losing_the_band

I'll be a light-weight when I have my band-to-bypass surgery. I've got a BMI around 36-37.

About 8 1/2 years ago, I finally got to the point where I was tired of being fat and started looking into having bariatric surgery. I researched everything I could find, and I thought that the Lap-Band was the best fit for me. At the time, the only options available to me were Lap-Band and RNY bypass. VSG was not very common in the United States at the time, and was not covered by most insurance plans. As a comparative light-weight (I was in the high 30s BMI, and just barely had a BMI of 40 the day of surgery), I thought that the lap-band was the perfect solution. At the time, it was being heavily advertised as "the next big thing" in bariatrics, with a projected success rate that rivaled or exceeded the RNY bypass at 5 years out, and was "fully reversible." So, I got approved by insurance. Everything started out well. Even though I was a "light-weight," once I had decent restriction, I was losing weight at a steady pace. And the restriction? Well, the common practice then was to make the band so tight that you were physically limited in the amounts and types of foods you could eat. We were encouraged to only be able to eat 1/4-1/2 cup of food at a time. The downside to this restriction? Severe acid reflux. My surgeon didn't think anything of it, and gave me the option of taking proton pump inhibitors or coming in to reduce the amount of Fluid. But when you've been fat your entire life, and you FINALLY have the dream of being thin within reach, what's a little acid reflux? Obviously, I chose the proton pump inhibitor. Eventually, that didn't even control the acid. I couldn't eat or drink within 4-5 hours of bed. I was sleeping propped up on a steep foam wedge with another pillow or two on top of it. And I was still waking up choking on stomach acid. Eventually, what broke the camel's back was that my chest was constantly hurting throughout the day, I had a nagging cough, and my voice was noticeably hoarse. I drove the 7 hours to see the doctor to have an emergency unfill. My acid reflux improved, but I was still having severe shoulder pain periodically and athough I'd reached my goal weight and lost 100% of my excess weight, I slowly began to gain weight. A few months after being unfilled, I received a job offer and moved across the country. My new job was in a tiny town several hours from the closest bariatric surgeon. Of course, even though I was gaining weight, I was much smaller than I started out. The weight gain continued, though. Eventually, I decided to find a new surgeon and get back on track for fills. At the first appointment, he looked at the band under fluoroscopy and said that it needed to be removed or replaced/repositioned, as I'd apparently been living for quite some time with a MASSIVE slip. He was surprised that I hadn't needed emergency intervention, since he said that even with most of the fill gone, I only had a space the size of a pencil eraser for food to pass from the upper chamber to the lower. At that point, I was interested in revising to the sleeve, but unfortunately, I was told that my insurance at the time probably wouldn't cover it. So, I got a new band. And the only thing that improved was that I didn't have reflux or shoulder pain. I couldn't obtain good restriction, and I was afraid to even attempt it because I was 7 hours from my surgeon. My weight just kept climbing and climbing. At the beginning of this year, I had a major issue. I made the mistake of trying to eat a raw carrot. I'd eaten them regulary. I chewed well. It still got stuck, and I suffered through a severe episode of PBing and sliming while at work. After that, my reflux came back with a vengeance, to the point where I had to have all of the fluid removed from my band. The Upper GI Series showed no slippage, so apparently I just can't tolerate the restriction anymore (even though I didn't have much in the first place). Eight years after my original surgery and 4 years after my replacement surgery, here I am. I'm only 10 pounds from my original pre-surgery weight. I finally decided that I'd had enough. It was time for either revision to another surgery or just yanking the damned thing out entirely. What's the point of having it if it isn't doing me any good? Without restriction, it's useless, and my body simply won't tolerate restriction from the band anymore. So, after 7 months of jumping through hoops, insurance denials, appeals, and finally resorting to a peer-to-peer appeal, I am approved for a revision. I'm getting this damned thing removed! I don't have my surgery date yet, but the end is in sight! I'd originally been interested in the sleeve, but after consulting with my new surgeon and doing a lot of research, I decided the best route would be RNY bypass, due to my metabolism issues and lack of long-term data for the VSG as a stand-alone surgery. I am so sick of this journey and I want it to be over. I'm sick of trying to do things "the hard way." We're so conditioned to think that something has to be difficult in order for it to be worthwhile. I've tried doing it the difficult way, and sure, I lost weight temporarily. I also got tooth and vocal chord damage, issues with my vagus nerve, vigilance about knowing where all the bathrooms are in a building, and my metabolism got shot to hell (even more than it already was with PCOS). So here's to me finally getting back on the loser's bench and getting on with my life. All I can say is that this has been a long, hard, embarrassing journey, and I'm glad it's finally coming to an end. For those of you who've had long-term success with the band, my hat is off to you, and I hope that you never get put in my position. For those of you who are just looking into the band as an option, all I can ask is that you consider my story and really put some thought into what you are doing. As much as it's reversibility is advertised, this isn't a simple surgery where you can just have it removed if it doesn't work and everything is just like you never had it. If you're in a position where it has to be removed, you're likely to have lasting damage to your stomach, damage to your esophagus or vocal chords, adhesions, scar tissue around your stomach or where the port was located, etc. So please, research, talk to people, network, and KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO. There is no "good as new" after this surgery.

