I was banded on 12/01/05 and have been losing weight at a pretty decent rate. My problem is I have been having a really hard time "learning" how to eat. Tonight I ate way too fast and ended up wretching cause I'm sure I had a blockage. I've had 3 PBs previously and they were like a baby spitting up, open mouth and material shot up. Tonight was my 4th and it was hell. Constant feeling of needing to burp, crushing pain in my chest and the inevitable wretching. I wretched 4-5 times and now I'm terrified I'm causing damage to my band. Doesn't help that I have been sick for a week so I've been draining down my throat but I know that dinner seems to be a meal that I eat quickly and have problems with. Today I had oatmeal for Breakfast, a Protein bar around 10:00am, a small salad for lunch and I did fine until dinner then I inhaled it like I hadn't eaten in days. Within 15 minutes I was in my own personal hell. That triggered a panic episode that just compounded the situation. I'm at the point where i'm afraid to eat any real meal. Breakfast and lunch is always small and the large meal is problematic. I know if I keep doing this to myself I'm going to have complications. I don't know what to do now other then eating small meals and deal with the hunger. Rather be hungry then PB.

If you are pbing, you need to go back on liquids for a few days and let the swelling go down. Please, take your time eating. I know it is hard to begin with, but you will be so happy you got your band a few months down the road. If you continue to pb, please call your doctor.

Well with the band comes all kinds of interesting situations. If you eat too fast and don't chew, chew, chew to goo, you will have problems. I think of it as conditioning. Pavlov did it with a dog, he rang a bell and fed the dog, kept doing this until the dog started salivating when he heard the bell cause he knew it was chow time. Keep eating too fast and not following the RULES of bandster life you will condition yourself. SO with that said please slow down, chew, chew, chew and relax. You will not be able to eat certain things that you used to eat. You will not be able to INHALE your food anymore. If you remember they(surgeon, nutritionist) told you your eating would have to be modified. They were not lying. Hang in there it gets better trust me.

PEace!!!

First of all, I am not banded, so my advice is based on what I have read/learned about the band and dieting in general, with that said:

I am so sorry you are having issues. Remember the reason you got the band in the first place. You know that it will force you to do what you need to do to lose weight. From what I have read, there are no "large meals" allowed at any time with the band, so you need to find out what works for you. If small meals are fine, you need to stick with that.

What about adding a mid afternoon snack around 2:30-3? That will give your body something to work on while you wait to get home, and then maybe you won't attack things. Small meals/snacks evenly spaced about 4 hours apart should stop the "attack mode". Research shows that if you go 6 hours without food it will send you into "attack mode" because your sugar drops so low. Try to avoid that, or your band will remind you.

Don't take the band out. Modify and adjust to your new friend. It is there to help you reach your goal.

Keep that goal in sight! You can do it!

Relax, go on liquids for a day or two, give your band, esophagus and stroma time to rest and swelling to go down, eat slower, use a smaller fork ( crab fork) to help you to take smaller bites, do not wait so long between meals so by the time you eat you are famished and inhale your food. It takes time to learn but you will...PBing is not good for your band, you risk slippage so take it easy..slow down a bit.

I just drank 6 ounces of Soy milk and so far so good. I'm just gonna have to eat small every 2 hours and go back to more protein shakes.I'm terrified that I'm going to damage the band and then I'll be in a bad situation.

Easy does it, it's good you're doing liquids for a few days. Take your time eating, I know it can be frustrating, but you'll learn, believe me you'll learn.

I really struggle with the eating slow thing. I've had no pbing but I've caused myself discomfort a few times just from virtually inhaling my food. I'm always being bugged by one of the kids for something too, so it can behard to concentrate.

We've instilled the habit of sitting to eat at the table for one thing, we were shocking at eating on the couch most nights, not the way to teach kids good manners anyway. Plus our 14 year old chairs have all one by one bitten the dust at our casual dining setting and it just feels plain weird to eat in the dining room without company. But we're doing it and it's helped me.

I find I have to consciously cut of tiny pieces of food, at least that slows down the gulping.

Because honestly, I'm such a fast eater/gulper and enjoy eating that way, that I truly feel for half the bad foods like McDonalds etc if you have to eat them slowly and carefully they're not worth eating at all. For some reason, the experience to me is enhanced by shoving it in my gob at lightening speed.

So you're not alone, and you've probably done no damage, you jsut need to really really concentrate on breaking this habit.

:hug: I had this problem starting out myself. Like the others said, Don't let yourself get too hungry between meals. Have snacks! If you get too hungry, you will try to inhale your food!! It'll be alright. You're just learning the hard way.

I, too, find myself still eating too fast --- but I HATE cold food. I want it warm and tasty, just from the kitchen. And I don't want to have to keep running back to the microwave every few minutes to warm it up... so I have kept eating too fast --- and SOMETIMES that still leads to PBing.

So I just now thought that I have to find some device to keep my meal warm for me. My babies had heavy dishes you would fill with hot Water and plug with a cork. And I used to have a little warmer that I could keep my coffee mug on and perhaps it could have held a heavy bowl (but I don't think I own it any longer).

But there MUST be some device, even if it is something plugged in like the mug warmer, that can keep my meal warm for the entire 15-20 minutes. Anyone know of something or will I have to go Google it up myself?

Theresa you can indeed get electric plate warmers. It's a great idea for bandsters.

Here in Australia you can find them on the internet and in places like Kmart and Big W - any variety dept store.

a useful trick for me is to put the fork/spoon/knife/whatever DOWN between bites, and i actually count in my head how many "chews" i'm doing. i make sure to chew at least 20, but preferrable 30 or more times before swallowing... i also make sure i'm not doing anything else while eating (watching tv, emails, whatever) as that distracts from my attention and that's the only time i haven't chewed enough and yacked... i felt the same way you describe, and i really hope to never experience that again. at any rate, i wish you well and hope you feel better soon. hang in there!

My advice is to slow down, as everyone else has said and chew chew chew. I count to about 26-30 with each tiny bite. I'm so scared of a PB it's sad....I bring a couple of the string cheeses to work with me and have them a couple hours before lunch and then a couple hours after. That way when I get home I'm not dying....my first thought on the way home from work is ooooh I'm so hungry I just want to eat eat eat, but then my mind kick in and says you'll feel full with a small amount, not a gorge like before. Good luck to you!

One thing I noticed in your post is that you have a salad at lunch. Do you put much protein in that salad? Protein helps you to feel full for longer. Chuck in an egg or even have a protein shake instead and have a salad between lunch and dinner...That might help to stop the hunger too. You shouldn't really feel hungry, but I know I suffered from head hunger for awhile.

You've gotten great suggestions. I'd do both: add Protein to your lunch (meat, Beans or egg to your salad) and if it's longer than 4 hrs between lunch & dinner, add an afternoon snack so you aren't so hungry at dinnertime. I like an afternoon snack of a latte (milk = protein) and a piece of fruit (Fiber & bulk = fills you up). If you do that, you'll probably find that you eat less at dinner as well as being able to eat more slowly.

Good luck! And don't give up!

Guile,

I just noticed you had your first fill less than a week ago, could this be part of the problem? Did you transition to a lighter load of food, or habits since then? I know my doc (who I do think is a little strict, but I digress) had me do liquids for a whole week after my first fill, which was a few weeks ago. That, though tough, really helped me to transition back into "trying" things, like I did after the liquid and mush phase post-surgery. I think, in my limited knowledge, it sounds like you're adjusting to your fill and that (from my research and a bit of personal experience) can take a little bit to figure out. I hope you are feeling better!