Gosh, I'd have to go through my entire journal to remember if I've mentioned this problem or not. Either way, here goes...Since about November of 2005 I haven't been able to sleep on my back. If I do, I get an uncomfortable pressure sometimes accompanied by a burning in my upper abdomen and sometimes in my chest. I've told my doctor about it. I told him when it started. He blew me off, actually tightened me and told me to raise the head of my bed, not to eat for at least three hours before going to bed, to drink a glass of water before going to bed, yada yada yada. I did all those things. I took Nexium. I took pepcid. I took Maalox. I still had it. I posted about it on more than one lap band forum. No one else had it, no one could give me an explanation. The only suggestion I got was to drink that aweful aloe vera juice. I did. NO IMPROVEMENT. I resigned myself to not being able to sleeping on my back for some undetermined reason FOREVER.

That's the history. Now, here's the present. For the last 3 or 4 weeks, this problem has been getting progessively worse. I've been waking with a sore throat sometimes. Now the sore throat is constant. The weird thing is that sometimes I get sore nostrils. I don't vomit. I don't choke. I don't cough. Once in a while, I taste blood. This is getting serious. And, of course no one knows why this is or has similar symptoms. Of course this is some weird reflux for a person who has never vomited other than vomiting associated with that damn gall bladder, I sure am having problems.

I called my doctor on Wednesday. They told me he'd call me back. He had to run out to emergency surgery, but he'd call me back today between the hours of 9 and 12. NO CALL. So, I called them. I'm told he had to rush out to another surgery, but that he'd call me on Tuesday. I talked to the nurse, but wasn't told anything I didn't already know. I might be too tight, I might have to have a barium swallow, Dr. Ducket usually checks this under fluroscopy. Well, DAMN! I've had these symptoms filled and completely unfilled. MORONS! I don't want to get mouthy with the doctors but I'm at my wits end here. Why the hell am I having this? What is it other than simple reflux? It sure doesn't behave like the reflux everyone else seems to complain of.

So, for the time being I keep my Tums close and suck on them like candy to help with the sore throat. I drink a big swig of Maalox before bed. I take my Nexium with dinner. All these things I do along with the previously mentioned advise. Hell, I can't get my head any higher without sleeping standing up (which I'd do if I could because that's the only time I'm comfortable).

My vote is to go to SOME doctor - a regular one would work -- or go to the emergency room and demand to be seen and heard! Tasting blood is not normal nor is it ok -- it might be allergies or it might be a tight band and rupturing of something that is bringing up the taste of blood - I, personally, don't like the sound of what you are going through and if it was me I would RUN to a doctor or emergency room. Waiting isn't a good thing at this point and since your surgeon is too busy to see you forget him - please let us know what you find out - and soon! I'm worried about you.

First, I don't taste blood all the time. I have tasted a metallic taste that I think is blood on occasion. The last time I tasted it was about 3 or 4 days ago. It's rare, and I can't say if it's related to anything I've done such as eating anything specific or even positional. It just comes. Hell, I suppose it even could be my gums. The other day they were bleeding pretty bad after I brushed my teeth. I told the nurse about it. She didn't seem all that concerned. As a nurse myself I realize the potentials here. However, I live in a small town where "lap band" or "adjustable gastric banding" is met with blank stares or is confused with bypass. If I go to the emergency room where my surgeon practices, it's more than an hour away. I've been there before for various other things such as when I was having the gall bladder attacks and they thought it was esophageal spasms or something that had temporarily stuck in my band. I've really lost a lot of faith in these docs. I've considered changing, but the next closest doctor is newer at banding and I certainly don't want someone brand new at this "practicing" on me. Currently I'm seeing the partner of the one who misdiagnosed my gall bladder problem, hoping that he'll be a better diagnostician. My symptoms are getting better, but I shouldn't have to eat Tums like candy. I'm not having any trouble eating. I never have. If I'm too tight, I really am confused because other than an occasional feeling that my food is moving through kind of slowly (I suppose the golf ball feeling) I don't really have much restriction. I've thought slip, I've thought erosion. I don't know and unfortunately I don't have x-ray vision into my body. The last fluoro I had done in December showed my band was just fine and even then I couldn't sleep on my back because of that pressure/burning thing. Maybe I'm some enigma. I feel no need to RUN to the doctor or emergency room. Even when I was writhing in pain, they didn't seem all that concerned in the past. Their last advice about the pain that made me wish I was dead was to see a psychiatrist. It was only then that I became angry enough to seek a second opinion. My own. I researched and came up with a possible diagnoses, went to the urgent care center in my community and demanded the tests to confirm the diagnoses I had in mind.

Please don't worry. I was angry when I wrote that post because I felt like I was being put off by the doctor. I suppose I still feel that way. But really, my symptoms are improving. They aren't gone, but they're better than they were when I originally called the doctor on Wednesday. I've been faithfully taking my Nexium and I don't eat anything after 7 P.M. Throughout the last 2 or 3 weeks I've been feeling pretty low about this whole situation. I've been unable to post because my internet connection has been unreliable. I just needed to vent. I use this as a log of my journey as well as my journal. I don't feel the need to sugar coat what's going on. That's what's been happening to me. I don't want to scare people. I still feel the band is a wonderful thing. I just seem to have such weird things. For months I didn't know what that gall bladder crap was. NO ONE had it and no one knew what it was. It was because my symptoms presented a little differently than most gall bladder sufferers. For all I know I now have something totally unrelated to the band. I read on another post that reflux could be a sign of a hiatal hernia. We'll see.