Vicki J

Contact obesitylaw.com and ask them for advise. They are a firm that works with bariactric surgery and insurances. They don't charge you if there isn't a case and they will give you a quote if there is one. From what I hear, they are #1.

Irene - Wow - You made me stop and realize that this December will be 2 years. I'm shocked, I hadn't realized it had been that long. Congrats on keeping the weight off. I have too to an extent. I'm about 6 pounds above my goal weight right now and I'm trying to muster up the stick-to-itiveness to drop it. It's really hard when there's so much stress right now. I think I'm actually handling the stress much better because I don't have myself to be down on for being fat. I recently had the experience of fill, unfill, fill. I had a fill of about .5 cc and it actually turned out to be about .1cc too much. Of course we had to do the .5cc in, .3cc out, .2cc in to get it right and being from Sac it meant 3 days of sick leave but I'm finally back to not starving in between meals. Now to work on the head hunger. Being hungry in between meals starts those old grazing habits back up and off we go. Anyway, hope things go well for you and "bump" me anytime you want to chat. Vicki

It was probably heartburn. Yep, I've had that feeling and my co-worker has. With both of us is was GERD. Hurts like a heart attack. You might try some Pepsid or something next time.

By the way, if the coffee went down you're not stuck.

Well now let's see...you could make sure you have some chocolate pudding (sugar free) or some applesauce. Fugescycles are a good treat. You could carry your magic bullet with you and puree what is there. LOL You could also make yourself some virgin margaritas or strawberry daquries. Be creative here! It doesn't have to be rough.

There are some good suggestions here. Papaya enzymes work well. I've used them with success. I have also heard that meat tenderizer in warm water works. I haven't tried it so I can't say how well it does. I have also been told NOT to drink anything if you are stuck. A small amount of biscuit like that WILL eventually go away. It just hurts like hell now. Sticking your finger down your throat whenever you feel stuck is NOT a good idea since you do not want to traumatize your stomach and possibly cause a slip. FYI, you probably haven't slipped so take that worry out of your mind. Also, go to smartbandsters.com and get talking with Jessie. She is a banded bariactric nurse that works in a band only bariactric clinic. She is so cool and so smart. She started the website because when she was banded 10.5 years ago they didn't have support groups. There are also many, many good people on there. Sit up, walk around and it will go away. Good luck.

There was a time that I was in a similar position. I was in a bad marriage on the way out. Looking at supporting 2 daughters by myself with no job and no home. I found myself pregnant. Now I'm not a big fan of abortion but staunchly believe it is a personal choice and one that can only be made by the person who is pregnant. I scheduled one. Two days before I was supposed to go in for the abortion I ended up in a classroom in a church doing a prenatal class with a friend. I tried everything to really not connect with what I was doing there. It hurt too badly. So I wondered up to the bulletin board at break (to avoid the prospective mommies beaming) and proceeded to check out anything that would not remind me that I was going to do something I never thought I would do. That's when I heard a noise at my feet. I looked down and there was a baby (probably 1 mo. old) cooing away. That was really not the way to avoid what was happening. On the way home my girlfriend and I talked about my situation. She told me that she would support any decision I made but to think on the fact that I might be carrying the son I had always wanted and she suggested I call someone in my family for support. Well, I called my sister and, bless her heart (I can say that now), she called my folks. When the phone rang and it was them I about died. To my surprise they told me NOT to make the decision based on my financial status but from my heart. They also told me to come home and they would give me whatever I needed no matter which way I went. My dad did say that I needed to make sure I wasn't making a mistake because on one that was already made. I went home. I didn't get the abortion. I had my son (no ultrasound knowledge of the sex). I had my parents put their arms around me and shelter us with love. I got back together with my high school sweetheart (first and only true love/best friend) and he adopted my son. Here I am 27 years later so thankful that I didn't make that decision while I was emotionally blown out of the Water due to bad circumstances. I have a beautiful son and two beautiful daughters that I was blessed with. My message here is to not let this ruin your life. I am a true believer that we all have a path to walk in our lives and that things happen for a reason. I also believe that there is a higher power who watches out for us. Trust in yourself and know that finances are more often than not temporary. I feel your pain there too because my husband is out of work and has been for a year. We have a $2500 per month house payment and a $4400 per month income. With all the other bills we fall woefully short. But I know we will make it somehow. I would walk away from my home in a nano second for my family. There isn't anything there without them. I'm so happy my path led me to where I am today. My thoughts are with you and may you find the peace and happiness you're looking for.

I can see both side of it. I really can understand how it would be easier on your stomach. However, when I went in this year for a touch up (he put .5cc in) I ended up too tight. When I went back for a slight unfill the other doctor was surprised I was having trouble with only 4.5 cc in my band. So he withdrew the fluid to check and I had 8 cc in my band. The other doctor had withdrawn the fluid too but he just didn't get it all for some reason. Now I setting at around 7.8 cc and that little bit taken out helped tremendously.

Go onto smartbandsters.com and ask Jessie. She is a nurse who not only works in a bariactric office that does ONLY lapbands but she has been banded for about 10 1/2 years herself. She can also let you know if she knows of anyone close to you that can help. It's a yahoo group. Good luck.

If you are getting full that easily, I would wait. This is strictly personal opinion here. Some people are lucky and never need a fill. It may be that it's just not your time to need one yet. Make sure you use good choices while this is going on and you will loose weight. I stayed pretty loose for a long time. I hadn't had an appointment for a year and was getting hungry at about 2.5 hours so I went in for a fill. It took 4 trips which cost me 4 days of sick leave to fix it. I got too tight and had one (the only one ever) PB incident and that was one too many. Now I'm finally back to where I was when I was at a good spot.

I personally would wait.

Mimilou2004 - don't rush up on that sweet spot. You'll be paying more trying to readjust the band than you would if you just creep up on it. One tenth of a cc can put you into dire straights.