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Hi, I was on this topic also. I had my surgery back in 8/2010.
I didn't have the results I wanted. I'm still not at goal. Partly my fault. I didn't have much restriction, I could still eat a whole sandwich bread & all. Even though my surgeon did a great job. He was very, very conservative in his fills and dealing with his office staff was unbearable for me so I stopped going . In November 2013 I decided to look for a new surgeon so that I can finally meet my goal. The new surgeon did a swallow test & said that I didn't have much restriction at all. Now the problem is that I'm very tight . I've had more pb'ing than I've ever had. If I eat 1 bite of chicken & forget to do a small bite & chew thoroughly , I'm in the bathroom choking and finding like many bandsters that the junky stuff goes down fine. I was never much of a junk eater though. Since I got that fill . I am down another 20 lbs. I would really like to be & should be at goal now.
I suspect that most that were in this thread are at goal & happy. I wish they would come back & tell us where they are & how they got there.
Thankfully I haven't had any mechanical problems with my band & I hope I never do. There's so much complaining & putting down of the band on here. I don't come in as much as I did before it changed over to this new site.

Hello! I don't come here any longer because I don't want to hear about everyone's success! LOL. I had port issues and it took my doc 2 years to discover why it wasn't working. Got that replaced and I just can't keep my head in the diet game so I'm not losing at all. I lost a total of about 35-40 lbs. Very disappointing. I got an email alert to your post so thought I would stop in and say hi.

Looks like no one visits this forum anymore. I could not access my old account so unfortunately I had to create a new one. I wonder how all my other friends are doing. Me it's been up and down. I finally went back to my doc and got a 2.5cc fill last wednesday. and I am tight but I'm hoping it will subside. Hopefully someone from back in the day will look here and see my post and will let me know how your doing….
By the way I'm zeniada same as the other poster on this thread Ha Ha

I was banded in Sept of 2009...I have lost about 135 lbs...and have not had ANY band caused problems. So you could say I'm a happy bandster!

I'm with your Dr. Before I did anything drastic barring your band hasn't slipped , I would ask for a complete unfill just to give yourself time to do more research. Let my band calm down & then eventually start to fill again , slowly.
I'm over 3 years out & have still not met my goal. I started at 267 and now at 222. My lowest was 215 but then had a regain up to 240 because I didn't have much restriction & was just tired of my surgeons tiny, tiny fills and the nasty attitude of his staff so I didn't see him for about a year. I could eat whole sandwiches, Cookies and I was drinking alcohol. All of that was my fault.
I transferred my records to a new surgeon that gave me a barium test & saw that I didn't have much restriction . He gave me the fill of life . I'm now very restricted and am back on the losing side but it's very slow. I think because I'm not getting much sleep. The band is not easy. I doubt I'll have another surgery if it eventually fails but I'm a testament to the fact that wls is not the easy way out. Ive worked harder with this than I've done any other diet ever. I wish you the best and hope you get this worked out.

I'm with your Dr. Before I did anything drastic barring your band hasn't slipped , I would ask for a complete unfill just to give yourself time to do more research. Let my band calm down & then eventually start to fill again , slowly.
I'm over 3 years out & have still not met my goal. I started at 267 and now at 222. My lowest was 215 but then had a regain up to 240 because I didn't have much restriction & was just tired of my surgeons tiny, tiny fills and the nasty attitude of his staff so I didn't see him for about a year. I could eat whole sandwiches, Cookies and I was drinking alcohol. All of that was my fault.
I transferred my records to a new surgeon that gave me a barium test & saw that I didn't have much restriction . He gave me the fill of life . I'm now very restricted and am back on the losing side but it's very slow. I think because I'm not getting much sleep. The band is not easy. I doubt I'll have another surgery if it eventually fails but I'm a testament to the fact that wls is not the easy way out. Ive worked harder with this than I've done any other diet ever. I wish you the best and hope you get this worked out.

I forgot to mention that we would be open to training group chapter leaders and co-leaders. We plan on offering free Bariatric Support Group Leader certification courses (23 CE's) to members that are interested in assisting us.

Is it just me, or does this read like an advertisement?

I also haven't been here for awhile. I have lost about 45lbs. In the last six months I haven't lost anything, but I also stopped tracking my intake and started eating off limits foods. The band does still keep me from over eating, which is what I wwant it to do. I really do understand that the band is a tool and I still need to do what everyone else doees (watch intake and exercise) to address my weight. I am still very happy that I got the band, and I feel very lucky that I haven't had issues with it.

Hmmmm... I'd think you'd shed weight like crazy! Good Luck!

Ok Jen, sounds good I have a Target right across the street from my house and a costco pretty close too.
I'm not a fan of super sweet things and I hate grape flavor but I'll look for them it sounds like a good thing to have on hand when your struggling to get the Protein in.

Hello. I also just had a fill. I hadn't come back for a year after my second fill and had gained a lot of weight between visits. I just thought the surgery hadn't worked for me. Then four days ago I had my third fill going from about 5cc to 8cc. Big difference! I don't know if it's a little too tight but I don't mind and am able to manage a combination of liquid foods and solid foods, but just a little at a time.
When I drink cold liquids, I tend to feel a slight pain in my chest, as I do when I'm eating but not the horrible heartburn I've been reading about. It's like the beginning of a heart burn pain but it passes quickly. It seems to happen more when I eat and drink a cold liquid at the same time.
For the person whose band feels too tight, I read that cold liquids tighten the band, while warm ones loosen it. I haven't had any problem with hot Soups and when I ate some hot Soup I was able to eat a lot more solid-ish food like hummus and crackers and tomatoes. However, I overate by accident and the pain and discomfort was really awful for about an hour or so after and I knew I was eating too much when I was doing it. Today I had some warm soymilk in the afternoon and it went down without any discomfort as long as I sipped moderately, without any big gulping.
So, my experience to share is to try having some hot liquids prior to trying to eat anything. And I read on a web site that if you drink cold liquids first it will help to restrict your meals since the band gets tighter. For me, the small pain helps me keep on track but I'm definitely getting enough to eat.
I also read that the band is tighter in the morning, which seems to be my experience. I can't eat much in the mornings but by late afternoon and evening I feel less pain or tightness. Well, good luck to you and thanks all for writing your thoughts.
I found this info at this site:
http://drsimpson.net/fills/post-fill/post-fill.htm

I was instructed to return if I had any heartburn, means band too tight but I'm doing ok. I had my first fill and I think I have good restriction. I am concerned that I'm eating only 2 meals a day takin in only between 600-800 calories w/a Protein Shake. Also sometimes at meal time I can look at food and be full, or take one bite and be full. Dont have any heartburn, diff swallowing or vomiting and I'm tolerating all types of food. Am I in the green zone? Is this normal?

I didn't have foot pain before, but my shoes are a lot looser. Some are kinda flopping off my feet.

I don't know ladies this is a touchy thing to me.
One of the things that always got me before being banded was I would lose weight and at 5'2" I would get to about 190 or so from being btwn about 230-240 lbs and then I would start to hear "oh, you can stop now, or you're getting to skinny.
At 5'2" I was surely not too skinny at 190lb . Then I would start to get comfy and feel good and start to re-gain all the weight.
I feel that people get comfy with us being the fat one and when you are no longer the fat one they don't feel comfy with themselves in relation to you . When the fat friend gets skinny it makes them question themselves.
Don't let random people sway you from your goal. If you want to lose more do that . We all know you can gain it back if you need to.