2nd fill: on the verge of misery

[morningoasis811 1]

Thank god for this forum... because of reading these posts from everyone I know i'm not going to die and that I'll be ok.

Yesterday I had a fill of 2cc's in a 4 cc band. My previous fill in January was only 1 cc. I now have a total of 3. My doctor is usually very conservative. If I'm losing weight he doesn't fill. I didn't get one in February. Restriction was good, eating 1/2-1cup at a time, staying full decently, but last month I lost like only 3 pounds. He walked in to my appointment with the fill needle and said it's time. He put in 2cc's, sounded like a lot, a big jump for mister conservative... I hadn't really noticed a huge difference after the first fill... just a little and enough I guess.

The fill went fine, he loves my port, says I'm his favorite, he gets it the first time every time, it's a learning hostpital so I always have an audience... I was able to drink the Water fine so I was allowed to leave the office. I sipped on two Protein shakes all day, was feeling good and restricted, hungry under the band and tight on top.

Last night I way over did it though, I'm feeling really shameful and embarassed. I'm so used to being invincible to most bandster no no's, i never throw up, i've never been STUCK, no PB"s no sliming...I can eat lettuce and rice... I was totally testing myself and am now hating myself today.

I ate 2 cheezits and 3 potatoe chips when I got home from work... softened them up, swallowed with a sip of Water, all good. Then I had some creamed corn Soup, thinned out, all good. THEN, I blended up some of my husbands hormel chili with the corn soup... 1/2c down ok.

THEN, while I was cleaning the Kitchen at 10pm, I took two bites of the whole chilli to clean the spoon from the pot... OMG, I'm surprised i didn't hurl. It hurt and burned like nothing i'd ever felt before. I was weak, panting, sweating, slimiing, spitting into the sink. my husband was freaking out. I didn' twant to tell him it was because i ate chilli!!! It passed for the most part after about 20 min. But I had a horrible tummy ache after wards, I couldn't sip water to take my pills, i was up almost all night in pain.

This morning i'm feeling better, but wounded. I am very aware of my tightness, it's hard to sip water, feels like i'm swalling a cotton ball. trying to sip Protein slowly... I know that after surgery I had problems with inflamations, hence had to be re-admitted for de-hydration for 4 days. So i know this is normal for me. I'm kind of scared, but I know i just have to take it easy on myself, water and protein, no Soups, or other mushies for now. He advised I do liquid/mushy for two weeks with this fill... why am I so defiant?

Please share your experience, thank you all so much for being here, otherwise i'd feel so alone, probably would have gone to the ER or something...

I promise to take it easy today. I'll report back.

[losingjusme 12]

yikes! sounds like you are really swollen from your incident last night. give it another few hours and if you are still having issues, call your surgeon and tell him.

if no problems with Water / Clear liquids, stay on them for at least 24 hours and gradually increase the consistency.

good luck.

[morningoasis811 1]

losingjusme,

Thanks for the advice. I'm doing ok today on the Water and protien drink, i'm really thirsty though. I'll call my nurse practitioner this afternoon if the pain persists or if I still feel like i'm going to throw up after a decent swallow of water...

I'm definitly staying on the 2 week plan he set for me... I certainly learned my lesson... and I'll be cautious and aware to make sure I'm not too tight going forward after the damage from last night goes away...

[insideOutGrl 0]

Hey, i know what you mean...EXACTLY. Yesterday i got my second fill. My first fill was almost a month ago, so they gave me an aggressive 3.25cc fill in my 10cc band. I wasn't feeling as much restriction as i felt i should so i scheduled my second fill. This time i was given 2cc and was fine with the Water afterwards, heck i even ate a bit of cottage cheese later that afternoon, but something happened between then and dinner, because when i attempted a little egg salad, it hurt. Then even the liquids were hurting. I tried a little yogurt a while later, no go. More liquids...still that pressure. So i gave up for the night.

Now this morning i'm still feeling that tightness and i'm wondering whether, like you, i just get swollen after my fills or whether i am, indeed too tight.

Oh, i've since started avoiding spicy foods for that reason. I tried a bite of chicken curry after my first fill..like a day or two later, and it was misery!

At least i now know what "sliming" means! hahaha

Good luck, chica. As for me, i'm going to ATTEMPT to wait this out over the weekend and hope it's just a bit of swelling.

