My Lap band is not working Please help!

I had the lap band placed  April 3,2007 i the first year I had a lot of success I lost 90 lbs.  Then I started having difficulty, my band was very touchy, any time I got a fill it was either to full and I would be throwing up every day or I felt like it did nothing.  One morning I woke up and had complete restriction.  I could not get even water down.  I waited 3 days and still struggling, I called the Dr, office and they said I had to come in.  When I arrived there they said they had to take all of the fluid out of my band, it took another 24 hours before I could eat or drink anything.  I did the liquid diet for 2 days, then soft food and back to my regular diet,  I had no restriction so I called the clinic and asked for a fill after 2 weeks,  got my fill and still nothing, waited a couple weeks and got another fill, still nothing.   Once again waited a month or so, all the time gaining wt, feeling like a failure I called the office once again and got a fill still no change no restriction.  Went to see the surgeon because I wanted a revision, of  course you have to go through it all again.  I have gained most of my weight back, feel like a failure.  I am trying to decided if I should get another fill or just give up.  I am so tired of fighting this fight.  Getting a fill to me is a difficult procedure my band is tilted, and not easy to access and it is tender most always.    Any feed back would be helpful.   

Hi Jelluy,

Sorry to hear you're experiencing what so many other people have also gone through with the band. It sounds to me as if you either have a leak in the tubing or a band slip, maybe?

What you need to do is be a big pain in the rump. Don't leave the band as is...  it will only cause damage.  I doubt having another fill will help at this point. And if the port is tender, there's something going on. It shouldn't be tender after so many years. Start calling your surgeon A LOT... try to get a plan of action. If you're silent, you fall between the cracks. (Notice how I used "rump" and "cracks" in the same paragraph?!)

Please feel free to join the group in my signature line. There are many of us who have these issues or have gone through them. Of course,there are people on this board, as well, who will be able to help you.

Good luck. I'm sorry you're experiencing this.

The Dr had me to a barium swallow to check the position of the band, and when I had my last fill the pulled out what was in there to see if  it matched what they had documented, it was a little less but they chalked it up to evaporation or something.  I also resently changed jobs, and insurance, just another barrier.       dont know?    

If you've gone from being way too tight to having no restriction at all, there's something afoot.

I had every test known to man done... all showed my band was "fine." Meanwhile, it was damaging the heck out of my diaphragm and the nerves that run through it.

Trust your instincts.
Best of luck.

Hi,

 

I TOTALLY empathize with your issue.  My band was placed in Jan 2007 and lost 75 lbs.  In the last year I have gained most of that back, all except 20 lbs of it.  I hadn't been back for a fill in that time because I was embarrassed that I put that weight on & was trying to get some of it back off before I went back in, all the while, gaining instead of losing.  I have had a lot of "life issues" in the past year causing me to really not pay attention to exactly what I was eating.  I always TRY to eat healthy, but alot of the time, bu the end of the day, I've given up for some reason or another.  Some days I have restriction, some days everything just flies thru the band, even with this last fill.

I am not sure about your issue with it being so tight you can't even ge****er thru it. I hope someone else chimes in with some better advice.  I really just wanted to post to you to let you know you're not alone, basically we both need to start over. I've been away from this board for years and now I'm back in hopes it will keep me moving in the right direction. I feel your pain about feeling like a failure, I feel like that as well. I don't even want to go anywhere where there is people that knew me 70 lbs ago.

Good luck !  Hope it gets better for the both of us.

 

I have THE EXACT issues!  I have gained even more than before I had the band. This, because the idiot doctor would not listen to me and believe me that I had NO RESTRICTION at all (got the band in 2005, have had NO restriction, fills come right out since Jan 2012) took an entire year + to convince another doctor to take me on. Turns out my port is completely upside down and the last doctor would just put the saline solution into me instead of my port. TRUE STORY!  Now, this new doc feels it is best to get that band and port out (The port has hurt me every day since 2010) and do a sleeve.   So I started allll over again and next week we will see what kind of battle the insurance company will put up. What a headache. I'm at least getting this stupid lap band out. It's doing nothing but leaving scar tissue. Oy. Best wishes to you!!!   

Omg. That is terrible. But ur post got me thinking if that was happening to me and I just remembered that my dr put the fluid into my port, and has me sit up and drink and takes out just enough fluid to let the water go down, so he must be in there, I hope. Geesh.

oh that is good. I wish my old jerky did that. he would stick the needle, wiggle it around, hurt me, it would make scraping noises, and now i know he'd just give up or inject the solution into me, then give up. Then he'd leave the room. I'm glad you have some restriction. :D

OMG I had the same problems. I have not seen friends and family because I dont want them to see I gained the weight back.

First of all neither of you should feel like failures because you are NOT failures the band is what has failed and big time for many many of us. For starters we were blatantly lied to by the manufacturers of the band about many things BUT mostly about the success rate and length of time the band is good for. We are all hitting the 5 yr mark which is about as long as most bands are good for, a very few have kept them for 10 yrs but many of those are also having serious issues. M7y advise is get those blasted bands out asap or at least empty them! Mine has been empty for 2 yrs because of these same issues but I don't have coverage for removal so I'm just babying my band till I can get better coverage. You are doing permanent damage to your stomach by continuing to fill them.