Keluliana

Yay! Glad to see some locals. I am getting banded at the U of M Fairview. I don't know the costs, but I'm guessing since they have done very well in the rankings (I don't know who does the rankings, but they're always getting awards), it will be expensive. . I'm still waiting to hear back from my insurance people so I don't know how much of it will be out of pocket yet. To Kuchsgirl: That's tragic! Harrass and call them, or get a new job with a new insurance plan - I've never heard of a company that doesn't even cover bypass, that's ridiculous! Diabetes for life is way more expensive than an operation once. Oh well. There's always Mexico, but I'd feel so much safer at home. Thanks all for the replies.

Thanks for posting - I haven't been banded yet, but the worst week of my life to this point was just after I started taking anti-depressants, which left me no appetite for food. The endorphins hadn't started increasing yet, but I had no desire for the one joy/relief I had always known and been able to count on because of the side effect of the meds. I think it's fine to do some genuine grieving over the lost ability to eat for comfort and indulge. But someday, it will be worth it, and it will get easier every week. The sense of loss will fade and the sense of joy and ease of living will get stronger. Hang in there and have a good cry when you need to.

Thanks for starting an April thread. I initially decided I wanted the surgery in September and figured I'd be done by the end of the year and have some weight loss to show for it, but as you know, hiccups keep popping up. But I am so relieved now to finally have the date! I'm so excited to keep everyone posted and to see how everyone else is doing going through the same thing at the same time.

I haven't had the surgery yet myself, but I know that a lot of surgeons don't even require you to be on any kind of diet before hand, so it's a good bet that you'll be alright if you make amends now and eat whatevery you are supposed to. Breathe, be calm, and drink as much protein as you can. Good luck.

I'm glad to hear that 18 months out you are still interested in lap band stuff. Please keep posting!

Thank you for sticking up for us. It drives me nuts when people snub their noses and dismiss surgery as 'the easy way out.' One skinny idiot down, 5 billion to go....

From what I understand, that intense and powerful drive to consume carbohydrates is fueled in part by insulin and hormone imbalances, which correct themselves once the weight normalizes and body fat percentage reduces. I have struggled with the same question, "will I really enjoy a life without frequent, glorious, delicious carb indulgences?" But when we have such powerful cravings, it's really because we want something, we feel like we need to have something, and that chocolatey or sugary, or breadly goodness will fuflill that need (and I know, it does). But if we don't have that driving need, that all-consuming desire for the carb rush, then it's not really missing out, right? If we break ourselves of the carb addiction, then maybe it won't actually feel like such deprivation. That's what I'm banking on anyway. I'm a total carb addict and a life without them seems close to joyless, but I think it'll be ok. I've done carb de-tox before and when I finally reach that point, it doesn't make carbs any less delicious, but I do feel less like I need them to get through the day. I'm getting banded in April. Keep us posted on your decision. I definitely feel your pain.

I was always overweight, though looking at pictures of me as a kid it appears as though I was just "big boned." I do remember having to shop in the misses dept for a Christmas dress in fourth grade, and weighing 120 lbs in fifth grade, which is a lot. I was a size 14 in middle school and five feet tall and thought I was enormous. Ironic that I look back on those photos now and think I was insane not to want to model naked. It wasn't until I started working at a Dairy Queen in high school (while struggling with severe depression) that I became .... unreasonable. I went from 165 starting high school to graduating at 217. I lost some weight with weight watchers in college, but have gained back in the 2 years since and am pretty much at my all time high of 240. I've never known what it was like to buy clothes in a "normal" size. Have you ever tried photo-shopping a picture of yourself to see what you'd look like thin? It's pretty cool, really. I took a profile photo of myself and then just erased the stomach, reduced the neck, smoothed the back. It was kind of a wishful thinking sneak peek. I'm very curious to see myself thin. Keep posting.

After all the jumping through hoops and making phone calls and doctors' appointments, copies of records, writing down and categorizing so much paperwork, I was shocked when the receptionist simply said, "So, how about we fit you in April 10?" So easy. I've been so anxious for so long that I would never get a surgery date, and yet, there it is. I have to lose five pounds (though probably closer to 10 now since I have gained some) before my presurgery appointment in March. March! Next month!!! I can hardly believe it. I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I'm not scrambling around making phone calls and scheduling time off work for appointments. Now it's just .... to wait. Anyone else have a surgery date scheduled soon?

