my doc. wont fill me with esophagus issues

Well, i just got home yesterday from having surgey on my port tubing, it had to be replaced due to a leak. After surgery they took me in the give me a fill but doctor only put in a few CC.s because on the floroscope my esophagus was inflamed again??? I dont know what is causing this but several times i have gone in to get fills in the past and my esophagus is usually enflamed? I didnt throw up and havent had any problems with GERD lately so I dont know what is causing this issue. I have to go back in 3 weeks to get a fill. I am praying that my tubing, port and band is working properly and my esophagus is not inflamed. Does anyone know what causes this or why the doctor wont fill you when this shows up on the xray? I asked but i was still half out of it when he was giving me the fill. What can i do to prevent this? He wanted me to go on a  liquid diet for a week? If I havent been throwing up Im not sure how thats going to help me. Any suggestions from the group?

I'm sorry you're having problems.  I'm assuming since you have a history of GERD you are taking some kind of acid reflux meds?  If not, I'd get some OTC like pepcid or something and start taking it every day.  From what I understand an inflamed esophagus is usually from acid reflux, althought there can be other causes including an infection.  Still, you dont want to do anything to make it worse.  I never have my fills under fluoro, but I was recently diagnosed with a small esphogial dialation.  I am very sensitive to fills and normally get very small ones.  I had no idea I was having any problems, wasn't getting stuck, no acid reflux/heartburn, could eat anything.  But I mentioned to my PA at an appointment that I had awakend twice in the last few months in the middle of the night with intense pain between my shoulder blades.  He told me that acid reflux can present itself as back pain for band patients.  I had no idea.  I had an upper GI which showed the dialation and I have had some fluid taken out of my band.  When I went back a month ago and could have had a fill, I chose not to.  I just don't want to take the risk of harming my esophogas any further.  I realize I was too tight and didn't know it because I had no symptoms of being too tight.  I am really scared of damaging my esophagus long term, so I am not having any more fills for a while. I have read too many stories of people losing their bands because of the damage to the esophagus and I don't want to risk that.  I know you want a fill, but do be careful and follow your doctors advice on this.  Also I think the point of the liquid diet is to allow your esophagus to relax and heal and not have to work at processing food to your stomach.  That's my guess anyway.

Good luck.

cat

I agree with cat, there is a silent gerd that has basically no symtoms so that may be what your doc is thinking of. Just follow his instructions because it sounds like he knows what he is doing.

I understand you are disappointed but silent reflux can lead to Barrett's Esophagus-a precursor to esophageal cancer.

I had a partial unfill at the end of May due to horrific reflux, and had a routine upper GI the beginning of August. Suprisingly the upper GI showed I was still having significant reflux and a slightly dialated distal esophagus even though I was having no symptoms.

My restriction is definitely not where I'd like it, but its not worth the risk of a slipped band to go back for fills.

Try to be patient and let yourself heal.

Your esophagus can become inflamed from eating certain foods, especially coffee, acidic foods like tomato sauce, salsa, etc.  Chocolate and spicy foods also have that affect on some.

I have the same condition and when I told my PA that I get a burning sensation when I eat the aforementioned foods he told me to stop eating them!  Duh!  Plain and simple and it does make a difference.

If you're surgeon told you to do liquids, do liquids.  You need to give your esophagus time to heal and solid foods make it work harder not to meantion what actually happens in your pouch when your body digests solids.  There is a lot of movement that happens that you're not aware of to move food through the stomach.

Make sure you have a list of questions to ask your surgeon.  I'm surprised that they can see that your esophagus is inflamed from a floroscope test.  Are you sure he didn't say it's enlarged?  That's a whole different deal and he wouldn't want to fill you until the esophagus goes back to it's normal size. 

Take care~
Lisa O.