primitive has lap-band removed

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11541616

Oh my.

It's a little old, but the fat forum on Skins's island hasn't seen much action ever since the Las Vegas Leviathan went away.

rox63 (9,462 posts)    Sat Sep 6, 2014, 09:05 AM

My lap-band had to be removed yesterday

I've been getting increasingly bad acid reflux in the last couple of months. It recently got bad enough that it was difficult to lie down to sleep at night. Also I had started vomiting more. I finally had enough, and went to the weight-management clinic I'd gone to before and after the surgery. It is associated with the hospital where the surgery was done. They sent me right over to the hospital for an upper-GI test. The results showed that the band had slipped down the stomach, and was causing a serious obstruction. Even though it was mid-afternoon by this time, they sent me down to the day-surgery unit to have the band removed. A couple of hours later, I was waking up from anesthesia after the band had been removed. I got home by cab at about 9:00 PM, since they don't let post-anesthesia, percocet-addled people drive themselves home.
 
So now I have no idea what to do next. Except that I need to get over to the hospital parking garage to get my car back.
 
How was your day?

packman (2,081 posts)    Sat Sep 6, 2014, 12:16 PM

1. Curious about several things---

1. Overall, was it worth it?
2. How much weight did you lose?
3. How much did it cost - any covered by insurance?
4. Were you warned about the possible slippage of the band?
5. If you had to do it over would you?
6. Did you learn anything about your previous weight gain from this experience that is going
 to impact your life now?
7. Would you recommend it to others?

rox63 (9,462 posts)    Sat Sep 6, 2014, 12:55 PM

2. A few answers

1. Yes, I am glad I did it at that time, even though it ended badly.

2. I lost 80 lbs, even though I had wanted to lose more like 120. I did gain back some in the 2 years since the initial loss. But I am still significantly less overweight than I was when I started.
 
3. Most of it was covered by insurance. I had a $500 copay for the hospitalization, and a $400 fee paid to start the rather extensive program of pre-surgery tests and appointments. These appointments included evaluations by cardiac, neurology and psych professionals.
 
4. Yes, I was warned about the possibility of slippage. But they said it was a very small percentage of cases where it happened. I just happened to fall into that category.
 
5. Knowing what I know now, I would probably choose a gastric sleeve surgery rather than a lap-band. Not as radical as a gastric bypass, and no foreign objects that can slip.
 
6. Not sure how to answer this. I've been overweight most of my life, so there weren't many times before my weight gain. I was a fat kid, a fat teenager and a fat adult. This was punctuated by periods where I would diet and lose some weight, only to eventually gain it back. Since the original bariatric surgery, I've learned that I can be healthier and happier eating less and weighing less.
 
7. I don't think I would recommend lap-band surgery, based on my experience. And I'm told they are doing a lot fewer of those procedures these days. But I would recommend weight loss surgery for those who have intractable weight problems, and have been unable to permanently take off weight any other way.
 
I don't know what I will do next. I'm probably not heavy enough to qualify for another type of bariatric surgery. But I don't want to get back to that point again. I'll just wait and see how things go, and decide later how to proceed.

packman (2,081 posts)    Sat Sep 6, 2014, 01:25 PM

3. Thanks for the answers

It is a struggle. The only real two times I lost weight was from a silly liquid protein diet which caused me to faint and an extended hospital stay with a bum knee. The hospital stay taught me that portion control is important. I thought I would starve seeing those , what I considered skimpy meals, on my tray. Three meals a day ( I ate two large meals at home) and even an evening snack dropped the pounds. I carried the lesson to home and eat 3 meals now a day with the noon meal fruits and veggies. Meat is now relegated to a secondary role in my meal planning.

auntAgonist (16,817 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 06:17 AM

4. Rox, I'm so sorry you had such trouble!

I'm glad to hear you're on the mend though.

Get yourself feeling better and then decide to go from there. An 80 lb loss is excellent.
 
Keep us updated on how you're doing ok?

rox63 (9,462 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 08:35 AM

5. Thanks, aA!

I'm doing well, but feeling a little lost, food-wise. All of a sudden, I can eat like I used to. But that doesn't mean that I should. I have over 2 years experience with eating less. But no surgery can fix what made me overeat in the first place. Most of that is in my head, and that's the hardest thing to fix.

auntAgonist (16,817 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 03:30 PM

6. I know you're right! I struggle with junk food etc and too many carbs.

I have to really, really concentrate on my protein.

