Has anyone had problems choking on pouch(?) contents? Even when I sleep sitting up with pillows there are times when I wake up feeling the 'stuff' trying to get into my nasal passages. I've been banded for just over a year now, and this has been only going on for the last couple months, but is getting worse all the time.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

Is it possible that you are not allowing enough time after eating, before going to bed, to let your pouch empty? My surgeon was mentioning this problem at our last support group. He said one of his patients was working late so he got home late, ate dinner, and went right to bed. He had bad reflux because of it.

I hope that's your issue because that's probably an easy fix. If not, please call your doctor.

Take care.

Sue

Sounds like you have acid reflux. I would first try an antacid and stop eating like at 5pm with elevated neck. If that doesn't work you may need a slight unfill.

Thanks for the help. All of the suggestions make sense.

I have been banded for just over a year and this started happening to me also about a month ago. It's terrible. I wake up choking and coughing and it comes out my nose and is terrible. I've done research and it may be a hiatal hernia and/or slippage. It's very strange because everything was going along fine and then this started out of the blue. It's very frustrating.

It happens to me when I eat to late and go straight to bed. Then I pay the consequences. I just have to remember to eat early and try to be active after dinner and not go straight to bed.

This is bandster reflux and it is almost impossible to self treat. It is very different than acid reflux. This is aspiration and can lead to making you quite sick (fever, chills, etc as your body tries to expel the crap from your lungs).

If you get to the point where eating earlier is not helping then you NEED to get Fluid taken out--it's just not a good sign or something to let go long term.

Sometimes it comes out of nowhere and it's nothing that you did wrong--your esophagus just weakens. But do NOT ignore it.

I started refluxing and my band was getting more restricted, due to inflammation from a lupus attack. I had a little bit of fluid taken out of my band, and I'm fine. I was trying to live with a too tight band.

Hi there, I have been banded since 2004... Over the last year i was having this same issue.. I couldnt even keep Water down and would find id waking up vomiting out of my nose etc..

I went back to the surgeon where they did a barium swallow xray and it showed my band was too tight and it took 5 minutes for the liquid to pass through.

Do to the tightness of my band it caused the upper pouch to swell and last week i had to have my band replaced.

If you are finding you are having reflux etc i would go back to where you have your fills and explain this to them.. They will more than likely removes some fill until the reflux settles.

Good luck..

Yikes, blueeyes! I'm sorry you had to go through that. So many times an unfill and a few days of liquids can resolve the pouch pooch, but your experience is sure a reminder to not try to live with too tight a band! The other thing that makes it hard to figure sometimes is that the stretched pouch can make you feel like the band is too loose instead of too tight. Sure is worth getting those fluoros done and dealing with things like reflux!

Reminds me....My band surgeon said at the very beginning that almost every complication with the band is minor and fixable if I tell him about it early.......

Has anyone had problems choking on pouch(?) contents? Even when I sleep sitting up with pillows there are times when I wake up feeling the 'stuff' trying to get into my nasal passages. I've been banded for just over a year now, and this has been only going on for the last couple months, but is getting worse all the time.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I had this problem immediately after a fill. Mine was obviously because I was overfilled. If this problem occurred on its own, then disregard my advice. I had my band lossened by half of what they put in the week before. My reflux went away immediately. My problem is that now my band isn't really tight enough to hold my food in the pouch.

I had these exact same issues. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said what causes the choking and vomiting is that your stomach pouch enlarges and flops down around the band (he called it a muffin top). Instead of food going down into your stomach, it goes into the flops of the muffin top and sits there. Then, when you lie down, it comes back up, even if your last meal was 10 hours ago. I had my band completely unfilled and could immediately feel relief when drinking a glass of Water. He said that in most cases, once the band is unfilled, your stomach will fall back through the band and remedy itself. This may be immediate or take some time. In some cases surgery is required to pull the stomach back down.

I had no choking at all last night so I'm hoping my unfill did the trick. I'm going to wait about a month, have an upper GI to see what the pouch looks like and then have a fill, if everything is okay.

If you have choking or feel the band is too tight, SEE YOUR DOCTOR!! Don't wait, it will only make it worse!

I have never heard of this muffin top things but it makes sense to me. I wonder if they can see that on an upper GI. I am going for that on saturday

"Muffin Top" Is that the "new" way to say that your band has slipped A slipped band is when your stomach prolaspes OVER the top of your band so I guess it sort of does look like a "muffin top"

This was happening to me...I felt like I was choking, stuff coming out my nose, coughing etc..... got Fluid removed from my band....a lot but not all....took a break from it for a while, now I am back to what I had in it before...and haven't had the problem since...for me I don't think I was too tight...on those times that it happened..I think I ate too close to bedtime....but it is a very scary feeling when it happens...you feel as though you are suffocating....

I hope it gets better for you.

M.