Weight Loss Surgery - (SAGB) Weight Loss Surgery Nearly Killed Me!

Hi everyone, I am new to 3FC but have some experience in the surgery area I thought I would share for those of you considering these procedures. My name is Don and my story is probably not too dissimilar from any of you who have struggled with weight loss. I was always the "big kid" or "fat kid" in school. I joined the Army in 1991 and was discahrged in 1995 for being overweight. By 1998 I was a staggering 380 pounds. With the combination of sleep apnea, chronic low back pain and a crippling gastro intestinal disorder I opted to lose weight rather than purchase the "C-Pap" machine to aid my night time breathing. Through shear will power and near starvation I got down to a thin 220 pounds. (I am 6'2 and have a fairly large frame so 220 is thin for me) With no knowledge of nutrition it did not take long to start putting the weight back on. By the time I reached about 260 pounds I told my wife that I had had enough of the yo-yo games and needed a "permanent fix". The gastric band seemed the best option as it was reversable, if needed, less expensive and far less invasive. In 2003 I had the Swedish Adustable Gastric Band (SAGB) placed laproscopically. Things seemed fine for the first 6 months until I had my first "episode" as my local baritric surgeon called it. I suffered a total and unexplainable blockage. I felt a terrible cramping in my stomach and about every 15-20 minutes I would vomit up my own saliva. After nearly 6 hours my wife took her very thirsty husband to the emergency room where I was admitted overnight, placed on pain medicine, steroids and hydrated with IV solutions. Initially we thought it was a freak occurance until the same thing happend 6 months later. This time I did not wait as long to go to the doctor but the unexplainable condition still eluded my surgeon and the treatment was again the same. I suffered this way for over 2 years with 4 similar episodes. It would take me, on average, over 2 hours to eat a bowl of soup. My tounge had turned a permant yellow and my general practicioner doctor was researching expensive vitamin shots to get me the necessary vitamins and minerals that she suspected I was missing as I was unable to even swallow pills. Finally, with much hesitation I opted to have my band removed. My Surgeon warned me that a reversal of this procdedure, while necessary, would ensure me a weight of 300 pounds by Christmas. I was currently at my goal weight (although extremely miserable and hungry) of 225 pounds. He said that reversal patients have no idea how powerful these procedures could be until they are reversed but I had no option and had delayed as long as possible. I scheduled what was supposed to be a quick 1 hour laproscopic day procedure and forked over thousands of more dollars to the surgeons, anesthesioligists, and hospital. I woke up after 4 hours with a 7 inch diagonal slash across my abdomin full of staples. When the surgeons went in laproscopically, (small tubes and camera) they could not even find my gastric band!!! They were forced to cut me open and to their amazement, it had been completely encapsulated with scar tissue. Apparently, my own body had been systematically attacking this foreign object with scar tissue which had been causing all of the issues over the years. They had to spend hours hacking away tissue just to remove the band. In the process they nicked my spleen and I almost died on the table. I was released from the hospital 4 days later on Thanksgiving day 2006 feeling a bit like frankenstein with my gigantic row of staples but finally able to eat again. 3 days later I had a post op complication that literally sent blood squirting all over my bed and my wife and put me back in the hospital, back in the OR and under the knife once again. A broken blood vessel had caused the golf ball sized swelling to tear through my staples and give my a ride in the ambulance.

I share this story because I am now a reformed surgery survivor. I believe that the "tools" are available for you to achieve your desired weights and/or measurements WITHOUT surgery. Today I am at 235 pounds and aobut 15 pounds and 6% body fat away from reaching my goal.

As my first post here I will stop but please share with me your feedback if you have had similar or better exsperiences than I regarding surgeries.

Wow, what an experience you had! I am so glad you are healing. I wish you continued success and wellness. Welcome to 3FC! :welcome:

Thanks for sharing your story.

Sorry your doctors did that to you. Where did you have this done?

YOWSER! In all that, did they ever do any imaging like CT scans or Xrays to see what was going on?

Congratulations on your weight loss and your determination to make it work!

I'm still working on insurance approval for a lapband. I've had several abdominal surgeries before and things went well, except for a blood clot in the leg after the last one. Knowing that now, hopefully we can avoid it again. Otherwise I'd be very, very anxious about surgery instead of just anxious. We just never know what our bodies are going to decide to do, do we?

