Advice for problem keeping food down?

[Belle12689 0]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I'm a 23 year old female who had my surgery in January 2012. First, I just want to say I love the surgery. It has helped me get down near my goal weight and given me confidence and happiness I never knew I could have. That said, I am having some issues, which is why I found this forum in the first place.

After getting my surgery in January 2012, everything went swimmingly. However, sometime around July 2012 I got sick and vomited a lot, which caused my band to slip. I did not know what had happened at the time, so I just dealt with it for a while. The result was that the band first slipped down and then slipped back up, almost entirely sealing off the entrance to my stomach. Consequently, I could not eat anything without throwing up. Nothing would go down into my stomach. In fact, I could barely even drink liquids. Finally, in October, I went to my surgeon with the issue. He discovered that my band had slipped and brought me in to fix the problem the next day. He did a surgery and fixed the band.

Immediately after the surgery, my esophagus was seriously inflamed and I was in a lot of pain. At that point I really couldn't eat or drink anything, because of the pain. About two weeks after the surgery the doctor brought me in again and gave me a series of IVs and told me if I didn't eat I would have to continue to get IVs every day. As a result, I started to force myself to eat when I could. However, I encountered a major problem. I would start eating, and even after an extremely small portion it would feel like the food was just sitting in my chest rather than going down to my stomach. This is a painful feeling for me, and as a result there were often times when I would throw up. The vomit had no stomach bile or anything, it was just the undigested food sitting in my chest. Things were a little better when I ate things that had a liquid like consistency, like yogurt, ice cream, or food covered in Condiments like butter or dressing, but it was still an issue.

About two months ago, I went to the doctor and told them I was having trouble eating anything more than tiny portions, and they took some Fluid out of the band and told me I should be able to eat normal portions. However, since then, things have only gotten worse. It is now at the point where if I eat anything of any substance I cannot keep it down. It just sits in my chest and I need to throw it up to relieve the feeling. I can only drink in small sips. Basically all I can eat now are things like yogurt or tuna salad, and I'm even having trouble keeping those down lately. This is different than when my band slipped, because it feels different to me.

For the last two months I've also been experiencing weakness, fatigue, reflux, chest pain, and an overall uncomfortable feeling in my body. I'm also experiencing a pain/numbness and tingling/weakness in my hands for the last week. I went to my normal doctor and he ran a bunch of blood tests on me, and everything came back pretty much normal. He suggested I might have Celiac disease, but the test for that came back negative. The only thing of note from my blood work was that I have a deficiency in my Vitamin D. I'm assuming these other symptoms I've experienced are associated with whatever is causing the problem, or from the lack of nutrition I'm getting due to my inability to keep down any food.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Does anyone know what might be causing the problem? I'm terrified to go back to my doctor because I'm scared he's going to say I need another surgery, which I don't want (I also had thyroid cancer in 2008 that needed surgery to be removed, and I had my gall bladder out in 2010, so I'm so sick of being in the hospital and going through surgery). I would appreciate any advice anyone can give, and any suggestions or guesses anyone might have about what is going on. I know I am going to have to go back to my surgeon soon, but I'm just scared and you guys seem to know what you're talking about, so I'm really hoping that someone might have some ideas about what's going on, so I can at least mentally prepare myself. Thank you so much guys!!

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT! 12,703]

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you need to get back into your bariatric surgeon ASAP. As you know vomiting can cause slips and with all the vomiting you've been doing it's very possible you have another slip. Unfortunately all your symptoms point to having a band too tight for too long resulting in a slip.

Plus, the band can greatly effect the Vagus nerve- especially if it's slipped. You need to be sure that isn't what is causing your other symptoms.

Go back to your doctor. You're putting your health at serious risk by putting it off.

Best wishes

[laurigee 545]

I understand that your scared to go back! But you need to see your surgeon IMMEDIATELY!!!!! It could be something simple that removing a small amount of Fluid could fix! Just as the first time your band slipped! If you would have went in immediately it could have resolved itself without surgery by just removing all your fluid for a couple of weeks! Time only makes problems larger! Please make an appointment today and let them know how serious your problem is and that you need to be seen immediately! Please keep me posted on how your doing!

[hely88 883]

Good advice! Doctors right away!!

[Baba Wawa 543]

It sounds like you're retaining food in your esophagus. Need a barium swallow to check the status of your band and esophageal function. I've been experiencing exactly what you describe...what I found out is my band is very loose, but the sphincter at the bottom of my esophagus fails to open when I eat. I'm having a manometry test next week to determine next steps.

[Weigh2Fat 0]

You are describing exactly what I've been going through for the last 3+ years. The first 3 years of my lapband were perfect. I went from 265 down to 180. At my 5'9" height, I was very happy with the weight. The band was perfect. Then out of nowhere, it just started closing up. The band seemed to get tighter every day. I was vomiting just about everything until finally I couldn't even keep Water down. The DR did a major unfill and I had a barium swallow test which turned out fine. The band appeared to be in place. So they let my band rest for a few months (+20 lbs) and then slowly started filling it up again. Once I got back to my sweet spot I'd be good for another few months and then the vomiting would start again and over a couple weeks would be back to being totally closed off, (at least that's how I describe it.). When it's so tight that I can't even drink water and keep it down, the reflux is horrible and painful. It starts with pressure in my chest and between the shoulder blades (gallbladder tests have been done and were fine). Then only thing that stops the pain is vomiting. And the bile builds up so bad. Such a nasty feeling. I have been living with this cycle for over 3 years now of unfilling (gaining 20-30 pounds), gradually filling (losing 15-20 pounds) then I'm good for 3-5 months and then the same vicious cycle. I loved my band the first 3 years. It was perfect for me. Seriously considering a sleeve but afraid I'll have no relief options (unfill) if the reflux continues. Let me know what you found out and if you got your issue resolved.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Weigh2Fat

[this sucks 557]

The ongoing issues with my esophagus are what drove me to revision surgery so don't wait on this.

My LapBand is being removed on Tuesday and I couldn't be happier. For that last year or so, I could only eat a few bites before I felt full and then I would be starving in an hour.

(like you) I felt like the food was sitting at the back of my throat-right now my band is completely empty in preparation for surgery and the one solid meal I eat each day causes the same symptoms.. Last week I got stuck on Protein shake-liquid Protein shake without any texture.

Do yourself a favor and get to your surgeon. You need to find out what's causing all the trouble.