strawberryparty

Hi everyone, I was banded in 2009 by The Hospital Group at the Birmingham clinic. A bit of background: I have been living with the band empty (all saline fill removed) for about the last 3 years after I found I plateaued with my weight loss. I opted to get a total un-fill and stay that way because past a point, my weight was staying the same and the band's restriction was only causing pain and costing me a lot of money to keep having to go in for fills/unfills to try and find the elusive "sweet spot" (the band never seemed to work for me and I came to regret getting it done as the years went on). So after getting a total un-fill of the band some time in 2013, I subsequently lost more weight on my own up until now without any fills in the band / any restriction, though I have plateaued again and been at the same weight for a couple of years now (still about 1.5 stone off my ideal goal weight, but I had a low BMI for the surgery to start with and the weight was always slow to go except for immediately after the surgery). My problem is - the last 2 years, I have started experiencing pretty bad acid reflux in the night and it is disrupting my sleep badly, it has been getting worse. Even after the total un-fill in 2013, I still had to take care with the band even with it being empty, as first thing in the morning I'd need to drink something hot like tea, then move onto Water, then move onto something somewhat soft, then be able to eat pretty normally though always having to chew thoroughly. This is even with the band totally empty. Recently (this last year) it has been getting worse in the morning, with the acid reflux, I get stuck on water if I try to drink it at night, I get stuck on my own spit at night, combined with the acid reflux, it seems to clog up the top of the stomach where the band is and make it that water and spit cannot go down, so I have to go down in the middle of the night and make a cup of tea, then I can get water down, and that sometimes helps with the acid reflux. The whole thing is becoming hard to bear as like I said, it is making sleeping through the night impossible, and I often wake again at 4am with it. It's really not fun. I'm in my late 20s, I have heard that having reflux like this for a long time can give you cancer. I have tried not eating hours before going to bed, I've taken fatty stuff out of my diet, etc. - i never had acid reflux before the band and I'm certain it is the band causing it rather than what I am eating. My band is the smaller version of the 2 that were available because of my low BMI for the surgery, so I guess it is still restricting me even while it is empty. To be clear - i do not think it is slipped or there is an erosion problem, as like I say, when I start in a sequence of eating, i can build up to being able to eat normally with no discomfort so long as I chew well. It's just this reflux that is really getting to me. I have no money to get the band removed with the Hospital Group, so I was wondering if anyone here had had their band removed on the NHS, not under emergency conditions, but going through their GP? Could anyone tell me what happened, what you said to you GP, how long you were on a waiting list for? I haven't minded having the band so long as it wasn't bothering me (basically I was able put up with it because I've had no money to get it removed privately), but now it is taking my sleep and making life quite miserable.

Hello - to follow up, I have had my band removed and have been without it for a couple of months now. I feel immeasurably better. I've been able to get sleep at night now that the reflux has stopped, and being freed of all the smaller unpleasant things that come with the band I feel like a normal person again and like I've got my body back (just speaking for myself, I know other people love their bands and removal feels like the end of the world - for me, I'd come to feel like this thing inside my body was alien and giving me a lot of anxiety for a number of reasons, the reflux and loss of sleep was the physically urgent part of it). About the operation: my surgeon told me I did not have very much scar tissue. The wounds are healed nicely. I stayed overnight in hospital following the surgery, I was able to go home the following day. I was on pain relief and an anti-neausea med for 11 days until I felt I didn't need them any longer (though the port wound gave me some pain during the nights after I came off the meds, trying to turn over in bed, the port wound would wrench horribly for the first 2 weeks or so). All in all it took about 3 weeks to feel recovered and normal, but things really improved day-by-day around the second week. I've been at a healthy weight for a couple of years now though, so I don't doubt easy recovery is largely down to that as well as being young. I feel for people who take much longer to get over the surgery. I was really scared leading up to the surgery, in particular frightened about any complications from the anaesthesia, but I am so immensely relieved that it is all done and over with now.

Hi, I made a post on the 18th, I saw my GP on the 19th and she prescribed me Lansoprazole - my symptoms were acid reflux that was keeping me up at night and nausea (GP felt my abdomen and she told me it was not erosion and extremely unlikely to be a slip). I took the Lansoprazole yesterday and this morning, but I am feeling worse. I was banded in 2009, I got in touch with the helpline of the Hospital Group who banded me, I've been told a nurse will call me some time today, but in the meantime I'm feeling unwell and worried. The Hospital Group woman I spoke to said the GP would not have been able to tell if it was a slip/erosion just from feeling, and that instead I needed x-ray. I feel very nauseous. I am shaking, my hands and arms feel shaky. I feel like there's a sort of loose fist clenched in my chest, it's not painful, just uncomfortable and a feeling of something not right that's just lingering for going on 4 days now. I was told by Hospital Group that a barium x-ray will cost me £450. I don't know what to do - should I wait for the nurse to call me? I'm feeling sick and like something's wrong. Should I go to A&E or wait? I just don't know if this is the band having slipped or erosion or what it is. I can't wait another night like this though. Can anyone who has experienced slip or erosion give me insight if my symptoms sound like I need to go to A&E?

