What is your secret? Why don't you ever slime or PB?

I'm an experienced bandster...over 2 years now.  Just curious, for those that claim never sliming or having a pb, what is the trick?

I can be so aware of what I'm eating, how I'm eating and how I'm chewing so carefully and still get food stuck and end up sliming.  I try to take a sip of lukewarm water in the a.m. to take my morning thyroid pill and I have gotten that teeny tiny sip of water stuck.

Seeing the doc next week for possible slight unfill.....but I'm curious...how does a person never have a slime incident?  Loose restriction? 

I'm curious about this too, since I have NO restriction - Doc put in an empty band and I've not had a fill yet - and I still slime sometimes.  I'm pretty careful about what I eat and how I chew as well.

 The surgeon said to me during my 1st and most recent fill that my stomach (and everyone else) is a living breathing organ that changes during the day, week and month.  All we can do is trial and error and care and keep working figuring this out.

People are different-some dont slime or PB easily others really easily.

Some people PB or slime once and then learn how to change what they do/eat and don't have a problem again

Some people are too tight and the pb and sliming becomes a cycle over and over

Some people are tight during the day and looser at night (thus pb and slime is easy am but then they can eat like a horse pm)

Unfortunately as much as we talk about steps and the right thing to do everyone is going to be different and you have to become 'one with your band' and figure out its quirks.  

Do you need to take it easy during the day? but have a decent meal at night?-if this than leave the fill but take care or eat soft during the day.
Do you need to eat normal during the day but be really careful with night foods because you can eat more? if this then unfill
Do you need to stay away form bread? crackers? dry stuff? wet stuff? salads? etc.
Is your fill not enough or too full?  Do you need to wait out a hormone flux and it will get better tomorrow?

I dont know.  For me-your fill sounds too tight.  for you it might be just right.

but I am just a newbie who has a doc with advice.  I might be the worst pb-slimer on the planet come my next fill!!!

What do you think??

No restriction. That's my trick   

I can tell my band is there and I feel full quicker but I've never had restriction (2.5cc's in a 10cc band) so I've never slimed, PB'ed or been stuck.

I'm 5 mths out, and have gotten stuck once, couldn't PB and didn't slime. I'm not really sure if i understand what "slime" really is. I guess it's one of those things that if you have had you know, and if not you don't. The one time i got stuck, it was very uncomfortable, kinda painful, but it went away. I felt like i needed to get it back up, but wasn't able to. Therefore i got swollen and had to stick to mushies for 24 hrs, and still soft food the next day. Hot coffee helped the most. But i felt mostly kinda sick.
It hasn't happened again, thank goodness. I don't have a lot of restriction, (5cc's in 10cc band) can eat anything. I work hard to eat the right things in moderate proportions. 3 meals a day and rarely snack. Sometimes i feel like i should get another fill (self pay here, so can't always afford it) then other times, i feel like i'm doing ok and can get alone without a fill.  I can eat without having to take really small bites, but do eat much slower then preband and chew throughly.

Hi Karen - I agree with Tina on this one the stomach  is a living organ that reacts to everything.  Being three years out now and having gone through gall bladder disease, cancer and a pregnancy I know that there are times I just could not eat so I lived on liquid protein even for months at a time because I would get so swollen (without a fill even).  What I used to tell my patients as an advocate was that each meal had to be entered into like it was your first -they are all a new experience.  Each bite has to be chewed well and the meal itself has to have no stress surrounding or that stress can cause your stomach to swell too.  I do think from what I have read lately that you are just too tight especially since you are still experiencing that night reflux occasionally.  That should not be happening at all and is a sign of  a band being too tight.  Keeping a band too tight can lead to serious complications and even erosion so hopefully your surgeon will take some out soon.  I take numerous pills daily and I have no problems with them going down or sliming.  When are you going to the Dr?

The one thing I have also learned is that being experienced does not mean we know what we are doing, LOL.  A few months ago I went to dinner with my family and ended up throwing it all up because I didn't chew enough.  Now, I am experienced but damn I can be an idiot sometimes...ugh.  So, I sat myself down with tears in my eyes and I forced myself to cut up tiny little baby bites and I made it through that meal. I will never claim that I have not PBed or slimed, I claim to be human and therefore I err...ugh.

I don't actually have the night reflux...fortunately, I've never had that.  Maybe someone else you're thinking of?   But either way...I'm headed to the doctor next Wednesday.  I was losing much better without the last 2 fills which were only .1cc anyway..but I guess that makes a big difference.

I'm taking things easy since my stuck/slime episode last night as I can feel major swelling and will hopefully not have any further issues.

I react to stress big time.  Meals are hard at home if the kids start acting up or I'm interrupted several times.  I don't want any problems so hopefully a little out will start the weight loss ball rolling again....I've been 1 year without any weight loss no matter what I do.  Very frustrating.


Thanks to everyone *****plied!  I appreciate your thoughts.

I think it's partly because we say take small bites but what's small to you may not be small to me. I find I have to take literally pea sized bites and then chew till liquidy in my mouth and eat very slowly by putting my fork down in between bites. This is the only way I can avoid "unpleasantness". The minute I get slack and try too big a bite or don't chew quite long enough BAM, I get a payback!

I think it's the luck of the draw.  I've never slimed or PB'd but, like everybody, I've occasionally overeaten.  That makes me feel yucky, but I don't regurgitate.  I also stop eating at the first sign of discomfort and wait for it to pass, but I still think I'm just lucky. 

It also probably helps that my doc and fill nurse are extremely careful about avoiding excessively tight bands.  The fills are conservative (it took a year for me to feel the "sweet spot"), which is frustrating, but ultimately should produce less side effects and complications like erosion.  My doc boasts that he has never had an erosion -- and he's done more than 1000 bands.

I haven't ever slimed or PB'd but I've most definitely gotten "stuck".  Just not bad enough for my body to react to it.  The only things I've come close to losing is yogurt and applesauce eaten too fast.  I don't have ful restriction yet and only started getting the stuck pain since my 2nd fill..but I have a friend almost at the same restriction level who has been slming and PBing from the beginning.  Guess like the other guy said...luck of the draw!