hey everyone,

Its been awhile since I've posted but I am having some concerns and I thought I might call on "ol faithful" my LBT support group for some advise!!! I woke up the other morning with a lump in my throat it flet like a big wad of bubble gum in my throat, didnt really hurt but it was hard to swallow and it was actually even gagging me sort of really scared me, in about the area of where my tonsils USED to be, anyway so I went to the DR. to see if he thought it might be my tonsil growing back and inflamed or what! well he had never seen anything like this and wasnt sure what it was but did say it looked like a piece of a tonsil, he did a rapid strep test which was negative and said if it wasnt better in a few days he would send me to a ENT, "long story I know but I am getting to the point here soon I promise" since then which has been about a week my throat feels really weird when I swallow almost like it has closen up a little and is kind of sore when I swallow I have heard that you can get some esophagus problems with the band and I am scared something is wrong, should I call my band doc, or has anyone experienced anything of this sort! your input would be helpful!!

yes get his input and see what he said what can it hurt second look is sometimes better then a first let me know what they say very interested.

i would immediately contact our band dr. many md's are not familiar with the bands and possible side effects. many primary's aren't even sure what they are seeing. good luck

I, too, am having problems with my esophogas. For the past two weeks, anything I eat or drink hurts - alot!! I went to see my badn doc yesterday and he doesn't think it has anything to do with the band. They did a throat culture (which will be back probably Thursday) as there were some lesions in the back of my throat. He actually thinks I have a viral infection in my esophogas. He made an appointment for me with my regular doc so she can schedule a barium swallow and/or an endoscope. I have lost 11 lbs in 2 weeks, so that's good! But I am diabetic, so not eating and/or drinking is not a good thing. I force myself to eat and drink throughout the day. The only thing I seem to really have good luck with is ice cream, probably because it numbs my esophagus when I swallow. But it is EXTREMELY painful. So if it is an infection, they will put me on a tetracycline antibiotic of some kind. If not, then I guess we do the other tests. But my band doc was sure it wasn't the band, as if the band were too tight, food would not go through and I would be throwing up.

I had the same thing. I went to a gastroenterologist and he determined that I had esophagitis. The good news - it goes away. The bad news - it hurts like hell till it goes away.

Here's what I was told to do. Take a Prilosec OTC once a day. Eat only soft and mushy foods. Its an inflamation of the esophagus, and only time will heal it. Antibiotics help the recovery process, but in the end, time is all it takes.

Hope that helps.

Jesse

Hi Jesse

Thank you so much for the information! I guess I will find out more when my test results come back, and also when I see my regular doc tomorrow. I am hoping they schedule an endoscope right away.

Sue

Jesse

Wondering how long it takes to go away...

Sue

I would go see an ENT specialist asap. They will know exactly what is going on & will be able to talk along with your band doc as well. That way you don't waste time.

Hello I'llsucceed

I am hoping that my doctor (whom I see tmorrow) will either send me to a specialist (and she'll be able to get me in quicker than I could myself) or order an endoscope so I can get this taken care. It's really starting to annoy me.

SnowWhite

Mine took about 5 days to go away, but the trick was that I stopped eating solids during that time. I went back to Soups and mashed potatoes, etc. Also, the Prilosec definitely helped.

Let me put it this way - I saw the doctor on a Tuesday, he told me he wanted to do a follow up endoscopy on me the following Monday (6 days later). Monday morning rolled around and they called me to confirm and I didn't need to go and ended up cancelling because my symptoms were completely gone. A couple more days of nursing the area and taking it easy and I was right as rain.

Hope that helps.

Jesse

Banded January 30th, 2006

Hi Jesse

I guess I will have to wait and see if I have the same thing as you. I have been eating mushies for almost three weeks now, with no improvement. It is actually getting worse.

my results are back and the doc says that I have strep throat but I do not have any of the symptoms for it, such as fever chills any thing just the sore(tight feeling throat) so I guess I will take the pills which are horse pills and see if it goes away. Thanks for all your input I will keep you posted.

Carrie

Snow White,

A liquid antacid kept in the fridge will also help releive the symptoms. Take it before meals and it will coat your esophagus to help protect it. The coldness feels good too!! Gaviscon is a really good thick one.. I use it myself

Kathy

Snow White,

My suggestion is to have an endoscopy. Yes, it's true that banded people can have esophagus problems. I developed one, a rare condition called Nutcracker Esophagus (you can google it--some people here are probably sick to death of hearing about it).

It necessitated (?) keeping a very small fill (.5cc) and also watching very carefully to possibly remove my band. I had a barium swallow recently & endoscopy & just have to take the results to a local band doc I found.

Didn't mean to scare you--you might just have esophagitis which is healed by Nexium. But please have it checked out.

I just thought that I would let you know the problems I was having were because I had a 4cc band that sliped and I have been having problems ever since I posted this and I had a band replacement 12 days ago and I

am feeling pretty good!