Alexandra

Yep, Lands End for me, too. Great minds think alike!!

Hi Steph, I think that's just your internal stitches healing up. I've heard surgeons say that about a week or so after surgery they always get calls from people wondering what the sharp internal pain is! It's perfectly normal and will fade in a day or two. (You'd think, if they know patients will call with this concern, they might TELL them about it in advance!) If it doesn't recede soon then indeed, call your doctor. But I think it will pass very shortly.

Hi Chickie, Sorry to take so long to address this. I've added a section in General Support called Life At (or Near) Goal Weight. Now go post!!

You should talk with your doctor if everything you eat is making you sick. Your band may be too tight for some reason, and you may be compromising your future health. Good luck!!

Findingme, I don't believe your doctor should have put it that way. No question, lap-band surgery isn't right for everyone, but if in fact one uses it to eat less then one should lose weight, period. If that hasn't been your experience, take another look at all the elements of the equation. If in fact you ARE eating less and you are NOT losing weight, there may be something physiologically wrong with your metabolism. Start from scratch and really examine your situation. What can you change? What can't you change? You can get all the support you need right here, so in-person groups are not a deal-breaker. But the old equation is true--eat less over time, exercise more over time, lose weight over time. So what is going on?

That could be any one of a number of things. It sure sounds like a fever, which could be caused by an infection. But there isn't any reason to necessarily think it's band-related. Or did you mean 6/22/07? In any event, call a doctor!

Ahh, that makes sense! Somehow I skipped the "glorious hair" part, though.

Off the top of my head it would seem to me that this could be a significant problem in relation to banding. Bypass too, for that matter. I guess it depends on what his symptoms are and how it affects his ability to eat. What does "spastic" mean, exactly?

Thanks everyone. Mandy, I amsoooo hoping you are right. Yesterday I went to a wedding and I could see the looks in some family members' eyes, wondering what happened to me and why I have gained weight. No one said anything, thankfully, but I can't wait until the NEXT family function when I'll be my OLD new self again.

I've discovered that Crystal Light (and lots of other brands) are way too sweet for me. So for a long time I didn't drink them. But now they have those "single serving" envelopes, and when I add them to 32 oz of water it's PERFECT. My favorite is the Wild Strawberry with added caffeine. :eyebrows:

I had to change carriers. My old carrier--which I'd switched to a year ago because my doctors dropped out of my OLD old carrier--twice denied my request for rebanding. They were a band-friendly carrier who paid for fills and other things, but felt that with a BMI of 30-31 I just didn't qualify for placement of a lapband. The fact that I'd had my band removed due to medical necessity made no difference. LUCKILY, I happen to be an insurance broker and my company's anniversary was coming up. I asked my doctor's office which insurer they'd recommend for this situation, and they didn't hesitate to recommend Horizon BCBS of NJ. And, LUCKILY, Horizon happens to have a slew of new plans available that are more affordable than ever and have the benefits I need. So all these things came together to allow me to change to the right plan on July 1. My doctor's office submitted the request only yesterday, I think. ONE DAY! What a wonderful way to start the weekend. :whoo:

OK, I'm officially ON BOARD for August 13th! My approval came through today for rebanding, and I can't wait to get back to bandland. Great to be here!!

I just clicked "submit" on my application for the new insurance plan. It will go into effect on July 1, and as soon as it does we can start the request for precertification process for my re-banding. Step 1: COMPLETE. Man, I sure hope my doc's office is right and this carrier looks kindly on rebanding. :pray:

:update: See here for news on my rebanding. Thank goodness BCBS of NJ knows that bandsters need their bands!!!

Great to hear you're doing well, Laurend!! Congratulations!! :biggrin1:

I think we all have our own triggers for hair loss. For lots of people, surgery of any kind will do it. I lost hair after having both my children, after lapbanding surgery, after my endoscopy, and after my band REMOVAL surgery. (That last one clearly has nothing to do with weight loss!) My head just drops hair anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months after a trauma, I guess. It comes back, every time.

