Ok so here is the deal! I had surgery 10 months ago and have lost all but 13 lbs to get to goal weight. I am really happy with the loss. I haven't lost anything for about 2 months and I am ok with that too. I now know that I will start to lose again when my body is ready! I exercise, drink my Water and eat about 1200 calories a day! That works for me,,,my problem is this :

I get up in the morning and I drink hot tea or coffee. I cannot eat anything at all not even a Protein drink for hours (3 or 4). I use to be able to eat a drink in morning and then some lunch by noon but that has all changed. I now can not even eat in the afternoon unless it is Soup or believe it or not popcorn. I gagged even on the smallest amount of food before night time even Protein drinks are too thick. I slime, pb, gag, foam, and sometimes vomit at least once a day lasting between 15 mins and 2 hours depending on the day,,,not the choice of food or quanity. When I first got the band, I lost the weight without this happening. I could eat oatmeal or Protein Drink for Breakfast, chicken salad and avacado for lunch and a regular meal (albeit small) for dinner. Now all bets are off. I cannot even eat ice cream most days (not evenings)without sliming for a good 20 minutes. I can however eat dinner without pbing most days. I get full at about 1 1/2 to 2 cups at dinner and then that is it for the night! I can eat low cal ice cream too if I choose to. So dinner is under control but the rest of the day and I mean even into 3 or 4 in the afternoon, most days pb, slime etc when I try to eat (6 out of 7 days) . I eat slow, I don't drink and I cant even eat just a small little chucks Carrots etc in soup Soft ones and cause I still slime at the very least. It sometimes is so fierce I vomit a little. So my question is: does this mean I am too tight? or is this what others do to stay thin? I don't think I can live pbing most days and staring into a bathroom toliet in a restaurant while others are enjoying a meal. I am sick of public restroooms let me tell you. I carry around cups and paper towels in my car and run out there if I eat during the day. The weird part is sometimes after I go through all of that, I can eat without a problem the exact thing that caused the pbing an hour before. What is the deal, is this what others do? I am thinking on getting a little taken out. I want to go back to the time when I could eat a small breakfast and chicken salad for lunch. This doesn't feel normal. Advice please. I gave this time, haven't had a fill or anything since Oct 07. Do you all have this issue,,,isn't eating suppose to be ok just little bites and good choices? I am eating soup soup and more soup during the day and that isn't right,,I lost all that weight doing it different. Why is it too tight now when it wasn't before on the same fill amount? Ok thanks for taking the time to read

this and thanks to all who reply. PS: got band in Mexico and now cannot get a response from one coordinator for help so I cannot just run to call the Dr. to ask,,,also, I have had a lot of problems with fills but found a good nurse to do it and haven't had any problems since so I feel like I at least have that going for me.

Susan

Wow! This thread is right up my alley. I was at 8cc in my 10cc band as of 3/17. It was ok for two days...horrible for six days and almost terminal yesterday. I was thowing up for 4 hours at work and not even able to swallow my own spit so I called NWWLS and got in to see my surgeon within the hour. He gave me a .5cc unfill and a HUGE lecture...all deserved. He said if I intend to walk the fine line of being tight, I need to eat VERY SLOWLY. If I eat fast, the pressure on the pouch will stretch it out and not only be very painful, might require a band relocating surgery. The first food in the pouch causes the build up of pressure. Wait a few minutes before adding more so as to not overpressure the pouch. I know what he is talking about. I feel the pressure in my "throat" when I've eaten wrong or too fast.

I'm still a little tight but that is probably the results of over a week of irritation so I am taking it easy now. I need to not focus on the 7 pounds I lost during that time. You can't run around dehydrated and be healthy!!

