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I know what you mean Michelle about feeling emotional. I have kind of felt emotional since surgery. Maybe because I was trying to numb myself before surgery just to get through it (although I had my crying spurts the day before surgery). I really thought that I would have the buyers remorse right away; enough so that I warned my husband that I would be crying "why did I do this to myself??" to which I instructed him to calm me down and to not panic. I had none of that. I feel so blessed to have come through surgery without complications, to be healing nicely, and to be losing weight. I feel like a new person. I know reality will hit when I have to go back to work in a week and a half (damn hell hole), but for now I am flying high. We really are a blessed bunch of girls, ha? Thanks girls for all of your insight! You have really helped my on my journey. Holly

any WLS can and do have complications (not just the band) and any WLS can be successful (that includes the band) adults can choose whichever to get and no one WLS is btter than the other results vary with patients, their doctors etc

Hi All, I'm still doing research on the band - my doc appt is October 2006, but what happens 3-4 years later? How long doe sthe band stay with you? I have seen so many posts of people who have had the band taken off due to slippage, erosion, pain etc etc - does anyone know on average how long will the band remin in? Doe w eall have to plan a second surgery for removal in a few years? If life long - doe sthis mean all life - chew mushie food, eat extremely slowly and very small qty - once you have reached ideal weight, wontthe small tiny qty cause malnutrition? Lastly - when theband is out the scarring on the stomach - does that cause serious complications? How does one get aroudn these probelms?

Yes, people die from the surgery, but it really is less than 1%. All major surgery have risks associated to them. Those risks are dependent upon so many factors. Your health, the doctor, the hospital, and so on. There was a death I read about on this forum. An OBGYN doctor who had the procedure and died before Thanksgiving day. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/well-respected-ob-gyn-dies-banding-complications-82714/

Everyone tolerates this surgery differently. If you have a good expierenced surgeon you will not have problems etc. I was back to work one week after surgery, I had no complications what so ever, the pain was minimal and that is coming from someone who cannot tolerate any pain what so ever -LOL. And I would do it again in a second. The key is to do exactly what your doctor tells you to do. Take your vitimans, drink you protien, eat what you are supposed to eat and you will be fine. After surgery I was not hungry at all and had to make an effort to eat when I was supposed to eat. You have to work with the surgery, it is not a miracle cure becuase you get out of it what you put in. Only YOU can make it a sucess !!!!

Hello MsMook, welcome to VST!! I'm a revision patient as well. There's a lot to know, so it would be more helpful if you might give us a little background on your situation. Don't be shy - when it comes to the band there is bound to be someone here who has lived what you're going through, in all kinds of complications scenarios. Ask lots of questions... we are always willing to either lend an ear or help out.

Hi Everyone! No matter which surgery you had, we can always be proud and happy to share our progress. In the WLS Community we have something called the Transformation Tuesday where everyone will post there starting photo and compare it with their current photos side by side. Come back every Tuesday to share your progress and to view everyone else's! __________________________________________________ Attached is my current progress photo. Not all of you know this but I have been battling complications with my WLS since 2/2008 when I was first banded. I was revised to the VSG in 9/2010 and then again just recently to the Bypass on 7/9/2014. Today I am doing amazing. I think I'm FINALLY healed from everything and the going is good. I'm happy to share that I am only a few pounds from goal and my goal size. It's slow going but I think after so much one just realizes that being better than yesterday is really all that matters. <3

