Been banded for ten years now and due to being banded out of the country(Mexico) no one will touch me. For the first five yrs I had a great fill Dr in Chicago but he stopped doing fills.I live in Mo. and after four years of no fills I needed one. After sooooooooooooo much frustration dealing w/an inexperienced Dr. doing my fill and band slippage I decided to do it myself. Luckily I was able to "borrow" a fill needle set on my last visit, went to walgreens and picked up spray saline/sodium chloride..I will be doing my own fill and will keep you posted on how it goes......if anyone else does self fills please e-me @ lynnetterjohnson@yahoo.com

Lynnette,

If you are a medical professional like myself, you can do your own fills but the preferred method is having another medical professional do it for you. Theres no reason for al the slander you are getting from everyone & actually I find it extremely immature. We are all adults on this site & if we don't agree with what you are doing then no one needs to reply, I mean really people???!!!

After all you are going to do what you want to do anyway. Having said that, please please please make sure you re-sterilize that needle each & every time you use it. You can boil the needle for a good 5 mins then let it air dry on a clean surface(wiped with alcohol is good NO BLEACH).

I wish you didn't have to do this & I wish you the best. Understand if you don't use sterile technique you can get your port infected which can run up your tubing & eventually get to your band itself so please proceed with extreme caution. I know people who got banded in Mexico & what they have had to do is basically lie telling the new doctor that the one who originally did it is no longer doing it or is not available for your schedule. I'm not condoning lieing or stealing or self-medicating but I do understand its going to happen. Good luck!!

can I just say, HOLY MOTHER OF STOLEN NEEDLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am also well, speechless??? there are soo many folks getting bands overseas, I cant imagine there is no one who will touch you....I know there are fill centers around, but have you discussed this with your primary?? and umm...you stole A needle...are you using that ONE needle multiple times???? I am down about 150 lbs since I've had my band about a yr and a half ago, and I could not have done this without ongoing support of my practice......I seriously ask you to consider doing some more research, and find someone around that you can go to and talk to....the band is getting soo much more popular, I'm sure there must be some place you can go to.....

Erosion & band slippage DO NOT occur or have anything to do with fills. Just thought I'd correct this in case someone else read this & believed it.

Unfortunately the reason surgeons here in the USA don't want to touch patients banded in Mexico is because off the liability. Once they take you as a patient & do a "simple fill" not knowing how the original surgeon implanted the band, if it's sewed in or not, where the catheter is placed or port is facing, he is responsible for ANY damage done to your entire band therefore liable for the costs to replace it. No primary physician unless a bariatric one is really willing to do fills or touch the band.

I figured some people needed to know this before continuing acting so Darmstadt astonished & surprised lol.

Erosion and slippage may not have anything to do fills but it is possible for an infection at the port site to be a sign of erosion. Also infections at the port site can travel up the tubing to the band and cause major problem.

How can erosion and slippage NOT have to do w/ fills??? So what exactly happens when you overfill?? I mean, besides the obvious discomfort, if your band is too tight it is the main reason for erosion, and the gag factor that would be increased with an overfill, causes the stomach to contract, and absolutely can cause slippage....

I understand the need to vent, and no one should be judged...not judging the person, just the rather irresponsible actions.....the reason something does need to be said, is because there are newbies out here, who may be newly banded, or looking to be banded, or just struggling, and perhaps having issues of feelings of failure and having difficulty facing their surgeons (perhaps due to weight gain) who may read this (and not be a medical professional) and say, "hmmm....I could do that..." and so it goes, and it probably isnt going to be good.....

there are a *LOT* of us who have had our bands for some time, and are having great, safe, success with it, and at least for me, that is because of follow up, and a great practice. We need to let folks know, that this *is* possible....but so much more possible if you make sure to get a great, accessible team....

so this whole thread is a great argument for well, not getting this done abroad....sometimes, apparently, you do get what you pay for,...

old thread, but I have some thoughts about it today......

I do not think self-filling is a good idea for all the reasons others have stated. One thing that does not make sense to me is the mention of filling other patients. I don't know how the medical field works, but I do know in dental (me), I have to hold a license to give injections. If someone were to fill thier friend or family member and that person gets an infection, I would think they are setting themselves up for a charge of practicing medicine without a license. That could mean prison time and fines and more ....

I would think it would be worth going to and paying for someone who knows what they are doing and has the proper liability insurance.

As a nurse, I agree with most of the comments on here. I wouldn't even consider a self fill. I'm not a mechanic, so I wouldn't take my engine apart because it was too expensive at the local garage. Personally, the financial end of this surgery was something that I had to truly consider. I understood the full impact before I had the surgery.

#1) You are at HUGE risks of infection. I've seen and taken care of patients who start out with a little infection and then it goes septic. People die from this. I can't stress that enough.

#2) There ARE people who go to Mexico still to this day and get fills here in the US. You need to do further research and not take the easy way out. You are NOT A TRAINED or QUALIFIED person to do such a thing.

#3) I would love to see the qualifications/training of the nurse who is doing "fill parties". Sounds irrisponsible and unprofessional and not within the scope of her practice to be doing such a thing. If it were, there would be more nurses doing it and she should be careful that her nursing license isn't in jeopardy.

#4) Overfilling. You CAN overfill your band, cause further erosion and major complication!

I cannot implore you enough to look at other options. I will pray that you find a better solution because I think if you do enough research you will find one. Please don't put your life in jeopardy by doing this.