pjd3253

I am constantly clearing my throat and have burning in my esophagus - driving me crazy - doctor says it is acid reflux and gave me Nexium but this seems excessive like clearing throat and coughing after I lay down to go to sleep at night - this may be a stupid question but if the fluoroscope shows everything to be normal and always has could it still have slipped? They always tell me everything looks great - I did, however, have 1 cc taken out to see if it helped and it really didn't = still feel too tight and still clearing throat - still feel as tight as I did before -my band was at the maximum fill - have had for almost 3 years. I am planning on having it removed because I would rather gain some weight back than feel like this all the time and I haven't lost weight in 8 months so think my body has adjusted to the lower portions and it isn't working anymore for me. Have only 20 more to go so Doctor won't do the sleeve.

Been banded 2 1/2 yes. Lately when I eat it hurts when food goes down Caffeine or alcohol burns really bad. I almost never drink alcohol but with Christmas parties have had a few glasses of champagne It burns so bad going down I wonder if I am too tight or is something else like an ulcer on my esophagus. I do not have heartburn. Only burns as food or liquid is going down. Thx

I am furst thing in the morning. Thx

I am two years post-op. I just went for a fill yesterday because I felt like I was able to eat more than I should - I see the pouch under the fluoro and they say everything looks fine. The pouch looks so small that I wonder how it is holding the amount of food I eat - not that I eat that much just wonder where it goes if it can't go down and it won't fit in there - I do stop before I have to spit it out but just doesn't seem big enough to hold the food. Also, I am having a burning in my throat - I guess that is acid reflux but it feels like a sore throat and it travels up to my neck and shoulder sometimes. Thanks.

It just seems like the amount of food I am able to eat in the evenings would not fit in the pouch and I am not throwing it up - maybe the pouch stretches a little - I have it checked every couple of months under the fluoro just to be safe that nothing is wrong and they always tell me everything looks fine. Thanks.

I noticed that when I went to Santa Fe recently and with the high altitude and freezing temperatures I had very tight restriction - does anyone know if cold weather or altitude affects restriction - Thanks -

I am still surprised at how slow the weight comes off when I am hardly eating anything - protein shake for breakfast - small lunch like tuna salad and then light dinner - compared to what I was eating - I am almost a year and a half out and am down only 25 lbs - better than being up but I would have thought by now would have lost about 40. I had 50 to lose so half way there just taking way longer than I thought it would. Just venting.

I do gurgle sometimes but what I do more than that is choke like I have to continually clear my throat like I am choking and then I cough - I think I may be too tight

My doctor's office uses the Fluoro to do fills but recently I went to another doctor closer to my house who does not use it - he said that he found that if fluoro is used the band gets filled tighter than it should - okay, my question is without seeing it on the fluoro how could they possibly know what to put in without guessing based on what you are telling them.

Thanks - I was wondering how they could know without guessing. The doctor that doesn't use it is one of the top in Dallas so I was surprised that he didn't think it was necessary. He has two offices and doesn't have one in either office. I did notice, however, that if they use it the fills are $250 but the office that doesn't use it is only $100 for fills.

My doctor doesn't do the fills - his PA does - I got my band over a year ago and only have seen my doctor twice since - once 6 weeks post-op and then not until my year checkup. Is this normal? Thanks.

I have been banded over a year - I have not had a fill in a few months because I finally got the right level of restriction. My question has to do with a few nights ago I guess I didn't chew my food enough and I had to make it come back up. The next day my stomach was very sore - I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow that was already scheduled a month ago so I will ask him to check it out but wondered if it is normal for the area where my stomach is to be sore - I have lost food like that before but didn't have the soreness and slight pain that I had this last time - I don't think my band slipped because I think I would have not been able to eat anything today and may have had more pain - I just feel sore bending over and slightly sore around my port too - Any thoughts? Thanks.

Last month when I went in for my one year post-op checkup my doctor was out of town so I saw another doctor who works out of the same office. She put me under the x-ray machine and said that my pouch was stretched - I was very upset and said really? I have never had any problem and she said yes it looks stretched - it is bigger than it should be - then she looked at my file and said "oh no your pouch isn't stretched that is how it has always been, every person is different." Ever since then I have worried about my pouch being too big and that is why I am losing weight so slow because it holds too much food. She said that a normal meal with the band is only a half of a handful of food. I am changing doctors because (a) they never even told me I needed to do bloodwork and come in for a 6 month and a 1 year check with the doctor - if I hadn't have called after a year had passed and never seeing the doctor again after my surgery except after 6 weeks and asked they wouldn't have told me (:thumbup: I don't think she should have scared me like that without looking at the file first and © when I showed up for my checkup after having it scheduled for a month they had me down for a fill instead even though I had had bloodwork done the week before and they had to track a doctor down to see me. I also have to wait an hour or an hour and a half every time I go in for a fill. Very poorly run office. Thanks for letting me vent.

