I have a large Vanguard band, 11cm, and can hold up to 13cc. I live now abroad. I have 2cc already, but I still can eat 2 whopper burgers without any problem at a time. I am constanly on regime, and still can not lose weight. I feel like my stema is wide open.

Filling is easy, mostly nurses and assistants do it. Mine was done by the doctor.

He lies you on the table, he carefully senses where the port is, and enters the needle to the port under the skin, till it hits the metal plate, and draws the saline to see how much there, and change the saline rezervoir in the injector with the new saline, and carefully injects the saline in. Everything lasts less than 5 min.

I can easly sense where the port is. Zero mistake, and can locate the middle of the port, no problem. I am used to injection. So what are the risk.

I know my needle is not allegran made, I believe my doctor also used an ordinary needle.

What do you guys think.

I'm sorry but if you routinely eat 2 whoppers or 6 oranges just because you can, then perhaps the band wont work that well for you whatever the level of fill. At some point in time, most bandsters do realise that the hard part of the task is still down to them, same as it was before the band.

Get your head around what you know you should be doing, and use your band as a helping hand, dont rely on your band to do the work for you. Its a subtle difference but it means you dont have to wait for the magic sweet spot - I've never hit that yet and I'm 13 months banded. And plateaus and a slow down in weight loss are normal and part of the journey, a plateau does not automatically require a big fill. Patience is a virtue, you didnt get this way overnight and you wont lose it all overnight either. Slow and steady wins the race.

I just cant believe you'd take the risk of doing some damage there, please think really hard about ever doing that again.

Dear Jachut,

My point was I could eat 2 whoppers at a time, and I could feel they go down right away without staying in the pouch. Normally When I eat, say , half of a hamburger, I get a signal, it is enough, but if I keep going, nothing stays in the pouch. I do not drink anything. This is not how the band should behave or is designed to do. Yes I dont have a large appetite, but if I keep eating, nothing is in between, even if I eat solid food, chewed well, it goes down quickly----> I am wide open. Luckily I stop eating at the first signal, and lost 15kg in two months. I can live with this, but there is still something wrong, it is too wide open. But I am still losing weight, but slowly, following basic guidelines for healthy eating. Last two months I only ate twice fast food, do not get me wrong.

I used the following guideline for self fill, am I going to do it, Yes I think so.

It is easy as a-b-c. I should wait 2-3 weeks to feel the adjustment.:confused:

http://www.allerganandinamed.com/pdf/health/94800-12_LB_Product_Data_Sheet.pdf

page 20

But I am still losing weight

This stood out to me. You are still losing weight. Why are you filling your own band if you are losing?

Because I am still wide open, last month I panicked, hit a plataeu, stayed around 105kg too long, eventhough I was eating less than half and making healthy food choices I was not losing. Luckily last week I started losing again, now I am under 102 at the digital scale. I am hoping to lose 3-4 kgs a month on the average. Since I am wide open, I have to force myself to diet, which is very hard.

The only benefit I get from the band is that I get a full feeling pretty quick, and I can stop if I am in good mood. Overall I am pleased with the experience, and have not had any difficulties. I never vomitted, as long as I dont drink Water and chew well, I never felt like. I had diffuculty with cold steak, hurt quite bit, but went down less than a minute.

I honestly don't know what to think. You say you are "wide open", then that you "feel full quickly". Maybe you are expecting a bit much from your band?

I wish you the best of luck.

At some point in time, hard as it is to hear, YOU are responsible for what you lose, not your band. It really does take some time to get your head around that, but if your band is giving you the full signal quite quickly then its doing what it should, you just need to listen to it.

I can eat past "full" too and lets face it, we all have dysfunctional eating behaviours or we wouldnt be here, so dont think I"m preaching. But you need to get a handle on that, and modify your behaviour, and work out with your doctor if you need more fill, not top yourself up.

It is not so diffucult to understand. There are nerves in the pouch. If they are triggered, they send signals to the brain that yau have eaten enough up to the upper stomac. Not a sense of fullness, but sort of you have eaten well. I usually stop at the first plate, which is highly rich in proteins. I also drink geen tea, in the evenings, which decreases my apetite.I usually eat read meat, well boiled in the water and stay away all kind of sweet stuff, except fruits.

I want that new band......

You must be his inspiration, what can I say. I was talking about an average Joe.

I am not an avarage Joe either. I lost 30 pounds in two months, and 50 more pounds to go (BMI 25 is the target). If I had a 4cc band, I would not even consider filling it. I just ate 6 oranges and two apples , all of them went down without discomfort even if I have 5cc in my band. Go figure. Maybe my body is different.

Even before banding I don't think I could have eaten six oranges and 2 apples. Or two whoppers with cheese.

I have the larger band also and I'm losing fine.

I wish you the best. And I hope you haven't damaged your port.

The idea of giving myself a fill freaks me completely out.

I am pretty sure I did not damage the port or the tube. The tube is far away from the port, the only risk I was taking was a leaking port because I was using a standard needle, not a non-core one. Since the port is self sealant I thought the risk was minimal, since I didnt poke around.

Some practionaries may poke around, or the port may be tilted or flipped around, or down below the muscle tissue, then it is really hard to fill it.

There was no blood, or burning sensation, i applied some force to inject, I intended to fill in 4cc, but it thought it was too much, so I had to stop at 2.5cc. I didnt want to use the needle the second time, because of port infection risk.

I will try another fill after 2 weeks, this time by 1cc only, because I still feel I am not properly restricted. If I dont stop at the first plate, I can keep eating as much as before, though I am usually satisfied at the first plate, which is mainly a Protein meal.

I wish you the best, I still think what you are doing is way too risky. But it's of course your choice.

I will point out that the tubing is connected to the port, and there have been cases where it has been punctured.

Pick me!! I had to have my tubing and port REPLACED because the tubing was punctured by a needle......... and that was with a professional doing my fills!

I examined the port and the tube, before the operation, the assistant doc showed me how it operated when he injected saline in the port, then unfilled the port. No rocket science. It was a sample band, to educate the patients.

He had different brands to choose, then I chose the Inamed brand, but I was not properly educated about how large it was. I would choose 4cc band over 10cc, because 10 cc band was intented to be used for fatter stomacs. I dont have a fat stomac for sure, I had a BMI 38, otherwise I would feel some restriction. My other friend with VG band can not eat more than one plate at a time, and he was a lot fatter than I was. I believe the doc could use a smaller band for me, but he never uses them.

Yes Lisah they can also puncure the tube, but it was not possible for me because I can almost see where the port is, there was no need to poke around.

I dont know if a port can be punctured that easy because it is hard shelled, but the tube can be puncured if someone is not very careful, and and if the tube is especially too close the port.