How many of us have had to/need to be revised from the "Band"?

Zee,

I was so much like you.  I was so optimistic and motivated preop and just knew the band was the answer to the obesity that has plagued me my whole life

Luckily I haven't had any devastating complications like so many here, but 4 yrs later I am still sitting at 300 lbs.

As a self pay I wish I would have opted for a different surgery type if only to one day know what being thin feels like.

 

Michelle, you were/are caught up in the too loose/too tight zones - right?  Maybe stay loose and try a program like WW,  TOPS, or OA.  Are you hungry?  Not revising isn't the worst thing in the world.  There is a time and place for everything.  You can lose your weight I hate this saying "the old fashioned way"  That is how we do it mostly with restrictive only WLS anyway.

I would be straight out lying if I told you that being thin did not feel AMAZINGLY GREAT!!!  Once you get a taste of that, you never want to go back ever. 

(((BIG HUGS)))
L

I rocked right along in the beginning until my port flipped.  I developed a lot of scar tissue with the port sitting sideways rubbing against my innards.  I had the port replaced and and a small fill at the same time and ended up much too tight.  Since then I've been yoyoing back and forth between too tight, too loose. 

I probably could reconcile myself with not being at goal a bit easier if I weren't a self pay.  I've still got about $1800 I owe on this band (not including the ($1500 port replacement, and intrest on my original surgical loan). 

I could be rocking a cool new car, or have the $ to pay for a personal trainer like I was doing preop.  I was the fittest fat chick you ever knew.

Michelle I have to agree with you. Having the band FAIL is bad enough. But having a failed band when you have paid that much cash for the POS is just emotionaly devestating! It's just like we flushed the money down the toilet. Well actually it's worse. If we just flushed all that cash down the toilet it would be gone (like it is) and we would have no working "tool" (like we don't).............but at least there would be no damage to our bodies. Now I haven't had a problem as yet (other than the scar tissue that's formed and adheasion that may be forming)...........but I consider it just a matter of time. Then what happens if I have a slip or erosion? I still have no insurance. So that would mean paying for a 2nd surgery when I have received NO benefits from the band!

Yet still, I am one of the lucky ones. One lady posted about a yr. ago that she paid cash for her band ($20.000). Then I think she had a port problem. Had to have a 2nd operation. It got infected and ended up costing her $50,000! So that poor woman ended up spending $70,000 on a band that never even helped her!

Well Iwas having some serious nightime reflux until an unfill mid May.  Now I sometimes have a dull ache when I try to eat dense solids.  I've got an appt tomorrow with my PCP since I requested she order an upper GI for me.  If she doesn't agree I'll go to the new band Dr that did my unfill in May.  After 4 yrs, if no other reason than an extended period of being over tight, reflux occasionally and intolerance of dense proteins, I wanna know what my insides look like.  Plus it would do my head good if I could see (another) mechanical reason why I haven't lost the weight.

Let me know how the UGI goes. Hugs!

Pick me! ! !
Banded October 2008
Flipped port very early out, begged and pleaded with band surgeon and he was convinced it was in my head. Fired him.

Revised to VSG (band removed the same day)- June 2009

Extensive damage to my stomach which in turn gave me permanent damage to my nerves, and multiple adhesions/scar tissue in my abdomen, my body grew around the tubing and my port had migrated and was encased in scar tissue.

I've shared my band horror story several times. I did have a leak with my revision, and it was repaired immediately by having to remove all the tissue where the band was located, and then my stomach was sewn back together from 2 separate pieces, and removed additional stomach tissue that could not be salvaged.

2 years out from my revision, I am thriving, and pregnant. The only issue that I am having related at this far out is a direct result of the stomach and nerve damage caused by the band. When I eat, the baby gets extremely active, she stretches into my abdominal cavity, and she is measuring large, and her legs are measuring a week ahead of the rest of her body, but I am experiencing the lovely referred left shoulder pain I experienced with the band. The only conclusion my surgeons and ob's can come to is that the nerve damage around my stomach and diaphragm is causing the referred shoulder pain with meals. So, smaller meals stretched out over the day to make sure I hit my calorie/carb/protein goals for the pregnancy.

I want to add that I do not regret my band decision. VSG was not an option when I had my band, and I only had RNY or the band to choose from. Thankfully, I was able to revise, and have done amazingly well, and living a very normal life post-op.

Would you mind telling me about your permanent nerve damage caused by the band ? Where it is located and how does it feel ?

I am suffering horrible nerve pain caused by the band and I've been looking for something besides narcotics to help control my pain.

Right now I have been taking:

2500 mcg of sub-lingual B-12

Osteo Bi-Flex   (contains glucosamine and chondroitin)

Calcium

Vitamin D

Iron

Gabapentin- For nerve pain

What do you take to help control your nerve pain ?

During my revision, the scar tissue and band had destroyed my stomach tissue. I lost more of that tissue so when my stomach was sewn back together from 2 separate pieces, the nerves never healed properly. The leak repair, and stomach repair was done on an emergency basis so I'm grateful to be alive, but I have pain that radiates across my stomach, to the left rib area and up into my collarbone/shoulder are, when I eat sometimes. I get the referred left shoulder pain that so many of us band patients had with our band, and even some of us have post revision, and it's not related to what, how much, or the type of food I eat. I could be eating yogurt and it happens.

This has happened off and on since January of this year when I was diagnosed with a case of gastritis, and then it resolved to some degree. As the pregnancy has progressed, I"ve gained weight and the majority of that weight is back in my stomach. I'm extremely short-waisted and I'm carrying the baby super high, so I am having it more often than I did before. Plus, she's flipped head down this last week so it's a lot of her pushing into my space which in turn puts pressure on my diaphragm. My stomach still swells randomly, and I have been really careful with dense foods since this pain started up again.

I can not take anything for the pain. A heating pad on low, and tylenol is all I'm allowed to have at this point. When the pain radiates into my shoulder, I apply aspercreme just because it relaxes that area and I can't stand it when my shoulder muscle tenses up.

If your nerve pain is in your stomach, have you looked at Bentyl? My surgeon wanted me to go on it just temporarily, but I popped positive on the pregnancy test, and refused it.

They did increase my Prilosec 20mg to Nexium 40mg once a day upon diagnosis of the gastritis. I've remained on the Nexium because Prilosec is not allowed in pregnancy.