Considering an un-fill

BEBBLY · January 13, 2004

Hi everyone,

I was banded 8/7/2003 and are now about 10lbs from my goal weight.

I have been experiencing a lot of restriction lately and am considering getting some taken out.

My question is: when you are at your sweet spot does that mean you can eat a small size meal and be satisfied without feeling the golf ball or worse? I experience some level of discomfort or pain almost with every meal in the past 2 weeks. Granted there were a few meals in between that seemed to work well but most of them are very uncomfortable. Is that normal? Also does anyone know why I would feel this much restriction after 4 months of having a fill?

I just want to know if everyone feels like I do at every meal?

Any input would be nice.

Mary

Chris S. - L.I. · January 13, 2004

Mary.

I'm just curious....did you have 100 pounds to lose and have you lose 90 of that since your surgery this past August? I didn't think this was possible. Are you still loing weight?

Thanks

leo · January 13, 2004

I would go back to a liquid diet for a while and see if the uncomfort goes away.... Soups etc...

BEBBLY · January 14, 2004

Hi Chris,

I originally wanted to lose 65 lbs. and lost a bit of that weight prior to surgery. I have lost 42 lbs. since being banded in August.

Mary

alicia · January 14, 2004

Bebbly, I am experiencing something similar. I have not lost the weight you have but after a month of what I thought was the perfect fill (2.5ccs) and all of the sudden I am PB'ing on everything. Because I didn't lose a lot to begin with, I have decided to live with the discomfort for a while until I lose a little more.

Originally posted by leo
I would go back to a liquid diet for a while and see if the uncomfort goes away.... Soups etc...

I went on a liquid diet for 3 days, then mushy food, I was PB'ing the Soup and Water but then got a little better. Now I am PB'ing mostly on bread, nuts, chicken, and salad (I wasn't before). I have to drink Protein drinks to ensure I get enough.

I will call the doctor in about 2 weeks, because there is no way I can eat like this for the rest of my life.

BEBBLY · January 15, 2004

Hi Alicia,

I'm sorry to hear your are going through this. I hope my latest information helps. I found out that if you take Ibuprofen, it will make your stomach swell up therefore making the band tighter. I remember my problems began when I took Advil last week to relieve cramps. Not knowing this and being ultra sick yesterday, I took another Advil to cure my headache (the one I got because I could not eat anything)!

So my doctor said that the tightness could last up to 2 weeks. Although I can't imagine going through this for another 2 weeks I am relieved to know what caused it and what's happening inside me.

You mentioned that you tried Soup and PB'd, have you tried strained soup, so it's just the liquid? I find that very comforting. Also you might try eating at different times to find what works for you. For instance I can eat more at dinner than I can at Breakfast or lunch.

Good Luck

Mary

alicia · January 15, 2004

Thanks, Bebbly! I'm glad to know you figured out your issue. I didn't know the stomach would swell, interesting indeed! Did your Doctor suggest an un-fill or to wait it out?

I believe there are 2 things that may have caused this or a combination of both:

1. After my second fill I started Pb'ing about every other day but never had before. Around Christmas time, I recall eating chex mix and the spice burning my stomach when I PB'ed. I did this a few times before I realized how stupid it was to continue eating when it didn't feel good (even though it tasted so good!).

2. On New Year's Eve night, I had a wine cooler at dinner and a glass of champagne, drinking both in about 4 hours. Problem is, I am not a drinker to begin with so I had 1 more than I normally would have (I'm 37 and I succumbed to per pressure!! ).

I think it will be one of these two or both. As mentioned, I have gotten better as the days pass, but I am still limited. Today I had a Pasta lean cuisine without problems.

Bebbly, good luck with that last few. You can do it!!

GeezerSue · January 15, 2004

Originally posted by alicia
...after a month of what I thought was the perfect fill (2.5ccs) and all of the sudden I am PB'ing on everything. ...Now I am PB'ing mostly on bread, nuts, chicken, and salad (I wasn't before). I have to drink Protein drinks to ensure I get enough.

I will call the doctor in about 2 weeks, because there is no way I can eat like this for the rest of my life.

Alrighty, then. I'm not sure that "a perfect fill" is one that lets us eat anything. Although I have had a (very inexperienced) doctor disagree with me, I believe that MOST banded patients have SOME foods which, when there is restriction, they cannot eat. I don't know why your restriction suddenly kicked in, but anyway...

From your list, I cannot eat bread, white meat chicken or salad when I have saline in my band. EVER. Chex Mix is not possible. And you can add raisins, and any dried fruit and potatoes and rice and cakes and more to my "can't eat" list. Don't get offended, here, but the answer is not to put up with the PB'ing, the answer is to stop eating those foods.