FYI, if interested: Excuse its length, but here's the email blast I received of today's ASMBS' Connect: News topics of the week re: obesity and WLS. You might find some articles of interest to you. They sent: The following is a summary/brief analysis of the obesity and surgery stories making news this week: Company Seeks FDA Approval for Balloon System for Obesity… Retinopathy Stable After Bariatric Surgery…Sleeve Gastrectomy vs. Medical Management for Diabetes… UK May Seen Huge Increase in Bariatric Surgery… New Clues on How Metabolic Surgery Affects Diabetes…Sharon Osbourne Felt Like a Cheat After Surgery… Obesity Worse Than Smoking… Childhood Obesity Drops in NYC… Stigma Around Obesity Persists… Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in the News… ReShape Submits Dual Balloon System Application to FDA (Bariatric News) ReShape Medical is seeking FDA approval for the ReShape Integrated Dual Balloon System, "the first and only dual balloon for non-surgical weight loss designed for people with a BMI 30-40." According to the company, the system is the first device to meet its primary effectiveness endpoints in a U.S. randomized, sham-controlled pivotal trial. Dr. Jaime Ponce, Principal Investigator in the so-called REDUCE trial, commented, “Meeting the primary endpoints is an important accomplishment, as it convincingly demonstrates the superiority of the ReShape procedure over diet and exercise alone. The ReShape procedure offers a new alternative to help patients kick-start weight loss and learn new behaviours. We are excited about what this new treatment option may do for millions of people needing to lose excess weight.” The device has been available in the E.U. since December 2011. ReShape Medical anticipates a launch in the U.S. in mid-to-late 2015. No Change in Retinopathy in Diabetes 2 Years After Surgery (Medscape) Results from the STAMPEDE trial presented at the American Diabetes Association 2014 Scientific Sessions show no change in diabetic retinopathy for patients two years after bariatric surgery. Lead author Dr. Rishi P. Singh commented that he was “pleasantly reassured” that there wasn’t a higher incidence or significant progression of the disease after surgery. He said the results demonstrate that regular eye exams are still important for this patient population. "This is the first time that a prospective, randomized clinical trial has shown that intensive medical management vs gastric bypass doesn't appear to increase the retinopathy incidence or progression, nor does it increase the rate of vision loss or changes in intraocular blood pressure (a sign of glaucoma)," he added. Dr. Bruce Wolfe, bariatric surgeon at Oregon Health and Science University, commented on the results saying, "The induction of remission or improvement in diabetes control is positive for the patient, but drawing conclusions about the many-year process of diabetic complications of diabetic neuropathy or diabetic retinopathy is premature." Additionally, he added that patients who are informed that their diabetes has gone into remission after they have had bariatric surgery may think, "I don't need to go to these eye assessments anymore," but that would be too hasty, he stressed. Better Long-term Diabetes Outcomes with Sleeve Gastrectomy vs. Medical Management (Healio) Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy helped adults with type 2 diabetes achieve better blood glucose control than standard care alone, according to research presented at the joint meeting of the International Congress of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society. To determine long-term outcomes of diabetes in patients with sleeve gastrectomy vs. medical care alone, investigators reviewed medical records of veterans with type 2 diabetes, ages 18 to 80, undergoing the surgery at a VA medical center in a major metropolitan area. Two years of data from the charts of 30 patients treated with surgery were compared to 23 control patients. All patients had received medical treatment and been part of the MOVE national weight management program designed by the VA National Center for Health before being offered surgery. Significant improvements in BMI and HbA1c were seen in patients with surgery at one year, with improvements sustained through the end of two years; BMI decreased from 46 to 34 and HbA1c from 7.25% to 5.98%. These kinds of outcomes were not witnessed in patients without surgery during the study. At study completion, 76% of patients with surgery were able to discontinue or reduce their diabetes medications, compared with 26% of patients receiving medical treatment only. Thousands More to Get Obesity Ops on the NHS: NICE Calls for Huge Increase in Surgery - But Even Obesity Charities Condemn It (Daily Mail) New draft guidance from the U.K.’s National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) suggests that people with obesity who have type 2 diabetes should be assessed for bariatric surgery under the country’s National Health Service (NHS). At present weight loss surgery is given to patients on the NHS who have morbid obesity with a BMI score of over 40 or to those who have a BMI over 35 and who have