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Warning! When I started to write this post I thought it would be a few paragraphs. It has turned into a few pages (!!). It’s L_O_N_G! J<O:p</O:p

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Hi everyone, <O:p

This is my first post on this forum, however I must confess I have been lurking here for some time.....I have just been so busy with kids and work that I didn't feel it was fair of me to post if I couldn't be a regular contributor.<O:p</O:p

<O:p</O:pWith that said, I do feel like I have gotten to know many of you from your posts, and I wanted to share my story. And in all honesty, I need to share, and I could use support. I see that a few of you have been unbanded lately, and it's nice not to be alone.

<O:p</O:pI am now 32 years old. I struggled with my weight for a long time, up and down... up and down. At my wedding in 1999 I was down to around 70 kilo/150ish pounds and felt great. And then the weight began to come back again. In 2 short years I was up to around 99 kilo/ 218 pounds. I felt horrible, and I wasn't successful in getting pregnant after trying for over 1.5 years. In June of 2001 I got banded.

<O:p</O:pMy life changed - it was wonderful! Losing weight was not the only good thing about the band.... I loved that I felt 'full' nearly all of the time. I felt freedom from thinking about food constantly, and I felt freedom from feeling the need to eat every second of the day and night. It was great.

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Six months post-op I lost 27 kilo/ 60ish pounds. While I was far from thin, I had so much energy and just felt so good... and I loved being hunger-free. I was at the gym every day and felt so healthy. The BEST news of all though - I was pregnant!!!! Finally! I am certain it was my weight-loss and the band that got me there (in addition to my husband's help

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I really didn't gain weight during most of my pregnancy. Only the last three months after I had the band opened I gained around 4 kilo / 10ish pounds. My incredible daughter was born in July 2002.

A few months later I got a fill. This was followed by a bunch of fills and unfills over the next few months, but each time the band was still too 'tight', too 'lose'...never 'just right' like before.

<O:p</O:pThen the horrible reflux and heartburn started. I couldn't eat properly and began to gain weight. Before I could get full on healthy foods, now I was just eating whatever I could. Lettuce and salad and veggies didn't go down easily, but Cookies and ice-cream did Soups did. So this is what I ate.

<O:p</O:pIn the February of 2003 I had horrible stomach and port-area pain. I was sure there was a knife in me, and I couldn't move the pain was so intense. After a few visits to the ER and the doctor, I was admitted to the hospital and put on IV antibiotics and did a endoscope/endoscopy and a CT. Everything was fine and after 3 days on only IV / IV antibiotics I did feel better. The doctor said there could have been an infection in the port area - who knows. <O:p

Things didn't get better however. I never felt good. The heartburn was always there. I was taking huge doses of meds against acid reflux and nothing helped. In May 2003 I began waking up a few times a night coughing and vomiting in my sleep. This is the worst feeling. Like you are gagging and cannot breath. I had to sleep sitting up in my Lazy Boy chair, I couldn't think of lying down. I also had trouble swallowing and felt like there was a lump in my throat all the time. Ugh. I did lose weight at this point, but I was eating only liquids - not a way to survive. After about 4 months of hell, the vomiting in the night stopped. But I had zero energy and was exercising a lot less... and the weight came back more.

<O:p</O:pI was honestly doing everything right to make the band work - but I would go thru periods of extreme tightness where I would have to spit out my saliva in a cup (sorry to be 'graphic’), and then the band would get loose again. No way to live.

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From my journal in Feb of 2004: "I have been without a fill for about 2 months - no problems at all, so about three weeks ago I went back to the dr. and got a fill. For two weeks I was fine, and I have been eating perfectly... then boom. Last Tuesday all of a sudden my band just closed up. I ran to the bathroom just in time and vomited. This continued all last week... on Fri and Sat I got down about 1 glass of Water the entire day (and vomited about 20 times in-between)... yesterday I don't think I kept down even 1 spoonful of water.

Last night was HELL. Every time I feel asleep I would be woken up after 5 minutes chocking and coughing and vomiting... finally at 3am I went to sleep/sit on the Lazy Boy chair. No fun. To make matters worse, my husband is out of the country on business. Anyways, I am going back to dr. this afternoon. I am really thirsty... I took a super tiny sip of water about an hour ago and it put such pressure on my back that I had to vomit it up. *sigh*

I don't know what to do. Why is this happening? And I have been eating good - almost all liquid, mush foods, chewing really good and no eating and drinking together. Not fair!"

