I was banded march 2012. I am down almost 90 lbs. I had a fill in January that put me in the red zone. They removed the fill. I was ok at my February appointment and didn't need or want a fill. Last month, I felt I needed an adjustment (since ice been on a plateau since January). They gave me .2, I can't tolerate anything more than that. Anything more takes me right in the red. Anyways,,,, I've always been tight in the morning, coffee is my morning beverage of choice always. I have trouble with tiny tiny sips for about the first 2 hours in awake. About 4 hours after I'm awake, I can comfortable eat oatmeal and nothing else. Breakfast is usually about 10 am. lunch comes at noon and usually I can eat my lunchtime meal. After lunch my band is really open and I'm totally in the yellow zone and constantly hungry till about 6 pm. About that time, I'm in that wonderful green zone. I tighten up almost immediately as soon as I lay down.

My first and second meal have to stay on schedule... If I don't have my lunch on time, it's Soup the rest of the day or I have to start over with oatmeal. If I go more than a few hours without eating... I close up.

I've never had symptoms of being too tight. Besides the over restricted, nothing is getting through this baby bandster hell. No night cough, reflux, weight gain... Nothing.

At my last appointment last week, they did a swallow, due to my appointment, I skipped my noon meal and of course I was over restricted. The barium was sitting right on top of my band. I had a tiny bit of dilation but not enough to warrant a complete unfill or even a partial unfill which shocked me. She put me on the 2/2 as if I had a fill and said to come back if I had anymore problems.

Before being banded, I had really bad reflux. Once I was banded it completely disappeared. There was NO hiatal hernia repair either. There are times I feel burning around my band, but nothing like the reflux I experienced post-banding.

I'm finally losing again, being 4 lbs the last month! Not much, but so glad I'm on the losers bench again.

Has anyone ever experienced this kind of fluctuation between zones? What have your experiences been?

Mine are:

No more than .2 at a fill

2-4 weeks before I'm adjusted to the fill

Extreme morning restriction

If I lay down more than 5 minutes, I'm super tight. After 30 minutes... It's as if I'm at my morning tightness.

I have to eat on schedule

Any recommendations?

It's really hard to keep a newborn eating schedule and I live in constant fear of eating!

As long as I stick to my schedule, the PBing is maybe 4-6 times a week.

Thanks for any input!

You're way too tight. imo I couldn't live like that but as long as it works for you?

I'm a newbie, but have to say that it seems to me you are doing exactly what you should be.

You are losing weight and keeping fluids down. The only issue in my mind is the PBing. But it sounds like you are already aware of the dangers there.

Hope you get some replies to this. Very interesting post. That amount of fluctuation does sound extreme compared to other posts in this forum... But, it seems like anatomies can vary significantly.