how can you tell if you have a leak?

vinesqueen · October 8, 2005

How can you tell if you have a leak?

My second fill was at the end of August, and I never felt any difference after that fill. I've had 3 fills now, my last one was 10 days ago, and .5ccs were added. For about the first seven days I felt like I had good restriction.

So, I should be sitting at about 2.5 ccs.

I initially felt like I had good restriction, meaning I wasn't hungry and I was satisfied sooner for longer.

Well, starting a few days ago, so almost a week out of the fill, I am hungry within a couple or three hours of eating. I mean, get-out-of-my-way-or-I'll-hurt you sort of hungry, sort of like when I eat corn, or things that contain lots of corn. I'm plenty well hydrated, so this isn't an issue. I am careful to not eat corn, since it makes me ravenous. I am obsessive about following the banster rules and general guidelines.

Do I need more fill? Do I need to give it a while? what is the typical amount of time before a fill "settles?"

Oh, and I can eat anything again. I mean, anything I've tried at this point. No golfball, no PBs...

chichigirl · October 8, 2005

The only way I know they can check for a leak is with the fluro. Bit of a pain in tush to have to go through that, but I don't know how else they could check. Does your doc remove the old fill before injecting the new fill? Mine does, and that way he can check how much I had left, then injects that amount plus whatever he's going to add. That might be another way to check if that's not the way your doc does things. Otherwise, I have no idea how you would know.

I noticed before, when I lost over 120lbs, that getting restriction was much harder and the fills didn't seem to last nearly as long as prior to that.

??????

Cindy

Iluvharleys · October 8, 2005

Vines, I did exactly the same thing until they filled me to 3cc. I was actually miserable at that fill and had some removed to 2.8cc and it is good now. Everytime before this I got a fill and it lasted about 1 week. Hang in there, you will find your spot soon!

HarleyNana · October 9, 2005

My doctor always extracts the Fluid he has previously put in, which makes him and I both feel better knowing it's still there. This process also verifies the last fill he hit his mark, because the first fill he missed the port.

vinesqueen · October 9, 2005

they haven't pulled out any of my fill. this isn't part of the protocol with Jessie.

I suppose if I get another fill in the next little while and still don't feel restricted then I'll ask to be tested for a leak

Iluvharleys · October 9, 2005

Vines are you sure she doesn't pull out the previous fill? My doctor pulls it out each time. I would ask her next time,

vinesqueen · October 9, 2005

Yup, I'm sure, well pretty sure. When Jessie give a fill it takes maybe 10 seconds! Start to fill maybe 10 minutes, including getting weighed, walking around, drinking Water to make sure I"m not too tight.

I was amazed when I got my last full here in ID, not done by Jessie. Talk about your production number! There was gowns involved, blue surgical drapes, a weird and anchient looking sci-fi real-time x-ray machine, numbing medication and plenty of bandaids. It took about an hour.... But I had a good level of restriction for a week....

October 10, 2005

Nah, you had swelling if it was only there for a week.

Inamed recommends that fill givers take out all of a fill each and every time they give a fill. It's really the best way to diagnose a leak. Some leakage is okay (like 5% or something), but not a significant amount.

the best me · October 10, 2005

Nah, you had swelling if it was only there for a week.

Good explanation. Makes sense. Time for another small fill. Ask Jessie to pull out the old, just to see. She will, she's a pro and if you turn on your charm...well, you get anything you want!!!

vinesqueen · November 15, 2005

Okay, I had my 4th fill 10/20, another .5 cc. Again, I felt like I had good restriction for a week, and 3 weeks later, I'm hungry all the time, and I can still eat just about anything. (Except for turkey apperently, but that's another story.)

DH Tells me that Jessie does take out all the fill, but don't know about the folks here in ID though.

So I have currently about 3 ccs in my band and no restriction. Well, I take that back . I have the same amount of restriction I had before my first fill. cheese Burgers and pizza, sandwiches and french-fries all go down.

Xann77 · March 27, 2006

I'd definitely ask her to pull the last fill out to see how much you have left in there! I just got my second fill today and I was a bit worried to find out that there was only 0.5 cc's left in there -- a week ago I had 1.3 cc's put in! She told me not to get too worried about leakage yet though because evidently absorbtion of some of the fill is pretty common between the first and second fill (about 50% experience it). Anyway, she took it all out and then added another .9 cc's so I should be at 1.7 cc's now. we'll see!!!!