Before I begin, I am sharing this because if there is one person going through this like I was do NOT just tell yourself to tough it out. I am glad I didn't. I write this to share and to help as I am not loking for sympathy. I was banded 8/12/09 and the surgery was textbook. I did have a bad day dealing with vomiting the day of surgery, but that was not unusual as it was a result of the anesthesia. What was unusual is about two days afer I came home I started getting extremely nauseous and would vomit at least 3 times in a day. I am on the clear liquid diet, so my intake amounts were very small.

I was in communication with my doctor daily for three days. We tried anti-nausa pills first - no luck, I also developed a yeast infection from all the antibiotics given to me in the hospital - yeast infections can induce vomiting I was told, so I started taking a med for that. Still no luck. On the third day that I called him, he called me into his office and removed 2 ccs from my new band and had me drink about two ounces of Water as I sat across from him. It definitely went down faster, and sitting down I felt good, so I was free to go. As soon as I hit the lobby I knew I was in trouble and made a beeline for the bathroom where I promptly threw up all the water I had just drank. My dr. walked me right over to the hospital for an upper GI where we found my stomach was not contracting to push food into the intestine. I ended up being admitted over night (exactly one week after my procedure) to start an IV as I was pretty dehydated at this point, and started on regular doses of Reglan, a stomach stimulating med which also helps stave off nausea (a big plus for me!).

I have been home over 24 hours and really need to stick on my med schedule or I get nauseous. My dr. has never seen anything like this before. I have a friend who is a gastroenterologist at another hospital and he has seen this before. He theorizes the stomach stopped working for a number of reasons: the narcotics I was taking for pain, the new anatomy and my body trying to adjust to it, and the edema and swelling at the band site. I haven't taken any pain meds for the last couple of days, so I am hoping that by tomorrow or Sunday it will start to "wake up" a bit on it's own. As it is, I will be on the Reglan for at least 3-4 weeks.

Today I have been able to eat yogurt (a food the dr added for me today), Jello, and a popsicle. It is all I dared to do for now. I am go on vacation tomorrow and have all of my oher staples alrady packed. Tomorrow I am loking forward to some Soup instead of broth

The moral of the story is if you think there is something wrong, there probably is. Call your doctor!

Edited August 22, 200916 yr by MNTwinmom

Jen,

Thanks for posting this warning. I really hope you are feeling better and that things will improve.

Have a great vacation! Take care of yourelf.

TPG

I am so sorry that this happened to you. It just makes you remember that surgery is surgery and anything can go wrong. I hope your vacation is wonderful.

Thank you. I am feeling much better. I just need to keep taking the Rx otherwise I feel nauseous. Yes, I agree, anything can happen as a result of surgery. This was my first major surgery, so there was no way to know how my body would react. I would say now that I have a pretty good yard stick. Vacation starts today at noon. Yay!

Thanks for sharing...I pray that the worst is behind you and the best is yet to come!

hope you are over the worst! thanks for sharing!

thanks for info....I was banded on 8/19/09and have been very nauseus, but not vomit.. I am have come close, but not yet.. i have called dr office they keep asking the same questions, are you sipping?? are you walking? taking deep beathes? and yes, yes, yes.. I have been doing eveything I am supposed to be.. just not feeling the release of pressure when I burp.

I really appreciate this post because I am going to be persistant in my phone calls and have them see me today..

My dr. in Mexico as very, very conservative with pain medication. He would not give me opiates for pain because he said they upset the stomach and slowed down healing. I have been on just tylenol since 2 days after surgery.

At first I was pissed because he was so conservative but after reading your story - I think he was probably right. Thanks for sharing.

Jen, sorry about your ordeal. Sounds very unpleasant, but I am glad they found out what it was sooner rather than later. I just wanted to give you a word of advice regarding the medication Reglan, since you are going on vacation. Please be careful if you are doing any driving or "operating heavy machinery"...LOL. No but seriously I used to take Reglan for my "reflux". It would make me increadibly sleepy. I even fell asleep at the dinner table on a cruise once becaue I took it before I went to dinner. Maybe you will already know if or how it affects you, but I just wanted to offer a word of caution. Oh and have a great vacation :thumbup: