I have been reading Gen's "Emergency Un-fill?" blog at
http://ihearttheband.blogspot.com/ and I totally sympathise with her - I have just had a very unpleasant week myself following a fill. It's been almost 3 months since my last fill and I had lost very little weight and could eat almost anything, as well as feeling more hungry so it was time for a fill. Like Gen I live about 5 hours drive away from my surgeon's rooms so I usually try to work in a visit when I fly there for work. In case you don't know, I have already had one over fill episode at Easter this year when I had 0.5ml put in only to have to take 0.3 of it out again 5 days later after not being able to eat or drink (or even have any chocolate) over the Easter break. Since then I have only had 0.1ml put in at a time which has been fine.
You would have to wonder then, why the nurse and I agreed that she would put more in this time!! We must be mad! It was Thursday morning when I was at the clinic. When I described how hungry I was and what I had been eating she suggested a 0.2ml fill. I also asked her to check the total I had in there already (6.9ml) and also check for air as I had had some serious tightness and shoulder pain when flying due to air expanding at high altitude. She did find some air and because of that she suggested I have 0.3ml put in this time. Go for it I said - I couldn't wait to not be hungry all the time again. The water test was fine so I headed off. In fact all was well for the next 30 hours or so - definitely tighter but no problems drinking or eating small amounts - I even had dinner out with Maree which was great.
BUT by the next night (Friday night) things were starting to tighten up... I had to slow the drinking down but still able to get it down. Saturday was worse again... I could only sip drinks and any more than a couple of sips and it would start to back up... I did some lovely "decorating" and "watering" of a few gardens I was walking past during the day! I guess I should have tried to get an un-fill right then and there... before I flew home. But I figured I had been fine for a day and a half and perhaps I was just a bit inflamed/swollen and if I was careful I could just ride it out (and lose some weight in the process). WRONG!!!! What followed was 6 days of over-filled hell! It was taking me all day to get down a glass of water or a protein shake or a bit of soup. I felt full and nauseated all day and the gurgling noises I was making all the time were seriously embarrassing. My drain hole was well and truly blocked!
After seriously contemplating my own attempt to unfill my band with the syringe and needle I have for emergencies – I flew back to the clinic for an un-fill on Friday. Make that 2 un-fills actually. She took 0.2ml out at first but a couple of hours later I went back for the other 0.1ml to be taken out as well. She even suggested she should take out a bit more as I was probably inflamed… but I was not keen to be looser than I had been before this all started.
I have to say that first glass of water after the unfill was the best drink I have had in a long time. I was pretty dry by then obviously. The 4 kilos (8.5 lbs) I lost during the week was a bit artificial but I have managed to keep off 2 of them in the last 4 days since my unfill. My main problem now that all has settled down is that I am back to where I started before the fill… feeling hungry. What a drama! I think I’ll wait a couple of weeks now and then go back for a 0.1ml fill. I will NEVER get more than that at a time – EVER AGAIN! It just doesn’t work for me.
