Reflux Poll

[kloy 0]

I was banded 10/31/07 and recently had difficulty with reflux..had my band emptied until I had Upper GI done this past Thursday...doc will not fill me due to Hiatal hernia, doc recommends gastric bypass....depressed, confused and not sure what to do. I will be getting all the info I can to make a decision...any advice?:cursing:

[123crod 170]

Wow thats a lot of people. I am almost 8 months out and never had a problem.

[vayiayia 1]

I was banded on 4/16/09. To date I have lost 81 pounds. I attribute most of the weight loss to my inability to eat or drink normally because of reflux and trouble swallowing. The reflux was so bad I was vomiting in my sleep.

I had surgery on 12/14/09 to repair a hiatal hernia/reflux, but during the surgery the surgeon discovered my hiatal tube had a hole in it and had to be patched. The doctor moved my band up higher during the surgery. Said hiatal hernia was not the problem. I had a very rough recovery and have had shoulder pain ever since.

I thought my reflux and swollowing problems were solved until 3 weeks ago. I'm back to square one. I'm having an endoscopy on Monday with my gastro doc. I know he already thinks the band is causing all of my problems. He tells me he constantly see patients that present with the same problems post banding.

My shoulder pain continues and is now developing into numbing tingle in my shoulder, arms, hands neck and my face.

I'm pretty disgusted. I don't want to continue feeling like this and don't know if I want to have a second surgery to repair the issues I'm having because i had such a hard recovery and can't be sure another surgery will make things better.

As it is, my insurance company has not paid the bill for the December surgery because they say the surgical notes documents an "equipment failure" and they think there is a third party liability. So right now I have an outstaning $15K of debt for the Dec procedure.

If I have the band removed, I don't know if my insurance will pay for it, and I'm scared to death I'll gain the weight back.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I'm pissed!!!:smile2:

[LaLa05 0]

I have been struggling with the same issues for about the past 8 months. The first time I started to get reflux it was due to a fill that was too tight. I waited about 3 weeks to go for an unfill becuase my Dr is in Mexico. However I have been having the reflux so bad that I have to get up and vomit the acid up in the middle of the night and I have the cough as well. I went down to see my Dr this wekend thinking that I still may need another slight un fill. He ran an ex ray under fluro and said that the band was fine and I did not need any fluids taken out. Im tired of feeling so crappy and afraid of doing serious damage to my body. I have had the band for 3 years and have lost over 130 lbs. However at 28 I feel that I am really hurting my body not being able to keep food down most of the time. And the prilosec does not really seem to help. uuggghhhh.

[Band_Groupie 3]

I think you need a second opinion. Reflux during the night, coughing or vomiting at night are all red flags that you're too tight and even a small unfill might help. Over time you can develop Barrett's (sp?) esophagus or even esophagial cancer...even acid induced asthma. There are worse things than a small unfill. Don't let this go on untreated (I'm scheduling now with the Gastro. to see what's going on and I don't even have night problems). Feel better soon!

[LaLa05 0]

I think your right. Its been about 1 week since I went to the Dr and I havent been able to eat much and the meds are not really helping. My Dr seems to be against the unfill but I am just soooo missrable. I am going to try to schedule something again.

[OnTheWay to Thin 0]

I had occasional reflux issues before banding, usually when I overate. Since banding I had a week that was horrible because I was too tight. We backed off .1 cc and that fixed the issue. However, I can still get reflux if I overeat, eat too late or lay down too soon after eating. I find that if I dont eat a single bite after 8 (I usually go to bed about 10:30) I am usually fine, unless I have a cold or lots of congestion, that will bring the reflux on too.

Banded Age 49

Gall Bladder - yep taken out in my 20's

Tips: Keep hydrated, dont eat within 2-3 hours of bed time, dont lay down after eating and do not overeat. If you have a consistent problem with Reflux see your doctor, you may need a tiny bit of Fluid removed.

