Hi,

I am 42, 5'8", and used to weigh 220 lbs and rising. Every year was a little more weight, and a little more, and a little more. At age 36 I was sick of being the fat person in my circle of friends. I had a band installed in Monterrey, Mexico in 2001 by Dr. Rumbaut and worked with Dr. Fox in Tacoma, WA afterward for follow up. The weight loss was slow but steady and I got down to 160 and hit a plateau for a year. Then I went through a divorce and the stress caused/helped me lose more weight and got down to 145. Husband 1.0 was a very jealous man and wanted me to stay heavy so no one else would ever look at me. :paranoid Husband 2.0 and I got married April 1, 2006 and he constantly wants me to dress like a prostitute . Talk about opposites. I'm pretty conservative so I generally dress business casual/professional, at least in public.

Unfortunately, I started having symptoms of acid reflux about 2 years ago. Gradually over time things have worsened to the point that now I can barely sleep at night. I gradually got the point of vomiting every night before bed because I couldn't sleep with even a molecule of food in my stomach. When my esophogus started bleeding, I finally went into the doctor and got the news I knew deep down I was going to get. My band has slipped and the X-ray shows that it has turned at an angle and is causing somewhat of a blockage. It's pretty bad and they recommended that I get it repaired as soon as possible. "Soon" means probably another month from now despite my severe symptoms.

I am now considering three options:

-- get the band completely removed (my insurance would pay, but I would likely gain weight over time)

-- get the band removed but convert to VG (no worries about slipped band again but my insurance will probably not pay)

-- get the band repaired (still have the band but would worry about another slippage down the road and don't know if insurance would pay)

Since I am pretty close to my goal weight, I don't think I would consider a conversion to gastric bypass. I don't really want my plumbing re-routed and at this point my main concern is to be sure I don't gain the weight back in future years with no band in place. I NEVER would have lost 75 lbs without it. Even with a divorce 3 years ago and the nasty symptoms I am dealing with now, I have zero regrets about getting it done. I truly hated being fat and I never want to go back. Never.

My question to this wonderful group of people is this: For those of you with a slipped band, why did you choose what you did for repair or removal and are you happy with your choice?

Thank you.

I also wanted to mention for the benefit of those people who have been more recently banded or will be banded that this tool is something that I should have treated more carefully. I am not beating myself up here, but I really need to be honest and say that I think my own behavior contributed to my band slipping. I have had it in place for more than 5 years and after a while, complacency sets in and sometimes frustration over not being able to eat like a "normal" person. This truly is a lifelong decision and I was not as diligent as I should have been in caring for this tool over the long term. Five years of Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas dinners and restaurant eating and being surrounded by people who don't know that I had surgery all those years ago and ask me "what was wrong with your food, you didn't hardly eat anything". I started developing bulemic behaviors and would overeat and then go purge. This was partly because I got sick of having to explain to people that I have a band around my stomach and partly because I would go into frustration mode because I could only eat 5 bites of food at a time and then sit there at the dinner table while everyone else ate like a starved football player.

So, the bottom line is that you really, really must stay diligent in not overeating/purging or gulping down large quantities of liquids and learning to manage stress for the rest of your life. I feel that these are the things that eventually contributed to me damaging my band.

Which brings me to another potential poll question: What do you tell people when they ask you in a restuarant or at a party or other dinner party type of function: "What's wrong with your food, you didn't hardly eat anything?"

My answers have ranged from the truth: I had weight loss surgery and this is all I can eat at one sitting, but the food was really good and I enjoyed it.

or: It was really good, but I just wasn't as hungry as I thought.

or: It was so good, I wanted to save some for leftovers tomorrow.

or maybe I should go with: The food was terrible and I want a refund for my dinner. I could save a lot of money this way, ha ha ha. Just kidding.

I would just say nothing is wrong with the food I have enough.I'm pretty sure nothing tste as good as being slim feels

:blushing:

jazzey

I am not in your situation, but I know I would regain my weight without the band, so Im pretty sure I would opt to repair repar repair....and if eventually it failed again, I'd do gastric. I just know that new habits won't overcome my cravings without the band.

Hi. Sorry to hear about your band situation. Do you know about the MGB procedure, done by Dr. Rutledge? If your insurance covered the lapband, it might cover MGB. It takes 30 minutes and is reversible,but with nothing inside your body that can get ruined. It's a much nicer, easier surgery than the sleeve, or any other WLS. Just type his name or MGB into your search bar. A whole new world will open up before your eyes! The beauty of this procedure is that you do not get food cravings like you do with the Lap and most other weight loss surgeries. It's worth looking into. Good Luck! Hyacinth

Edited June 30, 200818 yr by hyacinth
forgot some information

Hi. Sorry to hear about your band situation. Do you know about the MGB procedure, done by Dr. Rutledge? If your insurance covered the lapband, it might cover MGB. It takes 30 minutes and is reversible,but with nothing inside your body that can get ruined. It's a much nicer, easier surgery than the sleeve, or any other WLS. Just type his name or MGB into your search bar. A whole new world will open up before your eyes! The beauty of this procedure is that you do not get food cravings like you do with the Lap and most other weight loss surgeries. It's worth looking into. Good Luck! Hyacinth

Rutledge has one of the worst reps on this board as well as in the medical community. MGB was a procedure that was tried a long time ago and failed, none of the good doctors will even do that procedure because it is so dangerous. Bile can leak out and burn your esophagus. It is a very dangerous procedure and Rutledge passes it off as something safe.

Here is some info:

Loop Gastric bypass ("Mini-gastric bypass")

The first use of the gastric bypass, in 1967, used a loop of small bowel for re-construction, rather than a Y-construction as is prevalent today. Although simpler to create, this approach allowed bile and pancreatic enzymes from the small bowel to enter the esophagus, sometimes causing severe inflammation and ulceration of either the stomach or the lower esophagus. If a leak into the abdomen occurs, this corrosive Fluid can cause severe consequences. Numerous studies show the loop reconstruction (Billroth II gastrojejunostomy) works more safely when placed low on the stomach, but can be a disaster when placed adjacent to the esophagus. Thus even today thousands of "loops" are used for general surgical procedures such as ulcer surgery, stomach cancer and injury to the stomach, but bariatric surgeons abandoned use of the construction in the 1970s, when it was recognized that its risk is not justified for weight management.

The Mini-Gastric Bypass, which uses the loop reconstruction, has been suggested as an alternative to the Roux en-Y procedure, due to the simplicity of its construction, which reduced the challenge of laparoscopic surgery. However with time it has been obvious that there are unacceptable complication rate long term and it is not recommended by American Society of Bariatric Surgery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric_bypass

It has tons of potential long term complications unlike sleeves. Your info is very wrong regarding the safety of this procedure.

Edited June 30, 200818 yr by WASaBubbleButt