Lap Band Fills / Adjustment Info

[Longhorn 1]

Hi

I was banded on September 18th and just had my first fill this past Thursday, I was filled 5 cc and I am in pain just by drinking Water. It has gotten a little better with warm fluids but I just tried to eat a piece of cheese and fell to the floor in pain. On Friday I tried to have lentil Soup but landed up throwing it up because it was stuck. Will this pain go away? I was thinking about having some Fluid taken out. My doctor did this through flouro so he maxed me which is what I asked for since it was so expensive. I need some advise is this feeling normal? Should I wait it out?

Thanks

Jennifer

Banded 09-18-07

total lost 4 lbs

My doctor told me that the reason we don't go from 0 to, say, 7.5ccs all at once is because our stomachs need time to adjust. It is very likely that your stomach is swollen nearly shut due to the aggressive fill. The swelling may go down but every time you get stuck, it is likely that it is getting irritated, which may cause new swelling. (I'm not speaking from experience but from months of reading what others have written -- but it makes sense.)

Your first concern is getting enough fluid so that you don't get dehydrated. Your next concern is getting enough nutrition, at least through Protein Shakes. (My surgeon said two days of fluids after my second fill.) It's possible that the swelling will go down in a few days and allow you to start mushies again. However, I'd be calling my doctor and getting his opinion. Some people have ended up in the hospital because they got dehydrated. Also, a band that is too tight for too long can lead to erosion or slippage.

I hope you get it worked out soon!

[Vikki 2]

I know exactly how you feel my dear!!!! It is really frustrating and at this point your probably thinking what the hell have I done!!!! I got my third fill at 4.5cc and it really was very tight and I couldn't even get liquids down with out discomfort for a couple of weeks. Yes hot liquids do go down easier so start your day with a cup of hot coffee or hot tea. Everyone is different because I have girls in my support group with 8cc and they still don't feel super tight. I am at 4.5 and since Sept I still feel super tight. I would just wait it out unless you are feeling light headed because your body is not getting enough nutrience. At this stage you have to think of chewable multivitamins......Baratricadvantage.com has great quickly diasolvable ones that don't hurt at all. You also need to buy watery Protein Drinks. I could blend mine at this stage because it would come out too thick to go down. Make sure your sipping Water all day long because it is easy to forget about the water. If your sick of Protein drinks then sip chix broth to get another taste going. Your body will feel super hungry but by sipping drinks all day you will get a full feeling. The band has a mind of its own and you can feel super tight for two weeks after a fill then you open up and you notice that you can again start getting more and more in with out the PB feeling. Right now it is the test of patients. The biggest thing I have had to deal with was the really bad habit of eating very fast. You now take a spoon full of watery Soup and then put the spoon down for a min or so. IF no pain you take another spoon full. You will learn to read your body and the pain is the saliva creating that yucky goowy plug that builds up and you have to throw it up or the pain gets worse. You will feel instand relief when that gets out. Your new with the band and it takes a long time to read the signs your body gives you to STOP and put it down so the pain does not get worse. Some that have shared in my support group PB a lot some never do. Everyones body is different so you just have to do what is going to help get the nutrients down. When I have days where I am just so frustrated and think why did I do this to myself I have to reflect on why I did this. The tool was to NOT get things in because I was a binger that ate everything in site but did it secretly so I was beating myself up inside feeling like a complete looser.....to myself....no one was saying this to me but the voice in my head. I am now finally starting to love myself again and the voice is going away because this tool has done exactly what I wanted it to do. I can only get a little in so at the end of the day I don't beat myself up about eating way to much all day and the wrong things like fast food comfort food. If the pain is just too much after a couple of weeks you might need to get some removed but if it costs a lot of money which in my case I have to travel to my Dr. in Mexico and it is an all day trip so I don't want to do it unless I have too. I had my fill in Sept and it helped me be so good threw the Holidays and I didn't loose any weight in Dec but I also didn't gain...............Good luck!! You can send me a personal message if you want to chat.

