snowbird

yeah, i had it a lot when I was first banded. It's settled down now.

Are you asking why they don't fill it up all the way? That's what your question sounds like, since most doctors do begin giving fills by six weeks. The amount of fill you need changes over time because as you lose fat around the stomach, the band becomes looser and needs to be re-adjusted. I had my first fill at 7 weeks out from surgery, and was tight for a few weeks. I lost over 10 lb and it loosened, so I went in for another fill six weeks later. After the second fill I was tight again, to the point of barely being able to eat any solid foods. Now after another two weeks, I have lost another 8 lb and my band is getting looser. I expect I will need another fill in a month or two to re-adjust to the proper tightness. The amount of fill you need is different for every person, as is the amount each person needs for the following fills. I assume it is different because the size of each person's stomach is different, the amount of fat near the stomach is different, and the rate of fat loss is different. This is what makes the band great: with gastric bypass, a patient often loses weight after surgery, but may gradually increase the amount he/she can eat over time and regain the weight. With the band, we can get a fill to adjust to the changes in pouch/stoma size to keep the weight coming off. Doctors do seem to have differing ideas on how much the initial fill and the following fills should be, and of course it varies according to which size band you have. My husband has a larger VG band (10 cc capacity) and received 4 cc for his first fill and 2 for his second. I have a smaller 4 cc band, and received 1.7 cc the first fill and only .2 cc the second.

Oh, yeah . . . something comes up. It's when food isn't chewed properly or your band is too tight so food cannot pass through to the stomach. It has nowhere to go but . . .up. Not pleasant, but not quite as gross as vomiting, since the food hasn't hit the stomach acids yet.

So, this thread shows up and my husband gets up this morning with a gout attack . . . COINCIDENCE!!!??? He keeps his meds nearby always, so within 24 hours it's gone.

Why don't you Google lap band erosion and slippage and read about the risks you are taking? I'm not saying this in a smart alecky way; fear is what kept me on the straight and narrow, and maybe it will work for you. Good luck; it's a difficult period to get through.

Candle, thank you. You used the words I thought of this morning: safety net. I know if I stumble, my band will catch me.

Candle, I have to admit I threw that in just for the heck of it. It is a quote from my doctor's book. He actually does not recommend a "mushie" stage, but what he calls "full liquids" for the second and third week, which includes anything liquid enough to get through a straw. The quote is actually addressing the definition of solids, as he says eating liquid/soft foods defeats the action of the band in keeping you feeling full longer. Scrambled eggs and tuna are dry enough to stay in the pouch long enough to give you a sensation of fullness for several hours. (He's talking about after fills.) I thought it was strange that he says to go from liquids straight to any solids, but that's how he does it. I'm curious; why only one fill five months out? Are you satisfied with your weight loss so far and don't want to stress your body? You should be; your ticker looks like you are doing fantastic. My husband has a 10 cc band with two fills totalling 6 cc, and he still eats too much and is losing slowly (his opinion, not mine). I wish I could do that well without a feeling of tightness, but I can't. By the way, good explanation about the healing period in your post.

well, I'm going to add one more issue to a thread that has probably gone on long enough, by quoting my doctor: "While scrambled eggs and tuna may sound like mushy food, they are actually solid food . . ."

I do keep some sugar free chocolates around. I really like the Russell Stover stuff, like their peanut butter cups (Reese's makes sf ones too) and pecan delights. They are self regulating because they give me gas like crazy if I eat more than one or two! I also like the Quaker Multigrain cakes, especially the cinnamon toast flavor, for something with a bit of texture but only 50 calories. Sugar free fudgcicles are good too. Basically I try to buy stuff I like well enough but not so well I eat more than one at a time, a difficult balance to achieve. I do use splenda based products like Mrs. Butterworth's sugar free syrup on my morning oatmeal, too.

Krista, the first thing I said was, "If you eat this much regularly . . ." It's not really a bad meal she asked about; calorie wise we are probably talking 300 calories, if she cooked the eggs without fat. I try to keep to 800-1200 calories a day; some people here say their daily intake is 600-800 when they are successful. The volume seems a bit much to me, though. I merely asked her if she thought she really needed that much, or was she eating it out of old habits. Lots of times we are used to eating so much pre-band that we think we are doing wonderfully well when we cut down a bit. That doesn't mean what we eat is a healthy amount of food, just that it may be less than we were eating before. The whole idea of the post op diet is to not make our stomachs work too hard and move against the band recently stitched into it, which is why our doctors tell us to keep the volume and texture low. Also, remember we didn't run up to the OP and yell at her. She asked us if we thought it was too much, and we replied, "yes." timeforme, the portion amounts you said your doctor suggested is really what most doctors say. It is what my doctor says. Your doctor is steering you away from white carbs like bread and Pasta for three reasons: first, the empty carbs will make you hungrier by spiking your blood sugar, which will then rebound downward; second, because they are empty calories that do not provide you with much nutrition; and third, because bread and pasta are the foods most likely to get stuck in your stoma and cause you grief. They really are an addiction we would all be better off without.

