Clara Moretina

Oh gosh hope41! These ppl are getting like 4ml fills!!! What should we do? Do you think the doc's are taking advantage to get more visits out of us to make more money?

I feel the same way, a year in October I have 7cc in a 10cc band had 7 fills since December 2014, sometimes 0.3cc sometime 0.2cc which makes no sense to me why very small amounts but it is what it is. I have no restrictions at all, if I want I could eat as much and anything I want like I never had a surgery. Have not lost any weight in 6 months but have not gained any either. Working out 4-5 times a week. I hope one day I will start losing weight

so its been almost a year and your not in the green yet??? yikes! have you lost any weight?
I feel like I'm going down this same road!

I got my third fill on Wednesday. I now have 5ml in my 10ml band. Not at the green yet..

I habe 7 cc in 10 band and dont have any restriction yet

I had my first fill of 1ml, it made no difference what so ever and my doctor doesn't want me to go back for another fill for a month. I didn't like that at all! I do not want to have to wait for several months to get to the green zone.

I have 4.6ml in a 10ml band (apparently ml's the same as cc's). I have had 4 fills to get me to this point, but I am not yet in the green zone. I know I am close because there is a small amount of restriction, but I am still able to fit in more than I should in a meal. I will hopefully have my next fill this week or next and I am going to ask to take it to 5ml. I am hoping that will see me there.

I have 6 1/2 or 7 in my band (lost track)....but I don't recall how many fills it took to get me there. My first fill was 4ccs then after that it was 1-2 cc's each time....so with that I'd say 3 fills...now some doctors, or so I've read on here, are slow with the fills....1/2 cc or 1 cc tops per fill....all depends as you know...

HI! SOrry to hear about this incident. The band can definitely be quirky..filled or not. My band can get tighter when I am sick, when I go up in altitude..though the doc and his nurse thinkI am crazy because it is a "closed pressure" system..blah blah..but yeah whatever..I know what I feel!!
WHen I got unfilled, I didnt know what to expect really. I had a really bad painful experience the first weekend..felt like air pressure was releasing and it sent me to ER. Turned out to be nothing..could have just been a release of pressure or air between the two parts of my stomach and the band..who knows.
It was pretty scary how quick the weight piled on. The dietician just assumed I decided to go out and binge on all the things I could not eat beore like pizza and bread and yummy carbs! NOPE! I actually craved salad because that was always hard to get down. I didn't gorge..I am sure I was able to get in more calories than before...but I was not pigging out. It just piled on no matter what I did. I think our bodies hit a set point and when it can..it will try and get back to where it was before..
It is super easy to pile in calories..even if you are careful. I switched to Water only..no calorie drinks other than milk in my Meal Replacement shake in the morning. Even counting calories and eating only what I SHOULD lose on I was gaining.
The weight gain has stopped with an additional 45lbs on my body. Most of that was gained in the first few months! Yeah quick!! Right now I am bouncing up and down between a few lbs. That would be GREAT if I just wanted to maintain where I was!
The worse part for me during the unfill period was having a normal person appetite again. The hunger pangs..I missed my loss of appetite from the band being filled. As I got refilled that finally has gotten back down to where I can forget about food for quite awhile. I am considering doing a pure liquid diet like HMR to control the calories I am taking in and get this weight off. It is not as easy as 48 as it was in my 30's when I was first banded.
I would suggest REALLY watching your calories. Eliminate ALL caloric drinks and go to water only. No diet drinks either. I never liked fake sugars anyway..but stay as "pure" as you can without adding chemical crap to your body. Go to my fitness pal and enter your daily calories. Don't go off your maintenance weight calories..go off of calories for your body that you would need to LOSE on. If you see the scale going up rapidly, cut down further!
It can be tempting to eat stuff that may have been hard while filled properly but don't tempt fate!!! So not worth it! I don't even want to think about how many hundreds of dollars I have spent on having to quickly replace an entire wardrobe in a few short months including expensive motorcycle gear! Sigh..
Best of luck with the band..praying for you that it is not anything serious and you can get refilled! Hang in there!!

