just diagnosed with Esophageal Dysmotility

ann38 · July 25, 2006

Hi My Name Is Ann I Had My Lapband 11/18/04 And I Know What You Are Going Through Since November Of Last Year I Have Been Having Alot Of Trouble Getting food And liquid. I Also Have Bad Reflux .i Have Asthma,lymphedema, Barretts Esophagus,and They Told Me That It Is At A Low Risk Of Cancer. They Had To Empty My Band It Got To Tight. And I Just Found Out I Have Gastritis And Immature Intestinal Metaplasia,spuamous Mucosa With Features Chornicreflux Esophagitis. So As You Can See I Am Going Through The Same Thing You Are.:confused: You Can Reach Me At fordforda9466@aol.com

Hugs Ann

Rebeccalee · July 25, 2006

Esophgeal dymotility is when the muscle contractions are weak and food is not pushed through effectively. It is diagnosed by esophagram. (That's the short answer. The reality is quite drawn out.)

leatha_g · July 26, 2006

Becky, when you guys say 'Esophogram', is that a totally different test then the EGD or Manometry test? Easier? Harder? Can you tell me what they do?

Becky Lambert · July 26, 2006

The test for it are first a upper GI shows barium not going down thru the stomach, next came the camera down the throat Endoscopy, and next the bad one the tube down the nose while your awake and it measures your muscles strength it is called manometry.All these test an I was told my diagnosis is weak esophagus muscles duh!that is what I told them when I called to schedule the test. I would not get banded if I knew this problem was there to began with. the band and the esophagas dysmotility do not work together. I believe after reading alot of stories the band does cause this problem in older people especially i also think it goes away when the band it taken off, I just am not ready yet to face that.

Rebeccalee · July 26, 2006

Sorry, I get the names mixed up. My doctor saw the dysmotility when he did a barium swallow. I had to eat barium paste to show it sticking on the xray. Then I had an endoscopy, with the tube down the throat. I did not have the manometry to measure the pressure. It was really evident with the other two.

bitteroldhag · July 26, 2006

I had several esophageal ulcers several years ago which the doc said was due to my medications. I have severe problems with getting food stuck and am considering an xray to check it out. But the ulcers cleared up and except for getting stuff stuck, I'm getting along pretty well. Do you take other medications? My doc didn't say which medications were messing up my esophagus, but I suspect my heart medications. I take Prevacid every morning and it helps a lot. If you have a bad gallbladder, just have the saline removed from your band it you can have your gallbladder out. A gal here in Oklahoma had to do that. I had mine out years ago but it turned out that I had a heart problem, not gallbladder. So check out your heart. Heart problems can cause reflux and acid indigestion. But I had a bypass 13 years ago and I'm doing fine, so heart problems aren't the end of the world. But the doc said I have zero esophageal motility which might explain the stuck food. Still I am getting along with the lapband pretty well in my opinion. If something gets stuck which it does every time I eat, I just walk around and stretch backward and eventually it goes down. It hurts though. I use liquids to wash it down which is verboten with the lapband but we have to do what is necessary. I think I'd rather stretch and walk around than have the band removed. Hope you get this cleared up.

CCDC74 · July 26, 2006

Wendy, I had reflux so bad for a year, it was causing me to run a fever every second or third day. I seen two different Infectious Diease doctor and after a year of couching at night, and throwing-up reflux every night they found out I had a hiatial hernia. They did the surgery to repair it and I am doing great now. They took all the fuild out of the band while testing me for everything and I gained back some weight but now I am losing again and doing great. Have them check you for a hiatial hernia. They were not able to tell how big it was until they went in to repair it. THis was a very servere case, causing me to run a fever that was around 103 every two to three days, but just for a day. THis was my bodies way of fighting off pneumonia, from the reflux getting into my lungs.

health1st · July 26, 2006

I am so sorry to hear about your complications, I hope they will resolve without too much increased stress.

I am trying to avoid any problems as there seem to be more complications with the band than I expected. I wonder if I had read all of this would I still get the band?? I don't know.

Question: Please do not think I am blaming you for your condition, I am just trying to understand. Do you think that maybe eating too much might have triggered Esophageal Dysmotility? The guidelines are so restrictive, 3 oz! I eat more than that all the time so I wonder if I am causing myself problems in the long run. !!!

wendyr · July 26, 2006

They found my Esophaus dismotility on a Cat Scan of my Thorax, and I think it is when the esophogus is already has refux then it gets stretched and more damaged, this is just a guess. I have my cat scan on disc, if I can get it downloaded, I will try to post it on here.

Truthfully, If I had this before I was banded I would not get banded. There could be no good in that. My doctor is wanting to unfill me now and I don't want him to.

I took my medicine that was prescribed to me last night called Levsin, and it really made a difference. I slept more then last night then I have in along time. I still threw up at about 5 in the morning but I think that was because I ate so late at night. I hardly coughed at all last night. I went to bed sick even. Yesterday was a really bad day with it. I hope that the more I take this medication the more it will help. then I will just take it when I need it. I haven't lost any weight in over 2 months but I havent gained any either. I will gain if he gives me a unfill.

Does anybody know anybody that has had the gastric sleeve?

wendyr · July 26, 2006

health1st

Personally, I never overeat. It is far to uncomfortable and I have been very careful with that. Now, I did drink alcohol and I know your not really suppose to do that. So that was probably not to smart on my part.

health1st · July 26, 2006

I spent 2 weeks overeating, not like pre-band but way too much with NO problem, no PB, no pain. I'm back to being very careful.

I am not sure but I think the thead listed in Title above is a vertical sleeve. It is in Life after Lap Band Removal area.

health1st · July 26, 2006

One more thing on eating too much in my post above.....I had no restriction, I haven't had a fill yet. I tried to get a fill yesterday (not under floro) and they couldn't find my port so in 2 weeks I am back in for a fill under floro. I just hope there are no compliations with my port. Until then I'll be real careful (will power now) so I don't stretch my pouch.

GeezerSue · July 27, 2006

Can someone explain what (exactly) esophagus dis motility means? I recently posted something very similar on the fill area. I am still a bit confused. How and can it repair itself? It's a little scary to think that this can lead to removal of the band. Also how do they test for it?

This might help:

http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?p=264744#post264744

GeezerSue · July 27, 2006

Okay...on the whole "overeating" thing. When your esophagus malfunctions, you can eat a teensy, tiny bit of food and--because the food doesn't move to the stomach--it will STILL get stuck in the esophagus and STILL might cause dilatation.

Are you "overeating," as in "eating more food than you should?" Absolutely not.

Are you "overeating," as in "taking in more food than your damaged esophagus can handle?" Maybe.

I'm grasping at straws for examples, but...imagine two identical balloons, only one of them has a defect where there's a little weak bubble. You go to blow them up and one pops, even though you have MORE air in the other balloon and it's fine. What's up with that? The damaged balloon cannot hold as much air as the good one.

When your esophagus isn't working, even a very small amount of food can be too much food. I think that any medical professional who calls that "overeating" knowing how the rest of the world defines "overeating" is not being very helpful.

health1st · July 27, 2006

GeezerSue, thanks for the "example", it works for me.

Overeating is a term that is pretty meaningless to most people. Inamed said to only eat 2 oz at a sitting. I know I eat more than that most of the time. So is that overeating? Probalby in lapband definitions.

I don't think my Doc said too much about this as a complication. It seems there needs to be more detailed information about the possible complications of the band. Like what it means in terms of pain, trouble, more doc apts, $$$, losing the band, etc. I accept that the band is relatively new but I wonder if anyone is keeping stats on the onoging complications. Inamed?