I've been banded for a little over 8 years. I've had issues the entire time, but I put up with them for the first year or so because I was losing weight. I reached goal. Had awful reflux, had to have most of the fill removed. Started gaining weight. Went to a new surgeon when I moved and found that I'd been living with a really severe slip for years. Had the band replaced. Never could reach a good restriction with the new band, so I kept gaining weight. Moved again and had to find surgeon #3. This year, I started having major reflux again after a PB/sliming session, so I had to have all the Fluid removed and apparently can't tolerate any restriction anymore. So, there's no point in me keeping the band. It's a broken tool that I can't use for its intended purpose. I just got approved for revision to RNY, and I can't wait.

Mine wouldn't even contemplate setting a date before approval. And it's a good thing they didn't, since my revision approval took forever because SAMBA/Cigna was being a pain in the you-know-what about approving it. It took almost 3 months for just the submission/denial/appeal/denial/appeal/peer-to-peer/approval process, not including any of the pre-submission hoops that I had to jump through. Now I have to do my medical clearances, but I'm hoping to talk them into setting a date so that I can request time off of work and get my mom a plane ticket to come and stay with me.

Before you self pay, contact a bariatric lawyer like the Lindstrom group. They'll do a free consultation with you, discuss whether they think you've got a good chance at getting you approved, and give you options. I finally got approved today after a few denials (had to do a peer-to-peer to get approved), but I had contacted them to be on the safe side because I was expecting to be denied again. If I was, I was planning on hiring them to help. And compared to paying for the surgery, it's not a lot of money.

I'm approved, I'm approved, I'm approved! It's been miserable trying to get this approved, though. Had a couple of denials, since insurance was trying to say that even though I have miserable reflux and can't tolerate ANY Fluid in my band, there wasn't a "malfunction" of the band, and that I didn't have "proof" that I was compliant with exercise and diet. Yeah, well, they should try getting documented proof of compliance when you've moved to new states and had to find new surgeons (I'm on my third surgeon and my fourth state in 8 years), or when you live SEVEN HOURS from the surgeon and nutritionist (I lived in the middle of nowhere when I was in WA). We finally had to do a peer-to-peer appeal, and that is what worked. I wish I'd insisted on it sooner, since they just did it today and got the approval immediately.

I remember liking the Bariatric Advantage Calcium chews, but I remember that I wasn't terribly fond of their regular Multivitamin chewables. That was 4 years ago, though, so they may have changed their formulation. Does anyone have any recommendations for chewable Multivitamins?

I had my initial nutrition consultation with my surgeon's nurse and coordinator today, and she thinks that my insurance SHOULD approve me for a revision/conversion from lap-band to RNY with only a letter of medical necessity from my PCP, a psych eval, and the nutrition consult, instead of having to jump through all the hoops again for approval. Now whether the insurance will agree with her, we'll just have to wait and see, lol. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. If everything gets approved, hopefully I'll be having surgery around the beginning of June. If not, it could be several more months, since I'd have to do 90 days of dietitian appointments. So now, I've got my psych eval on Saturday, and I've got to continue nagging my new PCP to cough up the letter. Hopefully, we can get everything submitted around the beginning of next week, and then it's just a matter of waiting.

I'm still pre-op for my revision from band to bypass, but even now, my nutritionist makes me get at least 80 grams of Protein a day.

