Hi I'm new here, I had my band inserted August 2007 and initially it worked really well. After about two years I started suffering reflux and would have really bad flare ups where for a week at a time I could not eat anything or even keep Water down, after two years suffering like this I had the band emptied and everything was fine until Tuesday this week (11th June) when I suddenly got acute pain at the top of my stomach and couldn't keep anything down. I got an appointment with my doctor and he prescribed omezaprol (not sure of the spelling but it reduces stomach acid) this did nothing to help and the pain was horrific!!

This went on until Thursday when I had an ultrasound scan to check for gallstones, which of course showed nothing so I still didn't know what was happening. That night I tried so have some thin Soup but this caused such pain I had to go to A&E.

The doctor at A&E didn't know too much about lap bands and thought it might be kidney stones but he did arrange a CT scan for me this morning which has shown that the band is in my bowel!!

I'm feeling very scared about the operation tomorrow but I will be so pleased to put this all behind me!!

I feel that I have to put on a brave face for my family because this was my decision to try and take the easy way.

Of course: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23256021?log$=activity

I've heard of this happening when the band migrates thru the gastric wall and then passes into the intestine. It's unusual, but not impossible.

I hope your surgery goes well and is completely uneventful. I'm really sorry this happened to you.

Oh if you had surgery in the U.K. I wonder if they didn't stich it right? but according to some on here they are so much better than U.S. surgeons.. I hope whatever is wrong you find an answer.. I'm like Missy doubt it could be in your bowels.. if so, you need to sue your surgeon..

Band migration is a risk with our type of surgery. It's called erosion, but sometimes it is completely inside the stomach, the tubing becomes disconnected and it passes thru the GI tract. This isn't surgeon error, especially 6 years post op.

Such a scary thing to go through, I'm so sorry. I hope you have a safe surgery and recovery, and no after effects. Good luck

~~~Stephanie

Nici sorry you went through this, yes it's rare but it does happen OBVIOUSLY your Living proof And thank goodness you are! NO Need to feel Shame we all need HELP or this forum wouldn't exist. The band doesn't necessarily migrate into the colon, when this happens it can be from the tubing since the band has a length of tubing that has to be cut to a patient's anatomy, thus..it might be from the tubing migrating into the colon.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3269383/

I made it!!! Thank you so much for your support and good wishes they really got me through a long night.

Pain wise it's not too bad at all, so much better that the last four days. The entrance where the port was is not at all painful and it just feels like pressure where the accessed my bowel, I haven't been able to look at the scars yet but they are a very small price to pay and I do firmly believe that if I had put off going to A&E any longer the outcome may have been very different!!

Does that doctor do at least yearly post op visits to ensure that things are going correctly? I would think that sort of problem would take some to time to develop as far as it did.

Thank you all for your kind words and support, it made all of the difference during a very worrying time. They operated this morning and I was in theatre for 1 hour 30 mins I think and the difference between going in and coming out is amazing!!! I was on high doses of morphine last night and every other painkiller going and the pain was still horrific!!! Where as today I have had some paracetamol to bring down my temp. (Not sure what painkillers they gave me in theatre) thank you!!!!

Nici6, what are your plans once healed? Are you considering revising to another WLS? Glad you're thru surgery and on the road to recovery!

Hi more WLS is the last thing on my mind now, I have 3 children one only 6 weeks old so I will not risk anything like this again. I decided last year to address the reasons why I over eat and started having CBT which has helped me to identify my reasons for over eating and I feel this knowledge and understanding will finally help me to address my food issues. I have also contacted a dietician and hopefully with her help I can start making healthier choices for my whole family.

Good luck to you. I hope it all works out for you.

Hi more WLS is the last thing on my mind now, I have 3 children one only 6 weeks old so I will not risk anything like this again. I decided last year to address the reasons why I over eat and started having CBT which has helped me to identify my reasons for over eating and I feel this knowledge and understanding will finally help me to address my food issues. I have also contacted a dietician and hopefully with her help I can start making healthier choices for my whole family.

Hi, I'm happy for you. sounds like what I'm afraid of. I go to see my Dr tomorrow and set a date to have band removed after 4 years. I still need to lose another 50 lbs according to my Dr. and lab work, but too afraid to even think about another surgery. Being diabetic, I haven't been able to do it alone and that scares me even more. Like someone said before, We chose this route and for me, it was the wrong choice.