another serious health condition - such as type 2 diabetes. But now Nice is suggesting that people with a BMI score of 30 to 35 should be considered for an assessment for surgery under the NHS if they have been diagnosed within the last 10 years. This could mean hundreds of thousands more patients could be considered for treatment. The draft guideline also recommends that people who have undergone bariatric surgery under the NHS should have a "follow up care package" for at least two years after their operation. However, opponents of the guidelines say it is wrong of Nice to recommend that the NHS offer operations costing £5,000 when the agency faces a £30billion deficit. Scientists Discover Clues Why Weight-loss Surgery Cures Diabetes (Medical Xpress) A study published in the journal Endocrinology found the actions of specialized cells in the intestine that secrete a cocktail of powerful hormones when we eat may help bring us a step closer to understanding why gastric bypass surgery "cures diabetes in most patients." The research team showed that gut hormone cells previously thought to contain just one hormone, had up to six hormones including the hunger hormone ghrelin. Study team leader Dr. Craig Smith, a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Cell Physiology at University of Manchester, commented, “Understanding the messages the gut sends out when we eat food and when things go wrong, as is the case in diabetes, is our next challenge and hopefully one that will result in the development of drugs which could be used instead of surgery to cure obesity and prevent diabetes.” Sharon Osbourne Opens Up About Feeling Like a ‘Cheat’ After Gastric Bypass Surgery (NY Daily News) In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Sharon Osbourne commented that she has “secret shame” about having bariatric surgery in 1999. "I felt (like) such a cheat when I had that band on my stomach,” she said. "People are saying, 'You look wonderful! I'd go, 'Thank you, I just have to leave and vomit.'" Osbourne had the gastric band removed in 2006 and says she controls her weight through the low-carb Atkins diet, but admitted she struggles because she is still a food addict. Obesity in the News… Extreme Obesity Cuts Lifespan More than Smoking: Study (Reuters, CBSNews.com, Voice of America) Extensive media coverage of the “largest-ever study of the effect of extreme obesity on mortality,” which showed the “most extreme cases” may shorten a person's lifespan more than smoking. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute found people who suffered from severe obesity died 6.5 to 13.7 years earlier than people of healthy weight. A data review was conducted of 20 large studies from U.S., Sweden and Australian, which included 9,564 adults with extreme obesity and 304,011 of normal weight. Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes were mostly responsible for an increased risk of dying “at any given time” when BMI rose to levels of extreme obesity. The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine. Severe Childhood Obesity Shows a Decline in New York City (Reuters) The prevalence of severe obesity among school children in New York City was down by almost 10% in the 2010-11 school year compared to the 2006-07. Earlier research had shown a decline in overall obesity among NYC public school children, but the prevalence of severe obesity had not been studied. The new study, published in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, shows NYC rates “buck national trends.” Height and weight measurements were recorded for 947,765 children attending public schools in kindergarten through eighth grade. Severe obesity fell from 6.3% of the children in the 2006-07 school year to 5.7% in 2010-11. The change represents a 9.5% decrease. The prevalence of severe obesity was highest among boys, minorities and poor children. Additionally, while prevalence declined in every group, the greatest decrease was among white students and wealthy students. Many Obese Women Face Stigma Every Day, Study Finds (HealthDay) A new study found women who were overweight or suffered from obesity were likely to be faced with frequent, daily insults and humiliation from strangers, family and friends. Researchers recruited 50 women who were asked to log their “weight-stigmatizing” events in a diary during the course of a week. A total of 1,077 occurrences were reported including physical barriers (84%), nasty comments from others (74%), being stared at (72%) and others making negative assumptions (72%). Each woman experienced an average of three negative events over a seven-day period. Researchers found BMI was “the most significant factor associated with all forms of stigma except that caused by interpersonal relationships.” Ted Kyle, advocacy advisor for The Obesity Society, felt the study was limited due to the size and lack of data from other groups including males and other ethnic groups as most participates were white. He commented, “Most everybody struggles with some kind of health issue but obesity is something you wear on the outside.” The study was published recently in the Journal of Health Psychology.

