Tomorrow will be eight weeks since i was banded. Trouble started at 4 weeks with introduction of solid food. Terrible squeezing, burning, spasmodic pain 3-4 seconds after swallowing, and horrible gurgling noises coming from my throat. I thought i was experiencing "stuck" episodes. It calmed down for about a week and a half, then returned and has been getting progressively worse. Upper GI shows esophageal dysmotility, high-sitting band with no visible pouch. YIKES. So my esophagus is basically my stomach now... and it's not very happy about it. My surgeon says the dysmotility issue cant be ignored for very long, and it is possible (likely) that it wil need to be removed. Of course, I'm freaked out... worried about long-term effects of esoph dysmotility and permanent damage. So, did any of you have dysmotility problems that you didn't have before banding? Did removing the band make your symptoms/pain go away? Thank you for any information you can give. I'm totally heartbroken. :ohmy:

Tomorrow will be eight weeks since i was banded. Trouble started at 4 weeks with introduction of solid food. Terrible squeezing, burning, spasmodic pain 3-4 seconds after swallowing, and horrible gurgling noises coming from my throat. I thought i was experiencing "stuck" episodes. It calmed down for about a week and a half, then returned and has been getting progressively worse. Upper GI shows esophageal dysmotility, high-sitting band with no visible pouch. YIKES. So my esophagus is basically my stomach now... and it's not very happy about it. My surgeon says the dysmotility issue cant be ignored for very long, and it is possible (likely) that it wil need to be removed. Of course, I'm freaked out... worried about long-term effects of esoph dysmotility and permanent damage. So, did any of you have dysmotility problems that you didn't have before banding? Did removing the band make your symptoms/pain go away? Thank you for any information you can give. I'm totally heartbroken. :ohmy:

It sounds like your band wasn't placed correctly during your original surgery. Does the surgeon plan on repositioning it? If not, you may want to ask why not. I hope your problem gets corrected soon to give you some relief.

I agree, that your band doesn't sound like it was placed correctly, BUT.............

My band was also placed slightly higher than it should have been. I've been living with the issue now for 5 years. I wouldn't recommend it. I had some initial success but have really struggled with some side effects that I probably shouldn't have.

I cannot sleep on my back-I wake with pain and pressure

I nearly constantly have something like reflux but without any choking. It's more like a slight stomach acid regurgitation that sits in my esophagus and gives me a sour taste/sore and burning throat.

I have lived with this thinking I have caused it by overeating, eating the wrong foods, positional errors (sleeping on my back). Now, 5 years down the road the symptoms are nearly constant unless I am shoving food down my throat and I have gained 30+ lbs.

Advice: if you have identified the problem this early, take care of it NOW! My doctor told me last month to try one more round of Nexium but to think about removal with a conversion to the gastric sleeve.

Oh my, Dawn! I can't imagine five years of it! I had my band removed on July 7th, when it got to the point that even sips of Water was causing excruciating pain. It was removed on a semi-emergent basis. I didn't have time to research the sleeve, and not sure i would have opted for that anyway. I have never been in such hell as I was the last two weeks. I had the band in for nine weeks, with perhaps six days of what a "normal" banded person probably feels like. I got a nasty postop wound infection after the removal surgery, so I was down for about 10 days following that. Since I've healed completely, there were a few days in the beginning where I would have spasms at least once a day, but thankfully, that has abated. On the down side to that, of course my appetite has returned, and that totally blows. I gained 5 lb back... but I knew I would, since I had been living on tiny sips of water and a few sips of Protein drink for 2-3 weeks prior to removal. Common sense told me that I would gain some when I was able to eat again, especially not being able to exercise. I lost 3 of those lbs already, but had a terribly, horrible weekend, and it looks like I've gained those 3 lbs back. So.. it's back to square one. I was down 52 lbs the day of band removal. I needed to lose 90 lb. So I'm still in an okay place... just SOOOO relieved to have that thing out of me. Can't say i totally regret it, because i believe it "jump started" me, and I've lost enough weight that I think I can keep going. Just gotta watch those weekend pig-fests.

I sure hope you can get straightened out. A friend of mine has done lots of research on the sleeve, and I think she wants to convert. If you've done your homework and are sure that's what you want, then get that band out of you. It makes no sense that it can work properly when it is misplaced. I never even had a pouch... and had full restriction from day ONE!!! So my poor esophagus is trying to push food through this restricted area, and it's not going through... so my esophagus starts spazzin out... no dang wonder I felt so bad. I know there are lots of people with great results with the band, and I'm truly happy for them. I would just have to say it works for some and for some it doesn't. I was one of the unlucky ones, and it sure sounds like you are too. Get that thing out!! How horrible that you are suffering so and now are gaining weight! I'd get it taken out for that reason alone! Good luck to you. Let me know what you decide and how you are doing! CathyB

Thanks Cathy, but actually that's why I came on the forums today. I decided over the weekend to contact my surgeon to discuss having my band removed. I'm not comfortable with the gastric sleeve, so I guess I'm goin' it alone. Which now that I think about it since I've never been able to tolerate a fill..........maybe I've been with very little assistance all along? Who knows?

