DO NOT DO IT

[ShantelleElaine 39]

Surgery beware!!! Do not have lap band surgery!!! Don't think it will never happen to you because I was THAT PERSON saying it will NEVER happen to me!!! Please LISTEN!

[ShantelleElaine 39]

First off let me be the first to say I was the only one who wanted me to have this surgery!! I researched for Over 2 yrs prior to actually taking the plunge!! Everyone said NO WAY!! I disagreed cuz my research was so extensive plus I'm a nurse and I know everything.. in my eyes. I tried every diet every pill every everything known to man and I just wanted something permanent! I could lose weight no prob but keeping it off different story, Hugeee problem.. wanted something permanent!! Every single other method didn't work.. finally decided on lap band surgery despite my whole family hating me basically taking this Risk all to be "skinny".. that I wanted so much.. surgery day fine except for horrible gas laproscope pain, next day fine fine... pain but mostly from gas air and all that from laproscope still... got home did my 30 cc of Fluid every 15 minutes. Gatorade or Water or broth etc.. supposed to be a 7 day clear liquid diet broth coffee Jello gatorade juice etc... i propped my leg up and relaxed on day 3 at home. My leg hurt cuz i thought having it propped up... day 4 I was like wow my leg really hurts behind the knee... being a nurse i looked at my leg.. red n warm n tender to touch plus temp of higher than My norm.. went to ER as my fiancee HAD to leave for 2 weeks to go out of town cuz of his job he drills gas and oil wells and is out of town long tours at a time... although concerned of leaving me I said it's nothing my mom is taking me it's just me overreacting cuz I'm a nurse and know too much!! In fact I had a blood clot in my leg from surgery... they started me on blood thinners to dissolve the clot...sent me home...2 days later I couldn't breathe... i thought ohhhh pneumonia I've had this like 6 times.. or possibly a Blood clot in my lung but no way... I walks back into the ER saying exactly that pneumonia or a blood clot in lung aka PE. Pulmonary embolism. ... they quickly found bilateral meaning both lungs were full of blood clots killing me! As a nurse of 13 yrs I've never had a patient survive a PE let alone multiple ones BILATERALLY ... so I knew I was DEAD!! I immediately went to ICU for daysssss bunch of blood thinners IV etc. Finally was put on a blood thinner to manage to nottttt getting anymore blood clots! Ended up leaving ICU on an oral blood thinner.. never felt right for months but lost alot of weight. Went back for a check cuz i still couldn't breathe right and my leg still hurt to find out the clot in my leg completely occluded 3 of my vessels and my lung blood clots were worse not better and I was going to die even more than the first time. Emergent situation sent to a huge city hospital for all the clots in my body that never resolved.. ultimately put on an injection blood thinner twice a day every day for the REST OF MY LIFE to avoid more clots... no clotting disorders were found during this time and all the testing and all the docs and treatments.. just the surgery alone.. finally after 4 months i was clot free when it normally only takes10 to 14 days!!! My family was outraged and worried so much at the same time! I lost 130 lbs in like 9 mths totally successful living it up..loving the clothes new lifestyle new everything wearing smalls i was like whooooo is this girl that wore 2 or 3 xl??? THEN!!! Disaster AGAIN!!!!! Can't swallow, can't drink, water or fluids or food or anything, the pain unbearable to swallow a drink of water let alone a piece of food... 29 FULL days no nutrition or hydration for this girl needless to say no fluid or nutrition going into me other than thru an IV at at this point!! Losing Losing more n more weight skeleton looking everyone yelling at me like a kid. total almost 2 mths in the hospital. .. FINAL decision the BAND malfunction was severe enough to remove It per all surgeons.. remove the skinny band!!! Surgery again sucked cuz still the blood clot threat had to be in ICU again for proper dosing of blood thinner before the OTHER surgery.... hindsight DO NOT EVER SUBSTITUTE YOUR LIFE FOR BEING THIN! I haven't worked in 9 mths cuz of brain damage due to malnutrition and dehydration and inner ear problems and weakness and swallowing issues can't begin to name everything!!!! I had to share cuz i Had to say it is not worth it!! Fat again. Right back where you started from!! Worst surgery ever#!!! Someone has to listen to me and save their life i hope! That's my only hope!!! #notworthit #justdont

[heather5565 959]

So sorry to hear of all what happened to you! You've been through a lot!

But I'm a bit confused... are you looking at a different surgery to do or are you on here to tell your story of your experience in hopes to scare others out of weight loss surgery?

Your bad experience is rare and unique but I don't think it's common at all. (Of course I don't have exact stats in front of me)

I hope you are on the mend and recovered from your terrible ordeal.

Take care

[ShantelleElaine 39]

Yea i was r old or WA uncommon as well! I'm hear to be a voice for people! Hindsight i never would have done all this to myself.. it's not as rare as you presume after talking to the surgeon they remove the band all the time! Due to complications. I feel bad for anyone to go through what I've dealt with!

[ShantelleElaine 39]

*i was told the same thing* is what that first sentence should say.

[ShantelleElaine 39]

I was The BIGGEST advocate for Lap band surgery you'd ever find until I had all my complications! Trust me.. i fought to the very very end that it had nothing to do with the surgery but it just did.. sorry.

[ShantelleElaine 39]

You rely on the "stats" like I did and il afraid you'll be sorry. I've turned my whole family against me for taking such a risk to be skinny. I should be dead a few times over. I'm just speaking of experience that I said would NEVER HAPPEN TO ME.. Truth...

