claire0823

That is s great! I have actually gained 7lbs :smile2: I think it probably has something to do with the fact that I was overfilled for so long and was basically starving and now that I am able to eat again, my body is in shock and holding onto every calorie! With exercise, the gained lbs are coming off SLOWLY.

Glad you have relief! I'm also glad you didn't wait as long as I did! Did the PA suggest completely emptying the band? I didn't want nearly as much fill taken out of my band but the PA was very adament about taking enough out so my esophagus could "rest". I am counting down the days til I can go back and the PA will put one CC back in! Did you make an appt to have a fill? This is a daily struggle because i have ZERO restriction right now.

I'm doing better today! I burned 200 calories on the treadmill and stocked up yesterday on low calorie foods! Today I had 4oz of steak and baked zuchini for supper. I was so excited to eat steak!!! (Granted the steak is not very diet friendly, but it's lots of Protein and I haven't eaten red meat in MONTHS!) TOmorrow grilled chicken with bell peppers and a slice of cheese is on the menu for supper. I think I just needed to get over not being able to eat for so long. JLDCHESTER, PLEASE go get a little unfill. I was EXACTLY like you! I would have a good day and then two weeks of bad days. I was absolutely miserable and didn't realize how bad it was until I got the unfill. My fiance was also too tight and went for a slight unfill on Monday and he is much happier as well. He has actually lost 7lbs since Monday WITH EATING because his metabolism isn't shut down! It's not worth living with a too tight band. I think some of my weight gain is due to drinking tons of Water and its water weight. It feels so good to drink lots of water and eat solid foods without PB'ing or vomiting. A week ago I would not have been so in favor of the unfill, but after going thru it, i honestly believe it is NOT worth living with a too tight band! Sue Magoo, I can't wait to try those green beans! Thanks for the suggestions! Manda, i realize i control what i stick in my mouth but if i had that much control, i wouldn't have gotten the band in the first place. It's very hard to go from being very tight and barely eating to being unfilled a great deal and being able to eat ANYTHING.

Apparently I'm not mentally ok with my fill. I'm failing horribly with being unfilled!!!!!!!!!! No matter how hard I try, I can't help but stick bad things in my mouth. The hunger pains are killing me. My stomach is constantly growling. I'm eating solid foods and protein like chicken and vegetables and trying to stick to my four ounces. I'm still starving once I finish the food. I don't know how I'm going to survive the next 3.5 weeks :thumbup:

Well, I survived until today! Apparently my symptoms are very common at the point I am after being banded. The PA said the esophogus just gets tired of pushing against the band and taking some out for a month and then going back and refilling slowly will fix the problem. She took out 2CCs. Yes TWO WHOLE CCS. Not .2CCS! I begged her not to take out that much but she stressed that my esophogus just needs time to rest and then we can work our way back up again. SHe stressed the importance of eating solid foods and even mentioned having a subway sandwich. She said YES, a little bread isn't going to hurt! I felt INSTANT relief after she pulled out the fill. But....I also felt a hunger pain down deep in my stomach shortly after which I haven't felt since pre-band! I have been absolutely DYING for a Whataburger so I just went and got it over with. I was able to eat half of a burger and a few french fries. It went down with no problem, but it was very weird to feel solid food in my pouch. Here's the kicker! It didn't even taste good. It tasted nothing like I remember. The grease and bread in the burger really made me feel kind of disgusted which is what I used to love about it. Glad I got it out of my system but I don't think eating healthy and sticking to solid healthier foods is going to be a problem. I go back in one month to get 1CC put back in! Hopefully I can find a happy medium between being filled a little more and still being able to eat solid foods. Thank you all for your support and for caring!

May not make it until Friday...can't get liquids down AGAIN. UGH! I am so frustrated with this band!

Leigha, You are not being mean at all. You're telling me everything I already know but need to hear from someone else. For the record, the soup did have lots of cheese in it for some protein. And i totally agree that it has almost no nutrients but after not being able to keep things down for so long, the potato soup was heaven sent. Eating liquids and slider foods is no way to live. I need the unfill to eat protein and MEAT for energy to work out. I've been on an unhealthy path the last month or so and that needs to change. I'm looking forward to having some fluid removed and hopefully being able to eat more solid foods and incorporating working out into my daily routine. I definitely do not want to have my band removed ever so I need to start taking better care of it. ONE more week until my appointment. It seems like its taking forever to get here. My doctor is 4 hours away which makes it hard to get there at the drop of a hat (just for clarification of why I'm waiting so long to go!).

