I am officially a banding failure – Emily’s story
Following yesterday’s post about the world-first lap banding trial to be carried out on 30 Australian Aboriginals from a single community, I received an email from a Fat Lot of Good reader that broke my heart. Emily is a 34 year old primary school teacher. She lives with her male partner and they have three young children together. Emily has a gastric band and the following is what she shared with me in her email…
POSSIBLE TRIGGERS – discussion of weight loss surgery, weight based humiliation, bodily functions
My name is Emily and I have been reading your blog for sometime now. I read your post about the banding that is going to be performed on the 30 Aboriginal patients and I wanted to tell you about my experience with lap banding. I know you don’t permit weight loss discussion on your blog but my story isn’t the usual weight loss story so I hope you will read what I have to say and maybe even share it with your readers. If my experience can convince one person not to get the banding done, then I will be happy.
I have been fat most of my life. Mainly since I went through puberty. I was an early developer and I gained boobs, pubic hair and a lot of weight all within a few months of my eleventh birthday. When I was 15 I weighed 78kg. I did lose some weight but I put it all back on (and more) during my early 20s when I was in a bad relationship and I began binge eating. By the time I got pregnant with my daughter when I was 22, I weighed 82kg and at the end of the pregnancy I was 101kg. Between my daughter’s birth and the birth of my youngest child (my second son) 8 years later, I put on a lot more weight and when I found out I was pregnant with my youngest I was 113kg. I was still binge eating even though I had ended the bad relationship and was in a much healthier relationship with my current partner. I tried dieting but of course it never worked, or not for long anyway. You name the diet, I have tried it. I would go up and down within about a 15kg range but always end up bigger than I was when I started. When I weighed in at 136kg I decided, with my doctor’s encouragement, to get a lap band. I only knew a bit about lap bands, I went to one of the information sessions held by a local surgeon and heard all the good things about banding. I got online and found more good things about banding. I was either blind to, or didn’t know where to find, the other side of the story. I had heard about a few people who had bands and who hadn’t lost weight but I was told they had ‘cheated’ by drinking milkshakes all the time and liquidizing their food so they could get it down without vomiting. I couldn’t see the point of that sort of behaviour and believed I would be different. I would be one of the people who lost 30 odd kilograms and was a banding success story like the people on the banding web site.
I had an initial appointment with the surgeon my GP had recommended, an appointment which probably lasted all of 10-15 minutes. He weighed and measured me, asked me a few questions about my health (which other than my weight was very good) and asked me when I wanted to have my band inserted. He said he could do it in a weeks time. I was speechless. I hadn’t expected it to be so easy. I had thought I would have to have some sort of psychological consultation or something. He hadn’t asked about my history with dieting or if I had ever had an eating disorder. He didn’t ask if I was a binge eater or if I ever starved myself or make myself vomit my food back up. He didn’t ask any of that. He simply booked me in for my operation and off I went, thinking my luck had finally come in.
I ended up getting my band inserted three weeks later. I had to restrict myself to a low calorie diet drink called Optifast for two weeks before the surgery. That was difficult and I ‘cheated’ several times by eating a normal evening meal with my family. I had lost about 5kg by the time I arrived at the hospital for my surgery. The banding procedure itself wasn’t a big deal for me but within two months I was back in the same operating theatre having my gall bladder removed. I had lost 15kg all up (including the 5 I lost pre-surgery) and apparently sudden weight loss like that can stir up the gall bladder and cause all sorts of trouble. Apparently this is a common event after banding – an event that was never mentioned to me before the surgery. None of the potential risks were mentioned to me before the surgery. None of them. Not a one. It was all good as far as my doctor and my surgeon were concerned. They said if I didn’t lose weight, it was because I was doing something wrong. If you didn’t cheat, banding would always work.
