http://obesityhelp.com/magazine/nov06con.html

No Problem.

Lynn, try looking up fillcenterusa.com they are adding more locations all the time. A phone call will give you even more up-to-date information than the web site.

I just got my second fill from fillcenter and it was as tight as the first. Both times they filled untill Water would not go down, then took a little out till water was easy. Both times I requested the floro and barriun to check it and was very happy. Today is one week after my second fill and it is perfect if I follow the rules, chew, chew, chew.

Henry

How much weight have you lost since starting with Fill Centers USA?

First fill 361, about 30 day later with holiday eating 354 on Jan 2. 1.5 inches off of belt line. I was told to try to expect 1-2 pounds per week off as a goal. It is working, I eat anything, just not much and the hunger monster is almost gone, its now a pussycat that is easy to control. I carry a proten bar and if the pussycat starts to cry I feed it. It will spoil a dinner reservation but that what brown bags are for.

lol@pussycat

Hi Smatyas, I saw another location in California marked as "coming soon" on the FCU website...do you know what the new local will be? You're always so knowlegable about this. Thank you.

My Real Life

by Dusti Stratton

At eight years old I was a normal little girl who just wanted to play with my friends. However, I was already gaining more weight than the other kids my age. My mom noticed and began teaching me good eating habits and exercise plans, but I always found ways to cheat to get the food I wanted. That is when my fight with my weight began.

In tenth grade I became desperate and started doing hard drugs to lose weight. They would work while I was on them, but as soon as I would try to quit I would gain more than I had lost. Everyone around me was thin: my older sister, sisters-in-law, my mom, and all my friends. I envied them and wanted to look like them, so I ended up avoiding them. I tried everything to lose weight, but I would always end up cheating myself and going back to binging, which would make me even more depressed. When I got depressed, I would eat. When things went wrong, I would eat. In the meantime, I was gaining and gaining. So I started punishing myself for being so weak by cutting myself. I have permanent scars on my body as a harsh reminder of what I went through.

In an attempt to help, my parents sent me to a wilderness program. For 42 days I ate healthy, stayed clean from drugs and didn’t feel the need to punish myself. We also hiked every day. It was good for me, and when I returned home, I weighed 121 pounds.

In dealing with going back to school, the real world, and the same old temptations, I started eating a lot again. I was beginning to gain weight at a faster pace than ever, and within four months, I weighed 186 pounds. Kids at school started calling me horrible names like “Jenny Craig” or “piggy.” I would overhear my friends talking about how much weight I had gained, and it hurt. I started getting depressed about myself more every day. I would wear big sweatshirts even on hot days, and I quit doing my hair or caring about my looks. I stopped hanging out with anyone. I hated life and everything in it. I refused to leave my house, and, towards the end, even my room. When I left my room, I would keep a blanket wrapped around me. I would constantly eat more and more because I was depressed and unhappy. I lost all self-respect. I became distant from my family. I was failing all of my classes at school, so I would ditch and lie to my parents. My mom tried everything she could to help me but all it would do is make me more angry at her.

So my life continued until September of 2003, when my mom told me about the Lap-band procedure. She explained it would be a great tool to help me to lose my excess weight, but I would have to go to Mexico and have surgery. (At my age and because I wasn’t obese enough, I would not qualify for surgery in the USA.) She explained how a band would be placed around my stomach that would help me control what I could eat. I learned about the tube that leads to a port where doctors would adjust the tightness of the band and that I could always choose for myself the amount of restriction I would have. She explained all the facts but left the final decision up to me. After about two weeks and a lot of research on the Lap-band surgery, I was willingly on my way to Mexico. I was scared and unsure of how this would affect my life, but I knew it couldn’t be any worse than what it had been.

My parents and I entered a clean, modern hospital and met my surgeon. I was prepared for and underwent my surgery, which consisted of only five small incisions on my stomach. I remember waking up gagging because my body was not accustomed to what had been placed inside of me, but I received good care.

After coming back home, I was struggling with not knowing what to eat, how to eat or any other details for my future life with the band. I also needed someone in the USA to perform my adjustments. Realizing that I wasn’t the only one with these problems, my mom began developing a company designed to help banded patients like myself all over the nation with their aftercare.

Over the next couple of months I had to learn to eat smaller portions. I slowly learned what I could and could not eat. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I was losing weight and keeping it off, and that was a good enough for me. My life was starting to change. I was getting complements on how I looked. I started dressing like a teenager for the first time. I started to have pride in myself that had been missing for a long time.

My weight has remained steadily at 135 for almost a year. It has been almost three years since I first got the band; it was hard and took a lot of work but I did it. I am happy and I now have a great life. I enjoy a wonderful job and have regained my self-respect. I still have days I want to lose more weight and be skinnier, but at five feet six inches and 135 pounds I am average weight. In looking back, I believe I have been given a second chance at life because my mom cared enough about her daughter to do what she thought was the best thing for me—even if it meant risking my anger and maybe losing my love.

