If you ever need to stay in the Tampa area, I can recommend the Tampa Bay Grand Hyatt. Normally I stay more inland, so I had never stayed there before, and since I travel so much I'm a tough hotel critic, but this place was wonderful. Flamingos strutting around by the pool, a boardwalk covered with small sea crabs, lizards on the promenade... loved loved loved it.

Anyway... the day before I left my last fill really kicked in. My last feel was just about a week prior to leaving. Ever since getting it I'd been having a twinge of "first bite syndrome" every now and then, but really starting the day before I left Breakfast was pretty much out except for a handful of bites before the pain would kick in, and lunch was a toss up, sometimes yes and sometimes no. I could normally get a few bites down, but way before my tiny amount of food was gone, the pain would kick in and I'd give up. Pain is lasting longer now, too -- used to just be a min or so, now I'm about 5 mins before it feels back to normal. dinner was usually fine and I could eat anything, even bread, and pretty large quantities (in bandster terms, not pre-banding terms).

Yesterday afternoon I PBed at lunch (didn't eat breakfast), after 2 bites. Started with the usual pain, but as it kept getting worse and the minutes kept ticking by... and I started getting the "tell tale" pain in my back, I knew it wasn't going to subside. First "real" PB since surgery (I had one other, but it was an accident and I know what caused it... long story). This time I have no idea what made me PB. I had to leave the restaurant (bathroom was occupied) so I walked in front of my husband's truck and after several minutes of agony I PBed on the curb/grass. It took two heaves at different times to get back to normal. Afterwards I peeked but didn't see anything other than saliva, so I'm not sure what I PBed, maybe something that made it into the grass.

I definitely seem to have my "wide open" moments, because sometimes my will power is all that keeps me from finishing my plate... there's nothing about the band that prevents me from eating normal portions. And other times the pain kicks in after 1 bite (I don't normally PB though, it usually goes away on its own, followed by a lot of gurgling).

Guess my band is showing me who's boss.

I think even today I go through that and I have no restriction. The band I have noticed will let you eat tons of food (bandsters volume) and the next nothing. I remember after being banded when I was on solid foods, I could eat chicken one day and the next not even one bite. same with breads, even hot dogs would be a problem. You never know what mood your band is in any given day. Crazy little band!!! lol

Welcome back, Wheetsin. I'm glad you had a nice time.

Your story is exactly why I'm dragging my feet about getting another fill. I can tell I'm getting hungry more often, eating more than I typically do, and at times I just want to run over to the Dr's office and scream "Fill me! NOW!" I am so afraid of slipping into bad habits.

On the other hand, I have not had any bad experiences with PBs. A couple of times I felt the golfball but it was my own fault for drinking a cold liquid with the meal. That cold hits the stomach and everything sinches up tight! Ugh. Anyway, I don't want to live in fear of eating. I don't want to have this become something that's more thought consuming than it already is with me. I don't want to be in pain and I don't want to be PB'ing and putting my band at risk.

But on the other hand, I want my band to work as intended and that means using the tool as it was designed to be used. *sighs* I'm just about ready to pull my hair out over this!

Errr... sorry, Wheetsin. I just walked all over your thread. *sheepish grin* You touched a nerve.

While I am hoping to FINALLY feel SOME kind of restriction when I go for my first fill, I am hoping NOT to have an experience like yours. I hope you're feeling better.

Not at all Pnut. I had the same dilemma too, but got some good advice from someone else here who shared my surgeon. I kept thinking and telling myself - "I'd rather be a little 'loose' and let my willpower close the gap, than be tight and PB." My willpower is still holding out, just as it has before, but eventually it cracks and I don't expect that to be any different. The band is there to back me up when this happens, and if I don't have fill in it, it isn't doing me much good.

About a month after surgery I started thinking, "Maybe just knowing it's there will be enough to keep me on the right track..." but as soon as I was able to start eating more, I did.

My routine now is -- if I eat before afternoon, I almost always have some discomfort, temporarily. I wouldn't call it a golfball, but it's probably my version of it (I seem to feel things differently than most, e.g. when something is stuck, it hurts in my back and waist, not in my chest). It's not enough to keep me from doiung whatever I'm doing, but it really makes me drop my fork in a hurry and pretty much lose whatever appetite I came to the table with. Normally I feel it more in my belly, kind of on either side of my bellybutton which makes NO sense, unless it's ... forgetting the term, but basically you feel the pain in one place but it originates from another, and I feel it in my belly even though it originates by the band. Anyway, there's a weird "gas trying to rise up" feeling when I get this... I don't burp, but I can feel something going on... then I'll start getting gurgly which I think is the food actually passing. I'll stay gurgly for a while after it's done. I can then resume eating comfortably, but normally the experience has taken my appetite away so I don't. If I eat later in the day I am usually fine the entire time and don't have the extra tightness.

It's also not really a first bite thing. Yesterday I ate 8 bites just fine, then about a minute after my 9th bite it struck. Also when I PBed this weekend, my first bite was all meat, and I didn't PB any meat up, so my band seems to "clamp down" randomly.

Since I'm not PBing frequently I don't think I'm too tight at all, but since I do get this feeling I don't think I'm "wide open" either (2cc in a 4cc band). Maybe this is my sweet spot? I'm guessing this weekend, maybe something made its way down my throat that I hadn't chewed well. I have noticed that sometimes while I'm chewing something will make its way back there before I'm really ready for it to. It has never bothered me before, but maybe it was just the wrong thing this time.

When I went in for my last fill I told my surgeon that I really wasn't feeling much restriction. He put in another cc and told me, "There, you should feel that!" He was right, and now I understand the "fickle" nature of the band I'd heard so much about.

Sounds to me like you slimed, rather than PBing... it's the same thing really, but the slime is without the food.

Usually for me when I slime, it seems like the effort put into getting the slime up, pushed the food down and I'm fine..... or something like that, I don't know.

I believe that I have the 'first bite syndrome' thing, but it's not always the first 'bite'. Sometimes it's a few bites in. More bites in, if the bites are smaller. Sometimes it just needs to pass, and unfortunately sometimes it means the meal is over for the next hour. Maybe you could go to your surgeon and ask for like .2 to be taken out?

I randomly Pb. Usually when I least expect it. I had my first fill 3 weeks ago tomorrow. I am having my second fill tomorrow. I can tell I need one because I am able to eat faster. My last PB was Saturday afternoon after taking a nap. I only ate 1/2 my lunch so I decided to finish it later. Same food didn't make me PB at lunch, but after a nap made me PB. I was having a lot of gas pain after drinking water before my nap. Maybe the gas had something to do with it.

I PB'd this weekend at Mother's Day lunch. I took my mom out for lunch and the food was sooooooooo good, I was kind of wolfing it down faster than I should have. I got the golfball and ran to the bathroom and I threw up like three times. I couldn't see what came up because there was so much slime covering it up (sorry to be gross). I think I just simply ate too much, too fast. I had an appetizer (tuna tartar on fried wontons), a small salad, a roll, and half of my small entree (maybe 2 oz. of fish and a small spring potato). It was waaay too much I think, although pre-band I would have eaten my whole entree, plus dessert. I then did not eat for the rest of the day, so I only had that one meal all day. I must remember to stop eating sooner! It's so difficult to break old habits...