Wow 4 hours of gagging is a lot! I usually gagged for an hour and no more. I agree so much with the dr. I know that it is a fine line and right now I am able to eat more then before, faster and drink if I choose. However I am doing my best to control it! I also understand now that my habits didn't change as much as they should have so I am working on that too. Now that I am more open it is easier to go back to old behaviors,,,I am getting a little more put in in another 3 weeks and this time it will be a little bit at a time,,,I never want to irritate my stomach like I did the last 3 months,,,yes I have also felt the food in my stomach. I actually get a shart pain in my neck when I eat too much,,weird huh? It is scary to see that many of my habits were forced to change when I was so overfilled but that I now have to rely on myself for control a little more although my intake isn't nearly as much as it was pre band. I think this is a good lesson for us all! I am happy to hear that you unfilled as the long2bfree is right,,,dehydration is not a means to lose weight and that Water just comes back and then we feel dread again at "weight gain" I need to drink more fluids anyway;,,,also dehydration is self injurous to say the least. I have done that too! Good luck and thank for that helpful info from the dr.

Susan

It IS a very fine line between having restriction and being overfilled.

Pbing is basically throwing up-somebody asked that. It is not normal to

pb or throw up regularly. I can't even remember the last time I did. But I did when I was too tight!

Being too tight is miserable and there is no reason for it. It causes all sorts of problems. It's amazing how having just a tiny bit taken out will

make all the difference in the world. The band is supposed to work a certain way. Throwing up, sliming, and only being able to get certain foods down, is not how it's supposed to work.

Denise or someone,

I wonder if you would be willing to write about how it IS supposed to work. I think there is so much confusion about this subject. So many different ideas but in general there has to be a certain criteria for the way the band is supposed to work! Or maybe you could direct me to something that explains it better. It seems like it is supposed to make you not hungry but when I am at that point, I am gagging all the time. I don't know what a "sweet spot" is really supposed to feel like! Can you shed a little light! I have a feeling that others are confused also.

thanks

Susan

I found this previous post by Dr.Watkins a band surgeon that has posted on the forum. I remembered this post about his description of a perfect fill.

His words:

My opinion is that the band restriction should always be perfect. It is adjustable so I see no reason why it can't be perfect all the time.

In my opinion, if you have your first fill and you can still eat a lot and you feel as hungry as if you were on a diet and you find it hard to lose weight, I think you need more saline in there to help you out. I think a lot of band clinics don't get it perfect soon enough.

perfect = full on small meals, not hungry between meals, easily lose 1-2 pounds per week, think your surgeon is miraculous, send your surgery practice a Christmas card that will bring tears to your eyes

too loose = hungry, able to eat a lot, feel like you're on a diet, hard to lose weight

too tight = heartburn, everything hurts to eat and wants to come back up, the only thing that will go down is ice cream and Cheetos

Shortgal, Thanks for the posting. I was never quite sure what the perfect fill was. I got my last fill in Dec '07 and thought that was the perfect fill. I was very tight and could only eat about 3 tbs of food. The scale was moving downward so I thought the fill was perfect. However, I often threw up and things often got stuck even when I chewed. I was so afraid to overeat that I did not address it with my doc...I could still get down fluids and soft stuff.

Anyway, about 2 weeks ago, I had .2cc's taken out because I felt like I WAS on a diet. After doing a barium swallow to see how tight things looked, my NP suggested a very slight unfill.

I like it better this way...I am at 7.0cc's in a 10cc band. I have not PB'd since the unfill yet I also cannot overeat. I don't feel the need to AVOID meat. Now, THIS is the perfect fill. Oh...and I have lost two more pounds!!!

Bunny, sounds like you have the perfect fill now. too often we believe that tight is good. It does need to be tight, but not so tight that solid protein won't go down. You have that and have figured that out! I'm sure my perfect restricton will come soon, too!

Susan, Bunny has it right. When you have a perfect fill, you can eat like a normal person but not very much. I can basically eat anything I want, just not very much. I eat a lot of chicken because I eat out a lot.

Today I had a chicken salad and just ate the chicken off the top and there was no way I had room for the lettuce. That was at noon, and it's almost 5:00 and I not hungry. I will eat dinner just because it's time to do that. Since I got my fill just right, I don't get hunger stomach growling pains for many hours after eating.

