MacMadame

I would yell out "If you loved me, you'd STFU" and then laugh HA HA like she did. This is EXACTLY why I don't want people at work to know about my surgery. There is something about the work environment that makes people think they can behave like this and, usually, because you don't want to make a fuss or be the bad guy, they get away with it. It's happen to me before when I've lost a lot and I don't want to have it happen again.

Agreed. Each WLS has it's pros and cons. OTOH, he might have done just as well with a sleeve though. In fact, at 500 lb. it would be a lot safer to do a 2-parter IMO. But I'm not a doctor. I just play one on the internet. :biggrin: Generally, I would never try to talk someone out of having WLS. I might make sure they knew about other options -- some people don't. But if they knew about them and had decided some other surgery was the right one for them, I would feel presumptuous to try to talk them out of it. Even if I secretly felt they were nuts to pick the one they picked.

What is your site going to be about?

In that case, you should still have a little once in a while. My doctor says it's fine and it's important not to deprive yourself or you will binge.

It's not that easy. Scar tissue will have formed. It's a big hairy operation and it's rarely done. Absolutely not true. The mortality rate for GB is about 0.5% (1 in 200). The mortality rate for lap band is around 1 in 2000 or 0.05% -- ten times less likely to die.

Definitely. And if you call your insurance company and they say something, get it writing or call back and see if the answer is the same the second time. I've been told the wrong info twice now and it's really aggravating.

I came here because I was intent on getting a band. I only knew about the band and RnY and I do not believe in malabsorption procedures on principle -- I don't want something that allows me to eat more food than my body needs; I want something that allows me to eat regular portions and feel satiety. Anyway, then I found out about all sorts of other options like DS, sleeve, VBLOC. It was confusing at first, but I've recently decided that a sleeve is a better option for me. First, I've come to terms with the whole surgery thing. At first, I was freaked out by something *permanent* but it's not like having a lap band is like wearing a belt with your slacks. It's a surgery and it adheres to your stomach with scars -- scars that are probably permanent. The reasons you would want to take one out are because of erosion or slippage or other damage that the lap band caused. So if you don't get one, you don't need to undo it. I do like the adjustability of the band. I like the idea of being able to eat most things by not being super tight. But will I be able to get to that elusive "sweet spot" where I feel satiety when I eat normally but can still eat most foods if I chew well enough? After hanging out here for a 4 months, I see that it's not a given. Plus what really bugs is that many of the foods you can't get down because of a band are good for you. Plus even if you find your sweet spot, the band can be fickle -- tight certain times of day, loose at others -- tight certain TOM or after flying or when you are under stress. So you can be at the sweet spot then lose it over and over again. Another reason for getting a band is that you can get an unfill if you need more nutrition, say when you get pregnant. I'm past the age of getting pregnant. I may get cancer, but my understanding is that most people with cancer have problems with nutrition because they are too sick to eat. Unfilling the band may help, but it's not going to make you want to eat. Finally, there is the matter of costs. The band is cheaper in the short run, but adjustments can drive up costs. WLS is not covered under my insurance so not only would I have to pay to put it in, but if something happened and it had to be taken out, I'd have to pay for that. With a sleeve, you get it and that's it. So it's a one-time cost. The sleeve works by making your stomach smaller but, unlike with a lap band, there is no stoma so you have a much smaller chance of getting stuck. It also removes the portion of your stomach that produces ghrelin, the hunger hormone, so that you don't feel hungry. Most of my overeating comes from hunger issues so something that definitely controls hunger is a good choice for me. This particular operation has been done for reasons other than weight loss since the 80s. It has been done as a two-part operation for DS patients who were too sick to get DS for a while too. It has only been done as a stand-alone operation since around 2001 (and contrary to the info on the intranet, was not started in the UK :cursing: ). This is also the year the Lap band was approved for use in the US so, in fact, it's been done in the US as long as bands have been done here. Not that it matters: don't go by what is popular in the US or common in the US -- we really out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to WLS. The bad parts of the sleeve, to me, are: Not a lot of data on long term results. There is one published 3 year study and one getting ready for publishing 5 year study. The results of that study are promising. It seems unlikely that the sleeve will expand that much over time. Plus, while your stomach does figure out how to make ghrelin after a few years, it doesn't make it at the levels that it used to (morbidly obese people have about 10x the ghrelin as normal). But only two studies is a bit scary. The 1 and 2 year studies show that weight loss is similar to bypass with safety similar to lap band, however. So those are promising. Not a lot of doctors do them. Now I live in a major metropolitan area and I know of at least 6 surgeons who do them including some who have done them since 2001, but most people won't find that. Insurance won't pay for it yet. But my insurance doesn't pay for WLS at all. Plus, there are ways to get around the "no sleeve" limitation... it is approved as a 2-part operation after all. :biggrin: I think there is no one right WLS for everyone. The sleeve appeals to me for a number of reasons, but it's not going to appeal to everyone. OTOH, it's definitely not some fly-by-night, unsafe surgery that has no track record what-so-ever and I do think a few posts in this thread gave that impression whether intentionally or not.

