drehn88

Yep! It takes about a week for me to feel the fill.

My dr's office always gives me what to do after a fill/unfill. I've only been unfilled once and I was not given any food restriction. I can't image you would need to do liquids or mushy after an unfill.

Everyone reacts to fills differently. Usually there will be immediate restriction due to the "trauma" of the fill on the stomach. This is just the stomach swelling due to what it senses is irritation.
However, if you just got a small or initial fill, you probably wouldn't feel this because you'd still have a largish stoma, so any reactive swelling isn't going to be felt.
In any case, your sense of restriction will always vary, day by day, as long as you are banded. Sometimes it will vary hourly! Most bandsters notice the band is tighter in the morning, and will loosen as the day progresses.
Personally, my fills take two weeks to set up, in terms of judging the real fill level. Right after my fill I'm always restricted, but that's just the irritation and not the actual saline level. Two weeks later, the irritation was calmed down and that's when the fill level reveals itself to me.

Yep! It takes about a week for me to feel the fill.

I've read a lot about people feeling "tight" in the morning and sometimes through the afternoon. What does this feel like? For the last month or so I feel "swollen" in the middle of my chest (where my band is located). I'm able to eat through this feeling, but it doesn't go away until late afternoon. Is this what tight feels to you?

The microwave is my best friend! LOL

Thank you for your comments! Mrsto...that is EXACTLY how I feel! We've been banded almost the same amount of time and I only started feeling this after my last fill. I was really busy at work today so I only had coffee until 11:30 when I ate lunch. I felt SO much better today and only had the "thick" feeling during the morning. YEA! B52...I often think about what you say about learning the hard way. I think this is a perfect example. Eat until I'm physically hungry (ie, when my band is ready) and take tiny bites. I truly believe this will prevent that thick feeling in my throat. I hope all of you veterans know how much help you give us newbies! I don't know how people do it without support.

After my last fill, I now understand the whole tight thing. If I eat too much or too fast, my throat gets thick.....like a lump I need to swallow. That didn't happen before the last (5th) fill. I also am really done eating with much less. If I go over, I really don't feel well. I'm coming up on my 11th month, and I'm just now feeling things I've heard others talk about. I believe I'm finally in the green. I've never been stuck where things came back up....or slimmed, but that thick mucosy feeling in my throat is as close as I EVER want to get to it. I've had little stuck things, but they easily go down with a small sip or two of Water. This only happens on the occasional time I go a little brain dead while eating.

I've read a lot about people feeling "tight" in the morning and sometimes through the afternoon. What does this feel like? For the last month or so I feel "swollen" in the middle of my chest (where my band is located). I'm able to eat through this feeling, but it doesn't go away until late afternoon. Is this what tight feels to you?

I've read a lot about people feeling "tight" in the morning and sometimes through the afternoon. What does this feel like? For the last month or so I feel "swollen" in the middle of my chest (where my band is located). I'm able to eat through this feeling, but it doesn't go away until late afternoon. Is this what tight feels to you?

I can eat pretty much anything since being banded. As long as I chew it to death, I'm fine. But some things take a bit TOO much chewing, so I don't bother anymore. Steak being one of them. If it's a really good filet, then it's okay. But overall, unless it's ground meat, I don't gravitate to it anymore.
I don't really miss any foods. What I do miss, is being able to snarf it up; whatever I'm eating. Sometimes I just want to take a BIG bite, and finish what's on my plate. It's not the food I miss, it's the old way of eating the food. And in the next breath I will tell you how much I LOVE my band! If it weren't for this surgery, I would have probably gained another 10-15 pounds since last March. The band/plication is doing its job......a miraculous one at that

I just realized that it posted my old attachment of current weight. That is all wrong, for those that noticed that, I started at 280 and I am at 195 and have about 25 to goal now......
I forgot how to change that thing that attached with the weight ticker.......it has been so long.
Thanks for all of the comments.

I took my steri strips off but I'll call the dr to see but the thing is the ones that didn't have the steri strips became itchy and puffy too... Idk I'll ask the doc. Thanx!

About 7 days post op my incisions became very itchy and puffy. Apparently I'm allergic to steri strips. At 10 days I was told to take off the strips even though they weren't coming off on their own. The dr said to use cortizone cream, but it never really helped. That lasted at least 2 weeks then the allergy finally left my system. Call your doctor, but it's probably just an allergic reaction. Good luck!

I used to hardly ever burp before being banded, and now I burp all the time! It feels great when I do so I don't try to hide it. LOL

Excellent post!

