Had the band in for three weeks, considering removal.. advice?

[Veleda 0]

Hey all!

I have had a pretty unfortunate time so far..so much that i'm contemplating getting the band removed at the earliest possible time. I don't know if this makes me a wuss.. I see so many people on the forums with stories of sleeping upright, throwing up every week, constant nausea, pain, etc.. that seem to put up with it in order to have the effect of the band.. but I don't now if I can handle that.

The first week after my band wasn't so bad...I had a lot of general surgery pain but i seemed to be recuperating then about day 10, I started to feel really sick. i've had constant nausea, a lot of pain in my upper left side radiating out to my right shoulder, trouble getting anything down but coconut Water, esophegeal spasms, pbing on a few sips of water..much less anything else, an immense amount of gastric reflux which I've never had before, and feel like i've been run over by a truck.

I have a good surgeon, they took me in and did a CT scan, an endoscopy, and a diagnostic laproscopy. They didn't find anything wrong.

They say i should feel happy nothing was wrong only i'm pretty much incapable of doing anything..except sitting through the minutes feeling absolutely miserable.

In reading the forums - some people seem to have these problems and somehow be ok with it..and I guess I'm wigging out that these are 'side effects' of the band and that i'm not really ok with them.

Does everyone experience a lot of crappy awful side effects or are there people for whom this just works with pain, nausea, reflux, etc?

I don't see myself as someone that is going to say ...i throw up every day but i lost 50 pounds so Yay its worth it. If i was i would have just chosen to be bulimic and avoided surgery. :: grin ::

Seriously.. i've seen so many stories of people on the forum saying things like i have to sleep sitting up now..and that just seems absolutely unacceptable to me...so much so that i have an appointment with my doctor to discuss my desire to have my band removed.

I've been wondering if i'm just one of those people that rolled the dice and got a lot of the side effects and should throw in the towel rather than spend the next fews of my life suffering to decide to throw in the towel. Maybe i'm band intolerant..i dunno.

Maybe I'm not giving it enough time.. i don't want to be a wuss. I want to lose weight. I am willing to make lifestyle changes to do so..I'm just not willing to be miserable every day of my life in order to lose sixty to eighty pounds which is what i want to lose.

I guess I'm writing to hear from other people.. Does everyone seem to be suffering from F* side effects (as it seems reading the forums)? Are there people that have been successful and had minimal to no side effects? Were you always that way or did you start out with a lot of issues?

I am really regretting my decision right now and trying to figure out whether the band is for me after all. I spent two years contemplating the band and thought I was making a sound and reasoned decision based on my desire to improve my quality of life..I could use some thoughts, insights, stories, and ideas..

[Kelley1380 0]

Aww Veleda I am so sorry you are going through this. I have had my band for almost a month and I can say that what you are going through is not normal. I feel really good and I have had none of those side effects. I haven't had my first fill yet, so I am hoping after that happens I will still continue to feel as good as I do today. I'm wondering if your body is rejecting the band. I am not a doctor and I really don't know any of the symptoms of that, but it seems like you are dealing with way to much way to early. You are not being a wuss at all and I am very proud that you have made it this far. I don't think I could handle what you are going through. Keep your head up and we are all here for you!!!

[feelfat 1]

Hey Veleda.

I am so sorry that you'r going through this. What you'r describing definitely does not sound normal.

I have been banded for almost 10 days now.

I have had surgery pain like gas and incision pain, just one incision hurt me. Today I feel good, pretty much back to myself, besides of the one incision in my bellybutton hurting a little bit.

I ate something that I wasn't supposed to 5 days post op. It was soft, but still I got stuck on it. For 8 hours. (I have 2 cc's in my band) I was in pain, food was coming up and trying to go down through my band up and down... It was sooooooo uncomfortable, I couldn't lie down, couldn't drink, nothing went down. I could almost not drink coz it took ages to go down , it came up and down...

It took 3 days for my so very swollen stomach and all the tubes around to calm itself and swelling to go down.

I thought that I have a slip. T"G I don't.

It might be that you'r swollen.

Discuss it with your surgeon.

I feel your pain. It's hard to feel all that you do.

Be strong. I hope that it will all work out for you, and that the band will work for you.

We'r here for you whenever you need us.

Best regards.

Edited August 3, 2010 by feelfat
add

[vlp1968 83]

Wow- you have had a hard time. There are lots of success stories on this forum. I have had very little side effects. Only trouble was after the last 2 fills I couldn't even keep down a Protein shake- had to have unfills. Frustrating, but tolerable. I don't know if you could still have lots of swelling from surgery. Work with your doctor and let us know how you do. Good luck!