Thank you for sharing your story and to keep updating!
the last fill i received was in July 2014 and i was pretty happy with where i was, i also learned the quirks and was very slowly losing/maintaining the weight.
About 3-4 days ago, i couldn't get any food down and Water was uncomfortable. I have a herniated disc and the pain was more bothersome than normally so i attributed my tight band to that.
Well then band pain came, a different kind of "stuck" feeling that i cant even explain. That same night i woke up coughing/vomiting. i started freaking out thinking my band slipped and got back to my doctor's office the next day (yesterday). She took out all the saline to let my stomach rest and i have an upper GI Friday to check the position of the band and if there is any damage.
I never had reflux before so i dont understand how this can just happen out of nowhere and so aggressively. I dont understand how the band can just magically become too tight and show symptoms now.
Anyhow, i am afraid to eat!!! i feel like a recovering alcoholic in a bar. Just one drink and im going to spiral.
I've been trying to stick to a liquid diet but the hunger is REAL!
Not to mention my i am in my brothers wedding June 6 and my bridesmaid dress currently fits right now... I'd be mortified if the day comes and i cant get into it.
When you were unfilled, did you have this fear? I dont know what to do about it.
I'm scared i'll end up gaining lots of weight.

Well..thought I would come in for an update since it has been almost a month. Thankfully the appetite suddenly went away. No longer in "hangry" mode all day. I can go longer without food. My body is still stuck and just bouncing up and down..196, 198, 200, 197, 198...sigh...watching calories and working out and just maintaining where I should be seeing scale drop.
I am just figuring my body is confused with all the changes and being stubborn and holding on to what it just quckly gained. I figure I just need to relax and give time to adjust and perhaps it will let go and start to lose again.
It has been very frustrating to have two sides to my closet where most of what I want to wear is too small and I don't want to buy much more new in my current size.
As for my fill, I think my current fill of 1.25cc is good for now. I was too tight at 2.00cc when I was unfilled. I don't think I could take any more at this point. I wanted to achieve that "lack of appetite" feeling I had before and I think I now have that. I do have restriction. I am worried I may start packing my esophagus again, so I have to be mindful of that and not ignore the STOP!
I pray this stubborn body of mine gets with the program again and let's go of this weight!! I miss my size 8/10. Size 14/16 is NOT fun!!!

Hi all! I have been been banded now just over 12 years and lost 130lbs and last 5-6 years have been at the same weight..pretty much at what I would call a "goal" weight..not what BMI charts say. My last fill was at least 5 years ago..don't even remember. The last fills were not done under flouro as I did not go back to my surgeon in Tijuana. Found a "local" dr willing to fill me..but he does "blind" fills..so we never saw my restriction level. The last fills I felt like I finally had restriction enough to get off the last 40 or so lbs I needed to still lose. I was never a really compliant bandster, so it took me awhile to get the weight off. I have been happy at the same size for years. I learned to live with the quirks of the band..I was careful about eating foods that I know would get me stuck. I probably compensated for too tight of a band by drinking liquids alot. I did PB daily, but thought this was just because I was not careful enough. I avoided eating or drinking too close to bed so I would not reflux up..though sometimes still did. This all was just the way it was for a bandster. I was happy to be keeping this weight off. I only even went up and down by 5-7 lbs but knew what I was doing to gain and stopped.
So..here is where I am now. Since my band had not really been checked by flouro since my last fill in Mexico at least 7-8 years ago, I figured I should at least have a look at it to make sure all was okay. Figured it was since band seemed to be doing its job. I figured a slip or erosion would make it self know. I didn't need a fill..so just plugged along. I finally made appt with Kaiser here in Nor Cal to just do a routine Flouro this past August. The flouro showed that the barium would barely drain down. They had me practically dance around the room to try and move it down..nope. What this restriction caused was for me to pack my esophagus and it was double its size. The band was perfectly in tact, upper pouch was there..but now my esophagus was dilated. The bariatric surgeon saw the results and told me to get an appt to get an unfill. So a week later, the doctor drained my band. I have a 4cc band and had 2cc in it.
For at least a week, I had horrible pain off an on..lots of air and gas..that subsided and the weight started piling on. I was unfilled Sept 19th and as of today, December 17th, I am up by 40lbs! Doesn't matter what I eat or don't eat for that matter, how much I work out at the gym..the weight just piled on. Most of that was right away..at least 1/2 but I continue to go up. This has been an expensive lesson as I have had to buy new work clothes, casual clothes. All my clothes have been size 8 and 10 for years. I quickly went through 10s to 12s and now to 14s. I ache in joints I haven't ached in for years. Dramatically gaining 40lbs in 3 months has been difficult.
What I miss the most is the lack of hunger..not necessarily the restriction. This is what I fear the most..that I won't get to that "green zone" where I don't have an appetite. I always told people to not wait on me to be hungry because they would starve. I could go most of the day and not care about food. I want that back!! I worry that getting to that spot again won't happen.
So I had a follow up flouro done a month ago and my esophagus had improved enough where my doctor is willing to start refills. He wanted to give it another month at that point, so I am scheduled for a first refill in two days. I have no idea how much we will start with. I am sure he will increment me back up again. I know we won't be going back to a total of 2cc's again since that was obviously too tight...but all I want is that hunger to go away!
Has anyone else had to go through this and get back to where they were. I just need to stop this weight gain. I am trying so hard to stop it and nothing works. I watch calories, I am excercizing..even on weeks where i had walked thousands of steps around the city for a conference and ate very well as far as calories and food types, drank tons of Water and managed to pack on 5lbs that week anyway!! I should have at minimum maintained if not dropped a 1lb!
I really do think our bodies are thrown into some long term low calorie survival mode when banded and restricted properly. If the vagus nerve controls our appetite and is effected by band restriction against it..perhaps not feeling like you are starving helps us survive on less calorie intake. When that pressure against the nerve is reduced due to unfill, your body is sending signals to get back to where you can store it up again for possible times of "starvation" again..who knows..everyone has a theory..SOMETHING happens. This is not normal to gain this much weight in short amount of time when your calorie intake is at a level where any normal person would at least maintain or lose the avg 1-2lbs per week. I could eat celery sticks or a box of chocolates and still gain weight right now!! I am tired of people telling me I just need to reduce my calories and get in some excercise! I AM I AM I AM!! Doesn't matter!! I am sure I have ONLY gained 40lbs because I have been trying hard not to. If I decided to just fully let loose every day, I am sure 100lbs would have already been packed on!
OKay...enough of my rant...I am praying that in 2 days,I get a starter fill that will get me back to wherever it was to help me keep the weight off so I can now get off this excess 40lbs. I am sure it will take work, but right now I feel like I am swimming against a riptide with a wide open band. Maintaining on extremely low calories is impossible right now, never mind weight loss..Uggh!!
If anyone else has gone through similar with unfills to refills, would love to hear how it went!!

