I've heard so many different takes on this, and know what my surgeon does... thought it would be interesting to gather all this information in one place.

With my first fills I had a local to numb me up but my last two fills I had no local and it did not hurt or did I hear anything. For me it was less painfull without the local.

290/176 goal

4-15-06

My first fill was April 27 without any numbing agent. No pain to to speak of. The PA put a band aid over the sight and sent me out to sit down and drink some water. As I was sitting I looked down to straighten my blouse and it was covered in blood. The PA came out an applied pressure until it stopped bleeding. She said it doesn't happen very often. Next time I'm wearing a black shirt instead of a pastel blue blouse.

I have had 2 fills and 1 unfill with Dr. Kuri, and he uses a little local, with a very fine needle that you can hardly feel, and then you don't really feel the big needle at all. It's just a little prick. I usually do get a little bit sore after the fact though.

I have to add... I was SO SCARED of my first fill. I hadn't found any chat forums and I didn't have a support group at the time, so I didn't have anyone else's take on it, and I just had these horrible visions of my stomach being sore like it was after surgery. The whole process took like 3 minutes, and I felt so dumb afterwards for being so scared, lol.

Maybe the whole point is how deep your port is. My port is deep the Dr. finds it under x-ray. I've seen the needle he uses and it is the size of a knitting needle. I can't imagine doing it without the lidocaine. The lidocaine barely pinches and then I don't feel a thing. The only thing that bothers me is the slight sucking feeling when he pulls the needle out.

yes, my first fill was today. 8 weeks out, due to scheduling issues. he used a local which did not hurt, but OMG :faint:

did he ever use the longest needle to stick in my port which is located just below my xyphoid process. Then he had me sit up and made me drink barium and shot xrays to watch the way it went thru the opening. He filled with 1 ml and then gave me another 1/2 ml and was happy with the way it flowed thru.

So i am on fluids for 48 hours and hope i get back on the wagon.

it is the size of a knitting needle

Are you serious? Are you referring to length or diameter? A knitting needle will cause a significant puncture. Our ports are designed to self-heal after small punctures, but a knitting needle is huge in comparison to the surface of the port. That would worry me.

I did my last fill without lidocaine and it was much better. Normally lidocaine isn't an issue for me, but it took a long time (I'm going to guess 15 - 20 seconds) before the "bee sting" went away, and I could feel it getting deeper & deeper in me. No thanks! Asked him to skip the lidocaine last time and for one, the physical pain was less than bee sting, and for two, he dropped it right in the port and was done with it, whereas with the lidocaine they have to advance so slowly...

So yeppers, found what works for me, and I'm a happy camper.

No deadener but I didn't feel a thing, didn't even know when he did it. (I don't look at things like that so I don't know what he even used). He did it with me standing up.

I get a numbing needle first, the doc waits about 5 min while he gets the barium for me to swallow. My doc does it under floroscopy so I get to watch the whole thing (VERY COOL) I can see/feel the tightening and when we agree it's a good restriction thats that.

The numbing needle is like a little bee sting doesn't hurt much, the only thing I feel is a little pressure when he reaches the port.

My Dr always uses the lidocaine first. I prefer that since my port appears to be slightly difficult to locate. He always has to "poke around" just a bit, but with the lidocaine, the pain is only minimal/tolerable. He also always uses flouroscopy.

My last fill last week went very quickly, was the smoothest so far.

I love this site, this is great help, no fills yet but now I know what o expect, thanks to all.