Wheetsin

Wait -- so does that mean it also: Gives us the bright idea that intentionally Fing up some responsibility will mean we don't have to do it anymore Makes us truly believe that running up and dry-humping our SO every time they bend over to pick something up is actually going to turn them on Means we can never comment on the attractiveness of someone of the same sex without it meaning we're gay, and Makes us think "I don't know" is actually some freaking kind of answer to a question?

I love my bullet. I've used it almost every day for more than 2 years, and really don't know what I'd do without it. It works great for Protein drinks (you blend right in the cup), and I use it for chopping nuts, making guacamole, whipping cream, etc. Then you just put the cup in the dish washer. (Mine came with a bunch of extra attachments for grating, juicing, etc. -- I don't use those, just the chopper & blender). A lot of people have posted thinking it's too pricey, but I've already gotten 700+ uses out of it, so to me it's a pretty good investment. :ohmy:

So basically it turns us into men?

Do you mean FUPA, labia, general groin...?

1.) Who's you're insurance company? UHC 2.) What state do you live in? MO 3.) Was your plan provided by your employer or do you pay for it out of your own pocket? Yes. It's employer-sponsored, meaning they pay all or part of the cost. In my case they pay part, so I still have premiums taken out of each check. 4.) Are you banded yet, waiting for approval, denied...etc? Banded 2+ years.

I tried using it for scars, but not surgery scars. I will say be careful - tea tree oil in its pure form is very potent and not something everyone can tolerate. Ends up that I can only use small amounts with inert/carrier oils. When I used it full strength, it more or less "burned" me and it took about 9 weeks to get my skin back to normal. BTW, it didn't really make much difference. Any at all, actually.

When you "throw up" what comes up? What you describe sounds more like "PBing" than "vomitting" -- so get detailed because advice will change depending on which you're experiecing. When you throw up, is it as though the contents of your stomach are coming up? E.g. is there acid, food from yesterday, etc? (If "yes" then you need to log off and call your surgeon) Or is it bits of whatever you're currently eating along with some saliva and maybe really thick "mucus" stuff, and quite possibly a good deal of abdominal/band-area discomfort? (If yes, then continue reading) Gulping Water while banded -- why are you even doing that? The "pouch" can only hold so much. Anything it can't hold that won't pass quick enough comes out the other end, aka your mouth. So if gulping water causes you to bring the water back up, that seems like a pretty easy "stop gulping"... no? Since it comes so suddenly after food I'm thinking PB which means 1) you're too tight or 2) you're eating too much or 3) you're eating too fast or 4) you aren't chewing well enough or 5) you're trying to swallow too much at once or 6) any combination of the above. Post more info and we can help if that's the case. If it's not and you're truly VOMITTING then you need to seek medical care and most likely an antiemitic, if you don't have one on hand.

I think it's good - even critical - for people to know both sides. My surgeon never really told me the "bad". If it weren't for this site, I'd have had no idea what was happening when I had my first PB, and probably would have ended up in an ambulance/ER. I would also think that being able to eat chicken and pasta means there's something wrong, because everytime I would go in for a fill that's what he would ask -- can you eat chicken? Can you eat pasta? (Umm, SHOULD I not be able to, because I can...) I don't like surprises. I like to know exactly what I'm getting into, as medical staff that has cared for me can attest to. If it's bad, who cares, I can deal with it, but I need to know it can happen. If it's going to hurt, tell me, but tell me how long it's going to take you to finish, if the pain will linger, etc. I would not have gotten a well-rounded picture of the band had I just listened to the medical resources.

If you aren't able to gain insurance approval, but know this is for you, then advice is to start looking into self pay or financing. Which you're indicating that you're already doing. You could continue the insurance battle, perhaps posting here to get more specific advice, but few things with insurance are fast and if you want it now, you're going to have to pay. More patients are finding some stateside doctors to be cost-comparable to MX surgeons. I cringe -- not that people go to MX -- but that they do it just to save money. I'd think with something like this, it's best to go to whomever has the best numbers, whomever you feel most comfortable with, etc. For many people that heppens to be MX. I just cringe when people treat surgiery and a lifelong implant like a clearance sale, where the lowest price tag should be the driving factor. Some options to look into include self-pay, medical loans, re-routing of existing bills, second mortgages, credit cards, etc. (just some of the many options I've seen people use).

