Lap band patient vomiting blood and stomach pain

by Dante
(Indiana)

My wife has had the lap band since approx. 2008. She has been in the hospital (2010) once for an ulcer and severe acid reflux (band way too tight). The doctor loosened the band, etc. Prior to this 3-4 day hospital stay, she drank alcohol (night time leisurely), smoked cigarettes, and basically didn't follow the eating rules, thus vomiting almost after every meal.

Since her visit above, she has followed eating rules a bit better on the loosened band, but eating more frequently and too fast. Three nights ago she vomited some blood during the night and she has had a bad pain since. The pain is located (while facing her front) approx. 2-3 inches to the left of her port.

She says there is something internally wrong and is very worrying. She works full time and I am laid off at this time. We do not have medical insurance.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dante

Comments for
Lap band patient vomiting blood and stomach pain

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Dante
by: Beth (Who Hid the Donuts?)

I'm sorry about your financial situation, but we are not the ones to come to at a time like this. She MUST see a doctor! It may be something as minimal (not that it's minimal) as an ulcer, or it could be band erosion. Unfortunately she has made a series of bad decisions that have likely put her band -- and HEALTH -- at risk.

I wish more people took these things seriously. I hear more stories about people who do all the wrong things while banded and then can't understand why they lose their bands. :(

Please keep us apprised of her prognosis.

Band Abuse?
by: Lonicera The Bandit

I feel very sorry for your wife, she seems to be going through a most painful and difficult time, and not just physically. She's also lucky to have a concerned husband who is willing to write to a forum searching for help.

Aside from the obvious, which is that it's beyond amateurs like us to diagnose what is wrong and she must sort it out straight away with a bariatric team (perhaps by having a total unfill and letting everything calm down for a couple of months), she also needs to take stock.

Not following the rules, smoking, eating too fast... they're all classics, and if you as her husband know this, then it's certain that she must be fully aware of her bad choices as well. Not to mention the fact that they are costing you money.

So: time to sit down quietly, preferably on a sunny and windy day (wind is conducive to reflection, don't ask me why) looking at a pretty view, by herself, and to ask herself what she really wants from the band, from her life, from herself. How much effort is she prepared to put into this venture to lose weight? If smoking is too important to her, for example, then that's where she has to start, rather than with the weight problem, because the smoking will most likely sabotage it. (It's a short step from "If I wanna smoke I'm gonna smoke" to "If I wanna eat I'm gonna eat").

Total honesty with herself - nothing less will do. And if it makes her shed a few tears, so much the better.

You can only look up out of the pit to see the light if your feet are firmly resting on its lowest point.

Lonicera The Bandit

Related Pages:
- Lap Band Problems & Lap Band Complications
- Lap Band Surgery Failure - 2 Types & How to Avoid Them

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