Hello all
I wanted to tell this story cause I see a lot of people here having GERDS and acid reflux and do not know what to do so here is my story i hope it can help some of you:
First of all I want to point out that from a bandsters point of view acid reflux or burping and GERDSare 2 different things Acid reflux or burping as I know it is when you eat something that is very greasy or spicy and you get this sensation in your stomach or esophagus that something is burning inside this usually disappears if you start eating right (and by right all of you know what i mean since we have been struggling without weight for lots of years) and if you take omeprazole for a little while it goes away ,the second one GERDS is when we bandsters get this not acid liquid coming back on our throat and at night it wakes us up because we are drowning in our own lets call it saliva this liquid is usually white and has a very bad taste .
Ok having cleared this two things out I can start my story:
I was banded 10/08 and had my first fill November of 08 1 cc everything was great i started loosing weight from the moment I had my surgery ,5 months later i had another fill 1cc by in June 09 , 8 months after surgery i had lost 40 pounds and I was happy because I have learned how to eat what I wanted in small portions anyways my Dr suggested I should have my band unfilled so my esophagus could rest fro a month since I occasionally had acid burping we needed to do it so I told him wanted to loose more weight before he did that, and went home 14 days later I started having acid on my stomach and esophagus again started taking omeprazole Dr prescribed it and it started getting worse one night i woke up with GERDS choking and had a very bad cough the day after because the liquid got into my lungs so i went for an unfilled and instantly the discomfort went away also the same day i stooped taking omeprazole cause i was feeling so good i thought i didn't need it anymore never told the Dr that i didn't take it and had my band unfilled for 1 month, on July i went to have a fill of 1.5 cc went home and did not got careful about what i was eating and started getting stuck an having acid indigestion again so i called the Dr and he said to take omeprazole again instantly my symptoms worsened ans GERD started to happened every night i couldn't sleep i had to sit up all night and the pain in my stomach was horrible i ended up in the ER getting my band unffiled but this time i didn't have any relief after the unfill my doctor prescribed nexium 40 mg once a day for a month and told me the band could have slipped so he did a barium swallow and my band was on its place so i went home and was relived, the first tow weeks if i ate once a day and something very simple i could sleep half the night sitting up but the pain in my stomach was still there, and the reflux GERDS with a lot of burping got worse every day also every time I lied down I felt as if i had a hair ball stuck on my throat and burping got on all night with reflux then I called the Dr again and he said he did have to do a endoscopy to see what was going on so i hang up and started thinking when was that my symptoms had started the reflux at night was killing me i had to work and take care of a baby and was sleep deprived food deprived and in pain so I though of something every night about 3 am or 4 my GERDS stooped and I could get some sleep so i thought well its been 20 hours since i had my nexium, one night i woke up desperate to sleep and i took another nexium and my symptoms got worse i vomited all night a white non acid liquid also i recalled that i did not have any kind of problems with my band the first 8 months and everything started the day i started taking omeprazole and Nexium.
3 days ago I decided the nexium was making me sicker, crazy as it sounds something inside of me though about this very seriously, my mother in law was with me i told her this crazy idea and she told me last year when she had an acid reflux episode the Dr prescribed nexium and she started feeling worse with it describing the same symptoms as me but she wasn't banded so my theory was starting to get real i decided to research the symptoms on Google with the word Nexium on them and to my surprise i found out that 1 % of the people taking nexium have an allergic reaction to it each and everyone of them having the same symptoms as me today I feel great all of my symptoms are gone i can sleep at night laying down the burping stooped this doesn't mean that I am not being very careful with what I eat I try not to eat anything after 7 pm also I stay away from greasy food and spice food cause I know my stomach is swollen because of the vomiting and all but I'm never going to take nexium again .
I know most Doctors are more interested in making the surgery and less worried about the side effects this has on people and they tend to prescribe omeprazole for everything if the took the time to read the side effects of some medicines and a little time listening to what people tell them they feel this things wouldn't happened but I know my doctor is not interested in making people healthier or taking care of patients after a lap band surgery ,I hope this helps someone cause I read most posts and people tend to think that they have a slippage if they get this symptoms and sometimes this could be just the drugs that we take.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me if I can help I will be glad my email is jiramonipi@hotmail.com.
