Major Reflux, No Restriction, & Very Little Recent Weight Loss = Stretched Pouch

[CharlesSD 0]

So... I had to get a complete unfill yesterday...

Dr. Acosta at Dr. Ortiz's practice, is their fill specialist, he said I've stretched my pouch quite a bit. Apparently, I had been over-filled for some time.

He said that was causing my reflux, feeling of no restriction, and lack of weight loss in some time. He said: "Reflux is NOT okay, and not something I have to just 'live with'. If you have chronic reflux, something is WRONG. It usually means your band is too tight." I could have hugged him!

The good news is that he said I was smart to come see him when I did. He removed all the saline from my band, put me on a liquid-only diet for a week, and said to come see him in 3 weeks.

He said that the issues I had, and the enlarged pouch, were just a precursor to a slipped band. Man am I ever glad I went to see him.

He said that it'll probably settle back down to a normal size, then I'll have normal restriction again, and no reflux! This is going to sound a bit silly, but I think it is returning to a normal size already. Gravity must help. I felt like things were rearranging themselves in there even as I sat in the car waiting to cross the border.

A bowl of Soup gets me full again! Can you believe that?

I just thought I'd share my scare (lesson) with you all.

--Mike

P.S.: I think it's very cool that OCC has a doctor specializing in fills. He is VERY good at it, and can spend more time with you that Dr. Martinez could.

P.P.S.: Sorry if this sounds like a commercial for OCC. It's not. I am just so darn happy to be getting these problems taken care of finally.

[KarenB 0]

Mike, thank you so much for posting. I read so many people's posts about chronic reflux and they don't realize that it's NOT supposed to happen. It is a sign that something's wrong, not a "side effect."

It's great that you spoke up and caught it in time. Best of luck to you.

[green 6]

Thanks for posting this. I have suddenly started suffering from major acid reflux trouble for the first time in my life and this won't go away even though I have had a small defill and I am now on prescription meds. I have arranged for a complete defill tomorrow. Your post is making me feel hopeful. :bounce:

[CharlesSD 0]

Thanks for posting this. I have suddenly started suffering from major acid reflux trouble for the first time in my life and this won't go away even though I have had a small defill and I am now on prescription meds. I have arranged for a complete defill tomorrow. Your post is making me feel hopeful. :bounce:

Excellent. I hope it helps. Please come back and tell us how it goes.

--Mike

[CharlesSD 0]

Mike, thank you so much for posting. I read so many people's posts about chronic reflux and they don't realize that it's NOT supposed to happen. It is a sign that something's wrong, not a "side effect."

It's great that you spoke up and caught it in time. Best of luck to you.

Yeah, I am a pretty private person usually, but what Dr. Acosta said got me thinking that I should tell the group what I had learned. I realize it won't help everyone, but the majority suffering from reflux probably don't have to.

--Mike

[green 6]

Excellent. I hope it helps. Please come back and tell us how it goes.

--Mike

My defill appt is for 3 PM. I am really hoping that this will work. I am really suffering from acid reflux, my throat hurts all the time, I cough, and now I sound like a wiseguy when I talk. :omg: I will fill you in on the results. :ranger: I guess it will take a few days....

[Kelliebelly 13]

I have had reflux since I was banded, the only time I had it before that was when I was preggers.

I have been on nexium and somac since 3 mths post banding.

For me to be unfilled to the point of no reflux would mean almost no fill in a 10cc band.

I have had 11 fills and didnt really feel any restriction until I hit 7mls.

It really worries me living with reflux, but as long as I take my meds most of the time I dont know I have it.

If I do forget to take it, I have absolute burning.

Not sure why I posted this...

[green 6]

Oh, I have been really, really sick with this for the past couple of months (it took me awhile to figure out that it was acid reflux, eh) in spite of taking a bunch of meds. I have also developed a hiatus hernia! I am suffering but am unhappy about the defill because I am now at goal. I hope I don't gain weight and that I can get a refill soon.

[Guest zsflower]

Mike, thank you so much for posting. I read so many people's posts about chronic reflux and they don't realize that it's NOT supposed to happen. It is a sign that something's wrong, not a "side effect."

It's great that you spoke up and caught it in time. Best of luck to you.

Hi Karen!

How are you doing with your revision?

I'm hoping to have my band removed and revision to RnY done in about another 10 days.

The reflux has gone from bad to worse! You would think after all this time it wouldn't get worse! I'm still taking my prilosec twice a day without any improvement! I now have to sleep in a recliner so as not to wake up choking! Dr. Valencia just prescibed another Rx for me to take with the prilosec (fingers crossed!) I was hoping to get things calmed down enough because Dr. Valencia said that if the tissue is too irritated, I'll only be able to have my band removed and will have to wait a little while for the RnY. I just don't want to have to have 2 surgeries! Yuk!

