About to become revisioner!

[marcusbm]

Welcome to the losers bench (again). Feel free to post on the December thread (I'm really active on there).

Yes, close enough to be surgery twins.

I'm not sure about exemption as I'm eligible for free prescriptions anyway due to only being able to work part time and claim JSA. I was only given three meds after surgery. Omeprazole, sublingual Paracetamol and an injection to stop DVT.

 

[Cherub08]

Hi Alison and Marcus,
Glad you've both had your surgeries and progressing well!
My bypass is scheduled for 19/2/-5 all being well.
Have a very merry Christmas and look after yourselves xx

 

[buglady]

Hi thanks for the best wishes!! Happy Christmas certain a strange day by now the chocolates would of been eaten bacon sandwiches for breakfast and stocking full of goodies!! Now I have blended turkey cauliflower and bread sauce for lunch which actually is quite nice!! Good luck with your op in feb it's fine!! Where is the December forum? X

 

[marcusbm]

http://www.wlsurgery.com/general-surgical-weight-loss-discussion/158289-december-2014-surgeries.html

 

[Monalisa]

Hi Alison hope your op went well
Do you mind me asking which nhs you are under? I too have had similar problems severe reflux endoscopy showed oesophagitis eventually diagnosed with pouch dilation when the nhs took over my care I have been advised my band needs repositioning which I'm scheduled to have done on Monday but I was told I wouldn't qualify for revision to sleeve or bypass as my bmi is 36 now having put half of my six stone weight loss back on, have just noticed you have same bmi maybe you have qualifying comorbidities? Beginning to wish id pushed it a bit further as I'm a bit sceptical over band repair Lisa xxx

 

[mouse57]

Hi bug lady I know I'm late with reply but you are better of with the yearly pre payment prescription it's only just over £10:00 a month and that covers as many items as you need and they now continue it every year unless you tell them to stop it. It's great value

 

[buglady]

Hi Alison hope your op went well Do you mind me asking which nhs you are under? I too have had similar problems severe reflux endoscopy showed oesophagitis eventually diagnosed with pouch dilation when the nhs took over my care I have been advised my band needs repositioning which I'm scheduled to have done on Monday but I was told I wouldn't qualify for revision to sleeve or bypass as my bmi is 36 now having put half of my six stone weight loss back on, have just noticed you have same bmi maybe you have qualifying comorbidities? Beginning to wish id pushed it a bit further as I'm a bit sceptical over band repair Lisa xxx

Hi I'm nhs Portsmouth I had no co morbidities but my acid was really severe waking up being sick 3 times a night gallons of gaverscon and a very enlarged inflamed oesophagitis as well as a hernia sitting above my band! I would push for a bypass so far so good for me I honestly went thinking they would fix my reflux not even thinking they would mention bypass but all I wanted was for the acid reflex to stop I know I couldn't continue with it it's hideous I would of rather been fat for the rest of my life than have reflux!!! I previously had two band repairs too I'm a bit complicated lol xx

 

[christinemarie]

Hello to everyone,
I can't actually believe that everyone on this thread has gone through the same experience as me! My band was put in abroad 2008 and in the last year the reflux was agony, leading to hospital admission for vomiting blood because my oesophagus was stretched into a pouch as my band was restricting all food and a lot of fluids too. My surgeon offered me the bypass when I went to discuss removing the band, he said that he would much rather do the op now than wait till I had gained all of my weight back on.
So he removed my band in November and I'm having my bypass on the 7th, it's so comforting to know others know how hard it has been just to get this far. and that I'm not the only person that this has happened to, as my GP would of had me believe! I don't know where I would be if I hadn't ended up on hospital and finally got the care that I needed

 

[buglady]

Hello to everyone, I can't actually believe that everyone on this thread has gone through the same experience as me! My band was put in abroad 2008 and in the last year the reflux was agony, leading to hospital admission for vomiting blood because my oesophagus was stretched into a pouch as my band was restricting all food and a lot of fluids too. My surgeon offered me the bypass when I went to discuss removing the band, he said that he would much rather do the op now than wait till I had gained all of my weight back on. So he removed my band in November and I'm having my bypass on the 7th, it's so comforting to know others know how hard it has been just to get this far. and that I'm not the only person that this has happened to, as my GP would of had me believe! I don't know where I would be if I hadn't ended up on hospital and finally got the care that I needed

I think it's much more common than you think I know my local nhs hospital don't actually do bands any more as they are least effective ( I'm not saying bands aren't good just work differently for different people!!) I had a rubbish experience with a doctor( not my own!) at my gps he said he could refer me to a dietician but failed to recognise my reflux haven't seen him again lol my own go had to go through all the tests till I got a hospital referral and its its all happened since my first hospital visit in July! Bypassed on the 22nd dec! Xx good luck for Wednesday I was lucky enough to have my band took out hernia repaired and bypass done all at once!! You will be fine just keep your fluids up after as your drip comes out sooner!! xx

 

[marcusbm]

Looking at various reports about 40-50% of bands have complications and the majority of those eventually lead to band removal. With that complication rate I would be surprised if it remains a recommended procedure for the NHS for much longer. There are only three procedures that should be recognised: gastric sleeve (where restrictive only is recommended), roux-en-y (for the majority) and duodenal switch (for the most extreme cases).

