bbrecruiter2000

HI Everyone, New on this site. Would love to have a weight loss buddy. Someone to talk to or walk with here in the area. Some history. Had a RNY on July 11th this year. I was a revision from sleeve to bypass due to chronic GERD. My highest weight was 340. My lowest weight 165. Regained some weight over 10 years, but kept 2/3 off. Reflux, menopause and having a chronic autoimmune disease with lots of fatigue plus eating too much due to reflux caused the gain. Back to the basics again and hope to get to an all time low. HW 340 LW 165 CW 207 Goal: 145

:help: Hi Everyone, I havent been here in a while and I hate to rain on folks parade, but I am seriously contemplating having my band removed and having revision surgery to something else. My first two years of banding, I was very successful. I started with a BMI of 54 and managed to get down to a 28 BMI which equates to a loss of 155 pounds. After two years, I quit smoking to have plastic surgery and gained 13 pounds. I had plastic surgery in August 2005 and left the hospital at 189 lbs. MY lowest weight was 180 ever from a start of 334 lbs. During my plastic surgery, the saline was accidently removed from my band by the plastic surgeon. My problems started before this with lack of restriction, so I dont want to say this was the cause of all my issues with lack of restriction, but I am sure that this was a contributor. A month later, I visited my original band surgeon to get my restriction back and was informed my band was bone dry. I was given 1 cc and sent home and told to wait a few months and he would up it back to the 2.5 I had before. He wanted to do it slowly since normally patients who have their bands refilled usually need less than before to achieve the same level of restriction. I was worried about regain and told to just comply and keep portions small. Two months later, I now have gained an additional 10-15 pounds, so I go to get a fill from a doc in Dallas who takes me to 2.25. THings are fine for a short while and then I start losing restriction. By August 06, I have now gained 38 lbs. I go back for another fill and I am told I have pouch dilation. All the fill was removed from my band and I am put on a liquid diet for a month. I go to a lapband surgeon who was not my original surgeon due to insurance change and he tells me that I have a concentric slip, partial prolapse and that I will need a new band. I go for a second opinion with another band surgeon who does an endoscopy, tells me that although my pouch is a little large, I dont need a new band though and refills me to 2.00 CC. One year later: I am still gaining weight. I have moved to GA and no one here will take me as a patient because they did not band me. My new insurance does not cover my band at all, nor will they cover a removal or revision. I will have to pay for fills. This is not a problem, but I am reluctant to start again here and have someone fill me and then have dilation or slippage problems due to a too tight band. I fear I have dilation issues again and getting another fill wont help me anyway and a saline removal will just result in starting the process all over again. I am not looking for someone to just do a fill. I am looking for a doc who can tell me if my band is fine and I am looking for someone who can really take care of me due to the fact that I have had problems in the past. It never ceases to amaze me that the docs here have no interest in me as a patient because someone else banded me, only want cash for fills or that my new insurance wont pay for a removal, but they will pay for me to have a gastric bypass. I am not obese enough for this to be an option anyway and my provider is notoriiously bad at making people jump through hoops to qualify anyway. I dont have comorbidites and my BMI is not high enough anyway. I am obese but not obese enough with a 34-35 bmi. I am really sad that my band is not working for me. I have had 14 fills and several unfills. I am tired of trying. I also refuse to blame myself. I have been compliant and clearly I have the ability to stick to the plan when I have good restriction. Its like the cart before the horse. Some folks here might say the the dilation was caused by my overeating. THis would be partially true because to gain weight, you have to be eating too much. But if one does not have the ability to overeat with a properly working band then they cannot overeat. I make healthy choices, but I dont have any restriction and can eat a very big portion. Its easy to say only eat 3-4 ounces when you have restriction, but when you dont, then its a problem. So then one would say the solution is to get more fill. What if everytime you were filled, it was either too little or too much with really small increments? The most I have ever had in my band was 2.6 and this was too tight. The 2:00 I have now is too little. I have been at 2;25, 2.3 2.4, 2.5 and these amounts have resulted in too little or too much. All were done with flouroscopy. I dont have a leak, but clearly dilation is an issue and has been in the past. I am really sad and worried that if I get a fill and its too tight, then I will have to go for more fills and unfills at my own expense. Worse, if I had a medical emergency that required band removal, it would be at my own expense. I feel like maybe its time to move on. I am now considering the gastric sleeve and removal of my band as a self pay. No post op hassles, no maintenance, no fills . Whaddya yall think?? I would love to hear from newbies and oldies. Babs in GA 334/180/225?

