Unfilled due to side effects and feel like a failure!
I was having such terrible reflux from the fill ....now band is unfilled and I'm getting it out in July.
Of course, I'm grateful for no pain, and I'm overeating like there is no tomorrow!
The band worked for me the first year and 2 years later I have gained back 30 of the 60 i lost.....
Hoping to due the sleeve in Oct.
I feel like a failure....thanks for letting me share.....
Suzanne
Please don't feel like a failure!!! Even long term happy bandsters are finding that the band has betrayed them. So very many like yourself have run into these issues several years out. The manufacturers of the band were less than honest with their advertising and flat out lied about the effectiveness of the band. It is not your fault the band caused these problems. Even those who followed the "rules" exactly have lost their bands. Many have had to revise to other surgeries and have been far more successful with them than the band. So don't blame yourself, it is not from anything you did. So now just do your best to not gain too much more weight and continue to eat bandster style so you will be ready when you get your revision. Best of luck to you!
Suzanne,
Please don't feel discouraged. I just had an unfill last week. I had a leak in 2011 and had everything but the band replaced (port, tubing). I have never really had great restriction since then. Just found out I have a hiatus hernia and that can cause weight gain. So, it is out with the band for me and I am considering getting the sleeve.
on 6/9/13 1:45 am
Good you are feeling better, but have you researched the Sleeve thoroughly? Reflux which most often is bile is much worse with the Sleeve and it is very common with Sleevers, the grass may not be as greener than you think based on what my friends tell me in our support group. Have you considered the Bypass if you now have reflux?
That really isn't true. While it is true that reflux is a potential side effect of sleeves the rate of reflux is drastically higher for banded people.
Bypass is the best shot at dealing with reflux not caused by the most common culprits, obesity and a hiatal hernia but it's no promise to fix reflux.
The key is figuring out what the reflux is from. Most time it is caused by the band.
a) get a sleeve, reflux resolves after about 6 months and is managed with ppi.
b) get a band, reflux resolves for about 6 months, then returns as one of the first warning signs of complication.
your choice....
6-7-13 band removed. No revision. Facebook Failed Lapbands and Realize Bands group and WLS-Support for Regain and Revision Group
on 6/14/13 11:46 pm
Good you are feeling better, but have you researched the Sleeve thoroughly? Reflux which most often is bile is much worse with the Sleeve and it is very common with Sleevers, the grass may not be as greener than you think based on what my friends tell me in our support group. Have you considered the Bypass if you now have reflux?
Bile? Really? Says who?
on 6/15/13 4:07 am
I am just a thinker... so shoot me!
But when reading your posts one can only wonder if your support group is leading you down the wrong direction.
Oh............. I get it! You can only trust so many people.
Me...... I trust peer reviewed journal articles, the band maker, those than traveled that journey before me. Sheesh.. what do I know!!!!!!!!
Don't feel like a failure! There is a group her called failed band that has more members than the Grad Band group. Many of us have walked in you shoes.
Just a note on reflux. I never even knew what heart burn was pre-band. I was two years out before it started. Three years out before I started walking up at night drowning in it. Took the band out and it stopped mostly. (Stomach was deformed from the band so still tight.) Now I have the sleeve and have had a couple episodes. Always when I eat solid protein just before bed. I have been told this is common for anybody, WLS or not that is prone to Acid reflux. So now I just don't eat solid protein at night. If I'm low in protein I do a shake instead. I also take papaya enzymes with my solid protein during the day. Other than those problems I'm good to go.
Glad to hear your feeling better. Hold your head high, you aren't the failure.
BAND REMOVED 9-4-12-fought insurance to get sleeve and won! Sleeved 1/22/13! Five years out and trying to get that last 15 pounds back off.
Well at least you are no longer having pain after getting unfilled. my band tightened up on me for no reason in February, got to the point where I could only get down liquids. Could not even take my vitamins/medications. after 2 weeks of that had an emergency unfill in ER. stomach has been in pain since then. the fill did NOT stop my pain, and my fear is now this pain will never go away until I get this band removed! drs claim it is not eroded, slipped, ulcered, yet my stomach hurts. :(
do not feel like a failure. your band failed you!
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