Elizabethdb

July 14, 2008 I had my life changing surgery and had the lapband placed. Little did I know, that it would be a negative life changing surgery. The first 2 years went great. I was losing weight and feeling great. I gained confidence in myself. Come 2011, I started noticing something wrong. I noticed that just about everytime I would eat, food would get stuck and set me off in a spell of getting sick and passing out. It was almost like a hypoglycemic (very low sugar) spell. I would get very sweaty, dry heave, extremely hot, and legs would give out on me and get the tunnel vision. I past it off as being stress for I was in my last year of college and had a lot of stress on me. It got to the point I could barely even eat applesauce without having a spell. One day, I was in a spell and threw up some blood. The next day I was at school and noticed I was having A LOT of trouble breathing and having a lot of pressure from my stomach to my chest. I went to the emergency room and the only thing they found there was my band was a little sideways. So my surgeon came in and deflated my band thinking I had a slip. As soon as he deflated it, it sent me in a spell again. He saw that and said I was NOT going anywhere we need to find out what is going on. They did an upper GI eval and it was negative. Dr. was ready to send me home with the flu. That is when I told him I no longer was tolerating liquids. I went and had a scope done that day and that is when they found it. My band had ate a hole right through my stomach. Half of the band was in the middle of my stomach. I ended up having emergency surgery to remove it and thats when they found my abdomin was just full of infection from the whole in my stomach. Turns out the "spells" was caused by bacteria entering my bloodstream. After 10 days in the hospital I was finally okd to go home. I thought it was all behind me and thats when it happened. The incision where my port was busted open. Back to the ER I go. The hole ws 3 inches deep . You could pretty much stick your hand in it. After a year, yes a FULL year, of wound care, 2 wound vacs, and 6 surgeries (no I am NOT diabetic) the hole is FINALLY closed. They are saying that the port causes a cavity where it is and when removed, it leaves a hole and makes it very hard to heal. It has been 1 1/2 years since the lapband removel and to this day I STILL have trouble with my stomach. The band caused A LOT of scare tissue around and in my stomach.

Am I tell you this story to scare you out of having the band? NO. Do I miss the band? Yes, I have gained A LOT of the weight back since it was removed. My point of sharing my story is to make people aware of the dangers of LapBand. Dont blow of symptoms like I did, and my lapband clinic did. They just kept saying "its just you". Had I known the band would try to kill me, I dont think I would have had it done in the first place. That is why I never considered having Bypass, it is too dangerous, I know too many people who have been deathly ill from it. I THOUGHT Lapband was safe. There IS risk with any kind of surgery, especially when placing an implant in your body. Please, PLEASE if you feel something is not right with your band, GET IT CHECKED!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.