I had a friend who had gastric bypass on Feb 14th, 2000. She had tried many many diets, and didn't seem to have the will to stick with them.With gastric bypass, she lost nearly 100 pounds by January 2001. She had horrible stomach pain starting in December 2000, and her Dr (not surgeon, normal GP) said it was constipation. Well, she was horribly embarrassed by that, so although the pain came and went, she did not go back. January 1st 2001, she felt HORRIBLE. She laid low most of the day, and finally went to the hospital in the middle of the night. Her vitals were horrible, so they did exploratoty surgery. They found ~5 liters of bile in her abdomen. The scar tissue had worked a whole into her stomach, and she was leaking bile into system. Her body went into septic shock, and she died either the 2nd or 3rd (sadly I don't remember anymore). I am morbidly obese, but I think I can't do surgery. I need to focus and be more healthy. Just thought I would share the story that still haunts me a bit, as she was my best friend who died at the age of 28 yrs old.

Realist, I am so sorry that happened to your friend. :hug:

Thanks to both of you for sharing your stories. It's important to hear all sides when considering surgery. My experience has been totally opposite. I know that surgery has saved my life. I had tried my whole life to control my weight through diets to no avail. It finally came to the point where I knew the fat was going to kill me, I already had mounting health problems. I realized that my chances of surviving with the surgery were much greater than surviving without it. To me it was worth the small risk to have a chance at a better and longer life. Every surgery has risks and I was willing to accept them in this instance. It is up to each person to weigh the risks and make their own informed decision.

Best of luck to you.

shrinkingpamelalala

WOW Tropigal, you've lost almost 100 pounds! :cp:

One problem is, that you have to know what the risks are before you can make an informed decision. In some areas, that information isn't as easy to get as you'd think. For myself, I had one doctor (my gp) dead set against the surgery because of the complications he has seen, and I saw one doctor who was so for it, that he dismissed all of my concerns without addressing them (luckily, I had done a fair amount of research on my own).

The pro surgery doctor was a rheumatologist I was referred to for my fibromyalgia and my autoimmune issue (because of damage to the cartilage in my nose, with no known cause, I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease, initially Wegener's granulomatosis, but that was later ruled out, as the progression of the damage has been atypical. Regardless, I have autoimmune connective tissue disease of some sort).

Well, I won't consider gastric bypass because I am WAY too prone to staph infections and vitamin and mineral deficiencies as it is. This didn't make Dr. Rheumatologist very happy. He told me that WLS, gastric bypass in particular, is the ONLY way that I am going to lose the weight (mind you this is the first day I met him). I also brought up my concern about the lap band with the autoimmune disease (the manufacturer of the lapband says it's a nono). Well the doctor said that there was "no proof" that I had an autoimmune disease (and he didn't intend to run any tests until AFTER I had lost 100 lbs), and besides that he wasn't concerned with any additional risk (WELL I AM).

I know my body, and I know that I have a problem with inflammation and healing (extra scar tissue forming). It's very likely that I would have complications, so I'm not willing to take the risks. But, I'll tell you it was hard trying to find out those risks. I still don't have any hard numbers to go on, just that the underestimated numbers I could get are too high for me. I still resent that doctors refusal to deal with me at all unless I underwent a surgery I wasn't comfortable having.

Doctors bring their own biases, and this doctor obviously felt that any risk was acceptable to a person as fat as I (Sorry, but as the patient I get to make that decision). If I didn't already KNOW the risks going in, he would have had me convinced that the procedure was as safe as a pedicure. One thing that is known, is that it is still one of the riskiest elective surgeries.

Now, I'm hoping that the actual local surgeon would not be so cavalier, but I've talked to a few people who've had the surgery. Some with success and some with complications, and I've learned that there is a LOT of variation between how well the patients were prepared for the surgery. I was shocked.

I'm not trying to talk anyone out of the surgery, but I do believe in informed consent. A good surgeon is going to make sure you not only know what could happen, but how likely each of the consequences are are given your individual medical history.

Many areas have bariatric surgery support groups, and people considering surgery are welcome. I strongly encourage anyone considering the surgery to attend such a group even before making an appointment with a surgeon. You'll get to hear who the really good surgeons are, and who may not be. You'll get to hear about peoples' complications and how they dealt with them...

