Should I just get an unfill?

[spoiltmom 44]

Last Sunday, not yesterday but a week ago, I got a pill partially stuck. For 4 hours after that I couldn't keep down anything. Not even liquids. It all came back up. Then I guess it finally passed because I was fine again. On Monday I was okay but having a little pain when I swallowed my food-like band pain. Then on Tuesday I decided to just go back to liquids for a few days thinking I was swelled so I did that. On Wednesday I had 4 oz of my Protein Shake and it came back up. So I called my doc. He felt that I was swelled up from my stuck episode and he put me back on liquids. I stayed on liquids Wednesday and Thursday then on Friday I had mashed potatoes, potato salad and some really tender grilled chicken. It all went down with no problems. Saturday I stuck with soft foods again and then I yesterday I ate like normal. I had spiral ham, fresh raw brocolli, carrot sticks and cucumbers, some Beans and some Pork carnita meat. It all went down just fine- no problems, no pain.

This morning I had my coffee and took my medications and I was fine. At 11 am I tried to eat some Chobani yogurt. I got 3/4 of it down and I started feeling sick/stuck. I ended up throwing up. I thought maybe I ate it too fast so at 2 pm I tried some small bites of ham. It hurt going down and I threw it up.

I called my doc's office and the receptionist put me in for tomorrow at 10 am. She says it sounds like I'm too tight. My last fill was 2 weeks ago. Since then I've gone out to eat and had normal meals and I had normal meals yesterday. So what's up?

Do you think I'm eating too fast or am I really too tight/full? In the past 14 days I have been able to eat normally for only 5 of them. How come I was fine on those days and then so stuck on others?

[HeatherinCA 10]

If you can't eat hard Protein, you are too full.

[spoiltmom 44]

That's the thing- some days I can and somedays I can't. Why the variation?

[Melissannde 41]

The band has been called a fickle b*tch by more than one person. There can be no apparent rhyme or reason why it's tighter some days than others. I've learned to quit arguing with it and feed myself according to the tightness of the day...as long as I'm not having pain with trying to eat normal foods, and I'm not throwing up, I work with the fill level I have.

You'll have to do some detective work. The yogurt might have been cold enough to tighten your band. I've had that happen. Were you distracted and eating too fast, was there stress going on, was it your TOM, were your bites bigger than usual?

If you do get an unfill, you might ask if they will only take out a fraction of what they last put in. The only unfill I've had has been .2cc and it did the trick. Amazingly with only that little bit taken out, my hunger returned. I pushed through it with extra water/crystal light/etc between meals. Just a heads up in case you get an unfill. After about 10 days or so, the hunger level settled back down.

If you want to try to work through this w/o an unfill, try drinking something warm before your meals (even soft foods like yogurt). The warmth tends to loosen the band a bit.

Now that I have a good fill level for me, I find raw broccoli to be challenging. Cooked is fine. Raw carrots I have to chew to mush. You might or might not be at that stage yet. Every fill is a learning experience.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck to you.

[spoiltmom 44]

Okay I saw my doc this morning. He said my band is not too tight. He said it's actually at the perfect fill level for me. He said I'm eating too fast and that's why I'm fine some days and sick on others. He said if I were too tight I would throw up every day and not just some days.

He said I can either learn to eat slower or he could do a slight unfill. I chose to wait it out and start eating slower instead.

He's very happy with my progress though and he said I'm right on track.

[Melissannde 41]

Good report. Thanks for updating us.

[spoiltmom 44]

You are definitely right about being fickle. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon.