HI all

Had my band fitted 18 monthsd ago in Belgium. Found out 2 weeks after that we were pregnant. All fine.

11 months later I had my first fill. It was a travelling band fill (in the UK) provider/nurse who came to my house and did it. No restriction. Had another fill 2 weeks later (£250 in total). No restriction.

Booked for another fill - this time we checked the Fluid levels. Found it had leaked. Turns out fill provider had punctured right through the tubing. She booked me in to see her own surgeon for a repair. Went back to Belgium in June. At a cost of around £400.

A week later the port site got infected and I spent a week as an emergency patient in hospital. Managed to keep my port - they wanted to remove it.

So now, a few months on, I am still struggling - I was very very sick with pancreatitis, now have gastritis which is really painful for the past 3-4 months. I can't see my GP about this because the NHS won't treat me, because I went abroad for my surgery.

I am very very tight in the day, anything thicker than Soup gets stuck and I'm sick. Then by the evening I am slightly looser, can manage to eat some food though. Fluids are nto a problem. I can't decde if I think it's slipped or not.

So I'm £650 out of pocket (as well as 4k for the band in the first place), and what a surprise I haven't heard from the fill nurse since I was in hospital in July. The surgeon in Belgium hasnt contacted me either since picking up a surgical site infection in his side room (I wasnt taken into a proper cleanroom theare when he did my port repair).

It's all a bloody sham and I am not losing weight. I can barely eat, and I'm constant pain and getting no where. So far I have lost 43lbs and seem to be stuck at that - bouncing around a few lbs either side for months. Yet I can barely keep any food down. I am not eating bad slider foods, I eat Soups, potatoes, veggies - very little crap food. Very little junk.

What the hell do I do? I can't see the GP, and I can't go private again it's just too damn expensive.

Sounds like an awful situation.

If it were me, I'd be contacting the surgeon to discuss options. And I wouldn't wait to be contacted...I'd be phoning them!

It really does sound like a mess. Is there any way you can talk to a different surgeon? I am not familiar with how medical practice works in your country, but here you often have a choice of doctors rather than having to go to the same one; and definitely don't wait to be contacted, give them a call!!! If you're in that much pain there's no reason why you should be suffering! I don't think you're a failure at least, 43 pounds is really something. There are a lot of people who don't lose that much in a year, and it sounds like you're willing to do the right thing; so definitely go talk to a different doctor!