abercchic

He said that 99% of the time it's the port leaking not the band and that there was no real way to determine exactly where the leak was. But I've read several people on here that have had port leaks and have done a test where they inject dye in the port to see where the leak is but that was never presented as an option to me. My dr doesn't use the mesh that I know of but I will bring that up when I speak with him.

Ok I'm extremely frustrated right now and would like to know if anyone has had a similar experience. I was banded in Sept of 2009 and had several fills and all of a sudden this past December I lost restriction. I was supposed to have close to 9ccs in my band and when I went in for a fill I only had 2cc so they determined I had a leak. My Dr. just assumed the leak was in the port and didn't offer to do any testing to confirm it. So I went in for a port replacement 2 weeks ago and just had my follow up and fill appointment today. The PA was having problems finding my port so she had me stand up for an xray and then asked me if I had done anything strenuous. I replied no and she then told me my port was flipped!!! How in the world can I have a flipped port when the Dr. just put it in 2 weeks ago?! Furthermore, I am self pay so the replacement surgery cost me $2300 out of my pocket and I'll be damned if I'm paying for the same surgery AGAIN because I now have a flipped port instead of a leaking one. The most frustrating part is the weight gain. I've gained 10-15lbs since I lost restriction and was looking forward to getting back on track and now I'll have to get surgery all over again! I haven't had a chance to speak with my Dr. yet but I look forward to raising some hell when I do. I've been generally dissatisfied with him throughout this whole process as it is.

I frequently have the stuck zoloft problem too but usually if I eat something right after taking it I'm fine. I also skip doses A LOT to avoid the stuck possiblity. Tonight I made the mistake of chancing it and not eating anything afterward which I KNOW will end badly and here I sit in AGONY. The pain is MISERABLE. It's like a fiery hell in your throat/chest and CONSTANT sliming. I've tried throwing it up before, nope doesn't work. Tried drinking something hot, that's a no-go too. So there you sit for what can be hours in horrible pain. I almost would rather go through the whole surgery process again rather than suffer from the zoloft pain for a few hours. Yep, its that bad. I think I'll be calling my doc tomorrow and ask about switching to lexapro or something. The pain is not worth it!

I'm not sure. When I had my last fill (which was just 3 days ago) I was told it should last me for a good while. So I was going to give it another week or so to see if anything changes. What is the pouch test and how do they do that?

Exactly, if I eat slowly I'm still able to eat a lot. Yeah I didn't really get much restriction until I had at least 8cc's in my band. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that needs a lot for restriction. So far the only thing I've gotten is "if it's getting stuck on your first bite then you're not chewing well enough and you need to eat slower and just because you can eat more than a cup doesn't mean you should." Well that's helpful considering I thought the whole point was to get fuller faster than before the band. Obviously we're not the best at self control in the amounts we eat or we wouldn't be here! I also need to work on not drinking while eating because I'm really bad about that since I drink a lot to get the food to go down.

Ok, I was banded in Sept 09 and have had 4 fills and am now at 9cc's in a 10cc band. I've had some restriction but I've definitely been able to eat more than a cup. After my last fill I've been getting things stuck a lot more often when I FIRST start eating so I guess I need to chew better and eat slower. I've been able to get the food to go down by taking a drink (which does hurt some of the time) but my problem is that even though it's getting stuck a lot, I'm still not full and can still eat a large amount of food after I get it to go down. I didn't think the whole point of this band was to deter you from eating because your food gets stuck. Just because it gets stuck doesn't mean I'm full/satisfied!! Is anyone else having this problem????

I feel the exact same way. I was banded on 9/8 and have had 2 fills and have 6ccs in right now. I've never had any stuck episodes or vomiting etc and I can eat all types of food. You would think that's a good thing but considering almost everyone has these problems at least once or twice I'm kind of concerned that I haven't. I also feel like I had more restriction before my 2nd fill which doesn't make sense. I noticed I had restriction for about 3 days after my 2nd fill and then I was back to eating normal portions. I'm definitely getting frustrated as well! Although i do drink with all my meals so I need to try and change that and see if that helps. I'm really hoping the next fill brings some restriction! UGH!

I'm the exact same! I'm about 5 wks post op and I haven't weighed since my 2 wk post op appt because I had only lost 5lbs and was really disappointed so I haven't weighed since then bc I don't want to get upset if I haven't lost as much as I think I should bc I will get really discouraged. I haven't had a fill yet so it's been really tough lately bc I can eat whatever I want and way more than I should. So I'm waiting until I get some restriction before I start weighing regularly bc I know I'll just be disappointed if I do it now.

We were banded on the same day TZN! Let me know how the fill goes, I still have 2 more weeks ugh!

Thanks so much everyone! It really helps to hear that most of you have "been there, done that." I really appreciate all the support! Time to suck it up and get back in diet mode until I get some restriction. I don't know why I thought that after the band all of a sudden years of bad eating habits would just disappear. Time to throw away the stupid cake!!

I'm 4 weeks post op and have realized I can pretty much eat anything with no problem and can definitely eat more than the recommended 1/2 cup. I was told to try to keep my calories around 800 which sounds really low to me so it has been hard. I have been journaling my food and keeping up with calories and doing pretty well until the past couple of days. My sister's birthday was this weekend so we went out to eat and I ate more than I should have and had birthday cake. Now I've eaten the left over birthday cake for 3 days in a row!!! I feel guilty everytime after I eat it yet that doesn't stop me from doing it again the next day! UGHHH! I'm so mad at myself and discouraged because I can't even seem to stay on track so early in my journey. I really REALLY don't want to fail at this. I don't get my first fill for another two weeks and I basically have no restriction so it's up to me and my will power for a while which is a scary thought seeing as how I haven't done so well these past few days. I just don't want to take any steps backwards and have to start over like I've had to so many times in the past. Anyway, just looking for some support and was wondering if anyone else is going through the same thing right now?