Food stays in my throat and espohagus after lap band surgery

Instead of my food moving down quickly it seems to take forever... it moves down a bit then back up a bit and then down and up many times in my esophagus. It is called "to an fro motion of the esophagus".

It can do this for hours during which I have food stuck in my throat all the time. Because of this problem, it seems that I'm only able to eat the wrong things (soft high calorie food items like ice cream) and therefore I'm not losing weight. I can hardly eat anything except for the wrong things.

I really wish I had done the bypass.

Is this a reason that a doctor would go back in and remove the band and do the bypass? Would insurance pay for it?

Any other suggestions?

Comments for
Food stays in my throat and espohagus after lap band surgery

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Food stuck in your oesophagus
by: Lonicera The Bandit

This is the aspect of having a gastric band about which little is known, for the simple reason that we're all shaped differently. The band can lie in various ways according to your body shape, AND according to what position you're in. As you read bandit blogs over the months you begin to notice that each person gets to know their band (or their oesophagus)by trial and error.

I don't know whether you have the wrong shape for a gastric band, but I'd say it's too soon to give up on it, and I'll bet your surgeon would say the same. You need to log the problems (you think you won't forget, but over time you will, and you need to find out the pattern here) and then talk to your surgeon armed with a practical list of the types of food that are the worst, the lengths of time they lie there, the amount of heartburn they cause, and so on.

I blogged once last year about a bean I coughed up one night which I was able to trace back to having eaten 8 days earlier - and I learned that units of food the size of small beans and sweet corn sometimes miss getting chewed properly, however hard you try, and are best avoided.

After 2.5 years I still get stuck, and it's always for the same annoying reason - impatience to satisfy hunger, and therefore not chewing for long enough and taking mouthfulls that are too big. You need to ask yourself honestly if this is what you're doing. If the food was staying in your oesophagus for a long time, then it should make you feel full and unable to eat the sliders.

Discuss it in detail with your surgeon - and why not let us know how you got on?

Lonicera The Bandit

Related Pages:
- Lap Band Problems & Lap Band Complications
- Lap Band Surgery Failure - 2 Types & How to Avoid Them

Have you thought about a sleeve ?
by: Mindy

You may want to think about the sleeve as well .
Did your esophagus do this before your surgery ? I am not sure you should have been banded at all !
If your insurance paid for your band it may pay for a revision if you have a medical issue.
You might want to call your insurance company and ask.

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