I guess it depends on what you define as ‘worked’. After I had my gall bladder out I had chronic diarrhoea and now, two years later, I still have chronic diarrhoea – up to 10 times a day (sometimes more), every single day. No matter what I eat or drink (or don’t eat or drink) I have diarrhoea. Apparently this is a not too uncommon side effect of having the gall bladder removed. Again, something no one bothered to warn me about beforehand. I also have a problem with what banding jargon calls a ‘productive burp’. This is when your food won’t go down and it comes back up again. Other people would call it vomiting but they call it a productive burp. It looks bad if you tell patients they might have a vomiting issue once they have their banding done. This productive burping makes going out to eat, or eating in public at all, very difficult. I never know when I am going to bring it all back up. Another thing that happens is food gets stuck and this can be very painful. I have also lost a lot of my hair. This is apparently due to a malabsorbtion issue. My hair comes out in chunks. I had long hair, now I have to wear it short or I look like I have bald spots.
But the weight, have I lost the weight? It would all be worth it if I have lost the weight, right? Sure, I have lost weight. I now weigh in at 126kg. I have lost all of 10kg and 5 of that was before the band was inserted. When my gall bladder was causing me extreme pain, my surgeon removed the fluid from my band and didn’t put anymore in until some months after my gall bladder was removed. Even so, it has been two years since I had the band put in and I have lost all of 10kg. I was seeing my surgeon on a monthly basis there for a while but when I wasn’t losing weight (and had even gained some), he started to say I was obviously cheating. He said I had to be eating junk food, had to be eating more than 3 times a day (they actually recommend skipping breakfast and only having two meals a day, and only if you actually feel hungry), that I must be drinking soft drink and not exercising. He wouldn’t believe me that I don’t eat junk food (well only very very occassionally because of the diarrhoea thing) and I can’t drink soft drink for the same reason. I often have to leave the classroom at work to rush to the toilet, something that doesn’t endear me to my principal at all. I do exercise but then I did all along. I swim several times a week (and have done since I was a teenager) and I walk daily (we have two big dogs that demand walking) and even do the occassional belly dancing class – but I have to take anti-diarrhoea medication before participating in any of those activities, and generally before even leaving the house. My surgeon simply did not believe this could be the case, that I could be so active etc. He told me straight out that it was MY fault the band wasn’t working. At that point I stopped going to see him. I have no idea how much ‘fill’ (the liquid) is in my band and I actually think the band might have moved because I don’t have a feeling of restriction when I eat. I had mentioned this to him but he said it was because I had stretched the upper pouch by eating too much. I know this isn’t the case because I simply do not eat more than a few spoonfulls of food in one sitting – less than a cup full. I can’t eat more than that because of the diarrhoea and the burping.
So I am officially a banding failure. I believe my health is worse now than it was before I had the band put in and all for a grand loss of 10kg. It is so not worth it. I know I can’t be the only one who banding hasn’t worked for. I know there have to be more people out there with stories like mine. We aren’t included in the studies that proclaim how successful and wonderful and life changing banding is. It is life changing but it changed my life for the worse not the better. I would like to have the band removed but the only person in my area who can do it is the same surgeon who put it in. Fat chance of me going back to see him. So for now, I have to put up with it and I just wish I had never had the stupid thing put in in the first place.
I want to thank Emily for being brave enough to share her story with me and allowing me to post it here on my blog. Emily is more than willing to answer any questions you might have for her but I will not approve any comments denigrating Emily or anything else remotely along those lines.
Oh Emily – I am so sorry you have gone through this. I hate hearing the old diet stuff again – you cheated, it’s your fault. What BS. They provide you with a “miracle” and then berate you when the band doesn’t work.
I have a friend who has suffered like you with the band. I wish she could see that it is not her fault and she is not a failure. I am so happy that you are able to blame the band and the doctor and not yourself.
I think the medical/band community is perpetrating a fraud when it does not disclose all possible associated problems. All other drugs and procedures come with a long list of side effects, failure rates etc. People all over the net discuss the pros and cons of various surgeries and drugs. WLS is the exception because you almost never hear a negative word. I think the belief among doctors and patients is that being fat is so awful that loosing weight must be done at any cost.
Lots of hugs. I hope you one day find a doctor who can help with the gallbladder problems and remove the band.
This guest blog is a great aervice because it is proof that banding does not work for everyone.
Thanks for publishing Emily’s story. I think it’s important that these kinds of WLS experiences reach the public, because the bariatric surgery industry sure isn’t going to publicise them.
Emily, I’m just so sorry, what an horrific experience. I hope you do find a surgeon who will remove it for you. Just another story to – pardon the pun – add weight to my hatred of Banding Mutilation. It ruins people’s lives.
Thanks for sharing your sad tale with us. I’m so sorry you’ve gone through all this, and hope you can find a way to get your symptoms relieved.
I have a very good friend who, along with her husband, had the lap-band procedure done (his & hers!). My friend’s husband lost weight, but has since gained it back and then some. I could never figure out why my friend was even approved for the procedure. She said it was because she had a very slightly elevated Hemoglobin A1c. However, her “goal” weight was only about 35 pounds less than what she was. She did lose that, but has since gained back about 25 of it. She experiences the frequent productive burping, which was always a little disconcerting when we’d share a meal together (and I’m a nurse who doesn’t get grossed out by much of anything. I just kept thinking to myself: “Is it worth it to vomit up half of every meal just so you can lose 30 or so pounds? And how is that physically much different in its effects than bulimia?”)
I just get so angry at the idea that ANY measure is okay if it results (however temporarily) in lost weight. If health care professionals were really focused on health, they’d advise more exercise, perhaps different food choices, and a decrease in stress. Instead they convince people that their health is in imminent danger, and then prescribe procedures that cause even more pain and misery as a supposed cure.
*Hugs* to you Emily – but gentle ones to avoid “productive burping*. This kind of medical abuse makes me incredibly angry. You are not a failure – the procedure is inappropriate and exploitative.
@ MamaD
You said If health care professionals were really focused on health, they’d advise more exercise, perhaps different food choices, and a decrease in stress.
Or maybe they could focus on health rather than weight? Emily describes a healthy lifestyle above (at least until the damage caused by the surgery) and some people are indeed fat and healthy. In my case, I was very sick and gaining a lot of weight – the doctors advised more exercise, different food choices, a decrease in stress, maybe lap banding…and didn’t bother to check for thyroid cancer for 18 months. Many doctors don’t care about health. Like most people, they care about appearances and an easy fix – and a medical degree, which you’d think would teach critical thinking, instead seems to teach regurgitation of information, proven and unproven.
I was so close to getting a lap band… My mother wanted me to get one (not because she wants me to be thin but because she sees the pain I’m in every day because of the fat-hate I witness and go through). Luckily, I came to my senses and so did she.
I’m so glad that I got into Fat Acceptance at a fairly young age (high school)… If it weren’t for the stories, opinions, and truths I read on the Fatosphere every day, I truly believe I would have gotten the lap band. The longer I’m active in Fat Acceptance, the happier, healthier, and more beautiful I feel.
Emily… You’re so brave for telling your story and I’m so glad you realize that it’s not your fault. You’re a beautiful person. Much love!
[...] lately on gastric banding. Namely, a couple good posts over at Fat Lot of Good. Specifically, these two [...]
@lilacsigil–I do agree with you about taking the focus off of weight. I should have said that once no other problems have been found, and unless contraindicated in some way, more exercise, better food, and less stress are pretty good things for most people (regardless of their affect on weight.) Frankly, the only reason I’m in favor of obtaining weights when seeing an MD or other health care professional is to observe for any sudden, unexplained gains or losses, which can be indicators of some pretty dangerous conditions (like cancer and congestive heart failure.)
As an RN myself, I certainly know about medical professionals of all types who aren’t so concerned about health. In fact, after having doctors for years in another state who were non-judgmental and supportive and truly interested in my health, I find myself, after a two-year search in my new home, still without a doctor I trust.