Hi Penni, Nice to hear from you again. The surgeon who did my endoscopy is a lapband surgeon in Dallas. He has lots of experience scoping. Didnt see anything but a slightly larger than normal pouch. I am not worried about the cost of fills . I am worried about finding a long term doc here locally that isnt going to sink me with expenses since insurance wont pay for it. I have a lot of thinking to do.... I still am consdering the sleeve. Hugs, Babs

Hi ! Does anyone know a doc in GA that will do fills?? I have BCBS of GA and none of the docs want to take me as a patient citing that they wont do fills on patients other than their own. IF they do fills, they only take cash anyway and wont take my insurance. Any ideas??? Babs in GA Banded 4 years and counting......

Hi Alex, Havent been here in 7 months and just saw your post. I didnt know about your band slippage. I hope you get a new band soon. I just moved to Georgia from TX and cant find a doctor to do my fills. Not one so far in Atlanta who will take insurance and the ones that take cash want way too much $. So I sit with no restriction and a lot of weight gain since I have not had adequate fill since August 2006. Anyway, hang in there. Babs in GA 334/180/2-- teens???

HI, No way I would vote for Hilary. Never liked her or what she stands for. I would love to see a top woman candidate run for office. IT would be refreshing to have a woman president. Babs in TX

dawn, I had an abdominoplasty in august o5. My plastic surgeon had experience with banded patients. He didnt actually move my port, but due to the skin removal, my port is a few inches away from my original scar. He did do an unfill when I was under anesthesia so I could eat a little more post operatively and accidently removed all of it. My restriction has not been the same since them and I regained some weight and spent some time trying to lose what I gained. Make sure that yhour PS knows about either moving ports or replacing with low profile port and let him know where you want it positioned if he/she had no intention of doing it. The port is sewn in the abdominal wall/muscle and depending on where it is, it can be a nuisance if it is near a pant line or somewhere where you can see it. Babs in TX 334/190 ish

Hi, I thought of posting this under insurance but this is a long term problem for ALL long term bandsters and I am encountering this now. I have had a lapband for 3 1/2 years. It was paid for by Motorola and the network was CCN and now Humana. My husband got laid off in late July and our insurance expires November 30th. We have the COBRA option, but decided it was cheaper to look into an individual plan for our children through Unicare here in TX. My husband and I decided to research options separate from our children due to the fact that I have a lapband and didnt want to be turned down without talking to some folks first. I called a few insurance companies to discover that I am high risk and uninsurable because of my lapband. We are talking about individual plans (not to be confused with group plans through employers) No one will insure me it seems regardless of the fact that I am healthier, have no health issues and I am no longer morbidly obese. It seems my only option is to pay 400.00 plus for Cobra until my husband finds a job with group insurance. Does anyone know of any insurance company with an individual plan that will insure me that is cheaper than COBRA? IT is possible that my husband may opt to work for a really small consulting firm that may have insurance, but as a very small group, they will also have underwriting requirements and I will likely be turned down anyway since I dont know what constitutes a group and the company will not be self insured. Besides the COBRA will run out in 18 months and at that point, I would have to get insurance and with a lapband, I would only qualify for the TX high risk pool which probably would cost more than the COBRA. I cant believe this. Surely there must be insurance available to me? I would even consider an exclusion for any band related maintenance or problems since I dont have any and dont expect to in the near future. If it became a problem, I would just go to Mexico and have it removed. Any ideas??? Please?? Babs in TX 334/190 ish

