Daemon

Hi, I'm a 28 year old male with a Realize Band. I was banded in Nov. 2009 (weighed 274) and now weigh approx. 222. I lost about 12 pounds from the initial liquid diet, and the rest of the weight loss has been from dysphagia that has been occurring with no fill in the band. I've lost about 35 pounds over the last couple months. I had a bit of fill toward the beginning (a few CCs), but that wasn't enough to cause much restriction. In the early summer, when my left sternocleidomastoid (neck muscle) became inflamed, I had my fill emptied. Most of my weight loss has occurred since that time. Here are my symptoms: -Neck muscle (sternocleidomastoid) inflamed and hurting -Pain in knees and elbows...sometimes in various other bones/muscles/joints -Pain in various places in my abdomen -Dysphagia (hard to swallow even a couple bites of soft-serve ice cream...have to gag myself to get it out) -ears hurt (have already been checked for ear infection; there is none) -often have back pain -Unusually dark urine -heart stometimes feels like it starts beating too fast -Blood pressure has been all over the map lately -Massive headaches I've recently had an upper GI. Also CT scans of my neck, pelvis and abdomen. I've also had an x-ray of my chest. Everything has came back normal. I'm in so much pain that I typically don't want to get out of bed. I'm a college senior, but am not taking classes right now because of this. I almost blew my near 4.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) due to taking classes this summer. I'm concerned that I have scleroderma and will die in my 20's or 30's due to complications related to that. They say not to assume the worst, etc., etc., but my symptoms do seem to match up with scleroderma (AKA systemic sclerosis). I've also read that even though much more women have it than men, more men die from it. I hope that I haven't ended my life before it even starts, but we shall see. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Has anyone here been diagnosed with autoimmune disease(s) as a result of the procedure? I have an appt. w/ a rheumatologist on the 1st. Regards, David

Hi, I'm having my band removed tomorrow at 7:30a. I'm not supposed to eat past midnight, but what about fluids (water/green tea)? I'm assuming we can have fluids more recently than having eaten anything....?

Itchy every time I eat, Inflamed sternocleidomastoid muscle (a neck muscle), achey joints...just problems galore since having it put inside of me. For none of it to be caused by the band would be quite a coincidence.

Hey, thanks. It would be nice to at least know what the hell is going on, even if it is a terminal illness. The factors of "unknown" and "anticipation" are very influential in human psychology.

I'm glad she's doing well, but she's an exception. Also, my symptoms started within a couple months of having the procedure done. A bit hard to discount it as being a coincidence, don't you think? I've already read that there's an ongoing investigation about whether or not gastric banding causes autoimmune diseases. I read it at some surgeon's site. -David

Well, it's just that dysphagia is a hallmark symptom of scleroderma. But then again, what do I know...I hadn't even heard of such a thing as an "autoimmune disease" prior to having the procedure done. Compared to other areas of study, I've never been particularly interested in biology/anatomy and didn't start educating myself about our inner workings to speak of until earlier this year. Thanks for your response. -David