I have a question for those of you who have had their bands for years and reached their goal weight. Do you ever get to a point where you never have to get another fill? Or do you need to get them occasionally forever?

Well, I think you need to be realistic that you will be in partnership with your doc or another medical professional for as long as you have a band.

I've had about 3 fills since hitting goal because I decided to take a bit out of my band. Thought I probably didnt need it to maintain after a couple of hard weeks where I was very very tight. In hindsight I was very very tight becuase i was training to do my first half marathon and running MAKES me really tight, cant eat for hours afterwards. With the loooooong runs I was probably rather dehydrated on a constant basis, another thing that makes me tight.

anyway, i digress, i had 0.2 cc removed from my 4cc band. Made me feel much more open. Promptly gained about 5 lb and noticed I was really peckish all the time. Didnt gain any more than 5, could have easily have just lived with it, but went back in twice more to have 0.1cc at a time put back. Have now been ticking along nicely for about a year with 3cc in my 4cc band. Feel a bit looser these days but not significantly so, and certainly not enough to show on the scales.

I envisage that over time, you do loosen off and I *may* need another fill but it would only be teeny tiny adjustments very far apart from hereon in. Or it will be for stuff like at the moment I tend to graze a bit, five small meals more so than three meals a day. When i return to full time teaching next year, it will be back to a 3 meal a day routine, no opportunity to graze. Will I be able to eat enough at each meal to get me through? Not sure. Might need a small unfill for that reason - because I run so much my energy needs are high and I do need to eat up around 2000 calories a day to maintain my weight.

My surgeon comments on the long time between seeing him, but if all's well, why make the 186 mile trip to the city & pay $50 for nothing? He now visits my area every few months. I'm 7yrs banded. 2 times I found I was struggling getting things down & the fluid had increased. I have a mix of saline & xray compound in mind. This can happen & it's no concern; they just take a little out & put you back where you were.

My doc told me that once I hit goal, I would need to come back about every six months to have the fluid "topped off" since the level can go down.

Thanks everyone. That doesn't sound so bad considering I've been getting a fill every month for over a year now. They found a hole and did a revision this week though, so hopefully I won't have to get a fill as often now.