Hi I was seriously considering having an unfill and managing on my own! but I am scared now! I think my band is a bit tight and for the past week Ive either been on liquids or being sick which isnt good! During this time im no losing any weight! So I figured it might be best to unfill the band and have a couple of weeks of normality. I have had the band almost 6 years lost 20 kgs and manage to keep this off. I would like to lose a bit more... Im in a dilemma, I know if I get the Fluid out ill eat eat eat because I can.... any suggestions anyone?

I don't want to scare you, but I just had a complete unfill last September. I was banded in 2002, lost all the weight I wanted to lose and had been stable at same weight for at least 5 years.I figured I should get the band checked by flouroscopy because it has been awhile..even though I was not really having any issues. Probably adjusted to the usual band quirks..which turned out my band had been too tight and I started to stretch my esophagus. Doctor recommened a complete unfill and wait 3 months. I was refilled from 2cc total to only 1cc. I had 2nd fill a month ago and now at 1.25cc.
I quickly gained weight..it was crazy..even with little food, my body just back on, 10, 15, 20..all the way up to 50lbs where I am stuck now. I really have to fight to stop the weight gain. I think our bodies go from an abnormal state to a new abnormal state. Calorie restriction and calorie burning that "normal" humans can lose weight don't seem to be working.
Do EVERY thing you can to not overeat and get in lots of exercise. Watch calories like crazy. I drink mostly Water other than Protein drink or milk that does in my Protein Drink. Count calories and stay as low as you can. I know that if I was not watching every bite, I would have packed on another 50. I am at least not back where I started which is another 85lbs up. I am eating and working out to the point I should be losing but my body is just maintaining. Very frustrating. Figuring my body is just trying to adjust to its new set point and will eventually start slipping back down again.
I am hoping your unfill jourmey goes smoother than mine. I am so depressed to be this size now..even though I am not back where I started, it's alot of extra weight to suddenly cope with after years of being the same weight. I felt "fat" when I was up 3-4 lbs from my usual weight!! Sigh..wish I had THAT problem now instead!
Seriously get into "battle" mode..do not get complacent about food and get moving!!

I would go a different route to the one suggested above. If your band is empty, you may still have a residual bit of restriction just from the band. Going back to,liquids would do nothing to help you. You need to use whatever help you can get from the empty band which means dense Protein not liquids.
And if there is no residual restriction, there is no point in liquids either! My suggestion would be to find a programme to help you, like WeightWatchers or the 5:2. Anything you can stick to until you start getting fills again.