I once heard someone say that she was so glad that she didn't know the risks before she had the surgery, and that if people knew the risks, no one would have the surgery.

I don't believe that is true. I believe that only people who DO know the risks, should be having the surgery.

I listened carefully to stories like these before surgery, they were a dose of reality among the claims of "life is perfect when...." that you hear in the lapband commercials. The stories of the possible consequences made me realize the soberness of my decision, the reality of complications or even a sad outcome and the desperation I had reached when I finally had the RNY.

I feel for you, Realist and the family of your friend, my heart goes out to you.

I am glad that you, akdrummer made it through your own personal tornado and are here fighting the good fight...you are an inspiration to all who read your story whether they have had, will have or will never have WLS. Thank you for sharing.

I've had a good experience so far and I hold myself lucky.

Angela

WLS or any type of surgery for that matter is a gamble, the risks, the doctors, the hospital, etc. People must realize that for the 1 person who had a bad experience, there are hundreds that had good experiences. We all realize that we could have been that 1 in 200.

AK sorry that happened to you but I'm glad your fighting this and succeeding on your own.

Leenie

A colleague at work had a similar experience to the OP where scar tissue grew over the band and blocked the transit to the stomach. She also had it removed but elected to have a gastric bypass in its place. I'm pleased to say the bypass has been a success, although she is still not satisfied with the results, but that's a whole other story.

Kitty

WOW Tropigal, you've lost almost 100 pounds! :cp:

Thanks for noticing, SoulBliss! I'm loving my vsg!

ShrinkingPamelalala

Here's my whole problem with the concept of weight loss surgery.

I have a couple of friends who have had it done. I looked into it myself when I was at my heaviest weight. Even the doctors who gave me the best information (as much as or more than the research I had done myself) gave me NO NUTRITION INFORMATION whatsoever. So after surgery, I would have been in a position where I"d have to eat much smaller meals, often be struggling to get the full amount of the proper nutrients, and yet no one said to me "after this you have to eat nutrient rich foods and balance your diet". Everyone acted like if I just ate *less* ... it would all be ok.

I also know that 2 of my friends who had WLS eventually gained back all the weight they lost in large part because - as an example, they thought it was ok to have a hamburger from McDonalds for a meal (a kids size) rather than the double 1/4 with cheese that they used to have. It was a "small meal" which fit in with the volume guildelines they were given ... and so that's what they ate. They still never ate veggies. They still ate fatty fried meats -just less of them. It was scary. And any time I said anything they laughed at me and said I didn't understand.

I also know that none of them exercised at all. Ever.

I believe very seriously that anyone who is going to have weight loss surgery should be REQUIRED to have at least 3-6 months of counseling and nutrition and exercise education.

Then, after that, if you feel that surgery is the only method for you, then you at least have the knowledge of how to eat properly afterwords to help.

.

Hey all, thanks for your feedback and all of your well wishes. To answer many of your questions I was not "rich" at the time and we researched the Mexican options. As I recall, the Seattle operation was in the $20,000 range and we paid roughly $10,000 to go to Mexico. I had called and talked to recent surgery patients, one of which was in my home town and they all had great things to say. I would strongly encourage anyone thinking of saving money by going out of coutry to think twice. The follow up care is essential. When I got home I had deffered gas pains for weeks and no one was available to assist locally. The additonal costs of each episode plus the later reversal probably approached $50,000!!! It is NOT cheaper and is more dangerous to leave country.

PHOTOCHIC---You nailed it on the head. When my gastric band was reversed, after nearly two years of next to no food, my metabolism had slowed down tremendously. It was extremly tough to get things to start to work again. It seemed that whatever I ate went right to the gut as my system attempted to store everything. I had to work twice as hard for the same weight loss results. I think that a mandatory nutritional and psychological counseling before and after surgery should be a requirement. I know that some surgeons do it but most do not. I have put the pieces of the puzzle together but it has been the long slow and hard way.

One aspect I think is not discussed as much as it should be is the "why" of overeating. Addiction to the dopamine released by the brain when eating?

