After a time, the band needs to be adjusted, even if you've found the sweet spot and had perfect restriction. Just like you need to adjust a belt as you lose weight, you need to adjust the band as your weight goes down. Sometimes the saline gets backed up into the port tubing, and sometimes it just evaporates partly. So it's totally normal to need a bit of a top-off once in awhile.
The Wednesday before Easter I went in to the bariatric center for a fill. He gave me another 1 cc of saline and sent me on my way. By that night, I knew I was in serious trouble! I couldn't eat a thing and couldn't even swallow water without it feeling like I was getting kicked in the chest by a horse. Not a pleasant feeling at all! I waited it out on Thursday, because it's normal to be extremely tight after an adjustment due to your stomach swelling. I was hoping that it would settle down and I'd be able to start eating. Wrong!
Friday morning was even worse. I couldn't even swallow my own spit without puking it back up. I lost 5 pounds in 2 days and was on the verge of dehydration. Not a good situation. Being a holiday weekend, I knew I had to get in for an unfill ASAP. I called the doc and he met me at the hospital, where he proceeded to take out .75 cc. I felt immediate relief, and actually felt all the liquid I'd drank since the fill drain from the pouch. Now that was a strange feeling!
The doc told me I would have to wait about four weeks to get another fill. He wanted any swelling to go down and didn't want me to go through this kind of thing again.
In May I headed back for yet another fill. This time, my doc was very cautious and only gave me half a cc. This was a much better strategy as it gave me good restriction but still allowed me to eat solid foods! I finally found my "sweet spot" and the weight started falling off. The first week I lost 8 pounds, consistently lost a pound or two a week, exactly like the doc wanted. Woohoo! Restriction land at last!