[janed 0]

Hi

I was banded on September 18th and just had my first fill this past Thursday, I was filled 5 cc and I am in pain just by drinking Water. It has gotten a little better with warm fluids but I just tried to eat a piece of cheese and fell to the floor in pain. On Friday I tried to have lentil Soup but landed up throwing it up because it was stuck. Will this pain go away? I was thinking about having some Fluid taken out. My doctor did this through flouro so he maxed me which is what I asked for since it was so expensive. I need some advise is this feeling normal? Should I wait it out?

Thanks

Jennifer

Banded 09-18-07

total lost 4 lbs

I would say as long as you can get liquids down, try and wait it out a bit. But, if you do have to pay everytime you get an adjustment, you may want to have a slight unfil before the window they give you is up. (i'm just assuming by what you said cost is a factor). I don't really think you should be in pain.....make sure you chew extremely well. Should be mushy when you swallow. Especially if you are tight. Good luck. :eek:

[Mellis 0]

I had my first fill last thursday and got 5cc also. I was told to do liquids for 3 days which I did. I started eating yesterday and had no problems(knock on wood!) Mine was done with flouro also and since i fly to my doc(even though the fills are included for 2 years)--the airfare isn't--i told him i wanted him to be very aggressive.

Maybe if you just do some liquids for a couple days--let your stomach"rest" then start back soft and slow

[banded 11/4/04 0]

Hi

I was banded on September 18th and just had my first fill this past Thursday, I was filled 5 cc and I am in pain just by drinking Water. It has gotten a little better with warm fluids but I just tried to eat a piece of cheese and fell to the floor in pain. On Friday I tried to have lentil Soup but landed up throwing it up because it was stuck. Will this pain go away? I was thinking about having some Fluid taken out. My doctor did this through flouro so he maxed me which is what I asked for since it was so expensive. I need some advise is this feeling normal? Should I wait it out?

Thanks

Jennifer

Banded 09-18-07

total lost 4 lbs

I was filled to the max as well. I was completely miserable the 1st 2-3 weeks. I drank alot of hot coffee and soup's. Yes, I had terrible acid reflux. It was really ruff, but I have to say soooo worth it!

[pefox 0]

I was banded on 12/21/07. I went for my first fill yesterday, 1/30/08. I'm down 17 pounds. My doctor only put in 1cc. I've been getting hungry the last several days and I can't tell any difference from my fill. Has anyone else had this happen? Do you need to adjust to the fill? They said I could call back in a week or 2 if I don't feel any difference. Please let me know if you've had a similar experience.

[Whitepants 0]

Hi and Welcome to the Club. What you're experiencing is normal. Some doctore administer slow fills. Since you're recently banded your stomach is still in the healing stage. You will need several fills before you reach your or any restriction.

You'll read many posts verifying this. I myself have had 5 fills and I'm just now and this is the second time I am feeling any restriction. I now stay full longer, but can still eat a nice portion. I'm due for another fill next week, at which time I expect to be at a restirction where I can eat smaller portions.

The best you can do for now is drink your Water and Protein mix drinks. This will help stave off the hunger and keep you full. Eat your protein first, veggies second and carbs last and Desserts for that craving. I'm quite sure your nutritionist and doctor have told you this. And see your nutritionist often, they should be able to guide you in what you need to stay full longer.

Take this time to learn the 5 W's, who, what, where, when, why and how of new and old eating habits. You're about to learn a whole new you.

Continue to come back and get advise and ingormation of what is going on with your feelings and what youkre are experiencing at the moment. Continue to do your own reading on this. But the experience of others will help you greatly on this adventure.

You're are truly not alone in anything you're about to go through. At the different stages you are about to be and go through, someone has been there.

Good Luck you have taken one of many big steps in your life.

[kevgbmbklyn 0]

My doctor charges 150.00 for a fill, and I think thats pretty normal

[NancyL 0]

I had my first fill about 2 weeks ago and have not felt any restriction. My first fill was 1cc (my band is a 4cc-medium) I am going to call my Doctor and request another fill as soon as possible. I hear that it takes several fills to reach a good restriction. I pay $150 for fills without fluro.

[arkie 0]

Had my third fill yesterday, I feel different this time, feels like the food is staying higher in my stomach .

Is this an early sign that I might be about where I am suppose to be?

It also takes longer to drink Water than it did before the fill.

