How do you tell if your too tight, or simply experiencing restriction for the first time?

I had my fourth fill last week, and have vomited (PB'd) nearly every day. This might be a case of me being too lax in my eating habits (eating too fast, too big of bites), but I'm even having issues with some mushies like oatmeal.

I don't seem to have any issues with liquids, unless their really thick like a smoothie (which I have to drink REALLY slowly to get it down).

Before my 3rd fill, I really didn't have much restriction after the first couple of days after a fill. After the 3rd fill, I began feeling it more, and now after the 4th, I'm wondering if I'm simply feeling the proper restriction and need to adjust my eating habits (which I fully admit I've slacked on), or too tight.

This has been extremely "tricky" for me and I feel like I have wasted some time because I had a hard time figuring this out as well. With each fill we should expect a different experience- the more fills- the more careful we should be. From what I understand we naturally become a bit more swollen initially after a fill- first couple fills I returned to solids rather quickly but now I have to be very careful for several days after a fill and progress very slowly from liquids to mushies to solids. And now my solids are very different than they used to be- used to be able to eat anything just small amounts- now everything needs to be pretty "wet" to go down. My dr. hints that things are going to change even more and that I eventually will have difficulty with bread and tortillas etc. The trouble that I have had is that I "forget" or "ignore" the absolute need to eat slower and chew, chew, chew. This then makes me get stuck and then the vomiting or spitting up traumatizes the band and makes me swollen and then I pushed the limits and returned to solids again and the cycle goes over and over and then you get so swollen you have to go in and get fluid out. I have never reached over 6 cc's in my 10 cc band because of this cycle I get myself into. My advice- err on the side of caution and stick to liquids and/or mushies if you can for a couple days to let things relax- if no success then you might need to get some fluid out and then wait and get some put in at a later time- again, all of this delays the process so I wish I had avoided it all and been much more conservative as I have learned to now be. Good luck!!

You sound like your a little too tight...although you didn't say what is giving you the problem other than oatmeal. White meat chicken, dry meat, some fibrous vegetables tend to give bandsters problems. If you are eating slowly, small bites, waiting a little bit in between bites and still have problems, then it sounds like you need a bit of an unfill. Just a little can make a world of difference. Make sure you are able to drink enough fluids...SO important!