MacMadame

That's not the same thing because the band they had was nothing like our band. It was one of the very first ones done and the band technology and surgery technique is nothing like what we get today. It wasn't stitched in and I think it wasn't adjustable, either. I think it's unlikely. Remember there is that study of patients with a band for 12 years. .... and those were older bands. I think if they can keep their bands for 12 years, then today's bands should last much longer. The main problem I have with the band is that it does seem like the longer you have it, the greater your chance of having a slip. But that doesn't mean everyone will have their bands removed by the time they are 10 years old. The slip rate is higher than I'd like, but not that high. The very first adjustable band was placed in 1986. The band technology we have today was released in 1993 (Realize) and 1996 (Lap Band). Both bands have newer versions. The Lap-band AP system is a newer version of the original 1996 Lap-Band and there is a new Realize band too that isn't available in the US quite yet. (But due to be released this year??) I do think we are guinea pigs. I think that the diet industry has been focused for so long in the wrong direction and they are just recently starting to understand what causes obesity and how to cure it. Bariatric surgery is one of the first treatments that actually works -- compared to diet and exercise which mostly doesn't. Now that we have a way that mostly works, I think it will be possible to take that knowledge and get better and better at it. The new VBLOC device is an interesting direction. Right now it seems like weight loss isn't as good as with a band. (I think I read 20% of excess weight on average vs. 40+% with the band.) But it's much less invasive and maybe they can learn to make it work better. Also, even if it doesn't work for everybody, for some people it's exactly what they need and will work perfectly without many of the risks that other bariatric surgery has.

I want to be a size 10 or 12. The last time I lost a lot of weight, I got down to an easy 12. Then I had my gallbladder out and, for a brief moment in time, I was a tight 10. The reason I want to be these sizes is that they seem to be easy to find in stores and have a lot of selection. I found when I was a size 14, that I still had to go to the fat lady stores/departments or the store I was at carried that size, but they were always out of it. But for me, the big issue is maintenance. I want to be a size and weight that I feel I can maintain. If that turns out to be even lower, I'll take it. As long as I don't get so thin that I worry about dying if I get the flu (like my anorexic grandmother had to).

The last time I went to Mexico, I drank the water just fine. It depends on where you go. I'm sorry you didn't go to a good surgeon. I don't know what led you to select the one you did, but just reading messages on this board, I never would have picked that one. He is one of the handful of MX surgeons with whole threads about how horrible he is and not to go to him. So, I agree .... don't go to Dr. A. Rodriguez. But "Dr. A. Rodriquez was bad so don't go to Mexico"? That's not logical and I can't agree with that.

The other thing is that each year more and more participants dropped out of the study. The last couple of years in the 12 years had something like 35-40 patients. What happened to the rest? Some probably got bored with being studied and are doing fine. Some of them probably died, maybe not from band-related complications, but maybe not. The rest I'm guessing started gaining back the weight and dropped out of the study out of embarrassment. It's good to know such a study exists though and that the band has been around long enough that the medical community does have a good sense of long-term results.

Aetna says if I have a band that I'd have to pay for any complications. I think they may balk at fills too. I'm working on some spreadsheets now to figure out which insurance will have me more out of pocket on average. Maybe it won't be as bad as I think. It's hard to say ... what I have now is so easy -- just little co-pays for office visits and prescriptions and this "Affinity" plan I'd have to switch to is so frigging complicated!! The other thing is, if I want complications and fills and such covered, I have to switch even if I self-pay. Which means I might as well go through UHC to start with. Maybe it would be better if my company didn't have so many choices! (And I haven't even dragged Kaiser into this -- they are a 3rd choice for insurance that my company offers.) Yeah, I know I'm being a big, whinny cry-baby and that some people have to get second mortgages to pay for their surgery and it takes them 2 years to jump through all the hoops, and some people never get it because of money, and that if I really wanted to, I could take off from work during an inconvenient time. What I'd really like to do is: start working on lifestyle changes and emotional eating now, insurance be damned, and re-evaluate in the Fall like I originally planned. I could have a BMI of under 35 by then and maybe I could try to get into the low BMI study. Or I might still be above 35 BMI and UHC might count my hypertension as a co-morbidity after all and it will all be good. The worst that can happen is that I decide, yes, I really want this surgery, and I'll have to self-pay. The reality is that I could afford to self-pay in Mexico if I really wanted to (and was willing to wait a few more years for some other stuff I want like new car and remodeled bathrooms) and I'm not one of those people who thinks all the doctors in Mexico are a bunch of hacks, either. So it's really, really tempting. Mostly the distance and dh's skepticism are what are holding me back. Plus my practical streak that says I'm crazy to consider self-pay before I've exhausted all my insurance options. I know that starting now will dramatically increase my chances of having to self-pay, but I do think that's the best option for me. I really need to deal with my eating problems NOW and not wait until Aug. It's been heck these past two months watching the scales go down (just from logging food and drinking more water) and not being happy because I'm afraid it will screw up my chances for surgery ... which I know I need in the long run. I'm putting off starting up my exercise plan because I'm afraid I'll lose even more weight, which is not good. I've even done stuff like eat a bowl of ice cream at the end of the day to get my calories up so I won't lose more weight until I can weigh in at the surgeon's office only to have my appointment get cancelled because of insurance! So I feel for the OP and may find myself in the same situation in the not too distant future.

It will still cost me $3000 out-of-pocket to do it under insurance and then I'll have the insurance that cost me more every year than the one I've got now. I really like the insurance I have now and I'm really annoyed that I have to switch to get the surgery.

I think when it comes to lap band, it's usually easier, faster and just as safe to go out of country. I still want my insurance to cover the procedure though. And so does MacBoy's college fund. :tongue_smilie:

They should change their web sites then. :tongue_smilie: Because lots of people won't call and will just go by what they say. That's good advice for the OP. There is also that clinical trial that she might be able to get into. For me, I'm in kind of a catch-22. Right now my BMI is too high for the lower BMI clinical trial but I also have to change insurance during Open Enrollment to get the surgery covered. But, if I make the lifestyle changes I have already started to make and want to continue making in preparation for the band, I will lose weight. Heck, I've already lost weight and I haven't even been doing much but drinking more fluids. That means by the time I get the new insurance, my BMI will be too low for my insurance. (This assumes they won't consider my hypertension a co-morbidity. Which it sounds like they won't because it's well controlled with the most mild of medicine.) But if I go to Mexico, none of this will be issue. I will qualify, no problem. The only thing stopping me is that it's so far away. I'd prefer to have my doctor be within an hours drive.

I'm just going by what they say on their web sites under "who is eligible". Every time my insurance issues pop up, I research Mexican doctors so I have a bunch of their sites bookmarked. :biggrin: Here is what I've found: Dr. Alvarez says he'll do 30 to 39 if you have co-morbidities. The OP said there were no co-morbidities. Dr. Aceves web site says: You weigh at least twice your ideal weight or You weigh at least 100 lbs. (45 kilos) more than your ideal weight. (which translates into around 40 BMI for most). And in another place it says, it's normally not done if your BMI is under 40 unless you have co-morbidities. Dr. Rumbault says "We accept obesity surgery patients who have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or above and who have been overweight for at least 5 years despite serious attempts to lose weight. We may also consider you for the Lap Band surgery in Monterrey if you have a BMI of 32 and suffer from the obesity related health challenges listed on the Morbid Obesity page and/or from low back pain, arthritis or shortness of breath." So if they are doing it for people with a BMI of 30 with no co-morbidities, they need to update their web sites. :tongue:

Your body needs a certain amount of Fluid. If you consume fluids and your pee is no darker than the color of lemonade, you are getting enough fluid. People have all sorts of opinions about the best fluids and what counts and doesn't count, but the bottom line is your pee color. If it's anywhere between clear and lemonade, you are okay. But you asked about weight loss. If you drink a non-calorie fluids, it takes up room in your stomach. That's room that food can't fit into. :biggrin: So I have found that if I increase my fluid intake, my calorie intake goes down and I lose weight. I don't even have to "diet" to see this.

I have often wondered about that. When you watch lap band surgeries online, you see this incredibly long tube. Then they cut away to the talking head and when they come back, they are stitching the port into place. I always wonder where all the tubing went. It seems like he did have erosion. Isn't his band inside his tummy? Do port infections increase the chance of erosion? Something you said earlier seemed to imply that. But how can that be?! US surgeons are the best! Everyone knows that!! (j/k) I don't think that's why. I think it's because he's a big ol' drama queen and he's been quite insulting to many people, including, but not limited to, all nurses. I'm sorry, but he brought his treatment on himself with his drama, preposterous claims and nasty sniping at anyone who challenged him. That doesn't make it right and I wish people would calm down about it, but it is understandable and I don't think it has anything to do with fear for most of us. For myself, I don't want to die having elective surgery. My kids are still young enough that I want to be around for them. I will take more complications on the back-end for a safer surgery. There are other reasons I prefer LB to GS but that's a biggie. I'm sorry to hear that. I think it is different because I doubt you went to that board and posted a bunch of crap about how if you spoke out about your problems, you'd be car bombed by the evil Bariatric Industry in your very first couple of posts. I actually think what happened to you was worse because you were a known entity and there was probably a certain level of trust that was broken by that person being nasty to you.

