help any ideas.......

[nurse4 0]

I hope someone can help me......i was banded in Oct 07.

i have a 9ml band with 4mls in and i have been plodding along nicely untill about 5 weeks ago.

aboute 5 weeks ago my band became suddenly very tight, so tight that i could not even swallow my own salivia. when i went to work the next morning i was bringing up my salivia every 6 mins roughly...i went along to my A&E i am a nurse at the same hospital.... they tried over 40 times to defill my band. in the end they were able to defill it after trying for several hours....i had some Fluid and they put back 4mls which i have in the band now....

anyway i felt a bit sore on the port site but that was because they had tried to stab me so many times....

then 2 weeks later i had a pain in my left side like i had pulled a muscle...i took pain meds but the pain got worse. it felt like i had a knife in my left hand side but no one could see it......lol...

i went to A&E again who did a CT and X.RAYS and a barrium swallow... they said they thought my band had slipped up to high.... but went on to say that i would have to go back to my provider who did the surgery as they were unsure aboute lap band surgery and that i was the 1st person they had seen with one!!!!.

i had them copy it to a CD and posted this to my surgon. he replied by saying that there was nothing wrong with the band and could not understand why i was still in so much pain.....

i then went to my G.P ( local doctor) who commenced me on stronger pain meds and Omeprazole 20mg 3 times a day....

when i take these meds regulary i am sort of normal......

but today i tried to come off the meds... and my god the pain has been so bad i wanted to cry....

i can not stand up tall and i am hunshed over like an old lady.....and the pain on my left side just below my rib cage is the worst pain i have ever had in my life......

so hence i am back on the meds......

even when i try to eat anything it hurts in my throat....

i am so fed up now i just want to know what is wrong...and what i can do.....i cant keep on taking meds back to back...

please please please if any one can give me any advise at all i would be soooooooooooooooo greatfull..... my surgon says one thing and my local A&E say something else.....

thanks

Carina Thompson

England.....

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

You have a problem and you need an experienced band surgeon to figure it out. You need tests like an esophagram to find out what is going on. Go back to who ever did your surgery and have him take whatever tests are needed.

[MaryDivinsky 0]

I was banded April 2007 and had done great until this past September when I started experiencing the same pain as you are detailing. I also work in the ICU at the same hopsital where I had my banding done. The surgeon who performed my surgery had since left but I spoke to his associate about it when he came in to make rounds. He ordered a esophagram which looked as tho my esophagus was swollen so he came up to the unit and removed all the saline to let me rest for a couple of weeks. I went back in 2 weeks and told him the pain was still there but not as bad with the saline removed. He then put 1.5 cc back in. I had been at 3.4 previously. In two weeks he put me back to 3 cc and then 2 weeks later back to the 3.4. I still have the same pain but since then it has not been as intense. However now I have a whole new set of problems. On feb 18th I went to work and shortly after getting there I became very hot and sweaty. I sat down and put my head down on the nurses station for a few minutes then got very sick to my stomach. I got up to go to the backroom and that is the last thing I remember. The next thing I knew there was about 20 people kneeling around me. I was on a backboard and c collar and had a huge gash in the back of my head. Apparently I had passed out and then stopped breathing and they had to do cpr on me. After getting my head closed with 9 staples I was admitted for observation and had a complete cardiac workup all which was negative except that I have a low heart rate. Upon admission they found me to be extremely dehydrated and that and the low heart rate was all they found. I was discharged in two days. No our hospital does not have a bariatric surgeon and I have to go 90 miles to see one but all the drs that were involved in my care (family dr, cardiologist and endocrinologist) are all convinced that it has something to do with the band. I was wondering if anyone else has ever had any problems such as this.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

Both of you need to go and see your band surgeons. Having band problems is nothing to fool around with. If your band is eroding your stomach, it can become necrotic. you can also damage your esophagus.

By the way, what does A & E stand for ?

[nurse4 0]

Oregondaisy thankyou so much for getting back to me.

A&E is accident and emergency this must be the same as the ER in youre side of the world.......

the pain when i eat is horrid....and the tablets i am taking are for acid and gas but i dont have ant heartburn???.

my whole left side can become hard and the pain is sooooooooo bad....and when i swallow it feels like it is going down the wrong tube and i get thepain in my back..... i was banded in Southampton which is 3 hrs aay from where i live in England and i am self pay...£6000. and my surgeon only is in this country every Thursday...he travels from Gurnsey....

but if the pain gets bad today i am going back to my GP and demand that something is done......

