upper belly fat after abdominoplasty

This is a letter I sent to my plastic surgeon (I also sent him links to this site, so maybe he can help everyone on here):

Dear Dr.,

  I am kind of happy to find this forum because I’m not so alone, but it’s making me very depressed, because so many people have the same exact thing as me, and I don’t see anyone getting any help for it. Here are links where 87 people reported similar or exact conditions as me. This is just from one website. This seems to be a pretty common complication following tummy tucks. Is there a name for this? Is there anything that can be done to fix it? All the people on that website are wondering what is wrong with them, and nobody has any answers for them. If the same exact thing happens to all these people, doesn’t someone out there know what it is by now? I have upper belly bloating/distention/hardness after I eat, and this usually gets worse as the day goes on. I also have GERD, Hiatal hernia, gastroparesis, umbilical hernia, and I don’t know if my herniated L5-S1 disk that I had surgery for, and my diverticula are a result of the compression in my abdomen as well. But the most troubling problem I have is the shortness of breath, and inability to get a deep breath, especially after eating. I am not overweight anymore, but the symptoms haven’t resolved. I am afraid to eat, and I thought if I put the effort in to lose weight, I would get better. I weigh 145 pounds at 5’6” which is 10 pounds less now than I did on my surgery date. Another patient only weighs 100 pounds, so this problem isn’t caused by weight. I also thought the suture removal would resolve everything, but I am concerned there are a few sutures remaining in my lower abdomen, because everything is still pushed upward. I am afraid to get pregnant because I can’t breathe as it is, and I am scared for my health, and the health of the baby. Is there some sort of expander that could be used to stretch my stomach out? I have read a few things about doctors doing that to release the intra-abdominal pressure. I feel like I went from young to old overnight. I have diseases that normally only happen to people older than 50. And I got them all the day I woke up from surgery. I can not take prilosec every day for the rest of my life because it is not a long term medication. Plus I would rather fix the problem than treat the symptoms. I don’t see the point in getting a Nissen Fundoplication if the pressure from my lower abdomen is just going to push my stomach back up into my diaphragm. I also don’t see the point in repairing my 3 hernias when there there will still be pressure that will cause them to herniate again. You have been doing this for over 30 years and you are board certified. Is it possible for you to suggest a name for this condition to the Board, and a solution to fix it, or even just to tell them that this condition exists so they can do something about it? And maybe make some sort of recommendations to try to prevent this from happening in the first place? I mean, it seems like common sense to me, right after a tightening procedure, everything is too tight, so it needs to be untightened. If I buy a size 0 wedding dress, and I squeeze my size 6 body into it, I will not be able to eat very much, and my lungs and breathing will be restricted. I do not know why so many doctors are acting like they have no clue what this is when its pretty straight forward to me, and to all the other patients that have it. If I figured it out, I’m sure a doctor has too. I understand they don’t want the liability, but most of us just want to get back to normal. If this complication could be prevented in the first place, they wouldn’t have to worry about any liability, because it wouldn’t happen anymore. All 87 patients, and probably thousands more, are worried, and wondering what is wrong with them. How can they get better if every doctor they visit has no clue what is wrong and has no diagnosis for them. They seem to feel like maybe they have some rare disorder that nobody else in the world has ever had, and no doctor will be able to fix them, and they probably start to get discouraged from going to any other doctors. On this forum, I have seen doctors blame the patient and anything else they can blame, and I’m starting to think that they want patients to feel hopeless so the patient will go away. Or to make patients feel like it is in their head, when it is such a relief for all of us to find this forum, and see that we are not alone, and it is not in our head, or caused by weight or smoking. They say to lose weight, how can someone who can’t breathe lose weight? They won’t prescribe any weight loss pills to help me lose weight even though gaining weight could kill me because of the pressure. I really need a gastric bypass because I am terrified to eat because I’m worried about gaining fat inside my abdominal cavity. I have also been