Fills are not working - Any idea what's happening?

[lruhle 0]

HELP - Had the lapband 2 years ago and now see a new surgeon due to insurance changes.

I have had 4 fills and 2 removals within 3 months! The fills were between .5 - 2.cc's. I have a band that is 10cc but only holds 5 cc's total (at least that's what this new surgeon is telling me). My problem is very strange. I asked her to please "start over" since we couldn't get the dosage to a comfortable level. So 5 days ago she put 2.75 cc and I was able to eat way too much. I went today and she did an upper GI in the office and it shows some restriction but she was only able to pull out .5 cc. The upper GI w/dye showed no leak??? So she just put in another 2. cc and the upper GI again showed more of a restriction, but I can still eat a ton of food.

Any idea of what may be happening here??

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

You would think if they are doing your fill with fluro so they can see how much the band is causing restriction ,

you would only be able to eat a small amount.

I don't have the answer but I am hoping somebody will be able to answer your question.

[lruhle 0]

I never heard the term Fluro until I yesterday when I started searching the net for answers. I'm assuming it's the barium contrast that I drink after a fill???? Then I stand in front of an x-ray machine and we watch the restriction? We sort of make the judgement from there. However, it appears that I have some restriction and it goes down slowly, but I don't. Not even that day.

Could my band have slipped? Would this perhaps cause this? Wouldn't this surgeon be able to see it on the screen?

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

Yes, you would be able to see a slip on the screen. Usually with a slip, you are throwing up all the time and can't even swallow Water.

Are you paying for every fill? If you aren't , go back and get another one with the fluro. The test is called fluroscopy. I may be spelling it wrong. It's what you described though. they can still the liquid go through the band and how fast it's going through or not going through at all.

[lruhle 0]

Unfortunately I am paying for every fill, however, I have left word for the surgeon that actually did the surgery with the hopes he will see me (even though my insurance is the reason I was forced to switch). He doesn't use "Fluro" or anything for that matter, but maybe he will send me to the hospital for some other test. Or better yet, have an answer in mind. I can't imagine that my current dr. can only pull out .5 cc when a week ago 2.75cc was put in and not do any further tests. The dye showed no obvious leaks, but I would think this is the obvious answer??

Thank you for your input. Have a wonderful trip. And I'm not sure what band to sleeve it, but good luck with that as well.

Hopefully, I will have an answer next week.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

The sleeve is where they just make you a tiny stomach. There are no fills or unfills. I am really sick of worrying about

restriction.

[Jachut 487]

OK, first I think you need to sort out which band you actually have. There isnt a band that is 10cc but only holds 5cc. You may mean a 10cm band that holds 5cc (although that should be 4cc)? You need to know this for starters.

Then, I think your fills might be too big, so that you're ot able to sneak up on good restriction without incident. If you have a 4cc band, then this is definitely the case, my first fill was 1cc, then .5cc, and since then they have all been 0.2 or 0.1cc - and let me tell you, in this band 0.1cc makes a very big difference.

Even with a larger capacity band, my husband has the 10cc band, he has fills of 0.2 cc and he's only up to about 4 in total. He had a 0.5cc fill and had to go back to be unfilled, now he has actually passed that fill level but has been able to do it due to having tiny fills.

I think fluoro is a bit of a problem actually - just because you can see on a screen that you have not blocked off the band does NOT mean that you wont swell badly from it within hours and not be able to hold anything down. It most certainly does not ensure you reach optimal fill in one fell swoop as you can tell from about a gazillion posts on this forum. I tend to believe that fluoro encourages overly aggressive filling.

Its a pity that fills cost you guys so much becuase that doesnt encourage conservative behaviour, but slow and steady pays off when it comes to reaching good restriction. Better to go back biweekly for six fills of .1cc than to have one fill of .6cc in many cases. But I think for many people it would solve the frustrating fill/unfill cycle.

As to why they only pulled out .5cc, well are you sure they put the 2.75 INTO the port? It wouldnt be the first time a doctor has missed the target and injected into someone's flesh rather than into their band. A leak would show on the screen.

The other thing is that at my surgery, they have found the whole pulling out the fill to check thing as a routine matter irritates some patients' stomachs to a large degree, causes more swelling etc, so there is a policy of not doing it unless there is a reason to.