Well, I suffered the week from hell last week. I woke up last Monday night at 12:30 AM with a terrible tummy ache. No where near my band. On the other side. I paced. I tried to pass gas and took gas-x. I rocked. I drank water. Nothing.... it just got worse. By six AM I was groaning and my husband had been up with me for a couple hours. I called my surgeon at 8:00 and he told me to come right away. (A 1 1/2 hour drive.... misery) I get there by 10:00 and he tells me I have gallbladder problems. WTF???? I don't eat a high fat diet. Never have. I have had low cholesterol all my life. I was totally in denial. I was starting to turn a little yellow. I have the sono and I have multiple gallstones. YIPPEE. By 7:00 that evening I had the damn thing removed. Thought it was over. NOT!!!!! I turn more yellow. My eyes turn yellow. My amalase and lipase levels skyrocket. My bilirubin is off the charts. More pain begins..... Well, some of the stones had dislodged and settled in my bile ducts, clogging the little opening. So all this infection, bile, and crap is backing up into my liver and pancreas. (Pancreatitis) Two days later, ANOTHER SURGERY!!! I opted against full blown abdominal surgery and chose the 85% effective procedure where they put all the cameras, equipment, tubes, etc. down your throat. (I was asleep) Okay. so that's done. 4 hours later, chest pains, nausea, can't sit up or talk, and my blood pressure skyrockets to 255/150. :sleep2: I was so close to a stroke. I had a team working on me in my room. My poor husband was beside himself. It was the scariest thing I've ever been through. I spent 5 days in the hospital. Anyway. I pulled through, I have a blood pressure patch for "insurance" and am monitoring that closely. I guess to much surgery all at once? I don't know, but I don't want to do it again. I'm much better now, :thumbup:but did learn that this gallbladder thing is common for RNY patients due to the more rapid weight loss. My doctor told me it's much less common for bandsters, and he thought I would have been one of the last ones to possibly go through it. He's just as puzzled as I am. I did lose rapidly in the beginning, but I've been on a plateau for months. Any nurses out there with any insight on this????:Banane37:

Sorry this happened to you!!! My mom ( who is NOT banded but lost over 100 lbs a decade ago very slowly) had the same thing happen to her last yr. My dh had to rush her to the hospital while i was away. at first her docs thought she had a liver disease but it was her gall bladder. Hers had built up over years. I think it is a risk whenever you lose a great amount of weight.

I hope you are feeling better!!!

This happens when you start to loose weight. I lost about 20 - 25 lbs a few years ago and one day thought I was taking a heart attack. Had all the signs. Went right to the ER, had the scan, and was told it was gall bladder! Had surgery within 2 days of the attack.

Its a risk with any weight loss and also the stones arent always cholesterol based, you can get Calcium based ones from too much Protein. Or just because, some people are just prone to them.

Hope you're feeling lots better.

I am so sorry to hear about your health scare! I am happy you are doing better! {{{hugs}}}

Thanks for the well wishes. It is much appreciated. I have to add here, that for the second surgery, they had to take every drop of saline out of my band. So I'm loosey goosey until the 20th. I wasn't upset about it, because I knew he'll fill me back up on the 20th, but it turns out he can't put back in the amount I had pre-surgery. I have to start all over again!!!!!!!! I was just sick. I just sat there and cried. I distinctly remember him telling me in the beginning that 90% of your weight loss will be in your first year. That very few lose after that, and if you don't lose it all the first year the chances of you doing so are greatly diminished. I'm almost 9 months out, and still have a good 45 pounds to go. Now having to start all over again, I feel like I'm doomed.

GGGggggrrrrrrr. This is so infuriating. How many of you out there have had your gallbladder out after the band? Did you still lose? More? Less? I was also told a very low fat diet from here on out to prevent diarreah. Yippee. Does EVERYONE have problems with that? So far I haven't had any trouble with it. Can I still get stones in my bile ducts, even if I don't have a gallbladder?

What's worse, my Dad is now demonizing my band and blaming it for all this trouble. while I was in the hospital, in a bad way, he chooses then to tell me that I need to tell the doctor to take it out right away, and he thinks that now that I know how to eat correct portions, I don't need the band anymore. He figured, since I was in the hospital, I could just go ahead and have it removed. I had just had two surgeries!!!!! I think he thinks it's on the outside of my body.... I'm not sure what he thinks. I jsut can't fathom him recommending a third surgery after I had so much trouble with my blood pressure. He told me to just eat small portions and give up this "silliness". Prior to this he was all proud of my weight loss. (He hasn't seen me yet) I didn't even have the energy to argue with him..........

Edited August 14, 200817 yr by aubrie

Help!!! I'm now two weeks post surgery, and my blood pressure is still giving me fits. It's not coming down even with the new dosage of medication. What could be causing this???? Now I'm getting worried. Comments? Information? I go back to the doctor on Wednesday the 20th for my first post op fill. Do you think a fill will alter the blood pressure even further? I can't figure this out. It's a mystery at this point.