Hello, I had my lapband surgery in May of 2008 in Mexico, I quickly lost 30lbs and then kinda leveled out for a year or so, then started losing again, finally leveling out at a wonderful 145lbs for the last 5 years.  I have never had a day of trouble, the first year was rough, still trying to eat like I did before surgery and after that I've been great.  I was on Nexium 2x per day before my surgery and Dr. Huacuz told me that I wouldn't need it after surgery and he was absolutely right, not another day of heartburn after the surgery.

Problem:  In the last 2 months I have gained 12-14lbs, heartburn is bad again and the crazy thing is I can eat anything, just like before surgery.  I can eat things I haven't been able to eat in years. So after googling it, it sounds as though I have a leak in the tubing and the fluid has drained out leaving me with no restriction.  It says it can be corrected in the Dr. Office with local anstedestic.  It said that most of the time the leaks are right at the port.  My question is has anyone else run into this and if so was it that easy and what was the cost.  Would love to be able to run to dr on Friday and have fixed.  Its crazy I've gone from a size 8 to a size 10-12.

Hope someone can help.

I had my band since 2003 and was just revised in Feb to the bypass.  I had no issues for several years and did pretty well.  Then I started having port pain, which then led to heartburn/reflux and just feeling like crap.  Come to find out even though my band was ok it became encased in scar tissue which led down the tubing to the port.  When I had the band out it took my surgeon over an hour to chisel it out. 

My band was completely empty for 2 years, yet due to the scare tissue I had restriction.  One day I could eat protein forward meals and the next day I was lucky to get down water.  I did end up make bad choices just because slider food would go down and stay there.  I was also popping tums like tic tac.  I could eat two bottles a week and that was on top of a PPI.

Just be prepared incase your band has to come out. 

Thank you for answering my questions. I have been experiencing persistent cough, nausea, pain and swelling around port.  I made an appointment to see a WLS surgeon, hopefully he can figure this out.  I am tired of feeling yucky. Thanks again for the information.

I can't help but think our not losing weight must be linked to having it removed.  I'm considering the HCG program, but I'm researching it more before I make the decision.  They claim you lose 1-2 lbs/day but you only eat 500-800 calories.  

I would like to know what some of the symptoms could be if a lap band is going bad.