Liz Dee

you will not see a before and after pic, the reason being, I did not lose weight with the band and keep it off. I had my surgery in June 2006, and initially lost 60 lbs. had chronic heartburn so bad for first 6 months I called myself Lava Girl.

band was too tight on 6 month check up the drs unfilled my band and let my stomach heal for 4 months, regained all the weight back, so was like starting over. same thing happened except I never bothered to get completely unfilled cause I feared gaining the weight back but would anyhow.

all the good foods, the lean protein and fish, the fresh fruits and veggies would get stuck. junk food would slide right down. the more cheese, fat, gravy, sour cream, butter, the easier stuff would go down.

fast forward to this February 18, 2013. band started to get tight , I figured was due to my menstrual cycle. this was different. as the week went on, it didn't return to normal. such heartburn and pain, hurt so much I was doubled over. got to point that I could no longer eat any food, only liquids. could not take medication or vitamins.

Finally went to ER and they emergency unfilled my band and did and xray to see if band slipped. band appears to be in correct position. after this, went to see lap band dr affiliated with that hospital to discuss my options and more tests. they wanted to do surgery w/o knowing if there was ulcers. wanted to remove band, do exploratory then give me gastric bypass or sleeve.

I thought this was too invasive considering I did not even know what was causing this pain. barium swallow with fluroscope showed nothing so i went for a 2nd opinion with a gastroenterologist. he did endoscopy on me as well as CT Scans which also showed nothing. Both these doctors think the band is not working and I am 'not tolerating it.'

on to another lap band dr at differnet hospital, same hospital and my gastro dr. they want to remove band but after I diet for a month, then come back and see the surgeon. then after I heal, a few months later maybe get another surgery like roux en y or sleeve. I am not happy with this, because I am still in such pain. so I urge the gastro to do colonoscopy to rule out ulcers in intestines or diverticulitis or whatever. before they even think about removing band or doing surgery on my stomach and intestines I want to be damn sure there is nothing bad there.

so that is my story. this lap band not only did not work, it has brought me nothing but pain and misery. stomach hurts 24/7 since February, 4 months now. just horrible. :(