Froggie D

I am so sorry to hear all that has happened to you. It is a horrible experience. I know once you are feeling better, you will be so happy with your band. I love mine! Hope you are feeling better soon. Hang in there!

I called my insurance company directly and was assigned a Health Advocate for Bariatric Surgery. Later I got a Case Manager when I was officially being sumitted for approval. I asked them to send me a written copy of the requirements so I would know exactly what was required. I ended up having to interact a lot with my Health Advocate before I got my approval and surgery. It is good to know who is working on your case there.

Usually once you weigh in at the surgeon's office, that is your official weight. Losing weight after that will not hurt your approval. Not following through with what they require (like a 3 month diet) will hurt you. You need to check with the surgeon's office to see if losing weight is required or just trying. I think they want to see how well you can do all that is required and jump through the hoops to judge if you will follow through after surgery. My insurance required a lot of things and my surgeon required even more. It took a long time, but I finally got banded and am doing well!

Amen.:thumbup:

That is terrific you are getting banded in July. Please do not hesitate to post here if you have questions, need support, or just need to share your experience. People listened, supported and responded to me and it really helped. No one should have to walk on egg shells when they need support. I find it very sad that you would feel this way. As long as you are being curteous and not slamming someone else, you should get all you can from this site. Please feel free to post and share. There are many of us who will respond to you, even if you are down. Sometimes sharing your negative experiences can help someone else know they are not alone. Also share your positives when those happen. Those are great fun! Best of luck to you! Soon you will be on the "banded side".

Hang in there an it will finally happen. It took me 18 months to finally get everything in place and get my band. I am so happy. I have lost a total of 49.8 pounds and feel great. You will get there.

btrieger WOW what a change!!!!!!!!!!

I am thrilled with my decision. I was banded April 7 and have lost 49.8 pounds total, 26.8 of it since surgery. I have followed the guidlines pretty much as written and have had pretty steady weight loss. I have been lucky to have some restiction from the surgery itslf and now with two fills am continuing to lose. I would not change a thing, except maybe to have gotten it done sooner. My band has had a positive effect on my appetite and is definitely helping with the weight loss and abililty to stick with it. CATHERINE 55 - You look fabulous! WOW! I can't wait to lose more after seeing your pix! :thumbup:

I had doubts like you before my surgery, but now I am much more confident this is going to work for me. The reason is the difference in my hunger level. I had read before surgery that the band reduces hunger, but it really did not make a lot of sense to be because I was always hungry, no matter what I did. My weight losses were always through self deprivation. I thought I would be having to learn behavior management through eating too much resulting in vomiting thus making me less likely to overeat next time. I was banded April 7 and have lost 49.8 pounds. And it was different than other diets in that I really feel a difference in my hunger level. I still get hungry at meal times. I still enjoy food. I do not believe I have full restriction yet, but my hunger is different. I do not think about food constantly between meals. I used to plan my lunch while eating Breakfast and think about it all morning at work. I don't do that like I used to. Sometimes I will start feeling hungry and wonder why I am hungry already and look up to see it is 1:00 (I usually go to lunch at noon). It sneaks up on me. I assume this will only get better with better restriction. I do feel my band giving me some restriction, but I have only gotten stuck and vomited once after eating way too fast, so it is not behavior modification like I thought it would be from doing this over and over. I can tell when I am getting full, stop eating and not over eat. Then I feel full for some time. I have eaten something I should not have eaten a couple of times but it did not start the downhill slide like in the past. I ate off, then was satisfied and ate good at the next meal. It is hard to explain the subjective difference in the feeling of hunger, but I can assure you it is different. I feel certain I will continue to lose weight and keep it off. I feel more hopeful than in years!:thumbup:

I am happy because I don't feel hunger (real or head hunger) and don't feel the need to eat everything on my plate. If you are still feeling that need to eat and yet are still losing weight, you are the ones with the will power and restraint, not me. I admire that so much! I think I am just lucky, in a lot of ways, but you are doing it by will power. Bless you and hang in there!:thumbup:

I am now down 49.8 pounds total and into ONEderland! That is a great goal to reach. I am down from size 22 to 16 pants and XL tops, off my diabetes meds and have cut my high blood pressure meds. I have had two fills and not too much hunger. Had a bout of diverticulitis last weekend and am on two antibiotics and a liquid diet for ten days. I am hanging in there, but have not lost weight. This too will pass. Hope everyone is doing well. I love my band!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbup:

Those three pounds will drop off again. It is not the end of the world. Don't be too hard on yourself. We all make mistakes and the key is the positive focus the next day. We all spent enough years feeling bad at ourselves - now we need to work on adopting a positive attitude that will serve us well in the future. Just remember, it is not what you eat in one day that determines your weight, but the pattern of eating over time. Perfection is not required, a lifestyle change is. I understand and I am with you!:thumbup:

I am impressed by the passion and investment in this post. It just shows how much being banded means to us and how invested we are in our own successes. It is a positive thing to see this whole process working for so many people. I propose we channel all that energy and enthusiasm into pulling each other along on this difficult journey. I know the support I have received along the way has been a Godsend for me. :thumbup:

Ain't it GRAND!:thumbup:

Post again and let us know how you are doing in a few days. We are thinking about you!