The band was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Because of it, even the hard times are not as difficult to get through. I have good health again, I have found how to be happy again, I’m close to my family again, but best of all I have learned to love myself again. I was headed for self-destruction, but the band allowed me to change that.

I still have to eat healthy and try not to cheat the band—and there are still some days I think I weigh too much and could lose more—but I’m learning to be happy with the way I look. I had wonderful family support and help. I love my band and how it has helped me get my life back. I don’t cry myself to sleep every night anymore—now I can think about other things and enjoy life.

A message for parents of overweight teens from Dusti and her mother:

Please don’t ignore warning signs. Your child doesn’t have to be obese for weight to make life a living hell. Chances are they will not talk about it with you because they are embarrassed and disgusted with themselves. They are cruel to you because they are angry at themselves. Rest assured they are suffering verbal abuse and other indignities at school and other social places because of their weight that they may not share with you. They will do anything it takes to lose that weight. All the wrong things are available to them at a very young age, and they are extremely vulnerable in their desperate state of mind. They will have access to everything from prescription drugs to the hardest of street drugs. Don’t fool yourself into thinking, “My child would never do that;” it is tempting to the best of kids when they are confused and desperate. They have no fear of what these fabricated methods of weight loss might do to their bodies or health. They will discover much too easily the drugs will make the hurt go away if only for a short, dangerous period of time.

Please don’t wait too long and let your child get to the point that Dusti had reached. First of all, you have to face the fact “My child needs help, NOW!” Don’t be afraid to step up and do what it takes to give your child hope.

--Dusti’s Mom

From a person that has been to the very bottom and was offered the help it took that saved my life: take action if you think your child is suffering because of his or her weight.

--Dusti

My fill was horrific. The "Fill Center USA" location (Tampa, FL) was in a nasty ratty strip mall in a ghetto area. When I pulled in I literally looked at the address twice to make sure I was in the right place. I decided to go in to see if it was clean inside (since I drove 2 hours to get there). It was an old place, did not really look clean...it looked kind of third world.

I was given three pages of information which basically said that they would not be held liable for anything going wrong during the fill. The thing is...had I read these three pages of negative statements before I had the surgery I probably never would have had it. It was very negative about the band, complications, and expectations. It was disturbing to say the least. I told the receptionist that I felt uncomfortable signing the papers because it referred to written information being given to me about possible complications when it had not been given to me. I admitted to him that I was very weary of the surroundings and told him it made me wonder about the sterility of the place. He stated that the nurse administering the fill was his Mom and that she was very clean. There were two other people in the waiting room so I asked them if either of them had been there before. One had and one had not - the one that had said that she hadn't had any bad experiences there. By this point I was in tears...I really didn't want to stay, but where else was I going to get a fill with fluro?

Ultimately, I stayed. I spoke to the nurse when she came in and she assured me everything was going to be ok. Once I was called back she couldn't really determine where my port was by hand. I literally said, "It's right here." I was glad that I had chosen to do the fluro because she could not find it. She numbed it slightly with some sprayable substance (I think it was lidocaine) and stuck the needle in. The initial needle prick wasn't bad, however, once she was in there she wasn't hitting the port. She proceeded to dig and scrape around inside trying to find the port. This went on for probably five minutes. Sweat started to roll down my back because it was making me very nervous. It hurt and at one point I think she might have scraped a portion that hasn't completely healed because I had to call out in pain, "It's hurting, IT'S HURTING!" By this point I was crying profusely and even said, "I think I made a big mistake! (Getting the band.)"

She took the needle out and said she would have to get a longer needle but that she would numb me up by injecting lidocaine in the area surrounding the port. I thought it would mean one additional shot, but she actually poked me several times all around my port. She was finally able to get it into the port after some more scraping around. At this point I must have been as white as a sheet because she kept asking me if I was ok. I just told her to please hurry. I was a mess - crying, sweating, and almost shaking.

When it was finally over she gave me a glass of Water to drink. She said she had put 2 cc's in, which she said was the max she could put in during an initial visit. I drank the water and felt no difference. She said, "Does it feel like it is going down slower?" I said, "No, it feels normal." She had me drink more and I still didn't feel any change. 2 cc's is a lot - I would think I would have been able to feel that immediately. I believe that with all of her scraping around she probably punctured my tubing. Why else would I feel no difference? I am very upset.

I took a picture (attached) because I am going to complain to Dr.Ortiz. Frankly I feel like I went to a butcher today. While her bedside manner seemed fine, she obviously doesn't know what she is doing. All of the poking and scraping were what made it horrendous. At this point I never want to have another fill again.

I hope that you all will have a much better experience than I did.

Dr. Curry uses fluro the first 2 or 3 times and then he hits it first time and takes about 10 seconds so I don't need fluro. He charges 150.00 and is Cinci, Ohio. 11 hour drive for me but he's worth it.

are there any fill centers in louisiana?

