Hi,

I have been a stranger here for a while! I have spent the last 4 nights sleeping sitting up because I have had constant regurgitation during the night. It seems to happen if I ate something or if I drank something. I have not had a fill since the summer. I have noticed lately that my band seems tighter, and I did not think of that as a bad thing. I even had a few PB episodes, but I was eating and drinking okay, and then this started. Could this be a stomach virus? How long should I let it continue before letting my Dr. know? Is it possible for my band to just tighten to this point so long after getting a fill (August)??? I did not even eat any Thanksgiving dinner!! I really hate to have fill removed it this is only a temporary thing, so I could really use some advice. Thanks. I hope all of you had a way better Thankgiving that I didi!! Sultana

Sultana, do you think you could have acid reflux?

Hi Marie,

I don't think so. I have never had it before, and when I do regurgitate I do so even with water. This just happened a few days ago; it has not been ongoing. That's why I was wondering if it might be viral. You know, I was reading some of the support threads, and I saw that quite a few had been on a sweet binge (could be the cold weather???), and this all started after I ate sweets (which I normally do not do). I did look at the Ahroni site that Penni (?) suggested, so I am going to follow that advice to drink a glass of water and hour before bedtime. Has anyone experienced sudden band tightening???

Thanks,

Sultana,

This sounds like reflux to me, but for it to come on suddenly concerns me. If you had had a recent fill, I might not be as concerned and would encourage you to get a slight unfill, but a sudden onset of severe reflux seems to warrant at least seeing your doctor and maybe asking for an Upper GI just to make sure all is well with your band. In the meantime, do not eat anything for at least 3 hrs before bedtime, be sure to wash your pouch out thoroughly with Water and yes, even water will backwash with reflux, so you may have to discontinue water pretty early too. I'm sorry, this is very unnerving, I know. It would also help to raise the head of your bed (pillows is not the way) you actually need to put something under the mattress or head of the bed to raise it several inches.

Reflux like this can cause aspiration pneumonia, which you do not want and it can cause irritation to the esophagus also. More importantly, sometimes this is a sign of the band having moved up or down on your stomach or of your pouch bulging due to extreme tightness. I think I would see if I could get it on film. You may need to ask for a slight unfill as you definitely do not want this to continue.

Do you have some prilosec, prevacid or gaviscon on hand that you can take in the meantime?

Sultana, what you describe sounds very much like what happened to me back in early October. I'd scheduled a fill appointment for a month on, and suddenly found myself rediscovering restriction. (See my thread "Restriction as a mind game?") There was even one episode of nighttime regurgitation--of water--that alarmed me.

I kept my fill appointment in November since my doc uses fluoroscopy and I figured we'd be able to see what's going on. And we did. The fluoro showed the beginnings of a slight pouch enlargement, which could eventually have led to slippage of the stomach. So my doctor loosened the band a bit in the hopes that everything would settle back into the right places. Since then I've had absolutely no sensations of reflux or regurgitation (and precious little restriction, too, but that's to be expected).

I think you should definitely call your doctor and see about having your band loosened temporarily. You don't want to leave a bad situation in place so long that eventually your only recourse is another surgery. I'd much rather have a period of no restriction than a stomach being strangled by a slipped band.

Good luck!!

Thanks Leatha and Alex,

My doctor is very good at responding to e-mail, so I will send one off to her right now. So you really don't think this could be a virus? I do have other symptoms (achy, cough--which could be from the reflux, etc.), and I can still eat. I just ate non fat yogurt, green beans and soy chips (low carb, high protein) for lunch. Alex, when it happened to you did your stomach gurgle and have the food or juices work their way up? I do have Prevacid which I will start now. I had this problem before when I was filled too tight, but it went away with an unfill. It was different, however, in that I did not have the noises, I could NOT eat, and I had terrible heartburn. I will contact my Dr. and see what she wants to do. Thanks for your help.

I am still so depressed that with all these problems, I have lost only about 40 pounds in a year. I get too depressed to come here and read about everyone else's success (happy for THEM, depressed for ME!!) I do try to stay positive, but it is difficult. Thanks again.

Sultana

Sultana

I'm a slow loser too, Sultana. Mainly because of the choices I make, food-wise. As long as you are moving in the right direction, you're still so much better off. I know I have to make a renewed commitment to me and my weight loss in order to move farther along, which I want to do. I'm struggling with choices everyday. The sugar is definitely an addiction for me and I have to come to terms with that. It sucks that everyone around me can eat it everyday and I simply cannot or I pay the consequences on the scale. I think my band has done what it is going to do on it's own, I simply have to get serious about meeting it halfway. Which means I am going to have to detox from the evil sugar/refined starches and 'get what I came here for'. I still believe if I do the right thing MOST OF THE TIME, I can accomplish this feat. However, I think MY 'most of the time' means more like 90% of the time instead of 60% lol.

I really do think you need to be checked on the band thing. I do not think it is viral - not reflux. It does concern me, however, that you say you have a cough and are achy. Aspiration pneumonia is very common among bandsters with nighttime aspiration/reflux. Please get some x-rays etc to rule this out.

