I was banded in March of 13, and now, over a year and a half later, my band is filled to capacity, and I can eat whatever I want. I've been through all the tests, upper g.i., floro. I figured my pouch had stretched out, it hasn't. I thought maybe the band slipped. It hasn't. Maybe I've had an erosion. I haven't. Maybe there was a problem with the band, like burst pillows, or ruptured tubing. They're ok. Everything appears to be as it should be. My doctor is scratching his head, and I am very frustrated. I lost 55 lbs. at my lowest, and now I've gained back 20. I'm hungry just like I was before the surgery. I had stopped drinking sodas years before my surgery, and have never been a junk food eater, Cookies, cakes, ice cream, chips, etc. My problem was over eating of southern cooking. I'd skip dessert, and have another plate of steak, potatoes, and whatever else the meal consisted of.

Basically, there seems to be a lot of pressure on the band. When my doctor goes to inject saline for a fill, the pressure of the band actually pushes the syringe out 6cc's. He said that's not normal. Thinking there may be blockage in the fill tube, or the check valve, he completely emptied the band, and refilled it several times. Nothing has worked.

At this time, my band is filled with contrast, as my last fill was done in x-ray, so that we could see if there was any kind of leak or blockage. I now have to go get another x-ray to see if the lap band has pushed the Fluid from the band back into the fill tube, or port.

I had asked my doctor at the 8cc range what happened when we got to 14cc, and he said, "You go to the hospital, and we feed you through a tube, because nothing gets through." Well, at 14cc, I just had two small steaks with all the trimmings, and 2 hours later I'm looking real hard at a sandwich. Not good.

SO......Anyone else had similar experiences?

Hopefully they find out what it is & hopefully it's just something minor also, they can do another band , but if you do the band again maybe they can do the plication with it this time , just a suggestion good luck & let us know what they find out & what you decide to do , I for one would like to know.

Update as of 11/29/14: My insurance called and refused to pay for the procedure. We have Health Choice of Oklahoma, and believe me, THEY SUCK!! It blows me away that they won't pay for any procedure that will help you be more healthy, but will pay for all the results of obesity. SMH.... Anyway, I didn't have another 15K to toss out, so here I sit with a band filled to capacity, and the ability to eat absolutely anything I want. I am trying to cut back on portions, and have have ordered the Plexus products. My band was supposed to be a tool to assist me, and it's turned out to be a useless chunk of plastic embedded in my body that will create who knows what kind of problems down the road.

I wish I had never had this procedure done. I could have really used that money somewhere else. If you are considering doing this, I can't recommend it, and if you choose to do it anyway, educate yourself better than I did. I was in a buyers frame of mind, and even though I read the negative reviews, I chose to focus on the positives. Only now do I see that the negative reviews make up nearly a 1/3. That's a 33% chance that the band will not work, or that there will be problems.

If and when I can scrape up another chunk of change, and afford to pay for the exploratory surgery to finally know why this thing isn't working, I will post.

Thanks to everyone that has offered support!

I would also like to add that since the band doesn't provide restriction, I'm back to basic dieting. As I posted earlier, I've tried all the diets out there. I truly thought the band would be the answer. I've never been a junk food eater, sweets, fast food, chips, soda, etc. My problem has always been huge, multiple portions of southern food: Fried potatoes, steaks, chops, ribs, you get the picture. Raised on the farm, hunting, fishing, raising cattle, hogs, and chickens, I grew up eating real food. I love food, and I don't drink, smoke, dip or chew. Food is my vice. I just don't feel like I'm satisfied until I've eaten to the point of being miserable.

The band was supposed to be my tool, and it worked for 7 months, and I lost 53 lbs, and only had 22 to get to my goal. I looked good, and felt great. Then, something happened. After all the external tests, the doctor still has no explanation. I am very disappointed, and went through several months of depression earlier this year.

As stated earlier, when I can afford to pay for the exploratory, and get some answers, I'll let you all know.