If you had gerd with wls before did the revision surgery help?

1st my history,  started out at 240, had lap band surgery in 2006 lost 75 pounds with only 1 cc in my band. Started to get really sick with acid reflux, waking at night choking and even fluid gushing out of my nose, doc said my band slipped, I never could handle more than 1 cc in my band without getting sick.  He went in to fix the slippage in 2007, my band is actually sitting vertically now. It took a few months for me to let him put anything in my band because I was so scared of the night episodes I used to have, he finally put in 1/2 a cc and had to take right back out because I started to get sick again, now I have nothing in my band and am having the same problems as I did the first time around.  I have an appt with another doc this friday about getting this thing out of me, I have been looking into revision to vsg but I am so scared of having the same complications again and there is no reversal.  When he did the second surgery it really messed with my head and I didn't follow the rules.  I had nothing in my band, i felt from the first time I saw the xray and my band was vertical that I was going to fail, and I have, I am back up to 210.  He even looked suprised when he saw the xray but then said that was how he had to put it because of scar tissue. Because of that, gravity does not allow all my food to go through and it just sits there in my pouch and comes up when I lay down for bed.  I know tricare prime will cover the removal but not sure about the revision since my BMI doesn't qualify anymore, but in case they do I want to have done my research.   Anyway, my question is did your symptoms of acid reflux go away with your revision surgery?

I did have GERD with my lap band but I was never successful with it and had it removed after 14 months.  I don't know why I had GERD but I've been on protonix since my revision to RNY to prevent issues and don't have the chest pains anymore.  I know you're thinking of revising to a different type of WLS but for me I needed the malabsorption the RNY offered.  Good luck to you and hope things get better.  Nancy

WOW...I am so glad I found your post.  I have the same problem with the severe reflux at night, choking and it coming out my nose and it just making a mess when i sit straight up in bed when it happens.  It is absolutely miserable.  Once it happens I don't sleep the rest of the night for fear that it will happen again and it usually does.  If it happens once it usually happens more.  I had a Molina band (non-adjustable) 6 years ago and have suprisingly been successful.  I lost 80 lbs and have pretty much kept it off.  I play with 10 lbs depending on what is going on with my life.  If I'm stressed.  I usually stay at 70 lbs but when things get crazy I get back down to that 80 lb lose.  Last year I went to the doctor and he recommended UGI series and I didn't do it because it seemed to ease up a bit.  Well it is back and this time there is upper abdominal pain involved which scared me so I went back to the doctor yesterday and he is recommending converting to bypass.  He says with the GERD the only solution is take the band off or convert and that they bypass pretty much cures this problem.  I am so excited to hear that the reflux will go away but I was so shocked that I would qualify for bypass since my BMI is does not qualify.  He says the insurance should cover it as long as we can prove medical necessity so I am doing an UGI series soon so hopefully it will show something.  I can't imagine it not with all this reflux.  I sat with the insurance girl yesterday and it sounds like they may cover the surgery but will know better have the test have been performed and sent to the insurance and it goes before review.  I will let you know my progress and can't wait to hear how things go for you.
Angie

Angie you are the first person I have come across that has the same night episodes as me with the whole nose thing.  Sorry to hear you have the same problems but glad I'm not alone.  I had an upper endoscopy done a few months ago and the doc said that since my band is vertical my pouch goes below the opening of the pouch and food just sits there with no where to go.  It finds it way out at night though.  I cannot at all sleep on my right side, the acid coming up happens instantly. Otherwise I try to sleep with my head propped up but that doesn't always help, its more of a comfort so that I wont choke to death in the middle of the night.   I know if I just get this taken out I will gain back the weight, but I am so scared to do a different wls surgery and  still end up getting  the acid reflux again because then there is no reversal.  I'm amazed our stories are so similar,  tricare too right?

JoAnn

It's not rare!!!!!

A friend of mine has a band and due to losing jobs, losing her home, losing everything she can't afford to have the band removed.  She has reflux so bad that her stomach acid is burning her sinuses.  She wakes up at night with stomach acid shooting out of her nose.

Inamed forgot to tell us this stuff a few years ago.  They also forgot to mention the esophageal damage that comes with banding.

It is crazy how much we have in common.  I have BCBS TX.  Most nights I dread going to bed because I fear that it may happen.  When it first started I went into work one morning and told the girls..that if i don't show up for work one day its because I choked to death in my sleep.  It is so miserable, stressful, and exhausting.  I will just continue to suffer with it as long as i can if the only option is to remove it and do nothing else cause I don't wanna gain my weight back.  Dr. Davis said bypass is almost an instant cure for reflux.  He said you dont have reflux with it.  My best friend had her Molina band removed and revised to bypass at the end of May.  She had gained all her weight back but also had bad reflux and she said she has had no reflux since surgery.  If my insurance approves it i'm going to convert to the bypass.
Angie

Your story is verrrrry familiar.

I totally get the fear of making these problems permanent.  I had the same fear.  You have to keep reminding yourself that it is the BAND that is doing this to you. THE BAND!!!  Get rid of the band and you get rid of the problems.  You don't hear sleeved, bypassed, or DS folks talking about acid shooting out your nose, just banded folks.  I cringe when I read people saying their doc is banding them to get rid of their GERD.  Might work for a year or so but after about a year the reflux is a horror.

There is nothing anyone can say to you to make you feel at ease about revising to a sleeve.  You just have to trust.  Once you experience having your life back again you will then feel better about a revision.

A band gone bad screws with every single aspect of your life.  Social, personal, employment, sleep, mood, everything.  Absolutely everything.  It took me about six months before I swallowed something and had that 'deer in the headlights" look because I didn't chew well enough and then I'd remember... I don't have a band anymore.

Find a way, get the revision.  Most important get the band out ASAP.  I waited too long and paid the price for it.