Alexandra

I've had similar trouble from time to time, but clicking again usually resolves it for me. And then I find I've double-posted! I don't know what the issue is, but it's no doubt technical and will be temporary. Edie, what precisely is the name of the thread you say you can't get to?

Of course it's normal to be a little scared!! You wouldn't be a thinking human being if you didn't consider all the possibilities. Take a deep breath and just keep moving toward the goal. Good luck with your surgery!!

Of course it's normal to be a little scared!! You wouldn't be a thinking human being if you didn't consider all the possibilities. Take a deep breath and just keep moving toward the goal. Good luck with your surgery!!

Hi Sue, welcome to LBT! It sounds like you're taking a very realistic view of banding and what it can do. There are lots of Texas people here. You're in the right place! :biggrin1:

Hi Sue, welcome to LBT! It sounds like you're taking a very realistic view of banding and what it can do. There are lots of Texas people here. You're in the right place! :biggrin1:

What's the name of your thread and where do I find it?

The one that sticks in my craw was a combination insult because of my size AND a sexist put-down. And this from a "professional" colleague! A guy was being introduced around my office who was coming on board as part of the sales team, and when he got to me he said "wow, you're a BIG girl, aint'cha?" in front of several other people. Even giving him the biggest benefit of the doubt I possibly can, and trying to think it just popped out of his mouth, I can't reconcile that comment with the notion of a decent adult human being in this day and age. I never laughed about this sort of thing. It just makes me think less of whoever is making the comments. Because they, consciously or not, are trying to make me think less of myself.

OK, we're going to try this. I've created a new section called Monthly Support Groups, and there's subsections under that for each month of 2007. I think it makes sense to limit it to one or two years' worth of monthlies; we'll see how it goes with this one year for a start. Go for it, peeps! Start new threads in your sections, and I'll move the monthly threads into the appropriate sections. Thanks for the suggestion!!

I'm not sure I understand. You are saying you want a separate section for each month? Or one section where all of the monthly discussion threads are gathered?

You have every right in the world to just tell her not to discuss it with you. This is YOUR health issue, not hers, and she has absolutely no business trying to sabotage or discourage you. I understand that you want her support but if she's not going to give it freely don't waste your time agonizing over it. This is YOUR life. Not hers. Don't listen to another word she says.

Willbethin (actually, you ARE thin)-- The band isn't what is not working. It is a fact of every bariatric patient's life is that at some point, we HAVE to face the truth that it is OUR behavior that makes us fat. The band has clearly helped you eat less and lose weight. But NO surgery can magically relieve us of our compulsion to overeat, or permanently remove the desire to eat more than we need. That's just the truth. The hardest thing is to give up the idea that we will ever be normal. I know I struggle with that every single day, but I struggle with it MUCH MORE without my band. With the band at least I had a fighting chance of dealing with the mental issues while NOT stuffing my face. Without the band, food seems like an answer even though I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it's not. That's all the band can do for us. It's a lot, but sometimes it doesn't seem like enough. At those times, we have to look elsewhere for answers.

Hi Dawn! Welcome to LBT!! I'm a very happy Abkin/Bertha patient and can't recommend them highly enough. Have you been to any of the lapband support group meetings? The next one is on the 27th, and that's a great place to meet and speak with other banded patients of ALSOM. The NP, Linda, runs that meeting so it's really the perfect time to get all your questions answered. Looking forward to meeting you in 3D sometime!

Msmalone, I totally feel your pain. Do you have an insurance broker who can help connect the dots? I do this all the time. First, a denial for lack of information is not a denial of coverage and doesn't need to be "appealed." From what you say above, it seems there was only one actual denial and that's the one for "medical necessity." That one can be appealed, and you should proceed on that score. In your denial letter you should have been given detailed instructions on how to appeal. You should get copies of everything that was submitted to Aetna, and be prepared to supply anything that is missing. In your appeal letter, list all the material and information that has been submitted. Copy Aetna's criteria for medical qualifiations (I'm sure you have that documented somewhere) and show in your letter that you do, in fact, meet the criteria. Aetna can't "not tell you anything." They MUST respond to your inquiries in a timely manner. You might want to contact Ohio's department of insurance (or health, whichever has jurisdiction over HMOs) and find out what the carrier's obligations are to you. Most states have a patient's bill of rights that guarantees you access to information. You should be able to find an advocate there, or at least information that can help you force Aetna to move it along. Aetna is a behemoth but they have no interest in being sued. If you show that you are indeed medically qualified, and that you have met their criteria, and that your policy does not exclude bariatric surgery, they will cover you. Getting all those dots connected can be a challenge, but it's worth it in the end.

There's no easy answer to this question. A lot depends on what state you're in. There may not be individual insurance available at all, or it may be medically underwritten (thereby excluding people who are morbidly obese), or it may be unavailable to those who are eligible for group insurance (such as your wife). Your best bet is to call a broker in your state who knows all the laws and the products available to you.

Yeah, it's really weird, isn't it? My BP has always been right there, borderline-high, and as I got older it seems that my doctors got more concerned about it. I'm sure they wouldn't have been as ready to medicate that BP if I were a "normal" weight 45 year-old; even after a loss of 100+ lbs I'm still obese so I guess even a borderline set of numbers is not good. My gynecologist was a little surprised to hear that my PCP had put me on medication, though. But when I told her what I am taking (Altace) she shrugged and said "well, it'll protect your kidneys, in any event." I know my mother took BP meds, so I'm fine with taking something if it will protect me in the long run. Now I'm usually ~110 / ~75, which everyone is happy with.

