Someone explain to me why we need to get more than one fill? If we have good restriction with one why would we ever need another? Where does the fluid go? Does it dry up? Does it stretch out? I have no clue.

Please explain.

Thanks

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

I think it is something about losing weight and the band getting looser. I have heard that some of the fluid may dissipate in some patients as well. I don't really know so I'll be interested to hear from others too. Teresa

Kathy, as long as you have restriction, you don't need a fill. I only had one fill, and I still have restriction (banging on pine trees.) In a perfect world, we'd get the perfect fill then have our port removed. Too bad we don't live in a perfect world. If it works, don't fix it.

I once did a report on breast implants, and during my research I learned that all implants leak. I spoke with manufacturers of breast implants that told me if you set an implant on a newspaper, it would eventually show a light "Water mark" so to say. I don't know if the band is the same as a breast imlant, but I can't imagine the saline stays fresh and good forever, so I look forward to more responses on this question that has earned you a gold star. Most excellent question, my dear.

It is my understanding that as we lose weight, so do we lose a certain amount of tissue where our band is, thus causing the band to loosen with time. So, every so many weeks/months we might possibly need to adjust our bands accordingly. Makes sense to me. It also makes sense to me that everyone loses differently, so I may lose mostly in my legs and behind while someone else may lose more in the their waist. This could be the explanation for some needing more fills than others? Just a guess..

As we lose the band loosens

I have seen a pattern with my 2 fills. I seem to lose 20-25 lbs with each fill then I notice a increase in my appetite and my weight loss slows down. I have scheduled my 3rd fill for Nov 15th .This is why the 9cc Inamed band( which most of us Inamed bandsters have) is designed to hold 4cc's and this is why you do not get 4cc's all at one time. 4cc's at one fill would completely close most of us up if we have a 9cc band. Some of us like Teresa do great for months (6 months in her case) without a fill but as she mentioned she is noticing she can eat more and her weight loss has slowed down. The band loosens as we loose is what I was told by my Dr. Here is a good site on how to tell if you need another adjustment

http://lapbandtransformation.com/Adjustments.htm

It is very helpful

I don't know I just don't really understand where it goes. How can the band size change as we loose. It is a hard object right? Only the inside of the band is expandable right? Unless it evaporates or we stretch it out, it doesn't make sense

to me. Somebody knock me in the head because I just don't get it. Right now I know how much I can eat. I just don't see how without taking some fluid out how my restriction would change over a period of time.

Clueless here!!!!!!!!!!!

If they fill the band to a certain tightness around a 2 1/4 inch esophagus and the person loses 25lbs, maybe their esophagus now becomes a 2 inch esophagus? Therefore, the band that WAS tight, now has play/room between it and the esophageal tissue.

Take your fingers and place them around your wrist. Then, consider, if you lost 30lbs and your wrist became smaller, you'd have more room between your fingers and your wrist, right? Same theory. So, in order for my fingers to tighten around my wrist again, i have to close them tighter??

Does this help?

The band is like a gasket, only instead of having a band with a screw on the outside of it, it has an inflatable bladder on the inside, so as there becomes excess room the bladder can be filled more to take up the excess space.

Maybe seeing a picture will help you to envision it.

Scroll down to pg 2 on this document and you can see better how the bladder is inflatable. Also, there is some good information here regarding the different Inamed bands ; sizes etc.

http://www.gisurgery.net/OverviewObesityBariatricSurgery.pdf

Now, true enough, sometimes when the docs go to pull out a person's fill, there is not as much there as they think they put in. There is speculation that some of it is lost through evaoporation, osmosis?, maybe they didn't really put as much in as they thought? maybe they didn't pull it all out? It is definitely not an exact science.

Kathy in a couple of months come back and tell me if you can eat the same as now especially if you are losing 1-3 lbs a week:) Hopefully then you will understand..or maybe you will be the minority and keep your current fill level unti lyou get to goal weight..it does happen but rarely...It is confusing..I was in the same boat as you in the beginning but once I had my first fill , 2 months later stopped losing and could eat more I finally got it!...

Leatha, great link. I really learned alot from that. My surgeon said I am going to be getting the newer band that has several small balloons to fill rather than one bladder. He thought it might provide more control. I hope that is the case. Your link showed the image of the two types of bands and that helped me to really understand what he meant. Thank you. Theresa Marie :glasses

If you put a rubber band around a balloon, then the balloon loses air, the rubber band can't stay in place any more. Think of it that way.

It's not the band that changes sizes (unless Fluid is lost, however that happens), it's the stomach/esophagus. It's the same reason that some women have more restriction when their monthly comes. Water retention, so the tissue is thicker.

Thanks everyone, makes more sense now. I am glad I was not the only one that was confused. Michelle I hope I do as well with my fills as you have. Leatha that link was great I hadn't seen that one. I will just let it do it's thing, luving every minute of it.

great answer leatha,,, i think too, we have a certain amount of fatty tissue around stomach,,, when we loose fat, we loose it everywhere....it may be lost near band sight....

Also keep in mind when the band is first put on the stomach it casues the area where the band is to swell and fight the foreign object. The bands do not have Fluid (fill) added to them when first put in. Once the swelling goes down the stoma opens more and then we eat more.

The band gets a fill when this happens and then its a game between our systems and the fills. Right now I am on 1600 calories a day intake. My band has to have an adjustment to allow me to pass the amount of food thur during normal waking hours so I get all the proper benifits from my diet. When I lose enough weight and have my calorie intake reduced, so will the amount of product going thru be reduced. So the band may have to be tightened some to allow the food to stay in upper pouch longer thus maintaining the full feeling longer so I don't overeat. Once I get to my ideal weight the band needs to be where the calories in and out match so that weight is maintained there should not have to be any other fills.

Some doctors in other countries --and some in the states, I think-- use half saline and half gel in the band. That keeps it from seeping out so much. It seems that some people lose a lot of Fluid and some don't lose any.

I had a fat tummy (on the inside) because I haven't needed a fill for 5 months. But now it is time. Nov. 19th if all goes well. My insides swell and hurt terribly whenever they are messed with, so I'm not looking forward to it.

Becky,

I don't think you have to worry too much. The port is between the skin and muscle so the needle only passes thru the skin and into the port. I've had too fills and never felt either and they had trouble getting into my port becaase it has tipped. May face a minor proceedure down the road to correct this tipping but Dr says as long as they know its tipped they will be able to hit it on first try.

1st fill it was 4 pokes to find it 2nd fill was one poke but he had to hunt with the needle to get in. Never once felt the needle or anything. Needle out little clean up of the entry area and buy the time I got home you couldn't even see where they went in.

You'll be fine. And this is from a guy who passes out at blood test.