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Should I consider a partial unfill?



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My last fill was at the beginning of February. For 3 weeks afterwards I felt no different and was hungry all the time so I scheduled another fill.

I ended up cancelling that fill though because since then my band has gotten a lot tighter on it's own. I have feelings that I have to burp a lot. I fill up on very little food- Last night for example I had 9 really small bites of a steak and I was stuffed.

But the problem is I've thrown up once a day for the past 3 days now. I'm getting stuck more and I'm not sure if it's b/c I'm eating one bite too many or not chewing well enough.

Should I slow down and chew more thoroughly or just go for a partial unfill? I've lost almost 20 pounds since my last fill and it was done the first week of February.

Edited to Add: The reason I'm posting this is because it's now 1 pm and I haven't eaten at all today so I had five small strawberries and they got stuck and I threw up. I don't normally have issues with strawberries.

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Sounds like you are too tight. I have had suddent tightness a few weeks- a month after a fill. Not quite sure why this happens. I suffered way longer than neccessary. I hesitated to get an unfill because I didn't want to be hungry. Once I sucked it up and went in, I felt much better and still had restriction. I would call your doc. for sure. In the mean time, you might want to stick to full liquids. Best wishes!

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Hey Amanda seems like were in the same boat I throw up so much I fear I have a slipped band....

but I can keep Water and Protein drinks down so I dont think it's slipped just very irritated

I have no other pain that others say occompany a slipped band I think my stomach is just so irritated and swollen I need to not eat anything with solids in it for a few days just clear broth I think to help the irritation and swelling go away....Good luck to you

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This is a tough situation because restriction can come and go with no change in fill amount.

I personally would not get an unfill just yet, IF I could comfortably get & keep fluids down (and if I couldn't, I still might not as long as I usually couldn't and it wasn't some new thing).

The foods we tolerate, times of day we tolerate them, etc. really can change with no apparent reason. Mine have changed completely about 3 - 4 times over now.

If I could get the fluids I need, and I was in your position, I would go back to fluids (only) for a day or two and give everything a chance to calm down. I would then do a day of mushy foods, and work my way back to a regular eating schedule. If you can do the mushies, but cannot progress to anything solid, then I might consider an unfill -- but for me personally, it's so "routine" to have drastic fluctuations in my restriction that I've only gotten unfills when I could not tolerate fluids.

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I would probably get some taken out...maybe half of your last increase? I have similar issues. i got a fill before I went on a cruise in August b/c I didn't want to gain any weight. I was fine for a month after and then all of a sudden I could hardly eat anything. I was getting sick all the time and the only foods that didn't irritate my stomach (other than shakes) were "slider" foods. I went from 5.5 ccs to 5 ccs and actually dropped weight quicker than before because I could get back to eating healthy food. I am still at 5 and have started having problems again and considered getting some additional Fluid taken out. I haven't been on this site in a while and thought I would see what was going on b/c I was having problems again. <br /><br />It is helpful to hear that people are going through the same problems. Thanks for your post. I think I am going to call my doc right now to get a little unfill <img src='http://cdn.lapbandtalk.com/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

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You may have to make a choice ..... get a small unfill so you can keep eating steak, or stay at the same fill level and give up steak. Steak is at the top of the list of food that gives bandsters trouble, right up there with bread. I chose to give up steak.

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I would give it a few days and see how you do, Chew really well and make good choices of food you know should not get stuck. If it does not change and you keep throwing up go for a very small unfill. I suffered way too long and had only .2 ccs taken out and it was the difference like night and day.

Cheri

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I am over a year post-op and still haven't been able to eat steak or bread.< /p>

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I think it depends how tight you're willing to tolerate - a few days on liquids wont hurt you and might ease the irritation and that may be the end of your problems. Personally, I would unfill because experience has taught me that tight bands dont equal weight loss like you expect - you just end up eating soft crap to get the calories in.

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