Which is more effective?

[spongealan 0]

I just had my first fill the other day. I was banded on 6/2/09 and was losing quickly. My Dr. does not do a fill until your weight loss slows after surgery. Well, I slowed in September, earliest they could get me in was 11/17/09. (Not happy with delay, but I had no choice).

My Dr. does the fill under Flouro. Very interesting procedure. I was sitting there watching my esophagus and the band on a monitor, he filled the band 100%, I drank the barrium, you could see it as dark Fluid flowing down my esophagus and BAM...it stops right there at the band. He then starts to remove the fluid, as I keep swallowing and then once a very small trickle of fluid goes through, he stops.

I am not sure how big the band is, but he left 4.5cc's in it.

Now on the other hand, my sister was banded by a different Dr. She is not getting filled under Fluoro, and she had a fill 6 weeks out, and has appointments for the next couple of fills already scheduled.

It seems to me like the Fluoro method is a more exact procedure, and less time consuming. I would love some other opinions on this.

[Jachut 487]

I actually have a little personal theory on this.

We dont use fluoro in Australia as a general matter of course. And on Australian board forums, you just dont hear of people being overfilled so often. Of course it happens, and by way of contrast, here we have to wait so long for restriction, with tiny, conservative fills.

But I think that just because fluoro shows on a screen that the doc has got the exact right amount of restriction does not mean that your stomach does not then swell in response. I think it leads to aggressive fills that cause problems, whereas small, cautious filling results in less incidence of overswelling.

Personal theory only, lol, there's no scientific basis to it. but I've never spent any time wishing I could have a fill under fluoro. It doesnt appear, statistically speaking, to be advantageous at all.

[greytz 4]

I agree with Jachut. I have had numerous fills but my surgeon does something that I haven't heard of anyone else doing. She takes my Fluid completely out each time and refills me with a little more each time. She leaves the needle in my port and has me sit up. I down the Water quickly and then she lets me decide if it is too much or if I want a little more. It has been very successful for me.

[happy2lose 0]

All of my fills have been done under fluoro and I have been overfilled once already and had to return 2 weeks later to have some fill removed because the swelling would not go down. So, obviously I agree with Jachut on this.