Don't give up. You have done so great and you will get there. We are all pushing for you!:thumbup::welldoneclap:

The most improtant thing you need to do it not get discouraged and don't beat yourself up. :thumbup: Keep your eye on the prize, keep doing what your professionals tell you to do and it will happen. Some times variety and changing the plan up a bit shakes things up, but the thing I have found, even though it is hard to follow it, is that what I eat today does not directly affect what I weight tomorrow. Instead, what I eat this month, affects what I weigh at the end of the month. I want it to be immediate gratification of weight loss today because I was "good" yesterday, but it just doesn"t work that way. It is a lifestyle change. So hang in there, it is for the long haul and it will pay off.:smilielol5::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

This is a really interesting post. As far as not being informed - I feel I was very well read and well educated by my program by the time I was banded, but I still needed a lot of support and posted a lot. Even though I told about, and understood, the concept of healing after surgery, not losing weight, I had to talk to my self every day to remind myself to be patient and not expect 25 pounds to magically drop off. I told all my family and frends not to expect me to lose much in the beginning as I would be focusing on healing, but they had to remind me a number of times after the surgery! I think it is human nature to expect miracles. I think we also have a tendency to hear what we want to hear and remember only the positives! The negatives come as a shock! As far as posting and asking the same questions over and over - I read every post on here for many months and intellectually understood bandster hell, head hunger, healing after surgery, weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week AVERAGE, etc. But once I was banded, I had to go back and reread and remind myself or ask others again. It just seemed different when it was my own experience than when it was something I read about someone else. Having someone post empathy and support back to me was a BIG HELP! It was personal, not just educational. I want to say thinks again to all those who answered my posts and gave me support. Your help was invaluable to me!!!!!!!!!!! This has made me think about the fact that I am not posting as often as I used to because I need less. I have committed myself to answering more posts from new bandsters and "paying it forward!":thumbup:

I am now going on 11 weeks out from surgery. I had three definite periods of feelin "blue" and grumpy within the first month of surgery. I did not have a difficult surgery or a lot of gas pain. I did not have much, if any hunger, and yet I still had mood changes. I could not pin it on hunger or pain, but it was very real. I feel I was very well educated about the process, but the depressions after surgery was a bit of a surprize for me. I did not expect it to be soo much. I think the fact that I was really pumped up before the surgery after waiting for 18 months made it even more obvious. I think it is normal just due to surgery, anesthesia, and diet change. If you are not as lucky as I was and hunger a lot, I am sure it would be much worse. It goes away. :smilielol5: It seemed to lift after a few days for me each time. However, at the time it was very uncomfortable and seemed to go on forever. Hang in there. This is a BIG life change. You and your body are making lots of changes all at once. Be kind to yourself, let yourself grieve the loss of your friend and support (food), and indulge yourself (with something besides food). Talk to friends, do something you like to do, keep busy. It gets better and you do get back to a more balanced, normal life again. If you keep being down and grouchy, go talk to someone in your bariatric program. It may help and certainly can't hurt. Keep your eye on the prize and you will get through this phase!:thumbup:

I am now going on 11 weeks out from surgery. I had three definite periods of feelin "blue" and grumpy within the first month of surgery. :smilielol5: I did not have a difficult surgery or a lot of gas pain. I did not have much, if any hunger, and yet I still had mood changes. I could not pin it on hunger or pain, but it was very real. I think it is normal just due to surgery, anesthesia, and diet change. If you are not as lucky as I was and hunger a lot, I am sure it would be much worse. It goes away. It seemed to lift after a few days for me each time. However, at the time it was very uncomfortable and seemed to go on forever. Hang in there. This is a BIG life change. You and your body are making lots of changes all at once. Be kind to yourself, let yourself grieve the loss of your friend and support (food), and indulge yourself (with something besides food). Talk to friends, do something you like to do, keep busy. It gets better and you do get back to a more balanced, normal life again. If you keep being down and grouchy, go talk to someone in your bariatric program. It may help and certainly can't hurt. Keep your eye on the prize and you will get through this phase!:thumbup:

My pain was intermittent, worse when my bowels or bladder were full, better when I emptied them, and tender to the touch. I had a CT scan which sowed a diverticulae which is a small pouch off the intestine that can trap food and get inflamed.

I started having lower left quadrant pain on Sunday and was diagnosed with diverticulitis yesterday. I have been banded since April 7. Including my preop, I have now lost 49.8 pounds. I have been doing really well with my food choices and eat lots of veggies steamed and raw, and add Benefiber every day to my diet. I have definitely increased my Fiber intake. I had this nagging little pain in that spot over a year ago, but it got better. Then last week, I had a bug with fever, stomach cramps. nausea, and lots of diahrrea. I was fine by Friday. Sunday this severe pain hit and I had a CT scan yesterday, confirming diverticulitis. Now I am on two antibiotics and a liquid diet for 10 days! My questions are: Does diverticulitis have any relationship to Lab Banding? I thought increasing my fiber and eating healthier was a positive thing for intestinal health. Did increasing my fiber intake make it worse? Did the flu bug cause the inflamation? I have never seen anthing about diverticulitis on here, so if anyone has any info, I would love to know.

That is fabulous! I am so happy for you! Thanks everybody for your good wishes. May everyone get to ONEderland soon and ENJOY!

I hit 199 and entered ONEderland! I am so happy.:thumbup: I want to thank everyone who has given me support, information, challenge, caring and been a role model for me on this forum. I don't think I would be where I am without you all. :waytogo: I still have a long way to go, but I know I will get there. Life is great with my band!!!!!!!!!

It will happen before you know it. I did not do anything really different except get a second fill and do liquids after. I think that got things moving. I am soooooooo glad. Hope your fill helps you, too!