IamWorthIt
Member
Hello all,
I’m new to this forum, but not Bariatrics. My story is kind of long, but I’ll do my best to put it out there.
In October 2007 I had my lapband installed (is that the right term? Sounds weird ). I definitely had a love/hate relationship with my band. I learned very quickly how to eat what I wanted even with the band. All I had to do was throw up what I ate and with the band it was easy to bring food back up, much easier than getting it down.
I got to where I was throwing up at every meal. When we went to a restaurant, I learned to immediately find the restroom because I knew as I ate I would need the toilet to get the food back out.
I did this religiously until suddenly, nothing would go through. My band had slipped. I had managed to lose 125+ but was suddenly in a horrible place when I couldn’t even get water to stay down. After about 10 days of every drop of anything I put in my mouth coming back up, I finally went to see my doctor. They did a swallow study and we learned my band had completely slipped causing a full obstruction. I had to go in for emergency surgery.
Of course I didn’t want my band removed. It had caused me to lose 125+ pounds. So they just did a revision and got it back where it belonged. This was August 2008. So I had lost 125+ in less than 10 months.
A few weeks later after I healed, it became time for me to start getting fills again. I had gained about 30 pounds back, but I was ok with that. I got a few fills, but then I talked myself out of getting any more fills because I wanted to have another baby soon. So I had all the liquid removed and my band was wide open.
It took me over five years to actually have that baby. In November 2013, I finally had my baby girl. During that time, I gained back ALL of my weight I had lost from throwing up with the lapband and I was so ashamed. I felt I had wasted all my time and efforts. I refused to go see my Bariatric surgeon even for follow ups because I didn’t want to admit my failure. I knew it was all my fault.
Fast forward to 2022. I was at my original pre-surgery weight. I had tried and tried to lose weight but would only lose 15-20 pounds and fail and gain it all back. Keep in mind, I still had my band in and would occasionally get food stuck and have to puke it back up. I was miserable. Everything hurt.
I finally convinced myself that I deserved better. Just because I failed once, didn’t mean I was doomed for the rest of my life. So I went back to my Bariatric clinic in December 2022. There was a new surgeon there. All the old surgeons had retired or moved on in the last 15 years. The new surgeon told me it would take two procedures, one to remove my lapband followed by my sleeve surgery 3 months later. He insisted he didn’t want to combine the procedures and that I had to wait those three months to heal.
I had my band removed 1/30/23. I am currently in the three month wait time between surgeries. I am hopeful to have my sleeve surgery the first of May, but it hasn’t actually been scheduled yet.
So that’s my story. I’m here looking for support so hopefully I can find success again and stick with it. Does anyone have a similar story or can relate?
looking forward to making new friends and supporting each other,
Heidi
I’m new to this forum, but not Bariatrics. My story is kind of long, but I’ll do my best to put it out there.
In October 2007 I had my lapband installed (is that the right term? Sounds weird ). I definitely had a love/hate relationship with my band. I learned very quickly how to eat what I wanted even with the band. All I had to do was throw up what I ate and with the band it was easy to bring food back up, much easier than getting it down.
I got to where I was throwing up at every meal. When we went to a restaurant, I learned to immediately find the restroom because I knew as I ate I would need the toilet to get the food back out.
I did this religiously until suddenly, nothing would go through. My band had slipped. I had managed to lose 125+ but was suddenly in a horrible place when I couldn’t even get water to stay down. After about 10 days of every drop of anything I put in my mouth coming back up, I finally went to see my doctor. They did a swallow study and we learned my band had completely slipped causing a full obstruction. I had to go in for emergency surgery.
Of course I didn’t want my band removed. It had caused me to lose 125+ pounds. So they just did a revision and got it back where it belonged. This was August 2008. So I had lost 125+ in less than 10 months.
A few weeks later after I healed, it became time for me to start getting fills again. I had gained about 30 pounds back, but I was ok with that. I got a few fills, but then I talked myself out of getting any more fills because I wanted to have another baby soon. So I had all the liquid removed and my band was wide open.
It took me over five years to actually have that baby. In November 2013, I finally had my baby girl. During that time, I gained back ALL of my weight I had lost from throwing up with the lapband and I was so ashamed. I felt I had wasted all my time and efforts. I refused to go see my Bariatric surgeon even for follow ups because I didn’t want to admit my failure. I knew it was all my fault.
Fast forward to 2022. I was at my original pre-surgery weight. I had tried and tried to lose weight but would only lose 15-20 pounds and fail and gain it all back. Keep in mind, I still had my band in and would occasionally get food stuck and have to puke it back up. I was miserable. Everything hurt.
I finally convinced myself that I deserved better. Just because I failed once, didn’t mean I was doomed for the rest of my life. So I went back to my Bariatric clinic in December 2022. There was a new surgeon there. All the old surgeons had retired or moved on in the last 15 years. The new surgeon told me it would take two procedures, one to remove my lapband followed by my sleeve surgery 3 months later. He insisted he didn’t want to combine the procedures and that I had to wait those three months to heal.
I had my band removed 1/30/23. I am currently in the three month wait time between surgeries. I am hopeful to have my sleeve surgery the first of May, but it hasn’t actually been scheduled yet.
So that’s my story. I’m here looking for support so hopefully I can find success again and stick with it. Does anyone have a similar story or can relate?
looking forward to making new friends and supporting each other,
Heidi
