Ok, I got my first fill yesterday, but a little confused, am I suppose to stay fuller longer, eat less, what? I feel no different? I'm on soft food, but yet, I'm still hungry between meals, so I'm really confuse.

Someone please explain to me?

There is a good description on fills called (I think ) Fills and refills How the band works. It's in the fill section of the board and it should be easy to find as it's a sticky.

Basically, when you have good restriction, you feel full pretty quickly, like as if you were to take one more bite,

you might throw up.

Just because you are stuck, does not mean you are full. If you get stuck, it's either you took too big of a bite, or you didn't chew well enough. Sometimes when you are stuck, you are done eating, just because you're so stuck you can't eat. Thick saliva starts coming into your mouth until whatever is stuck moves through the band, or it comes back up.

I totally agree that we should know exactly what is being done to us/for us/inside us, and why. I guess I was just saying that I don't think the numbers (of the band) per se matter. Even in an emergency, I think all you'd have to tell them is that you have the band... I don't think the treatment would vary depending on the capacity of the band or how much you have inside the band at that moment. I believe even if you had an emergency un-fill by a doc who didn't know your particular numbers, it wouldn't be hard to just take out all the Fluid, even if he/she didn't know the exact amount you had inside at that moment. (Of course the trick in an emergency would be to find a doc who even knew how to access the port, etc. This might be a problem whether or not you knew your "numbers")

Being a doc myself, I always, AlWAYS, advocate to patients that they should know and understand exactly what is happening (to them, for them, etc). Everyone needs to find a doctor that will answer *all* of their questions. However, I think the capacity of my band and the amount I have inside are not things I necessarily need to know (for the reasons above). It would be like asking, "What guage needle are you using for the fill?", or "are you using sterile saline or contrast material to perform the fill?" It's a level of detail that may not be necessary to know for one's own health and well being.

I'm only trying to explain what I said up above because I in no way would advise folks to just blindly follow their doctor's advice. All patients (no matter what the problem is) should fully understand everything that is going on.

Thanks for listening to my ramble! :thumbup:

-Julie