Hi all, happy Friday!!

I have an odd thing happening when I swallow, I'm wondering if it happends to any of you and what your Dr's say about it, mine is of no help.

I had surgery in February, all of my anatomy pre-surgery tests came back perfect, surgery went perfectly, nothing was out of the ordinary. 5-6 weeks after surgery I went in for my first follow up appt and (hopefully) a fill... my Dr does fills using an x-ray, I stand in front of it, my band shows up, I swallow the barium Fluid and we watch it go down, pool up a little and then slowly flow through my band. It's pretty cool! Except here's the odd thing that happends - when I swallow, it doens't ALL go through the band, it will pool up, sit there for a few seconds, and then here and there the fluid will start to drain through the band. After watching for a few minutes it still doesn't ALL drain through, there is still a bit left handing out above the band, eventually it does all go through. So the first time we saw this (6 weeks post op) my Dr said he never saw it before and I must have some food stuck in there, or I must be too tight, he gave me a total unfill (I had fluid in there coming out of surgery, although he doesn't know how much, maybe 6cc's he said - but I TOTALLY don't believe him that I had 6cc's, I would put money on that, he made that number up, yes, my Dr lies to me and I can prove it). He said come back in a week. After a week, the same exact thing happend (remember I now have NO fill AND that day from first thing in the morning until my appt I didn't eat a thing, only drank) so this confirms that it isn't because of a stuck peice of food and it isn't because I'm too tight. He gave me a 2.5cc fill that day, told me to come back in a month. Went back Wednesday of this week, SAME THING happends still. He did not want to give me a fill, but he also isn't doing anything else to figure it all out and he's just wasting my time (SO many issues with my Dr). I told him that I can't keep waiting for this to change on it's own, it hasn't changed in the month and a week that we've been watching it, if we're not going to do some tests or something different then I want to ignore it for now and move on with my weight loss, please give me a fill and get me back to some restriction - PLEASE! So he did, I'm at good restriction now and hopefully will see some weight loss results.

Anyone have anything similar happening? Dr is now calling it a "spasm" that happends in my throat when I swallow.

Some facts that might be helpful to know:

1. I've never been stuck

2. I've never felt discomfort from it, never have felt like I was choking or couldn't get food down

3. Remember that it isn't because I was over full, because it happends when I have NO fill

Thanks for your 2 cents!!

Melissa

Get a second opinion from a different doctor just to protect ur health but I think having a fill in the meantime is a good idea. Good luck to u!

Thanks ThinSista, anyone else?

i would question the best practice of filling under a barium swallow??? I am by no means a professional, but I am a nurse and I know you can get lots of "shadowing" from a swallow, that are called artifacts, that do not mean anything!!! The barium glows, and that is why if someone has an inconclusive GI swallow (for a regular test, not a lap band) GI doctors f/u with a cat scan! I know that swallows are good for checking placement!!! The best way for MD's to monitor a fill is to do it under fluoroscopy, not all physicians opt for this for several reasons! They are listed in the threads here!

I take a drink of barium with my fills also. Sometimes the barium bubbles, exactly as you have described, and this is how he determines how much to fill my band. If it doesn't go through all the way or backs up slightly, he removes a tad, and likewise he fills until I can swallow properly.

Perhaps your doctor is just not experienced enough to realize what this means when he sees it.