ok so i have been having trouble for six weeks now. i have been unable to eat w/o pain and the doctors couldnt tell me y until this week. i have an endoscopy done monday and they found and puss filled knot in my stomach and it would leak puss into my stomach. when u touch it, it would bleed. my esophagus is suppose to be 12mm wide but it is 6mm wide. that is why it hurts terribly. i went back to my surgeon and said i had 2 options...remove the band or go on antibotics and hope it heals the infection. he said that he has never seen an infection like this and didnt really think that the antibotics would help but wouldnt hurt to try them. if they dont work i have to take the band out. :biggrin: i have started the meds and it makes me soooooo sick at my stomach after i take them. has anyone ever had this had the antibotics to work? i really really dont want to take my band out.:biggrin:

Thats a tough one, you have to look at the long term issues I would imagine. I love my band too but if it were between keeping the band and spending the lion's share of my time comming and going to the Doctor's office for a situation like yours the band would have to come out. Keep your hopes up until all else fails, try the antibiotics and go from there. Good Luck to you.

Ask your doctor if you can have in-patient IV antibiotics to try and get rid of the infection without taking out your band.

My goodness! You have lots of sympathy from me. I am only one week post op and have been back to the dr. twice to have blood withdrawn from the pocket that developed in the surgical site where he repaired my umbilical hernia (same time as the lap band surgery). I complained so much about feeling like I had the flu that he finally agreed to give me antibiotics.

Besides not being able to eat haven't you felt ill this whole time? Why has so much time passed before some action? I do believe in 2nd opinions. My husband's life was saved by a 2nd opinion. God bless you with a way out of this mess.

at the beginning my doctor put me on steroids and said to keep him updated....well i said i wanted to talk to another doc so i went to my medical doc and he referred me to a gastroenterologist. that doc is the one that found the narrow esophagus and infection in my stomach. he said that he wasnt going to touch another doctors work and said to go back to my surgeon and thats what i did. im not real happy with him but i had no choice to go to him. whats in-patient IV? is that where i would stay at the office for a couple of hours with an IV?

No, that is where they put you in the hospital while you undergo heavy duty I.V. antibiotics and monitoring.

You may be allegeric to the antibiotic. When I have been given Sulpha it makes my stomach hurt like hell. I always list it as a drug allergy now so they always give me something else. I am on liquid augmentin for complications from my hernia surgery. We don't know for sure if I have an infection just ruling it out.

I'm curious to know if you've had any progress with this? Have things gotten better for you, or are they going to remove your band?

well theres not any change pain wise but they have put a picc line in my arm. I am giving myself antibotics three times a day. hopefully this will get rid of the infection.

Please let us know how it progresses. I really hope that it can be resolved with antibiotics and not losing the band.