soon after that and said that I had a "massive" hernia and that about half of my stomach was in my chest and it took a long time for him to carefully work it down out of my chest and take off the old band and put on a new one. Now, how in the h*ll did Dr. Herrera miss that? Or how about, maybe, he should have fixed the hernia (that he knew about) when he did the very first surgery??
Oh sure, like any good salesman, he's a nice guy. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give a 8 for personality but a 1 for his diagnostic skills.
I would never see him again and I would NOT recommend him.
Wow, I LOVED my band, but in the past month after 6 weeks and two hospital trips later, my band was removed 9 years after it was placed, almost to the day. I guess I will now look into the GASTRIC SLEEVE, but ya know friends, I can't afford USA prices. WILL HAVE TO GO TO MEXICO. I am at 157lbs now. I HOPE TO be no more than 180 by December. I want to get the gastric Sleeve in Mexico by November or December of 2016.
ANY advice for me?
HARRISBURG Pa
Revision to Gastric Sleeve Nov 10, 2016
Lap band Removed June 2016
Current weight is 172
Surgery Weight was 196
Goal weight aoround 145
I don't blame you for wanting the band out, it's a horrible device that is temporary for 99% of people just for the issues you describe above.
The thing is, with your BMI it's quite unlikely that you will get to goal and stay there with restriction alone (sleeve). You have most likely developed metabolic issues that restriction alone won't take care of. Many can get it off, keeping it off is a whole different ballgame. Your starting bmi was high enough that you should have never been banded anyway.
Have you considered DS?
Have you verified that ins will pay for a revision? Many ins co's are going to a once in a lifetime only wls. They plain won't pay for it regardless of how you paid for your first surgery. Medicaid.. many states are doing away with wls, they just don't have enough money.
If you do have ins benefits I would encourage you to get it done yesterday. Tomorrow they may not cover it so you need to plan this one well. Plan as though this is your absolute last shot at wls, choose the only surgery type you believe will get you to goal and keep you there. DS does have the best stats.
Hi everyone, I just join today I need some advice. July 8th will be 2 years since I had the lap band I went through fill unfilled. I'm thinking about having the band removed because: left side pain , my heart beats really fast sometimes while I'm eating. I'm tired of getting sick and stuck. I'm thinking about getting the sleeve. I loss 108 ponds from 388 to 280 Any body having or had any problems? Thank for your replies
Night time snacking has been a problem for me ... till now ... I have finally found a food i can eat in the middle of the night and all still goes well ...
Sliced tomatoes, salted ... i slice a tomatoe up, salt it, and leave on the counter in a dish .. ready to go ...
when i go in the kitchen during the night , it's there and waiting for me ...
I had a Silastic ring around my pouch that eroded into my pouch over time. It has recently been removed and suggested that the lap band would benefit me. The surgeon said that he would have to undo my RNY and re-route my intestines and sleeve my stomach in order to do the DS. I am doing the what ifs now....what if I should have had the DS done instead of LB. The LB and DS are both new to me since I have had the RNY for 16 years.
if you had a band erode once getting a second band is a big mistake. Your pouch is not going to be strong enough to support another band. I would do the DS if I had to choose between a band and the DS.
Dr. Sanchez Lapband 9/12/2003
hw305/revision w280/cw197/gw150
Revision from Lap Band to Bypass on 2/4/2015 by Dr. Pohl
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