I don't understand how my band works

lovecats85 · December 9, 2005

I thought the band working by food going from the mouth into the pouch and then slowly filtering down to the rest of my stomach. But I don't get this because how come when I eat something that isn't going to go down I PB right away. Wouldn't it take some time to sit in the pouch beforer it decided if it was going to go down or not?

the best me · December 9, 2005

This confuses me, too. Here's a copy-paste of something I wrote on another thread... see if it helps?

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This is what I have learned about my band along the way. My stomach is divided into 2 parts now. The top part is still stomach, and it churns and squeezes just like the bottom part. It's got food there and it knows darn well what to do with it. Get it down!!! SO, when you swallow goo (which is what every bite should be when you swallow) it goes into the pouch and your upper stomach starts wriggling around trying to get it down through the band. When you have no fill and no restriction, it's pretty easy to make it go through...like shoving a dishrag into a glass. Get a fill or two later on, and it's like shoving the dishrag into a Water bottle...lots harder, get it?

So, envision your goo food going into your pouch and hitting that funnel of your band. You will know very quickly if you didn't chew well or you took in too much. If you fill up that funnel with goo food and it sits up there comfortably churning along, you feel full so much faster. It's a funny little dance you learn to do. Different foods do different things. The band is fickle and one day it's fine, another it bites back.

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I just know that if something is going to get stuck, it happens pretty quick. I used to think of food just hanging around up top for 2-3 hours but that never seemed right. I couldn't tell you why the band makes you feel satisfied for hours after you have eaten, especially since the food very obviously heads down through the band relatively quickly. I works somehow though. When I eat right I can eat more than just a little, but I don't go grazing after and I don't eat again for hours.