Thank you, and I gladly accept! I think what really gets to me is that I didn't realize how the band affected my quality of life until relatively recently. At some point, you just get used to it, and I think that's the saddest part of it. It becomes second-nature to scope out the restrooms in a restaurant so that you know where they are if you have to go PB in a hurry, you get used to the chest pain and slobbering when something gets stuck, you get used to making excuses to the people you're eating with when you have to keep getting up to go to the restroom because something wants to come up but can't. The worst thing is that when the weight is coming off, you put up with stuff like that because when you've been overweight/obese your entire life, the prospect of finally being a normal weight lets you overlook what you're going through to get there. It's really easy to overlook signs of trouble when your goal is finally in sight. And a lot of the surgeons/surgery centers/manufacturers seem to encourage it! They gloss over the issues that many banded people have, the rates of complications, etc. They make it seem like a slim chance that you'll have issues, that you just have surgery to pop the band in and then it's smooth sailing from there. I live in Miami, and I hear commercials on the radio for the band every single day, multiple times a day, mostly from surgery mills that are advertising it like it's a minor cosmetic procedure. "You'll be in and out in a day and the weight will just melt off!"

For perfume, my current faves are Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant (super-spicy, but I love it so much), and some Middle-Eastern attar oils that I got as a blind-buy from Ebay. One of my coworkers had one and I loved it so much that I bought it and two more. The brand is Al-Rehab, and the oils are AMAZING and the scents last so much longer than a regular perfume because they have no alcohol in them. Another of my prized perfumes is Hermes L'Ambre des Merveilles. Since I don't smoke and I don't drink a lot, I tend to splurge on duty-free perfumes when I travel (usually cruises). I'm also a make-up addict, even though I very rarely wear it. I absolutely love Cargo's long-wearing glosses (I think it's a different formulation than the ones you can get at Kohl's) and Tarina Tarantino's gem glosses (picked up for a steal at Nordstrom Rack). I like Dior's Addict Fluid Stick, too. They're pricey ($35), but they really last a long time and they really do wonders at making my lips look fuller. ' I really want to try out the ColourPop brand. You have to buy it online, but the prices are extremely good ($5/eyeshadow), and the rest of the line is not much more expensive) and they're generally very well reviewed. I have super-picky, sensitive skin, so I have to be very careful about what I put on it. Even a lot of stuff made for sensitive skin will break me out (Origins' sensitive line, for example, even though I love the way it smells). I am currently using Cerave Hydrating Cleanser, which I was extremely surprised that it worked, since usually drug-store brands of skin care break me out horribly. It's been the best thing ever for my skin! It has no foaming/suds action at all, so it feels like a lotion, but you wash it off and your skin is perfectly clean.

I'll warn you in advance, this post is very passionate. I'm going to tell you about my personal experiences, and what made me come to my conclusions about the band. I'm currently on my second band and trying to get a revision surgery to RNY bypass approved by my insurance. Obviously, my advice would be "anything but the band!" When I first got the band, doctors were encouraging us to have it filled to the point where it severely physically limited the amount you can eat. Unfortunately, that leads to a huge likelihood of complications (slippage/prolapse, erosion, esophageal problems, GERD, and others). I stupidly listened to my doctor when she just prescribed proton-pump inhibitors for the GERD that I developed, instead of telling me to come in to have liquid removed. I now know that I was way, way, way too tight. Eventually, I had to have a major unfill because the acid reflux was to the point where I was waking up choking on stomach acid, even though I was sleeping almost upright. When I moved across the country and switched surgeons, my new surgeon had a fluoroscope in his office and could do imaging right there. We found out that I'd had a major slip, to the point where the space where food passes from the upper pouch to the lower pouch was only about the size of a pencil eraser (and this was after the unfill by my first surgeon several months beforehand). Obviously, that band had to come out. My second band has been nothing but a pain in the hiney. I can't get to the "sweet spot" with it at all, and at this point, I've regained almost everything I lost with my first band (and I was initially very successful with the first one, lost 90 pounds and was well within a normal BMI range). I've developed acid reflux again, and that's cause me a lot of issues. I actually have to go this week to get two tooth fillings replaced because the acid is causing them to break down. I'm getting acid erosion on my teeth, too, so I now have to use a prescription toothpaste. I have zero fill whatsoever at this point, because when I tried to eat a raw carrot, the band decided that even though it had let me eat them every day for a month, it didn't like it that day, and it got stuck and caused a major "PB" session in the bathroom. That caused my acid reflux to come back with a vengeance, to the point where I thought I'd had another slip. People say, "Oh, it's less invasive." Bull-you know what. The only time the band is "less invasive" is during the initial procedure. Don't forget that you've got to have regular fill/unfill appointments, which if they're done right, are done with fluoroscopy, so that the doctor knows the condition of the pouch and band as he fills the band. If you have any complications with the band, you're going to be having surgery again, because all the complications of the band are generally going to require either removal or repositioning. You have to constantly worry about getting sick or something getting "stuck" in the band, because vomiting can cause a slip/prolapse. I am always worrying about getting the flu or having motion sickness and causing myself even more problems than I already have. The whole point of the band is that it artificially creates a smaller "stomach" pouch that limits the amount you eat by making you feel full faster. I feel like if you can't have the band filled to where it's doing what it's supposed to do (limiting the amount you eat), because it puts you at high risk of major complications, then what's the point of having it? If we had great will power and were able to limit the types and amount of food that we eat on our own, none of us would be at the point of needing WLS in the first place. I honestly think that a lot of us are still stuck in that mind-space where we think that weight loss should be hard, and we try to make it harder than it has to be. Like a lot of normal-weight people think, we subconsciously think that we're taking the easy way out, so we try to make it more difficult, that the process being harder "builds character." People always say, "I didn't put the weight on in a day, I shouldn't take it off in a day." Why are we making this harder than it has to be? "Harder" doesn't build character, it's just harder. Why is it bad to do something "the easy way?" (Yes, we all know it isn't, but I'm talking about our subconscious thoughts.) We use dishwashers instead of washing all our dishes by hand using Water boiled on the stove, we don't usually wash all of our clothes by hand, we don't walk to work, and we aren't cooking over open fires anymore. Like the saying goes, "Work smarter, not harder."

