Has anyone had a SMALL leak?

[Britneygirl 65]

On my last visit with my surgeon, he told May that I may have a small leak. He didn't seem concerned about it and acted like it was normal.

Even though i told him I'm gaining weight and hungry a lot. I am under the impression that if your band had a leak, if won't work properly. My band is allowing me to gain weight. Any suggestions what I should do?

Has anyone had this problem? Please let me know your thoughts or experiences. I'm totally dissatisfied with my band right now.

[mrsto 2,925]

Wow, I've never had a leak, but if my doctor told me not to worry about it, I'd go get another opinion. Doesn't make sense to me. If you have a slow leak in your tire, it's going to be flat at some point. How can leaking Fluid from a lap band be normal? Something in his information and attitude doesn't feel right.

[terrydumont46 1,954]

i would ask this doctor what he planned to do about the leak. it's pretty easy to determine if there is a leak. ask him to withdraw the Fluid from your band. it should match up to your medical records. if the measurements are the same it sounds like you need a good fill. be assertive. i don't know where you are at on fills or what size band you have but you do , so you should know where you would like to be at this point. i have a 14cc band and have 8 cc of Fluid. this is being pretty restrictive for me but my doctor said that between 8 and 91/2 is pretty normal for a 14 cc band. good luck make the appt now.

[catfish87 3,471]

......... I may have a small leak. He didn't seem concerned about it and acted like it was normal.

Even though i told him I'm gaining weight and hungry a lot.

I know if it were me....I'd be concerned!

I haven't ever heard of a small leak being "normal".

When my band wasn't providing adequate restriction, I gained weight too....

[steph2012 252]

Britneygirl, I would love it if you kept us posted on what you find out. I have a friend that's banded and she's been aspirated twice (had fluids removed to see what's in the band) and has had less in her band than she was suppose to - which leads to to believe she has a leak.

Like someone mentioned before, I'd compare a leaky band to a leaky tire. At some point, wouldn't it just deflate?!

I don't know if its common but it obviously happens. I'm just wondering what gets done about it.

Good luck!

[voldemort 57]

I would say get a second opinion if the Dr maintains that a leak is normal. Lellow (member of this forum) has substaincial documentation on the leak that she experienced, everything they did and the ultimate result. I would recommend looking at her posts/blogs.

[Britneygirl 65]

i would ask this doctor what he planned to do about the leak. it's pretty easy to determine if there is a leak. ask him to withdraw the Fluid from your band. it should match up to your medical records. if the measurements are the same it sounds like you need a good fill. be assertive. i don't know where you are at on fills or what size band you have but you do , so you should know where you would like to be at this point. i have a 14cc band and have 8 cc of fluid. this is being pretty restrictive for me but my doctor said that between 8 and 91/2 is pretty normal for a 14 cc band. good luck make the appt now.

Thanks for the great advice. I'm 2 years out and I have a 14 cc band. Was once in my green zone at 11.5ccs. Now all if a sudden after a few fills I'm at only 9ccs. I'm hungry and don't even feel like I'm banded. This is crazy. I thought my band would last longer than 2 years.

[Britneygirl 65]

Update on my leak issue. So my dr measured the saline in my band and i was at 8 ccs. He had measured 9ccs a month before. I have not lost or gained. He gave me 2 ccs to put me at 10. I hope this one stays in. I have to wait another month to be measured again. At which time he will do a leak test on X-ray. I may have to have it replaced if I do have a leak in my system. He also said maybe he didn't pull all the Fluid out last time.

He said if I had a leak I would be losing more than just one cc.

Any thoughts or comments are welcomed.

[terrydumont46 1,954]

at this point if it were me I would be very frustrated with this doctor. I would be looking for another. my opinion the xray to confirm the leak should have already been done. I have no advice really. and I don't know if I truly believe that if there was a leak you would be losing more than 1 cc. it would depend on the size of the leak. and there was someone on here once where the Fluid was going to one side of the band not the other. the xray should be performed. I had the barium upper gi and they were able to see the band clearly and position. I am not sure what kind of xray checks for leaks. fluid in should equal fluid out. good luck. so sorry you are having this problem

[parisshel 1,892]

"Fixing" a leak by repeatedly injecting more saline is like fixing a slow leak in a tire by repeatedly adding air. It may work in the short term, but it is not a long term solution.

