I started eating ice cream following regurgitatin my food when it got stuck in my chest and I had pain. I found the ice cream soothing. But now it has taken over. I'm addicted and every night I have to have it. I still don't eat much during the day and still regurgitate food. Do you think I need to have an unfill so I can eat more. The thought of this is terrifying but I've been at a plateau for 2 months and know if I stopped the ice cream I'd havae a better chance. Can anyone help? Thanks

Maybe you do need an unfill. However, as a really good treat, you can buy applesauce (and they have it in flavored now, like mixed berry or pomegranate) and stick that in the freezer. It's 50 calories and kind of like an Italian ice.

Good luck!

Cowgirl...You and I are in the same boat. I eat ice cream to sooth my too tight band. I know I need an unfill but I am terrifed I will gain weight. I have not lost any weight in 3 months. I exercise 4 times a week and still the scale does move.

Thanks Girls

I will try the frozen applesauce thing. I threw out my ice cream again. Hopefully this time, I won't buy anymore. Sandy beach if you hang in there I bet the exercising will pay off.

Being able to eat more, and make it quality food would not be more calorie wise than the ice cream!

Plus it is so bad on your stomach and esophagus to be too tight!

Try the unfill--see if eating some good solid Protein, will not hold you and allow you to kick some of the sugar addiction.

If it is too much you can always fill again.

Better to take a little longer losing the weight permanently than to lose your band permanently! It is a scary thought to me! I know the fear of unfilling! I actually was unfilled most of the way last April in preparation for my TT surgery. Then did fine with out the fill for months. Then had a major surgery involving a twisted intestine and they totally deflated my band. I managed, although I did feel hunger again etc with no fill at all.

Then I ended up on some steroids over some recurring hives, and I feel like I am out of control!

I am heading in for a fill this next week----but refuse to be too tight, that scares me. Especially now that I know how difficult it would be with no band!

Good Luck!

Kat

kat,

good luck with your fill this week. I know what you mean. I tried to get protein in with shakes and drinks but it got sickening after a while. so did the protein bars. Funny enough protein bars went down with no problem. So far today no icecream. Does anyone know about not getting enough protein does it thin your hair/ Thanks

People lose better when they can eat better. People tend to think that being tight is the way to lose weight, but it's not true. We end up eating soft "slider" foods that don't stick with us for very long.

When you get a defill, you don't have to take out very much, just a tiny bit, for it to make a huge difference.

I gained weight back from eating ice cream too. It was stress, not a tight band though. Ice cream is evil. It's best to just get it out of your system which makes it easier to forget about it. Low carb eating really makes cravings go away.

Marble slab has no sugar added frozen yogurt at 100 calories per serving. we treat ourselves once a week.

I heard that cold restricts the band, and heat makes it looser. You may be going in the wrong direction. Try some hot tea before you eat.

Hey everyone,

Kat I know you're right about getting an unfill but the problem is my doctor does not inidividualize them. He tends to take .50 or 1cc increments and I've asked for smaller fills or defills like .10 and he doesn't do it that way. So I'm either too tight or too lose. I want to try another doctor in the practice but feel funny to go to someone else after a year and also they might not do small increments either. And I am assertive with the doctor, believe me.

Anyway, no ice cream for me today. A real hurray!!!

talk to you soon.

I think I would call and at least make an appt. and try one of the other Dr.'s in the practice, you could always go back if need be and say they couldn't fit you in their schedule or something. I know little tweak type fills make a HUGE difference!

My band is the old 4cc band, and my first fill was 1.25cc. and it give me some very mild restriction, I had to remember to eat like a bandster, but portion size was not affected, I was still doing it on my own. Well he always asks me questions about how the fill did, so he ask, I answered and he said he was only going to give me .50cc. I thought good grief that is less than half of what I got before, I am going to have to have 10 fills at this rate, and I pay for them out of pocket. Well I do liquids the day of surgery, and the next when I went to eat, holy smoke, 4 bites and I was DONE! Over time it loosened some, but it was my last fill. I never had another adjustment of any sort until my unfill for surgery. I am 6 hours away from my fill Dr. so the concern was if I got nauseated following my TT, I would be too far away to get an unfill quickly---so we unfilled prior to the TT.

I am soooooooo ready for a fill now it is ridiculous!

But I think it might be worth it to "test drive" one of the other Dr.'s if this one is so unwilling to listen to your issues. You do pay him......he should be willing to work for you, within reason, and what you are asking for is totally reasonable. If you were demanding huge fills that could be dangerous it would be one thing, but to ask for a small tweak, that YOU are paying for....I don't see the issue.

It is so wierd how different all these Dr.'s are....

Kat

My doctor says he can tell by the pressure against the needle how much to add or take out. He waits a long time

for the saline that is in there to come out to make sure of what I already have. Sometimes, it seems like it's not all in there, but eventually, more trickles back out.

It would seem if you explained to your doctor that .50

or 1 cc isn't working for you, that you need something in between, he should listen to you.

I would get a slight unfill, so you can consume nutrient rich calories.

Actully, icecream makes it tense and get worse. The coldness makes the entire thing contract... but it soothes the feelings.

You need something warm and soft if you feel that. It'll relax your band and sooth it at the same time.

Your right I should be drinking warm things but my chest hurts after eating and I can't get a liquid in or it will be worse. For some reason the ice cream works. But i'm working on my third day without ice cream. I really think talking to you girls on this site has helped. I made an appointment with a nutritionist for later this week and will schedule an appointment with doc following that if I can't get eating nutritious foods down. I think this will be hard because I think I'm chewing good.

Anyway,

Kat does TT mean what I think it is. Let me know and so much luck to you.

I went through a period when my band was too full that I was so sick of the pain and throwing up that Ben and Jerry's became the staple of my diet. I haven't had any in a while, and I know the next time I pick up a pint, I'll get hooked again! I've found it odd (and dismaying) that so many bad foods go down easily and so many good foods don't go down at all.