Stomach Flu and Lap Band

[Les3691 2]

Hello Fellow Lap Banders! New to this site but my lap band was placed about 10 years ago and last year I got a 24 hour stomach bug of some sort causing dry heaving for 7 straight hours sending me finally to the ER. They did a CT Scan, which I begged them not to since I did not have insurance at the time (a $10k bill followed) but due to my lap band history they said they had to. The scan showed nothing and they kept me several hours until they finally got the heaving under control. Anyway, my issue now is... ever since that incident, I now have a sharp burning under my left breast every time I eat. Has anyone else experienced any changes after several hours of dry heaving?? Thanks so much for any information, Les

[Creekimp13 5,841]

Ouch. Only thing to do is to talk to your doc about it. How long ago was your illness?

I've thought about puking with my new sleeve and the idea scares me enough to be vigilant about my flu shot and use the little sanitizer wipes on all my grocery cart handles.

So sorry this happened to you.

[Les3691 2]

9 minutes ago, Creekimp13 said:

Ouch. Only thing to do is to talk to your doc about it. How long ago was your illness?

I've thought about puking with my new sleeve and the idea scares me enough to be vigilant about my flu shot and use the little sanitizer wipes on all my grocery cart handles.

So sorry this happened to you.

[Les3691 2]

Thank you and yes, you better believe I am a vigilant handwasher! There are two kinds of people in the world.. those that have had a lap band with several hours of dry heaving and everyone else. The formers hands are washed often.

[J_Mkay 18]

I was banded in 2010. I had the stomach flu a few years ago and it was one of the worst pains I'd ever felt in my life. I thought I had ripped my stomach. Thankfully that didn't happen, but I did notice I had more episodes of food getting stuck and reflux. It has become so bad that I finally went to the doctor and had some tests done (Upper GI and EGD). Thankfully the band hadn't slipped or eroded from what they could tell, but my stomach and esophagus are very inflammed (go figure). So they unfilled my band and now I'm scheduled for band removal with a conversion to the sleeve 3-4 months later (pending insurance approval). I would recommend going to your doctor and have an upper GI or EGD done to see if there's something going on with your band, whether it be erosion, slippage, or GERD. Hope you get to feeling better soon!

[Les3691 2]

Thank you J_Mkay for your feedback. Do you have concerns about future viruses? I am so terrified of EVER going through that again and causing even more damage and just yesterday I hear that there is a Romaine Lettuce warning from 60 new e-coli cases in the US affecting 13 states. Has your doctor given any advice regarding future vomiting? Even with the sleeve, that's a lot of pressure.

[J_Mkay 18]

They've not really said anything about any future vomiting....but I feel like after that incident I can handle anything else thrown at me! I think having the foreign body around the top of the stomach just causes so much pressure that cant really be released so it pulls on the tissue around it causing so much pain (that's my theory, not sure if it's accurate but it makes sense to me). I'm hoping once the band is out and I convert to something else, and it's fully healed, that if I do get another stomach bug that not having a foreign body blocking anything will make it less painful. I would really just like to never have a stomach virus again...but I know that's not very likely.

[2muchfun 8,928]

Vomiting has always been a fear of mine with the band. Your stomach convulses over and over again. This can cause the band to slip or move so much that it can affect the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve goes up and over your left shoulder.

You might want to have some Fluid removed to see if it solves the problem. Your band may have moved or slipped a little and it's putting pressure on that nerve? Good luck.

tmf

[Les3691 2]

Vomiting has always been a fear of mine with the band. Your stomach convulses over and over again. This can cause the band to slip or move so much that it can affect the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve goes up and over your left shoulder.
You might want to have some Fluid removed to see if it solves the problem. Your band may have moved or slipped a little and it's putting pressure on that nerve? Good luck.
tmf

Thanks for responding tmf! We only got so many free fills after our surgery. After that it's $150 out of pocket each time and although I am filled to the maximum amt for the actual band I'm assuming it's $150 for any removal of saline from the band as well. Do you happen to know of anyone that's actually been able to vomit with the lap band?

Thanks, Les

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[Les3691 2]

TMF I also meant to mention to you that I am NOT having issues with shoulder pain.. just a burning sensation under my left breast and only with eating. This has been going on over 6 months now, began after the vomiting episode. I've had my lap band over 10 years and that was my first stomach flu.

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[2muchfun 8,928]

I've read where people have had violent vomiting and their band survived just fine. Vomiting just increases the odds of failure. I have read of many bandsters and all the other surgeries who vomit every day and the gastric acid eats at the esophagus and teeth. These are usually little vomits that usually are re-swallowed but the acid is still there.

[Julie norton 2,850]

I have had a stomach issue 2x since my band was installed December '06
Not pretty. Not fun. Hurts
But after a day of liquids and carafate and tums I got back to normal
Best of luck

[sparkplug 106]

I had bad hamburg last year, food poisoning! Threw up for 7 hours and it came out of both ends continuously. How gross, I was scared that I would have to go to the emergency room so I took a couple of imodium tablets which stopped both and after sleeping for 24 hours I was okay but kept on liquids for the next couple of days and prayed that everything would be fine. It was. Not good experience, but you need to stay calm when things like this happens so to keep your body relaxed and I was told it made the difference of not having problems after the fact.

[Les3691 2]

I had bad hamburg last year, food poisoning! Threw up for 7 hours and it came out of both ends continuously. How gross, I was scared that I would have to go to the emergency room so I took a couple of imodium tablets which stopped both and after sleeping for 24 hours I was okay but kept on liquids for the next couple of days and prayed that everything would be fine. It was. Not good experience, but you need to stay calm when things like this happens so to keep your body relaxed and I was told it made the difference of not having problems after the fact.

Thank you for replying. How long had you had your lap band before this happened. The experience I had was so so, just not anything I had even thought about. And so now I'm thinking.. what in the world is going to happen should I get a SBO, a small bowel o struction. I literally wakes me at night thinking about it.

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