Scooterbug

That's the same information my wife and I got on 4 or 5 different occasions when we called. When our surgeon's office called to get the requirements they said it was BMI over 35, 5 years weight history, 6 month PSD (Physician Supervised Diet), and a few other things. Even our booklet says the only requirement is 35 BMI +. Guess the doctor's office has certain people they talk to that give them the CORRECT info

Excellent! I am hoping the Chocolate syrup is good...I usually do chocolate protein shakes for breakfast with some unsweetened almond milk. They taste OK, but are kind of bland, I am hoping to try the Chocolate syrup to add some flavor and not have to worry about using any extra carbs.

While looking for a low carb syrup to help take some blandness out of my Protein shakes, I came across a company called Walden Farms. They say there products have "no calories, fat, carbs, gluten or sugars of any kind! Has anyone tried these products? If so how did they taste? And are they worth paying $3.75 a bottle for them?

Called UMR today and they didn't have anything in there system yet. They said it takes up to 48 hours for info to get into there system, so I guess I will try back on Monday. I also called the surgeons office to make sure they did in fact send the info in yesterday, but I had to leave a message and nobody called me back yet.

Mailed in??? Geez...in this day and age what doc's office would not fax the information??

My wife and I had our group meeting with the Lap Band surgeon yesterday, basically so he could explain the mental part of making the Lap Band effective (changing your thinking about food, etc). After the meeting the we were told that our information should be filed with insurance today (UHC Options PPO plan through UMR)!! I know all insurance companies are different, but if anyone has experience with UHC or UMR, what is about the average wait time to see if your approved?? The woman who collected our information at the surgeons office told us that insurance companies are slow for some reason recently, so she predicts we will be waiting 30 days

My wife and I have a UHC Options PPO plan...we were required to do a 6 month diet.

My wife and I have the UHC Options PPO plan...and we had to do the 6 month supervised diet. We just finished that the begining of June, and meet with the surgeon again on July 18th for out final visit before we sinmit the info to insurance.

My suggestion is... if you haven't already, attend a seminar of the Lap band doctor your choice. After the seminar they usually have the insurance coordinator there and a few other staff members to answer question. Explain to them you would like the name of a PCP who they deal with on a regular basis concerning Lap Band. They should be able to hook you up with at least a few PCP docs who you can see. If the Lap Band surgeon's office deals with these PCP docs, they should have no problem recommending you for Lap Band.

I think the big difference is that with the Plication you lose quicker at first, almost like losing with a gastric bypass (people lose weight quickly right out of the gate). The difference is you also have the band to help maintain and still lose. Almost like having the best of both world (gastric bypass and lap band) except there not rearranging your insides as bad as gastric bypass). There is a chance of necrosis, but according to my doc and a few people I have talked to that had the plication, the chances are pretty low. Also the plication is reversible. My biggest worry about the band was slippage, which I heard the chance of is kind of low, but from what I am told the plication actually reduces the chance of slippage even more.

This is a good basic animation video on the Plication. They add the band on top of the plication procedure. From my information it makes for faster initial weight loss, they are still measuring the long term results to see if it is MORE or LESS then just having the Lap Band itself.

If you have to call 3, 4 or 5 times to get the right answers you should do it. It seemed, at least for me anyway, I had to call the insurance company 4 times before I got a correct answer...and that's for even general questions I had for them.

All doctor's are different honestly. When I lived in South Carolina a couple years ago, I inquired about Lap Band with my PCP (who I had seen since 1999), she was against it and there was no way she was going to recommend me for the surgery. She sometimes had a very old school approach to things, basically saying I could lose all the weight on my own. I moved to Florida just over a year ago, and started my lap Band process this past December. This time I got the name of a PCP that they deal with all the time from my Lap Band surgeon. Getting her to write the letter of necessity was pretty easy once I was checked out and got Cardio clearance, Anesthesia clearance, and did a sleep study. Basically long story short, it all depends if your doc is an advocate of Lap Band or if they have the attitude that you can lose your weight on your own. List of Co-Morbidity for Lap Band: Cardiometabolic syndrome Type 2 diabetes Hypertension Dyslipidemia Coronary heart disease Osteoarthritis Stroke Gall bladder disease Obstructive sleep apnea Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) Some cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)

Thank you! No change in medications..in fact I am only on 2 meds, one is for Uric Acid, the other is for slightly elevated blood pressure. The BP meds also have a diuretic in them, so I am in the bathroom ever 30 minutes (rules out any type of bloating making me weigh more). I decided to give this Counselor 1 more shot, so I emailed and she sent over a 5 step plan for me to try until my next weigh in. Basically Clear liquids for 2 days, full liquids for 2 days, then after day 5 solid foods (basically eating the same stuff I am now). So we will see how this works.

For exercise we walk when we can. I have 4 months of schooling left before I take my test to get certified for Medical Billing and Coding. My wife works 7am to 3:30pm, I am always studying during the day, and when she gets home around 4pm I have to hurry off to class (Mon, Tues, Thursday and I have a part time internship on Wednesday), by the time I get home at 10pm it's time for bed, so she can get up early. I met the surgeon and he is real nice. The "hassling" is coming from there Weight Loss Counselor. I have not changed my eating habits at all since we started, and certainly not in the last 5 days to make me gain 7 pounds. Protein shake in the morning, light lunch which consists of a small amount of cheese, ham, or turkey, and for dinner chicken, Fish, or meat with a veggy. No bread, Pasta, rice, etc....been extremly great about checking items for carbs since we started.