I have to tell you though that the road to getting here was very frustrating. It took me a year to feel like I am perfect. I was either hungry all the time, eating big meals, or throwing up all the time. I just knew that the throwing up part was not normal. I would go in for an unfill and he would take too much out. We finally came to the right spot by him checking me and bringing it to the point where it was just slightly less than where I was when I was throwing up

The sweet spot does not last until you are close to goal weight. That's because when you lose fat around your stomach, the band gets looser and you need a tiny fill. (Not a big one like when you first get banded.) Have you read the Wendall Edward's post How the band works, fills and unfills? It's a sticky on the main page.

I cannot tell you how glad I was to read your post - I am terribly sorry you are going through this, however it is almost as if I wrote the post myself! I am experiencing the same thing.

I had my band done Oct 07 and have lost 74 pounds since this adventure, 9 pounds to my first goal but I may try to go another 19.

I had my 3rd fill 8 weeks ago. At the time I got 1.5 ccs. The first week or so I was more tender than with previous fills and over the past 8 weeks I have had a lot of restriction, and about 10 days of being able to eat whatever I wanted...but then back to the restriction. I think it has something to do with my period cycle but I am so sick of being sick and having that pain every time I drink anything most days. Like you, I cannot hardly get more than warm liquid (ie tea) down for most of the day and not much more the rest of the night - but there are times although fewer in between that I can eat what I want.

The pain is kind of like really bad heartburn but it radiates through to my backbone too. It really makes me not want to eat or drink anything.

I was lucky that my doctor will squeeze me in this coming Monday (if I wait, he is really overbooked) to have some removed. I was thinking about having 1/2 cc removed - it has to be better than what I have now. I just don't want too much removed because I do like restriction, just not the pain.

Thank you for posting your comments - it is nice to know I am not the only one going through this. In the beginning it was so exciting, but the pain is making it harder to enjoy my new body...when the pain is gone it is gone temporarily. I don't think I have any kind of lasting sores or anything like that because the pain does go away sometimes...we will see.

Karen, there is no reason to go through this. I just had dinner with my banded friend and we talked about how hard it is to go in for an unfill

when we are waiting and hoping for perfect restriction.

I am glad you are able to get into your doctor. I feel so badly for people that have to drive so far and that plays into their decision

of needing an unfill and not wanting to make the drive.

Thank you for your support. You may have noticed, but we have the same surgeon...we drive over from Medford - we are lucky though because we have family in Lakeside.

Thanks again - you are right, enough is enough. I am glad I have finally made the decision

How cool. No, I didn't notice that you were a Dr. T's patient. I just love him and all of his staff. I wish you lived closer so you could come to the support group meetings.

I feel really lucky that I live so close to his office. There are so many people that come to him from such long distances. I hope they get your fill just right this time. I heard they have someone new in there doing fills, a physician's assistant. Everyone seems to really like him.

The scale didn't drop any yet but its my own fault. I have been picking on that left over chocolate from Easter, hopfully by the end of the weekend it is out the house. I would have thrown it away but I feel bad throwing my 7 yr olds candy away for my bad habit. I just need to say no to sweets. This unfill has been amazing, this is how the band is suppose to work. I don't plan on going for a fill for a while, unless I was to gain 5-10 lbs.

Hi all, I'm glad I read this post. I haven't even had my first fill yet, that happens April 17th but I wanted to read up and see what you pros are dealing with and read what you all thought of the band filled. But now I'll know what is going on if later on down the line I am too full. Can I ask a stupid question. What does PBING mean? I'm guessing vomitting? Thanks all and good luck to you Susan and Brenda. I hope you both get some relief soon!

Yep, pb stands for productive burp. It's sometimes just like that. You burp and food comes with it. I have had some actual throwing up that lasted for hours when I was too tight. Being too tight is not a good thing!