20 lbs of Regret

I had my surgery about 4 years ago. it was working for a short time, and then, NOTHING. I am prob about 20lbs less than when I first had the surgery. It is so depressing to think of all that I have been through for just 20lbs.   Surgery, doctor appointments, traveling, different surgeons, fills, unfills etc...  for just 20lbs.  I remember being so hopeful in the beginning and hearing about people who had less than positive lapband experiences, and I thought, "that won't happen to me"...but here I am.  I feel that my band has two positions, OFF and WAY TOO TIGHT!  What a huge disapointment. I was wonderiing if there is anyone else out there that has not had success with their band???  or am i all alone in this situation? 

No, you're not alone. Not by a long shot.

My band had only one position: WAY TOO TIGHT. I could never eat solid foods, no matter what. If I was silly enough to try it, I'd spend hours, literally hours and hours, throwing up, gagging, dry heaving and in pain until I wanted to just pass out or croak off.

You are welcome to join the Failed Band group (link in my signature) and you'll  see that the band fails quite a few people. The manufacturers tend to over-promise and under-deliver, in my opinion.  If you read the Revisions forum, it's blatantly obvious which WLS is the least effective for most people.

I'm sorry you're going through it.

and the worst thing is...that people just tell you that you are doing everything wrong. "Oh you prob not chewing enough"...i KNOW that I am though. just sometimes, for no reason at all, I am like SHUT and can't barely get down liquid...a couple days later, i could eat a steak! 

 

I am going to go to the failed band page, and look more into the revision pages as well.  What do you see most people revising to?

There are a few people around here who like to blame the patient, but they are ignorant.

I can't even tell you how NOT alone you are. I had my band back in 2002 and have watched dozens upon dozens of my friends go through the same thing.

I think it has a lot to do with how your body reacts to a foreign body. Some people are more prone to inflammation or something.

I just added you to the failed group!
Nicci

I had a very similar experience with my band...I also had only the two positions: Completely open and WAYYYY too tight. I didn't even manage to keep off 20 lbs with mine and eventually gained any weight I had lost back.

I revised to the sleeve and have been so much happier and more successful. I feel like the sleeve works like I thought the band would. Is a revision a possibility for you?

Unfortunately, you are not alone...this is pretty common.

Lindsey

I love what you said about the sleeve...that it works how you THOUGHT the BAND WOULD...Cause I feel that way, that this band does NOT work as I thought it would. It either does nothing, or makes me incredibly SICK!  

 Can you tell me a little more specific what happens with the sleeve that didnt with the band or vice versa?

You may know a bunch of this, but I'll go to the basics. There are two types of weight loss surgeries: restrictive only, which limits what you can eat at a time and restrictive/malabsorption that also keep your body from absorbing some of the calories and nutrients you eat.

The Duodenal Switch and the RNY/Gastric Bypass have malabsorption. The band and sleeve are restriction-only surgeries.

The sleeve involves removing most of the stomach leaving a long, straight section between the esophagus and the pyloric valve. It's the body's natural pyloric valve that controls the release of food into the intestines. Properly made (there are some surgeons out there that do some weird sleeves) a sleeve allows you to eat a few ounces of food but as long as you don't eat more than you should you can (after the recovery period) tolerate most any foods. Doesn't mean you should eat whatever while you're losing, it just means stuff is tolerated better.

No fills/unfills and no object in your body to erode or cause similar problems.

At 6 months+ I can eat a little less than 2 oz of protein, can drink protein shakes, eat nuts, beef jerky, whatever. I can eat a little more on softer foods.

I have never vomited. I have never had food get stuck.

I started out wanting a band but my surgeon didn't recommend it due to some steroids I take. Boy am I glad I ended up with a sleeve.

If you think you need malabsorption, I'd recommend you consider a DS. RNY patients' bodies tend to adjust after a couple years and start absorbing all their calories, plus there are a couple of potential other health issues. If you plan on revising, read all the boards here and do your research.

Good luck! I don't understand why the band is still on the market.

Thanks for that info. It was helpful! I will look into it.

Here are a few comparisons that I can make between my band and my sleeve. Please note these are my personal experiences. I would recommend visiting the surgery forum for the type of revision you are considering and asking for band revision stories and experiences...there are plenty on each board.

For me there were a few areas of difference:

1. Restriction
        With my band, restriction would vary greatly each day. Some days I could eat just the same as I could pre-op while others I was vomiting on water. I would never know what would go down and what would get stuck. I was vomiting frequently despite multiple unfills. I blamed restriction changes on time of the day, time of the year, time of the month, altitude, etc. etc. etc. It seemed like just about anything could change my restriction.

        With my sleeve, my restriction is consistent. I can eat in the morning and the evening, in the summer and the winter, any day of the month, in a plane or on a boat. I personally do not have any food intolerances and I have never vomited with my sleeve. I can tolerate dense protein with ease and am easily satisfied with a small portion of food.

2. Hunger
        With my band, I experienced no change in hunger. My big ole stomach was still in there and wanted to be fed. I regained insanely fast with any unfills as I could then tolerate a large amount of food again.

        With my sleeve, I don't really experience true hunger anymore (this is not true for all sleevers). At times I have to remind myself to eat in order to meet my protein goals each day. This changes more and more as time goes on...I will say that at 11 months out, I look forward to eating more than I did at 3-4 months out, but it still is not true hunger. This has been a lifesaver for me in helping me control my sugar cravings which were also drastically reduced (but I am not sure why...most people's tastes do not change with VSG as far as I'm aware).

3. Results
        With my band, I lost about 65 lbs in the first year and then spent the next 2 years regaining that weight.

        With my sleeve, I've lost 120 lbs in 11 months.


Some things are the same with the band and the sleeve though....as the previous poster stated, they are both restrictive only procedures...which means that you still have to be in control with what you put in your mouth. If I sat around eating ice cream all day, my sleeve could not save me.

For me, it has been very easy to stick to a low carb regimen with my sleeve because I am so easily satisfied with a small amount of food and because I'm some kind of freak where my sleeve drastically reduced my sugar cravings which were my biggest eating issue.

Anyway, thats a run down of my experiences. Again, I would encourage you to do some more research and talk to lots of other people as I am only one person and your mileage may vary.

Keep us updated!
Lindsey

I'm sorry you are going through this. I have very slow weight loss. However, I have to admidt in my case that it wasn't understanding HOW the band works. I expected to feel full like I did before the band. That is not the case- you feel like you've had enough. Its taken me a lot of work but I am loosing. I've had the series of complications as well. I hope you are able to do whatever you feel needs to be done including a revisoin. K