[AudricIan 0]

OMG, my story is like both of your stories. I waited 2 months in between my 1st and 2nd fill. The first fill was a breeze, could eat anything and a lot of it. 2 days ago i got my second fill and I think I could just die! I can't even drink cold Water until mid afternoon. I have had to totally change my eating schedule. I have warm tea at 10 am and that is a little rough going down. it loosens me up enough so I can have a small Protein Drink for lunch. dinner, forget dinner. I can't really eat anything. I had 1 bite of a sausage and it was stuck and burning for like 20 minutes. I had my dinner at 10pm tonight and it consisted of 1 single serving of special k that was super soggy. It took me 45 minutes to get that down and it was painful. So, I ask all of us....why do we do it when we know it is going to hurt and we shouldn't? I think it is becuase we just want to see if it will be as easy to eat as it was before this fill. Maybe in the back of our minds we think it just isn't working so we push it. I wonder. I know now that this is normal and we need to take it easy and just do the liquid thing for a while or we will irritate our stoma's and it will only get worse for us. This is to us, the dare devils who just like to push the limits:tt2::cursing::banghead: Have a good evening and better luck for all of us tomorrow!

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

Hopefully, your fills will loosen up for all of you.

AudricIan, it's not normal not to be able to eat dinner. Usually, if you are tight in the morning, it's loose by that time. If you don't loosen up in a few days, you should think about having a tiny bit taken out.

I was too tight for awhile, and it was miserable. I was afraid to have

any taken out, but I am sure glad I did. The tiniest unfill can make all the difference in the world.

[AudricIan 0]

Denise,

I am such a fighter that i don't want to have any taken out. I will just deal with it for a while to see if it gets better. I really think it will loosen up, apparently just losing weight loosens the band soooo, if I lose 10 lbs it should get looser, RIGHT???? I am going to give this fill an honest chance like I did the first fill. As long as I am hydrated and not vomitting I will tough it out. I am still getting in 800-1000 calories of whatever is easiest for me to get down be it milk or mushy special K. I have faith that it will be okay in due time. Thank you for your kind support and much needed advice.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

It should loosen up on it's own if you stay on liquids or mushies for a few days. I waited a month and it never did get looser. That's when I had the small unfill.

I hope yours gets looser for you. I know I am really lucky to only live

5 min from my dr.

I will be watching and waiting for your posts to hear how it's going!

[morningoasis811 1]

So I stayed on liquids all weekend. I'm definitly feeling better. Good restriction that's for sure, but nothing like that first day home. I think the swelling is all gone. I'm on liquids through Wednesday, then I'll move to mushies.

I swear, I was messed up for like 3 days after that fill. Couldn't take my pills, couldn't take anything for my headache i got from not eating anything, or for my belly ache. I finally got some sleep this weekend.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I've had that problem and I hate it. I have a lot of meds to take, and it's horrible to need to get them down, then wait with that golf ball feeling drinking Water, hoping it's going to go through.

I am lucky I still have liquid pain medication that I could take if I needed to and couldn't get pills down.

I hope your fill loosens a bit more and it gets easier for you. I can tell you that it's wonderful it is to have perfect restriction. It took me a year of getting fills, getting unfilled, waiting and getting another fill, to finally be able to say I am perfect right now.

[morningoasis811 1]

What does "perfect restriction" look like for you?

- How much volume can you eat at one sitting? (i.e. 1/2 cup)

- Do you count calories? Track food?

- How often do eat per day? Snacks?

-How long do you feel full for after meals?

That kind of stuff??? Thanks for sharing.

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

- How much volume can you eat at one sitting? I use my hand as sort of a measure. I stopped measuring my food. I eat a piece of meat that's about the size of my palm. My dr. wants us to eat 75% Protein and 25 % veggies and fruit. Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach. I will cut up the amount of meat I think I can eat, and I can't eat it all.

- Do you count calories? Track food? I used to be very religious about counting calories. Now, I eat so many of the same foods all the time, I can do it in my head without logging in. I used to use sparkpeople.com

- How often do eat per day? Snacks? I eat 3 meals a day, and usually an evening snack of some sort. Usually it's a sugar free fudgesicle.

-How long do you feel full for after meals? 3-4 hours, sometimes longer. Sometimes I actually forget that it's time to eat. In the evenings, it's definitely head hunger. I am not hungry, but I think I have a taste for something. I stay full from Breakfast but I know I have to eat lunch before I go to work or I will be hungry at work. I only work part time, in the afternoons. I work out every morning.

When I didn't have the right fill, I got full very fast but I was hungry again soon.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I am happy to help.

Edited March 19, 2008 by Oregondaisy