I have a pouch, but not much of one I guess. My current doc is not the one who placed my band. I left the original guy when he tried to tell me my symptoms were the result of psychological problems. And when my current doc did an EGD (esophageal gastro duodenoscopy) he said my band was placed higher than he would have liked but that things looked OK. That was more than 2 years ago because I have avoided the doctor. They all tell me that despite my symptoms "everything is OK." I finally broke down and saw him a month ago. That was when he said that I probably fall into a small category of patients who have motility issues and will probably need to have the band removed.

My doctor is good about email contact so I emailed him tonight. Hopefully I'll be on the road to feeling better soon. It's been so long since I felt "normal" I don't even know if I'll recognize it. All I know is I can't live with this constant burning anymore.

I know EXACTLY what you mean about avoiding the doctors. Please visit my weight loss blog (link beow), and my personal blog as well, (linked from the weight-loss blog) to follow my story. On my XFiles blog, I have added the blogs of other people who are losing weight without surgery, and I find their blogs very encouraging, and we're starting to communicate via comments. Please feel free to e-mail me at bencath@aol.com and let me know how you're doing, when you'll be debanded etc. I'd love to encourage you any way I can. I'm glad you e-mailed your doctor, and are about to re-claim your life. cathyb

I don't know where to start but I can sure use your suggestions. I am a fairly newbie only 27 into my band. I have been experiencing a lot of pain, from what I read I am experiencing the "Stuck" feeling and althought when "vomiting" nothing comes out but gas I have the feeling of having a heart attack. After the first set of "stuck feeling" epidoses I went to the doctor, which was surprise because all I was having were mushy items.He took out "residual liquid on the band" and asked me to go back to liquids and I did. After another week of liquids but disconfort but not as bad, i finished my week. I went back to mushy and one day in and the "stuck" feeling came back and this time there is nothing stopping it. I thought I was going to die in my bathroom floor, the pain was sooo band I could not even breath properly. I was rushed to the ER. After almost 6 hours in there they gave me a esophagram and nothing displayed to be wrong and no liquids were getting stuck apparently. I saw the doctor later on that day and he said that this is very unusal condisering my band is empty. He said a solution would be to have it removed but that would be crazy considering thati just had my band in. Today my 3rd day in liquids (today i made it all clear liquids) and the stuck feeling is still here. I am in tears after i drink anything. I am now even afraid of drinking water.... has anyone been through this before? I am very afraid and I have never before in my life experience anything like this. The pain i have is soooo severe that it brings me to my knees. i can't sleep, I can't even talk at times, I can't laugh, I can't drink. Any information or advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.

I'm so very sorry to hear that you're going through this. Ask your doctor for an upper GI series to check band placement, whether or not you have a pouch, and to check for dysmotility. Regardless of what the upper GI shows, unfortunately there is no fix for this, and you probably need to get that band out. I know it is heartbreaking, but I know from experience what you're going through. It sounds like your pain level is far worse than mine. Don't mess around with this, as you will dehydrate quickly, and you don't want to do that. I'm so sorry. I hope things get better for you soon. Post a reply to this thread so I'll get an e-mail and can check on you again. I don't come here any more unless there are replies to threads I subscribed to. CathyB

well i'm going thru the same thing but i'm at 9 days of liquids you really need to make sure you get protein in you diet. I don't see the dr till 9/2 seems like forever but i hope he does take it out I've had it for about 5 yrs and this "stuck" feeling is getting more often i have also been "tight" even since the day of surgery so will be interested in what the dr thinks I have only had 1 fill in 5 years because it is always so tight I can feel every bite that goes thru from the pouch to the stomach There is days that i can't swollow by own spit I know that sounds disgusting but it gets hard to drink even water

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for your kind words and support. Today I went to see my doctor again, it has been 10 days i have been in my liquid diet since the ER episode and nothing seems to have gotten any better. I have been on Clear Liquids for the past 6 days. I asked my doctor to remove the band and he said that he didn't recommend that, he said that another option would be to replace my band with a bigger one? BIGGER ONE? i thought there was only one size fits all sort of thing for band. So far I have lost 38 pounds all together and he said to me that all that weight would be gained back within a month and that taking the band out was not a good idea and he didn't recommend it. I am now more depressed and even more confused and scared. I would have loved for the band to work but after what I have been through with this pains, am afraid it will happen again no matter how "big" this band will be. My removal or band replacement is happening this monday (3 days) away. I have until then to decide and I am confused. :thumbup: