Hello All,

I had my surgery on May 9th 2006. I have the Vanguard band. I went to my six week check up and lost 38 lbs . I have never felt any restriction:angry . The doctor gave me a 3cc fill. Still I do not have any restriction. Does it usually take some time for the fill to kick in:confused: ? My real question is that I am going again to get a check up / fill on July 20th. As I have to fly to the United States for this I am wondering, if the fill does not kick in when I get it , will it be good to stay a couple of extra days and then let the doctor give me another maybe on the 23 or so:confused: ? The reason is all the traveling and no restriction seems to be a waste of time. How soon after a fill is it safe to get another fill? By the way I have been hungry most of the day and refuse to cheat and eat something that I should not:D . Thanks for all feedback..

When you do the fill does ur doc have u drink water or anything to see how the fill is working?

MIne has me do the flouro with me drinking barium so that you can tell how the fill is working. and does the adjustments then.

my mother had gone back the same day and had more taken out or put in so i think it shouldnt be a problem.

might ask the doc..

you may just havent found your sweet spot yet honey...

When I had my first fill I had some restric. not a whole lot, I still could eat a whole plate of food. But since having my 2nd fill, I can only eat 1/3 to 1/4 of a plate of food, which I'm very happy about.:heh:

I've had 2 fills in my Vanguard band. The first was 1.5 cc's and it did nothing. The second was a week ago... 3 cc's for a total of 4.5 cc's and I FINALLY got restriction. You should feel "IT" with another fill but you're loss is wonderful.

tHANKS ALL FOR THE INFORMATION. i AM ALSO WONDERING HOW FAST YOU COULD GET ANOTHER FILL. tWO DAYS AFTER A FILL? pLEASE LET ME KNOW..

tHANKS

My doc won't do them closer than 4 weeks apart. If I were you, I would have my fill under fleuro to watch the flow through the stoma and that way you could see if you got enough fill.

My doc does them a month apart.

If its any consolation, I"m six months down and I STILL dont have good restriction. I've managed to lose a lot of weight though. But I cant keep it going, I've been very fill phobic but I really need another, which I'm having today.

I had a good level for a very short while, then all of a sudden I lost it.

tHANKS EVERYONE. i WILL HAVE MY NEXT FILL AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. tHIS SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY DRAWBACK i SEE FOR THE LAP BAND FOR WEIGHT LOSS IS THE FILLS. i JUST KEEP ON EATING ONLY ABOUT 750-900 CALORIES A DAY...i NEED TO GET A GOOD PUSH ON AS i GO TO CUBA IN A MONTH FOR 3 WEEKS VACATION...

I have the same band and was told by Don Mills at Allergan (formerly Inamed) that this band is usually filled to 5cc's at the initial placement which is what my surgeon did. I didn't get any restriction until over 7cc's.

I am now at 8cc's and can eat solids and lose weight. I am very close to goal but travel and am in lots of business and social situations in foreign countries and have to be able to EAT "normally".

I am not going to get another fill for a few months.

I have lost just under 70 pounds and am happy with my band which will be 2 years old the end of October. I wear a size 8 in J.Jill jeans too!

I still PB when I don't chew well or eat fast. Lately, I have had some personal stress in my life and have had a bunch of PB episodes which I NEVER had since banding.

Many surgeons are very conservative with fills and you can't change them. My team is very AGGRESSIVE with fills and my doc is banded himself!!

Hang in there. You will get restriction and all of our bodies react differently to fills and amounts of saline. The numbers game just means nothing by comparison. There are people who will lose 100 pounds at 5cc's in this band and other who will have to go to the full 10cc's according to my doctors!

This is a journey and not a race. Patience is really necessary and it is a lot of hard work to make the correct choices in what foods we eat. The band will not do it for you and only "help" you to control the portions and what you eat.

I will look for your future posts. You have lost a lot o weight in a short time. You deserve a http://www.lapbandtalk.com/images/smilies/clap2.gif I am jealous of your trip to Cuba. I am leaving for Spain next week.

Check out: www.nyuweightloss.org

Lots of great information about the band and this world famous team.

Thanks Moma for the words of wisdom and encouragement. It seems That I had 3cc put in and that was on about June 20th. I plan on the next fill on July 20th. I am really hoping I get some restriction on this one. I thank you for your kind comments on the weight loss but it has been a hard and hungry road. I have been watching evrything I eat. I drink a helluva a lot of Crystal Light these days. I want to lose about 25 more pounds before I travel on the 3rd of August to Cuba. I travel often also and I can feel the difference in the seats and seat belts on the plane. Before I would just not use the seat belts but now they are closing...Thanks once again and keepme posted on the trip to Spain. I will be in Barcelona on the 25 of July for business.

Tu habla espanol?

Besos

Habla Espanol un poco!

Estare en Barcelona por una semana. I'll be back in the USA before you leave though. I have flown the French & British Concorde ( last time was July 2002) and those seats were on the smaller side pre banding. My husband thought that it would be a problem for me but it wasn't at all. Now though I have to tighten the seat belt big time

I know that Paella will not work and will probably just stick to Tapas and Basque style fresh fish and always a un cristol de vino and no pan y mantequilla unless crusty but helado always works. I will hopefully not get "muy gordo".

I have been listening to some tapes but really need a course at Berlitz in French and Spanish. I have a large vocabulary in Spanish but can't put together sentences in the right tense etc. However, the Spaniards that I encounter are delighted with my trying and are pretty patient. My DH is fluent in French which doesn't help in Spain. I can do a mean lisp too. :bananajump:

I wouldn't count of losing as much weight as you want to prior to your trip to Cuba. You want to be able to eat and not have a problem with PB's and being to tight out of the country. Realistically, I wouldn't be in such a hurry cuz it just causes loose skin which I don't have since my journey has been soooooo slow. I am still on a few medications that have weight gain as side effects and increased appetite which sucks because of my age. The weight loss has decreased the dosage but not eliminated them from my life.

Hang in there. My team ( NYU) expects to see newly banded patients every month for the first year for weighing and fills. They feel that it is like a marriage in order to be successful. Check out the newletters on the site too because there are lots of tips for eating out etc.

I won't be posting for a few weeks. Good luck.

The fil takes place immediately. I also had the vanguard 4 weeks ago. I am down 23 pounds so far. I currently have 2.5cc's and feel no restriction. I am going to push my doc to add a lot on the next visit. Good luck to you. You're doing great! Keep it up