OK this is probably crazy but would it be possible to do one's own fills? Has anyone tried this? I'm to squeamish to poke myself with a needle but I know plenty of people inject themselves to deal with various medical conditions.

The lap band cost too much money and recovery & living with this device is not easy. Please DON'T mess with something like this if you are not a trained medical professional. You have worked hard to get to where you are now, and it is necessary to continue to work hard to get to the final results that you are seeking. There are many, many thinks that can and do go wrong with fills, please take care of your health, call your surgeon or another qualified provider for follow up care TODAY!!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/honest-32629/

NO NO NO I could never.

Under flouro, my fill professional has had to move my port over, to avoid tubing!! If that had been a blind fill (professional, or not) I could have needed another surgery to replace my tubing, if it had been stuck. NO HOME FILLS/UNFILLS HERE!! My band cost too much for my family to replace/fix it. Not to mention it is saving my life. I could never abuse it that way. IMHO...

There's a poll for this...WasABubbleButt posted the link here...

OK this is probably crazy but would it be possible to do one's own fills? Has anyone tried this? I'm to squeamish to poke myself with a needle but I know plenty of people inject themselves to deal with various medical conditions.

You'd be a fool to do that for a gazillion reasons. The biggest is risk of infection. Sterile technique does NOT mean alcohol and a sterile needle. You are risking losing your band for doing your own fills.

See the link I posted and read ALL of it. Not just the last few posts.

You'd be a fool to do that for a gazillion reasons. The biggest is risk of infection. Sterile technique does NOT mean alcohol and a sterile needle. You are risking losing your band for doing your own fills.

See the link I posted and read ALL of it. Not just the last few posts.

No I'd never do this myself (for all the reasons mentioned above) - I was just curious if others had done it.

Thanks for the link to your poll - I'm off to read the thread.

I would be terrified for soooo many reasons! What if I missed, or put too much in? I don't have a sterile environment, I don't have the courage! I don't think I could find the port. I will stick with my PA doing it for me. She knows what she is doing. I don't!

I am an OR nurse and could be easily trained to do fills but it was explained to me that there are a couple of reasons for not doing your own fill.

#1 You would have too much control...it would be too easy if you had an occasion coming up that you want to eat at..and just fill & unfill your band for your own convience, therfore counteracting the benefit of the band (taking control out of your hands)

#2 Let's say you do a fill on yourself and there is too much restriction and you cannot keep Water down and are possibly vomiting. You would be in no condition to do an unfill right at that moment even though it is needed for relief.

Post-op I had to be trained to give myself shots of Lovenox. It was not fun at all. I recently had my first fill (my surgeon did it) and there is no way on earth I would ever consider doing it. It hurt and it took the surgeon time to find the port and get in. He kept on slipping off. There is no way I would do it. As Jaiode mentioned I think I would fall into trap #2, overfilling myself.

As I said in the poll thread - I would do an unfill (or better yet, have my RN brother in law do it) .. Fill parties are just crazy and stupid in my opinion... not even for the fact of how much money spent on getting the band but more on the fact that there is not a sterile enviro and the risk of infection is too high.

WASA... you are soo correct in saying alcohol alone is not enough...

JMHO...

Amy

Honestly, after being too tight and desperate for an unfill I would attempt if I had the right "equiptment!" But, as everyone else has stated it is very dangerous. Did you know that more people have died this year from Staff infections than AIDS. Staff is really scary! My hubby works for a police department and several officers have gotten Staff infections this year. I don't know that much about it but I believe it is more common that people realize. Needless to say, I don't have a fear of needles, because my hubby is type 1 diabetic and has to inject himself about 5-7 times a day. When we started dating my fear of needles went out the window. So, fear of it hurting is not my reason for not doing it myself, but fear of infections is a good enough reason for me not to do it.