Alexandra

I'm just not that in to getting my jollies for it to be worth the self-disparagement later on. Geting caught is not the only risk, by far.

Oh, Jachut, I so hear you about Arsenic hour! Every single night we go through something like this. It's brutal. Sunshinenh, it is very common for people to report changing restriction with varying stress levels. You're not alone!

Everything depends on the kind of policy you are covered under. I have an HMO, which means if some provider is not in my network I get $0 coverage. Period. I must stay in my network to get ANY benefits at all. (Luckily, it's a huge network.) Veggestyle, you may have out-of-network benefits but before you proceed it's imperative that you find out what they are. And even if you do have them, it is true that you won't get the benefit of negotiated rates. That means you will be responsible for the difference between what your carrier covers and what the hospital bills--could be many tens of thousands of dollars. Stay in-network, if you can!!

Michelle, truly you are an inspiration. Congratulations and I hope it continues to be a smooth ride for you!!

Large companies negotiate their own health insurance contracts with carriers. If your employer has carved out bariatric surgery, they might be able to make an exception or even purchase a rider that puts it back in. Obviously you'd have to discuss this with your employer, since it's part of their contract with United Healthcare. Who told you to call who? The place to call is your human resources department and see if there's an appeal process or any way to petition for an exception. Good luck!!

Hey P'Nut! Glad to hear an unfill solved your problems. For what it's worth, I say use this time to have foods that might have been problematic before, but are still on the right side of the "program." Since I've been unfilled I've been loving things like fresh fruit and vegetable salads, which I was only able to nibble at when tight. Take it easy and slow; you may still have some healing to do. Good luck!

Congratulations! What a great, exciting feeling. You're on your way!!

Congratulations, Alex!! :clap2:

No one ever told me "no sugar," except in the context of telling me to eat fewer calories. Well, duh!

Veggestyle, I think your doctor was reacting out of ignorance of the band. She is thinking that you're considering RNY, which indeed has significant risks long term. The pouch-stretching she talks about doesn't happen in the same way with the band, and it's by no means a "drastic" procedure inappropriate for "someone so young." Is she aware that the band can be removed with virtually no ill consequences if there are problems? This is not the case with RNY. My doctor was similarly concerned when I first broached the subject with her four years ago. Though I wasn't young I was healthy, and she felt I shouldn't take the risks inherent in bypass surgery. I agree! I told her about the lap-band and she's changed her thinking now, recommending it to other patients struggling with morbid obesity. Give your doctor the patient handbook from Inamed. See if she still feels the same way.

I'm cheering you on every day, Vines. I can't wait to hear that they've got your little buddy out and you are on your way to 100% health!!

Christa, no, I personally have not been pregnant while banded. Seems to me that to the extent pregnancy changes one's metabolism, if indeed it does, it would make losing weight a bit harder post-band. However, eating less will result in weight loss (barring medical conditions) whether pre- or post-pregnancy.

I've been banded for almost three years, and am one of the longest-term members of this board. The band has only been approved for use in the U.S. since June of 2001, so you won't find a lot of Americans who have been banded longer than 5 years, and not all that many of those. I haven't had any serious complications, beyond having had my band unfilled a couple of times to help deal with reflux. I'm hoping that my long-term experience will be completely uneventful. :biggrin1:

New York has guaranteed-issue individual health plans, but they're not cheap. You won't be turned down because of your weight, but if you're eligible for group health insurance you probably won't be eligible for these plans. Call Empire Blue Cross to see what they're currently offering for individuals. Or visit www.empireblue.com.

Once you have good restriction, there is a point at each meal beyond which you simply cannot eat any more. If you try, you will cause yourself pain and suffering. Depending on your own ability to accept that reality, you'll either stop trying (MOST of us do that), or do damage to yourself by continuing to overeat in spite of your physical inability to do so. My guess is that you'll quickly learn how not to cause yourself pain. Only you can assess your readiness to take this step. Think long and hard about your food behaviors and be brutally honest with yourself. Those who have the most trouble with banding are those who have obsessive or other behaviors that the band can't fix. For them, therapy may be necessary and may even be more necessary than a band. The band alone can't fix any problems that lie in our heads, and only we know what those might be for each of us.

I was taking care of my two children the day after the surgery; well, to the extent that I took them to daycare that morning. Seems to me a 10-mo-old isn't that strenuous to care for, so unless the baby is already mobile and needs to be chased I'd say you'll be good to go the following day. Especially since there are two of you. Congratulations on your banding and good luck!!

I agree with Rachele but also want to point out that time really does make a difference with skin. Losing 100 lbs in three months or a year will result in baggy skin, for sure, but two years later the amount of rebound will be the same. My point is that it doesn't matter in the long run how quickly the weight came off in the first place. If the skin is going to rebound, or not, it will happen to the same degree if you give it time.

