Hi All,

I'm a newbie scheduled for my first fill on Dec 12th.

I tried searching and reading for what a Flouroscopy actually is, however all I read is whether your Dr. uses one or not when you get a fill.

Someone mentioned that it's better to have one, because you get more accurate fills and you can see it going in or something on a screen???:help:

Please share your expereince and knowledge with me.

Thanks

Fluoroscopy is like a moving x-ray.

You stand in front of the machine and your doctor can see your stomach and your band to make sure everything is in place. He can have you drink either Water or that wonderful (yuck!) barium so he can see how things pass through.

No pain, no suffering other than the glorious taste of the barium-chalky. Heck, it doesn't even really touch you like the ultrasounds. You just stand in front of the machine.

It's not always easy to search for that topic on this board because everyone spells it differently!

My doctor typically doesn't use fluoroscopy because he said that he doesn't need it to find the port and he doesn't think it's that great of a predictor for when someone is overfilled. He said just because someone can swallow barium doesn't mean he or she can swallow food.

He's pretty conservative about fills and doesn't add much at one time. All of my after-care is included in the price I paid and I'll go in for monthly appointments. We'll decide together each time I go in if I'm ready for another fill. Anyway, he said he's only had to do about two or three unfills in all the years he's been doing band surgery.

I know there are strong opinions on this topic, usually a reflection of each person's surgeon's practices. I have no reason to doubt my surgeon but there are others who wouldn't get a fill without fluoroscopy. But what else is new? Our doctors have different views on out-patient vs. in-patient, pre-op and post-op diets, and fill schedules so why not differ on this as well?

I personally like have the fluros when I go get a fill, and the barium drink is not all that bad. Think vanilla flavored milk of magnisia. Its not as thick but super chalky if that makes sense. I think they come in different flavors and unflavored but my doc always uses the vanilla. The reason I like having the fluro is so I can get an update on how my band and port are doing and make sure everything is aok, not because it helps the doc find the port easier. My doc is really good at doing fills and hits the port on the first stick everytime. I know she could do it without the fluro cuz I had to have 2 emergency unfills without it. I guess it depends on how comfortable/knowledgable the doc is on doing the fills. But the fluro is just reassurance for me. That is my personal opinion on them. I agree with Longhorns doc in that it isn't a good predictor of being overfilled, since my last fill, barium went down fine but 2 days later nothing would go down, hense the 2 emergency unfills (long story).