Hi, I have a question about comments where posters say they are

'too tight' to eat, etc... And it seems as though it's usually mornings for most? Where is that feeling coming from? Can you actually feel the band around your stomach or is it when you swallow you can tell you don't have a lot of space for anything? I'm really curious because I want to know how this will feel when I do finally get it. And if it is mornings, is there a reason why? or does it just depend on the person? Thank you for any answers you can give.

I can't ever actually feel my band. I know when my band feels tight by my ability to eat. And mornings are tight for me too. Usually I have to take breakfast really, really slow, and take very small bites, and chew like crazy! Having something hot to drink first usually helps though. Another person posted that sometimes a whole meal can be ruined after just one bite! So once again, I'm relearning to use my tool the way it is intended!

And now for a totally opposite answer- I can always feel my band when I swallow something. If I'm not eating or drinking, no, I can't feel it. When I drink anything I feel it pool up, then gurgle through the band into my lower stomach. Any time I eat ANYTHING I swallow, and then a few seconds later I feel the food pass through the banded part of my stomach. It doesn't hurt, it just feels like... a squeeze, I guess. Oh, I can also feel it when I need to burp.

BUT I've never been stuck, never slimed, or anything like that. It's been that way pretty much since surgery. I am not yet at a good fill level- 3rd fill Thursday.

Oh, if I don't chew well enough or I'm tight in the morning, it does ache a bit as the food goes through the band. In the morning I drink hot chai and take my pills, then always have yogurt or something else really mushy. My tea gurgles through slower than normal, which tells me that I'm tighter than I am late in the day.

I asked my doctor about being so tight in the morning. I find it impossible to eat anything, so I stick to my Protein shakes. He told me that it has to do with being horizontal while you sleep and the fluids settling in your band. When you get up and get vertical, everything slowly starts to settle and you can eat more as the day goes on. While he said this is the "theory" it makes perfect sense to me.

Good luck, everyone!

Thank you for the replies. I think I understand it more now. That doctor's morning theory makes sense to me. That may actually be a good thing for me since mornings are sometimes hard for me because my vehicle has a thing for fast food drive thrus. Ha ha! That problem would be a blessing in my case, for the most part.

I asked my doctor about being so tight in the morning. I find it impossible to eat anything, so I stick to my Protein shakes. He told me that it has to do with being horizontal while you sleep and the fluids settling in your band. When you get up and get vertical, everything slowly starts to settle and you can eat more as the day goes on. While he said this is the "theory" it makes perfect sense to me.

Good luck, everyone!

Makes perfect sense to me too!