Hi, Busywoman: I have always had group insurance (through a company) where there are no underwriting guidelines. If you were to lose your job and could not find another before your group insurance expires (which is my case) then in order to have health insurance you would have to buy an individual plan since you were no longer part of a group and no longer had an employer. I am self employed and my husband has always worked for large companies IBM and Motorola. Both companies are self insured and pay the bills but use a network like Humana or CCN PPO to administer the plan and provide the network. My present situation is that my husband is no longer employed, our insurance is running out and I need insurance. COBRA is an option, but the premium is at 102% of the normal premium that the employer formerly paid for my group plan. It means I have to pay it myself. For my family of 4, the monthly premium is $1,400 dollars. The only folks that would want COBRA are people who cant get insurance because they are considered high risk. Having any kind of bariatric surgery within 10 years excludes me from most plans. That is why I am asking for help. Someone here who is self employed or pays for their own insurance may have the answer I am looking for.... Babs in TX

Hi Alex, You really have to wait until December??? That seems long... Babs in TX 334/190 ish

HI Michele, My doc DID pull out a lot of air. Maybe thats been the problem all along?? I guess time will tell. I havent lost any weight since I started with the solids again, but I aint gaining either, so now its up to me. I liked this fill. No fluoro, just a good ole fashion, put some in, add a little more, then a little more and then he removed a drop when I got a little too tight. Pulled all the air out, so now I am feeling what he put in. I slimed yesterday!!! WOW, havent done that in a year. Babs in TX

Hi Everyone, I had my appointment with the surgeon again today. Before that, I had the nurse practitioner and radiologist look at my band, do the flouro and barium swallow and both came to the same conclusion. My pouch looks a little better, but not a lot better considering my liquid diet. They sent me upstairs to my new surgeon and he looked at the photos and felt that the situation would not improve. He started talking about concentric slippage and also prolapse. Started talking about the options: He was willing to wait one more month, but he didnt think the result would change. Since my insurance with Humana will run out at the beginning of November (my hubby was laid off by Motorola after 8 years) I will have to move quickly if I want my insurance to pay. When the doc suggested I go on liquids only again for another month, I told him that I didnt think I would make it another full month without some kind of appetite suppressant. IT was at this time that he voiced his opinion on the matter and said that he knew about my inquiry to his office earlier about this topic and did not support my decision to use a suppressant to get through another month of liquids. He had planned to tell me that he was going to "fire me", but that he felt he would give me another chance. I asked him what he meant by that. I did not feel that it was an unreasonable request to ask for this and that other bariatric practices offer this support. At this stage, he suggested I go somewhere else if I did not agree with his policy. I didnt say anything else, but I was totally floored. He is obviously not the right surgeon for me and I am in the process of finding another. The big problem is that most surgeons dont want to touch another surgeons patient. I felt that was part of the problem. Many of them are in a position to turn away patients since they have a long line of cash pay patients. At least thats the way I feel today. I called my insurance company to see who was in my plan. THere are actually quite a few, but when I called a couple, they did not want to take on a patient of another local doctor. Two already said no over the phone. I did contact my original surgeon's office and they think I can get an exception from my insurance company to operate again, however, I dont think that the hospital he now operates under is in network. I will explore all my options and then see what to do. I am crying a lot. I know I shouldnt, but after today, I really feel like a loser. (I did lose more than 8 pounds on the liquid diet last month.....) but thats not what I mean.... Babs in TX 334/180 ish

Hi Shelly, Glad they didn't find anything although I am sure you probably would be happier if you knew what was going on. I have an appointment on Thursday with a lapband surgeon. He is out of network but at least I can get an opinion bringing him my flouros. I am hoping that he will schedule an EGD for me as well. I am still having the chronic throat burning, no reflux but a sure sign that something aint right. I am pretty sure I am going to need a reposition surgery. I dont think my insurance will cover a new band, just removal, so I am sure that I will be coughing up some cash if I want the new band. We will see. Maybe the barium swallow will show something different??? Babs in TX

