Cocoabean

You are down 7 lbs in 3 weeks. That is with no fill. Lap Band documentation says 1-2 pounts per week once you get proper restriction. You are right on track. The 1st 6 weeks are for healing, not for losing, really. Follow your rules, get better, get your fills, keep up the good work, you are doing great.

All you can do is call your insurance company and ask them what their requirements are. Do you have any co-morbidities? Most require at least 1 with a BMI of 35-39. If you don't have any, even if you still had a BMI of 35, you'd not qualify for insurance coverage. Then you'll need to find out if your surgeon will accept your PCP's weigh in for submission to your insurance company, or if he will only submit a weight that has been done in his office. We cannot tell you the answers to those questions.

My question to you is, were you ever at a good spot? Or have you been chasing it for 6 years? My opinion is that if you haven't found your sweet spot in 6 years, you may be one that the band just doesn't work for. There are those for whom that is true. Why did the weight come back on? Did you lose restriction and could not afford a fill? Or are you eating around the band? Or were you too tight and eating all slider foods? Before investing even more money in fills, think hard about it. My belief in the way the band should work is that you really should not need constant fills after the first year or so. You find your sweet spot, then have minor adjustments every once in a while to keep it there. Some people just don't have that happen for some reason. They go from too loose to too tight. Then go back and forth with no middle ground. It sounds like maybe you are doing that. And paying cash for the experience. Were it me, at that point, I'd be considering a revision. Have you had any tests done to check on your band? If you are having complications mandating removal, then the insurance company should pay for it, regardless of bariatric coverage (yes, it would be a fight), they you could pay a revision fee if the surgeon could do the revision at the same time as removal. Start putting the amout you'd pay for fills away into a revision account until you decide what to do. All of the above are just thoughts that would be going through my head, and what I would do if it were me. I do wish you all the best, and hope you get everything worked out!

BCBS CA Access+ H M O here, after the first year, I just need prior approval for fills and visits to my surgeon. Other wise, I am covered. Approvals take about a week.

You stole my line!! I love pointing out the math of a true gain! Being banded is a marathon, and there are speed bumps along the road. Overall, the trend will be downward.

My surgeon is like that, too. I just love him! Very happy you are feeling better.

I've never heard of their "clean" shake. Did they say why the others are "dirty"? You surgeon said to use those ones, so that would be good enough for me. Find one you like, or two, or three for variety. They get old after a day or two. You can get some of those brands at WalMart and costco. Probably cheaper than the clean brand also. Remember, the pre-op diet is time limited, you won't be on these forever. Get what tastes good to you. After your immediate post-op period, you'll not be having them for your main nutrition, if at all.

If you are having to do the 6 month supervised diet, yes you can do the other tests that need to be done during that time.

Just remember, that if you tell one person you don't know REALLY well, you've most likely told the entire world. I told one person at work (I don't try to keep it secret), and the next thing I know I get an email from my counterpart 100 miles away telling me she has a band! He had traveled up there and got to talking with her about her weight loss. Then, bada boom, bada bing! Band buddies.

I am glad to hear you called your surgeon, that is what we pay them for! I do hope you are feeling better now. Sometimes when I feel the inkling of stuck, if I stop eating immediately, I'll just feel pain for a while. I won't throw up and I can swallow my spit. It will eventually work its way down. Also, after a stuck episode, there is often swelling, so take it very easy.

It depends on my mood. Sometimes when complimented I just say, "thank you!" Usually if asked how I lost, I answer honestly. With a few people that I don't care to be in my business, I'd just say I am eating better. By the way, there is nothing wrong with telling people you are banded.

Hi There! I think I have about 6.75cc in my band which is an AP Standard 10cc. Of course, the cc level doesn't mean a whole lot, it depends on our anatomy. I eat about 1500-1700 calories a day. That keeps me at my current weight quite easily. If I gain a bit, I cut down. Over the last two years I've had two fills, each was 1/4 cc. Just tiny to top-off. My surgeon says that somehow or other a teensy bit of Fluid can leave the band..he has a term for it, but my memory escapes me now. The last 1/4 cc made a HUGE difference. My banded philosphy was simple, and YMMV. I eat to my appetite. When I reach satiety (NOT FULL) I am done. If I feel hungry between meals, I examine if it is true hunger. My test is: Would I eat green Beans right now? If the answer is yes, then I am hungry. I'll eat. If no I want chips or chocolate, it isn't real hunger, I'll wait. A typical meal would be 2-3 oz of meat, a veggie side dish and some sort of starch in a small amount. Or a half sandwich that might be deconstructed from the bread to eat the filling and a few bites of bread. If I actually exercised with regularity, I could lose more. But I know myself, and I wanted my banded life to be as normal as I could make it, and be something I can live with forever. I am not a gym rat. I am more active than I used to be. I have arthritis in one knee and both hips. The damage is done, but movement hurts less than it used to. Each year we go camping near a town in the Central California Coast. It's about a half-mile walk into town. In the old days, I'd drive in. Now, I don't even think about it, I walk in every day we are there. I am thankful for small changes like that.

I am with the others on the port placement. Mine is also at waist level, and even after 4 years it can bother me with some pants. Also, ask about post-op long-term diet. I read here how "everyone" drinks Protein shakes, so I went out and bought tons of the stuff only to be told my surgeon that I am NOT to drink them. He wants no liquid calories, period (after the immediate post-op period, and exluding right after fills that is). All my calories are to come from solid, nutritionally dense sources. So, I kept them around for just in case times until they expired then tossed them. Now I still keep some around for after stuck episodes, or if I am just too lazy to eat (yes, I said too lazy to eat!! Imagine that!).