The people who really want to commit suicide to end their lives (not talking about the ones who commit suicide to hurt someone else) aren't the ones who call a hotline and announce they're going to jump, or make a big dramatic scene about it. That would give someone the oppourtinty to intervene, and they don't want that. They're the ones who slip away unnoticed, never to be heard from again. The people who make the big scene are the ones who want to be talked out of it. I liken this to "announcements" of people leaving a board. If someone really wants to leave, why don't they just slip away? Why even announce it? Are you hoping people try to talk you out of it? The ones who really want to leave aren't the ones who post "This is my last post" because -- who cares? Why aren't you just gone already? (Maybe the answer is "there's still more attention to gather.") Usually if someone announces they're leaving, they're not leaving. I posted this once long ago to someone else dramatically announcing they were leaving, and she posted to argue with me -- that she was indeed leaving. But umm... you're still here disagreeing with me, even though your last post was like 3 posts ago... and there you are again... Whatever the case, if you find a resource valuable, then it's a shame you let anyone have enough power over you to make you leave.

I like the message here, but I see the title of "Restriction is bad" and swoon at the thought of all the newbies out there thinking to themselves, "Wow, if it's bad I better not go get my fill" -- then posting about why they aren't losing weight. So for all of you out there, restriction isn't bad. Being too tight can increase your chances of complications, no doubt. But restriction is a natural state of being banded. Being OVER restricted for what your body can tolerate - different story. I also have to say that eating mushies ice cream doesn't mean you're too tight. I'm not too tight and I eat ice cream because I want to eat ice cream. Again - I can just see a mass of people out there thinking, "I eat chips and ice cream, does that mean I'm too tight??"

I had my lap-band, and like 18 months later my dog had to be hospitalized for a stomach virus. I'm still trying to figure out how my band caused that. :ohmy: I agree with previous posters - everyone has a "friend of a friend" story that 99.999999999% of the time has no grounds in reality at all.

There is nothing about the band itself that stops you at 50% weightloss. Anyone with the band has the potential to go on to reach 100%+ of excess weight. With the band you're more accountable for the foods you eat. Unlike malabsorptive procedures, you will "absorb" what you eat. The biggest factor in whether or not someone reaches goal is them. Their behaviors, the degree to which they're successful in changing them, etc. As for the weightloss being slower, again - that's likely to happen with a restrictive procedure v. malabsorptive. On any given day we could eat in such a way as to prevent weightloss. That's why this is called "the thinking person's weightloss surgery." We still have to own our actions and choices, nothing is a "hand out". And again on the slower weightloss, I don't know. I'm not convinced. I lost more weight more quickly than bypass friends with similar amounts to lose. Now that we're all 2+ years out I'm still losing, albeit slower, and many of them have regained. I think we'll see the long-term numbers changing in the next few years, in favor of the band, because we get the whole "adjustability" thing, more so than a "one shot deal" that either works or doesn't.

It is designed to be a life-long implant. It is made of silicone and titanium, which are used in other life-long implants. Most of the time when it's removed it's because of some type of complication, not some kind of structural failure/decomposition of the band materials.

You guys kinda make me wish I knew crap about OH and what goes on there, but sadly I do not. Like 3 or 4 years ago I tried to get onboard but it was so damn near impossible to sign up, navigate, etc. that I gave up. If I can't figure it out, I probably don't need it. But seems like the entertainment factor could be worth figuring it out...

It seems really counter-intuitive (hot things promote bloodflow and could lead to swelling, etc. while cold things are suually rememdies for swelling/fluid) -- but hot things do seem to help. I just don't worry about eating in the morning anymore, maybe a few bites of egg, but sometimes for dinner (espeically if I'm with business company or someplace out of town) I will start off with soup, and if I am still hungry have an entree. The soup does seem to open me up a bit.

