I am so totally frustrated with this!!!

Ok, I had a fill of about 1cc or a tiny more on Monday. I got to eat today. Well, I drank a breakfast drink early around 6:30am and was totally starving by 11. I had a sweedish meatball Smart Ones for lunch with no problem and I wasn't full a bit but stopped because I was so busy with the kids at school. At dinner, we went to Frishes. I got a bowl of chicken noodle soup and it didn't phase me. I then ate a small sald of lettuce, cheese, bacon and cherry tomatos. Then I had about 4-5 bites of cottage cheese. OK, I THOUGHT WE WOULD ONLY BE ABLE TO EAT AROUND 4-5 BITES AT A MEAL!!!!!!!! I still wasn't full but desided to stop. I figure I ate about 3-1/2 cups of food. When I broke the pill in half last night and could feel it go through I thought maybe I was pretty tight. Should I call my dr. and tell him how much I can eat just after a fill? When I asked him Monday what to do if I was still hungry he said he didn't give fills until 6 weeks apart and didn't give them every few weeks. I am soooooo totally frustrated. down in the dumps cindy

Cindy, I read your message and had a couple of questions .... 1.) Is this your first fill? Many people don't get restriction until after the 2nd fill since the idea is to gradually get to the "sweet spot". 2.) Are you drinking with meals and/or 30 minutes before & after? If you are, the food is passing through the band without giving you the sense of being full. 3.) Do you have soup (liquid foods) with most meals? When you eat liquid foods like the chicken noodle soup, you probably won't feel restriction because these foods pass right through. Also, the idea behind the 6 weeks is for you to have time for the stomach to heal from the increased pressure of the band due to the fill. I think that doing it more often could be a bad idea and possibly cause problems down the road. Best wishes! Charles

HI Charles. I see you had the surgery three days after mine. As for the fill, it is my first. I made the mistake of a lousy dinner for my first few meals and I hope I have learned from it. Today for lunch I had two slices of turkey breast wrapped around a cheese stick. Then I had a tomato. I wasn't sure about the tomato but wanted it anyway. I didn't get dinner for a long time and around 5:00 started having some pretty good pains in my stomach and chest/shoulder again. I realized when my shoulder hurt that it was gas. I hadn't had that feeling since surgery. Then for supper I was going to get a grilled chicken bacon salad from McDonalds. I stopped first and got the girls some chicken at Burger King and thought I would try a cheese burger. I got a plain one and took it off the bun, lost most of the cheese. I didn't get to fini**** and won't be eating anything else for dinner either. I probably didn't take small enough bites but feel that I did chew well enough, but the pain in my stomach back up my throat was excrutiating. It would last about 15 secs. and then go away for about 5-10 secs. and then come back. I had to stop driving as the pain was too intense. That has been an 1/2 hour ago and I still have some discomfort. I have had problems with food getting stuck in my throat and that hurting but not in my stomach. this was when I could eat tons of food. Anyway, before with the throat problem when I tried to drink it would come back up, the water that is. But this time I took just a sip, worried what it would do. It hurt but then I felt it go down and it got a little better. I guess I might say that I can't do hamburger???? I'm not big on them anyways. I am finding this time more difficult to understand than any of the weeks before. I have a lot to learn. thanks for your support. cindy

I dunno who told you you'd only be able to eat 4 bites at a meal, but that's not realistic. I am 1 day shy of three months out and have had two fills and I can eat a 2-3 cups of food at at time. But it's all good, as long as I have followed the band rules I haven't been nearly as hungry as I was before surgery even though I don't have any "real" restriction. It took a while to get the idea of when I felt "enough" and that happens before feeling "full" which comes later if you stop in time. I still struggle with stopping at "full" that just leads to being uncomfortable later. You will be able to eat less when you get the band perfectly adjusted. I had lunch today in Louisville with the Kentuckiana Bandsters and there was a pretty big range in the amount people were able to eat. But we were all eating a lot less than before. Have you found a support group? Are you losing weight? Are you drinking with your meals? Are you getting in enough water? Are you following the basic rules? Those make a difference in how hungry you feel, believe me. Peace, Kristina 500/433/199

Two things I notice here: 1. You just had your first fill. If you are like 99.9% of the banded population, that means you still have no restriction. I had my first fill on 8/17 and just as I expected, I have no restriction. I didn't expect any. My research told me it takes 3-5 fills to get to the sweet spot. It was a nice step in the right direction though! I am much closer to the sweet spot than I was! 2. You're eating soft, mushy, liquidy foods that aren't going to fill you up. Breakfast drinks don't fill you up - neither do soups. Salads chew down to a small amount. You need to make sure you are eating solid proteins - first! Then, veggies, then a starch if there is room. You need to get into these habits now so that when you DO have restriction, you'll be well trained and the weight will start coming off. I've always said the time between surgery and acheiving restriction is, by far, the hardest. We've all been there (I am STILL there!). And hopefully your research informed you of this prior to surgery. It stinks for us, that part is true! But it won't be much longer now. Good luc****ep your chin up!

Oh, and I see we were banded the same day... so I can DEFINITELY relate. Where do you stand so far? It's tough, I know!