Hello all! I tried really hard to find a little more information on the subject on my own but to no avail I didn't really find an answer. So I know that different altitudes caused by traveling (such as in planes), that time of the month, seasons, and the time of the day can all affect the tightness we feel in our bands. What I want to know has anyone experienced feeling restriction with fewer cc's at a later time?

Can you elaborate more? I'm not understanding your question?

Not sure I understand your question....although for sure the 'restriction' I feel really now is related to actual appetite/hunger far more often that 'Band tightness'.

absent the perhaps confusing issue of 'tom' visiting, other vague and uncertain causes abound at times....yet in reality, it isn't what *I think* is going on with my Band, it's what is going into my mouth, under every circumstance.

Sometimes I eat more that postBand 'normal'.....and more often less and always FAR less than in preBand days.

I have more restriction when I am stressed. I also have more restriction when I have eaten smaller amounts of food for a day or two. I am also more restricted in the morning.

I've never followed how many CCs are in my band so I'm not much help. But it is possible to feel more or less restriction with fills and unfills. Our esophagus is wrapped in 3 different muscles. These muscles didn't have to work much before we had surgery since most of us were gobbling down slider type foods and washing them down with blizzards, beer and coke.

When the band is placed and as we get fills, it becomes harder for food to travel that 10" to our lower esophageal sphincter since we're concentrating on dense foods and naturally food stops at the stoma before being massaged into the lower stomach. Our esophagus and stomach muscles become stronger simply because they have to work harder to push food through the stoma. Therefore the muscles get stronger and more efficient. This can give off the appearance or feeling that our bands have loosened.

Now, if your band is tighter with less saline in it, it could be caused by a repositioning of the band due to a large unfill or it could also be that the stomach in the band/stoma area, has folded over due to the loose band. The fold could cause the stoma to shrink a little.

Don't know if this helps but it's all I got?

I hear this all the time....but in my case things like flying, travel, stress, grief, weather..you name it, my band seems to remain constant.....

I fly all the time and feel no difference...will even order a meal on the longer flights...never a problem or recognizable difference.

It does get looser and tighter (a misnomer IMO) but I know it is for other reasons,

Thank you all for your feedback. I was asking this question for a friend of mine. She too has a band and became very ill. She wound up going to the ER and having her 6.25 ccs of Fluid completely removed. She is working her way back up but she is now feeling satiety at 5.5 instead of having to go back up the full 6.25. I was just wondering was she probably too tight or could she possibly be experiencing satiety at a lower level now days.

YES

Thank you all for your feedback. I was asking this question for a friend of mine. She too has a band and became very ill. She wound up going to the ER and having her 6.25 ccs of Fluid completely removed. She is working her way back up but she is now feeling satiety at 5.5 instead of having to go back up the full 6.25. I was just wondering was she probably too tight or could she possibly be experiencing satiety at a lower level now days.

This was my experience after an unfill and refill, and it is more the norm than the exception. As it was explained to me, when your band is unfilled, the stomach relaxes and takes up more space in that banded area. It would be extremely uncomfortable if they refilled you back to the previous fill level in one fell swoop since your stoma area is now larger. They should always refill progressively...just like post op patients.

I have good restriction at 5.0 post unfill, whereas my previous fill level was 6.0 and I could've gone higher..but ended up with an emergency unfill so that didn't happen.

I've been at 5.0 for a few months and I'm fine here for now.

This was my experience after an unfill and refill, and it is more the norm than the exception. As it was explained to me, when your band is unfilled, the stomach relaxes and takes up more space in that banded area. It would be extremely uncomfortable if they refilled you back to the previous fill level in one fell swoop since your stoma area is now larger. They should always refill progressively...just like post op patients.

I have good restriction at 5.0 post unfill, whereas my previous fill level was 6.0 and I could've gone higher..but ended up with an emergency unfill so that didn't happen.

I've been at 5.0 for a few months and I'm fine here for now.

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Each time I go for a fill my Dr. removes it all and adds .5cc - takes it all out and adds it all back plus 5cc....is the normal??

One thing I've learned about this journey is that every Dr. has their own way of doing things. My Dr only adds or removes not both.

Each time I go for a fill my Dr. removes it all and adds .5cc - takes it all out and adds it all back plus 5cc....is the normal??

Ha! There is no such thing as normal with bands and doctors.

I like his method though. That way he knows if you're leaking saline. He must have had a couple of leaky tubes/bands to add this to his fill protocol. Consider yourself lucky to have such a good surgeon who wants to get it right!