Desperate to get lapband...

chilipepper · August 16, 2007

I am desperate to get the lapband. I am 260 lbs and 5'4" with a bmi of I think 45 with comorbidity factors. I have researched for a few years and this is what I know will help me in my battle of the bulge. I have tried everything out there to lose weight, and the weight always comes back or I don't even lose any weight. I am in school and my husband is the sole provider right now. We can't afford the band and our insurance has an exclusion. All we can afford is no more than $250 a month for payments and that's pushing it. My husband and I both want and need the band. How are we going to be able to get the band in order to get healthy? I'm tired of being fat and always being hungry no matter how much I eat. :cry

WASaBubbleButt · August 17, 2007

I think you'll find that if you are banded your grocery bill will be cut drastically. I really do mean a drastic cut, too. So you might be able to bump up that figure a bit.

You'll probably want to go to Mexico as it is much cheaper there, by about $2K. What state are you in?

You know, this is workable. I'll bet you can do this.

Raven5683 · August 17, 2007

The pre meetings I went to mentioned loans or home equity loans? Is this possible? your payments may be lower than $250 depending on the length of the loan...Just a thought.

chilipepper · August 17, 2007

No, I can't do a home equity loan or refinance. We have an awesome interest rate and I don't want to take the chance of losing our house. We could only get financed for 10K even though the surgery is 17k each (me and my husband). I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

WASaBubbleButt · August 17, 2007

It's only $8K in Mexico. Remember, it is the Mexican surgeons that trained the US docs.

Don't let misinformation stop you from getting a life saving procedure.

ragdollx19 · August 17, 2007

It's only $8K in Mexico. Remember, it is the Mexican surgeons that trained the US docs.

Where did you get this information?

WASaBubbleButt · August 17, 2007

Where did you get this information?

From Inamed, the makers of the band. Their band was approved in Mexico 10 years before it was approved in the US. Mexico has been using it since 1991, it wouldn't be approved in the US until 2001. In the beginning the Mexican surgeons were Inamed's proctor surgeons for the most part. They had a few from other countries as well. My doc is still a proctor surgeon, as are a few others.

It was also the Mexican surgeons that played the bigger role in perfecting the band and the procedure for placing it.

Mexico has 9 approved bands. Most of the better docs will only use US FDA approved bands so we have an easier time getting fills here. But the Swedish band was just purchased by Johnson & Johnson and it is due to be FDA approved this fall. Mexico has been using it for years.