FYI; just want to share; slippage

Hi my name is Crystal.  I got my lap band 5 years ago.  I am a success story.  I lost 149 lbs.  Was down to 124 lbs size 4-- originally 273 size 26-28.  I am 5'2" tall.  Last year I had emergency gall bladder surgery after 2 years of intense pain which did include nausea and vomiting.  Went to all kinds of doctors to see what was wrong.  Had mri's, ultrasounds, x-rays, cultures etc etc etc.  Finally, one doc said you have to have surgery tomorrow morning (that was oct last year) to remove gallbladder and found i also had umbilical hernia which was repaired.  A month later I began having kidney infections and have had one almost continuously for 9 months. At this same time I kept telling doc how tired and exhausted i was, how sick, how nauseated.. asked for blood tests... told they were good.... went to vascular spec... went to this and that specialist... finally in may of this year was hospitalized for passing out repeatedly and having seizures in docs office.... went to hospital stayed few days and released.  doc told me it was stress and referred me to psych.  went to hospital and got blood test because I think I would know if I was having stress or mental problem.  Reviewed my blood tests and realized i was in serious trouble.. took to doc in va and she said "i had no blood"  and suggested going back to my gastro for further help.. went to gastro and told him of issues and asked him to take some fill out as i was malnutritioned... he was not happy and fussed about it.  When he took 1/2 of fill out which left me with only 1cc out of a 4cc band (band was so tight at 2ccs couldnt get saliva to pass through), we discussed my acid reflux yet again.  (As a side note, I have always wondered whether he purposely made partial removal of fill hurt because it had never hurt before- at this point I decided never to go back to him).  ..I  went back to my regular doc and he told me i was healthy even after i confronted him with blood test results.. he referred me to neuro dept at uva...decided enough and made appt with new gastro doc.  he took my history.. all i said was i still had really bad acid reflux and showed him blood tests.. he said I had "post malnutrition" and started me back on vitamins, shots etc (regular doc took me off vitamins and told me not to take them anymore due to passing out/seizures, i had also told previous gastro this and he made no comment) then new gastro scheduled endoscopy, he also told me to gain weight - gained 25 lbs.  Went this morning for endocscopy procedure and before I even left hospital, the new gastro showed me pics and told me he did a biopsy and i have slipped band that will require removal.  he said people that have lap band and acid reflux may equal slipped band.  he said that slippage can happen to people that have had large weight loss.  also found out technique used in implementation of band can increase or decrease slippage risk. i am in shock.. no one ever said extreme amount of weight loss increased slippage.. told overeating could... vomiting accompanied with nausea was symptom of slipped band but not cause. i am in shock.. i am not saying i would not have had band even if someone would have told me that losing alot could cause this but gee , I just cant believe this after all this time.  i am not trying to scare anyone nor am I asking for people to tell me their doc disagrees with mine... i am just sharing my experience,  i frankly dont care why it has slipped,, the point is ... it has..and not just a little bit.. it appears from the pics  its an anterior and posterior slip..more one way than the other which explains what doc was trying to explain to me this morning.  excuse my groggy post..sedated this morning still feeling effect. doc also stated that he was concerned part of my stomach was dead.. i am just reeling...pray for me please.. thank you for listening and hope you all have a blessed evening.

 "...I am a success story."

That is a success story? Yikes!

I am sorry for all the problems you are having. I know my life was much better after my band removal. I hope your removal offers similar relief for you. I'll send up a prayer that your removal goes smoothly and that the doctor is wrong about the "part of my stomach was dead" bit.

It may be due to your grogginess that you mentioned, but just for future reference, for a lot of us reading on here, it is easier to follow if you add spacing between paragraphs rather than one long block of text. It's a little easier on the eyes that way.

Hang in there and keep us updated!

Best,
Lindsey

Success only in the sense of weight loss not complications. My acid has been so bad that two times before I went for unfills to allow my stomach to heal from acid reflux.  I even told him and other physicians how I ate antacids like candy on top of my acid reflux medication. 

I am upset.  I communicated everything to the doctors. I ate my food until it was pulverized in my mouth. I didn't over eat.  I don't think it was my fault my gall bladder was removed and I believe had I had high cholesterol I should have been told.  The surgeon said it was the stones were so small I was impacted and I had went to doctor's for 2 years trying to find out why I was nauseated and in so much pain.  Apparently, the radiologist *****ad the ultrasound on the onset didn't feel small stones were of issue.  Took two years to finally get diagnosed.  I also had referred pain in my back and the pain in the front was around the port and they attributed that to the way the port is attached to the abdominal wall and I am very physically active.

My husband's doctor is severely overweight and he shared with her Friday evening my issues and she told him that she was going to have WLS but not the band.  She stated that she currently has 7 lab band patients for which she had monitored prior to placement of the band  and they all have had complications which was why she had personally decided against lab band for her own choice. I have yet to personally (face to face)  meet another bandster that has had significant weight loss; however, none of the others I personally know have had complications. I read positive resulted posts on this forum though. 

All in all,  I AM STILL IN SHOCK that the new gastro said band slippage could occur with significant weight loss. 

 I am so sorry this has happened to you.  And it sounds like it all went on longer than necessary because of incompetent docs.

My very best wishes.  Kate

Thank you for your best wishes.

Crystal