third fill

[pieinsky]

i am one week away from my bandaversary! a few of weeks ago i scheduled my third fill. it has been awhile since i've felt any restriction. i am (unfortunately) able to eat anything i want--as much as i want any time. this, of course has resulted in weight gain. i got to within 4lbs of my goal weight before i gained 5lbs in one month! so i decided i'd better get my expanding butt back down to the occ before 5lbs became 20 lbs. or more! so when i showed up for my appointment--it didn't quite turn out as planned...turned out that the problem wasn't that my band wasn't tight enough. the problem was that i have already slightly stretched my pouch!!! the dr explained very thoroughly and patiently how stretching the pouch created by the band leads to slippage. i had (wrongly) thought that when the band slips, it slips up around the esophagus so it causes a stricture above the stomach preventing anything from reaching the stomach--hence the vomiting i kept reading about.

the dr explained that the band slips down around the pyloris--the exit region of the stomach. so it causes an outflow obstruction. if the band slips food can get into the stomach. it just can't travel down into the intestines for absorption.

if i had had the fill done without fluoroscopy, the dr would have never known that my band actually needed to be unfilled--rather then filled. he explained that loosening the band would allow the stretch to resolve and the pouch to shrink back down to the appropriate size. i had to go back on a liquid diet for a week and be more diligent about eating slowly and thoroughly chewing my food. well, i still don't feel any restriction. but, that third fill visit was a great wake-up call. it was soooo hard to hafta agree to getting even a small unfill. but, i am back on tract and just 2 lbs from my goal weight!

just wish i knew how to post pictures--i took one set of "before's" no after's....yet

thanx to the band i am on tract to reach my goal weight within one year.

oh yeah, and how do you add icons to a post??

[thesuse]

Good for you for getting back on track despite no restriction at all!

I really hope everything goes back to normal and you're able to get another fill soon.

I recently found out that I do have a partial slip, and I'm unfilled too. But I do still feel some restriction. Not sure what to make of that - although I also felt some restriction before my first fill, so maybe there's just something about my stomach that makes an unfilled band feel tighter on me than for most. I'm definitely hungrier and can eat more than when I had a good fill, but definitely less than preband.

Anyway, keep up the good work - and congrats on catching this situation before it turned into a slip!

Susan

[AngieB]

i am one week away from my bandaversary! a few of weeks ago i scheduled my third fill. it has been awhile since i've felt any restriction. i am (unfortunately) able to eat anything i want--as much as i want any time. this, of course has resulted in weight gain. i got to within 4lbs of my goal weight before i gained 5lbs in one month! so i decided i'd better get my expanding butt back down to the occ before 5lbs became 20 lbs. or more! so when i showed up for my appointment--it didn't quite turn out as planned...turned out that the problem wasn't that my band wasn't tight enough. the problem was that i have already slightly stretched my pouch!!! the dr explained very thoroughly and patiently how stretching the pouch created by the band leads to slippage. i had (wrongly) thought that when the band slips, it slips up around the esophagus so it causes a stricture above the stomach preventing anything from reaching the stomach--hence the vomiting i kept reading about.

the dr explained that the band slips down around the pyloris--the exit region of the stomach. so it causes an outflow obstruction. if the band slips food can get into the stomach. it just can't travel down into the intestines for absorption.

if i had had the fill done without fluoroscopy, the dr would have never known that my band actually needed to be unfilled--rather then filled. he explained that loosening the band would allow the stretch to resolve and the pouch to shrink back down to the appropriate size. i had to go back on a liquid diet for a week and be more diligent about eating slowly and thoroughly chewing my food. well, i still don't feel any restriction. but, that third fill visit was a great wake-up call. it was soooo hard to hafta agree to getting even a small unfill. but, i am back on tract and just 2 lbs from my goal weight!

just wish i knew how to post pictures--i took one set of "before's" no after's....yet

thanx to the band i am on tract to reach my goal weight within one year.

oh yeah, and how do you add icons to a post??

I am grateful for your post, thank you for sharing your challenge with us/me. It is great to be able to listen to the words and take them to heart in order to prevent a mishap of my own. I am getting ready for my 2nd fill, and I am very ready. I've been struggling with eating and don't feel much along the lines of restriction. I am not loosing weight at all. Which is a bummer deal.

Thank goodness, you caught this at an early stage. Take care of that band. I know it is difficult to take a step back, but at least you are banded and have the tool to use! Keep on keeping on!

[tootsie_lou]

WOW! Another good testimonial to taking care of the band--and getting fills with fluoro. Thanks for sharing!

(I think there are some instructions pinned to the top of the opening page of this forum on how to add pictures and other items to your signature--it is under Forum Policies and Technical Help)