It is very confusing because there is a fine line between being too tight and not tight enough - I was getting fills about once a month because I could eat too much - my last one was back in June - only .25 and that did it - I can barely drink my protein shake in the morning - can only eat a small amount of food and food still gets stuck if I don't chew it enough- the thing that still confuses me is that even with all this restriction and not eating much food at all compared to what I was eating before I am losing weight so slow - only 22 lbs in a year. I had 50 to lose so I guess I shouldn't complain but I thought I would be at my goal weight by now - I must not have any metabolism and yes I do exercise a lot.

I stopped losing weight with calorie counting for 4 months until I started counting carbs instead and am now down 7 in two weeks. It is the only thing that works for me because I was eating soft foods because they go down easier which are mainly carbs

I am at a year post-op and only down about 18-20 - my doc thinks I am eating too many carbs or soft foods that are adding up to too many calories but I am pretty tight and do not feel I am overeating especially considering what I used to it - I eat very little these days but weight is coming off so slow. It is discouraging.

I have my one year checkup tomorrow - I have only lost 20 lbs but had 50 to lose so comes off slower than if I had more - that is what they tell me - anyway, I am very tight right now where I can hardly eat anything but I still don't think I am losing weight - I am worried like you that if he wants to take some out I will be able to eat too much and still not lose weight or even gain - there is a fine line between being too tight and not tight enough - I will ask my doctor tomorrow but it seems like I have gotten tighter since the temperature outside has been over 100 degrees for a couple of weeks - may just be dehydration issues but I could only eat 3 bites of my tuna salad at lunch and could barely get my protein shake down for breakfast - it is very frustrating - I wanted the sleeve but they said I didn't have enough weight to lose to justify it. Thanks.

Sometimes when I eat I feel a burning in the right side of my throat or really sort of closer to my ear - like heart burn but going from throat to ear - hard to explain but I was just wondering if anyone else had this - it is sort of like the feeling I got right after surgery where my left shoulder would sort of burn but that went away after time.

I just had my one year bloodwork - I don't know about the Thiamine yet because they had to redo it - it was exposed to sunlight but the bloodwork did show I was deficient in B12 so my doctor told me to take sublingual B12 liquid - put two drops under tongue every day - I found some cherry flavored that doesn't take too bad and started today - what exactly is Thiamine or what is it for?

I used to eat chocolate ice cream at night because it would go down so easily and realized I was eating too much of it so stopped completely - after not eating much during the day I thought it would be a nice treat to have a couple of scoops of something good like that as a reward but after not losing for two months straight stopped. I do miss it but my doctor told me today that the reason I wasn't losing wasn't because I was eating too much food portion-wise it was because I am eating too many carbs which go down easy and don't get stuck - he says to always eat protein, no carbs - roll up a piece of turkey and cheese or even ham and cheese just not mashed potatoes and ice cream like I was doing. Thanks.

I am coming up on my one year anniversary of my surgery and have appt with my doctor to go over everything, lab work, etc. which is required at one year post-op. Anyway, back to my question. I think I am too tight but I don't want an unfill because then I am worried I will be too loose - I haven't lost any weight in two months even though I have had restriction so I am starting to wonder what is going on. In the morning I can barely get my protein shake down it sort of hurts going down by lunch I can only eat about a portion of chicken salad or something like that and then dinner I usually have a cup of hot tea and a lean cuisine - what do you think? Thanks.

I hear ya on the not eating right thing - I guess even though I am not eating a lot at all I am eating things that I know will go down. I just hate to get an unfill and then be able to eat more and still not lose - it has taken me a year to lose 20 lbs but I only had 45 to lose so comes off slower - very frustrating - I do feel better and clothes fit better but I honestly thought I would be at my goal weight by my one year anniversary - Thanks for responding.

I have never seen any information about whether or not having the band does damage to your stomach even if you don't constantly throw up - I know erosion is possible but has anyone heard any news about how long it is safe to keep the band in - I know someone who has had one for 4 years with no problem but she tells me to be careful about being too tight and throwing up because of the erosion but what about just having some foreign object tight around part of your stomach - is your stomach that flexible? Thanks.