I'm getting both excited, yet not looking forward to surgery.

[green 6]

I saw my doc at 12:15 and croaked to her that everything was as bad as ever. She had seemed surprised that the asthma meds that she had put me on weren't curbing the coughing. I grumpily said that that was because it's due to acid reflux. She then listened to my lungs and had me go for an X-ray. It turns out I have bronchitis and now I am on antibiotics. She also decided to switch my reflux meds to Nexium.

I then spent the next hour and a half killing time by walking around downtown before going to my appt for a defill. Man, was it hot! Fortunately I didn't see anything I wanted to buy. And fortunately I really love walking. It is my favourite form of exercise.

Nevertheless, I did arrive 15 minutes early for my appt and found the waiting room fairly full of overweight women sipping on Water. I asked them when they had their surgery and we all ended having a pleasant discussion about the band.

There were, however, a couple of thin women sitting in another part of the room who were keeping to themselves. As it happened, I was mentioning that I was in for a defill just as the fill nurse walked in the door and she said "defill? Come with me." Well, it seems that the skinny people were also in for a defill and they were really pissed off to see me about to be taken out of turn. I told the nurse that it was true that they were first in line and that I had arrived early for my appointment. They were extremely nasty to her and had bitched that they had been kept waiting 3 minutes past their appt time so by the time she was ready to see me she was a little shaken up by the mauling they had given her. She kept telling me what a nice person I was!

She was surprised to hear that I wanted to be emptied out and she managed to get 5 cc out of the 6.5 that was in there. Now I have got to wait and see and trust that my life will return to normal. Here's hoping.......

Oh, and my drug plan won't cover the cost of Nexium without an explanation from my doctor. So I am still on omeprazole for the moment.

[Flashover 0]

Almost EVERY single night I wake up choking with acid. I have not had a fill since March, 07. I am taking Protonix for the acid but still wake up each night choking from the acid. Then I spend the next 1-2 hours coughing and trying to get back to sleep. Any suggestions? I have a hard time believing that I am "too full" in the band. I have had this fill for over 5 months. I have started sleeping in the recliner after an acid choking episode so I don't keep my wife up. There has to be something I can do.

I am reluctant to go back to the surgeon because my insurance does not cover visits after one year (Surgery 4-06). Each time the surgeon sees me I get a bill for $130.00 Does anybody out there have this problem? Please respond.

Thank you.

[green 6]

I seem to be feeling less bad....

[CharlesSD 0]

I seem to be feeling less bad....

Green,

That's good to hear. I have my fingers crossed for you.

--Mike

[green 6]

Green,

That's good to hear. I have my fingers crossed for you.

--Mike

Thanks, Mike. This is nice to hear but I am afraid that I may be an idiot. I find myself feeling and sounding a bit better and so I do something dumb, something along the lines of loading my food up with hot sauce (a weakness of mine) and then I find myself croaking when I talk. I was sounding pretty good yesterday until my husband and I went out for lunch at a Vietnamese place. I leaned a little heavily on their chili sauce and I have been hoarse ever since.

The sore throat seems to be subsiding which is a wonderful thing. I am still coughing a bunch, though, and this is a drag. Of course I can't tell whether I am coughing because of the reflux or because of the bronchitis. I suspect that it is both. I am hoping that I am back to normal soon. I want to go back to restriction land.

Speaking of restriction city, how will you know when you will be good for a refill?

[green 6]

Almost EVERY single night I wake up choking with acid. I have not had a fill since March, 07. I am taking Protonix for the acid but still wake up each night choking from the acid. Then I spend the next 1-2 hours coughing and trying to get back to sleep. Any suggestions? I have a hard time believing that I am "too full" in the band. I have had this fill for over 5 months. I have started sleeping in the recliner after an acid choking episode so I don't keep my wife up. There has to be something I can do.

I am reluctant to go back to the surgeon because my insurance does not cover visits after one year (Surgery 4-06). Each time the surgeon sees me I get a bill for $130.00 Does anybody out there have this problem? Please respond.

Thank you.

Flashover, waking up choking with acid is not healthy. A constantly inflamed esophagus can lead to esophageal cancer, something which you absolutely do not want. Moreover, you are losing a lot of sleep. Get a total defill. (My acid reflux meds and all the other measures I was taking were not working with a mini-defill.) Let everything calm down and then get filled up again. Yes, having to spend the money is painful but what you are currently going through is both painful and very unhealthy.