Sounds like you will like the lap band. I am getting banded in April. If you live near enough, go to a seminar held by the hospital that performs the surgery. It was very helpful for me, and very encouraging to see other people going in for it as well and to hear real people who had done it before.

It still shocks me that such people are in health care fields. You know, a lot of nutritionists were formerly anorexics or bulimics, which is why they get into nutrition in the first place - they have the total opposite food issues, and they try to convince us that if we just knew when we were full and knew how much a proper serving was, there'd be no problem. Ug, that nutritionist totally disgusts me. I am working with a nutritionist who deals with lap banders and gastric bypass patients all the time and she was not condescending at all. She just gave me a few new things to change gradually, like cutting out sugar drinks and reducing the number of times I eat out in a week. Not impossible, baby steps. I have a bit of a bias against nutritionists, but I think there are some compassionate ones out there. The one you went to is clearly no health 'professional.'

I definitely agree with everyone who has advised going to a new surgeon's office. I had the exact same fears - I gained a little weight before my initial conultation so I would qualify and my BMI was just barely 39.9 with shoes on. You need to have a bmi of 40 to get the surgery if you don't have serious co-morbidities with my insurance company. My doctor told me to lose 5 lbs to make the surgery easier (for him) and I said, "but won't my BMI be lower then? Won't that disqualify me?" He said that the only weight that matters to qualifying for the surgery is the one you get taken at your first consultation, and that he would 'round up' to report my BMI as 40!. It would be horribly unfair to tell someone they have to lose weight and then hold that against them so they can't get the surgery, like the np you went to did. That's ridiculous! Everyone knows that overweight people can lose weight, but the surgery is to KEEP it off. It sounds like your np is very unsympathetic and does not have a grasp of the genuine disease obesity, or of insurance practices (most doctors don't - their office staff usually do), and definitely no concept of bedside manner! Most insurance companies will cover the sleep study because sleep apnea is a life threatening condition, even though you know you don't have it. I felt the same way and I don't have it, but my insurance company covered most of it anyway. Please keep me posted!

Hi everyone, I'm new on this site and have not yet had the surgery, but I am going through the preliminary hoops. I've had an endoscopy, a psychological examination, physical, and tonight I have a sleep study - all of which have to be done before I can even make the appointment. I guess the long drawn-out process weeds out the people who are looking to surgery as "the easy way out," as one of my friends put it (the gall!). I hope the paperwork diminishes after the surgery. I would love any comments, emails, advice, empathy. It seems like I've stumbled on a great forum.

I just had my psych evaluation done a few weeks ago. Usually they have you meet with a shrink to discuss your weight loss history/feelings/comitment level/etc. and give you a personality test, which sounds imposing, but for the most part, it just weeds out schizoprhenics and hypochondriacs. It is a two-hour true/false fill-in-the-bubble test from a booklet, with some very amusing questions. Some example questions: "I like to cook" "If I were an artist I would like to paint flowers" and "I know someone is trying to poison me." The really far-out there questions like, "I frequently have the sensation of insects crawling under my skin," is a red-light indicator for meth addicts. My test showed that I was a bit defensive (apparently), shy, insecure, and possibly have disthymia or controlled depression. Pretty accurate and not "a psycho-wacko" as the shrink put it. Don't overanalyze the questions or spend more than 10 seconds on each and be honest. The shrink then writes up a report to give to your insurance company saying you are aware of the risks and psychologically and cognitively able to cope with the surgery. Again, unless you have dire concerns about being "a psycho-wacko," I'm sure you'll do fine.

Thank you for posting this. It seems that almost everyone is so happy with their band, there must be a catch. I totally empathize being in such a lonely place and facing such dissappointment. I think you have real courage, however, which will see you through the next phase, whatever that may be. Are you considering gastric by-pass at all?

I totally understand not telling the folks if they are the obsessed-with-weight type. I told one of my best friends and then she had the audacity to tell me it was the easy way out! It's really something that skinny people don't understand, but I'm sure they'll be thrilled when they see it is working. :confused:

So glad to hear about your recent success and relatively problem-free recovery. It's very encouraging for those of us who haven't gone under the knife yet.