Hello bandsters. This is my first post although I have been lurking since I got banded 10 months ago. Overall, I have been pretty happy with the whole experience. But now something very strange is going on. It started when I first began to feel restriction after my 5th fill about 5 months ago - I was SO happy to finally have that feeling of restriction!

My body signal that I was overeating was to give me a pain behind my left ear (and then a few hiccups). Okay, I know that sounds kinda weird but I looked it up and it turns out the 10th cranial nerve or vagus nerve runs behind your ear and it is associated with the esophageal sphincter and digestion, among other things. So it made sense to me that the nerve was being irritated if I overate. The pain behind my ear would go away after about an hour. The pain is similar to the feeling that your eyeglasses are too tight on your head - ever have that?

Anyway, for the last 2 weeks, this pain has been returning with more and more frequency and longer in duration. The last 2 days it has been almost constant. I have tried heat, ice, Advil, tiger balm, and nothing relieves it. I have been on liquids for the last 36 hours and it still persists. I have it when I wake up in the morning. Needless to say, I am getting a wee bit cranky! Has anybody ever had this before? Maybe I am completely wrong about the whole vagus nerve thing and I just have a brain tumor, LOL. I am loathe to go to my doc about this I'm sure it will just about impossible to diagnose, and even more impossible to treat. I know nerve pain can be a notoriously slippery subject. So, you are my first line of attack. I would love to hear about any similar experiences and what you did for relief.

Thanks!!!

I think you are very smart to research the nervous system. Maybe a trip to a neurologist would be in order.

I think you should go see your PCP doc. After we get banded I think we automatically relate everything to the band. We tend to forget that we could have other health issues that have nothing to do with our band.

I agree, it's time to see your PCP. I would not relate a long-term headache to the band, but would simply describe the nature and duration of pain as best as you can.

Provide as much information to the doctor as you can--without drawing conclusions. By this, I mean that it might be useful for him to see food journals (might be an allergy issue); to know how much Fluid you're taking in; to see a calendar/journal in which you've recorded details of each headache (how and when you experience onset of pain, rate it on a scale of 1-10, describe what you do for relief and how well that works; relate it to any identifiable stressors or activities, etc.)

Headache can be tricky to pin down. The more information you can offer, the better.

i tell you i just got over a 2 day migraine that as the worse migraine i have ever had and nothing would touch it until the last day in the middle of the night i took a vicodin and got some rest. now i am exhausted from the non sleep and the pain. i don't know what caused it.

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? It could be an impengment also. When I am "out" I have headaches and other shooting pains. 20 mins and $20 later I feel like a new woman. It couldn't hurt anything that is for sure.