Any drainage? Is it itchy? A little pink is not to bad but when I had mine done I was told itching meant if was healing....Ive had other surgies before and knew that itching was part of healing but when I told the.nurse the itch was unbearable and my site was fire engine Red she asked me to come in, it turns out it was a topical skin yeast infection a complication from the antibiotics I had gotten in the hospital. When in doubt get it checked out!

Reaching out here because I'm at my wits end with stomach pain. To make a very long story short, I am having extreme pain in my left side of my abdomen and back every night starting at 5pm and ending in the morning around 6am. This has landed me in urgent care and two ERs and a hospital stay in the past week. I've seen doctor after doctor and no one knows what's wrong. Waiting to see a GI specialist. I was discharged with narcotic pain meds to control it and those don't even work. Totally fine during the day. No problems eating or any other classic lap band complications but my surgeon is not ruling out lap band issues.... Has anyone had this? It's like clock work and I dread every evening. I met with my surgeon today and unfortunately his solution involved going to an ER and hospital that are not on my insurance. Any advice appreciated. The pain is constant, intense and travels throughout my left side. Ruled out OB issues, kidney stones, gallbladder, etc with a CT scan. All bloodwork normal.

That’s awesome ❤️ my dietician’s full-time job is working with folks that have had major complications after WLS. She’s definitely a diamond in the rough. Very sweet, helpful and knowledgeable. Even though we only meet once a month we actually email and text frequently. She told me I have unlimited coverage for our visits pre-op and post-op with my new insurance which I’m so thankful for BUT I told her to brace herself because I’m a question-asking machine. She may want to kill me before my 6 months are over! LOLOLOL

Hi all, I'm new to the process, so I was hoping to see if y'all could help me with a few questions. 1) My insurance requires 6 months of documented weight loss, but not only would the end of the 6 months be an inconvenient time for me to get surgery as I'm a student, but it would also be a really long time to wait. I started on this in March, but skipped the last two appointments because I was having doubts about surgery the longer I had to wait. My parents have offered to pay for the surgery out of pocket, and I would be able to get it done in a couple of months after I have been able to learn more about the process (nutrition pre and post surgery, what I need to do after, etc) and it will be at a more convenient time for me. What do you guys think about this? I feel like if my insurance will cover it that I should wait, but that is so much time to talk myself out of it. I want this change, but I'm the type of person who goes back and forth on everything if I have a lot of time to think about something. Anyone else have this experience? 2) With self pay, what happens if you have complications? If this happened to you, did insurance cover the cost of complications? I will contact my insurance about this at some point, but I wanted to get a feel for what others have experienced. 3) I also need to get a hernia repaired that the surgeon said he would do during my gastric sleeve surgery. Can I submit the hernia part for insurance coverage if I do self pay for the actual sleeve part? Again, I will contact my insurance, but I just wanted to see what others have experienced. Thanks for any insight!

The coroner’s report revealed the mysterious death of a seemingly healthy 38-year-old woman. Dr. L. Parks died of streptococcal sepsis, or blood poisoning, due to a “massive” intra-abdominal infection, said Bob Dempsey, coroner for San Miguel County in Colorado. “The infection was due to complications of gastric banding,” he said. “She had the surgery three weeks before she died, during he first week of November.” Found this and I thought I would post it to this older thread.

I am 1 week out. I started at 196. I am waiting to weight myself until my doctor's appointment at my 2 week check up. I am craving food. Ugh! I remind myself I am on the path to the new me and a healthier life. Even though the lapband failed and complications from that I am looking that this surgery wll be the tool that I need!

So sad. I know my eating habits did not allow my kids to always make the healthiest choices as easy as they should be. They are getting better though. The family needed major intervention. Sadly I have a feeling the boy will have complications as the family is not making follow up appointments.

Hello! I had my surgery on 4/11 and had horrible complications afterwards due to the pain meds that I was on. I am now feeling a TON better and have an appointment on Thursday! I'm so excited to start this journey. I'm supposed to get a fill on that day, so I feel that my weight loss journey is barely about to begin A few times before and after surgery, I really started to regret my decision to get the lap band. Now, I am SO thankful!!! Last time I checked, I was down 26 pounds since my pre-op! I'm proud of myself!!!

