I have been banded for about 8 months now and just got my fourth fill two days ago. I knew that it was going to be a "tight" fill and expected the restriction, but I am having a really hard time at night. I wake up violently choking and gurgling on what I presume to be my stomach contents. It happened like 6 times last night, and I choked so hard that I threw up. Continous burping too.I tried sleeping sitting straight up and propping my head up too, that didn't work at all, it still came up. BUT, What My Real Question is, am I just swollen right now and need to let it settle down? or will it continue to be this bad? For all you fellow bandsters that have been banded for awhile, and who like to keep thier band "tight", is this something that comes with the territory, or should I get fluid removed? The reason I am asking is because I did get a fill before and it was way too tight, and absolutley had to get some fluid removed, but even then, the doctor questioned me about waiting for the swelling to go down. I knew the last time that I had to have fluid out because I was so uncomfortable just drinking water, but this time, I am doing pretty good during the day but it just this night time thing that is really bad. I don't want to get another unfill if I am just jumping the gun and not letting my body adjust. I have been on liquids for two days, and just had some mushies tonight. I tried not eating near bed time, but that didn't seem to make any difference. Any advice would be great!!!

I just went through this and I tryed to just "let it got" and do the liquid thing and it just got worse. So bad that by the time I went in to have it looked at I hadnt eaten in 5 days and couldnt drink for 2. I had a Cat scan done befor they took all fluid out and my stomach had gone in threw the band some so nothing could come threw. I had all my fluid removed. I would never wanted to go through that again. Good luck.

Thank you so much for your post to my question. I guess I will have to wait until monday now to call and see about getting a bit taken out. I don't think it's going to be any better tonight though, I am burping like every 2 minutes and I haven't eaten or had a drink since about 3 hours ago. I just hope that it's not as bad as last night. Sorry for all that you had to go through! I hope things get better for you too!

I just went through this and I tryed to just "let it got" and do the liquid thing and it just got worse. So bad that by the time I went in to have it looked at I hadnt eaten in 5 days and couldnt drink for 2. I had a Cat scan done befor they took all Fluid out and my stomach had gone in threw the band some so nothing could come threw. I had all my fluid removed. I would never wanted to go through that again. Good luck.

If you can't keep any fluids down, you could be very dehydrated if you wait till monday. So go to the ER if you can not drink. Signs of dehydration are dry mouth, and not peeing for over 6 hrs. So be careful. Keep us posted.

Arlene

Banded 10/12

Most bandsters find the ER the wrong place to go. I would take it easy for the rest of the weekend....liquids, protein shakes and so on. See if you can get in to your lapband office Monday and get a very tiny unfill. You will be surprised at how well you will do with just having .1 or .2cc removed.

I just went through this also. My Band was filled, and a little tight.

I ended up in the Hospital for a different Medical Problem, and a Nurse tried to stuff some crushed pills down my throat. Well, after all the Dry Heaving, the swelling never did go down. So when Discharged I made a appointment to see my Dr...

He sat me up, gave me a glass of Water and started to withdraw Fluid while I swallowed. When the water fell through, I gave a Thumbs up, so he new I was good. I lost 1/2 of my fill ! (was I P----D Off, still am.) Now I will be ready to go back, and get another fill.

This Technique does work well, and you might want to mention it to him/her since you are swollen..

Works great at getting filled too.

Helps take the guess work out of it.

Shirley.

I absolutely think you are over-filled and need to address it ASAP. I was slightly overfilled for awhile and would have major reflux at night. I didn't deal with it fast enough and by the time I did, I had so much swelling that I had to have all fluid removed for two months. During that time, I definitely got off track. So I really encourage you to move quickly on this.

That happened to me the week before Thanksgiving. It all went away after a week. It was horrible and scary the first days, specially when you cannot sleep because as soon as you fall asleep you choke. As I said, It all went away by itself. I was in Florida that week and didn't know what to do because I didn't want anyone to take fluid out (I was afraid they would ruin my band lol). So I waited out. Lots of liquids, not eating or drinking after 5 o'clock and Nexium each morning and night. Little by little I realized that eating three times a day wasn't a good choice, so, I started eating small amount of food every 2 to 3 hours. Eat like a 7 year old and you will make it lol.

My issue was so lad, I couldn't even drink Water. I was so scared. I wish I could have drank water to anything, but nothing stayed down. I even choked from sucking on a peppermint. I ended up going to the ER. They removed all my Fluid :-( I slowly began putting the fluids back in, but gained about 15 pounds in the process.

I have way filled, body can't take anymore (I'm questioning why that is), but I've lost 10 of the pounds and still working hard to bring sexy back.

Prior to the stomach lock up, I use to regurgiate a lot. Now I stop before I get there. I'm learning now to better relax my stomach. I also try not to mess with carbs too much, cause my stomach can't take it. Its a day by day challenge.

I still plan to get a second opinion, cause I still don't understand why I haven't lost a lot of weight.

I know for me i have had the same experience after my last fill. I have had to stop eating anything after about 7pm and then I was fine. I would rather do that than get unfilled because I really wanted to get to normal BMI and I was snacking in front of the TV at night and needed to stop.

I have been banded since Feb 2010. I was in the green zone for more than a year. In the last two months, I have been experiencing violent coughs at night, indigestion and night and reflux at night. Most recently, I started having reflux day and night. I finally called my doctor's office Monday and had an emergency appt. today. I learned today that I have a small slippage. 3cc out of 7.4 cc's were removed and I have to be on a two week (yes she doubled it) liquid diet to get back on track and prepare my stomache muslces to relax themselves. I was afraid that I would have had to have surgery to place the band back in place so I feel fortunate to be able to be on a liquid diet. I do not want to scare anyone reading this but I would like to advise you to pay attention to these signs and not take them lightly. I believe that I could have caught my band slippage sooner had I not ignored the signs. Plus the NP mentioned something about the possibility of getting some type of pneumonia had the liquids went into my lungs (IDK), I didn't get that but take care of you.

Wow! Thanks for sharing your story. I'm so sorry that you are going though that. I know that everyting will work out. I sometimes wonder do I have slippage. They said that I didn't, but if I put anymore Fluid in my stomach I will pop and I'm bearly half way full.

Anyways, God is good.

Wow! Thanks for sharing your story. I'm so sorry that you are going though that. I know that everyting will work out. I sometimes wonder do I have slippage. They said that I didn't, but if I put anymore Fluid in my stomach I will pop and I'm bearly half way full.

Anyways, God is good.

This strand was so helpful. I just got my band deflated entirely today after a month of PB'ing, night reflux, and discomfort. I have been banded for 16 months and was doing great until a fill then unfill a month ago. I am going for an upper GI to check for slippage on Thursday. I am praying I was just too tight and this is all irritation from that. If you are reading this and experiencing reflux to the point where it wakes you up, you have to sleep sitting up, etc., it does not get better! Go back and get a slight unfill instead of landing where I am at.

I wanted to give you an update. After I was unfilled 2cc's the np called me back a few days later and said that my dr. requested a complete unfill. I had to endure two weeks without any restriction. I was filled 2cc's January 5th and another 2cc's today (February 8th). I am more hungry than happy but my predicament beats slippage surgery. They want to fill me slowly. Please, I don't want to frighten anyone but if you are reading and experiencing these signs don't ignore them. get unfilled. If you are too tight!!

Glad to hear that your doing better.