My Seven-Year Journey

[psalm20 2]

My lapband journey began in November, 2007. I flew to Monterrey, Mexico for surgery with Dr. Zapata. He is a skilled surgeon who does many of these procedures quickly and efficiently. I got a 4cc band. After the surgery I experienced minimal pain and virtually no complications, except a little nausea. I went in for my first fill about a month after surgery; long enough for the swelling and initial tightness to recede. My first fill was tiny, just .1 or .2 cc's. Even though it was very small, and all the subsequent fills I received were very small, it was enough to cause me to vomit every time I ate. After 4 weeks or so, I was able to keep down some food and after about 6 weeks I went back for another tiny fill, believing this was the protocol I should follow. Since the very beginning, I have experienced vomiting, severe reflux and an inability to exercise without it causing almost immediate vomiting. Even with a few sips of Water in my stomach I will vomit if I try to go for a walk. I have to wait at least 6 hours after eating before I can even think of walking from the car into a store without stopping to vomit. I can't sleep laying down. Even propped up, I aspirate every single night. It takes a few hours, but the Fluid in my stomach always finds its way up and I wake up choking.

I've had lots of tests done over the years since being banded and have tried everything to make this band work for me. I recently had another endoscopy, upper gi series and fluoroscopy done and it was determined (yet again) that my band has never slipped, and my pouch has never stretched. I have made the very difficult decision to have the band removed, since there seems to be no other option for me at this point. The surgeon who will be removing my band has assured me I am not alone. The band is a wonderful idea, and does work for some people. I never had any acid reflux before the band, not even heartburn. But for some people like me, this is nothing short of a torture device. Intended to allow me to eat small amounts of foods I love (grilled chicken and fish, steamed vegetables); I have been unable for years to eat anything that has much lean Protein in it, because it is too hard to digest and doesn't pass through the band quickly enough, therefore causing food to come right back up. I've lost some weight, and I hope I can keep it off and lose even more, now that I'll once again be able to eat food off the grill.

I wish I could report things a different way; I feel that I've given this enough time and enough different chances to try every possible "fix" for the problem, but unfortunately, this is how my band story ends. Good luck to all of you - try your very best - give your band every chance to work.

Kristine in Texas

[psalm20 2]

Update: My band was removed December 15th, 2014. The surgeon found a hernia; polyps in my stomach (they are rare, but can be caused by long term use of acid reflux medication); and concrete "food pills" that were stuck in the lining of my stomach inside the banded area. The concreted "pills" were causing extreme pressure between the band and my stomach, which was the source of the severe reflux. Unfortunately, they didn't show up on previous tests, or could have perhaps been treated separately to see if that would have allowed me to keep the band. The bottom line is that I slept soundly last night for the first time in more than 5 years.