iwannabslim

Congrats! I am so glad you finally heard from them!

Yes! I have been on pins and needles! Yes! Yes! Yes! Lots of fist pumping (in my head anyway)!

I currently have the lapband, and I have a medic alert bracelet with my information on it. I plan, if I am approved for sleeve revision surgery, to get a new one. It simply states my surgery type, no blind NG tube, no NSAIDS, and my lapband doctor's name and phone number. You just never know...

I hope you hear something soon! That IS a nail biter!

Am currently waiting on approval (or denial) for my revision to sleeve. I know it hasn't been long. I know that the insurance company has 30 days to make a decision, but I'm ready to know now! I want to start making my next plan (either starting the process over or planning my surgery). I should have realized that once I made up my mind to have revision, that I would not be willing to wait. I have to learn patience... Sigh... I just want this done now! lol. I'm ready to be back to losing. My weight is slowly (ok not as slow as I'd like) creeping back up. I am up almost 30 pounds from my lowest. That is so disheartening... I recognize that is my own fault, but I need to find out something soon OR get some of my fill added back to curb my outrageous eating lately. How on earth do you deal with the waiting?

It is hard to wait. I have never been a patient person so this is killing me! lol Good luck to you too!

Along with the request for additional information, almost a month. They sent In the original information in at the beginning of the month. Then they asked for proof I had been following the doctor's eating and exercise plan. It took almost two weeks for my doc's office to send that in. The insurance company just sent that information for review on Thursday. I have been checking my email every fifteen minutes since then (they will email me when there is a response). I am pathetic and making it worse by checking so often!

I am planning on about four weeks off. I work in a somewhat physical environment. I was given four weeks off when I had my lapband put in back in '08, so I can't imagine taking less than that when they are going to actually cut so much of my stomach out.

I would start calling your insurance company. My doctor won't even discuss scheduling my surgery until I have an approval letter... Wishing you a fast approval!!

My insurance pays for revision surgery, but I am still waiting on word from them... It seems like they are willing (if I meet their unknown requirements) to pay 100% after deductible. Sadly for me, the requirements are apparently obscure, unlike the original requirements of 5 year history, 40 BMI (or 30 BMI with comorbidity), and 6 month supervised diet...

They do! You would think that since I already qualified for the lapband, that approval for revision would be easy! Not! Right now, they are asking my doctor for "documentation" of my compliance with his diet and exercise plan. How can he prove that? He isn't with me 24 hours a day. He has only seen me four times in the last year... Sigh... Hopefully I will know something soon.

Hello. I am a 39 year old AA sleeve hopeful. I currently have the lapband and trying to have it revised to sleeve. It has been submitted to insurance, but they are requesting more info from my doctor... Best of luck to you all.

I am going through the insurance hoops as well. My band doc sent info to my insurance for revision, but now insurance wants proof that I have been compliant with the nutrition and exercise guidelines. I have a feeling that six months of visits may be in future. Good luck to all of you on your journey!

Hi. I am new and only just beginning the process of trying to be revised. I've seen my band doctor about it, and he is getting something together to submit to insurance for approval. I am hoping to avoid starting over as though I have never had any bariactric surgery. I guess I will know more in a few weeks. I have been banded since 1998. At my highest, I weighed 254. I lost down to 169. I held steady at 174 for almost two years. I don't have an erosion. My band has simply stopped helping me. Over the last year, I have been dealing with either being able to eat everything in sight to not being able to get more than sips of broth down. I am just tired of fills and un-fills... I have gained about 20 pounds. I don't want to ever go back to where I was. I just wanted to introduce myself and stop lurking.

I currently have the lapband. I am trying to get it removed and have the sleeve put in its place.

It seems to vary. I have bcbsil and am trying for revision. It has been going back and forth between insurance and my doctor for about a week, but I have read about people being approved through them in a matter of days. I have also read of some people not having to do the 6 month diet plan through some plans with bcbsil.

My doc checked my band under fluro (sp?). He had me drink the yucky chalky stuff while he watched. He was amazed, considering the flow through my band, that I was truly able to eat some of the things I told him about (eating an entire steak and potato one night then gurgling on water or shake the next day).

I'm not sleeved, but I can speak from experience with the Ambien. I have the lapband currently. At the beginning of my weight loss, I was taking Ambien. I had an experience that made me throw them all out. I took one before bed as I normally would. I remember telling my husband goodnight. The next morning, my husband explained that I fell (collapsed really), and fought him while he tried to get me back into bed. I "sort of" remember the fighting (arguing really) in a hazy way. Can you imagine if I decided to drive or anything else during that haze? I have read about people cooking and doing other similar things and not remembering it while taking Ambien. If you still have issues taking a quarter of a pill, you really want to speak with your doctor about possibly taking something else.

It's funny that you mention those symptoms. My doc says my band is in a good position, but that is what I have been dealing with for the past year.

Hi. I'm 5ft 1.5 inches (I refuse to not count that half inch). I have not been sleeved. I currently have the lapband, but I am in the process of trying for approval to revised to the sleeve. My highest weight was 254. I got down to 169 before my lapband basically stopped helping. I maintained 172 for two years but have regained to 195... Hope to hear something soon from insurance to know where I stand.

Thanks so much for the input. I can only hope that I can remember the rules at this point. I have been on an awful eating trend the last few weeks. I am almost ready to ask for my fill back to stop the madness. I think I would rather be tight and not eat than to keep on this destructive path. I truly hope to be able to get revised, but I am already losing hope. My insurance company has been keeping me in the loop about what is going on with the request by my band doctor for the revision. I got an email from them that they were reviewing my case, but I later got an email saying they need more information. I am trying to stay positive, but it's hard. I want this band out, but I KNOW I can't do it on my own...

If I remember correctly, it tastes similar to a salty soda. I can't remember how fast it works though. Good luck with your surgery!

I didn't have any restriction when I first got my band... I have had somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty fills and unfills. I had a fill a month for the first year and a half easily. I have lived the last year with, at least, weekly productive burps... My doctor removed some of my fill last month, and that had left me wide open... By the way, I remember you from LBT. I haven't been there in ages, but I recognized your name right off.

Thanks for the welcome. When I got my band, my only options through insurance were lapband and bypass. I was too scared of bypass. I could not afford to be self pay so I went with the band. I sometimes wish I had waited until the sleeve was an option, but I may have lost my nerve at that point. My insurance has recently added the sleeve as an available option, but when I called they basically said I would have to start over with the 6 month diet visits. I am hoping that the regain along with my history of high blood pressure will help with my approval process. My doctor thinks we have a good case. He is planning to do the band removal and sleeve in one surgery if I am approved. So I have a question... Did having the band before help you with learning to eat with the sleeve? Did you have a hard time after being sleeved? Or was business as usual?