So I have been having a few problems latley with reflux and PBing.. so I had an upper GI.. evrything showed up fine. So now the doc asks me a few questions.. He asked me about liquids.. I explained to him that some parts of the day (morn & Eve ) that liquids sometime back up on me, he said well that's it.. we have to empty your band.. I begged him not to do this.. I knew I was kinda tight with all I have been expeirencing and I just wanted a slight unfill.. he would not give me a small unfill.. was addimit about empting my band.

I am very scared, he said I have to go until Jan with an empty band. I am so affraid of gaining weight.

Has anyone had their band emptied and gained significant weight?

Laura, I'm going through similiar problems. Darcy has a lot of experience in this. Your band has been emptied to prevent you from losing it permanently. Hopefully, this is all that's needed for you to heal and get back on track. If we gain some, we'll just have to work on it when we get back "on track". Best of luck to you!

Thanks for your reply, and please by no means do I think that it was for any other reason but to heal.. I am happy that my doctor was able to just go in a remove the fluid and know it is only temporary, and once I heal I can then go about losing again. I was just feeling a little anxiety due to the fact I have not met my goal yet. I have lost 78 lbs since 8/03 and about 30 to go. The thought of gaining has just scared me to death.

So I have been having a few problems latley with reflux and PBing.. so I had an upper GI.. evrything showed up fine. So now the doc asks me a few questions.. He asked me about liquids.. I explained to him that some parts of the day (morn & Eve ) that liquids sometime back up on me, he said well that's it.. we have to empty your band.. I begged him not to do this.. I knew I was kinda tight with all I have been expeirencing and I just wanted a slight unfill.. he would not give me a small unfill.. was addimit about empting my band.

I am very scared, he said I have to go until Jan with an empty band. I am so affraid of gaining weight.

Has anyone had their band emptied and gained significant weight?

Some have, yes. And there are those of us who did not. I was unfilled from June 14, to July 16th, then rebanded and remained unfilled until August 27th. I was terrified at first, because I COULD eat anything I wanted. Admittedly, visions of burgers and fries were the first thing to hit my head, but immediately I stopped myself and reminded myself of how hard I had worked the year before to learn new eating habits and how bad I did NOT want to return to where I had started. So, I just continued trying to make wise choices. I can say that I did not and do not always make the best choices and I have never really deprived myself of anything that I seriously wanted, but I was able to maintain my weight loss and even lost an additional 5 lb during this time. On the day before my re-banding, I rewarded myself with the (child size) burger and fries, simply because I had NOT run straight to it while I could.

I'm really having more trouble now that I've been rebanded and had a couple of fills than I did while unfilled.

It is scary, but you can do it. Just keep doing what you've been doing!! Good luck to you and I hope everything recovers without any further procedures required.

Laura, I have just come from having a slight unfill to solve some of the same issues you were having. My symptoms were much less severe, so I understand why your doctor felt a complete unfill was advisable.

Wow, girl, think how lucky you are that you CAN have this step taken!! A pause of a couple or few months in your steady journey down will not matter a whit in the long run. But if you have worse problems the band might have to come out altogether, and THAT would make a difference you would notice.

We have to take a long view on this. What's best for our health is not losing as much weight as fast as we possibly can, or getting to some number that we've pegged as our "goal." Hell, 30 pounds is NOTHING compared to where you've been. I could fit 30 pounds in my pocket. If you never lose it, will that be the worst thing? What is best for our health is keeping our banded stomachs safe and the system in place so it can work for us for the rest of our lives.

As I said in my thread on my experience, I think this sort of episode highlights counterproductive behavior--thankfully, before it's caused serious damage. We have to really concentrate on eating the way we're supposed do, and remembering how tiny our pouches are supposed to be. I'm going to try to learn how LITTLE my pouch can hold, not how much.

Good luck to you, and I hope you and I both can report back in time that our bands and pouches are perfect once again.

Thank you all for the pep talk.. I needed it.. I am happy to report I just came back from lunch and had something that I have normally ate while my band was filled.. although no problems getting it down.. i am stuffed.. this has pleased me.. I am just going to make sure my portions are as small as they were before yesterday.

Alex, my fellow New Jersian.. thank you for you wishes.. and I wish the same back to you.

I don't post to much.. I mostly read, but I am glad to see when I had an issues and needed support you are all here, it's very comforting.