We have to remember that the amount of saline in the band is not the only element that goes into creating restriction. I personally am one whose fills have taken up to three or four weeks to "kick in." My theory (and it's one my doctor likes, though it's not proven) is that our stomach tissue reacts to the increased pressure of a tightened band by thinning out--it's the body's natural reaction to an unnatural pressure where there was none before. It takes time, sometimes lots of time, for the stomach tissue to return to its previous density and thickness. This doesn't seem at all odd to me, so it continually bemuses me that everyone finds it so amazing that fills can take time to be felt. Our bodies are systems with a billion moving parts--it's often not as simple as "press here, and this happens..." Give it time, see how you react. There's a very good reason doctors want us to wait at least four weeks between fills. MANY people have jumped the gun, gotten more fill too early, and had to have it taken out. We knew going in that this wasn't going to be an instantaneous change, and that patience is the name of the banding game.

Oh my god, you are lucky to be ALIVE!! Thank goodness you weren't hurt more seriously. I hear you about the Honda CR-V. I had a piece of metal junk fall off a truck and land square on my windshield a while back, totally destroying it and almost going through into my face. The windshield held, though. That is one strong car!!

I wondered about this too before banding, but found that panic was never something I came even close to feeling. Even in the worst PBs, there's never an issue with breathing so there's nothing to panic about. At its worst it can be painful, but you never ever feel like you're in any danger. So for me, at least, there was never a panic possibility.

Congratulations!! You've been so persistent and patient and it's finally paid off. You have a lot to be proud of already! Best wishes for a completely uneventful surgery. :biggrin1:

It's all just a function of how tight the band is on the stomach. Smaller bands might very well not require adjusting for some time after surgery, maybe never. I think it will become much less common for people to never need fills as larger bands are more frequently used.

I don't even think it's as easily categorizable as this. Dramatic weight loss can lead to emotional and mental upheavals, sure, but there are probably just as many people who find health through bariatric surgery and DROP their addictions without replacing them with anything. Is someone who became morbidly obese because they ate too much an "addict"? Not necessarily, of course. So someone who loses a lot of weight and later on becomes an alcoholic isn't necessarily "replacing" one addiction with another. Sure, there may be people who can point to their bariatric surgery as the start of an addiction. But any significant life event can trigger that sort of thing in people who are vulnerable--childbirth, divorce, winning the lottery, losing a job--whatever. I don't think there's anything special about bariatric surgery that creates new addicts.

Hi Jenny, I'm planning to be on vacation a little under two weeks after surgery as well. It won't be on a houseboat, but I'm traveling far from home. Having been through the surgery before I am not worried. I know I'm a good healer, and two weeks after surgery I expect to be nothing more than a little sore or stiff. Other people have different experiences, and of course there's always the chance something unexpected will happen (like an infection), but if everything goes as I expect them to two weeks will be enough recuperation time. (I'm scheduled for surgery on a Monday, and I'm planning to go back to work that Thursday. Vacation starts a week from that Saturday, so I'll be 12 days out of surgery when it starts.) Have you ever had laparascopic surgery before? Any surgery? Healing times vary considerably for everyone, so I think your best gauge is what your experience was if you've been through anything like this before. As far as what you're eating by then, that's up to your doctor. Most patients would be on a full liquids or mushy food diet by then; some very few docs might still limit their patients at two weeks out to Clear Liquids (unusual, I think). With a little planning you shouldn't have any trouble as long as you have access to refrigeration on the boat.

Ahhh, yes, but "medically necessary" is the magic phrase here. Obesity in general is not considered to require medical treatment (which is why such treatment is excluded on almost all medical plans), but morbid obesity is. The clause you copied says "medical necessity...as defined by us" so call them and get a copy of what they consider the definition to be. I'd be shocked if it didn't exactly mirror the generally accepted medical definition of severe or morbid obesity: a BMI of 40 or above, or a BMI of 35-39 with accompanying comorbidities. With a BMI of 46 you definitely qualify under medical guidelines, and if they say you don't, again, you'd have an excellent case for appeal. As for it being BCBS, one BCBS is not the same as another. Each state has its own, as well as its own rules about what can and can't be excluded.

This is the key provision. Are you medically qualified for bariatric surgery? If you are, then your carrier does provide coverage. The fact that only two kinds of surgery are mentioned specifically just means, to me, that it was written some time ago. Adjustable gastric banding is a newer version of vertical banded gastroplasty, which is pretty much not done any more. My guess is that the boilerplate language in this contract has just not been updated to keep up with medical developments. Call your carrier and ask for their current coverage policies on bariatric surgery. But overall I'd say your contract is good news, because bariatric surgery isn't excluded. If they deny based on something other than your medical criteria you'd have an EXCELLENT case for appeal.