Hi! 1st time poster and I am looking for advice. My mother has had surgery for her lapband 3 times to fix issues, not including the original time to put it in. She mostly recently had to go to the ER this morning to get the 3rd surgery and it has caused a hernia. I keep telling her to get it removed because I am really worried and do not think it is normal to have to go through this so many times. She has only had it for 6 months! First surgery was because the port was laying on its side and they could not give her a fill, the second and the third time were because of excessive vomitting (throwing up blood) which caused her stomach to go on the other side of the band (?). Can someone please tell me if this is normal or any advice would help. Also my mother has a slipped disc in her neck that she needs to take pain meds for, but doesnt because she is too afraid that any meds will cause more vomitting. If there is a place on the forum that has medications allowed for lapbanders, please point me in that directions. THANK YOU so much for any advice.

I would suggest that you ask your Mom to give her surgeon permission to speak to you. Ask him all your questions and make sure you understand the answers. Good luck to you and your Mom

I would have been there today, except I have a 6 month old and didnt have child care. I will however speak to the surgeon, but I want to know what is normal (or not) from other LBers. That way I know if her surgeon is blowing smoke and will request for her to find a new one.

she should ask her surgeon about anti nausea medication, she shouldnt be throwing up

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Hi! 1st time poster and I am looking for advice. My mother has had surgery for her lapband 3 times to fix issues, not including the original time to put it in. She mostly recently had to go to the ER this morning to get the 3rd surgery and it has caused a hernia. I keep telling her to get it removed because I am really worried and do not think it is normal to have to go through this so many times. She has only had it for 6 months! First surgery was because the port was laying on its side and they could not give her a fill, the second and the third time were because of excessive vomitting (throwing up blood) which caused her stomach to go on the other side of the band (?). Can someone please tell me if this is normal or any advice would help. Also my mother has a slipped disc in her neck that she needs to take pain meds for, but doesnt because she is too afraid that any meds will cause more vomitting. If there is a place on the forum that has medications allowed for lapbanders, please point me in that directions. THANK YOU so much for any advice.

Wow she's had a lot going on in 6 months! The 1st one sounds like her port flipped which can happen and is usually not a big deal to fix. It is stitched to the muscles and sometimes the stitches will pop and it will flip. The excess vomiting doesn't sound like it's due to the band, per se, BUT you need to find out why she's vomiting so much. Is it her meds? Is is the way (and what) she is eating? If she's eating too fast, not taking small bites, chewing til it's practically nothing, etc., then she needs to re-train herself and fast. Unless there is an underlying problem or the eating situations above, there should not be much in the way vomiting, if any at all. Has she had any fills? Maybe she's too tight and can't get anything down.

If her surgeon is not taking this seriously, then it may be time to find another surgeon. What kind of experience does he have? Success/failure rates?

I'm not entirely sure it's the band, if she has underlying issues. The problems WITH the band could be just a result of what else is happening with her. Please don't be too quick to blame the band. Now, if the surgeon is a quack and he doesn't know what he's doing, then you can blame it on him, but it really still isn't the bands fault.

I wish your mom all the best. Please post and let us know how she is doing and what you two find out. We may not like that there are complications, but we know better and we like to know what is happening to others in order to help ourselves.

Hang in there!