I've read all the stuff about what to expect with getting a fill, as far as the general gist of what will happen, but from a patient's perspective, what should I expect? Does it hurt? How will I feel afterward? How long until I feel some restriction? (I know that one varies for everyone, but I guess I'd just like an idea of what to expect.)

I made a trip report with pics of how my first and so far only fill went feel free to have a look

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6pwwz/id18.html

Goodluck!

A fill doesn't hurt if your doc knows what s/he's doing. The needle looks worse than it actually feels. It's no worse than a pinprick. I think I can feel something when the band fills with the added Fluid, but it's just a very fleeting odd sensation - not at all painful.

My stomach and port felt a bit tender for about the first 12 hours, but it's not bad enough to limit your activities or anything. I went grocery shopping on the way home from my 2nd fill, just so you know you're not going to be laid up like after surgery.

All of my fills have been done without fluoro, so your experience will probabyl be different if your doc uses fluoro.

1st fill was 1 cc and I didn't really feel restricted. But I lost 10 pounds (including 5 lbs I had regained from the liquid diet loss while waiting for my fill), so it must have made some difference in my food intake that wasn't dramatic enough for me to notice.

2nd fill was another 1 cc one, bringing me up to 2 ccs total, and I suddenly felt a significant amount of restriction (i.e., feeling full on a few bites of Protein, exactly the feeling we're looking for). That was just right for a long time.

My band loosened up recently (probably on account of losing fat around my stomach as I lost weight), so I just had another fill on 12/22 to bring me up to 2.5 ccs. Now I'm once again at the right level of restriction.

I believe in erring on the side of too loose with a fill rather than risking going too tight. You don't want to have vomiting or reflux and have to get some fluid taken out.

Everyone is different, so your first fill may be very restricting or you might not feel anything at all. Good luck.

By the way, leo, those photos on your webpage are very interesting. Makes the account seem more real. Especially the x-ray pics. I hope I never have reason to have to look at my pouch on x-ray (since my doc doesn't use fluoro for fills it would mean there was a problem if I did have to get an x-ray!), so it's cool to see what a real live pouch looks like.

Glad that things went smoothly for you.