Question:
I am one year out of lap band with weight loss of 120 lbs.

I had an incident the other night. I have called the doctor to for an appointment. Just wondering if anyone has dealt with this. I had acid reflux while sleeping and began coughing. I then had to vomit. I vomited up dark brown liquid. I do not have blood in my stools or any other sign of bleeding. Has this happened to anyone and if so, what was the doctor's diagnosis?    — samcajun (posted on May 22, 2008)

May 22, 2008
When is your appointment? Usually, dark brown vomit is partially digested blood. Blood is very irritating to the stomach lining. that's why we throw it up. Also, you may not see this blood in the stool because it is the same color as the stool, as in a slow bleed higher up in the bowel. This hidden blood is called Occult Blood. To see fresh blood in the stool it would come from lower down in the large intestine or from the rectum as with hemorrhoids. This would make me very nervous. Did you tell the office why you wanted to see him? Do you have a medical heath information call line where you could get more advice as to how quickly you need to act? I wouldn't sit on this.
   — waterlover

May 22, 2008
There are several factors that could be at work here but I would call my Dr. Back and explain why you want to get in quicker....they will probably want to go down your throeat to check things out.......if it was very foul tasting it could have been bile...which still is not the beat of thing to be throwing up....If you haven't done this but once it could have been caused by allergy drainage that trapped digested food in your stomach....... Acid Reflux needs to be taken care of as soon as possible because if you continue to have it it can cause pouch dilation or a slip......so I would try to get in to see the Dr. Don't let any of this scare you too much just be concerned and take action....Good luck and let us know how thing work out. Pam / Ft Worth Bandster Bites Silverware [email protected]
   — pphillips4720aol.com

May 22, 2008
There are several factors that could be at work here but I would call my Dr. Back and explain why you want to get in quicker....they will probably want to go down your throeat to check things out.......if it was very foul tasting it could have been bile...which still is not the beat of thing to be throwing up....If you haven't done this but once it could have been caused by allergy drainage that trapped digested food in your stomach....... Acid Reflux needs to be taken care of as soon as possible because if you continue to have it it can cause pouch dilation or a slip......so I would try to get in to see the Dr. Don't let any of this scare you too much just be concerned and take action....Good luck and let us know how thing work out. Pam / Ft Worth Bandster Bites Silverware [email protected]
   — pphillips4720aol.com

May 22, 2008
As the other writers have stated, see your doctor now! Hopefully it is as simple as something you ate. What did you have for dinner the night before? My sister did call me in a panic one night thinking she had rectal bleeding as her stool looked as if it had blood in it, it turns out she ate beets for dinner the night before. Good luck, Dawn Vickers, RN, BLC, CLC
   — DawnVic

May 23, 2008
I have to agree with the other post, not that i have expereince with this prob. But it doesn't sound normal. What i really wanted to say is, WOW! you have done a great job working that band in a yr. That's amazing! I would love to know how you did it, to get that much weight off in a yr. I'm 7wk out and down 34 lbs and want to keep the lbs coming off. i have 134 to go. Thanks, and good luck with the reflux. I hope it's not something serious. God bless.
   — Kristi H.

May 25, 2008
This has happened to me a couple times. It usually happens (to me) shortly after an adjustment. It meant that the band was too tight. I just went in ASAP and had some fluid removed and everything was ok. I don't know about the color, but my reflux was whatever I ate the night B4. Mine went up into my nose too (yuck) and woke me up from sleep. I had to sleep upright in the Lazy Boy until my appt. Try clear liquids for a couple days until you see the Dr. Good job on your wt loss! 120# is awesome!!!
   — pattyann