Not to pick nits, but there's a big difference between liquid calories and "empty" calories. Empty calories are those that come without any nutritional benefits--and while one can indeed make that claim about alcohol, it's far from true about all liquid calories. If it were, we'd all starve to death on the liquid diet! Once bandsters are on solid foods, we are indeed told to avoid liquid calories to maximize the effect of the band. But that's not the same as saying that all liquid calories are "empty" calories. Sometimes liquid nutrition is VERY important!

(What's a scmo?) I had high blood pressure before banding, and about three years into it I still had it. My BP wasn't as high as yours; it was only about 130 over 85 or so, but even after losing 100 lbs it was still borderline high. That's when my doctor decided it needed to be medicated, because it clearly wasn't caused by my excess weight. Your numbers sound alarmingly high, actually. It would seem to me that it's important that be controlled even before surgery. Once you've lost a lot of weight maybe you can come off it, but in the meantime blood pressure that high is nothing to ignore. Good luck!!

It seems that my surgeon's office has confidence that if I were to change insurance carriers there'd be an excellent chance of approval for a new band to replace the one removed in April. So I'm going to change effective July 1 (assuming I can talk my bosses into it, which I think I can). I was thinking about doing it anyway, since my docs are dropping out of my current network in August and with an HMO I have no out-of-network benefits. So today I'm going to be talking with my bosses about making the switch. (Turns out there is one very good thing about being an insurance broker!! I believe in karma, and though I don't love this career I took on in 2000, if I'd done anything else I'm 100% sure I'd still be morbidly obese. In 2003 I was able to take the appeal process to the end because of my inside knowledge of the system, and since then this will be the second time I've changed carriers to follow my doctors.) Thanks for all your support, and I'll definitely keep y'all updated!! :clap2:

The beautiful thing about lap-banding is that it's NOT the final straw. There are other things to try if it doesn't work. There are three other bariatric surgeries that are more drastic, but that have more-certain results (in the short term). They are RNY, Duodenal Switch, and Gastric Sleeve. I knew that if I could let the band help me eat less, I would lose weight. So that's where the effort lies--LETTING the band HELP. If I found myself unable to let the band help, then I'd be looking at something more drastic. Those options remain for you, so turn your attention to the band and what it can help you do. There's always more choices down the road.

Hi Mrs. P-- I brought this question up with my doctor when we first started talking about it. My band had, I thought, always been tight, with fills being given in tiny increments. I'd also been sensitive to allergies, with hay fever making my band almost unbearably tight from time to time. So when it came time to ask I brought this up, and my doctor immediately mentioned the new AP band. I'm not qualified to make the decision, so I'm letting my doctor make it. I think as long as he knows all the information I can possibly give him, he'll make the right choice for me. Good luck!!

Holy cow, I'm old. I haven't even HEARD of a lot of those groups, Chickie. My MP3 player has mostly show tunes (Wicked, Aida, Rent). Other than that, the one song that is guaranteed to get me up and running is It's Raining Men, by the Weather Girls. This is a GREAT idea for a thread, because us old folks really do need inspiration and I for one don't have the first clue about what's out there. The problem is I hate "dance" mixes, and almost all rap. What's good to move to?? Keep those ideas coming!!

Hi Nicole, For my money, the two surgeries are equally easy to "cheat" and over the long term have very similar results. Banding takes more patience and -- in the short term, at least -- a bit more participation from the patient. RNY will result in drastic, immediate weight loss no matter what the patient does, but after about two years the patient's behavior becomes pivotal again and it's very possible to gain the weight back. When considering between the two, it seems to me most important to decide whether short-term or long-term results are more important. If one is in need of immediate results for health reasons, the RNY makes a lot of sense. But if one is otherwise healthy, and wants to learn how to eat less permanently without running the risk of malnutrition, the band would seem to make more sense. (I believe it always makes more sense for younger people, too, because the negative effects of RNY stay with patients for life.)

Bud, that's really one of the nicest posts I've ever seen. You remind me, at least, why I keep coming back to this site. When I was researching my banding surgery it was so hard to find other weight-loss-surgery patients who could relate to the desire to NOT go whole hog and have RNY right out of the gate. That idea had indeed been floated by doctors and acquaintances, but it just never seemed right to me. Finding an online community of like-minded people was the single best thing that happened to me with regard to my banding journey. Welcome to LBT, the best of luck to you in your journey, and keep posting! :biggrin1:

Well, whatever the differential in weight to fact I guarantee you the carrier has assumed MOST people will lie about their weight. Your husband has just hired and so was added on to the company's plan when he was eligible. Therefore there should be no pre-existing condition exclusions, and the information you put on your enrollment form is probably not material to the kind of coverage you will receive.

Lying about your weight on insurance forms is not enough, I wouldn't think, to create a problem with the carrier in terms of coverage. You should call your husband's HR administrator as soon as you can and ask how important it is that those numbers be accurate. But I very much doubt that the information on that application form has anything to do with whether the policy covers you for banding surgery. You haven't even begun the process of being diagnosed with morbid obesity and submitting a request for surgery precertification, right? You're just talking about the enrollment form, and one thing has nothing to do with another. Also, your new carrier can't exclude anything as a pre-existing condition if you're moving from one carrier to another. If you didn't have a gap in your coverage, you can't be penalized for your employer changing plans.