Help! I've been the posterchild of bad luck. Four surgeries so far- original lapband in August 2001. Revision for broken port- July 2002. Hiatal hernia (with band slippage ? )Dec. 2003. Another port break and revision in Nov. 2004. Just went for my first fill since then and the band is leaking! I seem to have 3 options. Have it all removed and forget about it. Have it removed and try again. Have it removed and convert to full by-pass. Originally I found this to be great and finally knew what "thin" people sense about feeling full. Now, I'm just confused, angry, and upset. Has anyone out there known of such issues. Any advice. I'm almost 57, I began my weight loss trials at 330 punds with a dietician. I had the surgery initially at about 290 lbs. I was for a while down to 210. ( right before the hernia surgery) Now I am back up to 260. I am a stress eater as most of us seem to be. I am very upset with myself as my head knows that this was only a tool to help, but...

I feel your pain. After a slip, I had my band re-positioned this past Thurs. Recovery has been far more difficult than original surgery. My doctor asked before my surgery if he found any problems, what did I want to do...I said take it out. No problems found...except for lots of scar tissue that had to be removed. Was sent for a barium swallow Friday morning to check for leaks. Radiologist said it looked good...but Dr.'s office wanted me in for follow-up Monday. (I'm going Tuesday.)

One more "incident" and out it comes. As for how we're paying for this...some of us are going into debt. Some of us are fortunate enough to have insurance cover it. I'm still a big fan of the band as being a good tool for weight loss. But, it's a personal decision about whether or not that tool is worth some of the pain and suffering some of us encounter. Different patients...different outcomes. I'm the first slip from my surgeon. And he has one patient that lost all her weight without a single fill...so there you have it. Good luck, patty48.

Elizabeth