a question for anyone who has been too tight (or close to it!)

i have a question for anyone who has been too tight, or anywhere close.  how do you know if you're so tight that you need an unfill?  and how do you know when to just wait it out? 

any input would be GREATLY appreciated!

thanks,
s

Hi Sarah....been there, done that.  It is hard to tell sometimes if you need an unfill.  It was my experience that when I had trouble even getting liquids to go down, and started having heartburn, that I needed an unfill.  That was a few months ago.  It made all the difference in the world.  I just last week thought I needed another unfill, but I really just discovered that I was eating too fast, so I calmed down, started eating slower, and things have gotten much better!

 
thank you!  i just don't know what to do.  i guess i'll wait a couple of days... i just had a fill this afternoon and it's VERY uncomfortable.  yesterday i could eat as much as i wanted, and today, just 0.5ccs later, i'm a mess!  i drank a little bit of warm milk this afternoon and threw it up just now, about five hours later.  ouch.  trying to stay calm and get through this...

thank you also for your sweet comment on my picture!  always great to hear such nice things when one is feeling down :)

best,
s

Yeah, if you just had the fill yesterday, you might give it a couple of days, to allow any swelling to go down, UNLESS you can't keep even liquids down.  Unfortunately, you have to be the judge on this.  We can all tell you what we did, or what we would do, but you have to decide for yourself.  If you threw up milk after 5 hours, that could definitely be an indicator that you are too tight.  And 1/2cc can be a big fill if your band was already semi snug.  My last fill was .3cc, and like I said earlier, I was struggling with it at first.  That was almost 4 weeks ago, and now I am fine.  When you drank the milk, could you feel it sitting up in your pouch, or do you think it came up from your stomach?

Heartburn and reflux on a continual basis are a major sign that you are too tight.  Also, if you are having trouble getting any food in for more than a couple of days, you should contact your doctor and discuss a possible slight unfill.  As always your doctor is the best person to make the call on whether to do an unfill or not.

If you are wondering, the couple of days things is just based on my experience.  I have irritated my stoma and had it last  one to two days - longer than that, and it may not be an irritated stoma issue so best to get it checked out.

Take care!

 thank you for the feedback... one question:  can heartburn and reflux be a sign of stoma irritation, and go away after a couple of days?  or are those simply a sign of being too tight -- things that won't go away?

by the way your new profile picture is gorgeous!

s

 

Yes, you can have the stoma irritated (swollen) and have a bit of reflux and heartburn that goes away after the stoma relaxes.  That is why I generally give it a day or two before I start panicking.  I actually keep a prescription of Prevacid on hand as a "just in case" thing.  I rarely everr take it, but I have it if I need it. 

Thanks for the compliment.  David took that shot of me right before we went out to dinner and a show.  It was one of the few sunny days we have had in Seattle this year - it has been a horrible summer for us!

Take care.

I had a fill last week Tuesday and by that evening I was miserable.  I couldn't even drink water.  I called the doctor and he told me to wait it out so I did.   In the morning I was okay and drank about 2 ounces of water.  What I didn't know was the water wasn't going through so everything I drank on top of that was just sitting there.  I vomited everything I took in.  If you can't even get down water you should call your doc.  If water is okay then give it a few days.  Needeless to say I had about 1/2 a cc of fluid removed and I feel much better.  Hope you are feeling better soon.

Being filled and unfilled until you get to that "Goldilocks" place is such an inexact science. I think I'm finally at that magical place, but it took a while to find it. It took me 3x twinking the fill level to get here, and I've even heard of some people needing more adjustments than that. Things like stress and even TOM cause my band to show its Mr. Hyde side. I'd say if you're continually uncomfortable and are unable to keep liquids down, definitely call your surgeon and talk it over. You'll get there someday!

Sarah,

I had trouble even getting liquids down between 9 pm and noon.

I had trouble even getting pureed food down the rest of the time.

I waited 1 week to call my surgeon about it, and then couldn't get in to see him for another week (because he was out of town when I called, and then I had to go on a business trip that couldn't be rescheduled), and those were 2 mighty miserable weeks.

Jean