More on my next post. Thanks, all

Realist, thank you for sharing this terrible and worst case scenario with us. I am sorry for your loss. I, of course, am now a die hard firm believer in success without surgery. If you would like some of the tips that I have put together over the years, I am more than happy to share. We all need to stick together for this battle. I know for me that regardless of what weight I am today, it all comes down to the choices that I make meal by meal. I know that, like an alcoholic, I will have to battle this for the rest of my life but I know that it is a battle that I can continue to win every day.

Good luck--Don

My problem with the "everything has risks," and the "for every 1 person that has a bad reaction there are 200 that had a good experience" is that it doesn't paint the true picture of WLS risks.

Or people will say (without knowing it to be true, and most often it is not) "well, the risks of the obesity MUST be worse. It concerns me that so many people are dealing with the assumed or guesstimated risk rather than true risk. TRUE information, I don't think it's that much to ask.

The fact is, even though the statistics on WLS are pretty poorly kept, the statistics that ARE available show that for every 1 person who dies or has severe life-threatening complications FAR fewer than 200 don't have them (and I'm not even counting the people who have moderate complications that were fairly easily addressed).

The biggest problem for me was finding out what the risk actually WAS. 1 in 20, 1 in 40, 1 in 50, 1 in 100? The best general estimate that I could get was somewhere between 1 in 40 and 1 in 50, but other stats were as high as 1 in 10 (probably taking any significant complication that "could have" been life threatening into account).

To me it inexcuseable to do a surgery which removes functioning organs without making sure the patient understands how their life will be altered by the experience. It's like performing a transplant and not doing any follow-up or forgetting to tell the patient that they need to be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives or telling them, but forgetting to write the prescriptions.

Personally, I can't see it being a reasonable surgery unless at minimum a surgeon, general care doctor, psychologist, dietitian and physical therapist and ideally a social worker are involved. Follow-up care should be 24/7, by people TRAINED to deal with complications. Unfortunately most emergency rooms do not, so nights and weekends, you could be on your own if your doctor doesn't "do" emergency calls.

A person has the right, and responsibility to have this kind of care. And until I started doing deeper research, I had assumed that this was happening - the education, the aftercare... To find out that in many cases it isn't, well I found it very disturbing.

A person needs to be well-prepared. For people who have done the research and know what they're facing, surgery can be a great tool for them. But I think the surgeon/hospital bears some responsiblity for making sure that patients know what to expect and how to be prepared for complications should they occur.

I just wanted to add...those of us that choose surgery need to understand that WLS is NOT the easy way even without complications, not a quick fix that makes it so you can eat whatever and still lose weight (I hear a lot of that)...that we need to work hard to lose and keep it off just like anyone else.

Surgery was a jump start and if I am to succeed I need to deal with food, why I overeat and exercise one day at a time too.

Angela

Surgery was a jump start and if I am to succeed I need to deal with food, why I overeat and exercise one day at a time too.

That is a VERY wise statement! :yes:

I agree 100%. It is not a quick fix and people who choose this option still need to make behavioral and lifestyle changes. I looked into it for myself and for me it didn't make sense when the reality was I was going to have to make all of these changes to my eating and exercise habits anyways if I was going to be successful. I have heard of enough cases where people have lost the weight through gastric bypass or lap band and then put back on a significant amount of it - so that they are still overweight. I know full well this happens with diet as well but it struck me that the behavioural and lifestyle component is not fully addressed through surgery. At the same time I know some people really need this procedure to help them and they have tried diets to no avail- so don't think I am against this. I just think that it is really important for everyone to realize it is not a quick fix and to keep the weight off you need the willpower to make the right food choices. Thanks to the poster for his story because it is so important for everyone to know what some of the risks are even if they are rare.

wow! a person spends two days without internet access and LOOK WHAT HAPPENS!

experiences like the ones described here are real, and we all need to be well aware of the possibilities - as several people have already said.

but i gotta talk about the fact that some programs don't have counseling, and that some surgeons are doing this without appropriate evaluations. ASBS has a center of excellence program, and it requires that the surgeons have a certain number of surgeries under their belts, with defined outcomes. and that patients undergo psychological screening and counseling, nutritional counseling, and various preop programs.

if the surgeon you're looking at doesn't have this - go find another surgeon.

one of the big issues that scares me about lapband these days is that the manufacturer is advertising this as a cosmetic procedure, and we're all seeing surgeons jumping on the bandwagon. there are many people who can afford the lapband as self-pay, without insurance, and i'm worried - about a lack of counseling, about complications, all sorts of things.

and, as AK said - be careful with out-of-country providers because finding followup care can be very very difficult. few surgeons are willing to take on the complications of another surgeon's patient!!!

