Feels like I am having a heart attack! :(

[tigerrose 0]

Hi all! I am brand new on this site. A little background. Had the lap band placed in 2010 & it was the biggest mistake of my life. I had problems from the beginning. I had it filled once to 3.5cc and left it there as that was more than enough and I couldn't eat much with that amount anyway. I ended up eating things that would dissolve in my mouth as I was starving for food that I couldn't eat (chicken, veggies, etc). I would throw up almost everything I tried to eat. I absolutely HATE my Dr. who did the surgery so never wanted to go back to him & still don't. Well earlier this year I started having massive chest pains that landed me in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. I am 41 by the way. EKG was normal, blood tests were normal, so they decided it was acid reflux. Gave me meds for reflux, told me to get the Fluid removed out of the lap band. Went to get fluid removed but had the wonderful Dr. poking and prodding me with a huge needle trying to flip the port over (with the huge needle) as it had flipped 180. That was fun! Another appointment later he had to cut me open and flip and stitch the port. Now since then the port area is EXTREMELY painful. grrrrr

So all was great once the fluid was all out but the 2cc they have to keep in there. Then all of a sudden I had chest pains again (between breasts) radiating into my middle back feeling as though I was being stabbed with a knife repeatedly. I am having a heart attack! Back to the ER I went. Nope all good its acid reflux. They did another EKG, chest xray, all good. I ended up having a colonoscopy and endoscopy done as well as a full chest and abdomen CT done with dye. Also had an ultrasound of my gallbladder. My general Dr wants to do a stress test to make sure it isn't my heart. That will be coming up shortly.

So here is the results of all my tests so far. CT scan showed all was good. Ultrasound of gallbladder showed no stones but it only functions at 40% but not bad enough to have it removed. Colonoscopy was fine and Endoscopy was fine. No signs of acid reflux, ulcers or any abnormalities except 1. He noticed from the inside that my lap band was located right under my esophagus instead of down a bit where it needs to be. So basically it slipped probably when he removed the fluid a couple of months ago.

OK so now you know where I am at right now. Has anyone of you experienced anything like this? I want the lap band completely removed I hate having it and I don't recommend it to anyone. That's how badly I dislike it.

Please feel free to write to me if you had similar experiences and what happened. Thanks!

[parisshel 1,892]

Hi~You've certainly been through a lot. I must commend your doctors for their thorough testing...you are lucky (even if you are in pain).

I might suggest they look into esophegal spasms. I have had a couple of episodes of these spasms and they are incredibly, breath-takingly painful, such as you are describing. I never had them ever before being banded, so I assume they are due to the band. I had some initially, right after my band sugery, when I was at a fill level of 1 (just primer) and my surgeon said it would stop once I got filled...it was probably due to the band kind of shifting around. He put me on innexium to help with the irritation.

However, I also experienced these spasms when overfilled, too.

I don't seem to experience them when my band is a little underfilled, so that's where I stay and I keep taking the inexium just to keep things from becoming inflamed.

I also know a person who experiences these spasms due to acid reflux (and not due to a band; he isn't banded).

I empathize with you because the episodes are really painful and scary. I can tell when they are coming on --there's a definate curve to them, with a peak and then a subsiding...kind of like labor pains!

For me, if I hadn't been able to get control of these spasms, I would not have kept my band. The pain/spasms interfered too much with my life...I once had to leave work because of them, and once I had a set come on when I was out cycling in a remote area. Scary stuff!