About 7 days post op my incisions became very itchy and puffy. Apparently I'm allergic to steri strips. At 10 days I was told to take off the strips even though they weren't coming off on their own. The dr said to use cortizone cream, but it never really helped. That lasted at least 2 weeks then the allergy finally left my system. Call your doctor, but it's probably just an allergic reaction. Good luck!

Could it be a hernia? Maybe you just pulled a muscle? Sorry you've had a bad experience with your doctor. That's just not right.

Met with the nurse last night. She told me to take Prilosec and see if that helps the esophageal spasms. I've been feeling better and haven't had the back pain for a couple days now.

When I don't follow the rules and take too big of bites, my stoma feels "swollen". This will also cause my back to hurt between my shoulder blades. I have no idea how the two are related, but it happens every time in tandem. I was thinking you might still be swollen from surgery, but what your nurse said about the spasms makes sense too. It makes me wonder if that "swollen" feeling is actually spasms. Hmm...

"What if some food goes down before I am done making it "mush?"
I wondered the same thing! It's happened once to me (in the last 9 months post op). Luckily it had already been chewed a bit so it just got a little stuck for a minute. I spit out the food that was still in my mouth and waited until that sneaky piece went through the band. Your worries are justifiable. Take it slow and follow the rules. Your band will let you know when you get lazy with the rules. Good luck!

"What if some food goes down before I am done making it "mush?"
I wondered the same thing! It's happened once to me (in the last 9 months post op). Luckily it had already been chewed a bit so it just got a little stuck for a minute. I spit out the food that was still in my mouth and waited until that sneaky piece went through the band. Your worries are justifiable. Take it slow and follow the rules. Your band will let you know when you get lazy with the rules. Good luck!

After you've had your band for awhile and a few fills you will just look at certain foods and know you shouldn't even attempt them. For me, those are foods like thick breads, tortillas, and donuts. You may also realize that every bite you put in your mouth needs to be the biggest bang for your buck (so to speak). For example, if you're eating a sandwich take away half the bread. The meat and a little bit of bread will satisfy you. Good luck to you. The band is a wonderful tool.

This year will be reflection on my long journey, I've had many ups and downs, weight loss surgery IS a journey. I will be 9 years post op this year, and this great little tool is still keeping my weight down.
I am still happy and healthy, I don't have to take a boat load of supplements, or kill myself exercising, just an hour walk daily on my treadmill or outdoors helps keep my weight down.
I started in a size 26, and my lowest size was a 8, I hover around a size 10/12 at 5'7 inches tall now, I don't have to kill myself at this size -- and still eat what I want, I am grateful to be healthy at 9 years post op and most importantly -- still wearing a size 10...

Hi there!
I wanted to share something I discovered having been both obese and now 'healthy'. One of the reasons we are so unaware of our actual selves, is because our mind is only aware of our core.
When I was overweight, despite my dress size increasing, I never actually felt as large as I was. For example, ever try to squeeze between 2 chairs at a restaurant and say I feel I'm thin enough to get through but when you do you hit both chairs and you can't fit after all. It's because your mind is aware of your core (the stuff under the fat), not your true circumference.If it weren't for extrinsic factors like mirror reflections, scales, dress sizes, pictures etc we'd be completely oblivious of our true forms. And because we feel our cores, we dilute ourselves into feeling normal sized and we focus our attention on our positives (especially those that reinforce our normalcy) like collarbones, a pretty face, curves etc. The truth is, those same extrinsic factors are what gives our mind the reality check it needs to keep our bodies in check. I am 100 lbs lighter, have had extensive cosm. surgery. I dropped from a size 22+ to a size 4 and guess what? I feel the same. I still have to rely on mirrors, scales, pictures etc to show myself what I look like because the feeling of my core body is the same and I need those visuals to prove that indeed I'm smaller, curvier, etc than before.
The bonus is that when I slide through chairs I astonish myself when I clear a tiny space without touching... if you want to make a good joke out of it..just say 'boy, my core is thinner than I thought' <wink>
I hope this makes sense. It's just something I noticed because as the weight came off, I always felt the same. I guess I always expected as I lost weight my sense of body would be different. That only happens when i look in the mirror. I am only speaking about shape, not improvement in things like mobility and stamina or obvious observations like I take up less space in airplane chairs and I can fit my 10 year olds tshirts ha! But it sure explains why I never felt my back fat until a picture surfaced.