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So that was February 2004. Needless to say, I had the fill taken out. Relief. Soon after I found out I was pregnant again. I was beyond thrilled!!!! I didn't dare get another fill while I was pregnant. I gained a lot of weight (around 18 kilo / 40ish pounds) and in November 2004 I gave birth to my beautiful son (at home, which was very unplanned, but that's another story, and a wonderful one!!! <O:p

In March 2005 I had my first fill since my son was born, and the problems started again, and I had the fill taken out. And put in again. Same story.<O:p

In October I suddenly got "attacks" after I ate, that lasted around 1 - 2 hours. Extreme nausea (even after eating my baby's Gerber!) and pain that spread to my right shoulder blade and my back like a knife. I was sure it was my gallbladder as I have a few friends who had their gallbladder out and they told me attacks were like this. I did an ultrasound of the gallbladder, but everything was OK. I didn't really sleep or eat during October. I just felt bad all the time.

<O:p</O:pIn November the pain was so intense one night (and this wasn’t after eating)...it was like being in labor, but in my upper back. I went to the ER at 3am. I really didn't think it had to do anything with the band (though it was making crazy gurgling noises and I had some heartburn - so I guess I was in major denial). The doctor on duty in the ER took out my fill completely. I felt better, but that was because the "attack" passed. The next day the intense nausea continued and the back pain continued. Every time it hit my back I kept thinking 'this is more painful than having a baby'. I again went to the ER (a different one this time!), and they did a scan of the stomach/gallbladder, and said that everything was fine. I mentioned the band (this isn't a hospital that specializes in the band), but they said it wasn't connected. I went home crying.

<O:p</O:pLast week, on Sunday, November 27, along with everything else, the band suddenly got very tight. I was without a fill, so I knew this wasn't good. Monday afternoon, after a day without managing to get down water, I went back to my dr. He sent me back to the ER (again!), called to tell them I was coming, and to do an x-ray with me swallowing contrast stuff so they could see if anything was going down.

I somehow drank the stuff, had the x-rays, and vomited up black stuff. Very scary since the stuff I drank was clear, and I hadn't eaten in two days, and even before that I don't remember eating anything black. Was it blood? Anyways, whatever stayed down just sat in a pouch above the band. It didn’t go down.

<O:p</O:pI was put on IV and admitted to the hospital. Tuesday I had an endoscope/endoscopy done. No erosion in the band, but they saw that my esophagus was full of infection. My dr. told me the band was fine and in place.... and to try to drink water. I did, and got a bit down. And woke up in the night in the hospital coughing and choking on the few sips of water I had earlier. Not good.

Wednesday I had a CT. My dr. said everything was perfect with the band. He said "if you feel better you can go home". I just burst out crying. My doctor is a leading band doctor in the world. He was one of the first doctors to do the surgery 15 or so years ago (I don't live in America). He has banded over 6000 people. I began to think I would ruin his impressive statistics and that is why he didn't suggest to take out the band. He said we would talk again the next day. <O:p

Thursday morning I was depressed. Four nights in the hospital already, hooked up to IV and missing my kids sooooooooooooooo much. I hadn't had anything to eat except a few sips of water in nearly a week. (Though I wasn't hungry... I think the fear of having the horrible nausea/back pain kept any hunger pains away). I knew the band had to come out. My dr. then came and said that everything seems ok, “but if you cannot even drink, the band has to come out”. Thanks for the wise advice!!!!! He said he wouldn't leave me suffering, and promised to fit me in as an emergency the same day to remove the band, even if he had to do the surgery at midnight. (At least that was nice of him.)

I was actually quite relaxed. No real pre-surgery jitters. I did trust my dr. and I just felt so bad, I wanted the pain to end. I didn't let myself mourn or anything.... I just waited with my husband.

At 5pm they came and took me to the operating area. When I saw my dr. he said to me "I am sorry....". I started to cry and barely got out the words "Can I please keep my band after you remove it.....”?

Next thing I knew I was going to sleep, and then waking up. I have to say that coming out of the anesthetic was quite easy. I had no side effects from it, and was given a shot of morphine as soon as I awoke and really didn't have pain. I reached down where I had felt my port for the past 4 years and 6 months, and only felt a bandage.

The dr. told my husband after the surgery that when he went inside to remove the band he saw that I had a pretty severe infection both in the band area and the port area. He also said that both areas had extreme inflammation (thus causing the blockage).

I went back to my room at 8pm and was put on high doses of antibiotics via IV. By 1am I was up walking... physically I was doing OK. Mentally I didn't even let myself think about it.