It is also not true that you'd be losing more than 1 cc if you had a leak. It depends on where the leak is, and how large the perforation is.

I'd also be worried if the fill tech had not documented correctly how much Fluid he/she pulled out as a control at each fill. That's just sloppy work imho. My radiologist always has his medical assistant in the room when he pulls my Fluid, and he verbally states how much fluid he is emptying into the little bowl, and she notes it in my chart. So there are two witnesses to the control, as well as written documentation.

I'm curious as to why your doctor does not want to locate where the leak is. If the leak is in your port, all you would need is a port revision/replacement, which is not a huge procedure. (You could have a leaking port if your fills are done blindly, and your fill tech jabs a lot trying to find a good entry into your port. Has this been your experience? If so, your port should be the first thing checked for the leak site.)

Your leak may be in your tubing as well. Again, this can be checked.

And of course lastly, the leak may be in the band itself.

In all of these cases, some type of repair must be offered to you so your band works correctly. I'm not understanding why your doc is not taking this more seriously...after all, he stands to make money on whatever procedure is done to get you up and going 100% so he should be jumping on this.

Edited February 27, 2014 by parisshel

[2babutterfly 483]

I am in your same boat. I had a complete infill in July and I have been trying to find restriction ever since! They have been refilling slowly but after my fifth fill last week which should have put me at 81/2 cc in a 10 cc band she said if you don't feel any with this you might have a leak. So I have waited a little over a week. I need to call her. She said the band I have (which they don't use anymore) tends to get leaks in the tubing. I hope that if I do have one that is where it is because it sounded like a pretty easy fix. Good luck and keep us posted. I'm curious about these possible leaks!

[Mommy.ArmyWife 6]

I went to my doctor's office on Friday, and they thought I may have a leak because she was unable to retrieve Fluid from my band. My doctor's office does flouro for every fill, so the tech looked around, injected saline and checked everywhere. She said she didn't see a leak, but it could be a very slow leak. Then, she checked all of the tubing and saw what she thinks is a "kink" in the tubing. The kink was causing the liquid to not come out. So, she kind of shifted the tubing around as best she could, then she was able to get fluid out. She gave me a 1.77cc fill, and I do have more restriction. I'm keeping an eye on it, though. If I loose restriction I'll be heading to the office ASAP!

[Britneygirl 65]

I went to my doctor's office on Friday, and they thought I may have a leak because she was unable to retrieve Fluid from my band. My doctor's office does flouro for every fill, so the tech looked around, injected saline and checked everywhere. She said she didn't see a leak, but it could be a very slow leak. Then, she checked all of the tubing and saw what she thinks is a "kink" in the tubing. The kink was causing the liquid to not come out. So, she kind of shifted the tubing around as best she could, then she was able to get fluid out. She gave me a 1.77cc fill, and I do have more restriction. I'm keeping an eye on it, though. If I loose restriction I'll be heading to the office ASAP!

that is definitely a relief. I'm not sure what is going on e my band as far as having a leak. My dr gave me a good 2ccs under fluoroscopy last Tuesday. And I feel restricted again. I'll even go so far to say that I'm in the green zone again. But I too will be keeping my eye on it. If I lose restriction, I will be very suspicious of a leak. Next appointment will be for a leak test. I'm keeping my fingers crossed with this round.

[Coach0407 50]

When I signed on to check my messages I found the port leaking post and had to ask.... how do you know if your port leaks?

I had lap band on 12.6.2013 and so far no fills needed. Lost 32 lbs before and post surgery.

I've noticed on at least 2-5 occasions near my port, I get a cold or wet feeling there. I guess to describe it has been like having a wet spot on your shirt and you can feel it on your skin under your shirt. Or, the feeling is like a cold piece of metal and your belly touches it, feels like a cooling sensation. Is this a leak? Or perhaps feeling a cold tube from the band to the port?