I knew a guy who talked constantly about getting weight loss surgery. He finally got it done and died on the operating table!!! Another friend got it done and she has been in and out of the hospital for non-stop complications. I am so grateful I didn't get it done. The surgery doesn't address the real problem which is "food addiction". I have heard of too many people losing weight with the surgery and then gaining back all the weight plus new medical complications. At age 52, I joined overeaters anonymous and food addicts anonymous and lost 125 pounds. The book that saved my life is called "Food addiction-The body knows by Kay Sheppard. Please friends :hug:before you risk your life please check out this "lifesaving book".

WOW!! Losts to talk about here. I'd have to say that I agree with Jiff 100% about finding an ASBS Center of Excellence. I had that with my surgical team. I did ALOT of research and talked to several of his patients, some of them I know personally and others I've met at the support meeting.

I feel bad for the folks that wanted this surgery only to have outcomes that were not beneficial to them. It's sad. I can't imagine how hard that must be.

On another note....and boy am I going out on a limb here and please bare with me. I don't understand how anyone in this day and age not know that fast food is BAD FOR YOU!! It does not matter if it's a "small meal" or not.....it's rotten!! Now, this is coming from someone that does not like fast food. I've never understood the appeal of that stuff....YUCK!! Most of us have spent countless years counting fat grams....carbs...sugar grams...calories we are smart we could probably all write our own diet books. I don't understand why/how people get bypass or banded and then think it's a right of passage to eat what ever they want only in smaller portions. To me that is just a silly gamble and they are well on their way to failure before they even start. Now, I know that for some folks (myself included ) that food has been an awsome lover and friend but there comes a time for this reationship to be put away and if you don't have the support (group meetings and counceling if neseccary) you better seak it out....I've thought about counceling and would go in a heartbeat if I see that I was going back to old habits. This is a new lease on life ....you MUST give it your 100% best effort. For me eating something that I am not suppose to have ( my Dr. has an excellent NUT that is very helpful post surgery and I can call her at anytime) is not an option. I write everything down....I exercise....I cope and I don't eat when I'm stressed. Food will not make stress go away....Get a grip and move on. I am teaching myself to be proactive NOT reactive..... Exercise is great for stress. This is coming for a girl that never, ever exercised and here I'm going to a gym and it feels great.

I just don't understand how someone could wait for so long to get gastric or banded and then blow it on silly things like fastfood??

I think that everyone that wants to have this operation should have a psych eval...but then again I am sure that some people would slip through the cracks. I also think that everyone should do their homework and make sure they are going to get a plan for the different stages that they will be eating. I did....I asked about that at one of the first meetings that I had with my NUT. Also...go to the support meetings..if your surgeon doesn't have one then you MUST find one...it's so, so important to talk to others and share your experience.

O.K. I'm off my soap box...I'll be good now. I've never vented like this on this board...YIKES!!!

I'll be a good girl now...LOL!!

Thank you for taking the time to tell your story. I will be having the lapband surgery in August. I have been away from this site for about a year. When I looked at my weight loss tracker it was 238.5. I am now at 266. I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. I have not found a pill that does not give me side effects ( tired, dizzy, lack of sex drive, heart palpatations). When I felt healthy WLS did not even come in my head but know I can't wait to have it done. One thing your stories have made clear to me is to take all aches and pains seriously. Thanks again and god bless.

I just don't understand how someone could wait for so long to get gastric or banded and then blow it on silly things like fastfood?? !!

Because old habits return easily. Stomach surgery does not fix the brain and when that "honeymoon" phase after surgery is gone (could be 6 months, could be 2 years), people tend to go back to what comforts them. I think alot of people tend to over eat b/c of head issues which are not address after surgery and personally I think doctors don't know how to address them. People have surgery and no help afterwords with the mental part of it... either the support is just not there or the support just plain ol stinks.

Maybe insurance companies should make people attend a year of therapy/support before they approve them :shrug: I don't know.

But thats JMHO ;)


.

