Fills...from restriction to no restriction

2BtinyinTN · May 19, 2008

I was just banded on 5/9 but as I read about fills it gets confusing. I am wondering why if you have a fill and you have restriction after the fill why is it that in a couple weeks you don't? What causes that? Anyone know?

Jessica1977 · May 19, 2008

It has happened to me, and I think it is because anytime you have a fill, you also have some swelling, due to the band being altered. So after a week or 2 the swelling goes down and for that reason some people lose restriction. Hope that helped! :confused_smile:

AlisaH · May 19, 2008

It's totally happened to me too. I don't really know why though. Also after a fill when you lose some weight, the fatty deposit around your stomach gets smaller and your band is around the deposit so as that gets smaller, the band gets looser. For me I didn't lose a lot of weight between fills, and I am still working towards that "sweet spot", so I agree that it's probably more about the swelling, at least at first!

Alisa

KelinTx · May 19, 2008

I had one of the girls at the fill center i use explain it to me like this........she likened the lap band to that of a belt. As a person loses weight the belt would become loser an there fore need tightened. So as we lose weight we are losing what i guess is a fat pad around our stomach wich is making the band loser there fore lessening restriction. Seemed to make sense to me.

HeatherO · May 19, 2008

It is pretty well covered by other people above. There are two primary reasons, initial swelling post fill goes down after a time and the fat around your stomach diminishes.

Some people have also mentioned that your fill can "evaporate" over time. However, I asked my physician and she said that eventhough it can happen, it is a very small amount over a very long time so the difference is too small to be noticed unless you are in maintenance mode and do not go in for fills for over a year.

loveangelpet · May 19, 2008

I personally have had 5 fills, and my restriction can vary from day to day. My Dr said that is a normal occurance. Your' body does many things for many reasons having to do with fluids, what you ate yesterday etc. So although i do have restriction, at times i can eat more then others. And I'm sure other ppl would say the same as my friends who have been banded also have the same things happening. GL