Newbie on here

[dianesav2014 0]

Hi. I'm Diane. Just joined. Been lurking and reading. Was banded in 2005, lost all my weight, had many plastic surgeries. I'm am in the process of going through insurance to be revised to sleeve. The years of overeating has caused me to have a dilated esophagus with no chance of it going back to normal. I started at 206 5'2 was 135-138 for 10 years by eating and throwing up all day, every day. My own undoing. I'm at 166 right now. My doc office thinks I will be approved for revision. One way or another I have to get my band out. It's been unfilled for 1 1/2 years. I pretty much feel like a failure. I have BC/be fep. Anyone with the same insurance in the same predicament please let me know if you got approved

[JamieLogical 8,684]

Welcome to the forums. There are a lot of people on here who have been revised from band to sleeve, so you should be able to get a lot of advice and experiences from those folks. I'm really sorry to hear that you feel like a failure. From what I've read from others, the band just doesn't work for everyone. Some people have tremendous success with it. In fact, it sound like YOU had some success with it yourself. But it's not a long-term solution for everyone and many many people have undergone revision. I hope you are approved for sleeve and that you find it to be the long-term tool you need for sustained weight loss.

[RaeAnn 0]

I've been reading again for the same reason. I joined when I was banded back in 2007 long story short I lost some weight down to 224 band was too tight for a long time I gained to 246 and then had an unfill due to dilation so I gained up to 276 and now from there I'm sitting at 320. I had Fluid added back in last year, but all it has done is stop the weight gain. I visited another surgeon hoping to have a revision to sleeve. My insurance right now is UnitedHealthcare Plus Choice (something like that) my RN told me that if it was approached as a revision surgery I would have to show some kind of complication with the band which my doctor said would be slippage, erosion, or the band somehow failing mechanically, otherwise it would be treated as a new surgery and I would have to go through the 6 month supervised diet, psych evaluation, and would have to show a 5 year history of heights and weights from a doctor to prove a history of being morbidly obese.

Because I haven't had complications my surgeon believes that it is likely my insurance will deny the request for revision and possible deny it as a new surgery because I don't have the 5 year weight history I need so right now I'm looking into self pay options. I hope your insurance will approve you and you can get the sleeve.

I've also struggled with feeling like I failed so I understand that. If I had just found the money to go back and get the band unfilled instead of living with it being too tight I might've kept losing weight. I just try to learn from it.

[jmshields 5]

Hi Diane I am Janelle. I too had a band in 2008. It failed in 2012 (had it repaired) lost most of the weight I had gained. Then we moved a year ago and about 6 months ago I realized that it wasn't working again! Test showed it had slipped. So I went in for a revision. I too have BCBS FEP. It did take a couple months but they approved me. I too had gained about 30 lbs. The one thing that I did was to talk with the nurse at BCBS once they had all my paperwork. Luckily I got to one of the supervisors and she pushed my case through. You have to advocate for yourself and then make sure the insurance company advocates for you. I am 11 days post op. Not having the band in has brought a sense of relief. I can eat without restriction, pain and throwing up! I thought I would have more resistance but I have read that people who have the revision sometimes don't feel it like the people who just were sleeved. Which is ok for me! I lived way to long that way! When I say eat please understand that I am still on liquids and some soft foods (eggs, etc). Probably once I get on food it will probably feel different. If you want more info about BCBS and how I did that I am going to leave my email address here for you. Good luck on your new adventure. jmshields122@aol.com

[dianesav2014 0]

Thank you all. My doc office said my band has slipped. They say I meet all the criteria for revision just that my bmi is 30 which they say is the only issue but they think they can get the insurance to pay. I have the 3 month wait with the psych eval. So far I've only waited 2 weeks

I hope I find out sooner than 3 months. Reading all the success stories is very inspiring. I hate having all these old obsessive thoughts again. Plus I have a closet full of clothes and heels that don't fit! Lol. Thank you Janelle. I will email you.