Friday morning I was given a "gift" from my doctor. My band. Cut in two places when it was removed.

Finally this morning (Sunday) I came home from the hospital, with another 10 days supply of antibiotics. I have eaten some Soup with carrots, some yogurt, some of my baby's Gerber. Everything goes down. No pain. It feels weird.

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I haven't cried. Or rather I should say I haven't cried until now. Sitting here for the past hour writing this has brought on the flow of tears... it feels so good to get it out!

Should this very long post be called "Four years of hell...", or "Four wonderful years..." I am not at all sure. I went thru a lot. Weight has been an issue my entire life. I feel like a huge failure... even this I couldn't do right. But then I think that if I didn't have the band I most likely wouldn't be hearing someone say "Mommy, I want some juice please" this moment.

After my first prgnancy the band just never acted as it did before. I won't let myself regret getting pregnant so soon after being banded, but others considering the band and having a baby might want to take this into consideration.

So where am I? Still overweight (thought a bit less then where I started), and for some unexplained reason also optimistic. Maybe because I do have a completely different relationship with food then I had before I was banded. I have been eating to live for the past 4.5 years, not living to eat as I did before. Hmmmm. It's been a long trip; I am actually not sure what I am feeling yet.

It's getting quite late here so I am off to sleep. For anyone that has actually read this longest-post-in-the-world, thanks for listening!

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PS. I would love to be in contact with others that have been unbanded - we need each other for support.

PPS. If you are thinking about getting banded and you asked my opinion, I am honestly not sure what I would say. I absolutely did not write this to deter anyone. I just wrote it because it happened to me.

PPPS. If you are wondering where my broken band is now.... it's in my bed, under my pillow. :)<O:p</O:p

I find your doctor's attitude toward your infection kind of strange. Prilosec is for gastric reflux and would do nothing for an infection. With that infection untreated for so long if it had gotten worse you could have died. I am so glad your feeling better and are still around for your little ones.

Yes.... you are right. The infection was only found 2 days before I had the band removed. Maybe he said that knowing I was having the CT the next day. Then it was decided to remove the band.

I have seen a lot of people on LBT get to their goal weight or withing 5lbs.

I've posted that question on SEVERAL boards and have found a very small percentage of people who have achieved a goal within the "normal" range.

tizag,

I was unbanded ten days ago and my complication was esophageal problems.

Sue

But I had the DS surgery at the same time.

tizag,

I was unbanded ten days ago and my complication was esophageal problems.

Sue

But I had the DS surgery at the same time.

La Madam - How are you doing unbanded? I will be in touch with you!!!

So far so good, I feel great and am losing weight. I too feel like I still have a band. My behavior still in my eating is helping me, I eat small portions and chew chew chew, not drinking with meals, basically following the rules of a bandster still. Thanks for asking

Tizag, I read every word of your posts. I have some esoph. problems, but nothing like what you went through. I have something called Nutcracker Esophagus, which basically means I have major spasms & only can be diagnosed with motility studies (monomotry). No reflux, though. How strange. Apparently some of us bandsters do go through motility & other esoph problems. Thank you for sharing your story.

Do you live in Israel. Hopefully, my daughter will be studying there next year. She's been banded for 7 months & is doing well. I know we need to find a doctor in Israel for her to be in contact with; could you please PM me?

Thanks & take care,

Dearest Tizag - I read every word. I am not banded, yet - but I'm 90% sure that I will be - hopefully in Jan.

What I have taken from your post is so valuable to me - you just must know.

Although I know that when you go into this you are to think it's forever - but now (no matter what the experts say) I am going into it thinking that it will NOT be forever. At least not this band. Other bands and other techniques will follow. You (and all the banded on this forum) are pioneers - we will make a better future for those who come after us.

When I get my band I will remember (always) that it is NOT permanent and that I'd better let it band-my-brain so that when it comes out - I truly will not need it anymore.

And what if I never have a problem - and it can stay in until the day I die and it becomes ashes along with my old bones - well then - what a bonus I would have had in my life!

You take care and continue to feel the "brain-band" - you can do it.

God Bless...

Love,

Patti

25 %? Wow, that is a lot!!:-(

ANd I wonder why they did not see the infection before? Would'nt a blood test or a sonogram show it inthe gut?

Wow! I'm sorry you had to through all of that, but I'm glad that your suffering is over! Thanks for sharing your story. I hope you stick around. I think you have a lot of really good & bad experiences that can help all of us with our struggles to be healthy & happy. Give those kids a big hug from me!