Marydivinsky...my god to have stopped breathing and to have had CPR is very bad.....low H/R AND DEHYDRATION can this lead to full CPR.... i would be demanding the full works of checks to see if incase it has nothing to do with the band....

you are just so lucky that you were at work when it happened because you know the difference it could of been if you had been at home!!!!!!. and you dont want that to happen.......my god my problem seems so smalll compared to yours........

but thankyou for your replies its been such a relief to talk to people who care and understand....

the gastric band is still so new and unheard of over here....

thanks

Carina

x x x

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I hope your GP knows what to do. People who aren't familiar with the band can give wrong advice. We have a lady on the 50's thread that got all kinds of bad advice for months and she finally found a band surgeon who told her she could die while having the band removed. I am not trying to scare you, but take this very seriously. What you are experiencing is not normal and you need answers soon.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

nurse4: It sounds like some kind of constriction. Maybe the stomach or pouch has twisted somehow. I don't know, I'm just guessing. But being unable to swallow saliva and the pain indicates to me that something is swollen or constricted. If your band slipped up too high that could be the reason. Either way, it sounds like an emergency to me and that is where you should go and demand that they page your surgeon. He needs to get inside and see what is happening. If he is not available then demand to see a gastroenterologist who could do an endoscopy and look down there. I hope everything works out okay because that level of pain is not normal and a sign that something is seriously wrong. Good luck.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I hope someone can help me......i was banded in Oct 07.

i have a 9ml band with 4mls in and i have been plodding along nicely untill about 5 weeks ago.

aboute 5 weeks ago my band became suddenly very tight, so tight that i could not even swallow my own salivia. when i went to work the next morning i was bringing up my salivia every 6 mins roughly...i went along to my A&E i am a nurse at the same hospital.... they tried over 40 times to defill my band. in the end they were able to defill it after trying for several hours....i had some Fluid and they put back 4mls which i have in the band now....

anyway i felt a bit sore on the port site but that was because they had tried to stab me so many times....

then 2 weeks later i had a pain in my left side like i had pulled a muscle...i took pain meds but the pain got worse. it felt like i had a knife in my left hand side but no one could see it......lol...

i went to A&E again who did a CT and X.RAYS and a barrium swallow... they said they thought my band had slipped up to high.... but went on to say that i would have to go back to my provider who did the surgery as they were unsure aboute lap band surgery and that i was the 1st person they had seen with one!!!!.

i had them copy it to a CD and posted this to my surgon. he replied by saying that there was nothing wrong with the band and could not understand why i was still in so much pain.....

i then went to my G.P ( local doctor) who commenced me on stronger pain meds and Omeprazole 20mg 3 times a day....

when i take these meds regulary i am sort of normal......

but today i tried to come off the meds... and my god the pain has been so bad i wanted to cry....

i can not stand up tall and i am hunshed over like an old lady.....and the pain on my left side just below my rib cage is the worst pain i have ever had in my life......

so hence i am back on the meds......

even when i try to eat anything it hurts in my throat....

i am so fed up now i just want to know what is wrong...and what i can do.....i cant keep on taking meds back to back...

please please please if any one can give me any advise at all i would be soooooooooooooooo greatfull..... my surgon says one thing and my local A&E say something else.....

thanks

Carina Thompson

England.....

Is it possible that you have gastritis? If the PPI is helping then it kinda makes sense for a possibility.

Are you taking the 3rd dose right before bedtime? If so, you might want to take your 3rd dose no later than about 4 hours before you go to bed. Amazingly, PPIs can cause problems if taken too close to bedtime.

What about stoma spasms? I had that when I was banded and it can be painful.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I was banded April 2007 and had done great until this past September when I started experiencing the same pain as you are detailing. I also work in the ICU at the same hopsital where I had my banding done. The surgeon who performed my surgery had since left but I spoke to his associate about it when he came in to make rounds. He ordered a esophagram which looked as tho my esophagus was swollen so he came up to the unit and removed all the saline to let me rest for a couple of weeks. I went back in 2 weeks and told him the pain was still there but not as bad with the saline removed. He then put 1.5 cc back in. I had been at 3.4 previously. In two weeks he put me back to 3 cc and then 2 weeks later back to the 3.4. I still have the same pain but since then it has not been as intense. However now I have a whole new set of problems. On feb 18th I went to work and shortly after getting there I became very hot and sweaty. I sat down and put my head down on the nurses station for a few minutes then got very sick to my stomach. I got up to go to the backroom and that is the last thing I remember. The next thing I knew there was about 20 people kneeling around me. I was on a backboard and c collar and had a huge gash in the back of my head. Apparently I had passed out and then stopped breathing and they had to do cpr on me. After getting my head closed with 9 staples I was admitted for observation and had a complete cardiac workup all which was negative except that I have a low heart rate. Upon admission they found me to be extremely dehydrated and that and the low heart rate was all they found. I was discharged in two days. No our hospital does not have a bariatric surgeon and I have to go 90 miles to see one but all the drs that were involved in my care (family dr, cardiologist and endocrinologist) are all convinced that it has something to do with the band. I was wondering if anyone else has ever had any problems such as this.

