ok, new post here. i was banded in mexico last fall. did not do proper fills or followup so i basically didn't gain or lose over that time. wasn't too worried about it because i knew the band was there and i just needed to get off my butt and get going. anyway, found a dr in detroit area who would take me. i am 3hrs away in ohio. i had my first fill in march, 7mths after being banded. 2nd fill in june. semi restricted after the 2nd fill. total of 6cc in a 10cc ap band. well about a month ago while working i struck myself pretty hard right under my port. it is left side under my lowest rib. anyway, i was concerned that i had damaged something. restriction was not great before the injury and seemed less so as time went on. well i just went in yesterday. dr. wasn't too concerned. neither was his tech, who does all his fills. she does great by the way. never more than 1 stick and she does dozens every week so she is good at this. i was also concerned about maybe a flipped port. she hit it no problem on the 1st shot yesterday. should have been 6cc. she only could get 2.4cc. dr. said to add 3.1cc for a total of 5.5cc. i explained my concern and she was really cool about it. said that they see it regularly where people's body's absorb fluid thru the band and that this reduction is not necessarily a bad thing. i received the 3.1cc and left with an appointment to come back in 3 weeks. well, i tried to drink the bottle of water they give you with little success. ended up foaming up spittle. weird. i went to panera bread and had a 1/2 bowl of cream soup to see if it would pass. went back to wait in the dr's parking lot. remember, i am 3 hrs from home. was a bit uncomfortable but not stuck. never had a majot restriction before so thought maybe this is what the sweet spott feels like. i was "full". ended up going back in and having 1cc removed for safety's sake and since i will be back in 3 weeks. sorry for the long thread but i need to know if ANYONE else has heard of fluid's being lost thru absorption? new one to me. she said they have had patients come in who had recently had other surgeries with lots of i.v. fluids and their bands had more than was put in them causing tightness and discomfort. the dr. said he rarely sees damage to the ports and has seen very few actual leaks. any thoughts or imput would be appreciated. i will know more in 3 weeks. assistant said if i have a majot fluid loss then, they will assume a leak and we will look at options then. thanks for reading. oh yeah, i was self pay and the thought of more cash out to fix this really makes me sick

In all honesty, that seems like a lot of lost fluid. I have the Realize Band, and the doctor can never pull out as much fluid as was put in, but I'm talking in the neighborhood of 1.5cc. That they were only able to pull out 2.4cc rather than the 6cc that you had in the past is a big loss, but since you got such amazing restriction with 3.1cc added, it sounds like there was more fluid in your band that they just couldn't pull out.

When I was concerned about the loss of fluid (it happened every time they checked), my doctor said that generally you know you have a leak within two days of a fill, because you lose restriction virtually overnight. I took that to mean they very rarely see slow leaks. I'm sure they're not unheard of though.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. I'm self pay too, and my one year of fills/appointments that were included in the contract is over, so I also worry about something going wrong.

that's what i thought too. at 6cc i was slightly restricted but seemed to be working my way up to that "sweet" spot. this should have totaled 5.5cc and i was locked up. water was even a problem so i guessed the same thing. like i said, in 3 weeks i'll know for sure but i should know more myself within a few days. i was mega tight this morning but it seems to have relaxed a little this afternoon so that would match what a lot of folks say about being tight in the a.m.

thanks for the reply. i'll update as it progresses. i really should be on here more to help keep me motivated.