Hi all,

I haven't been on in a while, but I really need some advice right now. I got my band in April of 2006. Up until January, I had no problems, with the exception of a flipped port, which was no big deal. I had a fill in January and was so overfilled that I could not even swallow my own saliva. My bad, I let this go on for a week before I finally called my doctor. He took almost all of my fill out for 4 weeks. I went in February for a fill. Same problems, real difficulty getting food to go down, although not nearly as extreme as in January. I had trouble keeping anything down during the day, but by night I was ok. So, when I went for my visit in March, he took 2 cc's back out again. I didn't go back until the first of May. Even with the 2 cc's out, I would still have occassional problems. In May, he did my fill under flouro. We got it to what we thought should be perfect for me. Well, as that was my last visit that was covered under my one year of no costs for anything, I have not been back. But, I am still having problems. I could not eat anything until late evening, and even then I would have problems. About a month ago, I discovered by accident that if I drink a cup of something that is extremely, extremely hot right before I eat, I have much better luck getting food down. I still have problems, but not near as much since I started doing this. Please don't tell me I am overfilled, because I am not. Once I drink the very hot Fluid, I can eat pretty much any amount of food I want right now. I am putting weight back on and not happy about that. I am afraid to get a fill. Someone suggsted perhaps there is something wrong with my esophagus. Has anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions. I know I need to see my doctor, it is just the finances are a bit tight right now.

Any ideas are appreciated.

I have heard of this before, it is not uncommon for bandster to experience this first thing in the am I am tght until early afternoon but can manage it as you describe by having a small cup of somthing very warm immedicately prior to the meal- now i have esophageal dysmotlity issues that are made worse by MS nerve damage but some of us just have weaker muscular contractions in the esophagus ( or so i was told) they can't tell easily unitl after the surgery is done. even though my problems were very severe ( got close to having the band removed) I have been able to work out how my band works for me and we have modified the rules to suit ( my dietician and me) and i have now lost 125. I would be looking for answeres though, they can do some testing to see how well you esophagus is working and see if you have an issue there or maybe you just have an easly irritated band

I heard if you drink something hot in the morning that it will open up your band. Hope that helps.

Drinking warm fluids does help some people to open up a bit.

Another thought is that stress plays a HUGE role in how tight you are. I have a friend that can't eat with her kids at meal time because they are all boys and happens to be these boys have few table manners. She gets so stressed she can't eat. As Carlene would say, she's tighter than a virgin on prom night.

One thought is to make extra sure you are following bandster guidelines. Eat slowly, chew well, don't overeat, etc.

Make sure you are eating in a totally stress free environment.

Make extra sure you are sitting up very straight and not hunched over. Without great posture it can change the positioning of your band and food just doesn't go down well. I know this is a big issue of mine. I eat while I am typing, talking, etc. and I'm not paying attention to posture. It really can make a huge difference for some folks.

Don't eat if you are too tight. If food gets stuck you will cause swelling and the swelling gets worse with each bite until you get to the point that you can't swallow your own saliva. If you get stuck you might want to do liquids for at least six hours. If you PB don't eat or drink anything for six hours and finish the day with liquids.

You really don't sound overfilled to me. If you were you wouldn't be able to get solid food down at all. It sounds like you are tight earlier in the day and okay in the evening. Dr. C even discusses patients that he has that he actually fills in the evening. He doesn't care if they can't eat solids during the day as long as they can in the evening. He talks about some patients that open wide up in the evening and they chow down like a trooper. In those folks he fills them so they are tight all day long and around 5PM they can start solids.

During the day when you are extra tight try to stick to liquids. Soup, Protein drinks, fruit smoothies, something like that. Once you open up a bit then try solids. But again, if you are too tight DON'T eat solids! You'll cause swelling and make the problem worse.

Make extra sure you are sitting up very straight and not hunched over. Without great posture it can change the positioning of your band and food just doesn't go down well. I know this is a big issue of mine. I eat while I am typing, talking, etc. and I'm not paying attention to posture. It really can make a huge difference for some folks.

WOW, I thought this only happened to me! I travel often in my car for work and although I eat while parked, and not as I try to drive, I have found that sitting in my car makes me get stuck almost every time. I couldn't figure it out until recently...it's my posture. I'm not sitting properly and so food can't go down normally and gets stuck. Weird. I hardly ever PB or anything but now I carry a stinking garbage bag in my car just in case I get stuck eating my lunch! At least I feel better knowing I'm not alone!!!

Hi

I'm new to this forum and don't know all of the right terms but it's nice to discover that I'm not the only one having problems. I have a doctor that is new to the field that is very attentive but maybe not very knowledgable. My problem is with swelling. I know my band isn't too tight because I normally can eat pretty large portions but occasionaly something will make me PB and once that happens my esphogus seems to swell. Once that happens I can go days only able to get small amount of fluids down. My band actually hurts and I'm miserable. I have tried liquid nexium and liquid advil but that doesn't seem to help. The only way I seem to get better is to have fluid removed from the band. The problem is that puts me back to almost no fill for a month and then once I get another fill and some resistence I do something wrong and get swelling again. I am so frustrated and uncomfortable. Have you ever had swelling that has gone down on it's own? Any suggestions? Hot liquids don't seem to help.

Hi Susan--it's good to see you again!

My DH went through something pretty similar not too long ago, and he isn't even banded! But every morning he would have trouble getting food fully swallowed. He said it felt like it would stick, or only get part way down into his throat, and he would feel the need to throw up. I had to heimlich him 3 times, and so did a guy at work, this was not in his head!!!

Last October, he had a massive GI bleed caused by some mismanaged coumadin (blood thinner) therapy, following his valve surgery and other heart repair they did. During the efforts to save his life during this bleed---they used inflated balloons, one in his stomach, and one in his esophagus, as he tore the esophagus bilaterally where it connects into the stomach. This is a tried method for the most part, as these bleeds are pretty common among bulemics, and alcoholics--both groups vomit frequently. But Ricks problem came in the fact that he was OD'd on blood thinners as well. So the balloons that were designed to be in the esophagus for no more than 6 hours, were in him for days on end. They did the job though, even though they told me he would likely expire (I now hte that word!) in the next 10-15 minutes---he pulled through! So when months later he suddenly had trouble EVERY day with swallowing, and keeping food down, they thought there was motility damage to the esophagus. But looking at it, required putting a camera down there, and they could not take that chance!!!

SO....and I really DO have a possible suggestion in all of this!!! We ended up at our internist, and he said he thought his problem may be due to acid reflux. Rick nixed that idea, he never has any backwash or anything---but the Dr. insisted he try the meds and see if it would ease the swallowing problem. He had him get Prilosec OTC-since Rick was adamant that was not the problem, he suggested an OTC as opposed to a scrip!!! Within a few days Rick was swallowing without issue! I have never had to do the Heimlich on him since.

So along with taking a drink of the warm liquid in case it is a form of first bite syndrome, maybe try some Prilosec, and see if your esophagus is so irritated early in the day, that it is swollen, therefore not having proper motility. By evening Rick could eat, the Dr. said he had been upright, and swallowing saliva, and other liquids all day, and would ease the irritation, only to have it re-irritate each night.

Might be an inexpensive thing to try. He never thought he had any type of reflux---he is 100% believer now!!!

Good Luck Susan, it is good to have you back around!!!

Kat

sound like ya gota go real slow with your fills like 0.3cc for example

i wonder if your band was attached at the right place?