I'm with you! I'm almost a year out, and my food choices have been less than good. I've had major stressers come up, spent time in the hospital with one of my children and slipped back into bad patterns. Not only eating things I shouldn't but drinking more than I should. Here is what I'm trying to do, first remember why I had the surgery. I wanted to be healthy for myself, my children and husband. Second I wanted to be able to be active. Then I'm trying to remember all I went through to get were I'm at. After all the complications, . I never want to go through that again. We can't beat ourselves up, just acknowledge our choices and try to make better ones. I pray that we will both get back to our healthy selves!!!

I am under the impression that if your band slips you are not able to keep anything down, even water. You might want to go to the lap band complications forum and read some of the posts from people who have had a slippage.

Congratulations on crossing over!! Can't wait to follow your progress. Prayers for a complication free surgery and a speedy recovery.

Can someone clarity for me complications that might arise out of pbing too often. Thanks in advance.

Why would you think that there is a high chance of having future issues that would result in additional surgeries? Yes, there is a chance, but it isn't high. Unless you know you are bad about following instructions and don't think you can follow the recommended way of eating (and cutting out the things your doctor says to, like mine did with carbonated beverages). Double check with your insurance company. While many won't cover the surgery itself, they often cover complications from it. I am self pay and I decided that if something does happen, I will deal with it then. But for now, I'm taking control of my weight and the $15k I spent is a worthwhile investment in myself. Good luck with your decisions.

I am self pay also and had the same reservations. My sister had the surgery (insurance covered it for her) and hasn't had any complications. Also, insurance companies are starting to cover more and more procedures for obesity so who knows. 10 years from now, if you need to have the band replaced, it may be covered! I looked into having lapband over 2 years ago and when I found out insurance wouldn't cover it, I was devistated. Then I realized I could take pay for the surgery using the medical flex plan through my job. 1) the surgery was almost $2000 cheaper having it in Jan 2010 than it would have been in Sept 2007 AND taking out the $$ through the flex plan means the $12K surgery is only costing me $8K. (b/c I save income tax, SS tax, and medicare tax on 12K!!) I understand your concerns and you need to do what you feel comfortable with, but my advice is go for it!!!

I'm doing okay. I had a complication that had nothing to do with the sleeve. One of the meds made me unable to urinate. It's been a rough week, but I've felt better today. I'm still having quite a bit of pain and I have kind of had the opposite problem. I don't really want to eat anything. How about you?

Hi there I had my surgery at Barix in Ypsilanti, MI (my fills will be done at their Holland, MI office, which is much closer for me) My Dr. is Dr. Shramm, and I am really happy with him and the whole Barix setup. Surgeries are also done in the town where I live, but the doctor doing them has only 1 year experience, and Dr Shramm was my friend's doctor 4 years ago. Also, bariatric/LB surgery is ALL they do at Barix (Ypsi is just outside Detroit) so I felt that any potential complication would be in good hands. My insurance requires an overnight stay, and I was glad they did (although I didn't get much rest with the respiratory therapist and nurses coming in every 2 hours!) I was on full liquids for 3 weeks after, then blended foods for 2 weeks, then go to "soft foods" (what you could chew without teeth :eyebrows: ) then regular food. I am supposed to not lift anything over 5 lbs for 3 - 4 weeks, stay out of the pool for 6 weeks, and walk 30 min a day or more from day 1 (I did my first "walk" at Kohls the day after surgery - probably not the best idea) I did go back to work on day 8 - I'm a massage therapist and saw just 1 client - and have had no pain, but did feel very tired for the first 2 weeks. I really had to look down and see the "ruffles" on my tummy (surgistrips, starting to come off) to remember I had something so major done. I'd love to hear your experience with fills, choices of food, and weight loss. I am down about 18 lbs 3 weeks after surgery, and back working pretty much full time (4 or so clients a day, up to 3 days a week) Also, if you had surgistrips, and they have come off - HOW do you get the adhesive off!?? :help:

@@2goldengirl Thanks for the clarifications. That makes a lot of sense. I am fortunate to work at a large university so my insurance in "reasonable" for what I pay and has fantastic coverage. I am glad to hear that ACA has covered those complications now. pam