What the h....????

renee · August 20, 2004

Ok, this is really weird. I have no idea what is going on with my band! I had a fill put in about 3 months ago, 2.5cc. Was a bit tight and since it was hard to eat much, I ate what I could, which was of course crap. Then I went on vacation and had my calories in liquid form of frozen drinks but I was always able to eat at dinner. Then somehow magically my restriction eased. Mind you, I lost almost nothing. Came back from vacation and went to see my doctor and we put .25cc in. Week later restriction kicked in and I couldn't do it. Went to take some out. So I should have had 2.75cc in, right? No. Barely 2.25cc. Took out .25, left me with 2cc. This was last Monday. Today I went in to put some in. There was barely 1.25cc in left. We put in .50cc.

OK, this is simply weird. Fills are really easy, no fussing around that could result in punctured tube or anything. Am I leaking somewhere? Anyone else had an experience like that. Even the dr. said that that seems like quite a bit of Fluid gone for such short time.

BTW, I gained about 5 pounds in two weeks of having no restriction. Devastating, especially when you are shopping for a wedding dress. Cannot quite get excited about anything.

Sorry for wenting.

Renata

02/06/04

205/178/135

+5 pounds for now

New Hope · August 20, 2004

I don't have experience w/that. But sounds like the dr. might want to check for leaks. Hope you find out what's going on! Congratulations on the upcoming wedding! Please post pics.

sassaay · August 22, 2004

Hi Renee,

Does your doctor fill you under floro? If so, you might see if he can check for a leak by giving you a fill under floro, but instead of saline, he would inject a 'constrast' solution... I think it is called Omnipaque. My doc thinks I had a leak in the balloon of the actual band... no where near the port; which is where she originally thought the problem was.

I had similar experience to you. I would go get a fill and have some restriction and then over a 2-3 week period it would lessen... when I would go back to the doc for my next fill, she could never take out what she put in. Each time it seemed to get worse, to the point that when she put the fill in and immediately tried to pull it all out... some would be missing. My doc does not fill under floro and a couple of times she missed the port, so at first she thought I might have a leak in the port tubing. I had a floro at the hospital and she filled me with the contrast Fluid under floro... no leak showing at the port and along the full length of the tubing... but when she got to the actual band, she could see the Fluid leaking there... The folks at Inamed said that they have never had a leak in the actual balloon, so they wanted to see the band when it was removed.

I was re-banded on 8/13 and my doc sent my original band back to Inamed.

I hope this is not your problem, but I did want to share my story. Please keep me in the loop as to what you find out. My thoughts are with you.

Take care,