Something I HATE, HATE, HATE about having to deal with insurance companies is that you can never get a straight answer out of them and they never give the same answer twice. Take Moonshine. Moonshine is the CS rep who answered UHC's hotline the day I called to find out if WLS was excluded on my company's policy. Moonshine looked it up on her little computer ... or maybe she just pulled her answer out her ass ... and told me that it was. But Moonshine was wrong. So for the past three months that I've been thinking all I had to do was switch to UHC when Open Enrollment came along and I'd be fine for my surgery in the fall. That's three months wasted. Three months I could have spent working with a surgeon to get my pre-op requirements out of the way as as self-pay patient. That's also three months that I spent making lifestyle changes in preparation for having a band that lead to me dropping below 40 BMI. If I'd been under a surgeon's care with my weight recorded at its highest, it wouldn't matter and all this weight would count towards the 10% that the surgeons in my area want you to lose before they operate. I am not feeling very charitable towards Moonshine right now.

I'm fat too. My face was prettier when I was younger. Now I look too much like how I picture my mom. When did that happen? I don't like euphemisms in general and I really don't like are too cutsie. I am just not a cutsie person -- in spite of the pink hair.

I wanna be a homosexual liberal atheist too! Are there classes for that?

I really had a hard time not laughing when she told me her name, to be honest. Maybe she sensed that. Well, the good news is: I don't have to change my insurance. I really didn't want to as I really like the policy I have now.

Be careful. Anyone can open a PO box somewhere and have their mail forwarded elsewhere. There tons of these places on the web. They do scheduling for certain doctors and promise to make it easier for you than dealing with the doctors' office directly but many of them have slimy reputations. IMO it's always better to find a doctor directly and deal with them directly. Dr. Lopez is a Mexican doctor who practices in Mexico. Do a search of LapbandTalk if you want to find info him .. there is a lot and there are a lot of complaints. I have recently exhausted my insurance options and am looking at Mexico. Currently I'm looking at Dr. Aceves and Dr. Rumblaut. Another popular surgeon is Dr. Ortiz but for various reasons, he didn't make my list. I'm using the article "How to Research a Mexican Doctor" in the LBT magazine area to help me with my research (which is still on-going) and also doing a lot of google searches, looking at Doctor recommendations at ObesityHelp.com and searching LBT for different doctors by name. I really recommend the article by WasABubbleButt and also looking for what real people say about doctors on the Internet.

Thanks. I just thought it was weird that she picked me out of about 3 people who were saying about the same thing to spew hateful, mean crap at all the while accusing me of being hateful and mean. Then telling me I shouldn't post like I did and say what I did because it's not right to tell people who and what to post. :cursing: Anyway, I do understand that for some people hearing "0.25% chance of mortality" has no meaning. But neither does hearing "so-and-so knows someone who has a friend who died". Maybe it makes the risk of death seem real to them in a way that hearing a stat doesn't, but it still doesn't tell you want your risks are and how likely it is that you will die.

I tried calling 2x but the second time I didn't get an answer at all. (They were supposed to call me back. Ha!) So I asked the HR department, particularly the one who negotiates the contracts with the insurance companies.

Blender? I just chew really well. If you chew it well enough, it's just like being blended.

I"m going to stick Moonshine somewhere the Moon don't shine... (Moonshine is the [expletive delete] CS rep at UHC who LIED TO ME.)

Or maybe he was making fun of how we make up words for things instead of facing what it actually is.

One of the reasons we can't keep weight off is that morbidly obese peple have something like 10% the ghrelin (hunger hormone) that regular people do. They've given this hormone to rats who had just eaten a big meal and they went NUTS eating. Now humans have a high enough IQ that we can control ourselves somewhat and aren't always at the mercy of our hormones. But it's still extremely difficult to not eat when your brain is receiving a signal 24/7 that you are STARVING and you need to eat or you will DIE ... because that's what having 10x the ghrelin you are supposed to does to people.

It doesn't have to be 100% true to shut them up. Just saying. :drool:

Trust me, you aren't.

My insurance has a lifetime limit of 2 mil. But it's group insurance through my company. Lots of times private policies have a much smaller limit.

Here are some more too ... in case you need something missing from the first one: Sample surgeon's letter - VSG FAQ's Denied by insurance? - VSG FAQ's And here is a series of articles on working with your insurance company: OAC

First people are eating lambs... will cute bunny rabbits be next?!?! Also, you get blooming onions at Outback Steakhouse. I'ts Chilis' that has the awesome blossum. Therefore you are probabaly fine. You are drinking 64 oz. of Water every day right? Maybe you should drink 100 oz. Hey, I heard it's a really good idea to drink 3 gallons in about 30 min. Why don't you try that?* *In case anyone thinks I'm serious... that much water in 30 min. can kill you so don't really try it.

It's not the surgeon's job to decide what we need and don't need to know. They aren't our parents and we aren't children. If we want to know how big our bands are and how much fill there is in them, then they should just tell us and not play games.

You can tell them: -People who get it taken out regain their weight because they lose the hunger control -The amount of calories the band lets me eat is the right amount to maintain my goal weight. If it's not, I might get a slight unfill. I think the problem is that people think of diets as these things you go on and then go off. They think you are on a diet. So, of course, when you get to goal, you stop dieting and that means taking out the band or getting an unfill so you can start eating "normally" again.