Edited March 14, 2010 by OnTheWay to Thin
typo

[Band_Groupie 3]

Just a quick update. The endoscopy went well. Everything is the right size and working well. They found a food bezoar-some undigested food and scooped it out. The reflux damage was mild and mainly in my esophagus (Like I said DON'T wait to seek treatment...mine wasn't that bad and I never had any problems at night. You can cause major damage if you let this go on or get to the point where you're bringing up reflux acid.). They put me back on the Nexium for 6 weeks, but told me I may be on it forever.

[thinme 0]

HELP! I got a 3cc fill last week, and I think it's too tight! I was fine the first couple of days, but over the weekend I started experiencing night reflux and I've been vomiting all day. I can't even keep down water! I'm pretty sure it's because the band is too tight, but my doctor's office is closed on the weekends and I can't get any help until tomorrow morning. Does anyone have any short term cures, at least to hold me over until tomorrow? It's very uncomfortable!

[ForMyBoys 0]

I had an endoscopy last week and found out that my esophagas has eroded. The gastro doctor said this is very common with lap band patients as well as hernias and blockages. The technician told me that weight loss complications keep them in buisness they see so many patients with problems. I have had tubing attach to scar tissue, tubing block and intestine and now tubing stick under my ribs.

[OnTheWay to Thin 0]

Wow that sounds awful, what are they going to do?

[ForMyBoys 0]

I am anticipating another surgery. I won't find out until next week all the results of my tests. I have already had surgery 6 months ago for tubing wrapped around intestines and tubing attacked to scar tissue. The part that really sucks is that I was a self pay so the insurance company does not cover any complications that arise. Warning to all you self pay patients. I've had 2 emergency room visits 3 hospital stays and countless tests. My families life savings has been wasted paying for the complications from this band. I would take back every pound I lost to have my life back.

[flyahead 1]

I am working on 2 years post surgery....I had my surgery on June 27, 2008....and in that period of time I have only lost approx. 30lbs. I'm quite disappointed by those numbers and I am trying to work closely with the PA to try to get around these issues. One of the things that I did was to hire a nutritionist, I love her....however her ideas are not necessarily inline with lapband typical diets....when I went to get a fill about 3 wks ago, the PA removed all of my Fluid (band holiday) because he wanted to give my esophagus a chance to heal, it was dilated and there was evidence of reflux, visible with the barium swallow/xray...but I have not known any sign of reflux...all a mystery to me....plus after he removed the fluids, he said I still had restriction (what???...obviously his idea of restriction and mine are totally diff)....he put me on 3 meds (one being a steriod)....they took away the dilation, however when I went back again he said that I still show restriction.....again, what restriction?

He gave me 3cc, did the barium swallow and notice reflux...so he removed .5cc....repeated test, no reflux. For 2 days, on liquids, 2 days of soft foods and then norm. eating....so the jury is still out....

1. how will I feel once I'm able to eat again?

2. will my body adjust or will I never be able to get another fill because of the reflux?

I used to have 8.5 cc's but he said i will never get back there....he suggested for every 1-2 fills he does, he recommends 4-5 unfills.

:thumbup:

[jms462001 9]

For every fill. unfills??? Sounds crazy to me!

[flyahead 1]

After your reply, I went back in and reread what i wrote and thought that could sound misleading....

The P.A. who is fairly new to this office, said that with the use of the xray machine and the barium swallow, that for every 1-2 patients that he gives a fill, there are prob. 4-5 patients that he see that really are to full and really need either an unfill or a band holiday.

But of course we (namely I) didn't want to hear that....it was disappointing not to get a fill after paying my co-pay....but I have done what he suggested, and after a 3 wk band holiday, i'm not eating soft foods....so far, so good....but I tell you I still find no restriction...only me saying enough is enough....nothing physically nudging me to say that is enough....and for me, head hunger is a hard thing to deal with:ohmy: