I'm having one in a couple of weeks, but I am really unsure of what it is and what it does. I have been banded since September 2, 2010 and have only lost 37 pounds and in the last 2 months I have only lost 2 pounds. I'm taking zumba 2 nights a week and I walk 5 days a week plus watch what I eat. So the doc said next visit I would have a barium swallow. Anyone had one of these and what does it show? And if it shows anything can it be fixed without another surgery? Thanks for all responses. Connie

A Barium swallow is a thick liquid that you swallow and it shows up on xray. I had one to check my band wasn't too tight. It showed that the liquid was very slow to pass through my band so they took some liquid out and then i had to have another swallow to check it was OK. I had to take a big sip of the liquid and then swallow it when they said too while standing in front of the xray machine. It didn't taste bad. They also do barium swallows to check the position of the band and i suppose if something is wrong it would depend on what it actually is that would determine if you needed more surgery or not. Some people experience constipation from the barium you have to swallow, but i had no trouble.

A lot of Doctors do barium swallow immediately following surgery from what i have read, but mine didn't.

Jan thank you so much for the info on the barium swallow. Hopefully there won't be anything serious wrong.