I had to have my first catheter (outside of when I was an infant) about 2 weeks ago. It definitely had its own unique pain. And oddly enough, I couldn't produce much while it was in, but as soon as she removed it I pottied like a racehorse. Almost like they had forgotten to re-open it after thay had closed it off. Best of luck being able to wee. :ohmy:

My pre-op diet was 2 days of sugar-free, clear liquids. This is the diet my surgeon still uses, so it must do the job well enough. If you want to do something, but haven't been prescribed an actual diet to follow, and your surgeon won't provide one, I'd think "mine" works fine, and is short.

The band doesn't erode. Erosion is when the band "erodes" through or into the organ. The search feature will bring up this information, as well as current stats. You may want to see what you can find using it. Here are two of the first hits: What is erosion? What is Erosion?

BTW. I don't put my stats in my signature, but I was 382 lbs the day of surgery. Today I'm about 228. My BMI has gone from almost 55 to just under 33. Medically I was medically "super morbidly obese." I'm still medically obese, but I'm close to just "overweight". An odd thing for someone who's never been there to Celebrate, but a huge celebration for me. And I've lost about 10 sizes. Trust me, if anyone out there was "labeled" to fail, it was me.

Here's where I was at before surgery: I'm pretty decided that I need some kind of help, outside the next diet, to keep the weight off. Most of the options seem pretty drastic to me, but this band thing -- I could deal with that. People seem to do well with it, and although loss rates seem maybe a little low, there's nothing guaranteeing I have to be a statistic. I've beaten the numbers before, why couldn't I do it now? But then again... If you're anything like me, I could lose the weight, but I could never keep it off. So I lived this constant cycle of failing. After you learn that you're a failure for so long, it's really really hard to believe that something could work. I mean, the last thing we want is to get our hopes up, only to have them crushed -- again -- right? So here's how I looked at it. It was still up to me to lose the weight. I had to do it this one last time. My band's job was to help me keep it off. Up until I was under anestehsia I was constantly analyzing my decision (I'm a "thinker"). And if I ever felt any doubt or uncertainy that I was doing the right thing (trust me, I had more moments of -- Maybe just one more diet is all it would take... -- than I can count), I just had to remind myself -- this is the LAST TIME I will have to lose the weight. I didn't know if insurance would cover me or not, but that wouldn't have stopped me. I was actually approved very quicky and very easily, without any real requirements. That was much easier than I had expected going in. Before I submitted my paperwork, I told DH about it and gained his agreement that if insurance wouldn't pay, this was something well worth writing a check for. Then I got a very happy surprise in the form of a 3 week approval and told DH to save the money and put it toward future plastics instead. :ohmy:

I don't think many of us hit our target fluids for a few days. Immediately post-op I was doing good to down a 16.9 oz bottle in a day, let alone much else on top of that. I'm wanting to think it was around day 5 or 6 that I could finish a bottle of water. If you're getting to the point of dehydration, call. IV fluids are better than dehydration.

People ask me all the time if I'm happy I did it, or if I regret anything. The best way I can answer them is that even when I'm at my worst, I would do it all over again without thinking twice. Due in part to talking to me about it, 4 of my family members are in the insurance process, 3 friends have already had the surgery, 4 spouse's friends have had the surgery, and 2 more friends are in the insurance. Plus various stages for about 6 people at work (although one of them changed her mind to bypass). I wouldn't recommend something that highly to people I care about if there was anything I regretted. Even if I have to lose my band someday, there will be no regret.

I hate trolls. BTW, IVs hurt like a bitch.

If you work for a large company, employer-enforced exlusions are pretty firm. If you work for a smaller company, and could "rally" enough others who would be interested, and petition the employer from the perspective that there are a lot of us and numbers matter, then maybe you'd be able to make some headway. But employers care about bottom lines and ROI so you'd need to be prepared to back up your request with numbers. However, since you are a contractor on part-time (annual) basis, I'm guessing you work for a mid-large employer. Do they offer other plans you could choose from, perhaps one that doesn't have an exclusion, and then switch over during open enrollment?