Lap Band Fills / Adjustment Info

[ihad2doit 0]

Ok fellow banders, it has been a while since I've been on but I have a concern. Please let me know if this has happened to anybody else out there. I was banded 10/15 starting weight was 284 I have had 3 fills the first two fills I really felt no restriction and my weight was stuck at 255lbs. On 4/9/09 I had the fill under the fluroscopy and it took my doctor the longest time to find my port(this has never happened with his office visit). But this time i had the best restriction I have ever felt since surgery. I was a little discouraged because i went to two visits and didn't lose neither did I gain but I thought it was because I incorporated weights into my workout regiment. Now I did lose clothes sizes (inches). So now since 4/9/09 I have lost 8lbs now I am 247 and I feel good...and I have so much restriction I am actually satisfied with my smaller portions. Do you guys think it is possible that my doctor MISSED PUTTING THE SALINE IN THE PORT WHEN I WAS AT MY TWO OTHER DOCTOR VISITS?

[Wildfire 0]

I am hoping someone knows the answer to this.

I have a Allergan/Inamed 10. cm.

How many cc's does it hold?

I have got my first fill at 2 cc's and wasn't sure how much it holds.

Thanks

[BJean 16]

"Do you guys think it is possible that my doctor MISSED PUTTING THE SALINE IN THE PORT WHEN I WAS AT MY TWO OTHER DOCTOR VISITS?"

No I think that the saline leaked out at your port site. The missing liquid is seeping into your organs and they will soon turn green and pop.

Just kidding. This has happened to me several times. Each fill process has resulted in different reactions by my body. I remember having one like yours where I decided I surely had a leak in the port or that the doctor took out the saline to measure it and forgot to put it back. As long as you are having positive results, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. Keep up the good work!

[nochoice 0]

I went in today for a fill, the first one in a year. The Dr. said he would only give me 0.5cc since I already had 8cc's in my size 11 band, then he checked and said I only had 6cc's so he gave me 1.0cc and wants me to come back in 2 months. He didn't seem too concerned that the fill didn't compare with his notes, should I be????

[Shearhunny 0]

How do I know if my band is too tight and may need to have some saline removed?

I had my first fill 1 1/2 weeks ago and everything I eat seems to feel like it gets stuck in my throat. Talk about PAIN! I cant get any meat protien down, not even my friend chicken. I have been very careful to chew thoroughly and slowly making sure my bite sizes are small and it still feels stuck and wont go down or up. Even Tomato Soup the day I recieved the feel got "stuck".

I had 2cc placed in my band at surgery and my first fill was another 2cc. I go back today to see about taking some out.

Is this normal, am I just being a wuss? Should I give it more time before I go through having them take some out? I am just so tired of getting sick every day and before the fill I have NEVER gotten sick from anything and felt I had decent restriction.

Please help, advise would be great!

Thanks:confused:

[abrenner 0]

How do I know if my band is too tight and may need to have some saline removed?

I had my first fill 1 1/2 weeks ago and everything I eat seems to feel like it gets stuck in my throat. Talk about PAIN! I cant get any meat protien down, not even my friend chicken. I have been very careful to chew thoroughly and slowly making sure my bite sizes are small and it still feels stuck and wont go down or up. Even Tomato Soup the day I recieved the feel got "stuck".

I had 2cc placed in my band at surgery and my first fill was another 2cc. I go back today to see about taking some out.

Is this normal, am I just being a wuss? Should I give it more time before I go through having them take some out? I am just so tired of getting sick every day and before the fill I have NEVER gotten sick from anything and felt I had decent restriction.

Please help, advise would be great!

Thanks:confused:

Hi Shearhunny,

First of all,try to stay relaxed. I know it is difficult, especially with that G-d awful pain when something feels stuck, but staying calm and relatively "ho hum" about it seems to help a lot in terms of dealing with the occasional PB issue (productive burp).

Next, you might try something a little less dry for your Protein for a few days or a week or so. I go with eggs, tuna salad, even chicken salad (fat free mayo of course). Or instead of fried chicken, try roasted chicken or boiled chicken, or add some Soup to your roasted chicken or beef stock to your meat. Ground beef in VERY small bites with no Buns and then let one bite go through before taking another.

It takes a while to figure out what solid Proteins will work for you as you start to get fills that really restrict, but it sure can be done. Sometimes I can eat steak! (Sometimes, not so much, LOL.) I find fish is pretty easy for me to get down most of the time. I stay away from breaded things and fried things as much as I possibly can.

By the way, I grew up in Harrisburg & used to come to Duncannon with my father for business when I was a kid. Small town, still neat.

Hope this helps!

Amy

[Shearhunny 0]

Thanks Amy:smile2:

I think I will just try to be more patient and more diligent for another week before I go to see about a reduction in my fill.

I do have another concern though. My weight loss has stalled since the fill. I had stalled for a couple weeks prior to the fill but then lost 2 pounds in 2 days right before the fill. Now nothing in over a week. Am I asking too much of my weight loss? The doc said after the fill I should expect another rapid loss for another 20 pounds loss by Sept 1st.

Whadda ya think?

ps: nice to hear from someone from my neck of the woods:smile2:

[abrenner 0]

Thanks Amy:smile2:

I think I will just try to be more patient and more diligent for another week before I go to see about a reduction in my fill.

