If anyone could help me I would be so grateful. I was banded August 2008 and all was well and I was losing great...until about 4 months ago. I kept telling my Dr that I wasn't able to keep food down, but he said it was my drainage and I didn't need fluid out. One night, I couldn't even drink water so I went to my dr's partner and they let all the fluid out, but said the guided swallow showed that I had a blockage, maybe stuck food. They said it would pass and I should be able to eat in no time. So 2 weeks went by, still not able to keep food down. Had another guided swallow, and the "blockage" was gone and they think there was never food there, it was inflammation from the irritation from vomiting. Got a steroid shot. I have had an EGD, at least 5 guided swallows and they still don't know what the problem is. Now they are ruling out my gallbladder being bad, but as soon as I swallow the food it comes right back up (not typical for GB). They say my bad looks good...but I haven't had ANY fluid in my band for a month now and I still throw up after each meal. I am so frustrated and I just don't know what is wrong and what to do next. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for reading!

What did the doctor mean it was "your drainage?" Also, if you aren't able to keep food down, why did you stop losing weight four months ago? Are you eating high calorie slider foods since regular food doesn't stay down?

At any rate, if you are not keeping food down and can't drink Water - it is a serious condition. You could become dehydrated and vomiting is not good for your band or stomach.

It's possible this is not band related and the vomiting is due to something else. Possible, but not probable. Make sure they look at everything that could be causing you to be unable to keep food down even if you didn't have the band.

It sounds like you've had the right tests. You should call your doctor and tell him you want admitted to the hospital and you want to stay until this problem is solved. You obviously can't live like this. Good luck.

Cleo's mom, thank you for the quick response. By my drainage, they mean from my allergies, and also from acid reflux. They put me on medication for both, with no avail. I haven't lost any weight because I have replaced food with Starbucks. Bad idea, I know...I am just so hungry! I just wondered if anyone had the same thing happen.

I'm stumped and can only question a couple of things. They "looked at" your stomach and esophagus with an EGD. Did they by chance do a lower GI exam? A blockage in the intestines would evetually affect everything that goes into your GI tract.

Did the steroid injection help at all? Perhaps if it did, it might take more than one to get the inflammation under control (if inflammation is the problem).

Let us know what happens!

I'm assuming they tried a strictly liquid diet for a week or so to allow the inflammation to go down (if you're vomiting continuously it won't ever get better)? Reflux is also an indication that you're too tight as I'm sure you know (whether from the band or inflammation). I've read where someone had 'too small' a band for their anatomy once and they had to replace it with the larger size one, but I'm sure they should be able to tell that when looking at the 'flow'. Also read that it's possible sometimes a slip doesn't always show up with the fluoro if you have a slip that comes and goes (moves in and out) with eating (I'm wondering if they could do one right after you eat to see what it looks like?). Hmmmm.... So sorry you're having this problem! (I have bad post-nasal drip and some reflux, but I can't imagine this causing vomiting unless you're only vomiting when laying down (people vomit in the night with bad reflux). -BG