As far as food/juices working their way up. Sometimes, if our pouch is enlarged or over-restricted, the food takes long to make it's way down, so it's just sitting there, above the band in this enlarged pouch, waiting for you to lay down and then it washes backwards causing this reflux. I'll attach a photo of my film when this was happening. You can see a 'bowl' like structure above the band, protruding over the sides of the band. This stuff just hangs around until you've either been upright long enough for it to drain through OR until you lay down and it comes the other direction. Not good.

Hi Leatha,

I did just send an e-mail to Dr. Kurian. I already have an appointment scheduled for the 30th of Dec. (I travel from Phila. to NYC), but asked if she wants me to get an upper GI and see her now. She does not use fluoroscopy, which I don't always understand, but I guess an upper GI will do the trick. I gave her all the details, so we will see what happens.

Thanks again.

Hi Sultana,

When I had my symptoms they were very subtle. What it felt like to me was that food was sitting in my pouch for a while, making me almost uncomfortably full for a long time, and then suddenly it would go through. That's what I meant about having "new" restriction, since prior to that I'd been feeling perfectly normal and having no unpleasantly full sensations after eating.

I didn't experience reflux at all except for that one nighttime episode with Water, and that evening I had drunk about 64 ozs of water in the three hours before going to bed. But when the doctor had me drink barium under fluoro, he used the word "refluxing" to describe the motion of the liquid. It was rising up a little before going down, although I didn't feel it happening.

It does sound as though you're having some of the same issues to a greater degree. Good luck!!

Sultana

I had my last fill in August also and have been doing great with it, but this past week something strange has been happening. On Monday night I ate bread and a piece got stuck..I almost PBed, I had the watery mouth and the slime but the bite passed through and ever since then I have been having this weird pain/ sensation whenever I eat or drink..I did not think to do liquids for 24hrs ( like my Dr. reccomends after a PB)since I did not actually PB so through the course of the week I continued to eat but very little since everytime I did it was so uncomfortable. Today was the. worst..so I called my Dr. we spoke a length about what was going on. He reccomended I start prevacid and do liquids for 3 days he believes I irritated my esophogus and for me to also take maloxx and I can honestly say just with that one swig of maloxx coating my esophogus I feel better. I am on liquids for 3 days and if I still havethese symptoms Iwil lgo in for a slight unfil..He does not believe I am filled to tight since just 2 weeks ago I went in for my check up andhe did the barium swallow test and saw that my band was in place my esophogus looked great , my port was in palce and no dialation of my pouch and my restriction level was good, if anything not tight enough but since I told him I was still losing every week and I felt good with my level of restriction he left it be and did not fill me but he also told me on the phone today that even though my fill was in August he has seen it in some cases where your fill can get tighter overtime..So for now I'm on the liquids, prevacid and Maloxx and going to see how it is in 3 days but I can all ready say I feel better..maybe try some Maloxx see if it helps you. I did not think it would help me since I have no heartburn or reflux but he thinks it is my esophogus that is irritated ..we will see. I hope you are feeling better since you posted this..

Michelle - I was thinking about you today, wondering if you were feeling any better. I hope the Maloxx helps. Please keep us posted.

Leatha thanks for sharing the film, I found them quite interesting. Sure makes me want to start practicing the chewing and figuring out when I'm full and/or when I'm just eating because it's there and taste so good.

Thanks Betty..I'm feeling a lot better..today was the worst so I finally called my Dr. and imagine he answered his cell phone on a Saturday and took time to speak with me...its amazing what Maloxx and the prevacid has done..What I was feeling I did not think an antacid would cure or help so that is why I never tried it until today but it seems to be..guess I was wrong....Liquids suck though! Thanks again Betty for thinking of me..you are a sweetheart!

Hi All,

I am all better now! I think I too may have gotten something stuck---a pill. I have been having trouble with them. I think it may have set off esophogeal spasms too. Leatha recommended the Prevacid which I took, and now the problem is gone. I can eat and drink normally....well normally for having a band. I have not had any reflux for the last two days or nights. I think I will still get an upper GI since I am about due for one anyway, just to be sure. I really don't think it is anything major. Thanks so much for all your help and suggestions. Michelle, I am hoping that you called this one!!

Sultana,

Be careful with those pills. You said something about taking 10 at a time. I take about 5 every evening, but I take them as I eat, one at a time. I don't do well just trying to swallow them with a drink or I think I would get into trouble. I do take them with my food, making sure one goes down, then later trying another. I have one that is particularly bad for hanging. Luckily, it hasn't been hung one time since banding.

I hope everything is all better. Good luck!

Today Im doing bad..Im going down to Mexico tomorrow.I cant live with this. I do not beleive it is from my filled being too tight. It feels like something is broken. It is not reflux or heartburn.The prevacid has not worked I have taken it twice. I have been doing the Maloxx and yesterday it worked great but today nothing. I'm in pain and uncomfortable. I will let you all know what happens. I'm miserable and a little scared. Keep your fingers crossed