I got sick last winter (not wls related) and wasn't eating properly. No appetite etc. My nutritional status went all to hell and I got even more sick!

Fast forward to today... I am on Total Parenteral Nutritional feeding through a PICC line in my left arm and have been since May 31st.

My system is so out of whack that I'm really struggling to get myself back on track.
 
Now there are many who would say it's because of the WLS that this happened. NO, it's partially due to the WLS that it happened but mostly because I didn't recognize the signs of malnutrition. Had I noticed it would never have come to this.
 
I'm hoping to lose the PICC soon as I have my son's wedding to go to in California. We're flying out there on the 18th. It's been a shitty year for me health wise. During a CAT scan to find out why I had a persistent cough they found a pulmonary embolism and took me to hospital right away. A full 7 days of bed rest with bathroom privileges if you please.

Now I have to take xarelto a blood thinner which has contributed to other issues oy!

A colonoscopy was done on Tuesday last to try to find the source of a GI Bleed.
 
ack, ..sorry I got carried away.

Do stick with it Rox .. go for the Sleeve Gastrectomy if that's what you and your Dr decide is good for you. Ask to see a nutritionist to help you over this rough spot.

rox63 (9,462 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 05:48 PM

7. I'm so sorry you've had such a rough year

I hope your health improves soon. Sounds like it's been one disaster after another for you lately.

One of the reasons I'm reluctant to consider a gastric bypass is that I have a tendency towards self-neglect, and the possible malabsorption issues looks like a hole I could easily fall into.
 
I'll be back at the weight management center soon to start looking ahead to what's next.

[miskie]

This stuck me as an odd occurrence - so I had to look it up, and sure enough.

http://blog.riversidesurgicalweightloss.com/blog/bid/291437/What-are-the-Causes-and-Solutions-for-Lap-Band-Slip

Causes of Lap Band Slip:

1. Overeating

The point of the lap band procedure is to give you less room in your stomach, so that you become full with a smaller amount of food. When you eat more than this small portion of stomach can hold, it can cause that part of the stomach to expand, pushing the lap band farther down (causing it to “slip”).

To prevent this from happening, make sure that you follow your doctor's post surgery diet plan. This means that you should not start eating solid foods until you are instructed to do so. Eating small meals throughout the day, and making sure that you thoroughly chew your food can also help to reduce band slippage caused by overeating.

[BattleHymn]

Causes of Lap Band Slip:

1. Overeating

[Gina]

I weighed at my max 250#.  I was fat from 3rd grade til 11th grade so i got sick of being fat and made fun of.  I lost down to 120# with salads and Gilad exercises every morning. No damn quick fix for me. Something worth having is something worth work for!

[BlueStateSaint]

I weighed at my max 250#.  I was fat from 3rd grade til 11th grade so i got sick of being fat and made fun of.  I lost down to 120# with salads and Gilad exercises every morning. No damn quick fix for me. Something worth having is something worth work for!

One of the kindergarten teachers at the Catholic school where my daughter went to kindergarten weighed about 250 or so, after she had a child.  This was about Christmastime.  In nine months, through diet and working out every day, she went to half of that.  She's a MILF now.  (She also hit on me blatantly, a couple of times, but that's another story.)

[landofconfusion80]

I weighed at my max 250#.  I was fat from 3rd grade til 11th grade so i got sick of being fat and made fun of.  I lost down to 120# with salads and Gilad exercises every morning. No damn quick fix for me. Something worth having is something worth work for!

And it certainly paid off, well done!

[njpines]

I weighed at my max 250#.  I was fat from 3rd grade til 11th grade so i got sick of being fat and made fun of.  I lost down to 120# with salads and Gilad exercises every morning. No damn quick fix for me. Something worth having is something worth work for!

Because I perceived myself to be too tall and "mature" (and the ladies know what I mean by mature) at age 11, I starved and exercised myself down to 80-something pounds (at 5'8") where I hovered for the next 2 years until my mom dragged me to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as a last resort, who basically threatened me with either gaining weight on my own or admitting me and putting in an intravenous feeding tube. So that kind of brought me to my senses.