Amanda, I was a big-meal eater too, and that's exactly where the band shines the most. It creates a sensation of fullness before you've eaten too much, which makes it EASY to push away from the table when it's time. It's not something that happens overnight--it can take a while for us to recognize that sensation as what it is--but once we allow ourselves to obey what the band is telling us it really is easy to just eat a whole lot less. I don't have to "watch" what I eat anymore; eating more than I need is what's harder to do. You'll see a lot of people on these boards talking about food journaling and really sticking religiously to a certain number of calories a day. That's fine if it works for you. But I've never been a good dieter and would rather just live my life. With the band, I've been doing just that, and the only thing that's really different is that I EAT LESS. I pay attention to the rule about Protein first (since even if you're not banded, it's very true that protein satisfies hunger longer), but otherwise I eat whatever I want. I no longer eat AS MUCH as I used to want, and that's precisely why I've lost weight. The kicker is that I no longer want as much as I used to want, and that's the band's doing.

People, everyone, PLEASE stop making personal comments about other people's behaviors. This thread will have to be locked if it continues.

One teaspoon of Metamucil once a week is hardly likely to cause any problems, but it's also hardly likely to help in such a small amount. The problem it and other bulking supplements might cause is that they might thicken up in the pouch, before moving through the stoma. And once they're thickened, they are not likely to go through the stoma anytime soon. Just about all recommendations for post-band patients I've ever seen stipulate non-bulking supplements for this reason. Benefiber is widely recommended, and it can be taken as often as needed. I add about a tablespoon to my morning coffee if I feel it's needed, and it works beautifully and gently. It's not a colon-cleanse sort of thing, it's just to relieve constipation. (Many bandsters complain of constipation once they have good restriction, because there's so little bulk in our diets.)

You can add Benefiber to anything you drink. It really helps!!

I didn't think about it before I was banded, because I'd never been thin or even normal so I had no idea what that would look like on me. Now that I'm within 30 lbs of a normal BMI, I have gotten some idea, and frankly I'm happy to stop where I am. More weight off me will create more hanging skin, and since I'm not yet willing to consider more surgery it would just make things worse. I'm now curvy in a normal way, which in itself is a complete revelation to me, so I'm happy with that degree of transformation. As for my face, yep, I see my 44 years written on it in a way that wasn't evident before. But I also see facial structure that had been hidden for those 44 years, and to me that's beautiful.

I think it's important to say that people who are post-band should REALLY stay away from any laxative or supplement that bulks. Fiber additives can really help--I know from personal experience--but they have to be the non-thickening type like guar gum (which is what's in Benefiber). Psyllium or whatever is in Metamucil and other bulk-type laxatives can really cause problems if taken by bandsters.

Is your doctor in-network? This isn't all that unusual but if your doc is out of network be aware that you will be responsible for any amount he charges that your carrier will not cover. If your doc is in-network, has he done a lot of bands?

Hi Amanda, Deciding which weight-loss surgery to have is a difficult thing. Most of us here opted for the lap band, obviously, so you're not going to get a lot of comments from us about the RNY being better. There are several things to think about here. If the amount and speed of weight loss is the primary concern, then RNY would seem to be the obvious choice. However, for me and lots of other people there are other factors that are more important: safety, a desire to lose weight LESS quickly, control, speed of recovery, adjustability, safety. For me personally, I wanted to lose at least 100 lbs but I wanted to lose it sanely and in a way that would guarantee I could keep it off. Banding seemed to me to offer the better opportunity for me to learn new ways to eat, new ways to live to ensure that the weight I lost would STAY off. I wasn't interested in losing 150 lbs in a year and then worrying for the rest of my life about malnutrition, or trying desperately to moderate my own intake to keep the weight off. I needed a tool that wouldn't abandon me two years down the road, that would remind me forever to eat small amounts. Safety, too, was paramount for me but other people may be willing to take greater risks. If someone desperately needs to get the weight off immediately for health reasons then RNY would seem to make the most sense. But I was healthy aside from carrying all the extra weight, and I didn't want to create a problem where none existed. I just wanted a tool to let me eat less, permanently. Once I had that, I knew, the rest would be up to me. As for how much weight you will/can lose, it is really up to you in a way it's not with RNY. You will not lose weight in spite of what you eat, like with the RNY, but to my mind that's a good thing. We can't learn if it's happening no matter what we do; we have to have the behavioral reinforcement of negative consequences if we eat the wrong things. Someone might say, but isn't that what the dumping syndrome is? The problem is, only 20-30% of RNY patients experience dumping at all; the rest are on their own. And after a year or two some of the caloric malabsorption disappears, so patients have to watch what they eat even more or the weight will start to come back on. Bandsters still have the tool they started out with years later; there is some changing of sensation, sure, but the physiological processes have never changed so there's nothing dramatic to compensate for. To me, banding makes the most medical sense. If it doesn't work for whatever reason, it can be removed and the patient is good as new. Other options remain. If RNY results in complications or the weight comes back on, what's left? Particularly for young people it seems to me that banding should always be the first choice. Sorry for the novel.