Hi,

I am a week out and not filled yet, but wanted to share what my surgeon said about fills. He said, "I fill you until you have complete restriction, and can't even get water down, then I back off just a little bit." He said that this is full proof way and doesn't waste the patients time in finding the "sweet spot". In all my time here at LBT, I have never heard of this approach.

Does anyone else have a surgeon/doctor who fills this way?

Any thoughts?

On a related note, there is a poll for VG bandsters on this thread, asking how many ccs were needed for restriction:

23 percent said 4+ ccs

27 percent said 6+ ccs

37 percent said 8+ ccs

18 percent said 9+ ccs

Hmmm. I have read around here a bit and many first-time fills for VG bands are 4 to 4.6 ccs. Even then, people are saying they haven’t felt much restriction.

Either I am confused, or you guys are. LOL! The Vanguard band holds a max fill of 10 cc. Of that, I have 3 cc. The VG holds a max of about 10 cc of saline.

The 9.75 and 10 cm bands can hold a maximum of about 4cc of saline.

The 4cc band is the 10cm band. The larger, VG band, holds 10cc's

I believe the VG used to be used for high BMI patients, but my surgeon told me he uses them routinely now. I can’t remember why but he prefers the VG band.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong!

Hahahahahahahaha! I am ALWAYS confused, anyway! And, regardless of what size band I have and how much saline is in there, it ain't enough, cuz I'm still hungry!

Thanks for the fun debate. :scales: :huggie: :biggrin1:

I need to ask my doc how many cc's my band takes...my first fill he put in 1 cc...2 weeks later he withdrew .6....put in enough to make it 2cc's. Today, 2 weeks later, put in another .5....I had a liquid lunch and an omelet for supper. While making the omelet I ate some boiled ham....felt it going down harder than before. Tomorrow when I start regular food I hope I feel full quickly ! Today he filled me up to the point where drinking water made me feel "burpy"...he said I was completely obstructed at that point...he then removed some so I am now at 2.5ccs....he told me to be patient...easy to say, but it's been 9 weeks since my surgery and I was down 24 lbs but now am down 21 ! I fear failure. He says don't worry, I'll do well. ANY ADVICE?????

The VG band is completely different than the 4 cc band. I had a very long talk with my dr. about this.

My doc is the complete opposite, its taken me five fills to get to 2.5ml in my band.

I'm not sure that such an aggressive fill would have been for me. I've really needed to do this in stages and I see no reason to be one whisker tighter than I have to be. I didnt want to lose my 90lb in 2 months, and I didnt want to put up with the side effects of being tight.

But that doesnt make it wrong, it would suit a lot of people. But personally, I want to be able to eat the most food and the widest variety possible whilst remaining a stable weight (or whilst losing during my losing phase). That's the best way to get in all you need for good health.

I think your doc's way of doing it could save a lot of people a lot of frustration, but isnt there a strong belief out there that sneaking up on restriction gradually lowers risks of complications?