I read on here about how restriction feels and it is 'uncomfortable'. can someone describe in pre-op terms what this feels like? Does uncomfortable mean 'pain' or is it like you've overeaten?

Thanks

Eric

I don't think restriction is uncomfortable. Good restriction to me just means I feel full faster and it stays with me longer. As long as I follow all the band rules I don't have any discomfort. BUT if I take too big of a bite, eat too fast or drink with my meals it is uncomfortable. That feels like a tightness in your chest and if you could just throw up you'd be ok - but its not a nausating feeling - then if you happen to "pb" productive burp, its instant relief. I've got great restriction and have only pb'd twice.

I'm not uncomfortable at all. That is why it is so important to eat slowly . The restriction can come on suddenly if you eat too fast. Its a sensation of just feeling full. If I overeat I PB, its that simple. Julie

Restriction itself isn't uncomfortable (or else you'd feel uncomfortable all the time, not just when eating, etc.), it's the feelings that restriction can cause that can be uncomfortable. For example, if food can't pass through the stoma, the esophagus can go into overdrive to pump it through (this isn't medically exact, but consider it an analogy)... and that can cause pain or discomfort, but it isn't the restriction causing it.

There's really no way to describe the band feelings to someone who hasn't felt them. And 10 people will feel things in 9 different ways. Let's take when something is stuck. A lot will describe this as a "golfball" in their chest. To me, it feels nothing like that. My chest doesn't hurt at all. The most justice I could do would be stay generic and say "it just feels like something is stuck" and "most people know what they're feeling when they feel it."

yep.

when i dont overeat, i dont feel anything, and wonder if i really have a band in there.

when i eat too fast, !!! or try to eat manicotti or eggrolls....it gets stuck, and all i want to do,at any expense, is walk, walk walk until it passes. it might not actually do anything, but the three times ive had it happen all i can do is get the heck out of there and walk, or bend over and wait. then walk some more.

Like a knot of stuck wet dough is cought in my lower chest, if that makes any sense at all.

Thanks for the information. that helps a lot... it was obviously a concern since I wasn't clear if you could feel the restriction or not

I'd classify it several ways.

Most often it means serving yourself a smallish portion of a meal, eating half of it and thinking "wow, I've had enough". Not painful, not uncomfortable, just that ordinary "full" feeling I've always had when I've had enough, only much sooner.

I *can* keep eating. Sometimes my head isnt quite there with it, and I dont feel done despite what my stomach is telling me. Then restriction becomes "stuffed". Maybe 3 or 4 times in a year I've STILL kept eating and then its like "oooooow, why did I do that, I think I'm going to throw up" and involves sitting bolt upright and not moving much unless I overflow, lol.

Then there's I shouldnt eat this becuase its not the right type of food but I want it restriction. I have that right now. I ate a donut, dont ask me why. I just wanted it, everyone else was eating them. Half way through I'm so stuffed its coming out my ears. Same with bread, pizza and other foods like that. Its not that I cant eat them, its that they really do sit above the stoma and I can literally only eat a mouthful or so of them before I'm quite legitimately full. But when you're trying to eat a sandwich for lunch you kind of need to eat a good bit of it for energy and nutrition and its hard, labourious uncomfortable work which is why I rarely choose something like that now.

Then there's that bite of something that gets stuck restriction. That hurts. It's not sharp pain like a broken bone, its major discomfort, something is NOT right in there, I want to pretend I'm OK but I cant hide it, walk around, bend over, slime, bend over the toilet hoping it will come up (it never ever does for me) then it may start to wax and wane and I keep thinking I"m better, take a sip of my coffee and start sliming again and then suddenly I feel it go through and I'm fine. Only once has it resulted in a productive burp and that was loud, public and not discreet at all. Thank goodness I was in a rest room, but I'm pretty sure everyone in the entire pub could not have missed me running back and forth and assumed I'm bulimic! Especially people in the rest room who could not have failed to hear the expulsion. Once in 16 months is not bad though. I rarely get stuck either - maybe once or twice a month.

great feedback! thanks