 

[christinemarie]

My surgeon said that he won't do gastric bands anymore due to the complications too, but he was more than happy to remove it for me thank goodness!
And thank you buglady I will have to keep an eye on my fluids because I don't drink anywhere near as much as I should x

 

[mouse57]

Hi I have to agree that there are more and more banded patients having problems. On the day of my surgery I was told that they might not be able to carry out the surgery because of the very old scar right down my middle, so because I had done so well with my loss he suggested I have a band but I refused. This was because of all the bad press I'd read, I know that there are very successful banders. The NHS is struggling but they do bands and then go on to do more surgery and I think they are starting to wake up to the economics of it.

 

[Yvessa]

Actually Marcus, my team now also refuse to do the bpd ds as well due to the higher incidences of nutritional deficiency. They also not longer offer the band.

 

[HelenAngelfish]

Actually Marcus, my team now also refuse to do the bpd ds as well due to the higher incidences of nutritional deficiency. They also not longer offer the band.

Same here Yve!

St Mary's now only do the sleeve or bypass... Although all the literature still includes the band as the NHS still approve it, they will not perform it and don't do the ds either. xx

Sent from my iPhone using WLSurgery

 

[marcusbm]

Yeah. The DS is only sanctioned for the most extreme cases. Not surprised the NHS don't do it.

Saying that the former worlds "fattest man" lost weight with an RNY (I chat with him by email).

 

[~Alison~]

Me too

Hi

I also am going through a similar situation. Was banded privately in 2006 by Avon Obesity in Bristol. Had to have the band removed last year on the NHS due to severe reflux, vomiting in sleep.

Am scheduled to have a bypass privately with Professor Kerrigan, Phoenix Healthcare at Countess of Chester on 23 Feb 2015.

It will be really interesting to see how we all do with the bypass.

 

[valentine]

St Marys told me last year that they removed more eroded/slipped bands in 2014 than ever before..

I was banded privately in 2004 and the long term effects of the band were really not available..

They are now seen by many NHS providers as not a very good long term option hence they are not offered..

I know the bypass is a much more invasive surgery and takes some time to recover but , I for one, am so much happier and healthier now than I ever was whilst banded..

My band caused a huge amount of damage to my liver and hospitalised me for 2 weeks in 2012 due to that damage..

my local hospital had no idea that the band was rubbing on my liver and the liver specialist was perplexed as to why my liver was infected and how it had happened.

obviously the removal of my band and subsequent bypass brought all the answers as the damage was visible once I was opened up ...
My partner had 2 bands.. one slipped the other eroded.. so I have to say that my personal experience with the band has been far from good..

The one really good thing that did come from my band however has been my careful chewing of food..

I had 10 years of chewing chewing chewing... and not once in 6 months of having the bypass have I forgotten to chew my food properly lol

 

[Cherub08]

Gosh, Valentine, sounds like you've really been through it!!
Glad you've recovered and sound so much healthier and happier x

 

[Monalisa]

Very interesting reading
I have just had my band repositioned on the nhs am two weeks in and back to basics
They said they found an anterior slippage and gastric pouch with adhesions
I enquired about revision to another procedure and was told I wouldn't be considered as my bmi was under 40 went back up to 36 prob 35 at consultation it was 42 when I had band private lost six stone but put 3 back on. Am feeling a bit sceptical and worried ill end up with a third operation x

 

[weegie]

Another bander here being revised to MGB. I have to wait until June due to being on holiday for most of May, wish it was sooner in some ways as I seem to be getting more worried by the day. A lot of the stories on here ring a familiar bell. After 18 months of investigation the hospital thinks I have LPR, silent reflux. I always mention I have a gastric band but they never seem to take that into consideration. Its a double whammy when you cannot get WLS on the NHS and have to go private. Any follow up seems to ignore your status, that or point blank refuse to get involved because you went private in the first place. My band was successful for the first few years. I had it due to other health problems. As I lost weight, i came off all my medications, didn't need that bladder operation I was due to have and hardly ever went to see my GP. My quality of life was fantastic in comparison with before.

I am worried in case anything I choose now will also eventually fail but I am the wrong side of 60 and would rather have a few good years that more miserable ones. Time to take a chance,

Chrissy