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Please don't get discouraged by this one incident. Getting a fill should be very easy and NOT painfull. I had my first one on March 8th and my second just this past Tuesday. My doctor has be lay back and then do a stomach crunch. She puts in the needle and I am to relax. The whole process takes just a couple of minutes.

I would suggest going to a doctor that performs the lap band procedure or at least going to someone in his/her office. I live in Connecticut and had my surgery done in Houston. I go to a doctor in NY for my fills.

Do you have any insurance? I was a self pay but my fills are being paid except for $115.00. The visit itself without insurance is $350.

The only way the band is going to work is if you keep up with your fills. Again, please don't let this one bad experience hinder what the band can do for you.

Stacy

My fill was horrific. The "Fill Center USA" location (Tampa, FL) was in a nasty ratty strip mall in a ghetto area. When I pulled in I literally looked at the address twice to make sure I was in the right place. I decided to go in to see if it was clean inside (since I drove 2 hours to get there). It was an old place, did not really look clean...it looked kind of third world.

I was given three pages of information which basically said that they would not be held liable for anything going wrong during the fill. The thing is...had I read these three pages of negative statements before I had the surgery I probably never would have had it. It was very negative about the band, complications, and expectations. It was disturbing to say the least. I told the receptionist that I felt uncomfortable signing the papers because it referred to written information being given to me about possible complications when it had not been given to me. I admitted to him that I was very weary of the surroundings and told him it made me wonder about the sterility of the place. He stated that the nurse administering the fill was his Mom and that she was very clean. There were two other people in the waiting room so I asked them if either of them had been there before. One had and one had not - the one that had said that she hadn't had any bad experiences there. By this point I was in tears...I really didn't want to stay, but where else was I going to get a fill with fluro?

Ultimately, I stayed. I spoke to the nurse when she came in and she assured me everything was going to be ok. Once I was called back she couldn't really determine where my port was by hand. I literally said, "It's right here." I was glad that I had chosen to do the fluro because she could not find it. She numbed it slightly with some sprayable substance (I think it was lidocaine) and stuck the needle in. The initial needle prick wasn't bad, however, once she was in there she wasn't hitting the port. She proceeded to dig and scrape around inside trying to find the port. This went on for probably five minutes. Sweat started to roll down my back because it was making me very nervous. It hurt and at one point I think she might have scraped a portion that hasn't completely healed because I had to call out in pain, "It's hurting, IT'S HURTING!" By this point I was crying profusely and even said, "I think I made a big mistake! (Getting the band.)"

She took the needle out and said she would have to get a longer needle but that she would numb me up by injecting lidocaine in the area surrounding the port. I thought it would mean one additional shot, but she actually poked me several times all around my port. She was finally able to get it into the port after some more scraping around. At this point I must have been as white as a sheet because she kept asking me if I was ok. I just told her to please hurry. I was a mess - crying, sweating, and almost shaking.

When it was finally over she gave me a glass of Water to drink. She said she had put 2 cc's in, which she said was the max she could put in during an initial visit. I drank the water and felt no difference. She said, "Does it feel like it is going down slower?" I said, "No, it feels normal." She had me drink more and I still didn't feel any change. 2 cc's is a lot - I would think I would have been able to feel that immediately. I believe that with all of her scraping around she probably punctured my tubing. Why else would I feel no difference? I am very upset.

I took a picture (attached) because I am going to complain to Dr.Ortiz. Frankly I feel like I went to a butcher today. While her bedside manner seemed fine, she obviously doesn't know what she is doing. All of the poking and scraping were what made it horrendous. At this point I never want to have another fill again.

I hope that you all will have a much better experience than I did.

Do you have any insurance? I was a self pay but my fills are being paid except for $115.00. The visit itself without insurance is $350.

The only way the band is going to work is if you keep up with your fills. Again, please don't let this one bad experience hinder what the band can do for you.

Stacy

Thanks, Stacy. I do have insurance, but was also a self-pay, so I am not sure if they would pay a portion of it. I will find out though - any little bit helps.

I know that most people have not had the type of experience I had today - by simply reading this board. However, I felt like I should tell others of my experience so that they weren't as naive as I was going into it. It helps me to be able to share things on this board.

:think

I live in the Kansas City area and am having trouble finding somewhere to get fills for no more than $100.00 I am selfpay and had to pay for my banding.

I was banded in MX Tried to find fill center instead of MX Anyone can you please advise. Many thanks in advance

:confused_smile:

I would do a google search for band doctors in your area, and the surrounding area. I would then start calling each one asking if they take outside patients for fills, and their prices.

Dr. Ponce is in GA, he is great but a little pricey.

Get going for your next fill. Also, make sure to find out their policy if you need to come in right away for an ufill.

Good luck, you deserve a caring fill doctor/nurse.

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