To Fill or Not to Fill? That is the question.

[PrincesaJenE 0]

I need your help. I am scheduled for a fill next Tuesday and I'm not sure whether to get it or not. My last fill was 3 weeks ago. Since then I've lost 8lbs (Yay). I feel however like I'm able to eat a lot of food in the last week or so. My band is definitely tighter than its every been with previous fills and I'm struggling with eating in the morning. My first meal of the day is so hard to get down and If I don't eat in the morning I often throw up my first meal. For Breakfast I have to eat yougurt or mushy Cereal or something really smooth else it won't stay down. Anything harder than a banana and its coming back up. At breakfast hours I can eat about a half to whole small banana. Later in the day - especially around dinner I can eat quite a bit and don't stay full for any significant amount of time - maybe 2 hrs. After fills I used to easily be able to go for 3 and 4 hours without even thinking about food. Now, after 2 I'm looking for food to snack on - I think I'm taking in lots of calories this way.

So, I'm not sure whether or not I need a fill. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[atgoalgal 0]

I need your help. I am scheduled for a fill next Tuesday and I'm not sure whether to get it or not. My last fill was 3 weeks ago. Since then I've lost 8lbs (Yay). I feel however like I'm able to eat a lot of food in the last week or so. My band is definitely tighter than its every been with previous fills and I'm struggling with eating in the morning. My first meal of the day is so hard to get down and If I don't eat in the morning I often throw up my first meal. For breakfast I have to eat yougurt or mushy cereal or something really smooth else it won't stay down. Anything harder than a banana and its coming back up. At breakfast hours I can eat about a half to whole small banana. Later in the day - especially around dinner I can eat quite a bit and don't stay full for any significant amount of time - maybe 2 hrs. After fills I used to easily be able to go for 3 and 4 hours without even thinking about food. Now, after 2 I'm looking for food to snack on - I think I'm taking in lots of calories this way.

So, I'm not sure whether or not I need a fill. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Firstly - you are doing GREAT - congrats

I feel like I am the queen of fills after 3 1/2 yeras, so I have to answer your post. Sorry if it's long, lot's of info

Tight in the am is common. You are losing weight, so you may want to hold off, if its easy enough to get back into your doctor if you feel you need to. that being said, here are some things to try to make sure you are being totally honest with yourself.

1) lunchtime or at dinner, try eating, 1/2 cup of plain (no food lube) chicken If you have a hard time eating it, you probably can wait. If it goes down easily, I would definitely consider a fill

2)What are you eating for dinner, have you eased up on follwing the rules of your band - i.e. food lube, liquids with food, Soup for dinner...; If so, it's probably not the fill, it's probably your choices. If you are following the band rules closely and are getting hungry early - make sure your doctor understands thiis specifically - (I was in the situation)

3)Head hunger vs. physical hunger. Soul searching required here. Has the excitement of the band, like the last diet you were on worn off? Can u distinguish physical hunger from head hunger.

4)Does your feeling of tightness fluctuate with your period; mine does, and it also seems to fluctuate randomly

5)Think really hard if another fill would make you too tight - been there, done that, NOT fun, but I needed to learn

6) Be super-honest when you talk with your doc; he/She needs all the facts to five you the best advice.

Let me know if can help. Interested in hearing how this plays out... I think I'm going to blog about this topic...

I have so lived this

[atgoalgal 0]

BTW, I responded but didn't respond to you poll, I really think you need to answer some of the questions in my last post and talk with your doctor aobut your answers. That's where this decision needs to be made (based on my experience asking myself these question DOZENS of times). I hope my last post helps.

[PrincesaJenE 0]

Thank you atgoalgal for your advice. I ended up getting the fill last tuesday - .4cc.

I have been super tight since - I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. This fill I've really had to make some changes in the way I eat - which may or may not be a good thing - I'm still trying to decide. The first few days I was having a really hard time getting anything down - I was afraid that I might be too tight. Even by evening I was having a hard time. I've never had to do liquids after a fill but I resigned myself to liquids. I had some chicken Soup and I first started with the broth then tried some of the chicken. I actually got it down. I was reading some other posts here on lapbandtalk and one person recommended to someone who was having trouble getting her first bite down to drink tea or something hot before eating - that there may be some mucus kinda clogging the path. I tried this and its make it a lot easier to get things down. I can still eat just a little - which is good! But I can get it down! This week I've lost 5 lbs! Yikes. Probably an anomaly - at the most I should be losing about 3lbs per week. But its a good little jumpstart. Sure it will taper off this next week. Again, thanks for your advice.