[lisacaron 5,075]

All surgery is a risk. These complications could have resulted from any type surgery that involved anesthesia. I know several people who have had what was considered "minor" surgery and ended up in the hospital for months with blood clots, leading to pulmonary embolism having to be on blood thinners and lie flat for months. I have a friend who went in for ovarian surgery and ended up with a ruptured intestine that caused her to be septic and sick, ending up hospitalized for months while they cleared her system and had to put a colostomy bag in until they could repair the damage.

These are the risks we encounter when we have surgery even when surgery is urgently needed to save your life. Yes many of us often will have "elective" surgery for different reasons but many of us here did not go into bariatric surgery to "be skinny" most of us had surgery because being obese was affecting our lives and putting them at risk.

To the point that being overweight was as much of a risk to life and limb as it would be to have surgical intervention. The lapband like any other surgical tool out there has it's benefits and deficits. Yes many doctors have to remove the bands from patients that have problems, the band is a prosthetic and sometimes our body can reject it.

Advocate for your self, but don't scare people who may need life saving bariatric procedure out of surgery. I'm sorry you have had to experience so many health issues, and I truly wish you health and happiness as you find your way through recovery.

[ShantelleElaine 39]

This has been 2.5 yrs of a pure nightmare. I agree "any" surgery carries risks.. but everything I had happen to me came after this surgery, had previous surgeries with no complications.. ya never know. I am however positive that my esophagus malfunction was caused by the band, inability to swallow even Water for a month was definitely caused by the band. All the permanent damage i have in my brain from lack of Fluid for so long was a result of the band and inability to take fluid and food. The nerve dysfunction in my inner ear also caused by dehydration, resulted from the band. Having to have the second surgery to have the lap band removed because of all these complications, was in fact all a result of the band. That second surgery could have killed me due to the blood clots from the first surgery. Having the band removed with the history of clots was a bigger concern to all the physicians involved because they didn't know if I could even survive the surgery that I needed to be able to swallow again to sustain life. I was a skeleton at that point. I had surgery in January to remove the band, I've had 6 different tests on my esophagus since then because it is destroyed forever because the damage was already done.. also caused by the band. I elected to have the surgery as well. I was the biggest PRO band girl you'd ever meet.. i ended up eating my words because my family and friends all told me do not do it!! I was obese, I did it to help all my other medical issue same as most other people do. I understand people do it for that reason. Having been through it, having had all the complications i would highly recommend nobody ever having this surgery! Being skinny or losing weight is the goal of everyone considering this surgery. Not necessarily being skinny per say but losing the weight is the whole point. Yes the band is a foreign object and your body can and will constantly try to reject it, causing all Kinds of weird problems clear down to bowel and bladder issues. It's just not meant to be in there on my opinion. . Knowing what I know i wish someone would have reached out to me and told me their horror stories and maybe I wouldn't be where I and now..stuck on blood thinner injections twice and day for life, multiple lung medications for all the scarring from the clots, and not even being able to swallow properly 10 months later.. just a disaster and a horrible experience all around. It's Not worth anyone's life.. it's just not.. thanks for the well wishes.

[The Candidate 3,215]

My father died from surgical complications. Had his not related to weight loss surgery in any way procedure on 12/16/99, and was dead by 01/04/00. He was in excellent health and not overweight. He drove himself to the hospital, and was laughing and joking with us as he was being wheeled in.

*Every* surgery is a risk.

[ShantelleElaine 39]

So he basically passed away within 18 days of having surgery yea I'd definitely say those are surgery complications. Every surgery is a risk i agreed with that. The extensive complications that I've endured are positively related to the lap band is all I'm stating. I'm also a nurse and know everything to do post up to prevent complications and despite doing everything right i still had the complications. The blood clots in both my lungs and legs that nearly killed me were not due to the lap band itself, but due to the surgery that I chose to have to get the ultimate goal of weight loss.. it wasn't a necessary surgery, so in hindsight i could have died just to lose weight, just like people die during liposuction, etc.. I would not have done it knowing what I now know. So many of my issues were directly related to the band, not just the surgery itself. I hope maybe just one person listens to my story and changes their mind and doesn't do it.. that's all I hope for.

[Julie norton 2,850]

Sorry lap band is not going to help you and rather hurtful instead .

Please know many of us bandsters are very happy years out.

I tell people to HAVE WLS .... It does help many people.

Please remember it could be better for others.

Good luck.

[ShantelleElaine 39]

I lost 130 pounds in 9 months believe me I loved the band! Except for when it tried to kill me. Twice.????

[heather5565 959]

ShantelleElaine:

I think you've made your point that the complications were solely from your lap band surgery...

But be honest with yourself, if someone came to you and said your story to you - would you have still gone in to have surgery? You have to admit that you probably would. You even said that you were pro band and didn't ever think that any of this would happen to you. Nobody does.

That's the risk.

any complication from any surgery can happen and we all know that going in.

Again I say so sorry for all that's happened to you

[ShantelleElaine 39]

Yea actually my huge point I'd like to make is that i joined this forum as soon as I even considered band surgery... i was obsessed with reading everything, everyone's stories, comments, nightmares, successes, etc... Despite the nightmare stories I read about i said ohhh nahhhh not me I'll be fine... that's my point. Now I'm on the other end, having read all those people's stories saying don't do it, it was terrible, had to have it removed, or puked every day, got stuck constantly on even tiny bites of food, couldn't sip Water etc. I read ALL that negativity and was still stubborn and stupid and you could not convince me that it was not a good idea and got it done anyhow and now am eating crow! Wish I would have listened to alot of the bandsters who said Do not so it....so now I just felt like being the voice for someone else to maybe listen to. Believe Me I wanted to continue to be PRO band as I never even had to get a fill to lose 130 pounds..so i was like wow I've done all this without getting a fill like all these other people I thought it was a magical fix all tool! Just unfortunate that the magic ended and now I'll never be the same in so many ways all because of a bad decision.