Hi Lucky, I don't think that the surgeon in question had any confidence problems or felt he couldn't take on a slip. He made it clear that he thought I would be a problem patient just because I actually had an opinion based on fact and discussion with other competent medical professionals.He expected me to just take the abuse he doled out at me about the "firing" without any confrontation. There was never a conversation here. That requires two people to listen and he wasn't listening. He took advantage of my moment of weakness. I was scared, feeling really low about the weight gain and band problems and then he dumped me based on the fact that I had an opinion that contradicted his. I am not that strong. I cannot live on liquids for several months without some kind of appetitie suppresant. I have an empty band and the hunger is raging. If he did not want me to take a suppressant, he should have done something about it when I called a month ago and asked him about it. I was not offered the possibility of compromise. Its possible he had a bad experience with someone else that he felt compelled to dump in my lap. Anyway, time to move on. Why can't a reasonably intelligent business woman find a doc who will actually listen??? I have had problems with my band that are documented as early as December 2004. Babs in TX

Hi again, Thanks for all the support. I am grabbing the bull by the horns and not letting this other surgeon get to me. I just want my band to work properly again. So next week, I have an appointment with another surgeon and lets see what he has to say. Babs in TX

Hi Gonna be thin, He did not give me notification. He does not have reason to terminate. I am not high risk, I did not violate any known protocol, since I called first and asked and he referred me to my PCP regarding the appetite suppressant. I showed up on time, I have paid for my visits. He did not give me notification and I am sitting here with my file on my desk trying to figure out how to go about finding someone else. The problem here is that I don't want to see too many providers. They do need the flouros I had done to do a determination. They all want to see my history which will now include my original banding surgeon of 3 years, the new surgeon and the fill records. Too much history and jumping around will just look suspicious even though this was not my choosing. My first surgeon is no longer in my insurance network. Getting an exception to continue to see him is a pain in the butt. THere also is no guarantee that the problem did not occur with my band because the placement was less than ideal, although it is highly likely that since I lost so much weight so quickly, that the band slipped and is not very effective anymore and just needs to be fixed. I am not blaming anyone, but I do need a reliable opinion about what I should do. Babs in TX

Hi Leatha, I spent a lot of time going over the conversation in my head, trying to figure out what I did wrong, how I might have offended him and the ONLY conclusion I can draw is that he didnt like the fact that I could cite the names and locations of others that were professionals in the field that supported my case . I was not going against his wishes, since he was the one who told me to get the suppressants from my PCP. If he didnt want me to do that, he should have said so when I first called about it. He DID fire me. TO be honest, I dont know if that is even legal..... I may have my file, but I wasted several visits which he is being paid for, two flouros which result in an empty band and time which I dont have now to go out and find someone else who will care for me. And worse yet, I may have something going on in there causing more damage and its gonna take some time before I can get answers. Of course now that he made the choice to fire me and he hasnt given me a choice in the matter, I no longer want to see him anymore. I know I am better off without him, but it doesnt make me feel any better. Babs in TX

Hi Subgirl, No, I dont have any shoulder pain. Babs in TX

Hi carrie, ITs strange you mention this. The guy did fire me and leave the room solely based on EGO, although 3 weeks ago when I called and asked, his nurse called me back and told me that although he doesnt do it and he said go to my PCP. Which I did. I was NEVER told not to take them or to go and get them, he simply said that he would not provide me with a prescription. The conversation about the diet pills only came up when he suggested that I go on liquids for another month, (although he didnt think it would improve the situation regarding my need for another surgery) and I told him I didnt think I could do it for that long without some kind of intervention. He then got irate with me and said that when he heard that I asked for them, he almost fired me then (whatever that means). THats when I asked him what he meant and let him know that before I made the call to my PCP, I had checked with some other docs online and other banded professionals whether my request was unreasonable to ask my surgeon for an appetite suppressant. I mentioned the names of several practices that offer this option to their patients when they are on extended periods of time only on liquids. This is when he went off on a tangent, got up and left the office and said he thought that I would be trouble and he did not want to take care of me. I was given my file back by the nurse who looked totally floored. I did not agree to this, nor was this a consensual decision since he is closest to me, takes my insurance and has done some rebanding. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. BUt I am upset that I did not have time to find someone else since its clear I will probably need another surgery. I guess I didn't know doctors could do this. Babs in TX

