I just had my lap band surgey on march 9, 2009. Been doing good ever since i have lost 73lbs to date. About 2 weeks ago i started having some pain in the area of my stomach. Went to go see my dr and he said it was a strained muscle, since i told him i had move some heavy boxes gave me some pain med. About a week ago i started with pain in my chest area in it runs to my head everytime i take a deep breath or i burp. I started throwing up yellow stuff so again i went to dr. He sent me to have done an endoscopy this friday. There is where i found out that my "band has eroded into the gastric lumen" i am schedule to go see my dr on monday to see my options. I am a bit scared about what is going on. I want to know how serious this is, what complications i can have? Am i going to go back to normal after the band is removed? My concern is that this is a bad time for this i have so much stuff going on this next 4 weeks. Can i wait or do i need to remove it as soon as possiable

So sorry but your questions are ones best answered by your surgeon...all we'd be doing is guessing. I hope everything works out well for you! I can tell you that if it "has eroded into the gastric lumen" the odds are high that you will need it removed ASAP. Also because it hasn't been in there for a LONG time, odds are you'll be ok after a time for recovery. BUT those too are just guesses. Good luck!

Thats awful - hope you get it all sorted out soon.

Can I ask which band you have - is it the new AP or the older one? Just wondering as supposedly the new AP was designed in such a way as to minimize the risk of erosion.

I just had my lap band surgey on march 9, 2009. Been doing good ever since i have lost 73lbs to date. About 2 weeks ago i started having some pain in the area of my stomach. Went to go see my dr and he said it was a strained muscle, since i told him i had move some heavy boxes gave me some pain med. About a week ago i started with pain in my chest area in it runs to my head everytime i take a deep breath or i burp. I started throwing up yellow stuff so again i went to dr. He sent me to have done an endoscopy this friday. There is where i found out that my "band has eroded into the gastric lumen" i am schedule to go see my dr on monday to see my options. I am a bit scared about what is going on. I want to know how serious this is, what complications i can have? Am i going to go back to normal after the band is removed? My concern is that this is a bad time for this i have so much stuff going on this next 4 weeks. Can i wait or do i need to remove it as soon as possiable

With erosion there is no choice, you have to remove the band. The issue you want to consider here is if you want to revise to something else and if so, what. The only other "restrictive only" procedure is a sleeve and quite frankly, it's a lot safer than bands long term. It is far easier for a weight loss journey as well, I know... I've had them both. ;o)

Something you will want to discuss with your doctor is if you do want to revise to something else (sleeve, bypass, DS) can it be done at the same time. The answer is likely to be no.

Please do not get another band, if you erode once you are very likely to do so again.

Can I ask which band you have - is it the new AP or the older one? Just wondering as supposedly the new AP was designed in such a way as to minimize the risk of erosion.

The new bands not eroding or having less chance for erosion is a sales pitch only, not proven.

Consider this, unless someone is wayyyy too tight for wayyyy too long, they don't even know what causes erosion. If they do not know what causes erosion how can they prevent it? The claims about the new bands are bogus. Slips are increasing just as they were with the old bands and erosion is the same.

They used to think that smoking caused erosion but then they figured out non smokers were eroding at the same rates as smokers. Then they thought it was NSAIDs. That turned out to be untrue. Then they blamed caffeine. Considering erosion happens from the outside of the stomach I'm not clear on why they ever considered NSAIDs and caffeine.

One line of thinking is the stuff they use to sterilize surgical instruments. Some believe the residue is caustic and when they use that instrument on the next person it burns the tissue on the stomach a bit and that is the start of erosion.

That seems like it eroded into your stomach very quickly, Bobo. March till June? It sounds like there must have been some underlying reason for that to happen and you should question your doctor closely. Banding is likely not right for you at all if you experienced erosion so fast.'

ETA: Wait, you lost 73 lbs in four months? Or did you mean to say you were banded in 2008?

Alexandra

it was just this march 2009 and yes i lost up to today 73lbs. i will question my dr. today and see what went wrong. i will let you know what happens. thanks for all your info.

One good question is what types of medication do you take(if any). If you take a lot of anti inflammatory meds(Ibuprophen, most arthritis meds etc) those can cause erosion.