Hello to Krista and everyone else who has had problems like this.

I had a VBG in 2002, lost 125 pnds, followed all the rules, ate well, exercised, etc. went from a size 24 to a size 7/8, and had no problems until about 1 1/2 yrs ago.  I was just like Krista and others and would throw-up on foods that had not caused me problems in the past......this had been 4 yrs post-op at the time so I knew how to chew my food.....I was also have horrendous heartburn that I hadn't had since I was heavy.

I was put on every type of stomach pill that there is available, I had 2 EGD's - looking to see if anything was wrong with the inside of my esophagus or stomach.  It was not until I was out of town and in excruciating pain that the Dr.'s did an Upper GI w/ Barium, and a CT and found out that I had a HUGE hiatal hernia along with a large dilation of my esophagus and it appears that the staple line from my VBG is actually migrating up through my diaphragm. It was also discovered that I most likely separated the muscles on my rib cage because of my throwing up so much!

I am fortunate that I live within 2 hours of Minneapolis, MN where Dr. Todd Kellogg is going to be doing my revision.  Had I known that my surgery would have only lasted 6 years I would have never had it done.

I'm a nurse and worked in surgery for 10 yrs. and I just wanted to say, that we are all individuals.  No matter how great the surgical technique may be of a particular surgeon, things do go wrong.  Everyone's anatomy is different inside.  You never know until you get in what you will encounter.  And post-op things go wrong no matter how hard you try to do the right thing.  But, when you have mechanical malfunctions such as these go wrong, as has been proven in numerous research studies, Physicians really have to look at risk to benefit ratios and question if procedures such as this one are really the most up to date and safe for patients.

Just my 2 cents worth.........probably too much for my first time ever posting.  Sorry!