reflux, severe abdominal pain, miserable

[prurep 0]

I got my lapband in may 2007 and have lost approximately 65 lbs. Things were going great until early december 2008, I began to have reflux (which I never had) and abdominal pain below my band closer to my belly button. Long story short, I have had one hospitalization, two upper gi's, two endoscopys, cat scan and colonscopy to determine the band looks fine but there "food sitting at the top". I am absolutely miserable, some days I can't eat or drink anything. I have trouble sleeping if I eat with 4 hours of going to bed due to the pain and the reflux. They say there is no slippage and no erosion, even my lapband doctor said he didn't know. He said it wasn't my lapband but gastrologist said he couldn't find anything else so the band would probably have to come out. Help! Has anyone else had this problem?:welldoneclap:

[sexylips 1]

hi prurep

sorry you are having all these problems i also had surgery in 07 but i have not had the problems that you just mentioned(but i sure had bad complications) i really hope you get better soon...lol

[lpglarry 1]

do u think they iproved the band in 2009 or they having same problems???/ty larry

[nabrams 0]

I have the same pain!!! I'm miserable 2 I had the surgery on 2/19/09. I was fine until my first fill!!

[redrum602 2]

I am having the same problem. It is terrible. I got my band in August 07. I started having this problem in December, but then it went away for a while. Last week I had a slight unfill and now it is happening again. I had an upper-gi and the doc said it looked fine. I started taking zantac as I think it may be helping just a little (not enough). I am going to try taking benefiber as some other people suggested on other posts. Please let me know if anything works for you.

[lpglarry 1]

so what do u think causes this pain and discomfort??? it must be awful feeling all the time? are you going to keep on going?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I got my lapband in may 2007 and have lost approximately 65 lbs. Things were going great until early december 2008, I began to have reflux (which I never had) and abdominal pain below my band closer to my belly button. Long story short, I have had one hospitalization, two upper gi's, two endoscopys, cat scan and colonscopy to determine the band looks fine but there "food sitting at the top". I am absolutely miserable, some days I can't eat or drink anything. I have trouble sleeping if I eat with 4 hours of going to bed due to the pain and the reflux. They say there is no slippage and no erosion, even my lapband doctor said he didn't know. He said it wasn't my lapband but gastrologist said he couldn't find anything else so the band would probably have to come out. Help! Has anyone else had this problem?:sneaky:

Sounds a lot like I was before I revised to a different procedure. In my case it was band intolerance.

I wish I had a magical cure for you but I don't. :smile2:( There is always revision?

[Cleo's Mom 257]

prurep: I assume you are totally unfilled. If that is the case and you are still having all the problems then your band will probably have to come out or at the very least replaced later if you still want to go that way. Maybe they could go in laprascopically to see what is going on. Good luck in any case. I just changed doctors because mine was/is inexperienced and I developed some problems that he did not address to my satisfaction, among other things. Maybe you need a new set of eyes to look at all your tests. Just a thought.

[nycm00 0]

I am having a very similar problem. I had my surgery in March 2008. I was doing well until a bad bout of gastritis in September. Unfill in Oct with a slow re-fill never to the restriction I had before. On Omeprozol twice a day since then.

I now have been unfilled again as the pain just will not let up. I will be fine for a couple of days and then wammo, it hits again. For me the worst is when I eat solid Proteins....even with an empty band.

I am going for an Upper GI and an abdominal sonogram next week. I have already had the Esophogram and the Endoscopy. If I stick to liquids I am fine...not very satisfied, but fine. It's those solid foods that get me.

The pain for me hits aobut 45 minutes to an hour after eating. It can then last for an hour or for a day. This is filled or unfilled. I know my band was not too tight as I had not had any "stuck food" episodes for months and months. Now it's empty....I even called the surgeon to be sure they really removed all the Fluid.

I am at my wits end. I don't think an insurance company would pay to switch me to a different procedure...say a sleeve or bypass at this point. I am so very, discouraged.

Christine

[efan82 1]

I have had similar problems. I had gastritis and esophogeal erosion. It is getting better, but slow. I have to be real careful about what I eat and when. Spicy foods or milk products irritate the esophogeal erosion, then I vomit, and that makes the gastritis and erosion worse. I have not been completely unfilled, but if things don't improve a little faster, it may come to that.

[prurep 0]

Thanks for all your input. I have now had two endoscopies, colonoscopy, abdominal/pelvic cat scan and all pretty much show nothing. I have an hiatal hernia as shown by my upper gi but the acid reflux is controlled with protonix. Surgeon says that is not causing my pain. No one believes its the band; however, there was a mention of a band intolerance...so I am now going to research that.

[redrum602 2]

I started taking Fiber pills - 2 once a day - usually mid-day. This has seemed to lessen the pain or make it so it does not start at all. I am not sure why this seems to be working, but I am sticking with it for now. I do not want to reach out to the doctor for him to start running all these tests and then tell me there is nothing wrong that he can see.

Hope the Fiber is the magic fix! :smile: