your restriction?

TIA

Sandra

Hi! I was banded on 8/14 and and after 3 fills, now have 6.6cc's in a 10cc band. I FINALLY have restriction and can now only eat approx. 1/2 cup of food at each sitting. Hope this helps!

ML

sw 295

cw 268

I'm at 8.25 or 8.5 in 10 cc band and I am tooooooo tight I was better when I was at 7.75 should have stayed there. hope this helps

Thanks for responding.

I guess I'm a little concerned that I already have 7cc's in a 9cc band and that doesn't seem like much.

What will I do in a year? (I have that kind of thinking going on)

I have 8.5cc in my 9cc band. I have good restriction. I previously had 7.6cc and the restriction tapered off during the month before this last fill. I'm much tighter now, and I can't imagine being comfortable with any additional fill. Hopefully, this is my sweet spot, and it sticks for several months.

Thanks for responding.

I guess I'm a little concerned that I already have 7cc's in a 9cc band and that doesn't seem like much.

What will I do in a year? (I have that kind of thinking going on)

If it makes you feel better, my surgeon says he's never had a case where the band filled up without the person getting restriction. He's done over a thousand bands too so he has a lot of experience.

From what I've seen on LBT, once you get close, even a small amount can give major restriction.

That is true...smaller fills are better..don't get hung up on the number.

Also please all be aware there are no 10cc Realize Bands they are 9cc and do not overfill them. You are seriously running the risk of a crease fold failure and the band cracking of you overfill them. That was the reason the older lapbands were smaller, so they would never crease.

The Band sizes are as follows:

Realize Band (Swedish Band) 9cc

Realize Band -C (Swedish Band VC) 11cc

LapBand APS 10cc

LapBand APL 14cc

Please keep in mind the texture and pressure (soft and low pressure) is 100% completely irrelevant because:

a) Once the balloon has saline in it is no longer soft anymore.

:tt2: The pressure system inside the band is closed..in other words the pressure on the inside of the has nothing to do the outside of the band.

c) The reason for low pressure systems is purely for more precise adjustments

D) The Stomach is a flexible, hollow organ..it can't get damaged from pressure because there is nothing behind it to cause any damage

I have the Realize band and currently am at 4 ccs. My first fill was 3 ccs, my second was 1 cc. I definitely need another fill but my dr. schedules the visits and he says no earlier than every 6 weeks. I was really disappointed that he only gave me a fill of 1 ccs last visit. With the exception of an occasional sticking episode, I feel I have no restriction.

I was banded on Dec 12th and have 4.8 cc in my band. I don't have any restriction about what I can eat, but I do feel full quicker and don't get hungry between meals. I'll probably get another fill to help me reduce my portion sizes.

It normally takes longer for the Realize Band to give restriction due to:

a) it's shape

:scared2: unlike the Lapband AP is has to be implanted empty _ The Lapband AP, the first fill is put in at the time of Surgery so they get a head start so to speak.

The weight loss the first year with the Realize Band in clinical trials has been been shown to be a little slower, around 30 or so %. Don't worry and hang on there, it will take, it just takes a little longer with the Realize for most patients. Their are some patients who never get a fill and do amazing but its a small subset. Don't lose the faith, you'll be fine once you hit the sweet spot. Remember, you'll have this band for life, it's not a race!

Umm I am/was worried about this very thing and when I thought I was infact "overfilled" and worried I wasn't, I was not getting any restriction so this last time I went I asked for all the saline taken out and measured and sure enough I only had 7.6ccs (was suppose to have 10?!?!?!?!??!) well he added 1.1 which brings me to 8.7cc and I DO NOW HAVE RESTRICTION TRUE RESTRICTION and it feels good!!! I love to only get to eat 1 cup of food and say ok I am done!!!! So yes I agree with who said it can can be that 1cc difference that makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE>>>>>>trust me.

It normally takes longer for the Realize Band to give restriction

There is no evidence that it takes longer. It completely depends on how aggressive your surgeon is, how many ccs it will take you to get restriction and a host of other issues. Many Realize band patients get restriction almost immediately (combo of not needing a lot of ccs and their surgeon being aggressive with fills) while many lap-band patients have wussy doctors who give them .5 or 1 ccs at a time and only will do fills every 6 weeks to 2 month, while they need 7 or more ccs and so it takes them forever.

Of course, this happens with Realize too. I really feel sorry for the bandsters who can't get restriction for 6 months because their surgeons won't fill them enough.

Btw, the FDA doesn't set the limits on the fills for bands. That's not their job. They approve or disapprove medical devices based on the info provided by the manufacturer. (They also make manufacturer proof their claims or stop making them so if Allergen was saying the Band improves your marriage or J&J was saying that their band will make your hair thicker they'd ask for clinical data to back those claims up.)

The manufacturer set those limits and they are the ones who know if they are absolute limits or just guidelines. My understanding is that they are guidelines since every surgeon I've ever talked to has said that.

I have 5 cc now, although was supposed to have 5.5 and when they drew everything out found I only had 4 in there...and before rockband replies, no there's no leak, yes, they applied pressure...(I'm an RN and have no difficulty understanding the whole port/band concept as I have filled many ports myself in the past, Morphine pumps, Baclofen pumps)...so, that out of the way, they took out what they thought was 5.5cc and found I actually only had 4 cc. Instead of only adding the 0.5cc, we added a whole 1cc and brought me up to the total now of 5cc. I am starting to stay fuller longer, but my volume has only changed slightly. I can still eat a large amount, not as much as before, but almost.

BTW, have held the band/port in my hand, inflated them with saline myself and was comfortable with how it would be on a real stomach after seeing it on the demo one...as for it not being filled when starting, the band itself has a smaller diameter and that's why no fill to begin with, not because it's not as good a band as some have previously implied :redface:...Keep up the fight friends, health is just around the corner!!!!!

I'm frustrated, my doctor will not talk cc's with me. I just go in every month and he scolds me for not loosing enough weight. I tell him I can eat more than I should be able too. He goes on and on about it's not how much I can eat it's what I eat. Well that was my problem before the band and I was hoping the band would stop me from eating to much. I wanted to be able to eat foods that I like but smaller portions.

I have lost 45 pounds since banded on 08/05/08 and I have about 50 mor to go.

To make matters worse I am a Bookkeeper therefore numbers and records are my things, and my doctor will not talk cc numbers with me! I'm beginning to dislike him and I'm loosing more patience than weight.

The realize web site encourages you to keep track of your cc's. I have developed a dislike for my surgeon. He or his office people have made me wait 8 weeks or more between fills. It was very frustrating dealing with that. He did put in about 4 cc's in my first fill but then about 1 the last time. I am scheduled for another fill and my last free one on 4/20. I am looking forward to hopefully feeling some restriction. I really try to measure my food and not overeat but my problem is eating between meals. Maybe if I get the real restriction I will stay full longer and quit eating between meals. I have been trying to pick up my exercise to deal with this but there is only so many hours in a day.

Interesting.....my daughter has 8.2 in a 9 cc realize band and no sweet spot. I'm with you Jazzly if this was about simply a diet no one would get the band. My daughter is still not filling up on the 1/2 cup to a cup thing so she is not losing weight. Actually she has starting gaining back and we are 11 months out. I think she had just assumed that it wouldn't work and was going to leave it at that becuase our doc never talked about the sweet spot thing. We only heard about it on the forums, so she didn't know that was supposed to happen and she thought she was just failing at this. Here's what we are going to do. I emailed the doc and basically begged for him to go against his own policy of one fill per month and no more. Every fill we think this will be it and it doesn't make a difference. Is she obeying every rule to a t all the time.....no but she she is hungry. I think she probably is able to each as much as she did before she was banded. She has some occasional discomfort, I think from eating too fast and it comes up, but other than that she doesnt know its there. And she never was a huge eater anyway just not blessed with great metabolism I guess. Anyway the doc emailed me back and said to come in this week and see the nurse practioner and she would draw it all out and see what is really there and it would all be done under flouroscope. I'm am so discouraged. I see people who have reached their goal in this amount of time and she hasn't gotten to her sweet spot yet!! Now doc is rather far away and the weather did set us back probably two visits because we just couldn't get there and once he unfilled her a bit and then the next time put it back so theres two more months..... I am going to demand some things on this visit. Any advise anyone? We go Wednesday.

Edited March 23, 200917 yr by lapbandmom89
typos