Band Leakage

Alright, I am slightly freaking out.  I went today for a fill and they discovered that my band was completely empty of the 3cc of fluid from the last fill.  It's obvious there is a leak.  I have a few questions I hope you all can help me with.  First, the last fill I had, the doctor did in a very peculiar way.  He had me start out laying down, inserted the needle, then had me sit up and drink water as he added fluid to the band.  Has anyone had a fill completed in that matter?  After the fill my port seemed to be in a different position and got extremely sore.  I did have restriction for a couple of weeks, but then all at once I was battling food cravings and an appetite I haven't had since my surgery in March of '07.  I guess that should have been a clue to me, but wasn't.  So, my other question is from those of you that have had leaks.  How was the repair pain and recoverywise?  What about weight gain while you waited for the repair.  I am really stressed out if the last couple of weeks are any indication of my food battle ahead.  I don't want to regain the 80 pounds I've lost.  Please let me know what your experience was like.  Also, the new lower profile port, how difficult are the fills with that compared to the older port?

Thanks for all your help.

~Tammy

That is the way my doctor does the fills.  He says that it is easier to find my port laying down since I have rolls of fat on my stomach.  He does the fluro though.  However, I have never felt any pain.  Sorry you are going through this.

Olga.

Sorry to hear yours is leaking.  Lots of people hear have their fill and have the needle left in.  Than sit up to make sure the water passes.  Saves having to get poked a 2nd time if you need fluid removed.  I asked mine to do it.  They said they would like to start doing it but have to go thru some training first.

You might want to check out the revision boards to see about others that may have.

I just had a revision on March 20th for a leak.  It wasn't the band that was leaking though - it was the port.  My surgeon said very rarely does the band itself leak, that it's usually the port.  I was given a new port and my band has been working fine ever since and my weight loss has resumed.  The surgery was only about 20 minutes long.  Good luck.

My surgeon went in to replace the port but discovered that it was the tubing between the port and the band that was leaking, so he replaced that. I'm not really sure if he replaced  the port too or not. I had leaking tubing for 6 months, I had to exercise alot to maintain. The replacement was done outpatient, the pain was minimul and recovery time was about a week for me. Nothing like the original band placement.

Helen

I have a possible leak also. I go in to find out on Thursday. I was supposed to have 5CC in my band. They were only able to pull out 3CC. They then put in 5.5CC restriction non existent. Feels like before I had surgery. This is has been going on for 6 weeks. I have gained 2 lbs. I'm scared to death I'm going to gain my weight back. I feel like I'm failing.

I had a leak last winter. My surgeon thought it was the port, but it was actually in the tubing about 10 cm's from the port. He was able to cut out the bad section of tubing and hook it to the port - he did replace the port at the same time, but I still have enough "padding" through my mid-section, that he did not put in a low profile port. It was an out-patient surgery, and I actually did go to work the next day (desk job) for part of the day. Couldn't exercise for a few weeks though. I did gain some weight - when I realized something was wrong, I ate anything and everything to see if I could still feel my band. It took a couple of weeks to get the surgery scheduled and then he only put 2cc's in the band which was in no way enough. So, I was without good restriction for about 2 months and did gain about 10 lbs. that I'm still working to get off. The band is working great. My head got off course during that time though and I'm having a hard time getting back to good eating habits. I'm maintaining though.
Jean B.