I have had my lapband for almost 2 years (june 3rd will make 2 years) I have lost 75lbs. I love my band. However, I am having issues. Now, when people see "acid reflux" they automatically say... "band is too tight, go see the dr." etc. Well. about a year ago, i started having severe acid reflux, where i am actually waking up at night choking on it. Even sitting straight up to sleep. I went to my doctor, he unfilled me. I still had acid reflux, but it was taken care of by pepcid. I got a great fill and wham... the severe acid reflux is back. So he unfilled me again, did the barrium swallow... and seen i did have acid reflux even with out a fill. So he put me on protonix for 2 months, which worked amazing. Gave me a great fill... and kept me on the protonix. Which worked great for the first 3 weeks. Now... 1.5 months later i am taking protonix in the am 30 mins before i eat, then around 4pm i take pepcid and around 8pm im throwing up my food just to get relief from the acid reflux... not bc im stuck. Then i chew some tums, go to bed sitting up. I really dont know what to do. I made a dr appt to see my dr on the 4th to discuss this... but all he will want to do is unfill me. But my fill is fine. I never get stuck. And the thing is, my acid reflux flares up 1-2 hours AFTER i eat. I get that "stuck" feeling 2 hours later. I think whats happening is ... the food i eat is sitting in my pouch and slowly going through to my stomach. The acid is coming up and getting stuck in the pouch with the left over food. And i end up throwing up the food in the pouch.
Im at a loss... scared. I dont want an unfill nor do i want anything to mess up my throat, or band slippage. With all the fills and unfills... ive gained 16lbs. I recently lost 9 lbs with this last fill. So the fill is great. This acid reflux is killing me. Is anyone else dealing with this? I feel so .. blah! Any words are welcomed.
