Bawilliams1

Don't feel bad about not having restriction. I have a 4.0 cc band. I got my fourth fill last Wednesday. It looked tight as far as the fluid going down on the flouro and it seemed tight when I drank water immediately afterwards, but by the time I went back on solid foods on Friday I had amd still have absolutely NO restriction. My band only holds 4.0 cc's! What if I get filled to 4.0 cc's and I still have no restriction? I am on my second band. I had a slip with the first one. My fill doctor says that my new band is in the perfect position so that shouldn't be a problem. On my first band I was a little too tight at 3.0 cc's! I had a hard time drinking! What could be making such a big difference this time around? Any ideas out there?

I have a 4.0 cc band. I have had 3 fills and I am now at 3.4 cc's. The flouro always shows the fluid going through very slowly, but by the time I go back on regular foods I have no restriction. I am starting to worry that even with 4.0 cc's in my band I won't have restriction. I am also worried that my band may be eroding? I just started worrying about that after reading all of these posts!

When my band slipped it just slipped a little at first. At that point, I just had MUCH tighter restriction and I had to have fluid removed. After 3-4 months, the lower portion of my stomach slipped up through the band and I ended up with a huge pouch so I could eat very large amounts of food. At that point I had to get a whole new band.

I wish you luck with this procedure. I had a slip that sounds exactly like what has happened to you. I ended up going to a surgeon in Dallas because my original surgeon in Mexico didn't want to mess with my band since I was pretty close to my goal weight. He told me to use better eating habits! Anyway, the new surgeon said all he could do was to take off my old band and put a whole new band on. That's what I did and I am currently in the process of getting fills trying to get back to having some restriction. I hope that you can just get it fixed instead of getting a whole new band!

Surby, there's nothing wrong with you! I have a 4.0 cc band and right now I have 3.4 cc's in there and I don't have restriction. I can feel some foods actually gurgling down through the band when I eat. I guess I just need a bit more. What worries me is that the flouro always shows the fluid going through very slowly after my fill, and it seems that I will have restriction once I get off of fluids and back on regular food, but once I get back on regular food I don't have enough restriction to limit my food intake. I am worried because my band only holds 4.0 cc's and I am already at 3.4 cc's. I don't have that much room left! I am on my second band. I had problems with a slip on my first band and I had it removed and another one put on this past summer. In the whole six month process I have gained back about 10 pounds which is really killing me emotionally. I feel like everything will be fine and I will get it back off as soon as I get restriction, but I am worried that I will never get restriction! I am not that far from my goal weight either, but I am just so worried about gaining more because each time I get a fill it just ends in disappointment for another month until I go back to the doctor to try again. Another thing that has just baffled me is that with my first band I was extremely tight with 3.0 cc's and here I am at 3.4 cc's this time around and I don't even have restriction! Any thoughts from anyone out there?

My band slipped on me last May. I was frequently "swollen" in the esophagus and pouch when I would go in for a fill or unfill. I ended up going for unfills several times because I couldn't get water down. What happened was that I was not throwing up, but "burping" up food literally every time I ate. (That is probably what was causing the swelling) I knew it wasn't a good thing to do, but I never dreamed that I would have a slip. My band moved a little. Then at some point it ended up slipping down more to the point that getting a fill was a waste. The lower part of my stomach that was supposed to be below the band had slipped up through the band and created a pouch that was way too big, so even if the band was tight, I could still eat too much because my pouch was huge. You will probably be fine if you just follow your doctor's orders and make sure that you don't throw up, burp up food, or PB. Best of luck to you. Oh - I got a new band. It has been a $15,000 lesson for me and I tell everyone what happened because even though I feel a bit ashamed that I did that, I don't want it to happen to someone else!

Lindsay, I guess it really doesn't matter, but I was wondering who your surgeon is. I went to Dr. Kuri in TJ and I loved him until I ended up with a slip. My band slipped and after days of trying to get to talk to him and overnighting x-rays he said he would try to fix it. Then he talks with the other two surgeons on his "team" and they decide not to try to fix it for me because I was at the "goal weight" that I had filled in on their paperwork. He told me that since the slip wasn't causing me any health problems that I just needed to rely on my new eating habits that I should have learned by having the band! He should know that banded people lose and maintain their weight because they are "banded". If it was just because of "eating habits" that I could control, then I wouldn't have gotten a band to begin with! As far as fills, definitely go see Dr. Fred Maese! He is in Dallas and he has an office in Ferris as well. He is the BEST!!!!!! I drive three hours from Huntsville, TX to go see him for fills. (I got a new band with Dr. Barker in Dallas this summer) DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT get your fills with Dr. Dobson who is the plastic surgeon in Grand Prairie. I went to him more than once with my first band. He likes to do the fills without using a flouro and another doctor told me that Dr. Dobson is not recommended for fills. That is just my opinion and the opinion of the doctor that told me that, but I am just telling you and you can decide on your own. Dr. Maese is way better than Dr. Kuri even was at fills in my opinion. As far as your knot, I don't know what to tell you, but you might even see about talking to Dr. Maese about that. He does alot more than just fills. He is licensed in internal medicine.

Carol, thanks so much for your reply. You have made me feel much better. I am going to try to just be patient. It's just so hard not to be disappointed and frustrated! Also, I drive 3 hours to get to my fill doctor so it's not like I can just pop in to see him! Again, thanks so much!

I am freaking out myself! I had a band put in in April 05 and I lost a lot of weight. I had great restriction with a 4.0 cc band that was filled with 3.0 cc's. I puked too much and my band slipped. I am assuming that's why it slipped. I now have a new band. It is in the perfect position on my stomach according to my fill doctor and after a ton of frustration I got a fill two days ago up to 3.4 cc's. The flouro showed that the fluid was going through the band slowly and I sat around the office and drank plenty of water to make sure it was not too tight. Now, two days later I am going back to "regular" food and I STILL have no restriction! Why would this band be so different than my first band? When I get a fill it always appears that I am tight and I will have restriction, but by the time I start back on regular food it seems that the tightness is gone. I only have a 4.0 cc band. I am terrified that I am going to end up with 4.0 cc's of fluid in there and still no restriction. Is there anyone out there with a similar experience or any ideas or suggestions?

Guys, I am new to this site, so hello. I am here to tell you, do not puke! I am on my second band because my first one slipped. There is no way to know for sure what caused the slip, but it was probably my puking! That was a $15,000 lesson!

Hello everyone! I am so happy to have found this site! It is so nice to ba able to talk to other "banded" people! I often feel like people who are not banded think I am nuts if I try to talk about my band issues! I hope to be talking to you guys soon!