Marisa

First let me say i've never been so happy with the lap band. I had it placed in 2010, for 1yr it did nothing, I felt my love of food even prevented the band from helping, this was until my last fill in 2011. It was extremely tight, I could barely get much down and this was ok with me because food was my enemy and i'd rather deal with restriction than be fat again. It changed my life and for that I will always be indebted to it. Then..... I started to have some unique issues beginning August of 2016. I went to the ER due to severe pain in my butt (literally). It turns out I had a rare abscess, intersphincteric. I was septic. It was drained and less than a month later returned in another area. I had to have two incisions on each side of my rectum to drain the fluid. They healed and I needed yet another surgery to place a seton in so it could continuously drain. It did, and it has since august. I had a total of 4 surgeries. It was hell. I lost 40lbs but that was a plus in my book. The constant drainage was humiliating and not one doctor could tell me what was wrong. There were no stomach pains and I continued to eat as I did so it never occurred to me the band was the issue. I mentioned it to so many specialists and not one doctor thought to even X-ray my abdomen. The MRIs and cat scans were all taken of my pelvic region. I had severe constipation once a month (and fecal impact) when I was pre menstrual. The abscesses would flare and then it would all go away every month so I only assumed it was a hormonal thing, until this week. All of the sudden I could eat, I could eat!!! I wasn't even paying attention to my health problem because I was enjoying food. It was a glass of water that I took down in one gulp that set the alarm off. When was the last time I even puked due to restriction? I did it all the time but I couldn't remember the last time for the life of me. The clarity continued. I was confusing loss of appetite with restriction. I know without a doubt that my extremely tight band eroded. Now i'm sitting here in complete shock. The idea of dying was no where near as terrifying as the idea of being 330lbs again. This weight thing has been my main issue all my life, I wished to be skinny on every birthday cake, wishbone, water fountain, ever since I was a child. I've lost over 100lbs 4x by dieting naturally but it always came back. Now it's coming back again and the thought of it has me in complete an utter despair. Where do I go? What do I do? I have a cat-scan Thursday and i'm sure it will confirm my worst nightmare. I no longer even have a lap band doctor. Who should I see? Can the band, which I know they will remove, be replaced? Will they even consider it now that i'm not morbidly obese? Any advice? This post wasn't really meant for advice as much as it's meant as a warning. I can't tell you how much research i've done trying to diagnose my symptoms...I exhausted everything and specialists didn't even know what to do. Hopefully if anyone suffers from these symptoms my post will pop up.

That's such great news! Thank you for the feedback! I'm relieved to know that my weight loss won't stop them from a revision. I know I need it, I have all the willpower in the world but when it comes to food it's been a life long struggle. It's definitely and addiction i've been fighting all my life. Aside from the past 6yrs. Let me tell you, i've never been so happy with my weight not consuming my entire life. Thanks again!

No, I absolutely welcome advice, it's just not my main goal here. I regularly see a psychiatrist mostly due to this uncontrollable anger that seems to arise every time the abscesses fill which is right around PMS. I've done so much research i'm exhausted. The best I could come up with is endometriosis growing on the dead tissue of my eroded band. I've seen so many specialists but never once has one even acknowledged that it could be the lap band. This has been going on since august and i'm literally at my wits end. I don't have a husband or children which is why i'm so quick to just pull the plug instead of be fat again. It seems so irrational but dealing with this weight since childhood is exhausting. I'm tough and have tons of willpower but it's never lasted longer than a year when it comes to food. I know my band was tight. When I did the barium swallow test the X-ray tech said it was very restricted but if i'm ok with it so is he. This is more than likely due to the fact that I was still heavy. No one seems to understand even with a couple bites a food a day (and yes even that made me puke which was normal) I was still overweight but a size 16 was fine for me, i'm not greedy, I get it I will always be heavy. Until august, now i'm down to 180 and dropping even without restriction and tons of food. It's so frustrating that I can't find the help and it never occurred to me that it was erosion because the symptoms were always loss of restriction and I assumed I still had it since I wasn't eating. I'm basically living on ensure. Anyway, PMS is here and the drainage is picking up so my best bet is the UofM ER considering it's a research hospital maybe they will show more concern. Thy have Bariatric specialists as well as endometriosis specialists. You're right, no amount of money will stop me from a revision. The exact reason I stopped seeing my lap band doctor is because it took over a year of tiny fills to even get restriction, he only wanted my money so I never looked back. Thank you for putting this all into perspective, I will head to the ER tomorrow.

Updates? I've had severe health problems since august and i'm sure my band has eroded. It was super tight and in place for over 6yrs. I had abscesses that were drained through my rectal area. Now all of the sudden I can eat, haven't been able to do that in 6yrs. I'm terrified to lose it but it has already made me septic. What happened? I need a replacement, 30yrs of proof I have no self control is enough.

Did you have the band removed and the sleeve put in at the same time? I'm so afraid to lose the only control i've ever had over my weight but I know my band is eroding. Is it even possibly to have it done at the same time? Does insurance cover it?

Count me in. here I was thinking it saved my life come to find out it was killing me due to erosion 😪