No restriction yet?

Hi, I am a lap-band newbie....had my surgery 1/18....I have had 2 fills and I do not feel restriction yet.  I feel the restriction on the day of the fill (which i think is swelling)....but not after the first day....Dr. said that is normal after the first fill, but he assured me that he gave me a big fill and I would feel restricted after the 2nd....anyone else have this happen?  Do I just need a super big fill? I'm getting frustrated!

Beth if he assured you you would receive restriction after the 2nd or any fill he is LYING to you! Fills are a very individual thing. One person may get restriction after their 2nd fill............another may not get it after their 19th fill. One person may get restriction at 2cc's............another may not get it at 9cc's. There is just NO way of a Dr. to predict WHEN or IF a patient will get adequate restriction!

I have just had my 19th fill. There is a tiny bit of restriction. It is NOT restriction/green zone as Allergan advertises, and actually 20% of bandsters never reach restriction.

Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones though! However I feel it is very unethical of your Dr. to lie to you the way he did. If he lied to you about that.............what else would he lie to you about?

I know you'll get more responses on this. You will see that their experiences with fills will vary greatly.

Did you fully understand that it may take about 3-5 fills before your appetite is dimmed? Please remember this as long as you have your lap band.. IT IS NOT ABOUT RESTRICTION...but how quickly you get satisfied, and you will look for signals such as a hiccup, burp or sneeze these will be your soft stops to pull back from the table.

The lap band IS NOT DESIGNED TO STOP YOU FROM EATING...YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT CLEARLY...if you are SEEKING IT TO STOP YOU....you may be looking for a too tight fill level and you may join the RANKS OF MANY who've suffered band slippage and esophageal damage there are no ifs and butts about it.

Ideally when the band is properly restricted you will get that moment and stop eating, but apparently you are not there yet...and NO a super big fill is NOT the way to go, it will only cause you misery and band damage...you want to go slowly with your fills and YES it can get frustrating, but it is well worth the wait to have a properly filled band with little to no side effects...and if you go to fast you may never find your sweet spot....like many others complaining on this forum.

Remember to DO YOUR PART while you are waiting on your fill level by eating dense proteins first and veggies and drinking water that will fill you up quickly and exercising...IF YOU ARE DOING THOSE THINGS you may NOT NEED TO BE AS TIGHT AS YOU THINK....

here is a guide to help you ...it's a good read of how the band works and following the rules

http://www.laplose.com/Media/Forms/LapBandDietGuideNew.pdf

I have only had one fill and I will sayi don't know if I feel "restriction"' but I have trained my brain as to how much to eat at each meal and I do not find myself hungry for 5-6 hours. So I am very pleased with my band so far.

I'll let you know how long this lasts and if the weight continues to come off. I go for a second fill in a couple weeks.

It can take a while before you get a fill that will give you restriction.  What you are looking for is being able to eat 4-6 oz of lean protein and 1/2 of veggies/fruit and be satisfied with that.  It took me till I got to 9.8 ccs till I got to that point.  You just to be patient. 

I got 1/2cc on Friday making my band of over 2yrs. having 1/1/2cc in a 10 cc band. and got restriction the next day. Each person I guess is different also I found different types of food react differently..Yoday  being day 3 of fill and it was tighter at breakfast and luch and ate more at dinner...

I wish band manufacturers/Drs./band mills were honest and told patients before surgery that it's possible to not reach restriction for 1..........2...........3 years. Or even never reach it! Glad you have finally got it though!

You will never ever have the restriction.  Trust me!