Relax!  You most likely do not have a leak.  Everyone is different and you may need more of a fill than others. I have the 4cc band and get good restriction at 3cc full. Everyone is different and you will do fine.  No need to borrow trouble.  Hang in there and good luck.  I am banded 8 years and 110 pounds lost.  No problems at all.

I can totally relate to your story. Had band placed Jan 2010 and finally had it removed 11/16/15. Had the EXACT same issues you mentioned in your post. I gained all my weight back after losing 50+ pounds initially. But after joining this group and seeing all these posts I have realized I can do it and I have decided, along with numerous talks with other WLS people, that I will not endure another surgery. I MUST learn to eat less, move more and make better choices in life in general. So glad to know that there are so many people in my same situation. I do not feel I have failed at all. I know that I just made a bad choice and life will go on after learning from my mistakes. 

Hi Dixie -

I hear the disappointment in your story but you can change this around.  I applaud your effort at starting over and would like to suggest that a therapist - specializing in eating/wellness - to help you navigate the coming year.  You have an awful lot on your shoulders.

The best way to learn how the band can help you is to find out what is going on in your mind/heart that encourages you to turn to food.  I often wished the band was around my brain and not my stomach. 

Also - some gentle exercise such as walking to get you started.  I find that when I am active, I am more mindful of the food I consume.  Also - walking does wonders for relieving stress and anxiety.  I often resolve problems or strategize while walking or running.

I know you can do this  - losing weight, whether with a band or any other tool, can be done.  YOU can be successful!

Kootenay     banded in 2006    SW:  225   CW:  118

Hi Dixie Dog

OK like you I was in the same boat, I lost about 20kg in the beginning (never got to goal), then over the years I put it back on after having a major unfill after high altitude and bubble in the lap band meant I could not eat - fluid removed and all ok.  I had not been able to find the Green Zone again since then, I have for the past 6 years doing the fill unfill fill unfill game.  

I am now at my highest weight and have decided to give the lapband one last chance before considering a revision.  I do not want a revision, I am self pay.  So decided it was much less expense to get the band working again, seeing my lapband nurse weekly for small fills until the weight loss starts again.

This was 7 November, fronted up after a few years of ignoring it all - that did not work! gained another 8kg in ignorance!

I asked for small fills as it was going to be like being banded once more - getting used to the rules, listening to your body and learning when to stop again.  I was really hanging out to get to that point when you don't want carbs and sugar.  I could remember this time but could not get there before.

So first fill was .2ml,  not a whole lot of change, but think a little swelling which soon stopped a few days later - lost a few hundred grams, then another .2ml week after that, same again and lost 500gms, back the next week etc etc I am now down 3kg - most of it the last 2 weeks as I am hitting the Green zone now with my fill level, honestly once you get back to this level it is much easier looking for protein not carb crap.

So I just wanted to be a positive story for you, that it can be done.  Do you know what size fills you were getting before? It sounds like they were too much for you?

And pizza - well I am just not interested again - and I was back to eating normally 3 pieces no problems before my fills.

I am eating mainly protein, full and not looking for more.

You can do this, baby steps and baby fills.  It is worth another chance, you will feel better for you as this sounds like a tough time for you right now, 

All the best

Karen

The real truth about the band is yes it works for a few people really well, but eventually you will have problems with it. I've been on this forum for over 10 years and I only know of 1 person that still has their band and no problems with it and she got hers a bit before I had mine in 2007. The facts are that 60% of bands fail no matter whether you follow the rules or not. When they fail you are subjected to daily vomiting every time you eat, or just pain in your abdomen from a slip or constant heartburn so strong that your entire esophagus  feels like it is on fire. A current survey showed only 6% of bariatric surgeries are the lap band, the majority were either the sleeve or bypass and the rest were the DS. The only good thing I can say about the band is that it makes you burp like an elementary school boy. Unless you are out to impress young boys with your skills in that area I would strongly advise you go back to the sleeve. It works the way we were told the band would except it didn't work that way at all.

If I had been able to revise that is what I would have chosen but because of other issues I wasn't able to revise. I do however have a daily reminder of my band which is constant burning in my throat and my inability to easily swallow pills. I lost part of my swallowing ability because of the band. The muscles in the esophagus get strained until they can no longer work correctly because the band is trying to push the food back up and the muscles are trying to swallow the food down. The longer you have the band the weaker your muscles get until they no longer work at all for some people. I know of 3 women who have had to go to tube feeding because of the band and another who had her stomach completely removed so she can use gravity to get her food directly to her intestines so she can get at least some nourishment. Her next step if this doesn't work is also tube feeding. I have constant burning plus it gave me gastroparesis which is a slow digestion in the stomach which causes painful gas, nausea and cramping that you just really don't want to have!!The band may be removable but the damage it can do is permanent and serious for many.

Another problem nearly all of us have is that scar tissue grows between the band and the stomach which tightens the band even after it is emptied like the woman above mentioned. I too was empty for 2 years before I had to finally get mine removed because it was so tight I could only eat pureed soups for all my meals or anything soft like slider foods, ice cream was also in there because, face it, it tastes good and goes down easy. Many surgeons don't understand about the scar tissue and will insist it can't be the band causing pain but it is. They just can't see it on their tests so they continue to make us feel guilty about not losing or gaining because all looks well but it isn't.

Most of us never get the so called sweet spot where you aren't hungry. Even the ones who had it at one time often lose it because they get a fill and then when they try to get back to the good spot they can't get it again even with the same amount of saline in the band. That ends up being a serious issue too, having to empty the band for an emergency on say a weekend can be a living nightmare. Trying to find a hospital ER with a bariatric surgeon on a holiday can be life threatening. Someone who can't swallow their own saliva because of a too tight fill has to try to find someone knowledgeable enough to take some saline out and even the hospitals don't always have someone there who can do that. It gets to be a pain in the rear trying to get the band adjusted. I know hundreds of people whose original surgeon has retired or moved to another practice and more common lately is the surgeon no longer messes with the band surgery anymore because they can do a sleeve and be done, there is very little followup care needed with the sleeve. Even the Mayo Clinic no longer does the band because of its high failure rate.

I know of literally hundreds of women who have revised to the sleeve from a band who spent 5-10 yrs trying to lose with the band and lost very little or even gained with the band. They revise to a sleeve or bypass and lose more in 6 mos than they ever did with the band. It is just a faulty surgery that causes more harm than good. I'm happy for anyone who has been able to make the band work but I would never suggest it to someone who can get a sleeve or bypass or even a DS which is the very best surgery in my opinion but not done by very many surgeons. I beg you to please not even consider the band, I hate to see a young person go into this with such hopes and then have it fail and have to go thru another surgery all over again because the band failed them. Please read back on this forum and on the sleeve/or bypass forums and see how their daily lives are, they can give you an idea what it is like to live with each surgery. This board used to be super busy back in the early 2000's but the last few years it is dead because so many who had the band have now revised and are on different forums now. I only know of a couple of people who don't like their revisions but even they have to admit they have lost more weight with the revision than they ever did with their bands.

I wrote another LONG post a few posts down you might want to read. All I want for all of us is to be able to lose our weight and be healthy and happy and I honestly don't believe the band will do that for anyone!! Losing part of your stomach is not that big a deal it is just extra tissue that is allowing you to eat too much. It is often done with ulcers and cancers so has been done for many decades. With the sleeve they remove the part that makes the hunger hormone so for a long time you don't even feel hunger and even if it comes back it seems to be much less severe than the original levels. Best of luck to you!