@@LipstickLady, I actually find this whole conversation very interesting. If I remember correctly, you said that you don't bother to read posts that are difficult for you to read. How is that different from the rest of us ignoring posts that are difficult for us to read or understand? By skipping those posts that "are hard on your eyes," you're depriving those posters of help just as much as those of us who skip other posts, and it's based on nothing more than the "style" of the post and how difficult it is to decipher.

I'm also currently in the process of revising to a different surgery from the band. I chose the RNY bypass over the sleeve. Here are my reasons: I've already had to have my band replaced once, so I want to give myself the best chance of success and the least chance of having to have yet ANOTHER surgery. I'm tired of surgery! I know I have metabolic issues from both PCOS and from the limited way the band forced me to eat, so I think I need the metabolic boost of malabsorbtion that the RNY will provide. The sleeve as a stand-alone surgery is still too new to have much information about long-term statistics available. After being burned with the band, I'm very wary about "projected" outcomes, since the band was projected to have similar long-term results as the bypass when I was first banded. After suffering from SEVERE acid reflux with my first band, and having it when my second band started giving me trouble, I don't want to take the risk of having it again. The sleeve is known to cause or worsen acid reflux. I've already experienced choking on stomach acid at night even though I was sleeping upright, and I don't want to do it again.

Also, if you're on name-brand prescriptions, be sure to go online and look at the medication's website. In many cases, you can get savings coupons for the prescription, and they drastically cut down the price. One of my coworkers told me about it when I was complaining that my Nexium prescription was going to cost me $70/month WITH insurance. The Nexium website has a savings card that cuts the cost of the prescription to $15. If you're on multiple non-generic meds, you could save a significant amount of money every month using the savings cards. As for Protein, try ordering sample packs. That way, you'll have a variety of things to try after surgery, but you aren't out a ton of money if you don't like them. My personal favorite brand so far is Jay Robb's egg white Protein shakes. They're relatively bland, but I like them because they are sweetened with Stevia instead of Splenda/sucralose (I can't stand the flavor of Spenda). You can order sample packs of both the egg white varieties and the regular whey varieties from Jay Robb's website. I believe you can also order samples from unjury and nectar. A lot of people love the Nectar protein shakes, but I personally find them disgusting due to the Splenda.

On the other hand, though, going and staying in a "success" forum blinds people to the possible complications of the band and the symptoms that they need to be on the lookout for. People need to go into this surgery knowing what can happen, and that the possibility of complications isn't just vague, slight, and something to be considered when/if it happens. This is not a surgery to be taken lightly, it's serious business with serious complications that can have major effects on someone's life.

I'm on my second band and am trying to get a revision to RNY approved. The reason I'm going with RNY is because I'm worried about exactly what you're posting about. I know my metabolism is completely messed up, between my PCOS and the band. Unfortunately, I'm going to be starting almost from scratch, because I've regained almost everything I lost with the band (I went from 225 to 135, and I'm back to 211 now).

More good news! My PCP finally sent the letter of medical necessity to the surgeon's office, and I just finished the psych eval over the phone. The psychologist said that she should have everything to the surgeon's office by Wednesday. Hopefully, that means that everything can be submitted to insurance by the end of the week or beginning of next week! And then the wait begins, lol.