I bet you 've made some new eating habits, so it won't be starting all over. Best of luck with your surgery.

Oh, yeah I heard that too--"you're not big enough for surgery." My response was, "So how much more do you think I have to gain to have it, because if I wait a while longer I'll be there." My husband's niece said the same thing about him. He was 5'9" and close to 300 lb at the time of surgery. His parents both died in their 60's, one from heart disease and the other from a heart attack after 30 years of diabetes. My husband in 53. So how long should he have waited to have the surgery? Until it was too late? My only regret about the surgery is that I didn't have the opportunity to do it 20 years ago, when I was your age.

You would think those figures would be good enough to loosen up the insurance companies to pay for LBS. It would be less expensive than paying for diabetic care for decades.

Generally your surgeon will repair the hiatal hernia at the time of the lap band surgery. That's what mine did for both me and my husband. You're not crazy going to Mexico, but there are things you need to think about. I would go back to my mexican surgeon in a heartbeat, but i am close enough to drive there, plus I am retired so my time is not running through a meter. I can go to Tijuana for fills or if I have any concerns about my health regarding the band.

Do you have the option of getting a fluoroscopy to see what your band placement looks like? That is what I would do. What is your fill history and fill level now?

From what I can tell from my doctor's book on lap band patients, it's not pouch stretching that actually happens; it is pouch dilatation, caused by the band's slipping downward and increasing the size of the upper stomach pouch. In other words, we are talking about band slippage. Causes of slippage are: Ignoring the post op liquid phase Vomiting Bad Eating Habits--eating too much, too fast, or not chewing enough. He doesn't go into symptoms of slippage, but as I understand it they are similar to not having a proper fill--being able to eat very little or too much. Since it's hard to tell if your band has slipped just from how you feel, I like to get fluoroscopy with my fills so the doctor can check out band placement. Bridget, it sounds like you got the bread stuck in your stoma--the opening between the upper pouch and the lower stomach. Yeah, it hurts. Consider it a tool to help you remember to avoid doing it again.

Did you really feel like you needed that much, or did you just cut in half your pre op serving and eat what you had made? I won't deny I've eaten a three-egg omelet in my time, but that certainly hasn't been since I was banded. I would really try to cut down the portions to see if you can be not hungry with less. Notice I didn't say "full," just not hungry. That's really what you should be striving for.

food has lost its hold over me. I eat more because it's meal time and I know I need nourishment than because I am dying to stuff something in me. No regrets at all.

Talk to your doctor if this persists. It isn't terribly uncommon; however, the danger is that you will aspirate some of the reflux into your lungs in your sleep which may lead to pneumonia. You may need an unfill even though it's been a while since your last fill.

My doctor usually says that you should be eating 1/3 of what you were eating before. Don't know if that helps or not. You need fills when the fat around your stomach goes down, so I guess the frequency of fills would depend on that, plus the size band you have. I was banded last October and I've had two fills since then, totaling 1.9 cc in a 4 cc band. My husband was banded the same day with a 10 cc band, and he has had 2 fills with a total of 6 cc.

Sometimes I get stuck with the first bite or two. I have to leave the plate, walk around and come back to it 15 or 20 minutes later. Eating slowly is the key for me, and it's not something i do naturally. Even if I remember to take tiny bites, i still shovel the bites in one after another, and that doesn't work. It's all a relearning process of breaking bad old habits and getting into new, good ones. I'm two weeks out from a fill and I still have trouble with anything more solid than chili.

For me, three eggs would have been way too much at that stage. One would have been all I wanted or all I could eat. I would think that if you ate this much regularly, then your worries may be justified.

jasmona, because 1 we still feel responsible for you. It's genetically programmed, and you probably won't ever get around it. 2 because they are our parents and they gave us life and raised us and put up with all of our crap, so we feel forever like we owe them. I'm between my twentysomething kids and my mother who wants me to visit her every day, so I'm feeling the pain both ways.

A lot of threads are specifically about problems and people looking for support or solutions. Those of us who don't have problems don't come on to say, "I'm doing great!" when someone else is suffering. In fact, I'm more likely to accentuate any problems I have to let the sufferer know she/he isn't alone. In other words, you are going to hear more about the problems than the good experiences on a forum like this. That doesn't mean that there aren't a whole lot of us who are just doing fine. Here's an interesting article that I think puts things in perspective: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/lap-band-surgery-sounds-like-a-risky-business.html

Sounds like your doctor is pretty conservative with an 11 cc band. My husband has a 10 cc band and has two fills, the first 4 cc and 2 more the second for a total of 6 cc. He was banded a month after you. His restriction is uneven; sometimes he can eat quite a bit, but today tried a hamburger and could get just two bites down and then threw the rest away. Is your fill doctor near your home? If the fills are nearby, i would think about getting a more aggressive fill the next time. If you are really restricted immediately after the fill but then lose it right away, you may just get a lot of swelling at first that goes down quickly. Many doctors give adjustments within a week or two at no charge or greatly reduced rates, so that may be your answer. It really sounds as though you need another fill, that's all.