Just had my first fill. My surgeon has a nurse who typically does the fills but he always does the first one.

I have a 4cc band which he filled up completely then drained until I could drink Water to his liking.

I had some sort of vasovagal episode and kept teetering in the brink of blacking out for about 35 minutes after he drained most of the saline out. In the end, he only left .5cc. I was sweating, ears were ringing, room was spinning, had tunnel vision and everything. No good.

Is filling to capacity then draining saline standard procedure? This was a nightmare and I won't do it like this again. Should I insist that my next fill be a small .5cc fill without this "fill to capacity" nonsense?

My band is 14cc and my first fill started with 5cc but the NP drew out half of a cc when she didn't like the barium swallow rate. She drew it down to 4.5 and I swallowed again, and I could feel the difference. I've had no issues at all and will have my second fill in three days. I was scheduled for my second fill three weeks after my first, but I delayed it for my overseas vacation. Your experience sounds unusual but maybe others have had that episode. Are you certain the symptoms had nothing to do with seeing the needle? Good luck to you.

PS: mine is done with fluoroscope and I watched it go down. Did your doc use X-ray as well?

Edited May 27, 201412 yr by JustWatchMe

I do get squeamish around needles but seemed fine. The surgeon said it's fairly common if the band is too tight to get a vasovagal response.

He also said since I'm "fairly large" and have a small 4cc band, that it's like wearing "a tight pair of shoes" and I may not need much saline at all to get results.

I've never heard of doctors doing that 'filling to capacity and draining as needed' thing, but it's different for everyone.

Mine did 2cc out of 14cc to start my band off with, when I got my surgery. I've gotten fills in .5cc intervals when needed.

I was absolutely terrified of needles before I got my band in, now it's no big deal.