If your esophagus is that swollen could you be having esophageal spasms? It kinda feels like a heart attack with typical chest pain. It can come and go out of the blue.

Be really careful, I waited too long with my band and it caused a lot of esophageal problems including esophageal damage. It's still not 100% since having my band removed 9 months ago. Much better, but not back to 100%. If you continue having esophageal problems please, stay on top of that. The band can be really hard on various parts of your body.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

WasA, I am really glad you came into this thread. These gals have some serious problems going on. I don't think people realize just how much damage a band can do inside when there is a problem. I don't think regular GP's are able to give good advice when it comes to band problems. They are out of their league.

I am dead serious when I talk about the gal on our 50's thread who went months throwing up and having doctors give her bad advice. When she finally found an experienced band surgeon, he told her the band had eroded her stomach so badly he was afraid she would die in surgery while he tried to remove it.

We are still waiting to hear from her. Her band removal was scheduled for today. She's in Australia, I do believe.

[nurse4 0]

thankyou so much every one for youre support, you cant believe what a great help you have all been..... over here in England i live in a small village, just off Weston-super- mare, near a city called Bristol.......

and lap band surgergy is so unheard off!!!!.

anyway i have continued to take the Acid meds these being Omeprazole 20mg 3 times a day.

and my god they have worked.....

i am not rolling around in pain any more and i have even been out to the shops...bless.......

i have never in my life expericened pain like it.......

i am now just got a dull ache around my port site allmost like i have pulled a muscle...........................

i went off to lunch with a friend ...she turned up to pick me up just as i was writing my last message above.....

well i have only been out for 2 hours and i have had to come home.....as soon as i started eating the pain got worse spreading round my back.....to me that is a pain from eating to much...but i have no trouble in swallowing just the pain after eating... its a different pain to the pain i am geeting from my port site... this pain is a constant dull ache....the tablets have been working so well... i thought i was getting better. but when the pain is back i just want a hot bath...and i find it painfull to stand up tall. it is less painfull if i bend over slightly....

i have just booked to see my G.P tomorrow at 10.10 am england time.....i could not get in to day.

i am ment to be going back to work next week, and i work on a busy ward at the hospital doing 10 hrs shifts Monday to Friday...and i am worried i wont cope....and i have never been off sick befor and this time i have been off work for 4 weeks.............and they want me back.....but i just want to be back to normal......

could it be gas in my abdo, that causes this intense abdo pain after i have eaten.....and where is it comming from, i have never had this befor........

and my port site is so sore what could that be...i am sure i can feel a lump next to it... bit this just might be fat.........

so far i have lost 6 and half stone and i now weigh 12 stone 2 lb....in 16 months and never ever had a problem in all that time.......

thankyou every one so much ...i wish i could come over and meet you all and have a good chat.....

carina thompson.....

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I am really sorry that you have no band surgeon close to you. I am telling you this is not normal and you need somebody experienced with bands. I would get your band unfilled in the mean time.

With the kind of pain you're having, it sounds like a slip to me.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I am really sorry that you have no band surgeon close to you. I am telling you this is not normal and you need somebody experienced with bands. I would get your band unfilled in the mean time.

With the kind of pain you're having, it sounds like a slip to me.

Thing is, if it was a slip then a PPI wouldn't help. I wonder if Carafate would help until the stomach heals.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

What is with the port pain though? It's really scary that people can get banded and have no access to doctors that know nothing about complications.

Makes me really glad I made my decision.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

What is with the port pain though? It's really scary that people can get banded and have no access to doctors that know nothing about complications.

Makes me really glad I made my decision.

Lots of people complain about port pain. I HATED my port, I don't miss it in the least.

These two ladies have mega band problems, I'd sure like to see them give up the bands and get sleeves. :thumbup:/