I was banded in Oct. 2002. After 150 pounds of successful weight loss, I gained back 50 and have suffered the past two years from recurrent high fevers, severe fatigue, port pain, headaches, reflux. The list goes on. I haven't seen my surgeon - yes, I know, bad me - and all my regular doctors are at a loss as to why my body seems to have an infection they can't find. The symptoms are body flu-like. And constant. I can barely get up most mornings and now can't eat. Constant diarrhea, bloating, gall bladder pain.

Has anyone else been banded this long and had these kinds of complications? Please, help.

Thank you so much.

Please go see your lapband surgeon right away. Don't play around with infections. My Mom was 66 years old when she died from an infection within 48 hours of discovering the infection. Please don't mess around with this.

Go and see your lap-band doctor right away....don't play with your life.

I agree with the others advice....I like you am 6 years out...lost a lot of weight and then gained a lot back. Felt a failure so just put up with the problems I was enduring with the band...reflux, self tightening, pain around my port etc....well I eventually got to the point where I couldn't eat anything so I went to see my surgeon and he did a barium swallow and said all was well (!!!???) so he did a small defill and sent me on my way. I asked about erosion but he assured me my band was in the same place he'd put it 6 years ago. That was in December 2008...in May this year I suddenly through up a heap of blood.....long story short, I nearly died....my band has eroded into my stomach and is going to be a pig to remove. Please, please, please get this sorted.....it might be nothing but don't go through what I have/am going through at the moment.....I have been so ill since the transfusion I had to have, I am on morphine for the pain and I cannot wait for the band to be removed now...9 days and counting.

The obvious thing to do is go and see your surgeon.

These things may be band related they may not be but you need to see your surgeon and get it checked out.

Some of these symptoms could be caused by an auto-immune disease or even a severe food intolerance.If the band turns out to be fine then maybe ask your doctor about the possibility of one of these conditions.

I'll echo what the others have said, but I will add this: Problems with my band such as the ones you have described ALMOST KILLED ME. It cost me years of health, several surgeries, and I will tell you now:

SEE YOUR SURGEON NOW.

As much as it has helped many people, the band CAN kill.

HH

Hi, I am having pain in my shoulder after I eat, and also vey weak . I am not a year out yet I thought maybe it could be a gallbladder problem , do you have your gallbladder .

Could it be your gallblader ?

Thanks to all who replied...I did speak with my surgeon, who called for immediate removal of the band. There was no obvious infection, and he is hesitant to say that my body "rejected" the Band, but it did. It happens to people with breast implants, hip replacements, etc., so why not this?

I'm sure I'm in the small percentage of people this happens to, but it's very difficult to find documentation, since the Band is still a newer technology.

All my symptomology has disappeared. No fevers, no more extreme body ache and fatigue. My gallbladder pain is gone. My horrifying acid reflux is gone.

I can eat a whole green salad again! Over six years, I have developed better eating habits, and while I'll never be as thin as I once was, I am healthy and relieved to no longer be in such a desperate state.

good luck to those who remain banded...long term, it just didn't work for me.