Thanks for all the input. I have actually been toying with the idea if NOT getting the slight unfill because I have been able to get some food down and i'm still worried about gaining weight, but I'm still having the horrible acid reflux. I'm not even sure if its acid reflux but waking up in the middle of the night with food coming up is NOT cool. I've even started throwing up foam which is extremely scary! But then I've realized that eating potato soup is not really considered a healthy diet! For awhile I couldn't even get that down but its finally going down and staying down. I'm ashamed to say it but I havent kept food down in so long that yesterday I ate 5 bowls (small bowls) of potato soup! I've been living on slider foods for so long and still losing weight that I've forgotten what beef tastes like. I'm hoping that with just getting a few CCs taken out, I'll be able to eat normal foods again, just small portions. After binging yesterday, the scale showed a gain which freaks me out a little but I think my body will need time to adjust to having some food in it versus nothing. Plus, its a good time to try out the tennis shoes I bought and do a little exercising! Now if I could just convince my fiance that he needs a slight unfill.... Between the two of us we have lost a fat person! Lol. He's lost 170lbs and I've lost 125lbs.

I am SO HAPPY i found this forum!!!!! I am going through the exact same thing of waking up in the night aspirating!! I'm going in for a SLIGHT unfill in three weeks. I so hope this fixes the problem and I don't gain weight as result of the slight unfill.

I went from a 22/24 in Lane Bryant sizes to a size 10 in Gap!!! I agree with others. The sizes didn't really start going down quickly until I got into the smaller sizes. Goal is an 8 but I don't think I'm going to make that one. I'm almost 5'10" so an 8 might be too small!

Thank you all so much for your input. I feel so much better about making the decision to have a slight unfill. I'm thinking .1cc or .2cc. Like one of you mentioned, I can always have some put back in! I hope you are right about not being able to eat more but just being able to tolerate more foods. That is exactly what I want to accomplish. I tend to eat lots of slider foods because its what I can get down and I'm sure those do have more calories than eating the "right" types of foods. Appt is on September 17th for the slight unfill so wish me luck!!! Leigha, I'm extremely jealous of you eating a piece of bacon! I've tried to eat every bacon you can buy and NONE of it goes down, not even turkey bacon!

Ok, long story short. I had a fill with a new doctor who was in my area instead of traveling 8 hours to my surgeon who I don't particularly like. This doctor put 1.5CCs which brought me to a total of 7.75CCs, or so I thought. THis doctor did not pull out the Fluid to see how much was in or had evaporated. It felt no different than it had before the fill. (I had gone 7 months without a fill) So i went to see another new doctor (I changed jobs and moved across the state of Texas!). THis doctor pulled out all of my saline and found that I had roughly 6.75CCs so he gave me a fill of 1CC which brought me back up to around 7.75CCs (in a 10CC band). Now here's my real question, am i too tight?? It's been two weeks since my fill and I can hardly get down Water in the morning. It feels like it gets stuck but eventually goes down. Towards the afternoon it loosens a bit but tea will still get stuck sometimes. Most days I haven't been able to eat even mushy food much less real food. However, on Saturday, I was able to eat mushies and deviled eggs without anything getting stuck. Sunday rolled around and I'm back to the same story of water feeling as if it is stuck. I'm scared to go in for an unfill because I don't want to lose my restriction but I dont know how much longer I can take it like this! I started a new job and don't really have vacation time to take off for a small unfill. Please help!

If you're self pay, can you use Lapband surgery as a tax write off?

I'm VERY concerned! I had a fill on Tuesday of 1.5CC in my band that already had 6.25CC in it for a total of 7.75CC. It's only a 10CC band. My weight loss had completely stopped for four months which is why i got the fill. I was able to eat way more than 4oz also. I switched back to regular food today and the band doesn't seem to be any tighter than it was before the fill. I'm worried that I've stretched my pouch which is why things don't feel any different with this fill. Can anyone offer some insight please?

I just wanted to update everyone. My boyfriend took my x-ray of my pouch in to his doctor today. The doctor was horrified. My pouch is extremely stretched and a fill should have never been done by my doctor (which is why the fill did nothing!). So now I paid $250 to this doctor for a fill when he should have been taking out the Fluid. Apparently he doesn't know what a stretched pouch looks like. Now I have to pay an additional $250 to have all the fluid removed, plus start over from scratch with fills! I'm stuck in a rut. I switched from my original surgeon because he was an ass and doesn't believe in the lapband and was also 8 hours away from where I currently live. Again, that doctor wouldn't listen to me when I said something was wrong in July 2009. So I switched to the ONLY doctor within a 5 hour radius of where I live who has turned out to be incompetent. I guess I'm going to have to finally bite the bullet and fly to my boyfriend's doctor. I'm just praying this can be fixed with time and patience and not surgery! :confused:

I've lost 70 pounds and I'm in a size 16 (was a size 22/24 at Lane Bryant before). I can't seem to get rid of my fat clothes either! I have them all packed in a flat tub underneath my bed, but I can't bring myself to give them away either! I, like you, am scared I will gain the weight back like all the other times. My boyfriend (who was banded in June '09 and has lost 121lbs) says I need to throw the clothes out so I won't LET myself get fat again. But the scale hasn't moved in 4 months (which I must admit, I haven't been trying much to help it move, I HAVE to get back on the bandwagon!). But with the scale not moving, I can't get rid of the clothes!!!!! I'd love to hear anyone's insight as well.

That is why I'm concerned. 1.5CC is a pretty big fill. That brought me up to 7.75CCs. I feel like I should have way more restriction than I have now.

I'm VERY concerned! I had a fill on Tuesday of 1.5CC in my band that already had 6.25CC in it for a total of 7.75CC. It's only a 10CC band. My weight loss had completely stopped for four months which is why i got the fill. I was able to eat way more than 4oz also. I switched back to regular food today and the band doesn't seem to be any tighter than it was before the fill. I'm worried that I've stretched my pouch which is why things don't feel any different with this fill. Can anyone offer some insight please?

Budlight was my drink of choice before the band (I was in college!), but like many others, I feel very full after having one and hate the feeling. When I do drink, I've switched to diet sprite and crown royal or cherry vodka sours. There's pretty much no limit to how many you can drink of either of these. I can tolerate soft drink carbonation fine, just not beer carbonation. I was used to drinking on an empty stomach before the band so I don't seem to get any drunker now with the band. However, I usually try to stick to only 3-4 drinks because the next day is hell. My band gets extremely tight the following day and it makes it nearly impossible to eat anything which is why I very seldom drink anymore. However, my boyfriend who is banded can drink a 12 pack of miller light and be fine the next day! That's a TON of empty calories so he definitely doesn't do that often. It just affects everyone differently.

Scout, thank you for your concern and replying. The pain from my side has finally subsided. I walked and walked last night trying to "work" the air out and it helped. I still have pain in my shoulder but seeing as how I also have a back spasm today, I'm guessing they are related. Whenever something feels strange after eating, I automatically think its the band and freak out even after a year of being banded! Thanks again for your concern.

So on Saturday night, I ate some very mushy squash casserole which I'm sure went straight through my band because I was extremely hungry so then I ate the grilled chicken, cheese, and refried beans off some nachos for protein. Nothing got stuck but after I ate I was VERY full and I didn't eat more than 4-6 oz. I started having weird pressure pains on my left side under my rib cage and in my shoulder. Sometimes if I overeat, I get this pain but it goes away pretty quickly. As of today, its still here. I've tried Maalox because it sorta feels like gas/air pockets but nothing has helped. I still feel really full and can't eat much. Has anyone ever had this happen or have any suggestions? I live 8 hours away from my doctor and they are not helpful AT ALL when it comes to problems which is why I am hoping someone can offer some insight.

Hey everyone. I was just wondering what ya'll know about carbs and stretching the pouch. My doctor never said to do a low carb diet, but at the same time, he didn't say to eat Pasta and potatoes for every meal. He said to focus on lower calories. I havent had any problems getting down toasted bread or angel hair pasta so I like to splurge on that every now and then. However, my boyfriend is one month post op and his doctor said to avoid carbs because they stretch the pouch. He is supposed to do a low carb, low fat diet and not worry so much about calories. I'm somewhat concerned that I might be on the road to stretching my pouch due to the carb intake. Any insight as to which one we should be following will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you SO MUCH for that post Jachut. I was EXTREMELY worried that I had stretched my pouch/band because i have no problems eating toasted bread, rice, and pasta. I find the whole grain pasta and rice more difficult to eat than white rice and white pasta due to consistency (although i still try to stick to the whole grain) I was still worried that the fact that I can get either down most of the time meant i stretched my band. I also feel more satiety and stay that way longer when i eat whole grain bread/pasta than if i just have protein. Thank you thank you thank you!

Thank you for replying. I was thinking exactly the same thing you posted! I know there are bandsters who prefer low carb because the weight comes off quicker but I just gain it back once I eat something with "bad carbs". I guess I need to just a smaller amount of starchy carbs like Pasta so then when it swells, it won't stretch the pouch.