Don't know how helpful this will be, but my banding date was july 22, 2008 (only 2 months before) and it was VERY slow going for me until a few months ago. After several fills the weight finally started to fall off. Right now I have 7.25cc in there and my band holds 11cc. You should've had 6month bloodwork for any deficiencies, but your hair shouldn't be falling out...that's usually a bypass side effect. Unless there's something else going on in your body that's causing the hair loss, I wouldn't give up on the band just yet. Hang in there.