He made a decision about what he enjoys, and he's made the decision to sacrifice certain things to do so. It's not up to me (or us) to say whether or not he's making a bad decision. The fact is, many of us have things in our lives that we could cut out and potentially live happier, healthier lives (or just healthier), whether it's food, caffeine, smoking, alcohol, etc. He's decided that at the moment, he's okay with what he's potentially sacrificing. I'm not going to say he's wrong just because it's not what I would have done.

OP, I understand what you're trying to say, and I agree to a certain extent. For me, it's not so much the small mistakes, it's the major mistakes that make someone's post difficult to read. In some cases, the posts are so difficult to parse that by the time I've finished attempting to figure out what they're trying to ask/say, I don't remember the original topic. I hate to say it, but sometimes, I just take one look and hit the back button. I don't have a problem with an ellipsis or two, since I also use them. I have seen people that put one at the end of every single sentence in place of other punctuation, though, and that drives me up a wall.

@@Cleo's Mom, that's exactly why I'm jumping through the hoops again for conversion to RNY instead of the sleeve. After being burned with the lap-band, I don't trust projected outcomes anymore. And I'm sure as hell not going to suffer with the band for another year or more, waiting to see if the sleeve is going to be as good as the projections predict. The lack of proven long-term stats on the sleeve, the number of people I've seen posting about getting revisions to RNY, and the fear of GERD (I lived with severe GERD for longer than I should have with my first band) has made my decision for me. I can't live with the band anymore, so I've got to do something NOW.

I have an issue with this statement, honestly. Not all of us who had a failed surgery failed because we didn't follow the rules. I actually felt the way you do, until it happened to me, too. Stating that all people who have failed did so because they made mistakes is over-simplifying things, and to be honest, comes across as smug. Now I realize that some fail because they didn't follow the rules, but a huge number of us failed because the surgery failed us, especially those of us who started out with the lap-band.

What bothers me is when people claim that the lap-band is less invasive. Yes, the initial procedure doesn't require the removal or rerouting of intestines, but that's about it. If everything works okay, you still have to have numerous "fill" appointments, which involve at the minimum injections to the port (which are preferably done under fluoroscopy and with a follow-up barium swallow so that the doctor/PA/nurse can exactly gauge your restriction level). If there are issues (which is really high percentage of patients, much higher than the other surgeries), you're almost guaranteed to need another surgery, whether it's re-positioning a flipped port, re-positioning a slipped band, removing the band, replacing the band with a different model, replacing a leaky port or tubing, etc., etc., etc. Every single time you get sick, you have to worry about vomiting and making the band slip. I'm super paranoid about getting the flu, to the point where I won't even get a flu vaccine for fear that it will give me a mild flu. And then you have to worry about side effects that aren't well-known or common. I was having some pretty bad stomach issues, to the point where I had a few embarrassing accidents because an episode came on while I was driving and couldn't reach a toilet in time. I was almost guaranteed to urgently need a toilet within 20 minutes of having a meal, especially if I had eaten at a restaurant. I thought I'd just developed IBS from taking Accutane years ago or that the herniated disk in my back was causing muscle control issues. Well, after I had to have all the Fluid removed from the band after having a severe sliming/PB episode in January, I've had very few incidences. All I can figure is that the band was irritating the vagus nerve somehow.

Everyone is different. That said, I was fine by myself after both of my lap-band surgeries. Even after a combination tummy tuck and breast lift surgery, I was left alone in a remote area for days by myself, two days after having surgery. Other than being unable to stand up straight, I was fine. It was actually kind of nice, since I didn't have to deal with my appearance or anything like that, and could just be in a robe for a few days.

I will admit that I'm somewhat of a picky eater, but it's not because I just don't like whatever it is that I'm picky about. There's certain textures and flavors that simply make me gag, to the point of vomiting. It's a little hard to force yourself to eat something when it can literally make you vomit. Fish, for example, I can only eat if it has a firmer texture and doesn't taste like fish, because "fishy" flavors make me gag. Shrimp and other seafood/shellfish is an absolute no-go, due to the flavor and the texture (like old Jello that's been allowed to sit uncovered in the refrigerator and develop a hard film on it). Anything with a thicker layer of fat on it or a greasy texture is a no-go, due to the texture of the fat (thicker bacon, rib-eye steak, chicharrones, some sausages, etc.). I am better about it than I used to be, though. I now eat some types of Beans, mushrooms, and ground meats, and those were no-gos a few years ago. Vegetables are generally pretty safe for me, to the point where I've actually considered becoming a vegetarian.