[BJean 16]

Hey, just jumping in without reading all the previous pages, but I just wanted to throw out a word or two of caution:

Please be careful about getting overfilled. You should not have trouble drinking water! And if you are feeling like your food is high up, you could be stretching your esophogus which is not good.

You should never have reflux! Please tell your doctor if you are having reflux. This is important!

I'm not trying to scare you, but when I was early in band-hood, I thought the more restriction the faster I'd lose weight. I thought that was what people here kept telling us we should expect. I thought you should never be hungry and that being really restricted would prevent that.

The fact is that I went for a couple of months with too much restriction and I actually gained weight. I was hungry all the time because I just couldn't eat enough real food.

You should be able to eat real food and keep it down. If you can only eat a couple of bites of food without getting that stuck pain, you're too restricted and eventually you will probably pay for it one way or another. And not in a good way.

Please do not ignore warning signs. The band is great if it is working FOR you. If it becomes something that causes damage, it is the opposite of great. Take your time and become friends with it and use it only as a tool. Don't expect it to take away all of your hunger and don't expect it to make the weight fall off faster than 1 to 2 lbs. per week.

[bgrand 0]

arkie when I got my last fill which was 1-30-08 I felt restriction with drinking Water. This stayed like that for a few days and then it stopped.

yours will probably stop also. My doctor was aware of this as everytime I

get a fill I have to stay untill the doctors thinks that it is okay with my swallowing

[arkie 0]

The tight feeling has settled down this morning thanks .

Maybe it was just becasue I had just gotten the fill?

[Tyme 2 shine 0]

Does erosion happen often? Do they replace it?

[biggestloser2be 0]

Hey, just jumping in without reading all the previous pages, but I just wanted to throw out a word or two of caution:

Please be careful about getting overfilled. You should not have trouble drinking water! And if you are feeling like your food is high up, you could be stretching your esophogus which is not good.

You should never have reflux! Please tell your doctor if you are having reflux. This is important!

I'm not trying to scare you, but when I was early in band-hood, I thought the more restriction the faster I'd lose weight. I thought that was what people here kept telling us we should expect. I thought you should never be hungry and that being really restricted would prevent that.

The fact is that I went for a couple of months with too much restriction and I actually gained weight. I was hungry all the time because I just couldn't eat enough real food.

You should be able to eat real food and keep it down. If you can only eat a couple of bites of food without getting that stuck pain, you're too restricted and eventually you will probably pay for it one way or another. And not in a good way.

Please do not ignore warning signs. The band is great if it is working FOR you. If it becomes something that causes damage, it is the opposite of great. Take your time and become friends with it and use it only as a tool. Don't expect it to take away all of your hunger and don't expect it to make the weight fall off faster than 1 to 2 lbs. per week.

BJean,

I totally agree with what you said above. I have read many post on this site and was thinking that I needed the restriction that most everyone talks about and that is where you can only take one or two bites and that is it. I have had three fills so far. After the second fill I was so tight I couldn't eat anything solid. I thought that I was suppose to be that tight. The tightness never loosened up. After 9 days I went back to the doctors and had a small unfill. Boy what a relief. I was able to eat solids but only a small portion. 2 weeks later it was my time to get another fill. I got the small amount .5cc put back in. I was able to drink the Water without any issues before I left the doctors office. But later that day I was so tight again that I was unable to eat anything. I waited over 2 weeks this time to see if it would loosen up but it didn't. Yesterday I went back to the doctors and got .3cc taken out. Again, what a relief. I am on liquids for 2 days so that my stomach can heal. I did take a small bite of grilled chicken today to see if I could swallow it without it getting stuck and me standing over the sick slimming. I was able to swallow it without any problems. I look forward to tomorrow when I can eat solids. I can even drink water without any issues today.

In saying all this, everything that you said in your post is very true. My doctor told me the same thing yesterday. So for anyone out there that thinks they need to be that restricted to lose weight faster it isn't wise. It is unhealthy and will only make you gain weight in the future because eventually you are going to want to eat solids and your stomach will store the extra calories because it thinks that you are starving it.

Thank you for posting what you did. I felt like I was the only one out there that felt that way.