Jen-e I had the same as you, the aesophagus dilating thing so the surgeon took mine out. Thankfully I also have the brilliant dr Bovey in townsV ille and Icouldn't speak more highly of him !!


I've had my band removed abouT 3 wks ago and my sleeve date is 02 June. Bring it on. I can't wait !!! And I can't stress how relieved I was to be the only one who'd "failed the band.". The stats speak for themselves !!!!

Apologies for typos. I'm on my iPhone. Lol

OMG Lisab!
Your band doc was so negligent! I cant believe some of these rude ignorant creatures! So pleased to hear you are doing so well with your sleeve.

Fatnomore ,
I had oesophageal dysmotility from my band being too tight ( a result of my doc putting in a lot of fill, saying "that'll teach you" when I told him I didn't have good restriction).

Anyway, I wound up at the emergency department thinking I was having a heart attack with severe central chest pain radiating up along my jaw & both sides of my tongue. Evidently in some people the dysmotility can cause angina like pain. Wasn't I the lucky one!
The barium swallow I had also showed I had some other dysfunction with swallowing at the top of my oesophagus but I dont know the ins & outs of that cos the doc didnt explain any of it to me. Also reflux and the beginning of a dilated oesophagus near my pouch.

Bugger bloody bands. Thank god mine is GONE! Two months til my sleeve! Yay!

Jen

I got blamed for my bands failure, too. Often my surgeon would make some derogatory remark or another while I was still walking out of the waiting room for my appointment (he would say later it was his sense of humour) - which would result in me very loudly losing my temper in front of all the patients in the waiting room. I'm pretty sure I put a few off banding! Even his nurse assistant would say he was out of line (when he'd left the room). Victim blaming with failed lap bands is huge.

Blaming the patient for problems with the band seems to be the norm by band DRs!!
I had my first band in for 3 years and lost 20kgs by vomiting all the time and spent a lot of time in hospital on drips after 24/48 hour vomit sessions where all the fill would be removed and I would then have to start again getting filled and then unfilled.
After a really bad three months of vomiting and a couple of long hospital stays, I begged Prof O'Brien ,many times as he always said I was doing something wrong ie;"stuffing my face with cream cakes and biscuits"(which I wasnt doing) in the end I took my husband in with me and he insisted that something be done and I was sent for an xray where I ate some bread during it and promptly threw up all over the machine and they finally had to admit that the band had slipped. It was replaced the next day,
but the second one was much worse than the first band as I could not tolerate any fill at all everything got stuck even liquids,
so all the weight plus 20kgs more went back on in the following 3 yrs (I also had to have a flipped port replaced). After 6 of the worst years of my life my health had deteriorated badly and all Prof O'Brien was willing to do was a; leave the band in with no fill and just forget its there, b; replace the band again and hope "that I learn how to eat better" or c; remove the band completely.
I chose 'c' of course and was sleeved 3 months later by a new surgeon. My sleeve surgery took 5 hours thanks to all the
adhesions from the bands but also because I had a huge Hiatus Hernia which Prof O'Brien forgot to mention and didnt repair when he removed the band even though he knew I was having major problems with reflux. My sleeve surgeon was really
shocked to see the Hernia as it was not mentioned at all in the Profs surgery report (especially as the hernia was caused by
all the vomiting with the band).
Anyway I love my sleeve and have lost more in 3 mths than I did in 6 yrs and my health has improved so much my GP cant believe it..
Doctors push the band because its a surgery which keeps lining their pockets for years where as the sleeve is one surgery
and thats it , thats why they are pushing for the band to be done in public hospitals, can you imagine how much money they will make!!!!

Lisab

http://www.lapband.com/en/learn_about_lapband/safety_information/


Patients can experience complications after surgery. Most complications are not serious but some may require hospitalization and/or re-operation. In the United States clinical study, with 3-year follow-up reported, 88% of the 299 patients had one or more adverse events, ranging from mild, moderate, to severe. Nausea and vomiting (51%), gastroesophageal reflux (regurgitation) (34%), band slippage/pouch dilatation (24%) and stoma obstruction (stomach-band outlet blockage) (14%) were the most common post-operative complications. In the study, 25% of the patients had their band systems removed, two-thirds of which were following adverse events. Esophageal dilatation or dysmotility (poor esophageal function) occurred in 11% of patients, the long-term effects of which are currently unknown. Constipation, diarrhea and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) occurred in 9% of the patients. In 9% of the patients, a second surgery was needed to fix a problem with the band or initial surgery. In 9% of the patients, there was an additional procedure to fix a leaking or twisted access port. The access port design has been improved. Four out of 299 patients (1.3%) had their bands erode into their stomachs. These bands needed to be removed in a second operation. Surgical techniques have evolved to reduce slippage. Surgeons with more laparoscopic experience and more experience with these procedures report fewer complications.


SCARY!

Instead of looking at french figures why dont you just look at allergens (the makers of lap bands) own figures for Australia.

The average outcome is 40% excess weight loss at 5 years... that includes all the people that lost down to skinny minny size 6's or 8's as well as those that gained weight...then they average those figures. And the average says you'll still be obese.

20% of lap bands have complications that require replacement after 2 years. The practice I went through it was closer to 70% at 10 years be it a port revision erosion slip etc. Ask a raidoloy person that works with lap banders - you'll be hard pressed to find one that has seen a band without a problem - at least that is what i was told when i was going through problems.

They have the tidy up the statistics and try and place blame on the patients to help get Medicare to fund more bands.... do you realise what a drain it would be on Medicare with so many complications and extra operations. Dear god i feel sorry for people even considering a band. I had mine successfully for 5 years. I feel like an idiot recommending it to so many people after how badly it stuffed up my body. Yes I was a success but at what price? Weight gained back stomach and other organs permanently damaged.

You know what the all hail the mighty prof o'brien wanted to do to me? put another frigin band on me to fix what the last one had done. OMG no way!

Sorry but i wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.

My surgeon said the failure/issue rate for the band at 10 years was 40%.

I know that for some people it works, especially in the first few years, but i'm curious to know, how many of us have had problems like myself, who has had 4 ops, leakage, vomiting, faulty band, limited weight loss, no support, and slippage. I to am glad to have it gone.

Hi Terri

I had my lapband out after approx 2 years under emergency conditions. I had started vomiting and couldn't keep anything down not even water. The operation lasted 5 and half hours and I have a 10cm scar down my stomach with heaps of scar tissure because of this. The lapband had wrapped around all my major organs in my body and it took the surgeon all that time to unravel the band. I nearly died - the surgeon told me he was very worried and I was in Intensive care for 5 days after. Similiar story to Helen who has her story on this forum only she has been told she can never have the gastric sleeve.
Seven years later I found the wonderful Dr Bovey in Townsville who said he would attempt to do the gastric sleeve on me. I was his only patient that day in case it was going to take longer. My gastric surgery took 3 and a half hours because he had to work through all the adhesions caused by the previous operation.
All I can say is that 'I love my sleeve' and so pleased to have that damn foreign object out of my body.
hugs
Jilly

Hi Terri,
as you know I was banded last March. My journey has gone along well and I have lost 30kg so far.

I am keeping up to date on all the posts on bands that have gone wrong to make sure I'm aware if anything starts with mine (I pray that it doesnt).

Not long now before your next journey

I'm interested in hearing about other lapbanders experiences/journey. What happened? Have you had it removed, why?