I do have another concern though. My weight loss has stalled since the fill. I had stalled for a couple weeks prior to the fill but then lost 2 pounds in 2 days right before the fill. Now nothing in over a week. Am I asking too much of my weight loss? The doc said after the fill I should expect another rapid loss for another 20 pounds loss by Sept 1st.

Whadda ya think?

ps: nice to hear from someone from my neck of the woods:smile2:

Shearhunny, honey,

Don't expect so much of yourself. Everyone loses weight on their own schedule based on the way that the body responds to everything, not just eating and exercise. Could be time of the month, heat and drinking more fluids, etc. Could just be that you are having a short term plateau. They happen. Thankfully I'd read that some people experience them for months and then with no reason to stop they just start losing again. I can tell you it happened to me over the winter/spring. I just started losing again in May after about a two-three month plateau when I hit my 22 pound loss.

I have a very hard time losing weight which is why I chose the band. This way it is slower and for me safer. So instead of losing 60% of my weight in my first year, I will only lose about 30%. That works for me. I didn't get heavy in just three years, so if I can slim down to a reasonable weight after three years, I'm fine with that. I'm already enjoying what I've lost to date.

So what I'll say, and I'm hoping others will echo, is that you are probably being harder on yourself than you need to be. This is a tool, not a solution. So sometimes the tools work really fast, and sometimes they just support what we've done while the rest of our body catches up metabolically. At least that is what I believe. As long as you are healthy and eating properly, exercising, and enjoying life, that is what it is all about.

Good luck! By the way, I live near Philly now.

[tcampbell3 0]

I had a fill 3 days ago. Up until now, I have had little restriction. This fill has been a little bit of a shock to the system:drool: Up until around 5 in the evening I've only been able to have liquids. I'm having a hard time getting soft foods down, it becomes painful so I stop and go back to liquids(warm). I can actually handle this for a little while, because I've had my band 2yrs. with no successful weight loss. I'm actually excited finally to be experiencing some of the things I've read about on this site:lol: I was just wondering when I lose a little weight and/or the swelling goes down from the adjustment, will I be able to graduate to softs and again to solids and maybe even some of the foods I had before? I've waited for so long to reach this point, that I'm am very hesitant to have any of the fill removed.

p.s. I tried a small piece of chicken last night and it got lodged. It was a tiny piece, chewed and chewed and chewed. Was a terrible experience. I couldn't even get saliva down for a loooong while. Tried the pineapple juice trick. I'm am happy to say it worked!!! Going out for Papaya Enzyme today

[LISAMARIE1158 0]

l can't ever eat chicken, no matter what l do to it..

[LISAMARIE1158 0]

T Campbell...sounds like you never really had the right restriction from the begining. l read your story .. sounds like maybe you are on the right road now...good luck...

[tcampbell3 0]

Tks., LisaMarie

I need someone to tell me if I should wait this adj. out. It's 4 days after and Water even gives me a fit, when I try to swallow. Lots of gurgling!! I can handle that but also, tight throat and painful chest. If this is just a passing thing and after losing a little weight, I can graduate up to softs and solids, then I will try to tough it out. Will my band loosen, after some weight loss? :crying:

[BJean 16]

tcampbell, you're too tight. Just a tiny bit removed might do the trick. You should not have trouble drinking Water although most of us have trouble gulping water like we used to. chicken is almost always difficult if you have much restriction unless it is dark meat and falling off the bone. When they tell you to eat teeny bites, they don't mean a really small regular bite, they mean teeny tiny and to keep it in your mouth before swallowing until you think there's aboslutely nothing left. But the real indicator is that you can't drink water and you have a constant pain going on.

It can be counter-productive if you are over-filled, just as much as if you are under-filled. You have to stay with it until you get just the right amount. Enough to keep you from eating too much, but you need to be able to eat some solid food and keep it down!

[tcampbell3 0]

Thank you so much BJean. That was the info. that I needed. I had pretty much decided to call/go back on Monday for an unfill. I am starting to get headaches and dizziness from not eating. I have found after reading some of the posts here, that I have been able to get some solid food to stay down, after drinking a warm beverage. By the way, when I do eat, I am eating a bite the size of a penny, maybe slightly bigger. How the heck do you ever get full, eating such tiny bites?

[BJean 16]

You get full because your pouch is so small from the restriction that the fill caused.

The problem with not eating is that you can lose your health if you do it too long. If you don't get Protein, your hair can start falling out, your heart muscle can be weakened, etc. Plus if your system is as efficient at storing fat as mine is, your body thinks you are starving and so it will hang onto everything it gets. You'll lose weight, but then when you start eating anything to speak of, you will gain and be extremely frustrated.

A bite the size of a penny is not actually all that small. I have to take a bite about half that size sometimes when my band is really tight. It seems ridiculous but it's the only way I can manage to get food down. chicken is impossible and lots of other high protein things are too, so you have to be really diligent in finding enough protein to keep you healthy. I usually rely on Protein Drinks made with skim milk and have to drink them very slowly.

You always have to take your chewable Centrum Vitamins and I take Biotin (very small pills) for my hair.

I am glad that you're getting some restriction removed. You can get the job done without wrecking your health.

Good luck!