...nothin' in my band, that is. I got started last week on some doxycycline (an antibiotic in the tetracycline family). I have had some acne issues in the last couple of years, and some of my family members have used this antibiotic and cleared up nicely. But my band obviously doesn't tolerate it well. (***Do any of you have recommendations for acne treatments (that work well with the band)?***)
My restriction, which has been pretty great since the last time I was filled (October or November sometime), went into overdrive the day after taking the antibiotic. The doctor and I are pretty sure that the medication caused my problems. I became super tight. I threw up on Sunday but didn't chance any more solid food after that. Thankfully, I could still drink and have soup (unlike some of you all who have been overfilled). The pain was terrible though. And the reflux was incredible. I felt like my head was the princess in The Princess and the Pea, having to sleep on 400 pillows (and talk about neck pains and sleep issues). My throat became sore, and my esophagus didn't feel so hot either.
First, I called the doctor's office and was put on a two-day soup diet to see if I improved. That not working (after trying it for the two days), I called back, but I was told that the doctor wouldn't be in until Monday (this coming Monday). I looked online that (Thursday) evening after having increased pain in order to find out what I could about slips (and found some comments from Band Groupie :) ). That made me decide that I needed to get in to see a doctor. I called two other doctors in my area at 3:00 in the morning and left messages for them to request an emergency appointment. But they don't take other doctors' patients (it's frustrating to be in the WLS family sometimes). I called my doctors' office to ask if they could communicate with one of the other fill doctors. They said that my own doctor could be there at 12 yesterday.
When I saw him, he prescribed two different kinds of medication (anti-inflammatory and reflux meds). I have an appointment set for Monday just in case I'm not completely better then (and will get a barium swallow then if needed). And, like I mentioned, I got a complete unfill.
I feel so much better. I am worried about regain though. I have been overly sedentary working on the biggest paper I have ever written (when complete, it will be over 100 pages with a gillion sites and will include my own independent research) for my doctorate degree (started before law school). And on top of Iron Butt Syndrome (IBS for those of us who suffer with it), I don't plan to start exercising soon because I don't want to lose any momentum here (I have to operate in a one-track mindset to get this thing finished and defended). But anyhow, my fill doctor's policy is to put half back in in a month (I have an appointment for that) and close to what I was before a few weeks later. If this works out, it shouldn't be so bad--hopefully not anyway.
In better news, I had a Starbucks Skinny Latte last week for the first time. I know many of you have mentioned and recommended them. It was good. Yes, that's about the extent of my nonband-related adventures lately. Aren't you glad I haven't been posting much, or you'd all be bored out of your minds? :)
Oh...I do have something else...tomorrow is my birthday, so I'm celebrating the last day of being 30 today by going to a baby shower (hey, I'll take it--anything to get away from this dissertation!).
I hope you all have a great weekend...lots of love from Florida!
Ok, I have a couple of thoughts....I also suffer from acne, never had an issue until I was about 21. I was on Doxycycline for about 8 months and then Bactrim for 6 months in conjunction with Retin-A topical cream. This was all pre-banding.
ReplyDeleteAgain, this is pre-banding for me, but I had been on Doxycycline for about 3 months and went on a cruise, the first night I quickly swallowed my pill right before going to bed, I had always been very good about drinking a lot of water with my pill as I'd read the instructions on the insert, but that night I only had about a sip of water left in the my water bottle and just chugged it. I woke up at 5am with HORRIBLE chest pain, thought I was having a heart attack and freaked out. I almost went to the ship clinic but didn't want to pay $100 bucks...I took ibpurofen and eventually feel asleep. I ended up taking ibuprofen every 6 hrs around the clock and although it hurt somewhat to eat, the pain was OK. When I got home I did a bunch of reading and realized I had given myself pill-esophagitis. I saw my PCP and he agreed with my diagnosis :) At that point I was fine and we didn't do anything else, kept taking the Doxy and made sure to drink it with plenty of water, never had any other problems.
My guess is that due to the band you were unable to drink enough water and it sat higher-up in your esophagus and caused the inflammation/pill-esophagitis and resulting tightness.
The whole oral antibiotic thing works well for acne (at least it did for me) however the acne bacteria gets resistant after awhile so it doesn't work for ever. I eventually got super wiped out of all my good bacteria, the oral antibiotics stopped working and after back-to-back yeast, thrush and fungal infections I realized something needed to change. I went off the oral antibiotics and started taking a probiotic to replenish everything.
Right now I am using a topical antibiotic, (sulfacetamide) as well as retin-a micro (retinoid) which is working really well. I used clindamycin topical for about 6 months but it stopped working after awhile. I don't know if you've used it already, but I would really try the topical route and see how it works. The way my dermatologist explained it to me, the retin-a helps slough away all the dead skin cells so that bacteria is less likely to get trapped and then the antibiotic of course kills the bacteria.
I really feel for you, I hate having acne, it's very very frustrating, I'm relieved/happy it's under control but also worried about when this current antibiotic may stop working :/
Sorry this is so long!
I won't worry to much about re-gain, it sounds to me like this problem is totally med-related and once everything heals up there should be no reason why you can't get your restriction back. Focus on lean proteins to keep you full while you have no restriction and stay away from crave-causing carbs, you'll be fine! : )
Wow that journey sounds....bad! Glad you got unfilled and seemingly straightened out. I need to see a dermatologist for the acne stuff too. I didn't know they prescribed antibiotics for stuff like that. Is it related to folliculitis?? I had an NP tell me she thought I had that but she couldn't diagnose and I needed to see a Dermatologist, which I haven't yet (no insurance). But with my research I found folliculitis is where the hair root or pore gets "infected", which leads me to believe an antibiotic would fix it! Yay! If you know more about these, pls respond on my blog! The acne is VERY frustrating!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great info, Sarah. I will definitely ask my regular doctor about the topical, etc.!! And here I was thinking that I was completely out of luck.
ReplyDeleteYou are so welcome!! I think there is definitely hope, just find a doc who know what he's talking about acne-treatment wise -- there's def. more than 1 option out there :)
ReplyDeleteSorry I can't offer any advice, but I did want to say Happy Birthday.
ReplyDeleteI hope you feel better soon, once you are better than you can concentrate on weight loss. Good luck :o)
ReplyDeleteThank you guys for the 'get wells' and 'Happy B-days'! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday!!! :) I hope you feel better soon and that the no restriction isn't too difficult to deal with!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Catherine! :)
ReplyDelete