Hi Piper, Dr. Fox is an awesome and compassionate doc and I know he has helped some others in the past who are bandster friends of mine. He personally told me his policy is to not reband local patients who have been banded by local surgeons. He did however recently reband a friend of mine who was banded in Mexico and then had problems. So maybe its just me. He was the first person I thought of because he has been helpful to others in the past. Maybe this backfired on him. Dunno. I have not tried Benevides yet.... Alex: Thanks for the hugs. Babs in TX 334/180 ish

Penni, All I have is hugs to offer. Babs in TX

Hi Bright, I went back to the original post and noted you have the Inamed band. Inamed is now owned by Allergan. Maybe you can get the Irish docs to call over there to customer service??? they have always been helpful to me. I know the DS might look attractive to you when you are down about the band, but regain of 10 lbs at 3 years out when you hardly had your band working for you because of lack of fills or adequate restriction hardly seems a good reason to switch hats at this time. Even if it is a kink, it will be a lot cheaper to fix it than to get a DS. And if you go on the DS support boards on obesityhelp, there are people there that also have issues, some very unpleasant both involving food and complications like long term malabsorption, smelly stools and gas etc... No WLS is perfect. Babs in TX 334/180 ish

Hi Bright, I know that European docs are no nonsense. But it does seem to me if he does DS, RNY and lapband that he could be very biased towards what he perceives to be an easier road and $ in his pocket. BRight: It seems like you do have restriction. Maybe not more, but certainly not less. Thats not necessarily bad. What he added obviously has not changed your level of restriction, but that doesnt necessarily mean that there is a kink. Maybe it just wasnt enough fill for you to notice the difference. He could be right, but it could have been verified with flouroscopy and a contrast solution added via the port. He could have filled it all the way up to see if you had restriction and then removed some. FYI: 50%EWL is very good. IT is true that DS is a great option for some, but it has many downsides as well. IT is also true that the band is work. I have gained some weight back and with my most recent two weeks of only liquids have managed to move closer to my lowest weight. Hopefully your Irish docs can help you. Maybe they can call the manufacturer and ask them for help. DO you have the Inamed or Swedish band???? Babs in TX 334/180 ish

Hi Everyone, My husband, son and I came home today and when we stepped out of the car, the first thing we saw was the biggest WOLF spider in the history of mankind in our garage. I could identify it and knew it wasnt poisonous so I had my hubby chase it out of the garage. While inside, my husband was looking at the garbage can which is in the garage and saw a black spider with several egg sacs. IT looked to be at the end of its life cycle, but it was still quite alive. He brought it outside and it was rolled over as he put it in the dirt along with the 1/2 inch egg sacs. He came in and mentioned that he found a black spider with red markings on its belly. I totally freaked and asked him to see it. IT was most definitely a black widow spider and her egg sacs. There were 4 of them and I really freaked out. Apparently the red ants who are quite ferocious here in TX decided to start eating the black widow and they were crawling all over the egg sacs as well. It was totally nasty. I took a quick look on the internet and it said to step on the sacs because bug spray wont do anything and there is a chance that the ants would not be able to penetrate the sacs, so that was the only way to ensure that they were truly dead. I have been living here in TX for 8 years and have never seen a black widow although I know they exist here. There is a less than 5% chance of death if bitten, but it sounded really really bad if you were bit because within 1-3 hours its worse than the pain of an apendicitis and you hallucinate, have the sweats, fever etc... Now I am totally freaked out. I feel like moving. Babs in TX 334/180 ish

Hi Dow, I dont mean to be offensive, but if you are really worried about your band health, then I would stop PBing so frequently. THat is a sure way to slippage and esophagus problems. IT sounds like you are too tight if you are not able to keep solid protein down. Grazing foods like popcorn and such go down for pretty much everyone. YOu are probably not gaining cause you are barfing up so much and at the same time you are still getting enough of the junk food down to keep you at the weight you are at. I hope you at least take vitamins. Have you ever considered getting a slight unfill and giving the ole throat and band a chance to rest??? I personally would be so unhappy if I could not eat my protein and keep it down. I like eggs, meat, poultry etc..and steak. I love steak but I wouldnt want to regurgitate it.... LOL Babs in TX 334/180 ish