I may have a leak! What now?

I have been struggling for a few months now. 6 weeks ago i went in and had another adjustment and still was not feeling the restriction that I had before. I went back in today to see whats up and we decided to take out all the fluid and see what's really in there. There was only 5.2 cc in there and my records indicate that I should have 7.4 cc ( which was alot, i thought, for a 10 cc band). So, after verifying that there was a difference, she put 5cc back in and BOY OH BOY! I am tight today!

My question is...What happens if I really have a leak? Surgery?! Or is there some kind of leak stopper?

Well I don't think there is "stop leak" for bands like tires but I know several folks have had them replaced so hopefully one of them will pop in and tell you the specifics of what is done. Good luck!

Sometimes a discrepancy in the amount of fluid can be attributed to poor record-keeping by the surgeon's office, but for me, 5.2 cc versus 7.4 cc is too big a variance to blame on that.

I don't know of any leak stopper, like Fix-A-Flat, for gastric bands. The few bandsters I've met who had a leak had to have surgery to repair it. Usually the leak is in the tubing (due to kinking or damage) or port. Kate had surgery to fix a tubing leak - I'll ask her to respond to your question.

Jean

Thank you!

We have a member in my Failed Bands group that has a leak and she said her doctor told her that there is a dye test that can be done to test for leaks. Her doctor will not perform it because he said it would void the warranty, but when she called Allergan to confirm if it would void her warranty they told her that no it would not void the warranty.

I know this doesn't help you, but I'm interested in finding out if a dye test would indeed void the warranty. Is it possible for you to ask your surgeon if he would recommend a dye test and let me know what he says ?

Lisa

2.2 is a lot to mislay in 6 weeks. But i have come across quite substantial discrepancies which were never really explained.

My leak was sudden and dramatic. Good restriction one day, empty band the next. Having said that, as i have a 4 cc band, that only meant just under 3 cc vanished.

My doc injected dye into the port and we watched under XRay as it all leaked out! The leak was about 6 cm along from the port. I had a minor op under general anaesthetic. He cut out the damaged section and rejoined it. This was possible as I have lost so much weight there was spare tubing. He put saline back in immediately and I have been fine ever since (10 months). I was a bit concerned that a join would be less secure but he said not.

Kate

It's also possible they didn't have the needle in right for one of the fills and the saline may not all have gone into the band. That happened on my first fill. I should have had 4cc but I only had 1cc on my second fill.

I also think errors in record keeping happen a lot.  I figured I had about 8.4 in my band, but at my last fill a few weeks ago, they said 7.9????   So maybe some evaporated???  It had been almost 9 months since my last fill...

I had a leak (actually, the back of my port completely fell off - I guess you can call that a pretty big leak) and the solution was pretty simple.  A quick 10 minute surgery to replace the port.   If you need to have the tubing replaced, that's a bit more complicated, but totally feasible.  Try not to worry.

Donna