mishakal

I'm very new here and trying to research my options. I know absolutely no one with a band -- but many people who have had RNY. One of my coworkers mentioned his sister had the band done in Mexico and lost some weight but in his opinion didn't utilize the band as a tool but thought it'd be an easy fix. The main reason I would prefer the band to RNY is that every person I've known who has had an RNY for more than 10 years has had at least one complication requiring hospitalization, and because I've seen that your gut is never the same again. My mom has had to have two hospitalizations -- one for stretching out the stoma because she had a tendency toward bulimia (the stoma ulcerated due to too much acid on it, she couldn't hold down anything), and then they had to do a revision because apparently her gut started twisting on itself, they said it was due to the specific procedure they were using at the time she had hers done that they learned was not the best about two years after her surgery. I've known others who have had severe gastric motility issues. Now, even with all of that -- not a single person I've known who had RNY has said they would have changed their mind, even with the complications. I would rather go through what every person I have known with RNY has gone through combined than die like my grandmother did, in a nursing home unable to walk at 600 lbs. I think the weight loss would be worth it. My thought with the band is that if there was a complication it could be removed, and if there was no other way, it could be converted to an RNY. Soooo.... for those of you who have had to have the band removed, did you convert to an RNY?

My highest weight was 244 when I was 19. I lost down to my lowest weight of 145 by the time I was 21, and it's been coming back slowly but surely. I've had a BMI over 35 for the last two years, but as I don't know if I have any health problems (haven't had a physical in many many years) I can't guarantee that will be enough. I am almost positive I can acquire my doctor's records from my heaviest time. I also should have records with a rheumatologist I saw that will have my weight for parts of the time while I was losing -- and I can get my gynecologist's records and those have my weight from the time I was 18 on until now -- except for a few years gap when I moved out of state. Does anyone have any experience here with being on the borderline portion for Aetna's history? Are they looking for 24 solid months of being over 40 BMI? I think that would disqualify a lot of yo-yo dieters right there ...

I'm young, I have no children. I'm going to go for the band if I go for WLS. If it doesn't work, if I have problems with it and it has to be removed, I can try to beg my insurance company to let me have it revised to an RNY -- that is, if the time with the band isn't sufficient for me to lose enough weight to be healthier. There is no going back from an RNY. I still would gladly go through the complications the people I have known with RNY have experienced than suffer the health consequences of morbid obesity, though.

Yet another reason I want the band if I can get it and it's a good fit for me. I found out the surgeon in my area that's covered by Aetna is pretty new, finished his internship at Duke University (they were pioneering the laproscopic RNY back when I was at my highest and thinking about WLS), and specializes in banding and laproscopic RNY. He's done 200 procedures, but he's only been out of his internship a few years -- although the focus on laproscopic makes me feel better :hurray: I'm seriously thinking about seeing if the surgeon who revised my Mom's RNY for her (who now does mostly bands according to my Mom) is covered under Aetna for banding. Mom hasn't had any problems since he did the revision. I am 99% sure that if I were to opt for an RNY that's where I'd go -- if he knows how to fix one I'd feel pretty good that he knows how to do one. But I'd still rather do the band even after reading the complications/removal forums. PBing doesn't sound pleasant, but neither is constant vomiting/lower GI issues -- and it sounds like PBing is more of a symptom of a problem than a side effect. (I have enough lower GI issues without help!)

My mother (RNY not band so some malabsorptive issues) takes a liquid Multivitamin she gets at the health food store (don't remember which brand), which does have Iron, as well as B-12 shots. She used liquids instead of chewables because she had been neglecting her Vitamins until she had a complication from her RNY (ulcerated stoma, had to be stretched) and all she could hold down was liquids at the time -- she never felt the need to switch away from them. Another person I know who has had RNY does two liquid Multivitamins and an additional liquid calcium/magnesium/potassium/zinc that she takes when she has reflux or is vomiting -- not only does it work great as an antacid but her surgeon modified the RNY to be slightly more malabsorptive than normal and she has electrolyte issues now, when she's vomiting she HAS to get electrolytes in her. She also does B12 shots and liquid B complex. Both are very happy with their liquid reigmen and it works well for them -- although Mom doesn't have to take as much as the other person who went a more malabsorptive route. One of Mom's major complaints, hair loss, stopped when she got serious about her vitamins and took them daily. Are liquid vitamins contraindicated in lap-band patients, or is it just that they are more expensive and not as needed as they are in patients who have had WLS that employs malabsorption?

When I went to the doctor last for a case of bronchitis, I had a huge shock when I stepped on the scale -- 204!!! I'm 4'11. That gives me a BMI of 41.2. I've been maintaining at 170-180 for about the last 3-4 years. My highest weight ever was 244 when I was 19 and on birth control pills. When I wasn't in a relationship I decided to just throw them away -- they were costing me money and it wasn't like I was in danger of getting pregnant... my allegedly underactive thyroid got into the normal range within a month of coming off of them. I got down to 145 over a year, then have crept back up. The thing that changed me from the 170-180 up to this was dislocating my kneecap nearly two years ago. I've had reduced activity -- it still hurts to walk through Wal-Mart. When I saw the scale go up over 200, I wanted to cry, and not just for physical pain. I know to some I don't have a huge weight problem. People say I "carry it well". They don't want to offend me, I'm sure. And I even admit it's not as bad as it used to be. But I'm terrified. My mother had gastric bypass at 265 lbs, she now weighs 120 but has had major complications -- says she doesn't regret it a bit tho. Four of her cousins had it. My paternal grandmother should have had it, but at the time Medicaid didn't cover it. She died in a nursing home at 62, weighing 600 lbs needing double knee replacements but too heavy for them to do them. I don't want to live that life. I don't know if I have severe comorbidities because I've not checked. I haven't had a cholesterol test, sleep study, EKG, anything else like that -- almost too afraid to. I do have asthma and my knee, but I have Aetna insurance and I know those don't qualify. But am I crazy to be thinking about the Lap-Band when I'm only 29 and only a 41.2 BMI? (If the pre-surgical diet takes me down much, and it doesn't take much at 4'11, I might not meet Aetna's qualifications for the surgery from what I can see....)