@MamaD – more exercise, better food, and less stress are pretty good things for most people
Yes, though putting the onus on the individual to do those things regardless of the reasons why they’re not doing them now is just another source of stress – it’s no good telling just someone “exercise more” without working out how, what kind, how much and why. That’s just patient-blaming again!
I agree that weighing a patient at the doctors is a good idea to observe changes and calculate certain medication dosages – and if doctors and other medical professionals use patient weight for this purpose, as my current GPs do, that’s great. Unfortunately, many more use weighing to blame and intimidate patients.
D: D: D: ((((((((Emily)))))))
My girlfriend’s cousin had lap-band surgery, and after a year or two of looking sallow and sick and thinner, I hear he’s apparently returned to his former (and probably naturally stable) weight. And probably still looking sallow and sick. He was the glowing-cheeked life of the party before he let his relatives all convince him to get the surgery.
The friends who are happy with their gastric banding had much more follow-up including working with nutritionists to maximize nutrition and minimize vomiting, repeated fills, and support groups.
I would encourage Emily to seek other practioners — either to better manage the band or to get it removed.
I too am a lap band failure. I had my procedure done in Nov 2005 weighing 177kg. Now in Nov 2009 I weigh 174kg. I religiously visited my Dr monthly to have adjustments/ fills. As my “port” was hard to access I was required to have fills done either via ultrasound or other expensive methods at approximately $300 + per visit.
I never felt any restriction and again copped the full ridicule of my Dr, that I must be cheating and doing something wrong.
After a serious diabetic malfunction I ended up in hospital and rang from the ICU to cancel my appt.
I have never heard from this surgery again.
Recently I thought I should inquire again into the band with another Dr and see what is happening.
After a Barrium Swallow test, it shows the band has slipped through no fault of my own. This new Dr has suggested that with the attempts to locate my port that the tubing from port to band has been punctured by the needle and has allowed liquid to leak. So all I need to do now is find another $1800 and this new Dr will rip the new one out and replace it with a new one. He has said with the payment of the initial $1800, then all post op visits and fills will be bulk billed. The only bumma being I must go through the whole procedure again, 4 weeks optifast only prior to operation, 4 weeks fluid only after op, 3 weeks blended food and 2 weeks soft food until it all settles down and I can consider fills to restrict hunger.
Chantelle, thankyou so much for your comment. I find it appalling that you have been treated this way but at the same time, I am not surprised. They seem to think we fatties aren’t human and that we don’t have feelings. And of course, we are all liars in regards to what we eat and feel etc.
*hugs*
I HAVE A SIMILAR STORY TO CHANTELLES,IT IS SOLD TO YOU HIGH PRESSURE IT ALWAYS WORKS OF COURSE IT DOES NOT.HELENE
Hi
I am about to undergo this procedure….I meet withg the Dr next week……I am wondering if someone can put me in touch with either Emily or Chantelle for advice or even their Dr’s names so as to avoid them???
Thank uou for sharing your stories
Hi Maree,
I understand Emily’s surgeon was in Gippsland but I am not sure about Chantelle’s. I can pass your email address on to Chantelle if you like?
cheers
Bri
Thank you so much, Emily, and everyone else here! I found out last week that my mother has been going forward with getting medical clearance to have a lap band. She has kept this from me because she knows I think lap banding is BS. Today she told me that she doesn’t know what to expect before or after the surgery, so I’m doing research on the internet to try and compile the ‘real’ story of banding: the diet–pre and post-op, complications, the unpleasant little truths like PBing and malabsorption (and now I find gallbladder flareups as well!) that I fear are glossed over by the surgeons. And you’re so right, the truths that don’t promote the surgeon’s or the manufacturer’s agenda are soooo hard to find.
Emily, a big (((hug)) to you. I’m so sorry you had to go through all you’ve been through but I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart…your story is exactly the kind my mother needs to hear. By sharing you may just have saved her from the same fate.