kbattal

Charlene I just meant with 4cc band you get a good restriction faster, and lose weight faster, on the average 3 fills. Can you understand the graph I sent. But I am sure You would not lose half of what You lost till now,if you had a VG band, I wish you had it, you would understand. Follow the treads by fellow VG banders, how hard they are loosing weight.

Your comparison with 4cc band and vanguard band was pretty wrong, and you accused me I was wrong. Yes my English is not good but I can read a written article and understand it. I have a VG band and I just ate 6 oranges in 15 minutes. Is it possible with 4cc band. Get your facts. Noone is stupid here. None of you blamed the doctor. Do you think he is doing a good job. My port is just sticking out. Noway I could miss it. I will fill it again, after 2 weeks, till I get some restriction. Have a nice day

You guys are really mean and prejudiced.. The same question was asked in other thread,more politically, noone was too negative. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/self-fills-t24088.html?t=24088&highlight=port+infection

Charlene, look at the following chart. Only when VG band is filled at least 5cc of saline, the stoma size is same as the other Inamed bands without any fill. Even you fill 10cc,its nominal size, stoma is wider than the other bands that are full, thats why they fill upto 13cc, if required.

I am really frustrated with this large VG band, still I can eat everything and as much as possible. As long as I chew the meal well, it goes down the lower stomac right away, and doesnt stay in the pouch. My weight loss stopped in the last month. I eat less than half of what I used to eat, still i can not lose a pound. I dont like anything sweet, or bread, biscuits so I am on a healthy diet. I tell all these to the doctor, he says 2cc is good for you, because he has a policy, a rule, and it is for eveyone the same. No matter band he uses, or whoever he or she is. He usally uses the Swedish band. I told him in the Inamed manual that he gave me, it is written that for vanguard you can put 4cc in the first fill, still he said no. His policy is 2cc. I called him yesterday that I need a larger fill, he said i should come after 4 month. So I took the needle, found the port easily, and filled 3cc, totalling 5cc. I could not find a huber needle in the pharmacies, I did not think this would be a problem, the port is self sealant. It could tolareate a larger needle, though there was a chance of ripping self-sealant, the needle was so thin, I took the risk. I do not need a fluoro. I know how fast everything goes down. Mine is wide open. In the next control, the doctor draws all the Fluid out to see how much there, and puts back in. My guess is 4.5 cc. Then I will know everything went well. If I had a choice I would choose Inamed 10cm, 4cc band. It is like VG band with 4cc already in. There are references to this in the site. After a couple of fills you hit the sweet spot. With this band I have to wait 6-7 months to start really losing. Anyway, I will let you know, If there was any damage to the port, I sure dont think so.

I think I was right on the target. The port is just under my skin, I put a metal coin around it, I arranged myself so that port was leveled, and once I inserted the needle perpendicularly, it stopped, and I injected 3cc. That is it. No rocket science. I do not recommend to this everyone. It is too risky, you can damage the tube, or port. I used ordinary needle not Huber. I did this because I dont like the doctors fill policy. He is too conservative, and too arrogant. I have no other doctor to go at 500 miles radius. I put in 3cc, and there was 2cc that was put in by the doctor so I have 5cc in my band, but still I can gulp Water. Next time I will try to find a better doctor. I have a super whopper sized VG band, 11cm, I already put 5cc in it but this amount is still has less resctrictive than the 9.75 cm band with no saline in it. Look at the allegran site to see it. Outside the USA, doctors use larger bands, and I am not happy with it. I would prefer 9.75 cm or a Swedish band.

:confused:I actually did it 5 minutes ago. The needle penetrated about 1,5 cm perpendicularly, and when stopped, and I injected 3cc saline. I drank half liter water, with no problem in seconds, took a breath and drank another half of liter less tan 30 seconds. Still no problem. If I was on target, there should be 5cc in the band. I will try after an hour if I see any difference.

I paid 65 dollars for the needle. Why is Inamed needle soexpensive, or the doctor takes the advantage of the patients, and radiology costs 65$, and charges 30$ for the administration of the fill. :cry

banded last month in Bucharest, Romania I I think banding is one of the best things that I have done, no matter what is the cost. I was ready to pay 10 times more if I had to.

I also have a whopper VG band, have it done in Romania on NOV13th. It has been 5 weeks, and I lost only 18 pounds the first week. Later my weight loss stopped, in the last 4 weeks I didnt lose any pound, eventhough my calori intake is below 1500 on the average. kbattal Current weight 106 kg.

My doctor is Dr. Iordache, chief of surgery unit. St. Ion Hospital. If you live in Romania, I would recommend him. Check his articles. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Search&itool=pubmed_AbstractPlus&term=%22Iordache+N%22%5BAuthor%5D I I think banding is one of the best things that I have done, no matter what is the cost. I was ready to pay 10 times more if I had to.

Hi, I was banded at 13the November, in Bucharest, by Dr. Iordache. If you need information, send me email. I am very happy about it. Lost 20 pounds in 15 days. kbattal@rdslink.ro