to 2 sleep studies where the doctor told me I’m borderline narcoleptic, but he wouldn’t prescribe adderall for me, even though he prescribes it for all his other patients with narcolepsy. I can’t even make it through a day without needing a nap. And it’s sad, but my “naps” are like 5 hours. I get really tired everytime I eat for some reason. I had a job, but I lost it because I can not be productive and alert throughout a whole shift. Or I would be too tired and have to call in, or have various doctor appts, surgeries, etc... I would not have made countless trips to the ER, and to the lung specialist, the gastroenterologist specialists, the orthopedic surgeon, and gone through painful tests like endoscopy, getting the tummy tuck sutures removed, back surgery, getting needles stuck in my back and in my leg due to sciatica from a herniated disk, and bought expensive medicine, and paid expensive doctor bills unless I really wanted answers and solutions to a very real problem. I haven’t even been able to hold down a job, much less move forward in my career because I put my life on hold for another surgery or another test that’s a waste of time, and doesn’t work. My life has been on hold for 4 years, and I’m just existing. My marriage, and my relationship with my son have suffered. I have been such a burden on them with all my medical problems, and my inability to be the energetic 32 year old that I should be for them. They have had to take on some of my share of the responsibilities because I’m tired, or because I can’t breathe, and it isn’t fair to them. I have to look my son in the eyes and tell him we can’t go to the amusement park, or anywhere else requiring walking, because I can’t breathe. And I have slow stomach emptying, which means I eat at different times than my family, and I’m tired all the time, so we sleep at different times also. I feel like I’m not a part of my own family anymore. And I feel like it is my fault for being so vain, and wanting to change my stomach to have some confidence and feel pretty for my husband, because he deserves it. And all he got was a wife who is more self conscious, irritable, depressed, and who has a bunch of medical problems that he has to deal with. And all the financial burden is on him because I am pretty much useless. He has to work overtime and he never gets anything for himself because there is only enough money to pay bills. And he never complains about taking care of me and my son from a prior marriage, and never throws it in my face that I am deformed now, and that nobody would ever want me besides him. If he even does want me anymore. I wouldn’t want to be with me if I was him. I have also become insanely jealous, because I feel anyone would be a more fun wife than I am, and just about everyone looks better than I do. I used to be so healthy before this surgery that I didn’t even buy health insurance because I never went to the doctor. I feel as if I bait and switched my husband. He married a happy, spontaneous, energetic girl that had a good job, and who had goals in life, and looked pretty good besides having stretch marks from my 9 pound baby. And he ended up with a wife that is exactly the opposite of what he signed up for. It has been so depressing to go from healthy and attractive, to sick and deformed overnight. It’s been hard to face my new reality, and harder for me to accept it. It’s been a hard adjustment period, and I still am in denial, and I want to be my old self again. My husband wants to have a baby, and I want to give him his first child, but I am too sick to even do that for him. I need a solution so I can move on with my life and have a baby while I am still young enough to do so. Please, I really need help, and I don’t want to waste time with doctors unless they give me a real diagnosis, and a treatment plan to actually fix this problem. I would even get breast implants placed in my stomach to stretch my stomach out if that’s what I have to do. I will do whatever it takes, as long as it works, because I really want to be happy again. I don’t want to play the blame game or be vindictive. I have not acted that way towards you in 4 years. This complication doesn’t happen to every patient, but it did happen to me, and I want to figure it out and fix it, so I can move on. I just need your help to fix this. I have insurance, but some people posted that insurance won’t cover “cosmetic” procedures, and I do not have money to pay for any procedures that are not covered. I do know that I need some sort of extender, then hernia repair. I have also read a post on here that said that a tummy tuck is a two part procedure, and their doctor did lipo on the upper abdomen, to get rid of the upper belly bulge. That might create a little more room and decrease pressure on the hiatal hernia. Hopefully we can find some sort of solution to this, and help others that are going through the same thing.