Hey gryffen, feeling much better now thanks, the situation was - CT showed band was awkwardly placed & that was causing problems, and also I'd mistakenly thought that my band was empty when in fact it still had saline in it, so having any fill in wasn't helping matters. I'd been fine with the band for the last 5 years since my last unfill, but acid reflux and nausea had been getting worse over the course of the last year, until last week or so where it was becoming unbearable and was keeping me awake all night. Then, the last couple of days before going to A&E, I was getting horrible discomfort in my chest like a fist squeezed tight, and I was "feeling" the band like I never had in all the time I've had it since 2009. Went to my GP first, she felt my stomach, said v unlikely to be slip or erosion, prescribed me proton pump inhibitors, told me to come back in a month and we'd see how I was. But that night & the next morning I felt worse, pain in chest/oesophagus/top of stomach was worse. I called up THG, the lady I spoke to said she'd have nurse call me back, and she said I could pay to come in for them to check my band was empty, could also pay £450 for an X-ray with them, but I just don't have the money right now. So I was waiting for their nurse to call me for a while, but in the end I was just feeling worse & worse, felt something was very wrong. Went to A&E, had x-rays and CT & kept in overnight. I found out the band still had some fill in, they took that out, and also CT showed band was a bit awkwardly placed & that was what was likely giving me the discomfort. I feel better without the fill in, but still acid reflux/nausea at night & in morning at the moment. So possibly/hopefully I will be having the band removed with nhs rather than THG, which would have cost me £5,000. If the band wasn't giving me any problems, I'd have been ok to leave things as is, but losing sleep with the reflux & the pain in the chest sensation of "feeling" the band like it's not sitting right - this makes me really want to have it out. Will be having follow-up with nhs surgeon soon to see what will happen.

I've been in A&E, just got home today, had x-rays & CT that showed abnormalities, i'll be having band out soon hopefully after a follow-up with specialist. Thank god for NHS, I could not have waited on THG nurse's call was in too much pain in the end, and paying £450 for an x-ray wasn't possible. Will be so glad to have the band out.

Thanks for your reply. I guess I'm a bit nervous about talking to a GP about being banded and having to explain stuff like getting "stuck" on saliva and water, I just feel like a weirdo and I wonder if the GP will have had any patients who are banded (surely they will have, I just worry about being judged about it I guess). I haven't been to the doctor's since getting banded so the idea of about talking about it to a doctor who doesn't already deal with lapband stuff makes me really uncomfortable. Thanks again, I know I need to make the appointment and just get it over with because I just sit up at night awake with the gurgling from the band and it's getting to be a big stress.

Hi, I posted in the UK forum but that seems to be quite dead, so I'll try here as well. The last couple of years I have been getting horrible acid reflux at night and in the early morning, it is ruining my sleep. I have had my band totally un-filled / deflated, for the last 3 years or so (weight plateaued & the band was causing a lot of discomfort and yo-yo'ing with fills/unfills trying without success to find the "sweet spot" was too expensive). I get stuck on Water if I try to drink it in the middle of the night, I get stuck on my own spit. I have to go and make a cup of tea and drink that in the middle of the night, then after that I can have water and I swallow spit okay and the reflux will sometimes go if I drink water. I want the band removed, but I haven't got money to get it down privately. I was wondering if anyone in the UK has been to their GP and gotten on a waiting list to have a removal? I've been reading around and I see a lot of emergency situations where the band slips or there has been erosion and the person gets it removed on the NHS, but I am wondering about the process of going through your GP and getting put on a waiting list - how long does it take, what did you tell you GP, this kind of thing. I am pretty certain my band has not slipped because as long as I build up from first thing in the morning (first tea, then water, then soft food, then normal food), I can eat normally through the day without discomfort. More info: I am also fairly certain the reflux is down to the band and not my diet because I have not been eating hours before bed, I cut out fatty foods, etc. I'm in my late 20s, never had reflux before. My BMI was low for the surgery to begin with, and so I have the smaller of the 2 types of lap band, so even with no saline fills, the band is still giving me restriction / making me stuck of foods if I don't chew thoroughly. I am currently in the healthy range with my BMI though I lost much weight with no fills in my band and losing the weight on my own without restriction. Would much appreciate anyone sharing their experience before I book to see GP. I have quite bad social anxiety and I worry about what to say to the GP and whether I will be allowed to get the band removed on the NHS or not. The reflux has really been disrupting my sleep badly and that's the main reason I want it out.