Kathy759

I have been trying to find the "right" place to tell my story and this seems as good a place to start as any. I was banded in 2007. I did quite well for a few years. I had only one fill the entire time I had the band in. I lost 75 pounds and kept if off for a while. I started having a cough at night that became chronic. I coughed EVERY night, most of the night long. It was unbearable for my husband and became a real problem for me when I started to lose my voice. I am a singer and this was something I couldn't live with. I started to investigate why I might be coughing and went through a lot of testing. I had allergy and asthma testing, all negative. I had an endoscopy to see if there was anything going on with my esophogus, also negative. I had a laryngeal stroboscope to make sure my vocal chords were ok. They were fine. As time went on, I started to have reflux at night to the point of vomiting. I would wake from a dead sleep with vomit in my mouth, or worse, coming out my nose. It was horrible and this horrible side effect began to happen every single day! Not only at night....if I fell asleep during the day, it happened then too and not only laying down, it happened if I fell asleep sleeping in the car or on a plane. I thought for sure that I must have cancer of the stomach or some other disease. The next thing that started happening was I would wake up feverish with EXTREME chills, unable to warm myself. My body ached as if I had the worst flu ever. I missed work on these days because I could not function. One day when I awoke like this, I had a doctor's appointment. While at the doctor, I mentioned it to him and he ran some blood tests. My white cell count was high that time, and every time after when I would wake with a fever. This led to more tests! Lyme disease, negative. Lymphoma-negative. They thought it might be endocarditis. It really became ridiculous. The end result of all of this madness....they diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. I knew that was NOT what was going on. Throughout all of this testing, I was put on multiple drugs for the various symptoms I was having. None of them did anything. Family and friends urged me to consider that the LapBand was the problem. I didn't want to believe it, but I couldn't take it anymore and since the regurge was so bad, the docs wouldn't even consider adding liquid to the band. I decided to have the band removed. My band was taken out on June 3, 2013 and I want you all to know that ALL of my symptoms ENDED that very day!!! I no longer have regurge at night. I no longer cough at all unless I have a cold. I have not had a fever since the removal! I do not have Fibromyalgia. I do not have anything wrong with me. My ailment was the LapBand and nothing else. The doc that took the band out said he thinks that when I was coughing and regurging at night, I was aspirating into my lungs and that is why I had fevers a couple of times a month. My body was fighting the foreign substance in my lungs!!! I cannot tell you how happy I am to feel better and know that I am not a hypochondriac or a nut case! All of these symptoms happened to me and from what I see, they are happening to a lot of LapBanders. I am extremely grateful that I got it out of me before something more serious happened to me. I am interested in speaking to others that are experiencing any of these symptoms. Your life is more important and I know your quality of life sucks if you are going through even half of what I experienced. Thanks for listening. Kathy

I was banded on Thursday and went back to work on the following Monday. I work in an office at my husband's company so I went back with the stipulation that I was going to listen to my body and go home and rest when I felt it necessary. Looking back, I definitely jumped in too soon and should have taken at least one week off completely. I think because of that, it took me a little longer than most to finally feel "back to normal". I say, if you can take the time do! Kathy Banded 10/24/07 Starting weight 282 Present weight 242

I was banded October 24th. Feeling good. I'm looking forward to varying my diet some. Am getting bored with all the yogurt, cottage cheese and soup! Kathy

I live in Seekonk, MA and was banded on October 24th. I am back to work today and am feeling good overall. Of course, I still have pain at a couple of the incision sites. What are you all eating at this point?

Hi, My name is Kathy and I will be banded on October 24th at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Boston!