lap band problems?

well this is my first post and I will lay it all out there.

on August 8th 2011 I had lap band surgery at a plump weight of 390.went to the lap band Dr. three times for fills 2cc,2cc and 2cc for a total of 8 with 2cc in place after the surgery.well weight fell off fast and i adjusted to my new way of life and was enjoying life again. I couldnt believe how young and energetic i felt after a hundred pounds had been lifted. I kinda hit a  plateau at 225 lbs and have been there for about eight months now. I had had lots of getting stuck incidents but always chalked it up to not chewing good enough and it was a very noticeable feeling when the food would go on through, pretty painfull really. sometimes i would vomit up just what was above the band but most of the time I would just deal with the pain until it went through. well all hell broke loose oct 10th 2012, I allowed my sister in-law to have her wedding at my house. the catered bbq and I had my typical hour long meal to eat a coffee plate full of food (meat only)... well the next morning I woke up and it hurt bad to even drink water?? I felt like I was stuck. I tried to force what ever was in there down but the water just came back up. If i dont rush things the water will go down after 30 minutes to an hour. since that morning I have been to the lap band Dr. four times getting fills takin out . each time he would pull fluid out i would feel half way normal for a day or two and then right back to water,tea,solid food and soft food getting stuck. Finally i had all the fluid pulled from the band and the Dr said i probably have other problems and that I need to see a gastro Dr. So I went to one and paid 1,500 bucks to have an upper GI done. The Gastro Dr said everything looks normal and that he dilated everything he could but the hole going to my stomach was non existent like i still had allot of fluid in the band, if the problem persists to go have the lap band removed. I asked him if I could have a drink of water to wash my mouth out after the procedure so he brought me a dixie cup full. when I drank the water it hung up just like always so the dilation did not work. that dr did the procedure in an out of network clinic so I got a nice bill. Anyhow I went for a second opinion and found a very good Dr with tons of good reviews. This new Dr wanted to do an upper GI within five days of me just having one. lol I finally refused to do another one and had to tell him he should just get the video from the dr I had just had one with last week. well at least the new dr is trying to figure things out. He sent me in to have a cat scan and he said the lap band looks extremely tight and asked if all the fluid had really been pulled out??? It has. I guess at this point The new gastro Dr has a few more tests to see if it is my esophagus or not. but with two gastro Dr.s telling me the band looks too tight i guess I need to have it removed. My lap band Dr always made a comment about the bad has not slipped at all and is in the proper placement and that i simply needed to chew better.

I will try to post some pictures from inside my esophagus of where the band is... basically it looks like a donut with no visible hole just wrinkles where I think a hole should be. 

Hi Travis,
sounds like you are having similar problems with the band. well at least you lost  over 150 lbs. I lost 60 and gained it back and lost some of it then repeat ad nauseam. so the success you have had with the weight loss and band is different. right now I am 5-10 lbs away from being at my highest weight.

the part about the band suddenly being super tight, I have been dealing with problems like that with my stomach and band since Feb 18th of this year. Now I did have problems with this band in general it is either too open and I can eat just about everything and am hungry, or I am so tight I get stuck and have constant heartburn or throw up. so all in all band is not working for me, never has worked right but this is different, the sudden pain and tightness.

 ok you may not know this but for a woman with a lap band it tightens during certain times of the month when we are bloated. so on Feb 18th that is what I figured this was, when that happens I have to have more soft foods. as a week went on, the band should have been returning to normal, instead it got tighter and tighter. I could not get down my medications, I could only get down liquids for 3 days, even tryin to eat apple sauce, diet pudding and jello hurt. felt like I was eating rocks. I lost 16 lbs, which sadly I have gained back plus another 15 since band is now wide open. so in addition to the pain and discomfort, I am belching and burping all the time. even when I drink water.

I was doubled over in pain most of the time. I went to the ER where they removed all the fluid from my band on March 1st they did xray and said lap band looked in proper position, so they thought wasn't slipped but to be sure I would need more tests.  had barium swallow with fluroscope done Monday April 1st, no slipped or eroded band, but to be sure they wanted to do surgery. In fact they said basically if it was slipped/eroded I needed surgery, but if it wasn't I would need surgery to remove it because my body was 'not tolerating the band.'

I felt this was rather aggressive because they wanted to do an endoscopy to see what was wrong and while I was out do the surgery to remove band as well as do gastric bypass RNY. I decided to get a 2nd opinion and see a gastroenterogist instead of a weight loss surgeon who seemed to be pushing me to get surgery so they could profit, instead of find the cause of my pain. at first  after opening the band my stomach felt a twinge better, and at least I was open now and could eat but still the pain no matter what I eat, junk food, lean fish/meats, veggies, just pain in my stomach, and belching burping.

saw this new doctor and had an endoscopy done on April 11th, no uclers, no band slip or erosion. some bile in stomach so he ordered gastric emptying tests. got that done on 24th of April. they gave me oatmeal which I hate and normally gag on, and sadly was dry heaving and in such pain before test. results of that were fine. doctor says to me 'no news is good news.'

no it isn't. my stomach hurts now for almost 3 months non stop. I have lost 16 lbs and gained back 15 more on top of that. I am burping and belching like a pig. it is so loud it sounds demonic. it is embarrassing. an ulcer would be a fairly easy fix/cure. if the band was slipped or eroded I could justify removing the band ASAP. but it's not. so now I don't know what to do either and sounds like we are in a very similar proverbial boat.
here is what I think is goin on with you and me both. our bodies are rejecting the band. are stomach lining and esophagus for whatever reason are inflamed and causing pain/discomfort. for me luckily (or maybe that is unluckily since I am gaining) I can get food down, but I am in pain 24/7. they are not sure but now sending me monday to get CT Scan.

so I am curious how you are doing? what you think is going on? do you take NSAIDs for pain because my doctors warned me not to take them, that those and other medications upset lining of stomach even if nothing shows up on scans/tests. do you have barrett's esophagus?  I am curious if you get the band removed if you will get some other surgery and if so what? add me as a friend so I can see how you are doing and we can swap band stories.

 

hi Travis,

I am having some of the same issues as you and the other person,  and being told the same, except the Dr. I am seeing (which is the 2nd Dr I have seen) says he could do all the tests you are talking about,  but suspects he will find nothing - so he is discouraging me from going thru this.  but I am sick of the pain some days.   let me know if you get anyone that helps you on this matter. 

thanks