I guess that I just don't understand the lure of fastfood. I don't like it...I could never tell you the last time I was even in a fastfood place...LOL!! BUT....if I was out somewhere and needed something to eat quickly I think it would be a better choice to either to go SubWay or to a grocery store and pick something up there...I mean convenience strores even sell beef jerky....that's a better choice than fastfood !!!

I do realzie that the surgery has not and will not fix our minds. That's the unfortunate part.

I have to admit that I also don't understand the allure of fast food. I also don't understand the allure of rich desserts (at least any time other than when I'm PMSing).

However, I have my own food issues that could make weight loss surgery difficult or even dangerous. My hunger doesn't have an off switch, especially where carbs (even relatively healthy ones) are concerned. Probably my absolute favorite comfort food is fairly healthy, at least when limited. My grandmother made green beans in tomato sauce with onion and bacon. I make it alot, but just cut down or eliminate the bacon. Served over mashed potatoes (made with little to no butter and skim milk) - I can eat this until I get sick. I don't know why, but I just don't have a stop button when carbs are concerned. Even low carb, I have to be consciously aware of how much I eat, because I can't trust hunger or fullness to be my sole guide. It's very easy for me to eat until the point that I am in pain, before I even think of stopping.

This could be not only uncomfortable, but life-threatening after wls, so it's another reason that I don't thing wls is for me.

I don't understand fast food at all. I never liked it growing up and still don't. I didn't even like pizza until the past couple years when I found out there is actually good pizza out there. I gained my weight on just regular old food. Bread and cheese were a common mix for me.

I think everyone who goes over 300 lbs thinks about WLS at some point so I'd be lying to say that I didn't think about it. I figured it wasn't the choice for me but if it was, I would've done a lot of research before doing it.

I too have my own food issues and I still struggle with them. I may always struggle on them. And no matter how you lose the weight, the easy part is losing the weight, the hard part is maintaining that weight loss.

Hi Photochick,
I don't think "everyone" should be required to take the 6 months. Here is why. I know MANY type two diabetics that DO watch what they eat and they work out. I was almost 260 at one point. I managed to lose 40 pounds in a year but had 2 work out TWO hours per day except Sundays. I have kept most off except 10 that I go back and forth with those. I have kept it off for 5 3/4 years.
I eat my veggies and lean meats. I know about portion control. I don't like pasta. I only eat wheat bread and then that's rare. I have NO sugar,white flour or candies in my home.I do workout but my weight stays at 220to 227. Why should I have to go through all of this?
My doctor knows I am doing everything I can and I have kept my A1C under 7 at all times. This is without meds. My highest reading has been 6.7 and lowest 6.3. My last was 6.7 and my doctor has become quite concerned. He is the one that is sending me to a Lapband doctor.
The exciting news in all of this is that we now know that type 2 diabetics do not "process" food properly in the first 12 inches of the upper intestine. Dr Manny was on the Fox news and said there is a cure for type 2 simply bypass the first 12 inches of the upper intestine. My best friend gets so annoyed when someone will tell me to simply eat less and exercise more. Both my husband and she have told people YOU eat MORE then my wife/friend and YOU don't even exercise!!!I am fed up and I have seen doctors say that of their 2 will state they DO eat clean and DO exercise but then admit they didnt believe their own patient until the results A1C came back within range.I have put this off and put this off. The thing is my pancres IS working but VERY sluggish. If I get this done I need to do it NOW. Once the pancres wears out its shot. Studies have been done that show overweight people do in fact eat LESS then their counterparts.

I think the perparation for surgery and the decision making process can be done very quickly. Many people do well with "crash course," learning. My bigger concern is the lack of good aftercare in many areas. It's a lot different to say "this is going to be really hard, hope it all works out for you, bye" and "this is going to be really hard, but we're hooking you up with a lot of support to help you through."

WLS isn't a quick fix and anyone treating it as though it is, is going to face problems (whether it's the doctor or the patient, and God Help the people for whom it is both).

***

I believe very seriously that anyone who is going to have weight loss surgery should be REQUIRED to have at least 3-6 months of counseling and nutrition and exercise education.

Then, after that, if you feel that surgery is the only method for you, then you at least have the knowledge of how to eat properly afterwords to help.

I actually think that is a brilliant suggestion. I believe we should be able to do what we want with our bodies, but I do think there is a moral obligation as a doctor and your suggestion, to me, fits within that moral obligation.