My name is Missie Fisher and I have had the lapband for a year and a half. I have been suffering for the last week from severe stomach pain and mid-central back pain. I have spent 2500 bucks in the last week on internal EDG tests and exrays, etc etc etc. They can find nothing but minor irritation. I know its from the band b/c this pain worsens when eating or drinking. They say that it might be acid reflux....if anyone has had acid reflux due to the band please let me know how long after taking the medications did the pain subside. I have been crying all day and night and I dont know what to do...I almost want to have it taken out.:help:

Hi Missie,

Sorry to hear you're so miserable. I'm worried -- know you are, too. Here are some ideas:

1. Your surgeon should have someone as competent as he is on call when he's away. Is that who you've been seeing?

2. Has anyone checked you out for heart pain? I know this sounds off the wall, but women often have unusual symptoms when they're having angina or a heart attack, and that was the first thing that popped into my head when I read your post.

3. Can't your doctor give you a prescripton for pain medication? Something stronger than just Tylenol. You shouldn't have to hurt so much, even if they haven't yet identified the cause.

4. Get a consultation from another doctor, preferably one from a university teaching hospital or large medical center. Sometimes a fresh mind can spot what's going on.

5. The site www.obesityhelp.com has several posters with lots of experience who might be able to help you. I suggest you post there also. The 3 I'm thinking of are SandyR, Dr. C (a bariatric surgeon) and Nancy

Diebenkorn. Try emailing them from that site, too.

Keep us posted,

NancyRN

Good thought, NancyRN...Dr C posts here now, too! That's his screen name, Dr. C so maybe a PM to direct him to this thread?

No he hasnt had another doctor on-call...there is nothing wrong with my heart...they have checked that..my stomach and back just hurt really bad...They wont give me pain medication...I dont know why...

Have you tried Pepto Bismol? That will take care of H Pylori, if I recall correctly. (I had to do that a few years ago; I think it was a few days of taking a dose every few hours)

With all the pain, what have you been able to eat/drink?

Hi

I havent read the replies of everyone else so if this have been said....forgive me...

I have been banded 14 months...have suffered severly with stomach pain and mid back pain...read all my posts about it.....my band is not positioned correctly but that in itself should cause the pain...or so the gastro enterologist tells me....

Long story short.....I have been diagnosed with H Pylori 2 months ago after the scope found I had a pre-piloric ulcer.(I had the breath test about 6 months ago and that was negative)....

After being treated with the antibiotics for a time everything changed....no abdominal pain...hardly any back pain....no "hot esophagus"..(that use to drive me absolutely insane)..nothing......

after 2 months now (and 2 quite tight fills..) the symptoms are slowly coming back...hot feeling,stomach ache...back ache in afternoon....I am sure that the treatment wasnt long enough....I was only on the 2 antibiotics for 1 week with the nexium that I take every day.....others have been treated for 3 weeks with antibiotics and ppi.

I must say that the physician that is helping me now says that he thinks it will a recurring thing because of the fact that I cannot eat in the morning and take meds in the morning....and because I am prone to ulcers.....so...

This is the first time in 14 months that I have come across anyone with more or less same symptoms than me.....I felt so alone for such a long time in this I must confess......felt like I was crazy as no one shared experience and dr said he was happy with the band being that high I should just eat very little...

Please persue the issue of the H Pylori.Let the dr put you on the 2 antibiotics and PPI for a few weeks and see what happens....I really have hope that that might be the magic you also need.....it really put me back on the weightloss track and other than having a fill that is surely to tight I have been feeling so much better since treatment...I still feel the band and still have some discomfort but not the intense pain I used to have....

Good luck and dont let anyone tell you it is nothing...

Oh,one thing...do let the dr unfill you completely for a while...with the meds it will give your stomach proper chance to heal..I refilled a little to soon I think....

Good luck and I am thinking of you...

My name is Missie Fisher and I have had the lapband for a year and a half. I have been suffering for the last week from severe stomach pain and mid-central back pain. I have spent 2500 bucks in the last week on internal EDG tests and exrays, etc etc etc. They can find nothing but minor irritation. I know its from the band b/c this pain worsens when eating or drinking. They say that it might be acid reflux....if anyone has had acid reflux due to the band please let me know how long after taking the medications did the pain subside. I have been crying all day and night and I dont know what to do...I almost want to have it taken out.:help:

In my experience, consuming NSAIDS or antibiotics caused something very similar to what you are describing.

I went to the emergency room last night by ambulance....I was crying and screaming the pain was so bad. There at the ER I was then told that they look for 7 major problems with stomach pain and if I dont have those problems they basically dont care. I called my GI doctor and he says that this is in my head that he has never seen someone with H Pylori in so much pain...that people with H Pylori are never in pain. He hasnt gotten the test results back from my scoping and doesnt even know what I have, but thinks that I dont have H Pylori. I feel like no one knows what is wrong with me and I wish that someone did...

I don't know anything about H Pylori, but I can tell you that I had to have a revision b/c my band was hitting some tiny nerves in my stomach that referred pain to my back. If the pain in the middle of your back, especially if it's on the port side, it could be because of something like this in addition to the H Pylori (or something else that's putting pressure on the band and making it hit a nerve). Don't let them treat you like you are crazy. They did that to me for 3 weeks until I couldn't work or even move and I finally screamed at them to go in. They did, moved it, and when I woke up from surgery I immediately felt better.

Your GI doc said this is in your head?!!!!!!!!!!!

So, you had an endoscope last night in the ER? Just when will these test results be back? Oh Missie, I'm so sorry.

no the endoscope was done on thursday and the gi doctor just said that sometime next week the test results will be back. I know I am not crazy...I just dont know what to do...I am running out of money non the less and this is really pissing me off...I mean what can I do...I just want them to take the band out...it really has just come to that...but once again my lapband doctor, who has left no one in charge while he is away, wont be back until thursday.

Is there another band doc around?

I PMd DrC and gave him the link to this thread. I hope he'll visit soon!

I'm appalled that your lapband doctor left no one on call. It's unprofessional and immoral IMHO. Can you possibly change to another lapband doctor? A doctor who cares this little about his patients isn't someone I'd want to consider seeing.

Re no pain meds, this is ridiculous. You should not have to be in this much pain. (I had a similar problem getting pain med after my daughter's birth. I kept calling my OB saying my perineal pain was excruciating. He responded with a ridiculous order for bottom-wipes. Guess what it turned out to be? A broken coccyx!!)

I recommend you start shrieking to the doctors you're dealing with, "I'm in SEVERE pain." And to the idiot gastroenterologist who said H. pylori doesn't cause this degree of pain, "That may be true, but this is EXCRUCIATING." You get the idea. (I say dump this gastroenterologist, too.)

It might also be worth asking the docs why they won't prescribe pain med. If they say they don't think you're in severe pain, remind them that everyone feels pain differently and YOU ARE HURTING.

Gee, can you tell I'm outraged about the way you've been treated??!! Sometimes we have to be aggressive about getting the care we need. And if you still can't get it, it's time to change doctors if you possibly can.

NancyRN

NancyRN

Did either of you women have your gallbladdre checked out, sounds like gallbladder attacks which is common among those of us who lose weight rapidly. Have they done an endoscopy, this is the true test to see if it is the band.

I had some severe pain not too long ago, several trips to the emergency room and several tests later, it turned out to be my gallbladder, it didn't show up on an ultrasound-no stones. The doctor ordered a HIDA scan and it showed the gallbladder wasn't functioning. I had it removed and no more crazy pain.