[danielle b 32]

I am a little curious....did your surgeon give you a fill when you initially had surgery?? My surgeon gave me a slight fill, but I never had any problems. Also, since your surgeon ran some tests on you to see if there were problems with the band, is he at all concerned about your symptoms?? I would find out if there is saline in your band, that's what it sounds like to me...that your band is too tight! You should not be in pain like that...Also....word of advice....my surgeon has told me numerous times, that I need to stop believing everything I read on the internet!! Don't let it all discourage you to the point that you want to remove your band because something happened to someone else....

Good luck and let us know what happens!!:blushing:

[Portola Suzanne 3]

Defiantly not normal, do you know if you have any fill in your band? Sometimes the Doctors put fill in at surgery and not all patients can tolerate it. I am sorry you are going through this. There was a young lady on here that had a lot of troubles like you and it turned out she had a UTI that caused the problems not the band. Hope you are able to resolve your issues. I have been to tight before and it was awful also.

[tinksmom 0]

It could have been that you were sick from something else, which led to swelling, which led to more vomiting, which led to....

I think you should go to your primary care doctor for a check-up. Also ask about phenergan gel to keep nausea down. And find out if you can take whatever amount of saline is in your band out to give you a rest. It could be that you had something going on that was irritated by the operation. Or you could have an infection. Did you have bloodwork done to find out?

As far as all the problems here, I take them with a grain of salt. The band is a small part of our lives but it is mostly what we all write about here. And problems are far more likely to be talked about here than a trouble-free experience. "This week ...um...well, I ate right, lost a pound, and...nothing else.." How boring is that? That has been my last 4 week experience and I'm sure I'm not alone.

I'd hang in there a while longer. Something isn't right but it might not be something you will have to live with as long as you're banded.

[4them 0]

First I am sorry you are having such a bad experience. But I too have had a really bad time and fully understand what you are talking about. I too am regretting my decision having this done. I also contemplated this for over 2 years and finally was ok with having it done. Well yesterday morning (I am 3 1/2 wks post op) i woke up only to find I was covered in blood. I walked to the bathroom only to see blood pouring out of my belly button. I went to the ER where they said I had a hematoma and found it very odd I was having complications this far out. Long story short, I now have a 'tunnel' that has to be packed and changed two times a day for the next several weeks. This is more painful than both of my c-sections. I am really down and have also considered just throwing in the towel and saying enough is enough. Let us know what you decide, but for your sake I hope things get better.

[onenuttynurse 0]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience so far. I haven't had any issues other than throwing up because I had to learn to slow down and not wolf my food down. Now i have o issues at all being banded 8 months now......give it some time and see if it settles down.

Onenuttynurse

[ElfiePoo 109]

What you're suffering from doesn't sound normal for 3 weeks post surgery...sounds more like the problems people have after they start getting fills, either because they're too full or because they're just temporarily swollen from a full.

I had pain in my left upper arm for almost 6 months and it is related to the band. It goes away as you lose weight and the band sags.

I'd go back and talk to your doctor.

[Veleda 0]

I asked my doctor about it being too tight and it was unfilled and he said it didn't look tight when he looked in the laproscopic diagnostic.

[ElfiePoo 109]

I asked my doctor about it being too tight and it was unfilled and he said it didn't look tight when he looked in the laproscopic diagnostic.

There's part of the problem...a doctor who thinks he/she can judge how tight you are based on looking at your band. Only you can determine whether or not you're too tight...and the symptoms you describe sound just like someone who's too tight.

.

[Hollywood96 0]

The only thing i can say to your post is: it is what you make it. if your feeling and thinkin not so positive your gonna get negative results. try turning your attitude around and think about all the positives you receive from having weight loss surgery. your health will improve and so on. have your doctor take out the fill he might have put in. get out and start walking around instead of "waiting " for the minutes to pass. i fortunately had no issues with pain when i had the surgery, but i also made an effort to make my tool work for me. i am now down 50 lbs and am loving my band 6 or so months out. you can do it!! change the way you are thinking and make it work for YOU! :blushing:

[tommygunn49 0]

dnt give up for two years you have thought about this, look at is this way. didnt those sixty or eighty lbs make you miserable. have you thought about the bypass. we here at this form are behind you god bless and good luck

[Shay7997 0]

I would definitely ask if you had a fill when you were banded. There have been quite a few people that did have a fill when they were banded and it caused them issues much like the ones you're having now. If you do have a fill, have them remove it until things have settled down. Then you can start going back in for some more conservative fills.

It really stinks you're having a rough time with it. Especially when it's something you thought about for two years! I hope everything starts getting better for you soon.