I am writing this for all those who are struggling with the idea of "am I too tight?", "I'm hungry but I can't eat anything...". I just spent the worst 2 weeks of my lapband experience, suffering from the "too tight" affliction, and let me tell you, NEVER AGAIN!

Up until my last fill, I've had a pretty dream run of things. No great post-op hassles, first 3 fills of 1ml each were space 1 month apart and came in just at the right times. 4th fill of 0.5ml 2 months after that also went well - great restriction but not too much. After 3 months, when my appetite was starting to rage again, and I was eating 1.5+ cups of solid food at every meal and fighting the urge to snack in between, I knew it was time for fill #5.

The doc put in 0.5ml again and warned me to do liquids for a couple of days and ease back into solids after that. Unfortunately, that night I couldn't even manage thick Soups and ended up PBing half the night, till I remembered my emergency anti-nausea pills. I went back to clear consommes for Day 2 and creamed soups for Day 3 but couldn't move past them for a while. By Day 6, I was managing mushies but had to fly back to work and that, combined with getting my ToM a couple of days later set me right back to clear consommes again - anything thicker and I chucked my ring up. I lived like that for the next 8 days but could never get past soups and on a good day, mushies.

Let me tell you folks, that is NO WAY to live! I booked the unfill before I came home (got home last night) and just had 0.25ml taken out today - ahhh sweet relief! This morning, I was gurgling and burping over a cup of coffee. This evening, I had a small chicken & vege thingie in filo pastry - delicious, and FILLING and no burping, no sliming, no pain! Best of all is that now I've eaten it, I'M NOT HUNGRY ANY MORE!!

What I noticed more than anything with that overfill, was that even when I was gurgling and burping, sliming and PBing, I was HUNGRY in between and kept trying to push past what I was capable of eating. It was so hard not to just get in the habit of eating slider foods and saying to myself "at least I'll lose weight". Of course, the only solid things I could eat in all that time were cheesecake and Cookies... but healthy solid veges and lean meat - not a chance!

If any of you are thinking to yourselves "I'm really uncomfortable, but I don't want to take the fill out in case I start to gain", please PLEASE take a leaf out of my book. When you are too tight, the only thing that goes down easily is crap and you won't lose weight eating crap! Life on the band is not meant to be not eating at all! It's not meant to be living on soups and mushies! You need to eat solid, healthy veges and meat and you won't feel hungry! Stay too tight and you'll be miserable, eat fattening non-nutritious foods and will be HUNGRY all the time! Don't do it!!!

You must be reading my mind!

I have spent the past 3 weeks trying to figure out it this is too tight or the elusive "sweet spot". EVERYTHING with the smallest lumps cause me pain, sliming and ultimately I will have to PB.

Today was the last straw and I called my doctor. I just want to eat a healthy meal without pain. I don't think that is too much to ask. I have been living on thin soups and protein drinks so at least I can get in my proteins.

So it is off to the doc for a tiny unfill for relief.

Thank you for the post! ( I have read EVERY post on this subject)

Excellent advice.

I was recently playing with the thought of getting another fill, but decided not to because I can eat pretty normal things without hurting myself or pb'ing regularly.

I had to question what the real goals are . . . and it is to eat healthy, normal food without being overly hungry or consuming too much while losing 1-2 pounds weekly. It is working for me being more open so I will stay where I am for now.

Amen sista!! I wish people would GET THIS.. I hate it when people are excited when they can't eat, but miserable. If you are doing this lapband thing right, it means you can eat a small healthy meal and not throw it up, and get all that gurgling hiccuppy belchy stuff going on.. My doctor told me once "don't ever let yourself get too tight, YOU WILL BE MISERABLE" and boy was he right. I got my unfill and now I'm super happy. My swelling wasn't brought on by a fill, but by stress that swelled me up really bad. Now that the swelling is down I can get some more put in.. but, a lot of bandsters just don't get this way of thinking.

After reading the last few posts, I realize I have to go in for an unfill, I have had a lot of pain with eating since my last fill, lots of sliming and unfortunately sometimes I wish desparately for the PB but instead things just get stuck!!!!! The pain lasts for a long time and then I can't eat again for awhile, at least not anything healthy. I thought I had found my sweet spot, since she only put in a tiny amount. This is very frustrating. I hope I haven't caused a slippage.

Thanks Fanny for starting this thread. It's great to have info like this BEFORE being too tight happens. I got my first fill last week and have no restriction whatsoever so I have my second scheduled for 9/2.

I am wondering if I need an unfill or not? I had my last fill about 2 weeks ago and it seemed like it was perfect. I have been following everything religiously-about 1/2 cup food each meal, protein first, no drinking 1hr before/1hr after, walking 1hr daily. I lost 8lbs in these two weeks but.... all of the sudden I feel tighter and feel like I am able to eat less. Today 1 protein drink, 1/2 piece cheese and 6 grapes-they got stuck, I think they needed to be chewed more, about 1/2 cup chicken, 3 tbsp mashed potatoes, 3 slices cucumber for dinner. Tonight I ate 3 small slices of turkey and it got stuck and I threw up again. Last night same thing, I ate 1/2 of a protein bar and it got stuck. I feel like it is getting tighter and tighter... has anyone experienced this?:crying:

Restriction does change from day to day, depending upon how much Fluid you are retaining, whether or not you're under stress, if it is your ToM, etc. It sounds like you are right at the edge, so that most times it is perfect but gets a little too tight on daily fluctuations. It's up to you if you want to work that way and just be extra careful on the days when you are tight.

One word of advice though - once you have started the PB cycle for the day, switch to liquids for the rest of it (smooth creamed soups are good). PBing too much makes your stomach swell and things will only get worse the more you try to force your way past it. If you are having trouble every day, get a slight unfill - it's amazing how much difference a tiny 0.25ml can make.

Thanks for the imput-that is one thing I haven't done-go back to liquids after sliming or PBing-maybe that is my issue. I am going to get on liquids tommorow and see if it makes a difference. Thanks so much:smile:

I am wondering if I need an unfill or not? I had my last fill about 2 weeks ago and it seemed like it was perfect. I have been following everything religiously-about 1/2 cup food each meal, Protein first, no drinking 1hr before/1hr after, walking 1hr daily. I lost 8lbs in these two weeks but.... all of the sudden I feel tighter and feel like I am able to eat less. Today 1 protein drink, 1/2 piece cheese and 6 grapes-they got stuck, I think they needed to be chewed more, about 1/2 cup chicken, 3 tbsp mashed potatoes, 3 slices cucumber for dinner. Tonight I ate 3 small slices of turkey and it got stuck and I threw up again. Last night same thing, I ate 1/2 of a protein bar and it got stuck. I feel like it is getting tighter and tighter... has anyone experienced this?:thumbup:

I have indeed had the problem where the fill seems tighter and I keep getting progressively stuck. I found that it was from not going on liquids long enough after a pb. I need 1-2 days to recover completely or it just keeps happening. Without the break, my stomach never had time to recover from the irritation.

So go on liquids for a day, mushies for a day and carefully work your way up to see where you are. You might be just fine if you can get past the pb cycle.