I agree with that. This happens to me too. But what also happens is that my numbers are much better than theirs. My blood pressure is lower. My Iron is higher. My cholesterol is lower. Etc. Flabby and what size you wear isn't necessarily about health. :biggrin: I just read that BMI is inaccurate for 25% of the population. That's more than the elite athletes with lots of muscles. The problem with BMI is not just that it tells people who are healthy that they aren't; it also tells people who AREN'T healthy that they are. There are better measures IMO of health. BMI is just the old weight charts slightly updated and turned into a single number.

We diagramed sentences for about 5 seconds in some grade in elementary school. I guess the practice was already falling out of favor. We would take the sentence and put it into a chart that reminds me of those timelines they do on Without a Trace. They look like this: Sentence Diagramming My kids only circle nouns and verbs or underline other parts -- whatever part they are studying. They don't ever diagram the whole thing.

I think you are both right. The thing is, if .05% have life-threatening complications -- a high estimate because most complications are not life-threatening, even the ones that require a second surgery and in many band studies, there are over 1500 subjects and not one mortality -- and only 1000 people in the US are banded, as was once the case, that's 5 people. But now that there hundreds of thousands being banded, that's hundreds of people -- 500 for every 100,000. (If I did the math right.) So, sure, there are more people. But the risk factor doesn't change because the absolute number goes up. One thing that sways me towards Lap Band surgery (vs. other WLS) is that this is the surgery that many of the Bariatric Surgeons have done for themselves and for their families. I don't think they'd be putting the band in themselves if it really was a dangerous appliance due to be pulled off the market.

When I was 36, I was the mother of a 2 year old. :biggrin: Now I'm the mother of a 16 year old and HE BETTER NOT MAKE ME A GRANDMA!

This is a common misconception. The difference is not that dramatic. First of all, half a century ago is about 1958. In 1963, the average age of menarche was between 12.9 and 12.75 depending on what study you quote. Now it's about 12.5 to 12.8, again depending on the study you quote. The average hasn't been 16 for well over a century and we have a ways to go until it's 11 because there has been a leveling off in the drop. From reading the stories on LBT, I get the impression that entering puberty does start obesity in some women and for others having a baby does it. That doesn't cover everyone, of course, but those two themes seem to be the most common. Also, there is a correlation between weight and onset of menarche. But it's not that menarche causes weight gain. It's that you have to have a certain percentage of body fat in order to have menarche. This is one reason why the age has gone down -- nutrition has improved and there are a lot less starving kids with low body fat percentages in the world.

I remember that very well. Of course power windows are much more reliable now. OTOH, my car's power windows will often refuse to go down. Then a few days later they work again. So they aren't perfect. :biggrin: In a lot of areas of my life, I am very cutting edge. I have an iPhone, a Blu-ray DVD player, and we were one of the first people I know to get an HDTV. I often upgrade to the whatever new version of software as soon as it's out. But this is our bodies we're talking about! When it comes to things like surgery, and implanting a device in my body, I'm MUCH more conservative. I figure, let someone else be the guinea pig. :tongue:

I did go out for physical therapy for 1.5 right before lunch and then over to the "Friday Social" (nee Beer Bash) for about 30 min. around 5pm. But still... It's my own fault though. I'm having trouble getting something done that should have been done several weeks ago.

I think bands are relatively new to that program. They seem focused on RnY. My medical group also has a program but they *only* do RnY. Which is why I'm shopping around. :shrug: I found a surgeon with over 400 bands near my work, but now my insurance issues are getting in the way. (Their group takes my current insurance but not the one I have to switch to in order to get it covered. Catch-22!) There is another hospital-based program near me that seems to have an experienced surgeon and takes both my old and my (maybe) new insurance, but I haven't had time to grill them yet. I'm pretty sure she's been doing bands since 2004 though. Plus they have a lot of pre-op classes and I like stuff like that. :cry_smile:

I'm a software engineer. I had my own business for a while doing photography & videography but I couldn't make any money at so I went back to software.

9:30am. I'm home now though.

I'm still at work! (It's past 8 pm here.)

I was emailing back and forth with a patient coordinator of a surgeon my insurance covers and she proudly told me that they had had no slips and no erosions. Of course the guy had only done 50 bands. :cry_smile: My understanding is that there is a big learning curve with bands. I know the industry has learned a lot as a whole over time so I'm not sure if that is as true today as it once was. But I would not want to be my surgeon's first couple of bands even so. This is an elective surgery and I want to do everything in power to make it as safe as possible.

I have a rep power of 1 so I think one person has left a comment. I'm going crazy trying to find it! :cry_smile:

I have Aetna but WLS is excluded. I can switch to UHC or Kaiser at open enrollment time. UHC covers it under certain conditions that I had trouble getting a firm answer as to what they were out of the CS rep I talked to and I haven't looked into Kaiser since my family has been with the same doctor since '96 and we don't want to change. I strongly suspect it's covered though. I have a BMI of 42 and hypertension.