The bread is unnecessary. Try very moist, very mush dark meat chicken. It's the lettuce in the salad that is responsible for most of my issues. So I order a "cobb salad, hold the lettuce." Or find a way to just eat the veggies I can handle. Nuts are, by nature, dry and will clog me up in a heartbeat. One or two nuts. Or a teeny bit of Peanut Butter. (In a spoon, not on bread.)

Really, you can live without the foods that are causing a problem...but you can't go on with the PB'ing without causing potentiallly serious damage. It's all about choices. Not easy ones btw, but choices nonetheless. In my case, I can eat everything I want to eat and not lose very much or very fast, or I can lose weight and accept that there are a few things I just can't eat.

lmtorb · January 16, 2004

This post was very timely for me!! I was banded 6 months ago and have lost around 70 pounds. But lately it seems nearly every meal is unpleasant and difficult. food seems to stick and I PB quite a bit. But then, all of a sudden, I'll have a couple days with NO problems. Then the cycle begins again. Anyone have any ideas why this is happening? I can't go on dreading meals, but if I get some taken out will it give me TOO much freedom??

lmtorb · January 16, 2004

I just want to add one more thing. I also seem to have a lot of problems when drinking anything cold (non-carbonated, of course!). It seems like a good swallow "sticks" and causes a lot of pain. I know cold causes constriction, but will I go through life having to drink room temperature Crystal Light??

BEBBLY · January 16, 2004

Well let me give you all something to think about... my last post was 2 days ago on Wednesday morning. I had great restrictin, more than I had ever experienced. I basically went through my day without eating much and thought that it would pass. Well at around 7 p.m. I started to feel pain in my back and naturally I thought if I PB it should go away. Well it didn't and it continued to get worse.

To make a long (13 hour) story short, I was up all night with pain. I was PB ing every 45 minutes to releive some of the pain in my back but by 8 a.m. that wasn't helping much either. So we headed for TJ. Let me tell you the 3 hour car ride with pain was not fun.

By the time we got there, I could hardly walk over the boarder. But my doctor and his staff were ready and waiting for me. As soon as I got to his office, they put me on IV to give me medication to calm my nerves and to take down the swelling in my stomach.

At this point I was in great pain and could not swallow my own saliva. And things got worse before they got better. I thought I was going to die from the pain and pressure in my chest.

Well about 1/2 hour later I was calm (of course I PBd one last time and that releived some of the pain). Then I was taken to Xray. Everything was fine, nothing had slipped or flipped thank GOD! So my doctor did an unfill first to and then gave me a 2 cc fill.

This was the most painfull experience of my life. My doctor said that my stomach was completely closed because I took Ibuprofen (advil). The swelling should go down in 1 to 2 weeks, at that time if I have no restriction I will get another fill. For now I am on liquids for 3-5 days.

I am so happy to have such a good doctor. They were all ready to go once I got there and took great care of me.

Moral of the story? Don't take Ibuprofen unless you want to kill yourself!

Mary

sassaay · January 16, 2004

Mary, I am glad you are o.k. and sorry that you had such a painful night. You were smart in taking the drive to see your doctor. It is great that you were able to get such a quick response. Who is your doctor, by the way?

I guess when you got home you threw out all your Ibuprophen I know I am putting that on my “to-do” list for post-surgery.

I hope you are feeling better real soon.

BEBBLY · January 16, 2004

Hi Anne,

My doctor is dr. verboonen and dr. Ponce de leon of the Obesity Goodbye clinic. They are wonderful. If I lived closer I would go to them for all my medical needs. I could have gone to the emergency room locally but I thought by the time they fill out all their paperwork it will be morning. Besides I wanted my doctor who is experienced to take care of me. Their web site is www.obesitygoodbye.com

Mary

GeezerSue · January 16, 2004

Originally posted by BEBBLY
...My doctor said that my stomach was completely closed because I took Ibuprofen (advil). The swelling should go down in 1 to 2 weeks, at that time if I have no restriction I will get another fill. For now I am on liquids for 3-5 days.

I am so happy to have such a good doctor. They were all ready to go once I got there and took great care of me.

Moral of the story? Don't take Ibuprofen unless you want to kill yourself!

Mary

I'm glad you're feeling better. Gotta add, though, that I've taken Ibuprofen--for the root canal I had two days post op and for the one I had a year later--and have none of the problems that you've had with it. So, as usual, the band is very subjective.

Sue