Banded2gether

Guess what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A solution for me!!!!!!!!!!!! On February 12, 2009 my surgeon did an exploratory lap and found that I had a lot of scar tissue and adhesions around my diaphram and band and liver and that the band was kinda too close to my diaphram! He fixed everything and now for the first time since my original surgery, I am completely out of pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Dr. Siddiqui! Hope everyone else resolves there pain, I wish you all the best. ~Megan

8 Months since surgery and still having left shoulder, neck, and now abdominal pain! I have talked with my primary care doctor and my surgeon and even had injections from a pain doctor to help allieviate this situation. My lovely primary care doctor said to me a couple months ago when my cervical MRI was almost normal (had a little joint damage) that he thinks that my pain may very well be caused by my band. I didn't think it was possible at first and then I made a diary in my calendar to document when I had the pain, what made it worse, and what made it better and it all came down to: pain is worse when: I get a fill, eat too much, get hungry, have gas, ect. I talked to my surgeon on several occasions and finally after some research he said he could try to fix this problem. He called the company that manufactures the band he uses, talked to many other bariatric doctors and then got back to me about what they said. He gave me three options based on what they all said: #1 get the band removed and have a gastric sleeve. #2 try to have the band's placement lowered or one of the sutures taken out that holds the band in place #3 have the band removed and convert to a gastric bypass. #4 leave the band in and remove all the fluid and start all over again with small incremental fills slowly. My surgeon thinks that the band or one of the sutures that holds the band in place is pressing on my phrenic nerve (a nerve that runs up into the left side of you near your neck and shoulder) and my diaphram, because I do have more pain when I breath deeply. When I exercise on my bike or treadmill, the pain gets worse. I decided to have my surgeon try to fix the band or change it's placement, if possible. He explained to me that it is a very complicated and hard procedure to do and that he may not be able to accomplish it. So, if he doesn't get that to work, I decided to have him remove the band, unfortunately, and try something else to lose the weight. Like weight watchers or something. My surgeon has never had a patient of his have this same problem before and was not sure how to handle it. I have talked to many different people and found out that it is becoming more common. In my opinion, before surgery on the papers you have to sign and then initial at each complication that this problem should be added to that list so people know what they may get into. I am so distraght over this because the band was working!!!!! I haven't been able to get anymore fills since November because the pain is unbearable, so I've gained weight and now I've only love 26 pouinds since surgery instead of the 48 pounds I lost initially. If you are having this same problem and you cannot tolerate it anymore, please be persistent with your doctor and if need be get a 2nd or even 10th opinion because no one, absolutely no one should have to live in pain for 8 months. I am not saying that this surgery is something people should not do, it has saved many peoples lives and will keep saving many peoples lives, but, it needs to be an aknownledged complication and it needs to have a fix. My surgery is scheduled for February 12th, 2009 and I am scared, very nervous, about it. I was in so much pain after the last surgery, much more than I ever imagined and still in pain 8 months later. I informed my surgeon and even the nurses in the hospital of that pain and people kept telling me it was gas, it was not gas, it was this band. I recently brought it up again that the pain was unbearable and my surgeon acted like he couldn't believe it. I plan on talking to him about this once more before the surgery, so I won't want to kill myself afterwards this time. I hope I helped anyone with this same problem and suffering. Feel free to e-mail me at mlbeardsley99@yahoo.com if you need someone to talk to. ~Megan

Hello everyone. I was banded on June 2, 2008. I have had neck and left shoulder pain every single day ever since the surgery. I want to start off letting you all know that I did have pain in my neck before the surgery, about a year ago on and off, but this pain that I've have since June is very different. It is unrelieved by any measure except strong painkillers. I have talked to all my doctors about this and none of them seem to be able to explain this. The pain is a lot more painful a couple hours after I get a fill and usually keeps me up all night and all day. I've had an MRI, x-rays, fluroscopy (to check for band slippage and to make sure food could go through the pouch), trigger point injections, variety of muscle relaxers and pain pills, but still after 5 months, I am in pain every single day of my life. I am very frustrated about this and feel horrible. I absolutely do not want to have to get this band taken out, but if it comes to that, I am going to have to do it, last resort only. The pain gets worse after eating, going for a long time between meals and being so hungry my stomach growls, after a fill, sitting certain ways, driving seems to make it worse, and breathing a lot like during exercise affects it. This pain is so weird! I've also gotten a variety of people to massage the area and it helps a little bit when they press on the two most painful spots. I can actually point to the spots that hurt. Doesn't seem to radiate at all. I am continuing to work with my doctors to figure this whole mess out and will keep anyone posted if they would like me to. This is definately not gas, but, when I do get gas, the pain is worse. I feel slight pressure at the top of my stomach from it sometimes too. At my next fill appointment at the end of this month, I am going to see what else my surgeon has to say and possibly ask to get all the Fluid removed for a day or two to see if that helps. When I approached him about it, he said he had never heard of this before. My family doctor is the one who said the band could be causing this pain, I hadn't ever thought it could be the band, but I thought about it and did some journaling on the subject and found so many correlations that is was crisp clear that this is the band causing this! My family doc and I aggreed that we are going to wait a couple more months with some pain pills to see if anything changes before pursuing a neurologist. I feel like this isn't muscular pain, it feels like nerve pain. Feel free to contact me if anyone needs some support with this pain. It's horrible. I had this lap band put in to help me with pain that I was having from being so heavy, not to cause pain and I am getting upset about it. I hate to blame the band, it's the only thing that has helped me lose this weight and keep it off! ~Megan 48 pounds lighter

If anyone is available, I'd love to have a lap-band mentor. I was just recently banded on June 2, 2008 and would love to talk to someone else who has been through this. Thanks! Meg

I was banded on June 2 of this year and honestly, I considered gastric bypass for a long time. Mainly I considered it because of the rapid weight loss and because of the "dumping" people get. I felt like it would keep me in better control if I had the dumping syndrome. I did a lot of research on it and also looked into the lap band and then compared. I just could not take the huge step of re-routing my entire digestive tract! The research says it is reversible, but in my opinion it would be a very hard job to reverse. I choose the lap band because it is a lot healthier and better for you to lose weight gradually, not a lot at once. Also, research shows that if you lose weight gradually the more likely you will keep it off. I have a friend that wants gastric bypass and I am in the process of trying to make her think differently. I keep telling her about all the risks and complications. One thing though, some people are just not right for the lap band and better suited for gastric bypass. I am glad I did all the research and booking reading I did because I've made an informed decision and I am very happy with the results. I also think that a lot of people do not know what they are getting into. Please research info before you go through this life changing event to make sure it is right for you. My mother may even get the lap band too! ~Megan

Hello Everyone. My name is Megan and I am 6 days post-op. Got the lap band done on Monday, June 2, 2008. It's so nice to find a place to talk to others who have gotten the lap band surgery done. Hope to hear from all of you! Thanks!