Back pain and acid reflux

Hello, I have never posted before, but I am desperate for some advice. I have had my lap-band since March 2011 and have lost 35lbs. In July I had my 4th fill and it was a miserable month. I started to have acid reflux and vomiting just about everyday. After a month and going back and forth with the nurse I had 1 cc taken out. I was a much happier camper initially. Now after a week I am having the acid reflux again and pain in my mid-back. The pain in my back comes and goes with eating mostly.

I have not been able to eat a nutritious meal because I do not want to feel the pain. I cannot do meats at all and can only have a few spoonfuls of soft food. The food goes down fine, but 10-15 minutes later I will be in pain.

One nurse thought it could be an ulcer, my primary doctor thought I was dehydrated, my surgeon wanted to take all of my fill out and start over, which I did not do.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Listen to your surgeon.   This is not something to mess around with.  Reflux is not a friend when you're banded.  I guess you could meet your surgeon half way and ask to take just 1 cc out but either way you need to let your insides heal first and foremost!

I'm almost 3 years out and i just had .5 taken out of my band for the same reasons.  (Seems to be the theme of the day today)  I've had to do this a couple of times because the band gets irritated and tightens or the band just tightens and you start regurgitating food thus irritating your band.

Go with your surgeon.  While it's true you may be dehydrated, PCP's don't know anything about the band.  Your surgeon may also choose to check you for gastritis and/or an ulcer too.

Take care and welcome to this forum!  There are a lot of great people here that know what you're going through.

Best~
Lisa O.

Thank you Lisa O. and Hislady for your response. I'm hoping the pain will subside shortly and I made an appointment with my primary doctor. I will also follow up in the morning with my surgeon's nurse to see if I can get in tomorrow to discuss the possibility of gastritis problems. I guess I need to insist on sometype of scope or cat scan to see what is going on.

I will keep you posted.

Thanks again!

Please listen to Lisa she knows what she's talking about. I also thought of the gall bladder as a possibility what with it being related to when you eat and the back pain. That happens pretty often after weight loss. Just remember never ever go with being tight too long it can never be a good thing and add vomiting and trouble is just around the corner!

This is common for a lot of bandsters and it's only going to get worse. My advise...get the band out ASAP.

Earlier this year I had two episodes where I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible back pain between my shoulder blades.  I thought it could be a heart attack, and yet I had no other symptoms of heart attack and it actually felt better if i walked around.   I also felt like if it was my heart, wouldn't I have had pain during Zumba when I'm really stressing my heart?  I thought either I had an ulcer or maybe it was my gall bladder.  I actually saw my regular dr about it and he agreed it didn't seem to be my heart, although he had me go have xrays to rule out any valve issues.  About two months later, when I was at my surgeons office, I mentioned the pain to the PA.  He told me that acid reflux can present itself as back pain.  I was not having any problems with acid reflux, getting stuck, etc., but he scheduled an upper gi to see what was going on with my band to make sure it was okay.  The result of the UGI was that I had a minor esophogial dialation and had to have fluid removed from my band.  I was too tight and didn't realize it because I could still eat just about everything, wasn't getting stuck, no apparent reflux. 

I think you need to go back to your surgeon and talk to him about having a UGI.  If he thinks you need a total unfill, listen to him, he's the dr, not you.  It's been three months since I had my unfill, and no, he didn't take everything out because mine was minor and I was having few symptoms, but when I saw him a few weeks ago, I chose not to have anymore put in at this time.  I don't want to lose my band, so I'm staying where I am for awhile.  I still have restriction and if I watch what I eat, I can still lose.  I never realized I was too tight before.  I like where I'm at now.

You should not be having any pain when you eat.  Something is wrong if you are so take care of it now before it gets any worse.  Preventative measures are best.

Good luck,
cat

Point taken Cat!! Thanks for sharing and the reality check!

I went up to 6 cc in my band and started getting acid reflux.  I went through having .5 cc taken out several times and continued to get acid reflux.  After a total unfill for two months, I gradually worked my way back up to 5 cc.  This appears to be the level that my band can tolerate.  Go back to your doctor.  You may have to have all or most of your fill removed and rest for a while, before you can have more fill put back in.  It's unlikely that you can ever reach the fill level that you had after your 4th fill.