Stressed to the max !

[honeysmash 0]

Was banded at cibo clinic in 2012 , lost 50 pounds everything great ..then the clinic closes leaving everyone to fend for themselves unless I would like to pay an extra thousand dollars a year for care that my 18,000 dollars already paid for. They said drs. Anvari and Hong are still our drs. And if there's any issues they are there for us ...load of crap !!! I've been in constant pain for a little over a year ..no longer can I eat anything good for me ..only slider foods here because to eat anything else causes great pain. I have a 14 cc band with 8cc fill ..I have terrible left rib and shoulder pain , sinus issues , vomit all the time , feeling dizzy like vertigo , racing heart , but no one can find anything wrong ... I've tried numerous times as has my family Dr to get ahold of dr anvari ...no one ever calls back ...went to St joes emerge where both anvari and Hong work from ..to try to get un filled ...the emerge Dr says nope can't help you go back to where the band was placed ...explained what happened with cibo clinic and that drs anvari and Hong worked at cibo but emerge Dr still says we are not equipped to do un fills , I'm like seriously this is a bariactric hospital..so after spending 10 hrs on a few occasions in hospital no one will help me but they certainly didn't have a problem taking my 18,000 dollars to put it in .... I'm so sick and fed up with this band ...can anyone please help me or point me in the right direction.

[babykins529 189]

I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. Have you had a barium swallow done to see if the band has slipped? I had left rib pain, mostly after I ate, and extreme left shoulder pain (I've had since the moment I work up from surgery 2 years ago). I did the swallow and my band has slipped, not much, but enough to cause pain. I went in and had it un-filled (I wasn't even very full because of fear of being stuck) but I still have the shoulder pain. The rib pain is gone, but my stomach hurts every time I eat something solid. My doctor said that the shoulder pain was caused by either the diaphragm or the band pushing on the vagus nerve which makes my shoulder hurt. He said that despite being completely un-filled, I'm still having issues and it's time to take the band out. I would be opting for a revision surgery since I am just one of those people who can't have the band in but still need to lose weight, however I have to wait a year because of insurance having a rule of needing to be enrolled for 24 months prior to bariatric surgery. You might have to bite the bullet and go somewhere else and pay the money to get it taken care of. I'm guessing your insurance won't cover anything? A lot of insurance now will cover bariatrics. Might be something to look into if you haven't already. Unfortunately, places go out of business or the hospitals have to close and then you're stuck with having to find a different place. I feel for you.

[honeysmash 0]

Great news ...March 4 2015 Dr anvari's called me about removal of lap band , so I had pre op March 9 and had band removed yesterday March 10 ... I'm a little sore but feeling great if that makes sense. When the nurses were prepping me for surgery at St joes hospital in hamilton they told me they had delt with a few patients just like me that were banded at cibo clinc and also told me some of these patients were part of class action suit against cibo clinic ... Since clinic closed I've been trying to find anyone that is part of this lawsuit so if anyone reading this has any information please let me no ...thanks for reading

[babykins529 189]

@@honeysmash I'm glad you were about to get the surgery and have it removed. I'm still sorry you had to go through that. Best of luck on your recovery!

[honeysmash 0]

Thanks so much babykins529 ???? I will be revising to gastric bypass in the next while as well. Gastric bypass is covered in ontario uner ohip ...but I paid for the band which was not covered but believed at that time it was a better choice for me ( big mistake ) ... Pricey lesson learn but I feel very fortunate cause things could have been much worse.

[babykins529 189]

@@honeysmash I'm glad you'll get to have a revision. I get my band removed and revised to gastric bypass all in one surgery in January 2016 (soonest insurance will approve it). Keep me posted if you don't mind. Take care!