So, today is my 4th Bandiversary. I cannot believe four years have gone by so quickly. I've had no complications. I keep up with my Vitamins. I see my surgeon about once a year to check on everything. My blood pressure is normal, my cholesterol is normal, my blood sugar is normal, my BMI is normal, yay!!! I have to say this has been the easiest weight loss/maintenance plan I've ever been on. Even with the stuck episodes. You need to keep a sense of humor with you for times of stuckage. I lost 70 lbs in the first two years and I've kept it off for two years with hardly any work. I love my band. I am concerned about keeping it with me for the rest of my life. It IS an implanted device after-all. So, that's why I see my surgeon annually. My primary care doc checks my Vitamin levels. Life is pretty darned good. My DH got me flowers today to Celebrate, what a sweetie.

Being full, stuck, and a PB are three different things. PB or productive burp is just that, you burp and something comes up with it. Like when a baby spits up milk. Totally out of no where for me, just burp and surprise! Eating too much and being uncomfortably full is not stuck. You ate too much. It hurts, but you can swallow your spit, things go down. Stuck is a rock in your chest. Most times you cannot swallow your own spit. The pain is intense. Walking can help relieve it somewhat, but not entirely. Your body might expel the offending item, or it might work for several hours to make it go down.

When you put solid/mushy foods into the pouch it causes the pouch to grind. liquids do not cause this grinding. Doctors have us on liquids because they do not want that grinding to occur and pull the stitches they've used to anchor the band into place. Each doctor has his/her own opinion as to how long to let those stitches heal before allowing the stomach to grind. I was told I'd be in big trouble if I needed a re-operation because I pulled my stitches due to eating. (What the definition of trouble was, I don't know, but I did not want to find out). I was three days post-op when I was so hungry I wanted to eat my dog. My surgeon called to check on my that evening. I told him my dog was lucky he could move faster than I, otherwise I might have broken my post-op 7 day clear liquid diet. He said that since I was doing so well and was so hungry, I could move on to a full liquid diet.

Wow, that is EXTREME, you poor thing. No band to help you through. Just try to keep focused on the surgery. You are doing this to have the safest surgery possible. It is what your surgeon believes gives his patient the healthiest surgical experience possible. Can you have any clear juices to break things up at all? Some apple or white grape would go a long way to help out. I think I'd be doing as much sleeping as possible.

My losses were never steady. That was the only thing i could count on. But if you stick to your rules and keep creating that calorie deficit, the losses will show in time. Our bodies let go of the weight when they are darned good and ready, not before. For me, I just had to accept that it would be in increments when my body felt like letting go, not steady week-to-week losses. But this is all about the war, won by creating good habits. It isn't won by getting on the scale and showing a loss each time.

Well, CONGRATS on regular sizes!! Yay! I fondly remember that day. Reality bites sometimes, doesn't it? I don't wear anything shorter than capris. But my weight was spread all over, so my thighs and upper arms deflated like balloons. I don't wear tank tops either. The running joke in my house is that if my DH makes me mad I will use my bat wings like a whip and he won't know what hit him from across the room!

See??? Wonderful! Long-term success comes from developing habits that are good choices MOST of the time. There will be setbacks, bad choices, and purposeful "vacations" from your program. When the good decisions out last the bad decisions, weight loss follows. When the band is working with you, the good decisions are easier for you to make. Well done!

The latest study I read says 22.8% of bands are removed by 10 years. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22219011 It does not address the reasons why the bands were removed. (I have other issues with the way this study is worded, but the band removal rate is valid IMO). Each of the procedures requires Vitamin supplementation. I take regular multi-Vitamins and have my vitamin levels checked yearly. I came up Vitamin D deficient, so I take extra of that. VSG should be similar in nutrient absorption to banding as there is no mal-absorption with that procedure. Gastric bypass requires prescription level supplementation. This is a tough decision, I know.

Awesome! Congratulations! Cunner, I remember when you were going through the appeal process! Congrats on your successes!

None of the procedures is 100% successful or complication free. Lap Band has the least severe complications, but it also offers the lowest amount of excess weight loss. That doesn't mean you won't be able to lose 100% of your excess weight. As was suggest previous, see another surgeon and get other opinions. Do boodles of research. Read here and on sleeve forums. Learn as much as you can. When I was banded, the sleeve was not available. So, not sure what I would have done. If you are self-pay, consider that with a band, you have lots of after-care to pay for. Fills don't come cheap. The sleeve is set it and forget it, as long as you don't have complications.

It appears you'll have to convince the surgeon that you've dieted in the past. I don't see any mention of length of time you must have been obese, either. You'll need a pre-op psych exam, that is pretty standard. The exam itself varies by doctor. And depending on your BMI you might need a co-morbidity. It seems pretty straight forward, actually. :-)

Sorry, my "My Content" hasn't been working. Yes, I can drink beer. My surgeon says if carbonation bothers you, don't do it, otherwise in his opinion the digestive system is not a closed system. The gasses escape in the form of hiccups, burps or the other end. He feels we'd be in great amounts of pain before damage would be done to our pouches. Soda almost always gives me the hiccups, and I just don't have the taste for it these days. Beer on the other hand, I enjoy. Sometimes it will give me the hiccups, but for me, it is worth the risk as it is rare, and I love it so. I do keep the calories in mind.